This & That

Another 7 Year Old

Emmett turns 7 years old today!

He's the third in a group of 4 grandboys that were born in about a year's time, and they all just follow each other in age around the year.

Emmett has always had the most expressive brown eyes...

...and in some instances an expressive rear as well.

Like all his cousins this age, he has been bitten by the Lego bug...just loves them....and the last time he was at my house, he was very excited to tell me he'd chained the Lego dragon to the Lego boat.

He will be starting school next week and we love him as we love all of our sweet grandkiddos. Happy birthday to Emmett!!

From the Kitchen

In the kitchen this week, we have been enjoying the fresh peaches of the season. 

When they first start appearing in the fruit stands, my husband will buy them by the bagful and leave them ripening all over the kitchen counter. We also have the precious peach tree (#savethepeaches) and it's loaded, so there will be canning in the near future. I imagine we'll be picking them in the next 10 days or so.

There's also pie and cobbler making, and this particular one is my mother's recipe. It's a favorite at our house. I may or may not have taken these pictures and sent them to my children in a nanny-booing sort of way.

These also happened last week. We rarely make things with peanut butter anymore.

Our sweet Levi has a severe peanut allergy so we just don't make many peanut treats anymore.

Every once in a while, though, we get a craving for something peanut buttery and I'll make it, and then put lots of warning signs on it.

I also made a new recipe for a wrap and am kicking myself that I didn't take a picture. It starts with a turkey breast done in the crock pot and finishes with a homemade mustard sauce. I'll have to do it again. So, so good.

 

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

I spent some time dead-heading roses and brought a nice bouquet into the house. They are loving the somewhat cooler temperatures, and it goes without saying that I do, too. I think we've seen the last of the 90's, thank goodness.

As the temperatures have started to drop, some garden things are ready to be brought in. Marc and Bryce dug the garlic.

We'll save out some of the biggest heads for fall planting.

We may have been a little lax in keeping the zucchini picked.

The cherry tomatoes are going great guns. They are incredibly sweet and delicious.

We were almost out of freezer jam, so there was a strawberry and raspberry session that happened last weekend. 

We also spent some time in my mother's backyard, whacking away at this honeysuckle that broke the lattice board it was climbing on. There was just too much weight. She was a little scared we killed it, but I think it's going to be ok.

Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I got this series of pictures of Jack and Leo.

Jack (R) is looking at Leo like he's doing something outrageous for grinning.

My daughter's had to be careful how close she places them, as this is often the result.

But look at these cute little chubsters....getting rolls and just getting so big. They turned 6 months old this week, which is just so hard to believe.

Around Here This Week

So around here this week...

Yes, I know it's been a minute, or several. It's just been pretty much a whirlwind for the past several weeks and something had to give. Catching you up in a nutshell, and maybe these stories will be expanded on at some point...

Collin's family came to visit from back east. We last saw them in February when we went out to Virginia to see them. They're now in a completely different state, but still far away.

John loves Ollie and Gus. It's slightly reminiscent of how Caroline used to crawl all over them. Ollie was his usual long-suffering self. Gus was more than willing to play. #doghairfordays

The family did its best to congregate to spend time with the out-of-towners, which meant lots of post-visit laundry.

There were copious amounts of food involved, although not this particular food. I honestly ran out of time preparing for an imminent arrival, so there was only....gasp....store-bought bread. My kids used to beg for store-bought bread when they were little. "Mom, can we PLEASE have some squishy bread???"

There was lots of cousin time, and if you really want something that will get a group of kids going, invest in some of these "rocket copters." They shoot up in the air sling shot style, then twirl back down. Some even had a light-up feature. The kids had a total blast with them. That said, use them as instructed. Do not take the little plastic wings off. That happened with one of the boys and when he shot it up, it came down like a projectile instead of twirling down gently, and it hit his brother in the eye, giving him an injury that required an eye patch and several days of quiet to resolve. Ah, kiddos....

