Sliders Night!

We told the kids they could plan the New Years Eve dinner menu. They came up with ten suggestions ie: Taquitos, Tostada Bar, Pasta, Sliders, Burrito Bar, Pulled Pork Sandwiches, Hot Dogs, and I can't think of the others. Then we took a vote at the lunch table today. It was 2 to 2 Pulled Pork and Sliders. Ken didn't want to be the one to break the tie so he suggested that we have Sliders tonight and Pulled Pork tomorrow night to bring in the new year. They were pretty jazzed by that decision. KL suggested cup cakes for dessert. I said "Sure, as long as you make'em!"

JD and I went to the store to pick up the groceries we needed, plus some for a few appetizers for New Year's day football games. It was fun having some "alone time" with JD, the "middle kid" because that doesn't happen very often. He's a fun kid, and he loves to cook and he's quite creative at it . . . in fact it was his suggestion to have Sliders. (Of course when I hear the word "Sliders" I first think of the Vodka/Oyster kind and I would have said "Eeeeew, no way!" but then I remember I've had the kind of sliders he was talking about at TGI Fridays, once or twice, so I knew what he must be talking about. Here's our day of preparation for the fun meal we enjoyed tonight.

KL is quite proficient in baking cup cakes.

I taught her how to make butter cream frosting from scratch. It's the only kind of frosting I ever made when I was a kid. She decided to give it a bit of color. CD was fascinated about the coloring stage.

The cup cakes were perfect!

And oh so pretty!

Then it came time for cooking up the slider patties. JD seasoned the meat before they were placed on the sizzling hot griddle.

While the "slider patties" cooked, I toasted the "slider rolls" and . . . ta-dah! Don't they look yummy?

All smiles and ready to dig in!

They were just a bit hyper tonight and wanted to do a silly picture . . . after all, their folks will be home tomorrow. That's something we're ALL excited about! After dinner the three kids and I played a game of LIFE - Indiana Jones style, while Ken finished his third book for the week.

Life is good!

Brings back memories . . .

We've taken care of our grandkids many times before, but normally only for a day or two at a time. Being here with the grandkids for six days, and having established a pretty nice daily routine has brought back so many memories of when I was a "young" mother. Doing a couple loads of laundry a day, reminding the kids to pick up after themselves, being responsible for preparing three balanced meals each day, running the vacuum cleaner, and still have time for playing games and crafting, and watching a movie or two with them on TV . . . all fond memories of years ago, nearly forty years ago!

KL and I start in on some new designs in Dutch embroidered cards . . . while dinner is slowly cooking in the crock pot. She is such a big help in the daily chores, especially taking care of the animals, and we have lots of fun together.

CD, with his buddy Murray, having fun with a new snow boarding game played on the television.

JD playing with his new Guitar Hero and he's getting pretty good! When his mom and dad get home they can figure out how to get it hooked up to play on the television, a bit easier and certainly more fun than on the laptop.

And Ken and I even have time to relax. I always love to knit, and Ken is almost finished with his second of three books he got for Christmas from our mid-western kids.

Murray braved it and found a nice warm and sunny spot today. The snow has finally melted.

Life is good!

Burrrrr Willies!

It's been pretty darn cold here for the last week or so. Mother Nature blessed us with a beautiful white Christmas! The following day Jen and PD left for six days to be with his mom who had recently lost her husband (PD's step-dad). Ken and I were put in charge of the household, kids, and animals. (KL does a thorough job of caring for the animals, so no worries there.) Today is "Day Two" and we're all doing fine. The snow has pretty much melted, at least there is not enough to "play" in the snow, so to speak. So we've been lucky to have the new games the kids got for Christmas to pass some of the time. They are good kids, and it's been a pleasure caring for them.

Christmas morning . . . it started to snow.

It didn't take long for us to realize it wasn't going to stop. We probably got a few inches only, but it was enough to turn everything in sight a beautiful twinkling white!

