peach pies

Every fall my mom and I buy boxes of yummy peaches & apples at our favorite farmer's market in Nampa. After we're done eating our fair share of them, we make apple jelly, apple pie filling and peach pies to stock up in the freezer for the winter. Yesterday we were able to get 4 peach pies made. I peel, slice and get the pie filling ready while my mom does the crust. I know we'll enjoy them this winter!

I recently gathered the green onions from the garden. And, there is still another row left to harvest. We've been eating lots of green onions around here :)

Cool dudes

One Cool Dude Another Cool Dude

Casey and I had a great time in Reno yesterday! We left the kiddos with my parents and enjoyed a day together, just the two of us. Granted, going to Reno and back in the same day does make for a long one; we left around 7am and got back home around 10:30 last night. And although we were exhausted by the end, it was a good day. We got our shopping done, except Costco... I didn't realize they closed earlier on weekends! We were also able to have lunch with my cousin, Michael and, see lots of awesome Harley Davidsons at the Hog Wild motorcycle rally. We soaked up the quietness of eating two meals out without having to get up once :) and, jammed out to our favorite music that we don't usually listen to with kids in the car! And, we cheered for the Broncos while they played against Oregon.... although, you can't cheer too loudly when you're in Wolfpack territory! lol And, of course, the total 6 hours of driving time gave us time to catch up after the busyness of last week.

And, as always, we miss the kids when they're not with us. Things are just so much quieter without them and it's strange when you can go in and out of stores so easily and quickly! And, I got to drink a whole Starbucks frappucino all by myself. Yep, by this morning I was definitely ready to see them again.

Thankyou, Honey, for an awesome day with you! I love you more and more everyday.

"B" day

This week in school, Katie's class has been learning the letter "B" and the number "0". Then, on Friday they each wear or bring something that begins with the letter that they learned. As you can see, both Katie and Taylor decided to wear their blue shirts and matching headbands!

Dress

On Saturday I sewed this new fall dress for Katie. This was my first attempt at sewing completely on my own (usually my mom is around if I have any questions) Well, I did have to call her once at work with a question but, other than that... I did it!! It definitely has it's imperfections but I guess I'm the only one that knows them :) And, Katie loves her new dress! I finished her dress just in time to whip up some tacos for dinner and watch the BSU vs WYO game. It was a great game; although, not really much of a game since BSU slaughtered WYO! On Sunday the boys were still sick with their colds so I stayed home with them. And, so far this week has been busy helping my parents pack, clean and move into their new home. Fall is definitely on its way... the mornings have been considerably colder and I've noticed the trees changing their colors! I love this time of year!

Swingset

We were recently blessed with a new swing set for the kids! Our old own was beginning to fall apart and too dangerous for the kids to play on. So, it made a trip to the dump... Casey has a friend that he used to work with that is moving back east. So, Casey asked him if he was taking his swing set with him? Could we help out by taking it off his hands? (btw, I would never have the guts to do that!) His friend wasn't going to be taking it and happily gave it to us! We have plans in the future to build a big playland/playset for the kids but, for now this one is a huge blessing! The kids are loving the slide....

Three Little Monkeys

Squash

Our recent acorn squash from the garden... they just keep coming! My friend also gave us a spaghetti squash. Some people think the strand-like texture of the spaghetti squash is too weird for them but, I actually enjoy it. There are lots of recipes where it treats the squash like a spaghetti noodle... so your kids will eat spaghetti not knowing what those noodles REALLY are! As a side dish for dinner tonight, I'll be cooking this:

SPAGHETTI SQUASH:

1 (8 in) spaghetti squash
1 c. chopped onion
2 med cloves crushed garlic
2 fresh tomatoes
1/2 lb fresh sliced mushrooms
1/2 tsp oregano
salt and pepper
1 c cottage or Ricotta cheese
1 c grated mozzarella
1/4 c fresh chopped parsley
1 tsp basil
dash of thyme
1 c fine bread crumbs
butter for saute
parmesan for top

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Slice the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Bake it, face down, on a buttered tray at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes. Cool until handleable, scoot out the insides with a fork (should shred easily)
While the squash bakes, saute the onions and garlic with salt, pepper, mushrooms and herbs. When the onions are soft, add freshly chopped tomatoes. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates.
Combine all ingredients. Pour in buttered 2 quart casserole. Top with lots of parmesan. Bake at 375 degrees, uncovered about 40 minutes.

Abby

On Monday my parents got a new Basset Hound puppy named Abby. After their last dog, Diesel, passed away a few months ago they said that they weren't going to get anymore dogs. But then Abby came along! They fell in love with her while at the Aten's on Sunday evening; once they found out that she was looking to go to a lovable home... well.... you get the picture! She is super mellow, great with kids and has those sorrowful, hound dog, droopy eyes that will melt your heart everytime :) While my parents wait to move in to their new home, we are enjoying having Abby "visit" us! btw, Abby is also a wonderful friend for Sammy, who just LOVES Abby and her long ears!

Carnival

When the carnival arrived into town last Wednesday, Casey stopped by to tell the manager that he was available to do welding for them if they needed it. As it turns out, the carnival ended up giving him three full days worth of work to do! It's kind of scary to think of that much work needing to be done to the rides! But, it was a blessing to us and kept Casey busy. He put in 12-14 hours days there. For those 3 days we (me and his friends) were teasing him that he was now a "carnie"! After working those long days he definitely came home LOOKING like one :) One of the perks of him working for the carnival was getting free all day passes for the rides. At first we weren't planning on taking the kids to the carnival but, with those free passes it was hard to say no. So, we gathered our friends up and took them all to the carnival for free!! There were 11 kids in all and, their parents who went with us (Loverins, Posts, Crones, Clarks, me and the kids) Plus, with Casey still welding while the carnival was open we got to see him at work! me and my "carnie" hubby :)

Katie and Seth were all smiles on the roller coaster

Lisa, Katie, Dalton and Taylor

Jacob and Tys

Trenton on his future Harley Davidson!

