Happy Father's Day!!!

The "Dad" of our house is finally back home!!!  Happy Father's Day to you Honey!

Mike went to Nicaragua early Wednesday morning and came back home early this morning.  He went with my dad and three other men from church.  Our church has been doing mission work in Nicaragua for years and these men went down to get a mission project update.  There is a farm in Nic that is growing crops.  A check up on that progress and growth has been done.  Some more info about the feeding program for the children has been gathered.  There is potential for this third world country and our church is trying to help with their poverty and spiritual growth!

We missed Mike while he was gone.  It just isn't the same without him around!  Mothering three children without a husband is not always easy.  We were busy though.  We hung out with my mom some because dad was gone too.  We went to the pool on Friday and enjoyed the sun and water!  Fun times!

What a good life ... Aunt Lena and the pool!

 My nieces enjoying the pool too ...

The kids were so excited about seeing "Daddy" this morning when they woke up.  Mike was happy too to see them all but still very tired.  I hoped the coffee and warm sticky buns would be enough to wake him up for Sunday School teaching and lunch!

Ashlyn woke up and when she saw Mike she got all smiles and said "dadda". Matthew and Hadassah enjoyed the hugs and kisses and then presented Mike with their father's day gift! "HIS" Chips and Soda!

 Gummies from Hadassah ...

Mike's special Father's Day lunch today!  Brewed tea, nachos with avocado's & a meatball sandwich.  Add some water melon and blueberry's and a small helping of mac and cheese!  Yum!

Mike is now napping and catching up on some much needed sleep.

Father's Day is a special day for Father's of course!  I love this day!  It brings sweet memories of my childhood and appreciation of my dad.  Thanks dad for loving me and raising me in a God fearing home!  What a blessing!

I am so happy to be resting here at home with my little children running around the house, hubby back home safe and sound, and for a day of rest!!!

Happy Father's Day to all the DAD'S!!!

Yummy Pizza Sauce!

Yesterday, we did pizza sauce.  It seems like my "canning season" has begun!  I love to fill up my cellar shelves with fresh foods!  It's the easiest way to create a fast, healthy supper when I need something quick.  It's great for those meals when you really don't feel like spending a lot of time in your kitchen cooking.

We had originally wanted to go to the pool again with my mom and sister.  I woke up to over cast skies and the air had a chill.  No humidity!  But, with a cool breeze and cold water, we thought that would be a bit tough of the little ones.  So, we decided to get together anyway!  Love doing that!  We mixed up two (yep, just two :) ) batches of pizza sauce!  We cooked it and mixed it in my garage!  It smelled so yummy!  It looks great too!

Now, I have jars that are filled and sealed with pizza sauce!  I can't wait to use it for spaghetti, lasagna, and dipping sauce!

 Here's the recipe ...

12 Qt. Tomato Sauce

Boil and add:

4 chopped onions and peppers each.  Boil for 20 minutes and add:

2 C. Brown Sugar

2 T. Salt

1 tsp. Pepper

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 1/2 T. Basil Leaves

2 T. Oregano

1 T. Thyme

1 tsp. Cumin

1 tsp. Cilantro Leaves

1/2 tsp. Celery Salt

1 T. Ground Mustard

3 Bay Leaves

1/2 C. Parsley Flakes

Let this boil till you have enough room to add:

1 - 28 oz. bottle of ketchup

Boil again till you have enough room to add:

1/2 C. Clear Jel (dissolved in a 1/2 C. water)

Let this thicken and then pour into jars and cold pack for 10 minutes!

(Thank you Rosie for the delicious recipe!  I am sure it will be a family favorite from now on!)

 We used two 12 Quart Kettles because we doubled the recipe.  As you can see it does fill them to the very top. 

The smell was unbelievable!  So good!  My whole garage never smelled so good!  :)

 We filled some quarts and pints.  One recipe will give you 12 Quarts of sauce.  I like to have some pints too just for my smaller recipes or for a dipping sauce.  Enjoy!!!

Another menu ...

I have another menu jotted down for this weeks meals.  I wrote this down before remembering that Mike is going to be out of town for a few days, and so that probably means most of this menu will be used for next week.

Last night I did make a quick Stromboli.  I tried a new recipe (which I like to do) but the dough was so sticky and didn't bake that well.  I added more flour than the recipe called for, but still not the best.  (Which I do not like to do.)  I wished I would have used my other great Stromboli recipe.  Oh well.  "It never hurts to try new recipes" ... that's what I like to think! 

