blessed beyond measure

VBS was fun. Exhausting fun. Trey pulled his all-too-familiar stunt of refusing to participate without a family member present, so with the rest of us otherwise occupied, poor Poppop had to neglect his other responsibilities and spend his evenings with seventeen four-year-olds, one of whom was an oft-scowling Trey. Aden, though offended that his bedtime was ignored, was delighted over late-evening snacks. Pudding paint night was his favorite. He didn't do much painting, instead choosing to shovel fistfuls of pudding into his mouth. Ah, memories. Speaking of Aden and food, his meals are now consistently, significantly larger than Trey's. The money-saving addict in me cringes, as I know that with rising food costs and natural boy growth, it may be another 20 years before our grocery budget will decrease or even level off. But that's OK. It's a blessing. We'll just have to find new creative ways to save. And have a bigger garden. And perhaps purchase some livestock. A...

Birthdays galore. VBS. Vacation prep. House overhaul. Garden. Yet another heatwave. If there was going to be a new recipe, it had to be simple . Done. (The recipe, not the other stuff.) Simple Seasoned Roasted Potatoes 1/2 c parmesan cheese, grated 2 Tbsp EVOO 2 tsp minced onion 2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp salt 4 potatoes, cut however you like (1-inch-ish cubes for us) Preheat oven to 425°. Dump everything into a gallon-size baggie and seal. Max out the volume on your computer. Play this . Shake it, baby. You won't be able to resist. (Make sure you're holding the bag!) Spread the potatoes in a single layer in a stoneware dish or baking sheet. Bake about 30 minutes, or until fork-test reveals soft potatoes. Verdict: Oh, yum. I mean, really, how could this not be good? Notes: I milk-freed Trey's portion of this by omitting the parmesan. (They were delicious without cheese, too!) Great basic-ingredient recipe for a future pantry challenge. Great recipe for l...

We have come out of a brutal heatwave that lasted most of the first part of July. Not complaining. But it's been hot. With temps near 100 and humidity that would smack you in the face, pretty much the only way the boys got to spend any time outside was to be nearly naked and soaking wet. The grandparents were happy to oblige. Nana & Granddad have a big swingset and new kiddie pool. Trey runs back and forth between the two. Aden follows suit. (Sorry, grown-up Trey, but you have no trunks at Nana & Granddad's. I wasn't about to skip a perfectly good blog post because you're wearing tighty-whiteys. Sorry, kiddo, but I'm sure you turned out alright.) Aden loves the kiddie pool. Sliding, splashing, and drinking the water. [Insert shudder] Trey, while he does enjoy the pool, would rather shoot the water hose at Granddad. Aden must slide like his big brother, and impatiently pushes away our attempts to help in any way. Mud. One of the perks of summer, condon...

I almost titled this one spaghetti with ketchup, because, you know, we need to catch up. Thought that might be a little cheesy. [Insert crickets] I can't keep up with life, folks. And it's frustrating because, comparatively, summer really ought not to be so hectic. After all, we spend four months out of the year hardly seeing Brandon at all, running to basketball games, Awana, preschool, juggling holidays, umpteen winter doctor visits... You'd think having Brandon home all the time and far fewer obligations would allow us to slow down a little. You'd think. Yeah. And honestly, I don't have an entirely clear memory of all the hullaballoo because I haven't had time to blog about it. I'm an out of sight, out of mind kind of gal. Which is why I hate not being able to blog much. The corn is starting to come in from the garden. Can't beat fresh corn. Only thing that would make it better would be a working grill to cook it on. Maybe next year. I don't...

Aaaaaand one week later, because that's how we roll these days, a recap of our July 4. Lots of laid-back, family togetherness fun. We had a cook-in/eat-out, as our grill is done for, so good old George got our hot dogs nice and grill-marky-lookin. We enjoyed having everyone over for the first time in a while. And of course the boys just soaked it up. Trey showed off his budding baseball skills, and got into a little mischeif with his best bud. Aden enjoyed snugglin, some exploring, and a little mischeif of his own. And the whole thing just took me back to a similar scenario, when a certain monkey was on the inside, mere days from joining the family. My my how things have changed. The fireworks were interesting this year. We live at a higher elevation than most of our immediate surroundings. Every July 4 we are blessed to be able to sit in our yard and watch one or more fireworks displays, probably 10 miles away as the crow flies. And because the fireworks are set off in the...

As of 7:24 this morning, we have a four-year-old in the house. Blows. My. Mind. Some days he seems even more grown up than that. And some days he's still my little baby. This was the first year that Trey could really anticipate his birthday, count down the days, and help with the planning. He basically planned the whole thing. Go see Cars 2. Go to the playground. Eat a turkey sandwich and a cupcake. All of which we did, and Trey had a great time. He is going through a phase of hyperactivity    wiggly restlessness    high-volume speech    broadway dramatics great enthusiasm, and he was super-excited over the whole day. It was indeed very good to celebrate the boy. So what is four-year-old Trey like? Tall and heavy. Skinny as a rail, solid as a rock. We'll learn official measurements later in the week. Active. Loves basketball and running open gym with Daddy during the summer. Loves golf - hits the ball then chases it. Loves baseball, and has chose...