Honoring Our Birthday Boy!

Didn't we do this last Monday?

    Wait, don't I say something like this just about every year?  Repeat parties a week apart.  Love those boys born on the 13th and 20th.

Today we celebrated an 11th birthday.  Eleven 11's hidden last night, for this mornings activities.

 Woods out back!  Pinks, lavenders, blues!

 Woods out front!  Yellows, peaches, lavenders!

 Green stars all over the table!

 We don't buy cake toppers!  We make them or use what we have.

Someone wanted a trooper for a cake, so he got several.

Yes, a piece of "grass" was out of place, so it got blasted!  What else are

you going to do with a gun that big?

 Different angle of troopers!

Birthday presents!

Yes, we ran out of paper while wrapping last night!

Smallest first (his choice), new pics for his guitar

from Christmas!

 Book he's "begged" for and finally got!

Love being able to figure out exactly what they want

without having to ask!!

Cake before dinner!  Why, yes please!

green frosting feet!

 Just because we took a photo like this last week!

 Chillin with friends at Laser Tag Event!
How convenient for older brother that there

were a couple teens there for him to hang with as well.

Great time honor our birthday boy!

Perfect Grilled Cheese Sandwich?

The "perfect grilled cheese" will mean something different to just about everyone.  It is about the type of bread used, the selection of cheese (s), butter on the outside, fry pan vs. iron skillet.  Lots of choices to be had.

One common thing, if I could be so bold, is that the cheese needs to be warm and gooey and melted.  The sandwich CAN not be cold on the inside and black on the outside from having heat to high.

In resent years, I like to get the iron skillet going at about 4 (electric stove, no clue what that equates other than not quite medium heat), then get the sandwich ready.  To encourage the sandwich to heat all the way through, I will take an 8" x 8" cake pan and flip it over the sandwich.  This keeps the heat in and doesn't smush the sandwich like a panine press would.  It also always for a slower browning of the bread and allows for the heat to go all the way through the sandwich.  Remove the pan, flip the sandwich, and put the pan back on.  I can get a lightly browned grilled cheese sandwich that has gooey cheese on the inside every time doing this!

So how do you make the perfect grilled cheese sandwich?

Beautiful Moment!

Nature is a beautiful thing.  Taking time to just see it and be in awe can help reset the day, week, or almost any funk (well, until you are rapidly pulled out of moment)!  Here is one thing thing I saw today that made me pause!

Loved the shadows on the pantry and wall

into the dining room.  Colors were warm.  If it'd

been somewhere else, with a comfy chair,

it would have been inviting a book, cup of tea,

and a blanket!

 This was the view through the dining room window (and

a very dirty dining room window).  Beautiful view!

With a sick child, I was quickly pulled out of the moment, but thankful for a beautiful moment.

Fourteen years in the making!

It's been a celebration of our oldest birth!  14 years ago he made his presence know.  Slow start to the day, a good breakfast, and the unfortunate task of school work.  Let the boys have a "clean pj day" again on this Monday (think it might become routine as this was the second Monday we've done this!  Next Monday maybe a repeat as well).

 The effects of home made cake.  Lots of dishes, lots of mess, all for a

chocolate cake.  Coco powder everywhere (not in the cake, but for dusting the pan.

No "white" flour marks even though cake was being frosted).

 Second 8"x8" pan ready for cake batter.  Making a "Grass Block" from

Minecraft and Vanilla Ice Cream for snow balls.

 Think I used to much coco powder to dust the 2 cake pans!

This is the leftover!

 Finished cake!

A few toppers and a couple extras,

made by a loving brother.

 Close up of the toppers I made!

 Steve and a creeper!

 A tradition born last year.  Their age, printed that many times.

Hidden around the main level for them to find.  It kept Simon

occupied while I slept in this morning!  Was surprised to find

that he even did a bit of school before I got up!

 Blue stars scattered on the table for a child

who has been known to like blue!

Joys of being oldest, folks dubbed him

the blue one and his younger brother

the green one!

 The presents, so hard to resist,

all day.  But he made it till his father

got home.

 Blue paracord, to add to his

red and black he got for Christmas.

 Three sizes of S hooks.

 Multi tool!

 The guys!

Someone wanted to pose for the camera!

This is fourteen years in the making!  Along with a brother 3 years and 1 week younger!  And yes, we did make it to Simon's favorite restaurant, CiCi's, we just went this past Saturday night!

Scarves Fundraiser!

knitting ~ an "art" of crafting yarn, string, fabric, (suppose anything flexible enough to wrap around a needle) into blankets, scarves, bags, totes, mittens, etc. with two or more needles.

That would be my definition of knitting anyway, as I don't like using the word being defined in the definition!  ::smiley face::

Have been knitting for almost seven years now.  Although I've challenged myself to make new and different things years ago, that has fallen by the wayside for whatever reason.

My new challenge, now, is to work on speed of the easy stitches. Real basic knitting, just knitting each row, back and forth.  With this, I am also desiring to sell some scarves to help raise money for a family member battling cancer.  If you'd be interested in purchasing a scarf, let me know.  The first one for sale is this one:

 This scarf is made from Lion Brand, Home Spun, Prairie

Colors are sage green with shades of blue, purple and red in a variegated pattern

Washer and dryer friendly, just not HOT water

Knit on larger needles to give a slight lacy look

5" wide by approximately 62" long (scarf is a little stretchy)

$20.00 (if picked up)

Not sure how much for shipping but can look into that

I plan to make a few more scarves, with this color of yarn, in the coming days.  If you have a request, let me know.  Cost of scarves will change depending on cost of yarn.

Thanks for looking at my scarves fundraiser!

Sunday Morning

Had hoped to find this blog journal template thing, that you fill in blanks about the week ahead, what's going on, etc.  Couldn't find it in the little time I allowed to get it done.  Will look more for it later as it may be something I try to write with on Sundays.

In the mean time, here are a few photos from the Friday's snow and last night.  Most from our kitchen window or right out side the deck door.  I do appreciate our back yard.

 The one photo above and three below are taken to

play around with zoom features on camera!  Love those woods.

Makes me think of "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening".

 Moon and sunset all in one photo.  Pretty and doesn't get old.

Clean calendar ~ that won't last for long.

~~~ 2014 ~~~

Welcome to Two Thousand Fourteen, whether you are ready for it or not!

Not sure what all it entails for this blog, how often I'll post or what I'll post about.  There were days during our Advent series that I really enjoyed blogging every day, then some days it felt like a chore ~ one extra thing that needed to be accomplished.  I've mulled over just blogging daily life or having themed days.  Nothing is striking accord with me, that says, "This is it!!".  So I leave you with these photos from just now:

 Another glorious sun rise!  I would seriously miss these woods

if we ever moved!

 Evidence of sparklers from way earlier today.  Kiddo was worried

about the marks.  We'll get it off with a little scrubbing.

If that doesn't work, I hope to rent a power washer early this spring.

Think we went through 20 sparklers a piece.  Not a big deal,

we tend to over buy on July 4 last year and are stocked for awhile.