Ethan is spending the weekend !

Ethan gets to spend the weekend with us all by himself ! For some reason he wasn't invited to go camping with his family! I think he'll have more fun staying home with us anyway ! He arrived and we played a bit ( of course in the pantry ) and then we left and went and did a little visiting...First stop was the quilt store since Denise wanted to see him so he did a bit of his own shopping...Then we went over to visit my folks and he had fun with them and the toys but mostly opening and shutting the doors on the cabinets ! We came home and he ate a HUGE lunch and then topped it off with blueberries. He showed me exactly what you do to eat blueberries..... First you put them back in your little cup...

Then you taste them... Then you dump them out again...
And then you just SMASH them in...
So he's out for the count now having a good nap so I wonder what fun we'll get in to this afternoon !

Part 2 of Ethans visit

Ethan had such a great nap today and Papa came home so we all went to...

Arby's for dinner, and yes Ethan had french fries along with his dinner, he loved them but by the way he ate them I think he's had them before !

The straw was the most fun !

Then we came home and went swimming ! With that it was time for jammies, our bottle and good night sweet little baby ! I wonder what adventures you'll dream about for tomorrow !

Ethan's visit part 3

Well Ethan was a hit at Paradise Bakery this morning flirting with all the ladies and toddling around the place ! We hit the grocery store and got home in time for his nap and then his brothers showed up from their camping adventures. We hit the pool first thing !

Ethan had time to swing too.

There was alot of shooting the monster going on too !

Everyone has gone on their way so the house is quiet, time to think of other things and get ready for work tomorrow, sure was fun playing games and pretend picnics and watching Phineas and Ferb tho this afternoon ! Will make tomorrow boring !

Happy Anniversary Gene and Delores !

Back in 1950 this handsome man asked this pretty lady to marry him ! And they had this pretty wedding ! Followed by 3 little kids ! One of which is my hubby !And that was 59 years ago and they are still going strong! What a milestone that is ! Congratulations to you both !

What a busy day !

It was a busy day of fun today. I went down to help Amy get things ready for preschool open house which was tonight . We scrubbed and wiped and polished the house up and then got the toys and everything in the preschool room all sorted and ready for all the happy little 3 year olds to enjoy. Garrett was such a helper and really enjoyed using his own rag and broom and before we knew it, it was all ready. Here is the other main man coming to help ! Picking them up and putting them down....Ethan is on the march !

I hope Garrett enjoyed his time meeting his preschool friends tonight, what an exciting time for him ! There will be 6 little 3 year olds coming to the door next week and by fall a couple more will start as they turn 3 so it'll be a busy time of learning for them all ! I'll be thinking of you Amy on tuesday as I hope they all don't cry when Mommy leaves ! I'm on the Ethan crew for thursdays again so I'll be out the door ready to retrieve him. He'll be morning napping yet for a while so we'll probably stay there most of the time. I'll miss that time with Garrett for the last 3 years but he's such a big boy now and ready for preschool !

So by now the open house should be over, the cookies and punch enjoyed by all, the treaure hunt with child/parent around the house to find all the important things like the sand box and the potty should be done and their prize of a box of crayons and a sucker from Ms. Amy should be found. Good luck Amy, another start to a fun year for you and your little kiddos.

Ken and I met up then and went to meet my folks for a nice little dinner at Culver's. It's new for us but my folks had found it and yum, if you want some "fat" food, it was the place to be as it was busy ! Of course to top it off Ken and I had to try the "concrete mixer" which is like a dairy queen blizzard, yum ! It's back to work tomorrow and I bet about noon I'm going to be thinking about that "concrete mixer !

Chocolate Crinkles

It was baking cookie day. This recipe is a favorite from my friend Linda. She's an expert cookie baker and I have a couple recipes that are from her that have become a favorite at our house too ! This is one of them, they are easy to do in stages since you mix them up and let them be in the refrigerator for awhile so you can get something else done in the meantime ! I usually double the recipe as it doesn't seem like it makes a ton and by the time you give everyone a baggie they seem to disappear fast! They look pretty and very festive. So thanks to Linda for sharing her recipe ! Chocolate Crinkles

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate (cool)

2 tsp. vanilla

4 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup powdered sugar

Mix granulated sugar, oil, chocolate and vanilla. Mix in eggs, 1 at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. The dough is a very thick batter before refrigerating.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape dough by rounded teaspoonfuls into balls. Roll in powdered sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheet. Bake until almost no indentation remains when touched, 10-12 minutes. Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Flag question?????

