Tidbits

Some people are lucky enough to miraculously have the face of Jesus or the Virgin Mary appear on a piece of toast or appear on a piece of fruit....and then sell it on ebay for lots of $$$$. Well, this is all we have.....a heart, appearing in a watermelon..... how much would you pay for it???? I'd better keep my day job, right???


and look who's back at our bird feeder after being gone for almost a year...
Hope your weekend is sunny and warm....enjoy it!! Jill

Memorial Day Fun

We were motivated to get up early on Memorial Day and drive to the "big city" to see this at our Public Museum.... BodyWorlds!
Andrew and Ben really liked it and found it interesting....Luke, I think, was pretty grossed out by the whole thing and Anna liked it but encountered "tired legs", so Daddy held her through the exhibit. It took us about an hour to get through the exhibit, and then we went to see some of the rest of the museum.....dinosaur bones... but the BEST part in my opinion was the butterfly room. We walked into a warm, tropical room and flying all around were hundreds of butterflies of all different types. It was really cool when one would land on your head....I had a few that fluttered close to me. I think they were checking out the flowers on my purse.
Here's Anna AFTER she was done freaking out in the butterfly room.....
and the rest of the gang....
and John even offered to sit in the "way back" on the ride home....isn't he nice????
Hope you enjoyed our "outing"!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday... Just the two of us...

Memorial Day weekend

We sure enjoyed having a nice, long weekend to chill out!! I guess the biggest news is that someone got a new bike and learned to ride it this weekend.



She tried riding it in our driveway, but there wasn't enough concrete for her to really get going so I took her to the park and she rode in the big parking lot. I tell ya, she took off like a bird....she just sailed around the parking lot with the biggest grin on her face.
Some of her comments were "I could do this forever!" and "I feel like I'm ice skating" and of course " I love this...it's so fun!"
The boys decided to play a little of this while she was riding her bike at the park.
Every time she rode past the courts, she just HAD to ring the bell on her new bike, just to remind them to watch her..... too funny! More about our weekend in the days to come..... have a great day! Jill

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA PHIL... ......WE LOVE YOU!!!

Because I'm weird like that...

Let's say a person wakes up really early one morning... What should she do?? Read a book, try to go back to sleep, take a walk in the dark?......No, not this silly girl....it's time to try a new recipe for breakfast.... and it was yummy!!! I hope you don't think I'm too weird...... Jill
Hashbrowns, cheese, ham and eggs....mmmmmm.

What to do, what to do??

It's been a few years since I've had a toddler around the house for any length of time....especially a Male, 2 year old. I had the opportunity to let one of my friends have a few hours to herself so I took on the challenge of watching her kiddoes, one being a 2 yr. old and one being 5yrs old.

Well, I had forgotten how BUSY two year olds can be....attention span = 1 minute or so. I had run out of ideas for playing in the house- the legos were too small and he wanted to MOVE! So, I put on my thinking cap and took him outside! My goodness, there were LOTS of things to do out there... First, we walked to the mailbox and got the mail...

Next, we played on the swing set, but something in the sandbox caught his eye....
We then headed to the shed, where we saw something else to play with.... the tractor!
We found something just his size in the shed...and it hasn't been used since last Fall....
But the MOST interesting thing was sitting in our driveway, just next to our garage.... our big, green van. The big green van was very fun because it doesn't get used much and you can find many interesting treasures within the seats and storage areas. Nice fishing hat, Matthew!!

Playing in the van was so much fun that the girls joined in and found EVEN MORE treasures....coloring books and markers. Playing in the van kept them busy for about 45 minutes...can you believe it??? They had a blast!!!
So if you ever need to entertain small children at your house, just go out and buy a large, gas-guzzling conversion van so they can play in it...OK??? OK!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday- The Gardeners

Why life is unfair sometimes...

See this beautiful plant??? Check out the blooms!!



I'm not sure what type of plant this is- but my Mom had it first. She divided her plant when it was being re-potted and gave me half. How nice was she????

Now, here's the unfair part. Ever since she has divided the plant, hers never blooms. She waters it and nurtures it and moves the plant around to make sure it gets enough light. She really cares for her plants.

Mine sits in our front room window--ignored, waterless for weeks, trampled by backpacks at times. Yet, it seems to thrive in the neglect. Not only does it blossom once, it usually produces 2 blossoms at a time. And in some type of weird coincidence, it usually blooms when she's here.... Not fair. Just had to say sorry, Mom- please enjoy the pictures of the blossoms---they are beautiful!!! Or come and see them in person (wink, wink) Jill

First Tooth Loss

Guess what happened at our house on Friday night at 10:45 pm?? Anna lost her first tooth!!! We had stayed up late watching a movie and Mom decided that it needed to come out! She bawked and squawked about me wiggling out her tooth. There were tears and DRAMA, and OH the facial expressions- not to mention the blood. But Mom managed to pull out the little, tiny tooth even that late at night--beyond her brain functioning hours... and the tooth fairy was VERY GOOD to her. Dad really couldn't do much except stand at the bathroom door and roll his eyes..... Oh, the drama... get used to it, Dad.

Lego Land

We've suddenly had a resurgence of interest in playing with Legos. The two younger boys sat last weekend and made the biggest mess, I mean, played with various Lego sets. Here are some of Luke's creations...

