When Some Grandkids Were Here

Company's Come and Gone

Grandma was here for a week and no picture other than the birthday one. Grandpa, Amanda, Kendall and Annie came Wednesday and went home Sunday. I don't have a picture of Grandpa or Amanda. We were going to try take pictures of Grandpa and Grandma with the kids. I wish I had pictures of me with my grandparents. I don't. But I guess we simply forgot to take out the camera. Too busy just having fun visiting.

Thank You for the Birthday Wishes

Miss Beans made me a birthday cake today. My favorite, Miami Beach Cake. She is getting to be quite the little baker around here! (Her and Molly are cleaning and reorganizing their bedroom and she came upon colored hair spray from Halloween and decided to give it a try, hence the purple streaks!)

In My Room.......

I couldn't believe Danny took his music outside the other day. He spends hours in his room, listening to music, exercising, playing X-Box 360 and now lately, playing the keyboard. He puts on his headphones and sits at the keyboard, plays and sings. (He really feels like he's a "famous piano player".) We have had some of the most beautiful days and he still spends hours in his room. So Dad started singing the song, "In My Room" by the Beach Boys. He sings, "There's a world where I can go and tell my secrets to, in my room, in my room" Danny thought it was funny at first but it lost it's humor now. He gets annoyed at Dad when he sings it. (Unfortunately, it's one of those songs that gets stuck in your head and has been playing in mine all day!)

A little Danny story: When Sara was here she took Danny, Paul and Will garage saleing. I gave Danny a $1 and told him to spend it wisely. I warned him that he might not find anything good at the first sale so save it until he found something he really wanted. Sara heard him say as they went up to the first garage sale, "I hope they have a X-Box 360 for $1!" He repeated that at every sale and came home with his $1. He wasn't ready to come home when Sara was as he "still hadn't found a X-Box 360!" He's getting a little worried as Brett is taking his X-Box with him when he leaves in the fall!

Vegetable Ham Stew

I had some leftover ham and was looking through a Taste of Home cookbook and found this stew recipe. I didn't think the kids would like it just by the looks of it. But they did. Danny took one spoonful and said, "mmmm, this is good!!!" It was very tasty! I modified it just a bit......I used diced tomatoes with basil and oregano in them. I also minced two fresh garlic cloves instead of the powder and I picked some of my fresh basil and chopped it instead of the dried.

Vegetable Ham Stew

4 cups water
2 cans (14 ½ ounces, each) diced tomatoes, undrained
3 cups shredded cabbage
2 cups diced fully cooked ham
3 large carrots, chopped
1- ½ cups chopped celery
¾ cup chopped onion
½ cup chopped green pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons dried basil
½ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
2 bay leaves
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup cold water
In a Dutch oven, combine the first 13 ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 ¼ hours or until cabbage is tender, stirring occasionally.

Combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; stir into stew. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Discard bay leaves before serving. Yield: 11 servings (2-3/4 quarts)

Heidi's Shower

There was a shower for Heidi in her home town. Kate H. helped plan it. Me and the girls drove up Monday and came back Tuesday. Molly left with Sara to go to Minnesota and Gretchen went with Emily for a week. That leaves only Kaitlin, Danny and Jeanie here during the day.

Heidi and Jeff's families at the shower.
All of my daughters except one. Jennifer you were with us in thought!

Grandkids Come To Visit

Auntie Jeanie gets two down. She loves to read to the kids. I think Lori lasted about 5 minutes and Paul maybe 8. They play so hard outside and swimming all day, it doesn't take them long to fall asleep once they relax with a story.We've been having such a fun week with Sara and her kids. Sara and I were commenting last night that we were quite amazed that Jeanie hasn't gotten bored with the kids and keeps busy playing with them, all day long! These kids are lucky they have an aunt and uncle that will play with them, non-stop! (I just noticed that we don't have Danny in any of the pictures. I'm not sure how that happened as he usually tries to sneak in all of them!!)

Molly Gets Confirmed

One Tree Down

Dad took out the chainsaw the other day. That tree was looking so straggly so he took it down to make more room for the other two little ones. He plans on taking down a few more by the back lot line between us and Randy's that have died.