We have a new flag to fly at our house. Since we fly it 24-7 ours had gotten pretty tattered and was tearing and every windy day this summer was making it worse. So it's now retired and a new one is flying. The new one came with a nice little pamphlet about flag etiquette and all kinds of information but it doesn't say what to do with the old one. Anyone know the rules????

Dip

Time for another recipe...

This one is for a great dip that is good with veggies but my favorite is to chunk up your favorite bread into cubes. I made this appetizer last weekend to take to Chris and MB's and bought a loaf of sour dough bread and one of pumpernickle and cubed it up. The dip recipe came from my friend Barb, she's brought it to a few different get togethers and if you use all the low fat ingredients the bread is probably the worst part of the whole thing. Barb's Dip

1 small can of chopped olives

1 1/3 cup mayonnaise ( I used the low fat)

1 1/3 cups sour cream ( I used the low fat)

1 tsp. Season All

4 tsp. dill

3 tsp parsley

Mix everything together and enjoy !

It was great with cold drinks in the pool ! And there is still a bit left and some cold beers in the frig so I'm sure it'll disappear this week when Ken and I enjoy our early evening cooling off in the pool !

Yea for the Honest People that find lost phones

Ken and Chris and I dashed down to Rubio's for a fast lunch this weekend after the guys played golf. I tagged along and took my free taco coupon which had expired by 1 day. They honored that so I was happy, then when we got home Ken couldn't find his new Iphone. PANIC ! Meanwhile Chris is calling Rubio's and Ken is dashing back there and sure enough some nice person turned it in and Rubio's had it waiting for him when he arrived ! Yea for Rubio's !
(I'd have their cute little logo on here if I could figure out how you do that !) Funny thing is this week at work someone left their phone in the store, so I looked thru the numbers and pondered do I call "home" or "hot husband". I chose home and told the child that answered I had the phone and where it was. A bit later she called back and said, this is "home" and that someone was coming to get it so we should "watch for him" . A bit later a man walked in asking about it, I bet he was "hot husband " ! So it's a good thing there are still alot of honest people out there finding phones that get left behind !

Fun evening with Chris and MB !

A fun time with Chris and MB tonight at their home. We arrived and took a nice dip in the pool. I brought an appetizer and we enjoyed it and drinks while we cooled off in the water.

Here's MB cooking her yummy zucchini's on the paninni maker. How clever is that ! MB you are such a good cook !Wouldn't Martha Stewart be proud ! Yummy turkey, couscous and the zucchini ! Excellent !

We had the dessert I brought which was a lemon cheesecake refrigerator dessert and called it a night , the end of a busy weekend, thanks to MB and Chris for the nice evening ! Even Beans thought it was fun ! Baxter was to busy killing a scorpion to pose for any silly pictures ! Yes he kills them and does a bit of dismembering.....but he's sure earning his keep ! Beans job is to just look cute !

The new dresser arrives !

Ken built MB and Chris the most beautiful dresser and today was delivery day !

Carefully setting it just right...

Top is on...

Beans checking it out...

Drawers are passing inspection...

And you'll have to wait to see the finished dresser another time. The handles are being ordered and it'll soon be all dusted and decorated around it. What a beautiful piece it will be... So for now, it's delivered and in it's place ! To be continued...

Guess who's diving off the diving board !

Yep, our little G-man decided it was just so fun to dive off the high deck so Grammy said, want to go off the diving board, YEP ! So away he goes again and again ! Brave little dude !It sure was fun for he and Aiden to take turns diving in ! This is a picture from his birthday party so I guess now that you are 3 Garrett you can do anything ! Aiden blew up the little baby float for Ethan ! thanks Aiden for doing that so Grammy didn't get DIZZY !Here's Papa and Garrett shooting hoops !

Fun time cooling off !