My horse-loving KL sorting out the pieces to a puzzle she got for Christmas.

With a little help from her brother and me! Ta-Dah!

Giving the thumbs-up for the brownies she just took from the oven.

This morning she came in looking like this . . . it made me giggle a bit seeing this "city-turned-country" girl coming in from feeding the animals and collecting a couple of eggs. This afternoon Ken went out and found seven more!

Taffy (a.k.a. Kee-Kee) and Murray studying the weather and deciding it was too cold for them, even though the sun was out.

This afternoon KL, CD and I learned how to play another Christmas-gift game, LIFE (Indiana Jones style) . . . CD gave up and KL won by a mile! Our dinner has been cooking in the crock pot all day and now it's time to eat!

Life is good!

Christmas Eve 2008

It's hard to believe that Christmas goes by so fast after all the planning, sewing, tolepainting, baking, cooking, sending cards, and decorating that is done every year. And this year was no different. But we'll treasure the memories forever.

Jen and I cooked a wonderful prime rib dinner with all the fixings. (I took pictures of the prime rib ready to go in the oven, and the carrots waiting to be glazed, and the string beans ready to be sauted with a bit of bacon and pine nuts, and the potatoes ready to be stuffed to become twice-baked potatoes . . . but those pictures looked "naked" because I failed to get pictures of the final dishes. So just use your imagination and sense of smell and taste and you'll capture the essence of our dinner.)

Here is our Christmas in pictures.

Traditionally the kids are allowed to open one present on Christmas Eve . . . and that present is traditionally the Christmas pajamas I make them every year. I make four pair of jammies for the grandsons, and one for KL, my only granddaughter. We'll enjoy all five grandkids plus our daughter and son-in-law next year as they come out every other year. That's when it's just the best of the best times . . . when we're all together!

Here they are ready for bed and soon will have visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads! The boys liked their John Deere flannel P.J.s

Jen sat down for the traditional Christmas story reading, normally from the Bible. This year she found a great book that has Christmas stories from several top authors. As she began reading, their kitty found a comfy spot on the back of the couch right above Jen's head. The cat was innocently watching out the window, but her tail was swishing across Jen's cheek.

It happened once nonchalantly at first and we thought nothing of it. Then she'd swipe her cheek every few seconds and we all just got the giggles.

Our Christmas story time got quite humorous.

The youngest, CD, wrote this note to Santa and made sure he had cookies and warmed milk!

The ornaments this year were fun to paint.

I hope your Christmas was full of peace . . .

, , , and joy!

Life is Good!

Christmas Tea with Pat

Pat joined us for a cup of Christmas tea today. We had a fun time just enjoying each other's company and sharing grandkid stories. Tomorrow she's headed over to her daughter's place to enjoy Christmas with her adorable three-year-old granddaughter. So we celebrated early and exchanged gifts and cookies today.

A fun afternoon with a good friend.

Life is good . . . sharing tea with a friend.

Christmas Baking

It's getting to look taste a lot like Christmas. While Jen went Christmas shopping we spent the day in her kitchen with the grandkids baking cookies and making fudge. We baked three kinds of cookies and a batch of fudge . . . and what fun we had!

KL jumped right in and helped me the entire day. She reminds me of myself when I was her age in that she likes to bake. She's never made fudge before and really loved licking the spoon when we finished! The first thing we did was make the cookie dough for the sugar cookies we would use later on in the day.

My favorite cookie is the Lemon Dream Bar and I make them every Christmas.

It took two of us to stir the fudge . . . this is the Million Dollar Fudge recipe, and is really rich and yummy.

As you can see, Jen got home in time for the fun of decorating the sugar cookies. The second cookie we made is the Spicy Molasses Cookie shown in the center of the table. (I forgot to take pictures while we were making them.) This one both KL and CD helped with rolling the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls, then into the sugar before placing them on the baking sheet. This cookie is easy to make and absolutely delicious!