I'm not sure what Ben was thinking--- maybe flying Legos could be dangerous to his health, but please tell me why he feels the need to wear his new "athletic cup" while playing Legos?? Could someone please explain that to me??? Thanks!! Jill

Andrew Rocks @ Life

In an attempt to broaden his horizons in high school, I encouraged Andrew to take a Culinary Arts class this year. What the heck, he likes to cook, the class is fun and maybe he won't have to study AS HARD as in his honors geometry class. This week in Culinary Arts, a cake decorator came to the class and gave a demonstration on various techniques in her art. The students this week had a chance to bake a cake and use some of those techniques on their cake. Well, here's his cake... his "Andrew rocks @ life" cake--- after it had taken a 20 minute unfortunate bus ride. I liked it anyway..... IT WAS YUMMY!!

and someday his wife will thank me for having him take this class.... Jill

Wordless Wednesday- practicing spelling words in shaving cream

Nice Cards

I wanted to show you a selection of the cards I received for Mother's Day...and I think you might just be impressed. I know that I was...
OK, 1 st card.... from Luke....I'll give him the best drawing award. Yes, that's me in bed, and he is bringing me breakfast. Please don't make fun of my bed-head... Wasn't that sweet?? Nice touch with the heart cut outs on the bottom too...

Next, Ben, the creative genius, came up with words to describe me....my favorite was "Back Blaster Master". I still remember the days of diapers.... Good Job, Ben!! I like the use of the photos too!
Oh yes, and here's the front.... very creative...
Apparently, someone is impressed with my muscular calves-- maybe even jealous. That's a good thing...It's because I work out so hard, ya know... (ahem) Nice drawings, Andrew. I really loved what you wrote too--it was straight from the heart....
Last, but not least, is the Most Colorful Award... going to Miss Anna Grace. Isn't it lovely?? I'll never get tired of pictures like this..... Thank you, sweet daughter....
See? Aren't these great??? I had a great Mother's Day!!! I only wish they would STAY OUT OF MY SCRAPBOOKING STUFF! Oh, just kidding...... Jill

Mother's Day Weekend

First of all, Happy Mother's Day to Grandma Sue and Grandma Ellie... hope your day was full of fun and relaxation. We couldn't ask for more supportive, loving and encouraging Grandma's (Moms).


The weekend was great! A perfect mix of friends, being outside and relaxation. My pampering started on Saturday night when we went out for dinner. I had chosen a restaurant in our area that is VERY popular so we couldn't get a table until 8pm so I decided that The Cracker Barrel would be a fine choice too. Hey, whatever, I wasn't cooking or doing dishes!!!! Here's a silly photo outside of the restaurant--needless to say, we had a fun dinner.....

On Sunday morning, the kids got up and fixed me a wonderful pancake breakfast, and overloaded me with nice cards (more on that later this week).

We attended church and then Mom wanted to go to see a movie, so we loaded up the car and saw NIM'S ISLAND as a family.

When it was dinnertime, John treated me to his famous grilled chicken, his grilled potatoes and onions and fresh green beans.....YUM. YUM. YUM.

The evening was good--I didn't see a lick of sports on the television all weekend. I didn't do ANY laundry all weekend, or cook or clean...Hmmmm, I guess I know what I will be doing today!!! Hope your Mother's Day was FABULOUS!! Jill

Shoe tying is fun!!

I had so much fun the other day when I was working at school in the Kindergarten class. Call me weird, but I actually enjoyed teaching kids the lost art of .......TYING SHOES. I found that only about half of the kids new how to tie their shoes....the rest, I'm afraid, wore velcro shoes, slip ons or just asked the teacher to tie their shoes each and every time they put them back on. How rewarding to know that I taught them a skill they will be able to use their whole life...... I guess that's the spirit of teaching!!



and here's Luke in his pitching debut last night at his scrimmage...
Have a great weekend. Jill

It's That Time of the Year!!

Oh my--- is this my Mother's Day bouquet??? I do want you to notice the pollen stains on her shirt and pants...she was very disturbed by that!! She's all girl!!



Ben is just plain silly...

I guess I'm happy that they are outside playing, and not just sitting in front of the TV being a couch potato!! I displayed my BEE-U-TEE-FUL bouquet in a vase in my kitchen....lovely. Jill

Wordless Wednesday.....Benjamin Jay

Who would have thought??

Who would have thought that it was possible to earn a "letter" in high school in academics??? I had no clue that Andrew would receive this last night at a presentation at the high school. I guess it goes to show you that I was no where near achieving this honor in school--I was more, Well...social, at the time. (smile)
...and please quit looking at my 7 chins in the picture...I swear to you that they weren't there earlier in the day.... Jilly

Just the highlights...

As for our weekend, it was busy. Saturday was highlighted by helping with a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) Family Olympics....we held babies most of the time and the boys were he official "finish line" holders. THIS son played in an Out of town Tennis Invitational and came home with another one of these...I guess he's decided to collect them!!


On Sunday, it was beautiful outside so John got "Big Green" out for the first time...


Someone kept peeking out of the window...checking to see if the neighbor dogs were out...


and the boys seems to have a new obsession...


I will be grocery shopping today to restock our supply.... Jill

Motivated

This is the real motivation to read in Kindergarten...so you can play Webkins without any help. Have yourself a GREAT weekend! Jill

A Peterson Favorite

By far, this is the most requested cookie that John and Andrew ask for me to make. It's WONDERFUL. I made the cookies yesterday. YUM!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

2 sticks of butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar (white sugar)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
3 cups quick OR regular oatmeal, uncooked
1 cup raisins

Heat oven to 350.
Beat together butter and sugars until creamy.
Add eggs and vanilla - mix well.
Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt- mix well.
Stir in oats and raisins.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet- remove to wire rack.
Makes 4 dozen.

OR

For Bar cookies, pour batter into ungreased 9x13 pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Set your butter out now and give 'em a try!! Hope you like them!! Jill