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It's this boy's special day today!
2 years ago, Emmett made his arrival.
And how can we resist this cute grin??
His sisters love him.
And we do, too. We are looking forward to having him and the rest of his family a little closer to us next summer than they are now, when his daddy finally finishes up his schooling.
Happy, happy birthday to this sweet boy!
Keeping current with Project Life pages.
Oh yes, I am....
Last week's pages.
Some of these stories are still coming.
I got the sewing part done on another of my "honey" quilt blocks. Then I fused the appliqué pieces onto the two blocks. I still need to embroider around the edges of the appliqué pieces, but I'm making progress.
I worked with a card kit last week. The papers were quite patriotic and I was really wondering how I was going to use them. In the meantime, my church girl/transition specialist job at church has been given to someone else, so I can concentrate more on the care center branch.
And the Olympics have been happening, so I decided to send out one last batch of cards to the church girls, relating them to the recent Olympics and letting them know that someone else would be taking over the job from me.
The inside of the card and the envelope. I realize that no church job lasts forever, but I always miss the ones I've been given to take care of.
So around here this week....
I can't really begin this post with my usual whine about the hot weather. It's definitely been warm, just sitting somewhere in the low-mid 80's and it's been almost tolerable, but temperatures are headed back up. It was too good to last. As you can see here, the garden is going absolutely NUTS. We are having trouble keeping up.
Here you can see some of Evan's fancy tomato varieties. This year, with the exception of the Brandy Boy, I'm sticking with my old favorites. But then again, I have a very unsophisticated palate that likes its Beefmaster and Sweet 100's.
The new roses I planted this year are mostly finding happiness in their new spots. That fuchsia one on the left is one of them as well as the peachy one in front. My kitchen smelled good yesterday after I cut them....
....but then the smell of this took over. This picture is for you, Julie! I have 3 boxes of peaches slowly ripening in my back hall. I took a few of them and did a batch of jam. I'll be sticking the rest in bottles over the next few days. Hopefully they'll ripen a few at a time instead of all at once. That would not be convenient....so that's probably what will happen.
Isn't this pretty? I bought this geranium specifically so it would look like this for the wedding. Did it? Of course not! There were no blooms anywhere in site on the day of the wedding. It's only about a month and half late.
It was a long meeting day last Sunday and quite frankly the next few weeks will be as well, but I came out of my last meeting to see this. Pretty awesome. Bryce, my husband and I spent some time here one evening this week and there is no place that can bring me more peace or put things right into perspective.
My husband took Bryce back down to school this week, leaving me on my own for a couple of days. Good thing I have those peaches to keep me company. My mother wanted to go see the new Ben Hur movie so she could compare it to the Charlton Heston version, which is one of her all time favorites. I actually quite enjoyed most of it. It's pretty visually impressive, but the ending seems rushed and just a little cheesy, but as I recall the older version is as well. There are some very definite nods to the Charlton Heston version which were kind of fun.
We celebrated my DIL's birthday early in the week. I tried a new recipe for zucchini brownies. I followed the recipe exactly and the batter looked very stiff and odd. The original recipe has no eggs, just some oil and shredded zucchini for moisture. The appearance made me anxious, so I threw in a couple of eggs and baked it up. Fortunately it turned out just fine.
Grandpa hogged Baby Q.
But when he was able to do this, it was pretty hard to be mad. Look at that cute little grin...
Roger found a treasure trove of pinecones.
And Frederick apparently wanted to point something very serious out about this specific pinecone.
Collin sent me this picture with the caption, "Brrrrr....." He can be kind of snotty when he wants to be.
Marc sent me this one of his two boys. Levi is going through his male pattern baldness phase. He's also been having some tummy issues that hopefully he'll outgrow/resolve soon.
As I mentioned, Bryce has headed back down to school. He has elected to live off-campus this year, which is causing me just a little stress. Since he doesn't drive and will be walking everywhere he goes, I'm worried about him being able to get groceries, walking all over during really cold weather, crossing hugely busy streets with his vision. I will be praying extra hard this year.
