A Quiet Evening

I enjoyed a quiet evening last night. Tracy went to a planning meeting before youth group so I hung out at a friend's house while he took Tracy to youth group. I did some mending for him first, then I worked on some of my pictures of Aaron and Jason for their books, I made some cookies, went to the store and got a few groceries, and then sat and read my book while waiting for them to get back. Mike was the lucky guy who got to deal with all the noise here, which really isn't noise until you start giving out the orders. If I had the camera on me, I would get a picture of the messy living/dining room, which hasn't been straightened up for three days now. The little girls keep invading the house with their toys and Polly Pockets and My Little Ponies! I find them in the living/dining room, kitchen, bathroom, my bedroom, and sometimes in the back hallway. :)

Turkey Dinner

Last night I made a turkey dinner for some friends. Their son had been given a turkey from his place of employment for Christmas, and they have had it in the freezer. I cooked it up, cut a bunch of the meat off, and brought that over along with potatoes, gravy, cranberry salad, frog eye salad, jello, stuffing, vegetables, and buns for a yummy dinner to share. Tracy also made a French silk pie, and we had ice cream.

I now have meat leftover for some meals plus the rest of the meat I didn't bring and the bones to cook down for soup! I've also been offered another ham so will have to plan some meals around that in a couple months. We are still working on our ham Mike got at Christmas time from his place of employment.

I bought my anniversary flowers yesterday also, along with the flowers I usually get for the Awana leaders for Christmas. Okay...so I am a month behind... :) At least it is getting done. :)

Going, Going, Gone!

Mike said to mention that "sleeping potion" was one of the things in the stew. :) I also had some hidden zucchini and squash I threw in. Nothing too major...

Clean-Out-The-Fridge Stew

Today was the day to make a stew for supper. I had some ham I did not throw in, but there is burger, beef roast, pork roast, chicken, turkey, and a variety of vegetables in there from meals over the past 1 1/2 weeks. I also put in some "unmentionables," but I'll wait until later to disclose them, if anyone is interested. :)

Of Showers and Cows

Is it appropriate to tell your smelly teen-age son there is "no food and no Wii" until a shower is taken? I say this in the light that when I mention how he smells, his dad just laughs and says, "He's a boy." Well, I understand that, but this is not a third-world country, we have plenty of water and soap around here (the water is even heated,) and it's not as if he is out physically working, earning the stench. This is a matter of, "Please take a shower; it has been two weeks." I self-admittedly stink right now because I took the little kids to see a new calf that was born. The first time Laura and I saw one, it was around 1/2 hour old. David and the calf are checking each other out. It weighs three to four times as much as he does! These last two pictures are the heifer that was born yesterday afternoon, which we got to see around 3 hours old. She was a frisky little thing, jumping all over the pen.

"Christmas" Dresses

I sewed a lot of dresses for Christmas time this year. The three girls along with the three girl cousins on my side got dresses like this. (Well, if you count the baby's. We were not expecting a girl and didn't really have enough material so I had to piece something together.) Emily does not like her dress though so I'll probably cut it apart and make the baby a new one when she gets a little bigger so she can match her sisters.

I also sewed a purple "Tinkerbell" dress for the cousin on Mike's side, but I don't know if there is a picture of it. She would not try it on; she likes Rapunzel better now. One month goes by quickly for "name-brand" things.

Happenings

Last night the 9th through 12th graders had floor hockey in the gyms for FCA so the Awana-age children made use of the school's pool. Mike "kept charge" of the hot tub while I skipped out to do some grocery shopping. (I think I got the better end of the deal!)

Tomorrow we are planning to head to Buena Vista to go downhill skiing. I bought some lunchmeat for sandwiches on the way home and plan to make some cookies. The kids do not usually eat while we are there so I have learned to tone down on the meals for the day.

Everyone is doing well.

CRASH!

Last night Jason was on the kitchen floor warming up on the furnace when he flew out of the kitchen. There was a huge crash, and my whole rack of food came tumbling down, rack and all. It has been leaning more and more over the past 12 years, and I guess this was the time to fall. :) Now I will have to organize that stuff and see if we can get the rack back on the wall.

Thursday Laura went with me to bring Jason to his orthodontic appointment in Roseau and again yesterday to bring Aaron to his dentist appointment. About five or ten minutes from home each time, she asked, "When will we get home? I want to play." Poor girl...

I finally got my letters to the grandparents from last week sent yesterday. I had them ready to go and could not find the stamps. They were in the checkbook which was in the car in town. We had to have two new hubs put on, but at least the car sounds much better, after a year of noise. It also got new license plates so has a clean slate once again.

Emily is 9!

Emily had her 9th birthday on January 2. She, David, and I made a trip to Bemidji to go to church and pick up Tracy.

When we got home, we made chicken nuggets and a mixture of "store-bought" fry-type things. I think there were curly fries, tater tots, and onion rings.

Emily had seen and requested this ice cream pizza. It was a chocolate chip cookie bottom, ice cream, chocolate chips, and caramel drizzled over the top.

A couple gifts:


Playing the Wii with Jason...

She still wants to go to the glow-in-the-dark mini golf so we will have to set a time aside and do that one of these days.