Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Uncle Jim & Aunt Naomi's Visit

It's been a very full past two and a half weeks here at the Kautt house.  Our Uncle Jim and Aunt Naomi from Germany came over on the 9th and just left on the 25th.  They are missionaries in Tuebingen, pastoring a small international Christian church, as well as doing many other things for the Kingdom, and to support themselves.  Well, this house is already packed full of people and things, so adding two more people and their belongings was quite a challenge, but we managed to survive it!  We girls camped out downstairs through out the entire time they were here, and we worked around more stuff, but all in all, it was a very enjoyable visit. 

So as not to bore you with too many words, I will now endeavor to tell the story of their stay with photographs, mainly.  Hopefully I won't bore you with too many photos, either!!  Haha! :) 

Aunt Naomi made two delicious meals while they were here.  The first one (above) was a Thai Curry dish.  SO good!

This Thai Curry was THE best!

Of course, I had to capture Uncle Jim spooning it in. ;)  We all enjoyed it. 

One of the morning they were here, Aunt Naomi fixed for us a typical Japanese breakfast: stinky socks (i.e. Natto, or fermented soy beans), with sticky white rice, kimchi and seaweed.  It really wasn't too bad, but definitely not something I would have for breakfast every morning!

Now, THIS is something I would have for breakfast.  In fact, I do most mornings.  :)  Bunny in the hole and toast. 

Many games of 'Spicy Uno', a faster pace version of Uno, were played.  If I were to estimate how many games played, probably more than 100.  Yep.

I made some strawberry ice cream, as well as peanut-butter and pina-colada ice cream. 

While Johanna made delicious strawberry-lemon cheese cake. 

One of our many traditions with Uncle Jim and Aunt Naomi is getting Bubble (or Boba) Tea.  This time we ran over to the local Fat Straws, and picked up some.  They are so refreshing and yummy! 
Aunt Naomi, Johanna, Uncle Jim and Jaden.
  
Those are indeed FAT STRAWS.  :)

Aunt Naomi is so beautiful!  :)

Yours-truly.
 
Lunch, after Bubble Tea.  (Yeah, we kinda had the dessert first!) 

Love this guy!  Uncle Jim. 
Thursday, the 14th, we kids got together with our long time friends, the D's.  We've known them for more than 15 years, and we have become like brothers and sisters.  Such a fun time was had!

This gigantic friend ice cream plate was shared with all of my siblings. 

Caleb's delicious-looking taco salad.  Mmmmm...

Good fellowship, conversation and lots of laughter!

Clock wise starting at bottom left: Johanna, Joel, Isaac, Talley (Daniel's fiance), Daniel, Andrew, Jaden, Abby and Caleb.
Cafe Brazil is a nice restaurant. 

We stood out in front of the building, trying to decide what to do with the next hour of our time.  We finally decided to go to the D's house, and play some Apples to Apples.
This happens to be a pizza from Coffee Bar, in Downtown Lewisville.  It was quite delicious. 

The second meal Aunt Naomi created for us was another Asian one.  Spring rolls (above), Sushi (below), and stir-fry.  She hit it out of the ball-park once again!
 
Asian cuisine... right in our kitchen! 

My contribution to the meal was very un-Asian: carrot cake.  Even so, everyone enjoyed it.  :)

This day was a very busy one; not only were our cousins visiting, but also a friend of Mom's was stopping past, as well.  So, our house was quite full, to say the least!
A competitive game of Monopoly. 
Mom and Mrs. W. 

On Friday, the 22nd, we all (minus Caleb and Grandma) were privileged to tour the Institute for Creation Research buildings.  We have toured there before a couple times, but this time was for our Uncle and Aunt.  I am devoting an entire post to that adventure, so you will have to wait.  :)

Jo's cheesecake and my ice cream.

One of the nights we had a delightful cook-out. 

Yes, another game of Spicy Uno.  What did I tell you?  We played LOTS of games!!!!
I remember every time our Uncle (and then our Aunt, once he was married) would come over, we always had such fun.  But, then of course, he always had to leave.  That was the worst part.  As we raced him down the road (one of our weird Kautt traditions), sometimes we'd even cry.  Well, it's not much different now, though we don't cry, knowing that, Lord willing, we'll see him again soon.  But, still, "parting is such sweet sorrow," as the saying goes. 

We snapped several photos before they had to scurry off to catch their flight.  Some of them were kind of blurry; I was taking them in rapid fashion, and didn't always get them into perfect focus! 

Jo, Uncle Jim, Jaden , Abby and Joel.

Jo, Uncle Jim, Abby and Joel

Aunt Naomi, Johanna, Jaden, Uncle Jim, Abby, Joel and Grandma.

