First Trip to the Park

We brought the girls to a nearby park this weekend and went sliding and swinging. Little Bits did very well. The higher we pushed her, the louder she giggled.

Flowers Just Because

Ahhh, flowers "just because" from my Dearly Beloved. Maybe because I rescued my husband, baby and father in law from a broken-down van?

Dinner from the Garden

We had a beautiful dinner last night from our garden: corn-on-the-cob, breaded zucchini fries, fried green tomatoes, beans, kohlrabi, and leftover tuna & potato salad. Miss Elizabeth started on oatmeal this week and ate 1/2 cup all gone. Dessert: blueberries & strawberries & blackberries, oh my! (Atop of ice cream, that is!) No leftovers, so no pics. :)

Here's an update on my garden for my journal: this year we moved the garden from the SE side of the house to the driveway turnaround. It did much better there with more sunlight and new black dirt. Unfortunately a few deer have jumped my 4' fence and ate my potato, cabbage, strawberry, tomato, squash, & raspberry plants and whatever else they ate that I haven't yet noticed. Solution? Deer hunting this year and a higher fence next year. So, even though they nibble on the plants, we have still been pretty fruitful. David also had his own garden at the end of the drive and while the deer cleaned out his sunflowers and beans, he has a lot of corn, potatoes, and onions.

Mommy's Little Kitchen Helper.

Date Night

D&I went out on a date night and Auntie Jackie was kind enough to watch Miss Elizabeth. On the ride home we stopped for ice cream. Let's just say Missy E wanted some of auntie's blizzard.

God's Minute for August 25th:

Precious Lord, as the thirsty flowers lift their heads to receive moisture from the heavens, and then dance in the wind in praise to you, so nourish my thirsty soul and cause blossoms of joy to burst forth within me. Amen

Isn't that just, ahhh...refreshing and uplifting. Nourish me, Lord. Nourish me I pray.

Curtains = Energy Savers? YES!

I bought Eclipse Blackout Energy Efficient Curtains from Walmart for my house. They work wonderful! On hot summer days, the house stays 5-10 degrees cooler on the inside than it did before we bought the curtains. We have them only on the South-West side of the house because that's where the hot afternoon sun really does it's work. What I like about these is the color & length varieties. What I do not like is that they only come in 42" widths - which is too narrow for one window and too wide for another. K-Mart has the 52" widths, which I have in my bedroom - better. They're about $9.95 per curtain and I have 2 on each window. Definitely worth it when you consider the amount of energy it takes to heat/cool your home. Overall, I give this product 2-green thumbs up.

Quick & Easy Teriyake Chicken

Quick & Easy Teriyake Chicken

Ingredients:
2 T EVOO
1 Onion, chopped
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts - cut to large bite-sized pieces
3 T ketchup
2 T soy sauce
3 T white sugar (I used 2 and it was still a little too sweet - I may cut back to 1)
2 T lemon juice
1 t black pepper

Directions:
Saute onion in oil until translucent
Add chicken and brown lightly
Combine other ingredients, mix well & pour over chicken. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 min. I served over rice and also added 1/2 a bag of frozen California blend veg. Next time I may try a splash of Worchestershire sauce as well for a little tang.

Time Marches On

My Grandma Betty (AKA: Elizabeth Jane), before she died when I was 2, bought me a whole set of birthday angels, which my Mom gave to me each birthday. A few were broke and repaired, but priceless to me just the same. Now that Elizabeth Angel is going to be 1 in less than 3 months, I read the poems attached to each angel one last time for me and carefully packed them away for her. I hope she cherishes them like I do. Elizabeth Angel = makes sense to give them to her, right?

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a nut for anything Irish. In the Angels' place in the curio cabinet went my Belleek Irish Pottery & Swarovski crystal (something I also fell in love with when I visited Ireland). Time to put away the dolls and display my big-girl pottery. :)

Getting More and More Fun!

Miss Elizabeth standing with the support of the dog.

A new form a Peek-a-Boo-Boo
9 Months is so much fun!

To help Mommy with her cardio workouts, Elizabeth now rides in the back carrier while Mommy walks the dog 2 mi. (Lately she was falling asleep in the stroller and then not going to bed until 9). When we started using Auntie Kelly baby back pack, she was staying awake until one day she was overly tired and just konked out at the 1.5 mi mark. Here's a pic after I took her off. Her little arms are tucked in and folded and Baby is fast asleep.

9 Month Check UP

Elizabeth had her 9 month check up today. No shots, yeah! Here are her measurements:
Head 18": 90th %-tile
Length 28": 50th %-tile
Weight 19#, 10 oz: 65th %-tile

Catch-Up

We haven't had the Internet at our house for 2 weeks, so therefore I have not been able to blog. But now we do so here's a little blog I'd like to entitle "Catch Up".
We bought a new van (2005 T&C) and traded in Dad's. It's wonderful! My family has always named their vehicles, so while I sold "Snow White" to my niece, and inherited "Trusty Rusty", we traded him in for, hmmm "Great White?" Maybe. But when the license plates came in, they read GBK "Great Big Kar". Welcome to the family, Kar.

We celebrated David's birthday last week. We just did a little dinner of chicken monarae and ice cream cake to follow with Gary & Candy. David was a little under the weather, but tolerated our celebrating him well. :) Apparently David is a Saturday Baby, per Candy. Didn't know that. Gary build David a beautiful table for the front room. I believe it's oak (D's fav), with a cabinet down below, pull out shelf, and on the right side; two magazine racks (on D's side, of course). Very beautiful, crafty, and functional. As you can see, Elizabeth has already made herself comfortable with the new furniture.

Daddy & E love to read together. David also taught her how to make hats out of newspaper. This is what happens when Mommy is done with the paper Sunday nights.

Here's a pic of the Brooks/Maki/Schaefer kids at a family BBQ. "Cheese" (Not pictured baby Zane)Here's a pic of Grammy Koney & Elizabeth at Earl & Mom's family get-together. I didn't do well at taking pictures that day, but here's a great one of my two favorite girls.

And here's a pic of the Schaefers with new baby Zane Ryland Schaefer, 1 mo. old.

I'm sure there's stuff I've missed. Our gardens are doing well, however the deer ate David's sunflowers, but we'll have an abundance of potatoes to make up for it. We've picked plenty of tomatoes, strawberries, blueberries, peas & zucchini. The back bedroom is coming along with the new doors put in and framed and hopefully we'll get carpet in there this month. David is planning on putting up the 3 decks this and next month. Glad I had a chance to catch up on my journal. OH! And Elizabeth turned 9 months old on the 1st and got her 4th tooth! Her 1st top one to boot! Yeah, frozen pea cubes!