When it's too hot...

(alex here) When it's hot I think the best past-time is swimming!! Dive, splash, freestyle and pull on goggles. How fun!!!! Doesn't that water look refreshing? Another great past-time is building with legos. That's Gabe building. Also, going to our grandmas house is fun. I love These pictures!!

Alex's Lasagna

~this is a picture of the lasagna i made.

On Thursday I made Lasagna for dinner. This was the first time I have made it! It was very YUMMY!! I also made brownies.

For the lasagna i used...
1. ricotta cheese
2. enriched lasagna noodles
3. ground turkey(fresh basil & parsley, pepper & salt, garlic powder)
4. mozzarella cheese
5. pre-made spaghetti sauce
6. blanched spinach

7. sauteed onion,red pepper & garlic




Dark Chocolate-Peanut Butter-Flax meal Brownies

Don't these look delicious?! and they are! Mom and I found this recipe online somewhere and changed a few things...

This is the recipe...
5 ounce of dark chocolate (I used Ghiradelli chips-about 1/3 bag)
1/4 C. natural peanut butter (we were going to use plain yogurt but we didn't have any)
1/4 C. butter
2 eggs
2/3 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. flax meal
1/2 C. soy flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla (we didn't have any so I added an extra spoonful of sugar)

Melt the chocolate, peanut butter and butter together and stir until combined.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until frothy, add the sugar and beat until smooth.
In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Combine the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture, slowly while whisking. beat well for a minute.
Add the dry mixture into the chocolate mixture and add the vanilla.
Stir for a minute.

Bake in a greased (cooking spray is fine) 8x8 pan for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

AHHHH Snow......

(Penny here)

I just couldn't help myself from posting these pictures! I do miss Pittsburgh more intensely when I see pictures. I know... we are having fun here too, but, I am going to allow myself an occassional pity party . These snow pics are from when Aunt Lan came and stayed with us to help with homeschool, fixing up the house, and just being an all-around amazing pal and helper! Without her help I could NOT have made it all come together so well- her stay was a true answer to prayer. She also got Tom through half a year of Kindergarten in just two months!

Enjoy these pics and see more on the slideshow to the right.

If you click the slidshow images it will link you to the album where they come from...

Happy Saturday!

Lockett Meadow

Alex, Gabe, and Tom here!

We had so much fun camping at Lockett Meadow in the San Francisco Peaks. (Gabe) I highly recommend this campground because there is a beautiful trail which begins at the campgound and takes you to pump house #9. (Alex) The pump houses are there for access to the pipes which carry fresh water from the mountains down to the city of Flagstaff. One of the pump houses had a spigot from which you could drink fresh untreated spring water. (Gabe) We did drink it and it was better than the water that we brought with us. One of our neighbors in the campground filmed a video hummingbirds swarming at the spigot. The birds would come each morning at dawn to drink from the fresh water.

One of the things you can do from the campground is go and climb Mt. Humphreys, the tallest peak in AZ. The distance from Lockett Meadow is about 15 miles round trip. It is possible to start on a trail on the other side of the Mt. which is much shorter. Instead of tackling Mt. Humphreys, we peaked this boulder and we did lots of other hiking (about 14 miles).

(Alex) Our campsite was littered with downed trees. The chipmunks seemed to live in or under them. Whenever one popped up from his home, we would name it. This one in the picture is Frederick. We can tell because of his markings and his chubbiness. Some more of our chipmunk friends are named Aspen, for the groves of aspen trees lining our campsite, Jane named after Jane Porter in "Tarzan of the Apes", and Carnation who was named after our dried milk.

(Gabe) On our third day of camping I turned 10 years old! You see me here in this picture on a gigantor boulder that we conquered that day. For a special bday treat we had freeze dried ice cream.

Pinnacle Peak Trail

(from Penny)

Last Sunday, July the 2oth, we got up early to get our first Arizona hike under our belts. We chose to do something close to our home, Pinnacle Peak. It is about 1.75 miles each way and is well groomed. I figured we would be virtually alone on our adventure- I mean, who gets up this early to exercise... When we pulled into the parking lot at about 6:15 am, it was already half full! The trail was busy and some people were already finished with their excursion. There were many trail "runners" and just as many hiker/walkers. It seems to be a very popular venue.

This was a perfect introductory hike for us. The desert is a little intimidating and I am hesitant to doing anything "too rustic" or daring. The kids had a great time and Thomas was ready to go again the following day. This coming weekend we are heading up to the Flagstaff area to camp and hike.

Color Wheel Jewelry

Hi, from Alex!
My hobby is making jewelry. It is relaxing and creative. My favorite colors are blue, green and purple. Earrings are the most fun to make because it doesn't take very long to see what I have created. My best friend Ana Wilhelm and I have a business together. You can see what we have for sale at http://etsy.com/. You will have to select username from the pulldown menu and type in colorwheeljewelry.

Fresh squeezed in Pittsburgh - McMullen/Sckolnick painting

I really do mean squeezed! Not that it was a struggle to produce this painting.... it wasn't. It was one of the more fun paintings I have ever done; However, I did manage to work on this piece up until the morning that we moved from Pittsburgh! My timing isn't always what it should be but I do put my all into my work.

The clients were interested in vibrant earthy colors; such as those found in minerals and gems, water and plant life. I drew inspiration from photos of their travels as well as from satellite images of earth, maps and stones I collected. Together all of these ideas came together to create this painting. Let me know what you think! Thanks, Penny

Jumping cholla

Alex here and I have some advice for you...

DON'T KICK THE JUMPING CHOLLA!!!!!

Once when my family and I were visiting my Grandma Ruthann here in AZ I did kick the jumping cholla... I can tell you from first hand experience, it does not feel good. When you kick the jumping cholla it doesn't roll, it doesn't bounce, it won't fly into the air. It WILL stick to your foot, drive needles into your toes, pierce your skin, and it will burn like heck! Then you will have to pull them out one by one! You will have itchy red dots to remind you not


TO KICK THE JUMPING CHOLLA!!!!!





They call it a jumping cholla because it will drop parts of itself onto the ground which will then seemingly "jump" and stick to you if you brush slightly past-or of course if you choose to try to kick it like a soccer ball.
To learn more, you can check out this link...
http://www.desertusa.com/mag99/may/papr/chollas.html