Wordless Wednesday- Do YOU wanna pway ball?

Fun in the leaves..

Sunday was a nice cool day to play in the leaves. It's a Peterson tradition that on a nice windy day, the kids like to stand in the backyard and catch leaves as they blow off of the trees. These kids will run and run and then back up and run some more...just to catch a leaf! It's so fun to watch! Anyway, Anna had a friend and her brother over so they got in on the action too.

After all of the chasing was done, they decided to rake leaves for awhile and then jump in them. I went inside the house and grabbed my "good" camera and snapped some photos....I thought they turned out pretty well.....until it started raining....

Here are Madison and Matthew by the leaf pile...
Here's Luke, after all of that raking....
and I grabbed Andrew off of the computer to take this shot.....I wanted to see if I could get a good "Senior" picture type of photo......I think it turned out great!! But we still have him scheduled for senior pictures next Saturday.....

A Fall Weekend....

Saturday we went on our last college road trip....just 30 minutes from home. We traveled to Carroll University....a private, Christian university with just 2500 students. The most important thing was that they have the academic program that he is looking for....Computer Software Engineering. At this point, he said that this was his first choice for college.... (he did NOT like that I took this photo, I might add.)

On Sunday, we headed to church and then came home and played in the leaves.....
Our friends invited us over for an impromptu dinner. I just love that! Both of our families have 4 kids and we frequently swap kids on the weekend for an overnight. It's a beautiful thing that we parent so similarly and our kids all get along. They even have 3 boys and a girl, just like us!!! Here's a shot of the crew chowing down some burgers and brats!!

A FUN weekend!

Meatloaf Dinner

I made meatloaf last night for dinner....and Andrew said "This is the Ultimate Dinner." We had potatoes from the garden (mashed), green beans from Grandma and Grandpa's garden and the most amazing meatloaf. Here's the recipe if you wanna try it!!

Cottage Meatloaf
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1/2 c. ketchup
1/3 c. tomato juice
1/2 t. each of salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. bread crumbs
1/4 c. finely chopped onions (I use 2 T. dried, minced onion)
2 t. yellow mustard

Topping
1/4 c. ketchup
1/2 t. mustard
2 t. brown sugar

Mix all ingredients together and place in a greased loaf pan. Mix topping and add to top of raw meat. Bake at 400 degrees for approximately 45 minutes.....internal temperature should be 165 degrees.

I also made a BBQ meatloaf with the same recipe....just substituted Sweet Baby Rays BBQ sauce for the ketchup and then topped it with BBQ sauce instead of the topping! (Andrew & Ben ate this meatloaf- they're big BBQ fans!!!)

TRY IT, YOU'LL LIKE IT!!!

Choppin' those onions....

It's that time of the year again.....time to make SALSA!! Luke volunteered to chop the onions and green pepper...what a sweetheart!! and this was BEFORE 7:30 AM!! It always amazes me how a big pile of tomatoes can produce just 4 quarts of salsa.....not enough!!!

Wordless Wednesday- 5th Grade Open House

A visitor

I was sitting at the computer last week and I saw something out of the corner of my eye. It was moving pretty quickly in my peripheral vision. I stopped what I was doing and got my camera out and snapped a picture of this fellow walking through the neighborhood. As far as I can tell, it's a sandhill crane....he was all by himself. I wonder where he was going??? I think he's very cute!!

Work and Play...but mostly play...

Our weekend was fabulous! Nice, cool temperatures and the leaves are just beginning to change here. John was on a guys golf trip this weekend, so I was in change of all of the hooligans. Gramma and Grandpa treated us to dinner Friday night...overlooking Big Cedar Lake....loved the view AND the chicken dinner =).

Saturday morning, Anna had a soccer game....they won!! In the afternoon we had lots of wonderful kids over to play.... Anna's friend, Ali came to stay overnight and they tackled a fun project- rearranging Anna's room. With a little help from Luke and I, they managed to have a blast planning out where things should go and then accomplished the task.....
Sunday was a nice balance of work and play. I had the kids do a few chores- I gave Ben the task of vacuuming out my car. He tromped around inside the house looking for his Ipod and then hooked it up to the speakers on his Ipod dock, took it outside and had to find an extension cord, so the music would play.

Now, what I can't seem to figure out is....why does it take longer to "set up" for vacuuming than it does actually vacuuming out the car?

Friday

Anna had a fever so she stayed home with me yesterday... By afternoon we were getting a little stir crazy and needed a change of scenery, so we ran an errand and then stopped to get a car wash...... (obviously she didn't feel THAT bad) Here's the scenery from inside the carwash.