And I will leave you this week with this little video of Samson. Both he and Delilah paid a visit to the vet this week where they were vaccinated and fixed. They have recovered nicely and they both find the hose very interesting. I think they are going to help me with my Bryce stress.
Most of this post will consist of a series of videos to show you what happens when there are boys of all ages at the river.
You can see that the haze is still there as the sun goes down. Interestingly, when we get up in the morning, it's much more clear, but we always have a while in the afternoon when a breeze blows up the canyon and brings things with it...either some clouds, or a change in the weather or in this case, the smoke.
Roger's second favorite thing to do at the cabin is throw rocks in the river. First in the ranking is riding in the rhino with my husband. Third in line now would be watching anybody "smash some wood," but I digress.
While we were at the river, we noticed a couple of ducks floating down with the current. You can see Bryce pointing out the ducks to Roger and then my husband sending Ollie after them. He didn't catch them, of course, but you can see how shallow the river is at this time of year. There aren't many places where he has to swim.
We moved to a different spot along the bank and by now Roger had started coaxing both Bryce and my husband to "fro BIG ones" into the water. I was very innocently filming Ollie going after the stick Bryce had thrown for him, when my darling husband thought it might be fun to splash me.
Which evolved into a "Rule of 13" game to keep trying again. I'm totally doing a post on The Rule of 13 next week, I promise. Just keep this incident in mind. Hysterically funny for the guys in the family. Eye-rolling for me.
Never a question that is asked much up at the cabin, because there's always stuff to do, whether it's chores or fun, there's always a way to fill the time. We spent a couple of days up at the cabin this past weekend with my in-laws, Evan and his boys (except for the baby.)
First off, let me draw your attention to this picture that I posted last week when I thought it was hazy from the fires burning out here.
Aaaaaaaand this was last weekend. I guess I should have kept my mouth shut about it being hazy, because this week it was just that much worse.
The mornings would start out fairly clear, but by afternoon the smoke would drift in with the afternoon breeze.
There's always wood to chop for the winter and despite the purchase of the magic technological wood splitter, sometimes the guys just like to be that manly and do it by hand. It's a good workout. Evan took a turn with my FIL looking on.
And so did my husband with Roger supervising. How cute is this? Roger is waaaaay back out of the way of what's going on, right where Grandpa put him, and he stayed right there watching the whole time. When they had to stop for dinner, his first request after eating was to "Smash more wood!!"
Meanwhile, what was I doing while all this manly activity was going on? Lounging and eating bonbons, of course. No...I was inside, where it was a lot cooler, working on a couple of quilting projects. I started a new one here....it's a block of the month deal with beehives on it. I need a more spring-type quilt for my front hall and when I saw this one, I thought of the way that Roger calls me, "Honey" and I was sunk. I got as much done on this as I could, but it also has some embroidery on it and I didn't have the right supplies at the cabin....the hazard trying to have projects in 2 different places.
So I pulled out this unfinished project. It's a baby girl quilt that I've had in pieces for at least 2 years because, well, I keep having grandsons. But I was out of options and I figure that someday I'll have another granddaughter, so I finished off the blocks for it and squared them up...
...and then laid out the rows. I still love the colors of this one and will finish it up and put it away for the future. I seem to be in a sewing mood lately.
I have my old, high-school sewing machine up at the cabin and have been using it to work my way through grandchildren quilts.
I got Quincy's quilt done while I was there recently. I love it when I can start and finish a project on the same day. OK, so it's not quite done yet, but I did get the top all pieced.
Really fun fabrics for this one...frogs, bugs, lizards.
The pattern is called Stacked Coins for fairly obvious reasons. I used this pattern to make it, substituting yardage for the pre-cut squares. I think cutting my own strips, sewing them all together and then cutting across them to make the stacks of coins saved me an amazing amount of time.
Nice job holding the quilt top, Bryce. I need to get it in to the local machine quilter. Hopefully it will be a fast turnaround and I can get it bound quickly. Next up, starting another baby boy quilt for the kiddo coming in December.
I think I'm back in the swing of cooking again, now that the guys are home from the hills. I am trying to use as much fresh garden stuff as I can, which is a challenge given how nuts the garden is going. We had some zucchini, and onions in this tortellini and vegetable dish. I froze half for another day.