I pulled out a recipe I found a long time ago in a magazine because Mike asked for nachos for his Sunday lunch.  It's easy and very delicious.  I changed the recipe just a tad to our taste buds.  Start with tortilla chips.  Top with fresh peppers, shredded cheese and a few splashes of Zesty Italian dressing.  Repeat the layers and sprinkle with cilantro.  Microwave for one minute.  Top with fresh, diced avocados and serve with salsa on the side!

So yummy!!!

My mom has been saying that we need to get together again and have sister's day.  So, last week we did!  But, we never get together just to get together.  I don't know why, but it was fun!  We canned meatballs.  Here's the recipe we used (thanks Annie).  The sauce recipe wasn't enough to fill all our jars completely, so we used some regular bought sauce too.  You could just double the sauce recipe if you would like!  I am sure that would be great too! 

Here was my container filled with the ingredients.  We mixed and mixed.  Rolled them into little balls and baked them for 10 minutes.  This helps to keep the shape after they are fully canned.  I put 12 balls in each jar and topped with sauce.  Cold pack for 3 hours.

Shakia was our entertainment.  Her and Ashlyn were just wanting each other's toys!  :)

Now, I have lots of canned meatball jars in my cellar.  It adds the perfect touch to spaghetti or just to have it as a meal of it's own.  Meatball sandwiches!

My house has a good aroma right now from the chuck roast that has been cooking for a few hours already!  Our supper will be tasty tonight and hopefully healthy and filling!  My kids love when I have gravy with mashed potatoes, so tonight they should be really pleased!  The roast in the oven is producing a wonderful juice that only makes the best gravy!

It's been raining all day and that makes us really lazy!  The massage I had this morning felt great!  I've been pushing it off for weeks and when I woke up this morning, I just knew that a rainy day would be perfect to get some muscle knots worked out!

Hadassah and I played some card games while Ashlyn took her nap.  We love to play "golf" with Skip-Oh cards.  After that, we decided to figure out how to play the game Skip-Oh for real.  Interesting.  Matthew just wanted to watch and play with his angry bird stuffed animals.  I love it so much when the kids and I can just hang out together!  On rainy days, my house work just don't seem as important!  Or is it that I just don't feel like doing the usual daily chores?  I think that's an OK thing???  :)

I hope you enjoy your rainy day too!  Reading a book...  Taking a nap...  Organizing...  What ever it may be for you ... enjoy it!

First day at the pool for this summer!!!

Today, was our first pool outing for the start of our 2012 summer!  It's not an easy task to gather up all our towels, wraps with turkey and cheese, snacks, cooler and lotions!  No complaining here though ... just saying it's a task!  It takes us a few times of doing this routine and then we become pros!  :)

I wasn't sure how it was going to go with Ashlyn.  She loves water and the pool we went to has a great kiddie pool.  It took her a little to get used to the chilly water but then seemed to really enjoy it!  It actually was pretty relaxing for me!  Matthew grabbed his VERY FAITHFUL pair of goggles (I am sure I will have lots of pictures again with this same pair of goggles!!! :)  ).  I hadn't told the kids before we got there that some of their best friends were also going to be at the pool today.  Him and Madison took off swimming!

Hadassah has a tradition of getting cheese fries!  She enjoyed them very much and even shared with Ashlyn!  Thanks girl!  They both savored every bite with licking their fingers clean!!!

 ShaLyn and Hadassah are getting settled for some yummy fries!

 Sharing ...

 Enjoying ...

It was a nice day with a gentle breeze.  However, Matthew came home with some open bruises.  He now has four angry bird band aids on himself.  One on his elbow, knee, toe, and side.  He slipped at the pool and scrapped up a few bruises. 

Typing this reminds me of Hadassah's legs.  They look sooooo much better.  Only a few dotes to clear up yet!  Praise the Lord for His healing!!!

Enjoy the pools!  Beat the heat and get wet!!!

Ready for the weekend/heat?

This week has been packed full of events.  Lot's of friends.  Lot's of fun!  The beginning of no school days and the start of summer vacation!  Friends and late nights.

Why is it when I am asked to babysit some kids, that that's when another person calls and asks me to watch their kids too?  I don't keep track, or don't care, but it's amusing.

