Surprise Mom

This year marked my wonderful mother's 50th birthday. Do you think I could let that day just slip by like any other birthday?? NO WAY!! My sister and I have been thinking about what we were going to do for about a year. We kind of kept it in the back of our mind and then all of the sudden it was getting closer. We narrowed down what we wanted to do and the date, time, and place. I got the invitations made and in the mail and we decided what we were going to eat. I put Charyn in charge of dessert and I handled the main dish. We decided to do a baked potato bar with all the toppings, that way I could do a lot ahead of time and have it ready to go in the crockpot. Mom's favorit dessert is Lemon Meringue pie, and no matter how many time I try to make it, something doesn't quite taste right. So we decided to order from a bakery so we wouldn't be disappointed. The hardest part of the whole party was keeping it a secret!! I see my mom almost every day and talk to her about that often too. It was so hard not to mention what I was working on like I uaually so with every other project I am working on. It was also hard to work around her schedule to plan that party without telling her why she couldn't do this, or got to that. Our good friend Sheri was in on it with us and arranged to go to "dinner" with mom. She was going to pick her up and then mention she left something behind and would have to go back to her house, where the party was going to be. Well the day finally arrived last Thursday (the 23rd), her birthday is the 26th, but the week was really chaotic and that day seemed to work the best, even more of a surprise when it isn't on the actual day. I counted down the hours and was really not stressing out too much. Until about 2 hours before, then it seemed like everything needed to be done and time was running out. We all pulled together and guest started arriving and before we knew it, it was time yell surprise!!! It turned out great!! She had NO IDEA!! We managed to pull it off and it was a great success. Good food, good friends, good times!!!

I just want to mention how much I love my mom and how wonderful I think she is. This was just a small opportunity I had to do something special for her in appreciation for all that she has done for me over the years. I am so lucky that we live so close to each other and that we have a great relationship. She is one of my best friends and such a wonderful example to me and my kids. They are truly lucky to live close to their grandparents. I hope that we can always be close by them. I love my mom and I wish her the best in the years to come. Happy 50th Mom!!!

Couldn't Put It Down

My sister loaned me this book, which she borrowed from a friend, and I couldn't put it down. I read it in two days, but could have read it in one day if my family would have let me hibernate in my room for a day. Anyone that enjoyed the Twilight series will for sure love this book as well. If you are in need of a good read, I suggest this book. Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Garden

Our garden did pretty well this year. Matt and I went out last night and harvested 2 bowls ful of green peppers and tomatoes. Today I made 10 jars of Jalapeno Jelly, 2 pints of pickled Jalapenos, and 2 quarts of stewed tomatoes. Kind of a lot of work for only a few jars, but I sure didn't want all that food to go to waste. I think I am getting this canning thing down pretty good.

Corn Maze

This last weekend I bribed my kids to help me clean the house and told them that we would do something fun when Matt got home from work. So I got my house clean, they surprised my by actually helping out pretty good. And we were able to spend some time together as a family and had a fun evening. We even got some exercise in, which was a good thing. The maze we went to was in the design of a Scout. The Boy Scouts are celebrating 100 years so the maze was cut out in honor of that. It was HUGE!! There were over 9 miles of paths inside the maze and 4 mazes inside of the one. We decided to go on the Blue maze which was just over 2 miles. We managed to find all the checkpoints that were in that maze. It took us a while to figure out where we were and where we needed to go, but once we did, following the map was easy. The kids had a fun time running around and hiding from us in the corn. They were both exhausted by the time we finished and Paige wanted to go home. We were hoping to go through another maze, but she changed out mind for us. We may consider going again because it runs through the first part of November. Matt and I even talked about going with some friends without the kids, or even a date!! (that never happens) so if any one is interested in going with us, let us know!!

Pears!!

I got my pears done last week. They took longer than I was anticipating and were a lot more labor intensive than the peaches the week before. But I managed to get them all done. 26 quarts of wonderful pears. So I am well on my way to having plenty of fruit to get us through the winter!!

The Fair

I can't live here and NOT go to the fair so I managed to get in a few days of the hussle and bussle. I was able to enjoy the foods I look forward to every year, (let's be honest, that is really why I go...for the great food). The kids had a ball looking at all the animals and of course riding the rides. Parker was so excited to ride the rides and this year he could do most of the kiddie rides. Paige on the other hand, wished she could do more. She just is a little girl and didn't meet the height requirment for almost all the rides. But luckily some of the rides she could go on if accompanied by an adult. Matt was the lucky one that got to go on all the rides with her. I tend to get sick just watching a ride, so I opted not to go on most of them. Although I did ride the carousel with her once and I did alright. She had so much fun and really felt like a "big" girl on the rides. One ride, the ferris wheel, Matt and I know she was way to short to ride, even with an adult. But Matt just held her and when their time came to board the ride he just put her in the seat with him and Parker. The worker didn't even question her height...so we them developed a don't ask, don't tell policy to allow her to ride some of the rides. We had a fun time and got our fill of the fair...until next year that is!

Smartie Pants Fair

During fair week Parker's preschool also does a fair for the kids. Parker was asked to bring an item for the fair. It could be a flower, a vegetable, a picture, or a baked good. Last year He took a zucchini from the garden. This year he took some marigolds from our flower garden that grew to be huge. He got a 1st place ribbon. I think he was the only kid to bring in flowers. (I think all the kids got a 1st place ribbon, but we won't tell him that) He was pretty excited...and more excited that he got cotton candy!

Peaches, Peaches, Peaches

I have been feeling a little domestic in the canning department lately. I have done 9 pints of dilly beans, 8 quarts of pickles and I thought I would do peaches and pears. I got a really good deal on a 25 pound box of peaches for like $11 and the pears were $12. So I ordered two boxes of each and the day they arrived the peaches were ready to be canned. So I worked my little tail off for about 4 1/2 hours and managed to can 24 quarts of peaches. I was pretty proud of myself for accomplishing this all by myself, I have never done that big of a canning project by myself. I was exhausted by the time I was finished, but they sure look yummy and now every time I open a jar it will remind me off all the hard work. There is something about preserving your own food for your family, it really makes me feel that I am doing something good for them. My goal is pears this week!

First Day of School

Monday September 7th was Parker's first day of Preschool. He had been asking my quite frequently when he was going back and I was excited to finally be able to tell him that "tomorrow is preschool." When he woke up first thing he said was "Mom, today is Preschool!" He was so excited to go back and to see the friends he had made the previous year. This year will be a little different, the school changed locations, yay for the teachers and there will be some new faces in Parker's class. He had a great first day and looks forward to the days when he goes to school! I have to admit that I enjoy the days he goes as well. We both do better around each other when we get a little break from one another.

Paige's New Hair

Paige has been fighting me the last month or so when it comes time to do her hair. She never wants it done anymore and if I manage to get some elastics in it, she pulls them out soon after. It is always hanging in her face and covering her cute little eyes and it drives me crazy. So crazy that I had a CRAZY idea today to PERM her hair. Well at first I just thought I might put it in curlers and see if that helped, well she was holding so still that I managed to get all her hair in perm rods and ready to go. My mom came over to help me out, (and I did her hair as well). Paige did relatively well. She of course didn't like the smell of the perm solution and didn't like all the time rinsing, but it sure did turn out cute. Now hopefully it will stay out of her eyes and I will be able to do it in a few seconds each morning. My thoughts on this were that I could mist it down each morning, put a little gel in and be good to go. We will see if it works out that way. When I showed her the finished product she got a big smile on her face and said she liked it. So it must have been worth all the torture to her. Lets hope it lasts a little while. I won't be doing that again too soon in the future!