Meet & Greet The Teachers!!!

Wednesday was "Meet and Greet" at the local schools so we loaded up the backpacks and off we went. It was so good to see all of the teachers and all of our good friends!
Anna was so excited that she has a desk this year. She said "I can't wait to organize all of my things in the desk!" Here she is in her 1st Grade classroom....
We traveled to a different school to see Luke and Ben's classrooms. Luke is a big 4th grader this year. His teacher is evidently a die hard Brewer fan so he won big points with this shirt...
Ben was in no hurry to get to his homeroom. In the hallway. he had all kinds of girls asking him what classes he had. Because he's in 8th grade, and rules the school now, he just looked straight ahead and kept walking and said to those girls in his best Napoleon Dynamite voice..."Goshhhh, I don't even have my schedule yet...." Well, I did capture a photo of Mr. Ben too...
Yesterday, the high school was open so Andrew wanted to go fill his locker with all of his "stuff" so we made the 20 minute jaunt to do that. Ben will be going to the high school for Math class next year so he wanted to find HIS locker too. As we walked through the hallways, we saw lots of teachers that have had Andrew the last couple of years and let me tell you what's amazing. Every one of them said hi to him and EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM remembered his name!! In a school of 1700 students, these teachers really get to know their students...how impressive!! Here's a picture of Andrew in one of the cafeterias....

Now go and have a great weekend!!!

Tasty Thursday... Zucchini Brownies

Here's a really good recipe to use up all of those zucchinis from your garden....or at least pretend that these are a healthy treat.....

Zucchini Brownies
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups flour

Mix all, and pour into a 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until brownies are done. Cool. Top with frosting.

Frosting
6 Tablespoons butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
6 teaspoons milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Boil all (except chocolate chips) for 30 seconds. Add chocolate chips, mix, and spread on the brownies.... yum!!

Wordless Wednesday: Getting ready for "Night Tag"

Bella's Bling

Do you like my bling????

The Parade

The highlight of the weekend for me was our Village parade (Yes, we're a village now). Despite the fact that girlie-girl is the only one featured in the photos, the boys were all there too, but felt like they were too old to be collecting candy that was thrown out during the parade. Ben was actually a part of the parade....riding as a "band" member for our school. Couldn't get a good photo of him because we sat on the opposite side of the street...rats!!

So, here we go with some photos of our "old school" parade.... First, the ice cream truck came by and we needed a treat BEFORE the parade....
There are always a few interesting characters in the parade....

including these school board members... hee, hee
and there's lots and lots of CANDY
her dentist will be thrilled........ Jill

Boredom or Creativity??

As I was walking through my daughter's room last night, I began to notice some odd things. Like this, for instance....
Is it pure creativity or sheer boredom that has lead her to place her chair upside down to act as a stuffed animal holder? Hmmm.

I also noticed that all of her babies were well taken care of last night. They're all tucked in and fast asleep.....with their hats on..... Hmmm.

The back to school countdown is on!!! 10 days.... Have a fabulous weekend!! Jill

Tasty Thursday....Taco Pizza

As you can tell from yesterday's post, Taco Pizza is a big hit at our house. Luke asked to have it this week so I was happy to oblige. I feel better about feeding my kids this pizza because there is not nearly as much fat dripping or sitting on the pizza as if I had gotten a frozen pizza. Here's our recipe.

Taco pizza
2 Boboli pizza crusts
1 bottle pizza sauce
ground hamburger ...around 2 lb.
1 taco seasoning packet
4 cups of cheese...we used 4 cheese mexican
lettuce....my kids like shreds
taco sauce
Doritoes

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Unwrap pizza crusts and add some sauce to the top...
Brown the hamburger, drain and add the taco seaoning. Put meat on top of sauce...
Add the cheese....
Now bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is good and warm. Take out of the oven and add your lettuce...
Serve with Doritos and taco sauce
and watch them SMILE!! Give it a try!!!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday... Taco Pizza Boy

My tomatoes

I just wanted to show you what happened to my tomato plants... between the dreaded tomato worm and lack of rain (and the dog tromping thru the garden) we aren't going to have a good tomato crop this year.....:(

My friend, Wendy, will be devastated to see this because we usually get together and make salsa when the kids go back to school. But I'm tellin' ya, Wendy, have hope....have hope because they have these things called Farmer's Markets.... and I know how to get to them :) Jill

Golfin' and Partying......that's what we did....

As you can see, the skies were a beautiful shade of blue on Saturday....looks like a great day for mini-golf!! Our church had this outing for Jr. High kids and their families with a cookout that followed....a perfect day for both! Anna had a birthday party to attend for a good friend on Saturday, but made it back in time to mini-golf with us... it's really hard to golf holding a webkin, ya know....
On Sunday, the birthday parties continued for Anna in the afternoon with this princess party... cute crafts, hey???
Another fun part of the weekend was watching the boys giggle at church when they looked across the church congregation and saw an Elvis impersonator ...complete with the jet black hair and the huge "porkchop" sideburns....quite a sight!! Jill

Lunch adventures

When my parents were here, Dad wanted to stop by Cabela's to look around, which is always fun!! While we were shopping, our bellies started to growl so we decided to have some lunch at the cafe there. What interesting choices they have....Dad and I split a Bison Burger. It was yummy. Mom, I believe, did not have anything out of the ordinary to eat...just a hot dog. Anna, on the other hand, found that a piece of pizza was perfect for her.....although, she thought that this guy, hanging on the wall, was staring at her the whole time.
Later on in the day, I came out to my car and found this.....
How gross was that....bird poo on my car window...a BIG one!! Being the wonderful, supportive father that he is,My Dad knows just the right words to say in every situation. He said to me, "Hey, ya know, birds sing to some people...." Thank you, Dad, very much... Enjoy your weekend!! Jill

It's been a fun few days this week because my parents have been here. Yesterday was the day that the "boys" in the family went with Grandpa Phil (John too) out on Lake Michigan at 5 am on a chartered fishing expedition. We were a little worried about storms coming through but it only rained on them driving over to the lake. They had a successful trip...caught 13 fish, a few less than in past years but, what they didn't have in quantity, they made up for in quality. Check out the 2 biggies that Grandpa is holding!!!
Here are a few more shots.... Thanks Grandma & Grandpa for a great day!! Jill

Wordless Wednesday- Luke, Drew, Charlie @Camp

Camp...continued...