The beginning of our week was spent a lot with the Riehl cousins.  Just can't get enough time with them when they only come for a week. :)

Then on Wednesday, we went to my mom's for the day and canned a bunch of meatballs!  They look great!  An easy supper of meatball sandwiches or a quick add in with homemade spaghetti!!!  The kids had a blast with Jody's kids in the creek, jumping on the trampoline, and shelling peas.

Thursday, it was my turn to clean my dad's shop, so Ashlyn and Matthew stayed with Jody while Hadassah and Ryan went along to help and mow the shop yard.  More cousin time!  We got back home and after some lunch, Jody's kids came over for some "sprinkler fun".  School is out now and the kids are aching to get wet!  It was a nice afternoon and so running through the sprinkle of water was perfect!

Yesterday, Kiersten and Jaydan came over for the whole day.  The girls had no problem thinking and coming up with fun things to play and do.  They dressed up, combed hair, ate snacks, painted their toe nails 'in art style', and laughed.  The boys hit balls ... lots of them.  Played catch.  Ate 3 Popsicles each!  Played Lego's.  Then at 3:00, sister in law Linda called and asked if I can watch her two oldest while she takes Sophia to Quick Care.  She fell and needed to get a splint on her leg!  :(  They mixed right in with the other children!  They are so easy to watch and babysit!  (Hope your broken leg heals up fast Soph!!!)

I made supper and the kids chowed down.  By 6:30 PM, our house was back to just our family.  Mike and Matthew hit golf balls in the back yard.  I tried to take a hard swing with Mike's driver club, but it didn't go very far!  At least I tried!  Hadassah and I threw some frisbee.  This is something else that I am not very good at!  Practice makes perfect, right?  I had Hadassah running all over the lawn!  Sorry!  Ashlyn and I then drank some hot tea on the porch swing and watched the kids hang out with daddy!  Ginger loved the fun too!

As the sun was setting, we saw a rainbow in the sky.  No rain at our house.  Clear, blue, nice skies.  Guessing the rain wasn't far off though?.  Mike and Matthew started up a good campfire!  We ended the evening watching the glow of the fire and catching fire flies!  Roasting the really big marshmallows and sandwiching them between chocolate and graham crackers seemed to be the perfect fit for the kids snack! 

This was the first night we noticed these little flies!  (Talk about flies ... we have so many regular flies around our house!  Yesterday, I was thinking of how it must of been for the Egyptians when they had the plague of flies.  I was around here swatting flies and thinking, "Let my people go!!!"  So annoying!)

The night air got chilled.  We all snuggled in for a late night movie!  Toy Story 2 was the pick.  Sometime during the movie we all feel asleep.  What a wonderful blessing to be able to hang out with hubby and kiddos!!!  Love these memories in my life right now!!!

The weekend looks relaxing.  The heat is to increase every day, so we might have to close up the windows and turn the AC on again.?.  I personally love it when the windows are open and you wake up in the morning hearing the birds chirping in the back yard trees!  However, I appreciate the airconditioner too when the tempts get too warm and it's humid!  Mike is working all day and so it's me and the kids again.  I have a hunch that we might visit Rita's or do something "cool".  No pun intended!  :)

Enjoy your weekend!  Have a blast.  Imbrace the moment.  Love lots!

Cousin fun!

We had family around this past weekend from Florida!  It's always a blast when they come and visit us (since we don't go visit them :( .  We promise we will try to come and see what it's like in your state one of these months!)

Hadassah and Matthew love playing with all their cousins, but when Jeffrey and Jeremy come it's extra fun!  The kids are close to each others ages and that makes it great for playing games, sports, and doing things that interest each other.

The kids wanted to make "puppy chow".  Mix and shake it!

 Look who got to try some ... :)

 Rosie gave me this for a belated birthday gift.  Ashlyn loves smelling flowers.

 These two love the game of softball.

 We got together for a supper with Mike's family the other night and these two girls stole the show!

 Matthew and Jeremy enjoying the homemade ice cream and the birthday cupcake!

 We tried to get a picture of the older kids before everyone left for home.  Celine wasn't impressed.  Also, Jeffrey isn't on the picture because he wasn't feeling the best.

We stopped in for our final good bye before Ben's left for home again.  Love you guys!

Thistles

I would never want these to grow in my gardens or even along the fence lines, but I think they are pretty.  Mike's parents have them all along the road they live along and I stopped for a few pictures of them.  Take a look ...

 Maybe there are new beginnings that starting in your life.  Look at this closed thistle.  In only a few short days, it will be wide open.  Let's embrace our moments now!  Not later.

Have a great day!!!