A month later...

The summer has sped by slowly this year.
I have enjoyed all the days we had at home doing nothing.
Family time has been the highlight of my summer. 
Mike is still without a job.  And just when I got a little panicky about money God handed me a little part time job where I am getting to do the type of nursing care that I haven't done in years and I am really enjoying it. 
But summer is coming to an end and school starts for me next week. 
Here is a quick summery of the last few weeks....
Right before starting the new job I got to get away with good friends.  It was exactly what I needed.

Is there anything better than girlfriend time in the mountains?

We spent a lot of time out on the deck enjoying the cool weather.

There were rain storms that sounded beautiful on the metal roof.

We worked on our Project life books

and I fed the deer everything I could find.

I am so thankful for a wonderful friend with a beautiful house she was kind

enough to share.

 

I came home and started the new job that came with a friend

he loves to come inside and take a nap in the cool air

 

 

I took Katie to have her Sr. cap and gown pictures made

I didn't even cry.

 

The last week has been such a blur because I worked so much .

I was enjoying a night off and cooking dinner when

I made a little slip with my new chefs knife.

It is as sharp as they advertised

luckily I just missed some important things in there

and a few stitches later...

I think I'll be using the  dishwasher for that knife from now on....

 

 

Tomorrow my baby will be 14.  14.  That isn't even any sort of a little kid anymore and I really don't like that.  Not one bit.

She is however, a really great teenager (so far)!

We went to dinner tonight so tomorrow she can spend the evening with the important people.  Her friends. 

I may hate she is not my baby anymore but I sure do love the girl she has turned into. 
That is, when she'll hang out with me!

Happy Birthday my beautiful girl!!! 

 I love love love you.

 

 

 

 

I think she's having too much fun to miss me...

Kellie has been begging to "live with Jennifer" for the summer. 
We decided just a week would be better.
She is off living with the best cousin in the world and since they are two peas in a pod I can't wait to hear the stories.
But....it's much quieter than normal here.  I'm used to having her around.  Running errands with me.  Fussing about what I cooked or didn't cook.  Trying to kiss her and her refusing.  Basically, I just miss the 13 year old who lives here and it happened faster than I thought it would.
The 17 year old is around some but the last couple of nights she has had plans and I'm quickly seeing that life after my kids leave home might be very boring. 
I do not care about watching the NBA draft. 
I don't want to watch another episode of Jeopardy.
He doesn't want to do any projects like painting.

I think I'm going to have to adopt some more kids.
Soon.

Back to Kellie...
She was excited to fly alone.  Until the day before and she started getting nervous which surprised me... she's brave usually.

They let me walk her back to the gate and she was glad

boarding, finally a smile

Jennifer wanted to embarrass her

and it looks like there has been some fun

 

 

 and a lot of sleeping going on...

 

 

 

Back in Lubbock we are enjoying record high temps

 

 

and that calls for some cold beverages with friends

 

 

lip gloss melts at this temp....

 

and even dogs need ice cream

 

lazy mornings

 

and some time in the redneck pool, you don't want to see that picture...

 

But most of all we're missing

 

 

 

 

hurry home Kellie and Jennifer

 

 

 

Summer love

School is out and summer has started.
The first week has been nice since we are all home for a change.
 I'm ready for Mike to have a new job but it's a treat to get to spend some family time together.

Kellie used her saved money for a "white trash pool" as Katie calls it.

 

Ellie thought it was a big play area when we were putting it together.

 

Elvis has adopted this raft as his own

 

Kellie spends hours in the pool.

 and she likes me to be out there all the time with her

If I'm not this is what I get

 

Mike took the top of our old entertainment center and re purposed it

He built a top for it and made a bar

 

This is the final outcome. 

He did a good job. 

 

He's been watching "Bar Rescue" and decided he needs to own a bar.  

I told him this is as close as he will come, enjoy.

 

I am loving the patio now. 

Till the next dust storm when the cleaning starts over.

