Fathers Day prep

We've spread our fathers day enjoyment out this year and enjoyed a light dinner at Mimi's and ice cream out at Coldstone last night with Gene and Delores. We had great cloudy weather and it was wonderful sitting outside visiting. After the guys go golfing tomorrow we are going to my sisters for a cookout and I"m in charge of potato salad. This recipe is from Bear Cabin and very tastey !


Potato Salad

Bear Cabin
6-8 Potatoes
6 Hard Boiled Eggs
1 medium onion - chopped
1 green pepper - chopped
1 jar pimentos
3-4 stalks celery
Sweet pickles or pickle relish
mayonnaise( I used low fat, never as good but better for you !) I'm thinking about 1 cup, but I like it to look moist!
about 2 tablespoons yellow mustard
Lawry seasoning Salt and pepper

I am like Carol at Bear Cabin and don't do alot of measuring but you just dump in things until it looks and tastes right ! It'll taste great tomorrow after sitting over night. I boiled the potatoes and eggs yesterday so they were cold in the refrigerator so it goes faster when you actually put it together.

So that is prepped and the fathers day gifts are in control and I'm off to run errands and this afternoon I am off to babysit my great niece Cailyn so that should be fun !

Oh the cute things you find !

The boys were here all day yesterday giving Amy a day off. They left at 8:30 last night and I went to bed figuring I"ll muck it out in the morning. So in the process I had so many smiles along the way. Back in my office I find Garretts giraffe that usually lives in his bed at the rear of this picture. I guess the giraffe was busy on my lap top !
No this isn't an earthquake, it just means "Ethan was here !" Just like his big brothers the pantry is the "place to be" from the time you crawl to about 2 years old. You can move things around and put things inside other things, it's so much fun ! And here we have lasers, watch out ! They are in all 6 holes of the pool table, beware ! Note the sunglasses in the front corner ! I think they are there to guard the "stash" of food that is under the pool table. There are little "shelf" type of braces on each of the legs and if you are under the pool table you see these great little shelves, well Grammies snack bin gets raided and things get put under on those little boy shelves. So next time you are needing a snack you might check these for some fruit snacks and such. Just watch out for those lasers !!!!

So it was a great day, all the highlights were hit, lincoln logs... Garrett made lots of "glider flyers".....
Play doh was "great work"
Of course when Papa could break away from work we got to swim and YES I gave Ethan an otter pop !
But everyone survived and they went home safe and tired ! Even this little dude who is ON THE MOVE and now in the middle of the floor stands up without holding on to anything! NO Ethan you are only 10 months old now and you don't need to be moving any faster !

You won't find anything cuter !

It was a GOOD DAY !

What a great day ! It was georgeous out today and even more georgeous when little boys show up at the door ! They came for swimming lessons and lunch !
Everyone did a great job with their lesson time.

We had shaved ice after the swimming teacher left, yum, orange juice ice ! They love getting to make it themselves !

Lunch time of bean burros, a favorite. The best part of lunch were the oreo cookies ! Wow when is the last time you had an oreo ! And being the 3rd child and almost 10 months old we decided sure Ethan ought to experience his first oreo....

I think he liked it !

Everyone had a nap after lunch, can you believe it, 6 little eyes all shut at once ! Garrett and Aiden actually slept in the big bed together which was a first, usually it's "Aiden's " bed and Garrett has the toddler bed in my office as "his room". I'm thinking if that works we can make the toddler bed back into the crib for the big E so he can get out of the pack and play in my bedroom. Beds and boys everywhere !

Amy and I had an hour to hang out in the sewing room together. She was remaking Garretts curtains for his room and I was "rugging". Gonna get it done yet, have 11 1/2 inches to go.

Ice cream cones when they woke up
And time to snuggle while we watched Phineas and Ferb, their favorite cartoon !

They are heading home now to have dinner with their Daddy and I'm off to try out Lorene's new pork chop recipe she shared. It was a GOOD DAY !

Yeah ! He showed up !

I found the best dude that comes and helps you vacuum. He hasn't been here in a while but he showed up today ! wow can you ever get things done fast. I run around him with the dust rag and then the mop and before you know it the house got that lick and a polish that is good enough for the week ! With all our hard wood floors it doesn't hide the billowing little balls of cat fur or the crumbs left from the little boys ( cats just don't lick them up like a dog). So it always feels good to get the floors clean. Sure is nice when he has a moment and stops in !

Here is that dude talking golf with his favorite little dudes !

Fun evening with Chris and MB !

We sure had a fun evening with Chris and MB, just eating and visiting. It was great to catch up with everyones busy lives this afternoon. I had a great time this morning prepping some food for our dinner tonight, it was lovely having a relaxing day to cook and hang out. I thought I'd share a couple recipes just for fun !