Spent a little time in this place after everyone left, but there wasn't a whole lot of time to rest on our laurels, because I needed to prep for this year's Cackle & Craft, which happened this past week.

It's been a very smokey month with the smoke from fires in western states making its way this direction. This is a picture of the Snake River Canyon near our house. The water is really low, and the air has smelled vaguely of campfire for a while now.

Edward celebrated his 14th birthday with a donut cake.

Elisa and the girlies ran a 5K,

And are feeling pretty good about that accomplishment. Gwen is running cross-country for her middle school and has started practice for that.

It was the first day of school for some. Jurassic James had his first day of first grade.

As did Isaac.

Levi started kindergarten.

And Jude went down for his nap dreaming of going to school.

Bryce and his wife missed most of Collin's family's visit. They had a visit to her parents previously scheduled, and headed to Texas. Bryce attended his first baseball game.

My daughter and the babies also made and appearance so they could meet the back-east cousins. They are almost 6 months old now, which just boggles the mind. Their family has also moved to a different place. So there is the catch up. Probably some of these stories will be expanded on at some point, but I did want to drop in and give a report.

Other People's Cameras, the Pack Trip Edition

I told you that the men and several of the grands spent 10 days in the wilderness recently. This is a trip that started for my family 43 years ago, and has been repeated in some fashion most years since. Here's a look at the experience from the perspective of 3 of my son's cameras.

This year, they ran into something unusual. Last fall a microburst came through and knocked hundreds of trees over, including lots of them into the trail. The travel into their preferred camp usually takes one day, and it took 2 because they had to clear so much timber.

It was Roger and Isaac's first year going and they had lots of new experiences, including riding horses. Isaac was skeptical at first, but soon he was really enjoying it.

There are always chores that need to be done to set up camp. There's a latrine, and my brother-in-law did a little home dec project.

Of course, the main focus of the trip is to spend as much time as possible fishing.

Some of it was catch and release, and some of it was dinner.

The grandkids learn how to cast and reel pretty quickly.

Isaac was great at that, but wasn't too keen on the touching-the-fish aspect of the whole deal.

There's just a little bit of a pained expression in some of these pictures. Here he is with Grandpa.

And with his dad during a lunch break.

If the kids got tired of fishing, there were always a few other things to keep them occupied. Caroline found a hiding place under the roots of these trees.

There are various cousins and other extended family to talk to.

There are the beauties of nature to appreciate.

And even the possibility of a little beach time.

And failing all that, you can always try to catch and release a chipmunk.

The SGB

Long-time readers of my blog know exactly who I'm talking about when I say the SGB. 

When Edward was a baby I called him The Squeezable Grandboy. 

He was so squeezable.

He's no longer a baby. In fact, he's turning 14 today. Seriously, can you believe it? 14!!!

These days he's very into music and composers, geography, math and logic puzzles, and things like Rubik's cubes.

We love him and that curly hair, as we love all our grandchildren...no matter what kind of hair they have. Happy Birthday, Edward!!!

Bringing the Outdoors In

No recipe today and I'm OK with that. I have family en masse here, which is always great.....and chaotic....and hectic....but overall exactly what I love the most.

This caught my eye one afternoon when I was dealing with dogs. I was caught by the pattern on the little moth's wings.

I've been out picking in the garden. With the hot, hot weather, the peppers have been very happy. These are poblanos Marc wanted to try. They're not quite ready, but close.

These jalapeños are gigantic. In fairness they are a variety that's labeled "jumbo" or some such synonym. The regular-sized ones are still a little small.  I'm thinking we need to have some pepper poppers this week while the boys are all here to enjoy them.

All in all, I had a mixed bag here. A few zucchini, a few cucumbers, and lots of different kinds of peppers.

This is the first year I've tried growing yellow banana peppers. Eric's wife grew them last year and pickled them like pepperoncini peppers, and I decided I wanted to try it this year.

We'll see if it's something that's going to be kept in the rotation.