Briana, Eliese, Alaina and Katie

County Parade

Saturday ~ after a church breakfast at the Cox's, my mom and I took the kids downtown to our county fair. In a last minute decision, we had decided to enter the kids in the little kiddie red wagon harvest parade. I gathered a few corn stocks, sunflowers and a scarecrow from the Dollar Store and, made a little "harvest wagon". Not bad for a last minute thing :) The kids had fun in the parade and won medals! We also looked around the exhibits and went to the park for a while where there were booths, music and an animal show going on. Then, it was time to go home for naps before heading to the carnival that late afternoon.... Our decorated red wagon!

Trenton waiting for the parade to begin

Katie's friend, Jolena, also had a decorated wagon in the parade

Church Happenings...

Our weekend began early last week as there was not only the fair/carnival going on in town but, our church also had a special weekend with the installation of our new pastor, Chris Post! It began on Thursday evening when we had about 25-30 friends from church over to our house for dinner and a Haiti missions presentation from Pastor Steve Igo. Pastor Igo is from MI (Pastor's Chris' former pastor) and came for the installation service. He was doing some mission work in Haiti when the earthquake hit. It was amazing to see the work that's being done in Haiti and the pictures from the earthquake. Pastor Igo was able to assist in pulling 10 girls free (and alive) from a fallen school right after the earthquake. Then, on Friday evening the church had a dinner at the church before the installation service at 7pm. Numerous Presbytery men from California and Reno came for the service. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and so good to see old friends! We are now blessed with an official pastor, Chris Post and his family! Here are a few pictures from the evening....
Pastor Chris Post

Me and a long time friend, Mr Jamison

Pastor Steve Igo and Pastor Chris Post

A little boy's dream

All of our kids have a love for the 4-wheelers, but Trenton has a very special love! He has a passion for riding and is a natural at figuring out how to make it go "vroooom". Whenever we're finished riding, we always have to make double sure that the keys aren't left in the ignition otherwise, Trenton would have it turned on and "vrooooming" down the road... not a good thing! On Tuesday the weather was so nice, I decided to get the kids out and take them for little rides around our place (having 2 acres of undeveloped land has it's good points!) We've made a little circular track around the property and, the kids enjoy taking their turn at riding with me. Trenton's second love is being outside. He doesn't care about the weather and will often bring me his shoes the minute he wakes up in the morning "shoe, shoe"... Meaning, "I want to go outside". Many times, Trenton will go outside by himself and I watch him from the kitchen window. He loves to sit on the 4-wheelers and pretend that he's riding. Since he's still a little too small and can't reach the handle bars, he has to lay down on his belly to reach.... "flying low" He could spend all day out there if I let him! I love to see his imagination run wild as he's riding his quad :)

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

Here is the recipe to our favorite:

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups grated zucchini
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line muffin tin with paper liners. In a large bowl beat the eggs. Beat in sugar and oil. Add cocoa, vanilla, zucchini and stir well. Stir in the flour and rest of dry ingredients. Pour into muffin tins and bake for 20-25 minutes.

SIDE NOTE: I add chocolate chips to the batter - however much you want!
Your kids will never know there is zucchini in them (at least mine don't!)

1st Day of Preschool

After much anticipation, Katie went to her first day of preschool today! She has been looking forward to this day ever since I got her registered last May... in preparation she got her hair trimmed yesterday and picked out her first-day-of-school-outfit. She and her friend, Taylor, are going to our local Lutheran Christian Preschool where Katie said she's excited to learn more about Jesus! Casey and I took her in together for her 1st day. She immediately washed her hands (as instructed) and let the teacher show her where her own cubby and hook was. Then, she sat down at her seat, began playing with Play-Do, gave me a kiss goodbye and basically said, "ok, mom, you can leave now!" sigh... it felt like she was leaving for college :) That will come all too quickly, I'm sure.

Katie wanted to take a picture with her little brothers too. They are going to miss her in the mornings while she's gone. This morning the boys and I filled in the time by baking zucchini chocolate chip muffins... yummy!

1st BSU game

BSU kicked off it's football season with a game against V-Tech last night. This was a highly anticipated game and, was a game filled with lots of excitement! In the final minutes of the game BSU beat V-Tech, 33-30. We invited a few friends over for the game and dinner... as like all BSU games, our house is filled with cheering and lots of jumping up and down! Even the boys got into it this year and were dramatically saying "OH MAN" and "GO BRONCOS"!

Trenton riding his bucking bronco

Yay, BSU won!!

Katie is still BSU's #1 cheerleader

froggy throat

We don't generally promote burping as being a good thing but when Katie burped and very seriously, worriedly said "mom, I think I have a frog in my throat" I couldn't help but smile :)

I looked at the calendar this morning to see that it's already Friday, September 3. Where did the week go? Where did the summer go? We are already experiencing signs of fall with much cooler temperatures in the evening and the harvesting of the garden. We still have some corn, acorn squash and mini pumpkins coming! Mom and I have froze quite a bit of the zucchini and, we've been enjoying all of the fresh veggies.
This week was busy with getting Katie ready to begin Pre-K next week. She met her teacher on Monday evening and had 3 shots at the Community Health Clinic on Tuesday. She did so well with her shots! I think I was more nervous about it than she was :) Then, a day trip to Elko on Wednesday where I did all sale shopping and saved more $ than I actually spent ~ yay!! Sammy continues to do well with her house training. She spends time outside during the day while Casey is working than, is inside to play and sleep in the evening. We can alread see that she's grown and is getting more curious as she gets older.