Abby, Aunt Naomi, Jaden, Uncle Jim, Dad (peaking behind Grandma), Grandma, and yours truly.

It was quite chilly out there.  I'm not quite sure WHY Jaden was out there in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt.  Crazy boy!! 

Hugs, hugs, hugs. 

Lots and lots of hugs. 

And more hugs.

Jo and Aunt Naomi.  Such dear, lovely ladies.  :)

Abby shares a laugh with Uncle Jim.

Don't squeeze him to death!!

Uncle Jim tries his hand on Joel.  Not quite the same...

"You're too heavy!" 
We formed a circle and prayed before they departed. 
Off to the airport, and back to Germany!

Don't know if you can see it, but Abby and Jaden are on the side-walk on the right side.  They're in position to race the vehicles . 
Run, run, run!!



Our last words and glances as they depart.  





"The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil: he shall preserve thy soul.  The Lord shall preserve thy going out and thy coming in from this time forth, and even for evermore."  Psalm 121:7-8

Were You There? - Vocal Performance

Just in time for Passion Week, our Aunt Naomi sung "Were You There" at church last Sunday.  She did a really awesome job; her voice is stunning!  We were able to record her singing, and here it is for you all to enjoy.



Friday, March 22, 2013

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Abby's Birthday Festivities

Abby's birthday was this past Friday, March 1st.  And, we've been kind of busy since then, so I'm just now getting around to posting about her wonderful day and activities.  She said it was her best birthday yet, so that's a good sign that she enjoyed it! :)  In fact, here's a video message from her, to all of you who sent her birthday greetings and wishes:



And now, time for all the photos we took last weekend.  On Friday, we (everyone except Dad & Joel, who are not dancers!) went to English Country Dancing (ECD) in McKinney, got to dance with friends, and then after dancing Caleb took us all out for pizza in honor of Abby's birthday.  Oh, and before we left on Friday, I made Abby's cake: lemon strawberry cheesecake.

Some of the dancers



Ms. Tiffany - she's an excellent caller!
 

Friends: Yours-truly, Claudia, Madeline and Abby

More friends: Johanna, Claudia, Abby and Madeline
Our restaurant of choice: Sauce (on McKinney's Downtown Square)

They have some of THE BEST pizza I've ever eaten - and it's authentic Italian.  Unfortunately, I didn't even think to take photos of the pizza until they were all eaten.  Haha! 

Abs and Claudia

The whole gang.


The birthday girl!!


They bake their pizzas in a brick oven.  Pretty cool!

Chattin' after dinner. 

The inside has a nice homey, relaxed fell, though a bit too dark for my liking.

The McKinney Performing Arts Center, right in the middle of the square.
Saturday evening we had our family meal, which consisted of delicious sandwiches and Kettle potato chips (YUM!) - Abby's meal of choice.  She LOVES sandwiches, as do I.  ;)  After sandwiches, we ate the lemon-strawberry cheesecake, and homemade cookie-dough ice cream, that Johanna and I had made a couple days before. It was so nice to be together as a WHOLE family (which doesn't happen much any more :( ), and enjoy each others company and reminisce.

Jo took a few photos of a slice before it was all eaten!


This was actually a slice of the orange-strawberry cheesecake.  We had some leftover ingredients, so we made a orange version of the cake.  I think it was actually better than the lemon!  :)

Sandwich meats, all nicely arranged. 

Other delicious toppings: purple onion slices, tomato slices, lettuce leaves. 

Cheese, meat and veggies

The spread; so delicious!

Yummy whole-wheat sandwich buns.

Cracked pepper Kettle potato chips are THE BEST!


Mmmmmmm.....

Abby enjoying her meal - her rating: thumbs up!

Jo and Jaden chat

We had a few extra strawberries, so I decided to dip them in chocolate and use them as toppers for the cake. 


Abby opens her cards.

And her gifts from Jaden: some $$...

... and a new hairbrush! 


Reading her card from Grandma.

The cookie dough ice cream turned out really well, I thought.  I think everyone else enjoyed it, too, 'cause most of it was gone!  ;)

Speaking of left overs, I had some leftover ingredients for ice cream, so I made a small batch of eggnog ice cream.  I made up the recipe on the spot. :0  It was quite good!

Mmmm...  Pure delight!

After eating this small plate of cake and ice cream, to say the least, I had had enough for the evening.  It was all so rich, so you didn't need much!

And, I will end with this photo of beautiful tulips.  I captured this photography on our way to Ultimate this past Monday afternoon.  I've seen several places with tulips in full bloom.  Can't wait for spring to come... all the way!