I can just hear you now saying..."isn't that so sweet that the whole family went down to pick up Luke at camp. Even the teenagers were willing to get out of bed early to get Luke." Well, my friends, the kids were excited to see Luke, but they wanted to see this too.....
This is Bank Shot Basketball. It's a game at camp that the older boys had played when they went there many years ago. I'm not sure of the rules, but there are dozens of poles and hoops and bank boards and you get points for making shots off the bank boards into the hoops. Not really that exciting for me, but they spent a good 20 minutes reliving their past.

On the way home from camp, we drove by this cute little barn....fun!
Our tummies were growling after playing such a rough game of Bank shot Basketball, so we stopped for an early lunch. I couldn't believe it, when this came to our table...Andrew's lunch. Get this...open-faced meatloaf sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy and onion rings on top... with sides of corn, cottage cheese, a roll and coleslaw! HOLY COW!! Do you think this would fill up my 16year old??? Indeed, it did..... Jill

Finding Luker

The highlight of the weekend for me was picking up Luke from camp. Saturday morning we woke up early and the whole family made the hour trek to camp and got there before 9 am. We were excited to see him but had to look hard to find him....Can you find him????
There he is!......in the same outfit that I've seen him in photos on the internet all week. Hmmm, very interesting!!
Oh were we happy to see him....but I was happy to HUG him!!!
even if he looked like he had been eaten alive by a million mosquitoes....
More tomorrow....... Jill

A Girlie Day

Well, it was certainly a "girlie Thursday" for Anna and I. We met some friends at the "Kit Kitterich" movie and then went out for lunch with them. The boys didn't care much--they were busy with friends!! It was a great day!! Jill
P.S. I can't wait to pick up Luke from camp tomorrow!!!!! I miss him so much!!!

Tasty Thursday

Just had to include the recipe for a favorite drink of mine...especially on a hot day....and it's a lot less expensive than Starbucks. :)

Mocha Cooler
1/3 c. instant coffee granules
1 c. sugar
1 c. nonfat dry milk
1 c. non dairy vanilla or caramel creamer (powder)
1/3 c. baking cocoa
1/4 t. salt

Crush coffee granules into a fine powder. Add, sugar, dry milk, creamer, cocoa and salt. Store this mix in an airtight container until you're ready to make a mocha cooler.

When ready to make a cooler, combine 1 1/2 cups of crushed ice , 1/2 c. milk and 1/2 c. of the mix in a blender. Cover and blend on high until smooth. Enjoy....and stay cool!!
Jill

Wordless Wednesday....Summer Color

A new friend??

We've discovered a new friend in our garden...actually we found 3 new friends last night...that brings the total to over 20 now. Hmmm....these little buggers are eating our tomato plants like nothing I've ever seen. John picked up the worms and put them on the bird feeder hoping that some bird would get a tasty treat but.....
they just climbed right off of the feeder and fell to the ground-- and headed right back for the garden. Rats!!! That required us to use another method of removal....squish.

Our cucumbers are doing great...don't they eerily look like my new friends???Kinda freaky. Jill

It's All about Luke, Weekend...

There's this boy in our family who played his last baseball(U9) tournament this weekend. We'll just call him Mr. Homerun.
Mr. Homerun actually hit a homerun in the first game(noon) and their team defeated their first opponent 20 to 2. After a short rest time at home, Mr. Homerun played a second game at 4:00, but his team lost by 1 point...bummer. We took our family out for dinner following the 2nd game and Mr. Homerun wasn't feeling so good.
He had a huge headache, tummy cramps and practically fell asleep at the table..... Hmmmmm...this Mom was a bit worried about heat exhaustion and dehydration..... We quickly wrapped up his food and drove home. Just as Mr. Homerun went to go lay down, he made a pit stop in the kitchen and "lost his belly contents"...ewwww, really causing Mom and Dad to worry, because a neighbor of ours had been taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion just a few weeks ago with the same symptoms. After keeping down some Motrin and having a 45 minute nap, Mr. Homerun felt better and proceeded to take a shower and then scarfed down his wrapped up food. Hooray!!

But....we had more questions to ponder... He had more games on Sunday. Should he play in those? Was it going to be too hot for him?

What about camp?? He was scheduled to leave for a week-long overnight camp the next day. (Sunday) Should he go somewhere and stay without air conditioning all week?? If he did go, would he recognize the signs of dehydration?? Would he keep drinking water???

Reality is, he did play in the 9:00 game on Sunday morning...and lost....but he felt GREAT!! So we continued with the "camp" plan and got him there by 1:30. Here's Mr. Homerun, excited about camp....
Yes, check out those bunks.....makes me thankful for my cozy bed. When we left the camp I took a few shots of the scenery.... here's what Mr. Homerun was very excited about....
I was awake this morning at 5 am because a storm with hail and high wind was coming through. I can't help but wish my little buddy, Mr. Homerun, was here, all safe and sound tucked in our little nest.... He'll be just fine, I'm sure.... Jill