"MAN LOGIC" !

Sometimes there are things that happen in life that you just have to share with someone. I have decided that "someone" is my blog audience.

If you have kept up with the blog you will have gotten the idea that we are having issues with our dog getting into the garbage can. She is either shoving the lid up with her nose or just plain knocking the whole thing over so she can "help herself" to the goodies located within.
Our fix to this is to make sure that the door to the pantry (which is where the can is located) is closed. This has created yet another problem . . . now if there is something "aromatic" in the garbage it then creates an interesting aroma in the pantry.

Today when Kurt went into the pantry such an aroma came to him. He decided to open the door to the pantry to air it out. But what to do with the dog? Kurt used his "man logic" to fix that situation!


He did the only reasonable thing a man could do . . . tape it shut with nice heavy duty tape!

I laughed really hard when I saw this! It never occurred to my sweet husband to just take the trash out!

Church Sitting :)

Almost every Monday I have the joy of getting to babysit while brethren from the Church go out to talk to people about the Bible! Because of location I watch the same family of kids a lot! That is fine with me, they are practically family.

This sitting I decided that I wanted to do a theme on scientific things - things that God made, things man made but how God created the basics of everything down to atoms and such.

I wanted to do things that had chemical reactions and I think the kids had a good time!

First we made some "Gooey Gunk" (I think it is like Gak):


Aren't kids creative!

Jayden's turtle . . .

I think Owen is starting to make a snake . . .

I can't remember what Ingrid made but I also forgot to turn the picture around the right way, sorry Ingrid!

After we played with that for quite awhile we went on to the next one. This stuff is called "Magic Muck" and it is really weird. When you first pick it up and squeeze it you can make a ball out of it and then you open your hand and it turns back into a liquid and drips!

Some kids were reluctant to touch this!

The next thing didn't go as well as I had hoped. I was trying to re-enact a volcano with red food coloring for a fantastic effect. . . . Hmmmm.

I wasn't quick enough with the camera and it overflowed so fast I didn't catch it but the kids really enjoyed it!

Owen, Hayden, Emmett and Tyler!

The kids had a lot of fun . . . I should have made washing the dishes part of the "fun"!

After all that brain work we decided to have a snack. Simple pretzels and popcorn!

Tyler, Uriah and Hayden!

Smile Ingrid!

Emmett ducking away from the camera . . .

Hi Alayna! It was sad because Hailey didn't really get a chance to do this with us because she had a BIG project due the next day and needed Kurt's help with it, so Alayna was the only teen girl!

I would like to do another science based topic again. This was fun. What a great group of kids!

The Trumpet Vine !

This is what my beautiful back fence looks like in the summer covered with the trumpet-shaped blooms that attract many very cute but quick hummingbirds just as all the garden books predicted . . .

The garden books failed to mention the amount of hornets, wasps or whatever they are that are also attracted to these beautiful blooms or the fact that those vines will look like this come late fall!

Not quite as amazing as before . . . but to keep them under control I have to trim back ALL of the branches to the fence so they will have a fresh (and more controlled) start to their growing season come next spring! I need to trim them back to look like this . . .

I started with this . . .

Over two hours later I had this . . . !

Did I mention I already had to trim the inside of the fence? WHEW! I have to say at times like this I question whether these vines are worth it. Amazing, in the books they don't seem to mention the extent you need to go to take care of these vines.

Good lesson to all - study out what you plant! But, they still are beautiful in the summer!

Tyler's New Suit!

Grandma had come down for a visit last week and as usual it was great to see her! It has been a long time since she has been able to make it down and the time flew quickly.

While she was visiting she was very kind to get a little something for each kid - She took me and the kids to the store Kohl's. Now, this was my first visit to Kohl's and all I can say is . . . I fell in love! That has got to be the neatest store and the sales were great.

I am determined to get back!

I just have to post this next picture.
Tyler LOVES suits . . . he really enjoys the whole vest and tie thing so Grandma being the generous person she is got a new suit for Tyler.

What a big boy he is getting to be! He looks so handsome!

Hailey's First Concert of the Year!

(This should have been posted in October)

Hailey's first concert as a member of Rocky Mountain High School's Orchestra!

Hailey has sure come a long way from when she was 11 and just starting out. I love to watch her play and work with others to create beautiful music. She didn't feel confident that they were going to be very good but I thought they sounded great!
This was also the first time that we have gotten to watch her perform in an actual auditorium! Normally all of her performances have been in gyms. The sound is SO MUCH BETTER!

I can't wait to hear them again!

My camera doesn't do too well in a dark environment but here is the picture anyway!


They were finished but I had shut off the flash to see if it would help but when you do that usually it makes things blurry, so here you go - pretend it is a sharp picture!

Our little violinist after her performance!

Tyler - not sure if the picture is blurry because of the flash or it's just that Tyler moves a lot! :)

Hi Tyler!

Got a picture of Hayden when he was getting out of his seat.

I didn't get any of Kurt - but that is okay. He had put his back out a few days ahead of time and wasn't in the best of conditions. I was thankful we were in the auditorium versus the gym because I don't know if Kurt could have handled sitting on bleachers in his condition.

And of course, Kurt and Tyler took a look around to check out the sound system. Now how many parents do you think do that?????

Can you guess the guilty party?

Hmmmmm . . . .

Anyone want a cute puppy?

The Tie That Binds . . .

Well, this will be Hayden's first year in Orchestra! In order to be in Orchestra you have to dress the part for concerts. So Hayden will have to wear black dress pants, a white button-up shirt and a black tie.
Hayden does get dressed up every Sunday for Church but he has always preferred to wear a polo-type shirt with his dress pants. Tyler on the other hand LOVES suits and ties. But, the ties have always been clip-ons. I decided that I wanted Hayden to have a REAL tie so we bought him the kind that you must tie yourself. This is where the trouble began because NO ONE in our house knows how to tie a tie.