We were running low on my husband's favorite granola, so I made some of that because he loves nuts and twigs. And since the Lunch Lady came to visit this week, I tried out these Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars for dessert.
If you click on the link there, there's even a video tutorial on making them. This recipe taught me the magic of the offset spatula. I've had one for literally years, and every once in a while I've thought about using it...more often getting rid of it, but after watching the tutorial and trying the spatula, I'm a convert. The softened peanut butter spread like, well....butter. Really made quick work of it. My husband has fond memories of these bars from school lunch days.
Lunch Lady Peanut Butter Bars
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups peanut butter (divided)
2 cups oatmeal (rolled, not quick)
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
Frosting:
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
1/4 cup milk
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons cocoa
2-3 cups of powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream the sugar, brown sugar, and butter together. Add the vanilla, eggs, and 1 cup peanut butter and stir to combine.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix together.
Spread dough on a greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1"). Bake for 15 minutes (until golden brown).
While hot spread the other 1 1/2 cups peanut butter on top - it helps to drop spoonfuls all over the top of the bars, then spread after the peanut butter has started to melt.
Let cool until the peanut butter has become solid again. This can be hurried a long a little by putting the pan in the fridge.
While cooling, mix together frosting ingredients and spread on top of bars.
So around here this week.....
Sigh. Enough already. I'm so over this. I have friends who keep saying that the summer really hasn't been that hot this year. My electric bill begs to differ.
The plums are starting to turn.
But the peaches are still as green as grass. I have a friend down the street who has a peach tree and hers are orange and beautiful. I'm not sure what's going on with ours....maybe a different variety.
The kittens are finding their way around and are pretty cute to watch. Samson made the mistake of trying to climb up the back of my pant leg.
My grandsons started school this week. So after a several-year hiatus, the Lunch Lady reappeared.
We had the usual menu of food that started with the letter "P".....pigs in blankets, peaches, pears, peas and peanut butter bars for dessert.
Last week I showed you this tomato. I was corrected by my Russian-speaking Evan. This isn't a Black Cream, it's a Black Krim...a Russian variety, which may explain why he planted it.
We tried it last weekend and the general consensus was that the Russians can keep this one. We'll stick with Beefmasters.
We left the party lights up from my daughter's wedding and it's pretty nice to sit out under them in a-little-less-than-brain-baking evenings after the sun goes down.
It's a little dark, but we have great hopes for Samson and Delilah going after mice after watching them stalk and take care of a big beetle.
Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, it's my DIL #1's birthday today....Happy birthday!! Here are Collin and James....and a friend, at the Natural History Museum. We learned this week that James will be having a little baby brother come December. If anyone's counting, that brings the ratio of grandboys to grandgirls to 9-2.
Bryce was apparently very excited to see the lunch lady again.
And my daughter and a friend went to an arcade place and had a good time. Good week....just WAY too hot.
With the wedding over and done with, I have had a little time to play with paper. Or "paper" depending on the project.
As far as "paper" goes, I am officially current with Project Life pages.
Man, I love being able to keep a running track daily life, as well as special times.
And last week's pages.
Just makes me happy. Oh and look! I changed up the design a little, 'cause I'm just that wild and crazy.
I put together a 4x4" album for my daughter with "advice" cards from her bridal shower.
We had little cards that our friends could fill out with advice for her, and the advice ranged from the serious to the hilarious.
It went together really quickly and I sent it off to her this week.
I also touched actually paper by pulling out a card kit and putting together several cards with different sentiments in this same design.
Love working with kits, because never in a million years would I have picked these papers to work with, but I ended up really liking how they turned out.
This was based on one of the examples included with the kit.
They also included a couple of pieces of watercolor paper that I embossed and tried some ink resist with distress inks. I initially tried to match the colors with the kit in the right card. I didn't like how it turned out at first, but the resulting color scheme is growing on me. For the left card I just went with some colors that I liked and didn't get enough contrast. I guess I'm not terribly "technique" oriented, but I touched real paper, so that's what counts, right?