The first is Salsa in the blender. My kids got me this great blender for mothers day and it's been alot of fun. Amy's friend Corina gave us this recipe to make a fast and easy salsa. Salsa in the blender

From Corina
1 large can whole tomatoes
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 handful of cilantro
2-3 garlic cloves
½ onion
1 tsp. dry oregano
2 tsp. salt
Blend
We had the yummy salsa with a cold beer for an appetizer !

While I was at work yesterday the meat was cooking in the crock pot. It's a recipe that my friend Kathy shared with me. I shredded it up this morning and put it back in the pot to warm. I picked up some home made whole wheat flour tortillas to make the burros out of. Yum with sour cream, guacamole and cheese !

Kathy’s Chalupa
2 Cloves Garlic
1T. Cumin
2T. Chili Powder
1t. Oregano
1 small can chopped green chilies
1T. Salt
3 to 4lb. pork roast
1lb. pinto beans, or black beans
Brown roast and cook onions, garlic till done. Add everything else to
Crock-pot and cook till done, shred pork and enjoy.

I made some pinto beans to go with everything and MB brought a salad to share and then for dessert we had this recipe that I got from the quilting place in the mountains. The crust doesn't look to professional here but we ate it anyway ! We had a little scoop of ice cream on top of the slice of pie.
Toll House Pie
From Bear Cabin Inn
2 eggs
½ cup flour
½ cup sugar
½ cup light-brown sugar
¾ cup butter, softened
1 cup chopped nuts
6 oz semi-sweet chips
1- 9 inch unbaked pie shell
Whipped cream or ice cream for topping (optional)
Preheat oven to 325. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs at high speed until foamy, about 3 minutes. Beat in flour sugar and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in softened butter. Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell. Bake 40-50 minutes until knife inserted halfway between edge and center come out clean and the top is golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream if desired.

Happy Flag Day Everyone and WHAT A BIG DOG !

Happy Flag Day ! Our neighborhood always looks so nice on national holidays as there are alot of flags out. We fly our flag every day. We started during Jeremy's deployment and have kept it up. Now that they changed the rules on flying flags we can leave it up all the time and not be bringing it in at night.

I have 2 favorite flags. This is the one Jeremy brought to us in 2006 from his first deployment. He flew it for us hanging in the back cargo area of the C17 during many missions. I framed it with photos and neat sayings and it hangs in the hallway along with...the certificate that listed all the places in the war zone he went as part of the Air Lift Squadron. What a treasure. This is the other favorite flag. He flew this one for us in his C17 on his first mission as the actual Air Craft Commander on his 2nd deployment in 2008 going into Balad and Mosul Iraq . On the back he put the actual paper authorizing the governments release of the Aircraft and five member crew into his possession.
I'm on the hunt for the perfect frame for it.

Ken and I had a very relaxing early morning with a walk at the Riparian preserve and then breakfast at Paradise. It's one of our favorites as you can sit outside and enjoy the cool mornings. This is one of my favorites there, Ken is laughing now as I"m taking this picture of my food ! It's a vegitarian omelet and if you get it with no cheese and no sour cream sauce and ask for the whole grain bread it's not really to bad for you !

While we were sitting there we saw the BIGGEST dog we've ever seen. This gentle giant walked up and we were wondering if he had a saddle ! His name was Sam and he's a Great Dane, only 1 1/2 years old so she said he still had 6 months of growing. Can you believe it !

Sam is famous now as he made "the " blog ! So I'm off to do some cooking as Chris and MB are coming over for dinner tonight. Time for some home made mexican food !

Happy Birthday Mary

Today was Mary's birthday and we had a big birthday party at work all day for her! It was crazy and busy and NUTS ! Everyone shopping was happy and excited as Mary very generously gave everyone 54% off of one item they bought. How fun is that ! I bought a Christmas present so gee now I can say I've started my Christmas shopping ! yeah !

So Happy Birthday to Mary ! I for one am proud I got that cake there in one piece as Ken had his eye on it and thought no one would miss a corner of it ! Off to make BLT's for dinner with one of Sue's home grown tomatoes , that was the 4th day on my legs this week at work so then I"m going to CRASH !

Creative Inspiration !

We had our monthly Thornberrie quilt meeting today. Sue hosted it, that is her below with one of her beautiful creations. She's showing us her butterfly quilt that is in progress. It was darling ! Every one of those squares is different in the quilt.

Here is Louise hiding behind her very cute baby quilt, you should see the quilting on it ! It is amazing !

This is Lorene, she won a prize for this card she made.

I was working on one of the halloween quilts blocks, got those done so moved on to a picnic quilt I'm putting together. Judy and Bobbi were there too but missed out on a picture. All were busy with projects and lots of laughing and talking. We love our monthly day to catch up and be inspired ! We take turns hosting at each others house, 3 of our group weren't there so we missed them today. We all bring something for a potluck lunch, you never know what will show up but we always manage to have the best lunch ! Rarely has it been all desserts or all lettuce salads ! Today we all needed recipes so I will post the salad I made as everyone needed that recipe too. This is such a fun group, we've been together for a very long time and seen everyones lives change and grow, Cheered everyone thru happy and sad family trials , lost a few members along the way but these girls are my inspiration in creativity ! So until the 2nd friday of next month we'll all be delving into our projects and working on our swap. I'll post about that another time.