The cookie cutters we used were stars, trees, bells, teddy bears, and, of course KL's favorite . . . a few horses.

CD loves decorating cookies . . . and licking his fingers.

Here he is proudly showing the world his creations!

Life is good . . . baking Christmas cookies with my grandkids!

The Hens Earn Their Keep

The first egg sales were made today! Even though the hens are slowing down in their egg production, due to the colder weather setting in, the kids sold five dozen and earned $10 to put into their 4-H business venture.

Squeezing three of us in the front seat of the golf cart was a challenge. With a wee bit of a begrudging attitude, JD ended up sitting on his sister's lap!

Being small enough to sit in the back of the golf card,
CD was the guardian of the eggs and cash can.

Life is Good!

A Gift of Love

The Crazy Shorts Quilt is finished and on its way to Cecile, who is busy selling Christmas Trees over in the Bay Area. The top was finished in September, and since getting back from Oregon it has been sent to the professional quilter, then returned back to me for the binding. I thought you'd like to see it for the last time before it goes. Truly it is a family heirloom as crazy as it may look. There is such a great story that goes along with it. If you don't remember the story, click on the link to read it.

I've come to love this quilt and, at the same time, am happy to see it go and bring fond memories and, hopefully, lots of smiles to Ceciles son-in-law. Merry Christmas!

On the pocket of the turquoise "crazy frogs" bermuda shorts, this set of initials with the heart patch was found by Cecile's daughter while she was taking the shorts apart (getting the fabrics ready for us to make the quilt top). I don't think he ever knew it was there and it will be a fun memory-making surprise for him. The quilt label on the back shows that it is a gift to Cecile's son-in-law and dedicated to the memory of his mom.

Life is Good!

Simply Country Bunnies

I'd like you to meet the two latest additions to the Simply Country Farm. KL and JD each have another 4-H project. . . BUNNIES! It's amazing the energy these kids have, including their younger brother CD, caring for not only their yellow lab, their calico cat, their 21 chickens including several varieties, three Alpine goats, and now they've added two bunnies: KL's bunny, Elwood, is a Dutch Blue (I think I have that right), and JD's bunny is a cute Holand Lop bunny names Lillian. She's a real cutie, and her coloring is called "Tortoise." Here are some pictures so you can see just how adorable these new critters are.

Here is JD's cute little female Holland Lop named Lillian!

Both bunnies love to be held like a little baby.

And this is "Elwood", KL's Dutch Blue . . . she named him Elwood after one of the Blues Brothers! And he comes with quite a set of Grand Champions in lineage . . . his Great Great Grandpa has something like 20 Grand Championships.

Jen's become quite the farm girl!

Life is Good!

Enough to Start Selling

That's right . . . the Simply Country Farm is getting about a dozen eggs a day. And we've had seven folks right here at Park Sierra sign up to be some of their first customers. So that part of their 4-H project is soon to begin!

Just look at the variety of colors their eggs come in!

There's just nothing like a fresh fried egg . . .

Except a couple of fresh fried eggs with a piece of bacon and a slice of whole grain toast . . . yummo!

Life is good . . . especially with fresh eggs for life!

Christmas Tea at Sierra Pines

Last night was a "Girls Night Out" in that Jen not only played chauffeur, but she treated KL and me to the Christmas Tea at our church in Oakhurst. It was lots of fun with just us girls doing "girlie" things together. . . a three-generation night out. It was also a fund-raiser for the women's ministry program and I think they did quite well, with nearly 150 in attendance at $20 a pop, plus over 50 raffle gift-baskets with the proceeds added to the evening's profits. The three of us were helping out by collecting admission tickets, and selling raffle tickets. When we were finished we then sat down and enjoy the tea and holiday festivities. Thanks, Jen, for a great time with you and KL!

Here is KL helping out in the collecting of admission tickets, keeping a careful count of those coming in, being that it was a catered affair.

She was even a lucky winner of one of the raffle baskets!

Life is good!