 

We had friends over tonight and enjoyed dinner outside

 

 

You need to try PW's Shrimp Quesidillas

They were a hit at dinner tonight!

 

Hope your summer is off to a good start

Come hang around the bar and if you're brave you can try the white trash pool 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh from the garden

I am loving the weekly baskets of fresh veggies that I am getting from a local farm.

I love that she includes a list of what is in the basket. 
See the big green peppers?  Those are Corno di Toro green peppers.  They are a little sweeter than green chili's but still have a little warmth to them.  I decided to roast them and use them like a relleno and that was a great choice.  They had a great flavor and I wish I had more of them.

One of the other things in the basket this week was "lemon" cucumber. 
They are a heirloom variety with a mild slightly lemon flavor.  I sliced them for part of the picnic for Kellie's show last night.  I also made little mason jar peach cobblers with the white peaches in the basket...

 

It was the last night of Pinocchio and my sweet friend went to keep me company... 

Here is the recipe I used the peppers in tonight.  It was a hit...

Chili Rellenos Casserole

2 (7oz cans) green chili's drained (or 6 fresh large peppers roasted, peeled and sliced)
1 lb ground beef, browned and drained
1 cup shredded Monetary jack cheese
1 cup shredded Sharp Cheddar
1 egg plus 2 egg whites
1 (5oz can) Evaporated Milk
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 can tomato sauce or 1 jar taco sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 8x8" baking dish with cooking spray.
Lay half of the chilies evenly in bottom of baking dish. Sprinkle with ground beef, half of the Jack and Cheddar cheeses, and cover with remaining chilies. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, milk, and flour, and pour over the top of the chilies.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, pour tomato or taco sauce evenly over the top. Sprinkle with remaining Jack and Cheddar cheeses, and chopped green onion if desired, bake an additional 15 minutes and serve.

Glad to be home but could we get the heat turned down?

I am so glad to be home... two weeks away seems like forever...

But we left 85 degree weather in Missouri to come home to this

(that was just as we came back into Texas, I think it might have been 185degrees by the time we got home)

We left two weeks ago for a family funeral in East Tx ( that will be a separate post), then on to Kamp Kanakuk for the favorite week of summer.
This summer it was only Kellie and I on the road trip.  Katie had to stay behind for rehearsals for a musical she is going to be in.  I think the two weeks really felt like forever to Mike who was left alone with the teenager!

We stopped in Ark. to see my Aunt Effie

We headed to Branson from there and the GPS took us on the most remote route possible!  We went through Ozark National Forrest and went about an hour without even seeing another car...

We spent the next day doing the tourist type things we usually don't take the time time to do... I let Kellie pick the activities so we ended up at the wax museum

 rode the Ducks

had lunch at her favorite place, the Singing Diner

and we finally caught the "Cirque" show we have talked about seeing for the last few years... it was very fun!
Then it was on to Kamp...

Here is my clean child at one of the "wipe out" stations...

this blurry picture is her getting thrown into the mud pit

Yuck.  That's all I have to say.  Every kid who came to the nurse for the rest of the week had dried dirt in their ears! 
Kamp was great as usual.  I sure missed Katie being there with us.  I would love to have seen her reaction to wipe out!
I came home just in time... doesn't look like anyone remembered to turn the sprinklers on while I was gone and they only checked the mail twice in those two weeks... Today I got to hand them the cards I mailed them over a week ago...
I'm glad to be home!

Squeezing in all the summer we can...

The weather has been wonderful and we knew that pretty quickly it would be too cool to get in the lake, so today we took the girls for a last taste of summer.

The weather was perfect. 78 degrees. not windy. perfect.

Since the weather was cooler we decided to take Elvis. He likes the boat but can't tolerate hot weather.

He had a great day. When Mike and girls were in the water he wanted to jump in with them. We were afraid of trying to get him back in the boat if he ever jumped!

The day was perfect. Today we were boat people.