This is the salad I took today to share. It makes a ton so it's great for a group and you'll have plenty to take to the neighbors ! It actually came to me being called the Frog Eye Salad but we call it the Pepe Salad.

Pepe Salad

Cook 16 oz of AcidiPepe according to the box and drain
Cook all these ingredients until thickened, then mix with the pasta and refrigerate over night.
1 cup sugar
2 T. flour
½ tsp. salt
1 ¾ cup pineapple juice
2 beaten eggs
1 T lemon juice
The next day stir to loosen the pasta mixture up and add remaining ingredients- fruit is all drained. ( I drain ahead and use the pineapple juice above)
3 cans mandarin oranges
2 cans 20oz pineapple chunks
1 can 20 oz crushed pineapple
9 oz cool whip
1 cup coconut
1 cup miniature marshmallows
Cherries are optional
Serves 25

Here's to Creative Inspiration, great food and great Friends !

What more could you want !

9:3o am 2 little smiles at the door...one sound asleep carried in by Mommy...swimming lessons for G-man...Swimming lessons for the big A...lunch time yummies...a trip to the mall...ice cream treats at diary queen...a ride on the Carrousel...home for quiet time...play time in the pool...pizza delivery for dinner...rice krispie treats...Aiden learned bejeweled on the computer with Papa...Ethan discovered the pantry is fun...Garrett went poopoo on the potty...waldo books on the couch...what more could you want !

Crazy busy day here !

Crazy busy day here ! Got home from work and enjoyed seeing little smiling faces coming to my door ! Our weather was so beautiful out all us adults nixed the swimming and just enjoyed being out while the little ones braved the water ! The boys brought their boats so there were new adventures in the pool ! Ethan had fun swinging and watching his big brothers in the pool.

While Amy finished up all the dinner prep Aiden and Garrett and I played frisbie, boy can they throw a frisbie ! Garrett was very busy collecting things with his bucket too. Dinner was consumed with a vengance, they loved the meatballs, corn and muffins, Ethan had fun playing with pool towels and chasing the basketball around.

Time for sharing Uncle Jeremy's Waldo books they love. Then off to the bathtub.

3 Clean boys all on their way home, One dirty Grammy off to plop in a chair !

Party Meatballs

This is my first posting on a recipe. I felt like maybe I was doing a cooking show ! ha ! Boys and Amy are coming over for dinner and to practice their swimming lessons this afternoon , so I'll be at work and better be organized for when I get home so I can join in the fun. So we are having that fresh corn on the cob we got and some apple muffins and these party meatballs. This has been such a neat recipe that everyone loves, you can make them ahead and then bake them when you are ready. Brenda gave me this recipe years and years ago, and it's been a favorite since.I used ground turkey instead of the ground beef.

Party Meatballs

2 lbs ground beef (lean)
1-cup corn flake crumbs
1/3-cup parsley flakes
2 eggs
2 T. soy sauce
¼ t. pepper
½ t. garlic powder
1/3-cup catsup
2 T. dried onions
Make into meatballs and put into 9x13 pan

Sauce
1 lb. Can jellied whole cranberry sauce
1 – 12 oz. bottle Heinz chili sauce
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. lemon juice
Mix sauce and microwave until warm and smooth. Pour over meatballs. Bake 350 uncovered 30 min.

Ready for the oven, one for tonight, one for the freezer and one plain for the boys. yeah dinner is almost ready and I"m off to work !

Ellies Wallets

These are Ellie's wallets. I spent the weekend getting them made for her. She is a very sweet lady that I've become reaquainted with at work. She comes in to shop and mostly just visit. It turns out that I grew up about 3 houses down the street from Ellie and went to school with her children. We figured it out one day when she became reaquainted with my sister as she worked at Dobson high school where Ellie taught for years and then made the connection. She'd come in and talk about her trips to Kansas which is where my parents came from so all the towns she talked about I knew of. She'd always talk about her trip to Australia and how she wanted to go again and was planning to. She took this little class I taught to make these little wallets and decided she wanted to make them and take them as gifts for her austrailian friends and tour group. In the meantime Ellie has gotten extremely ill and is in the fight for her life. She's still planning to make this final trip and asked if I could help her make the wallets as she wasn't able to. She had asked for 15 in southwest fabrics and batiks so I got them done and made 3 more so she and her daughters who will accompany her to enjoy. I just hope her health will hold on so she can enjoy her trip in July. It's kind of neat to think a little piece of me is going to Austrailia.