Little Helpers (sort of)

Danny and Jeanie helped clean out the Yukon. They (we) are getting excited for vacation. Jeanie was all set to help me load the trailer today. I have two weeks of groceries to haul out and she woke up all excited to help until the neighbor girl showed up at the door and now she's gone! I'll see what help I can get out of Danny. You never know, if he wants to, he's a great help. But if he doesn't want to, forget it!!! Right now he's down the basement playing "Weatherman" at the chalkboard. He printed off the next weeks forecast and is down there drawing on the board, reading the forecast. Molly spent the night at the Kramers and the twins have to work in an hour so it may just be me loading.

Danny's New Shoes

"I bet I could run faster than Dad!"

Happy Birthday Heidi Sue (and I guess me)

I realized when I saw Jen's blog that we both had the same cake last year. Cheesecake with raspberry sauce for Heidi and Saunder's Cake for me. (The cheesecake is definately the better of the two but Danny thought I should have Saunder's Chocolate Cake.) Thanks for all the birthday calls.

Jacob Bruce

I was going to email these to you girls but decided others might enjoy seeing this little peanut. What a cutie! Congratulations to Shannon and Bruce! He is adorable! eta: these pictures are from Uncle Joe

Riss turns 21

We celebrated Larissa's birthday yesterday. I should have taken a picture at dinner as Heidi, Brett, Kaitlin, Gretchen and Larissa's sister, Shannon were there. The teenagers had to go play volleyball with the "kyds" and Heidi had another sister-in-law's birthday party to go to. (Molly just came in from a hot, humid run.)

County Fair

Karen and I took the kids to the fair. Not sure why I took my camera as I didn't get any cool shots. It was a HOT day. It was hot, dirty, loud and crowded. I guess Danny and Jeanie had a blast. Although Danny and Molly were ready to leave by 1:00. We stayed until 2:00 and Jeanie stayed a couple hours longer with Karen. Molly complained that there was only 1, maybe 2, good rides. Wednesday was "Kids Day" so they could get arm bands for$12.

Wild Rice Casserole

I'm thinking about this for supper tonight. This is Grandma T's recipe.

I "invented" a new bar recipe. We LOVE it. I'm trying to "tweak" the recipe. When I make it again, I will post it. Stay tuned....... Other than that, we are just getting "geeked" about our Canadian camping trip. Danny has the days counted down and I have been washing the cushions, curtains etc. in the trailer. Amazingly the curtains went through the wash without falling apart. Accessories in travel trailers aren't exactly the highest quality. I have a couple sewing projects I want to get done before we go. I will post them when I get to them.

WILD RICE CASSEROLE

1 6 oz. Uncle Ben’s Long Grain & Wild Rice (Cook according to directions)
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
1 cup half & half
1 cup chicken broth
2 cups cooked chicken
1/3 cup pimento
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup slivered almonds

Saute butter with onions. Stir in flour, salt and pepper. Gradually add half & half and broth. Stir until thickened. Add rest of ingredients. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes, uncovered.

Twinners (and Janelle) Go Visiting

These girls.......

Went to visit these girls.......

(Although I'm not sure if Lauren is home from looking at her Mom's blog.) They rode home with Yvonne and Cindy. Thank you Steve and Yvonne for having them. They will end their visit with a day in Chicago and then take the train home. I am so excited for them to see Chicago as they have never been and it is such a great city to visit. I'm sure Steve and Yvonne will be great tour guides! Anxious to hear about their trip when they get home.

They Left Us

Matt and Emily and kids left this morning. It was a funtastic week!! We will sure miss them. I should have taken a picture of their loaded vehicle! They picked up the four wheeler Cale is riding and a nice double stroller garage saleing. Now we are waiting for Amanda and Paul to arrive late tonight.

Visiting Grandkids

These kids came to town last week. We've been busy just having having fun. Jeanie has been great entertaining Kirsten and Cale. Kirsten and her have gotten along so well. They are busy from morning til night. Brady is still being fought over. He doesn't get too much "floor time". We tried to watch the balloons launch twice as this is the Balloonfest Weekend. Friday night we got there after most had launched. Not that many went up as it wasn't perfect weather so it was "pilot's choice" as to launching. Only about 10-15 went up and we missed the first bunch going up. We did watch about 4-5 set up and launch. We went again Saturday night but it was too windy so they didn't go up.