GOT Tomatoes?

Here's what the kids brought in from the garden today.

Holy Tomatoes!!!

What should I do with all of these???

After Cleaning, peeling, and cutting them, here's what I decided on...

Homemade Salsa

And

Tomato Bisque

Tomato Bisque

1/2 cup butter

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

1/2 to 1 cup grated carrot

1/3 cup flour

2 cans tomatoes (or fresh, quartered tomatoes)

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp basil

1 tsp marjoram

4 cups chicken broth

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp curry

1/4 tsp white pepper (black works too)

1 pint whipping cream

salt

In a large pan, sauté celery, onions and carrots in butter until cooked. Add flour and cook for about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, sugar, basil, marjoram and broth and cook.

Pour into blender and blend until chunks are smooth. (it will take several blender loads. Be careful to not get sprayed with hot soup. Use a towel to hold blender lid on.)

Pour back into pan and stir in paprika, curry and pepper. Salt to taste.

Add whipping cream.

Thanks for the recipe Linda.

YUMMY!

"THE DIRT PILE"

Today we took the kids up to Ritzville for Drew's birthday Party!

Leslie had a ton of fun stuff set up for them to do. They did THIS...

... and THIS...

... a little of THIS...

... of course some of THIS...

... and THIS.

After a while I noticed 3 of my kids were missing from all of the fun activities so I started looking for them and found them here... THE DIRT PILE.

(Part of Bryce and Drew's motorcycle track)

No, we didn't find them BY the dirt pile or even ON the dirt pile, they were buried IN the dirt pile!!!

These pictures were taken after we tried shaking, brushing, and beating all of the dirt off of them. They reminded me of Pig Pen on Charlie Brown. Every time the would move, a big billowy dirt cloud would come off their bodies.

I don't know how you keep your house so clean Les. Hard wood floors, one huge dirt pile right outside, and 4 little boys coming in and out all day. I think I would pull my hair out.

One thing I will say though... My kids always have a blast when they come to the "farm" in Ritzville. Thanks for inviting us.

Grandma gets a puppy

Today my mom and dad made this little purchase. Her name is Zoe.

Isn't she cute?

The coolest part about my parents getting a dog is that my kids can get their puppy fix anytime they want and I don't have to worry about poop in MY yard, or MY toys and furniture being chewed up, or hair all over MY couch and allergy problems. Thanks Mom, we're glad you finally got a dog :)

Alaina coined the term, “Crazy Wednesday”

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed today.

Here's my current Wednesday schedule.

Kids get home from school at 1:50 (Early Release)

2:00 to 3:00 Activity Days (Alaina)

3:00-4:00 Cub Scouts (Ky)

4:00-5:00 Piano Lessons (Ky and Alaina)

5:30-6:30 Soccer Practice (Kase and Hailey)

6:40-6:50- Dinner ??

7:00-8:30 YW Mutual (Me)

8:30-9:30 YW Presidency Mtg every other week (Me)

10:00pm Breathe

I feel like a chauffeur all day. Today Alaina asked, from the back seat of the mini van, "Mom, what do we have left on our "Crazy Wednesday" Schedule?"

The fact that Alaina has coined the phrase made me stop and think....Yeah it is pretty crazy. The kids practically live in the back seat of the van ALL AFTERNOON from one event to the next.

I shouldn't complain too much though there is an up side to having our Wednesday packed so full... We have 6 other days of the week with not a lot going on. Plus, this soccer season has been a blessing from a scheduling perspective in that Kase and Hailey's soccer practice happens to be at the same place and time as one another. Somebody must love me :)

I remember last season NOT being Fun. Between Ky and Hailey we had 4 practices at 4 different times and at different locations.

So I guess I don't mind having a "Crazy Wednesday" once a week. Alaina, might....but I better be careful not to complain to much. Or may find myself with a truly rough schedule next spring.

Climbing Badger with a few first timers.

Before my sisters got on the road to head home this morning I tricked them into climbing Badger Mountain with me. The kids and I took Leslie, Megan, and my Mom (first timers) all the way to the top. They did great and it was actually a lot of fun to do it together and a great way to start the morning.

Sorry Brianna.. It was just too funny.

With Megan, Melissa, and Leslie all in town tonight, we decided to throw together a little granddaughter game night with Grandma Rose.

A few of the highlights from tonight were...

The yummy treats.

Fun games.

Lots of laughing.

Someone telling Megan Pratt she needed to get loud if she wanted to be heard over everyone else in the game we were playing. On our next round of the game Megan stood up, leaned across the table and screamed (and I mean screamed) the answer... simultaneously scaring a little bit of pee out of each one of us. So Funny!

Another funny moment was when Brianna starting getting super hyper, silly, and giddy. We were teasing her about acting like that and she finally said," I don't know what's wrong with me, the last time I felt like this was when I had caffeine. But I'm just drinking Cream Soda."

Here's Brianna discovering her "sparkling" Cream Soda did indeed have caffeine in it.

Ohhhhhhhh Man... I had 4 years clean. Dang it.

Whoa...why is the room spinning?

Okay maybe I'll just finish off this glass.

Here's the whole gang.

(Notice Brianna looking for someone to toast with her.)

Probably my favorite moment tonight was this...

All night the kitchen kept getting too Hot then too cold then too Hot again. Several people ended up saying, "I'm Hot". And Grandma said, "Oh don't say that." And then went on to explain that her mother always told her there were two things you should never say to a boy. Never ask a boy..."Can I sit on your lap?" or say to him, "I'm Hot".

This picture is of me teasing Grandma by telling her I'm hot and then asking to sit on her lap. She laughed and maybe even blushed a little.

Grandma, How do you know so much on this subject? :)

Things I discovered tonight...

-Megan may look Tiny and Soft Spoken but Watch Out, she can get loud if needed :)

-If you're looking for a good time... Give Brianna caffeine. I think her drink of choice is Dr. Pepper :)

-I probably sat on a few to many laps in my younger years. If only I would have known that rule. Whoops!