Really, how hard could it be???

We decided to go straight to the best source for tying a a tie - the Internet!
We found all kinds of instructional things . . . did you know there is more than one way to tie a tie? There is the Full Windsor, Half Windsor, The Four Hand and more! Oh my, what did I get myself into. . .
Here is some shots of ONE of the guys we tried to rely on to help us do this!

We started off okay . . . we figured out how to get it around his neck, this wasn't too difficult.

It went downhill from there, and quickly!

I think we were trying to do a "full Windsor" and this one ended up just a bit short.

I honestly can't tell you what happened here . . .

Well, after looking at different videos we learned that certain styles work for certain shirts and builds . . The full Windsor was for wide collars and stocky necks - definitely not Hayden! We decided to go with the half Windsor and after at LEAST a half of an hour we finally got it mostly right!

They mentioned that you should never leave the tie tied up and just move it open and closed that it will ruin the fabric. They say you should re-tie it every time.

I think I will take my chances with ruining the fabric! I think I actually broke into a sweat while trying to learn this.

Now everytime I see a guy wearing a nice shaped tie, I feel much respect for that man!

Just Say No to Drugs!

This is one of those things that I wouldn't miss out on trying to help! Hailey and a group of 3 classmates were given an assignment where they had to make a PSA (public service announcement) for their speech class. I believe the theme had to be drug awareness.
Hailey had gotten together with her friends previous to this day to try to film a 30 -60 second spot but the girls didn't quite get that accomplished.
They decided they would get together on another Saturday and finish the filming or slide show or whatever, they were still unsure.
Problem was that two of the girls couldn't make it and it was due in about 4 days!
We came up with an idea and decided to go with it . . . we invited Brodie over to be a "drug dealer" and were going to just do the whole thing ourselves!
It was a lot of fun!

We never ended up using all of the pictures in the final PSA but I thought I would share these with you!


This is Brodie selling "drugs" to Hailey's classmate and friend, Geena.


He is actually selling her a baggie of cornstarch! It looked pretty good but realized we should have used something bigger than one dollar bills!

Another angle!

Hailey is supposed to be representing the drug free girl . . . she is refusing Brodie's cornstarch drugs! Good girl Hailey!

This is supposed to be a picture of how sad and depressing the druggie is . . . this girl did a great job! (she was actually quite a bright, perky, giggly sweet girl, oh, and tall)!

This is supposed to show how happy someone can be without drugs!

We forced Brodie to have his picture taken in the kitchen to prove that he isn't a mean, calloused drug dealer! He was such a trooper. I told Debra that he did such a convincing job that maybe she needed to keep a closer eye on him!!!! Just kidding!

Actually after Kurt, Hailey and I stayed up until 1:30 the morning of the day the PSA was due it turned out fantastic! Hailey and her group got an "A" and the teacher asked if he could keep the disc as an example for his students. He was quite impressed!

We used some music from a group called "The Shook Twins" - we can't really put it out there in the public because we didn't get permission to use it but Hailey and Kurt actually know these young ladies and are going to try to get permission to put it on YouTube! If we do I will make an announcement so you can see it for yourself. It was cool!

I think I figured it out!

There are things in every ones life that are special memories from their childhood. I have several that when I smell something or see something, just brings them right back to the forefront of my mind. Dad and softballs or a Frisbee (Debra, stop laughing), a Coleman stove and old army auctioned vehicles! :)

But a very strong part of my childhood is certain food dishes that my mom prepared that always bring me back . . . I have several but there have been a couple that have been elusive to me. I still have yet to replicate my Mom's spaghetti sauce. I have tried and tried but nothing quite tastes like it. She always measured the spices in the palm of her hand and so it wasn't on a recipe card and I had asked her many times for it but she never wrote it down. She learned it from an Italian woman from her old neighborhood and that's all I know.

But, I think I may have discovered the recipe for a dish that was always tasty on a cold evening! She called it Chicken Fricassee and even though I looked under that name (at my favorite recipe site "allrecipes.com") I couldn't find anything that resembled what it looked like. Finally I had just typed in "chicken in white sauce" and came up with something they called "Chicken Ala King" - but the ingredients weren't quite right. But, I started reading the comments section and discovered some interesting entries! Several of the people had commented how they had this dish when they were kids and loved it but it didn't have "this and that" and they just replaced it with "this and that" . . .
I was soooo happy because what they described was almost exactly what I remembered as a kid! I jotted it down quickly and decided I had to make it. The only thing I knew I probably wouldn't find was this whole canned chicken my mom used to get. It was really greasy and you had to spend about 1/2 an hour tearing the meat off the bones to add to the sauce!


Mmmmmmmm - here it is cooking on the stove. It smelled almost exactly like it! I couldn't wait to try it!

This is how we always had it . . . a nice piece of toasted white bread with a big scoop (Mom used to use an old ice cream scoop) of white rice and a generous amount of this creamy mixture with peas, carrots and shredded chicken poured over the top!

The two older kids liked it (well, Hayden didn't like the toast getting soggy. He wants it on the side next time) but it gave me a great opportunity to share with them a childhood story and I think it even made it taste better!!! When I tasted it I was pretty happy. It was what I remembered.

Kurt never did try it, he saw the picture and said it looked like someone threw up on the rice and toast. I will not be deterred. . . All I can say is " Kurt, you're missin' out"!

Thanks Mom for the memories - now for the spaghetti sauce recipe . . . . .