Isn't the foam pretty??? It smells really fruity too.....

I stopped by my friend, Ann's house to drop something off and she gave me this beautiful cutting board that she bought in Amish country. Look at all of the different kinds of wood.....I almost hate to cut anything on it, it's so gorgeous...Thanks, Ann!!!!

Here's a close up of the tag....it tells all of the different kinds of wood that were used....

Have a Great Weekend Everyone!!!! Love you all!!!!

Sleeping Beauty and a Test

It was 7 a.m. at the Peterson home and 2 boys were already at the high school, Anna was still in bed asleep, and Luke was already up and rarin' to go. Luke asked me if he could wake up Anna, so I let him.

As he slowly opened the door, I whispered "wake her gently" and I then backed up and let him wake her. I couldn't believe my eyes and ears when I saw him rub her back gently and say "Good Morning, sweetie". What a moment!!! I was actually seeing the brotherly/sisterly love that you usually only see when they are much older.....


Until he whipped the covers off of her......... she was NOT happy...


Another random story.....

Ben forgot some homework this week at home. I debated in my mind whether I should drive the homework up to the high school or learn a very important lesson on gathering ALL of the homework before leaving for school..... Well, tonight Ben told me that he actually didn't forget his homework at home (ha). He told me that it was a test. A test to see how loving and forgiving I was....and I PASSED. That's Ben- it's never HIS fault for anything....

Wordless Wednesday- Our "Brownie"

Garden Goodies...

We had a wonderful meal this weekend and a ton of the food came from the garden. We had green beans from Gramma's garden, tomatoes and potatoes from our garden, and chicken from the Piggly Wiggly.....John grilled it...it was so YUMMY!!

Grandma and Grandpa had a chance to see the kids and get some doggie lovin'....

Soccer Game

The highlight of the weekend for us was Anna's first soccer game. The weather was beautiful and we noticed that the leaves are just beginning to change.

She had plenty of "play" time on the field....

she was very concerned with "accidentally kicking someone" so she wasn't very aggressive, so Dad coached her a little.....
and she sat a bit too and watched her teammates play......yes, those are pink cleats....
Her cheering section was impressed with her abilities..... (brothers)
But most of all, SHE HAD FUN!!!

Recipe and a picture...

Slow Cooker Steak Fajitas

1 beef flank steak, about a pound
1 medium onion, cut into strips
1/2 cup medium salsa
2 T. fresh lime juice
2 T. fresh cilantro, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 T. chili powder
1 t. cumin
1/2 t. salt
1 small green pepper, cut into strips
1 small red pepper, cut into strips
Flour tortillas, warmed
Additional salsa

1. Cut flank steak lengthwise in half, then crosswise into thin strips. Combine onion, 1/2 c. salsa line juice, cilantro, garlic , chili powder, cumin and salt in slow cooker.

2. Cover; cook on LOW, 5-6 hours. Add bell peppers. Cover; cook on LOW one hour.

3. Serve with flour tortillas and additional salsa.

Makes 4 servings!!

Have a good weekend!!!

Anna's First Soccer Practice....ever...

Tuesday night was Anna's first soccer practice. She has had several other practices, but they had been rained out or we were out of town. Her first instinct while warming up was to pick up the ball with her hands....which got a big "no hands, Anna" from me..... The coach then asked them to dribble the ball around the field, which she did....and she was way behind the rest of the crowd. Soccer looked to be a challenging sport for this girlie....

Well, by the end of the practice, she was right in there with everyone else, kicking the ball down the field and grinning from ear to ear. (Her face was pretty red and blotchy too!) She LOVED it....and can't wait to play her first game on Saturday. (Anna is in the white tee shirt)

Wordless Wednesday....Always a lady (crossing her legs)

Visitors

Our friends, The Dykstra's came to visit from Chicago. The visit was too short, but it was wonderful...they are such good friends. John and Tom were friends and classmates at the University of Iowa and Wendy and I became friends because we were always stuck with each other while the guys went golfing. It turns out that Wendy and I had quite a bit in common and really enjoyed each other's company. I might even go as far to say that we are probably closer friends than the guys are now (at least we talk more often.)

Our kids call each other "cousins" and always have a blast together. Here they are in the boys bedroom playing Guitar Hero....and singing very badly, I might add....
The guys went golfing (imagine that), and the kids, Wen and I had a little lunch on the patio....it was such a gorgeous day....now, who invited the bees???