Shucking Corn!

Grace, Lindsey and JoGail are shown shucking corn. Lindsey just happened to be over when we picked this. They were singing songs and having a good ole time. We almost have a cantaloupe ready and we're hoping it will be ready before Wednesday. I counted six watermelons growing tonight. The corn took a beating from the storms we had last night. I think we might get one or two more pickings from it, though.

I can't believe that I will get up and go walk tomorrow morning at 7, but I guess I will.

Gotta love that walking group.....

THEY just called and we are walking at 7 am this week instead of 8........they're killing me!

Fresh from the garden-Sunday night

We had our garden supper this evening. Made a salad from the lettuce, radishes, tomatoes. Fried the squash and okra. Sweet corn was awesome-didn't even need butter!!!! For dessert we tried a recipe JoGail found-oranges napoleon. It was GOOD! Here's the recipe.

1 can mandarin oranges-drained
whipped cream in a can
wonton wrappers
a little sugar

Spray cookie sheet with pam. Place wonton wrappers all over the cookie sheet. Spray wonton wrappers with pam and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in 400 degree oven for 5-6 minutes or until brown. On plate, put a wonton wrapper. Put cream on top and put a spoonful of oranges on top. VERY low fat and plenty sweet. OK for carb watchers.

Played yahtze with Grace this afternoon. Don't think JG us quite ready for that one-she had to rest because she was too tired to play without whining. Right now Grace and JG are trying to play checkers under Coy's supervision. (poor JG). She just doesn't really think strategically yet. grace does and will beat you in a heartbeat. Ultimately he wants to teach them to play 42.

Found Binkiy's butterfly under a bookshelf this afternoon. He'll be ready to play fetch about 9:30 this evening.

Let's see Grace 2 and JG 0 in checkers so far. Will try to get pictures done this evening or tomorrow. I haven't forgotten.

Oh dear......2nd post tonight

JoGail decided to clean out her toybox-RIGHT NOW. What a mess! Doesn't seem fait that people who only have boys don't have pollu pocket everything in THEIR toyboxes! She thinks she has 'outgrown' many of her toys.......She has way too many 'art supplies'. Needs Aunt Missy to com e organize them for her!!!!!!! Trying to watch the olympic gymnastic trials. She said that Haley could do everything those girls were doing!

First mini vacation

Well, we had a mini vacation this weekend. We went to Plano, ate at Pappadeeaux's and then went to a hotel where the girls swam forever. This morning we got up had breakfast and then his Collin Creek Mall. I guess this is what vacations are like with two growing girls. I think everyone had a good time. (Cost dad some money at the mall, though!)

Let's see. Grace ran her 20 40 yard dashed Thursday evening. She did great. She has LONG legs when she runs. She's halfway to the goal of 40 40 yard dashes. She is getting so much stronger from lifting the weights and much more flexible from those exercises. We have to remind ourselves that she is still a little girl--only 11! She tried the mixed, grilled seafood at Pappadeaux's and discovered that she loves scallops in addition to the grilled salmon. She's learning to cook. She helped make chicken pot pie for Father's Day. She's already thinking about gift cards from American Eagle, Aeropostale and such for Christmas maybe).

JoGail had the fried shrimp and french fries. She had a hard time peeling the boiled shrimp (appetizer) and managed to get the seasoning all over her. She helped me make hot dogs tonight. She likes the George foreman (thanks, MawMaw). She has discovered kid's cookbooks and wants one whenever we go to a bookstore. My only problem with that is that they usually have the same things, just slightly different.) But hey, she's reading! We are trying to learn our multiplication facts this summer but aren't making much headway. Guess I will have to try another method! I wish I had a Cd for her to listen to. She seems to learn from listening more than seeing. She got s necklace from Claire's this morning and that just made her day. She loves that store.

Coy got a new bb/pellet gun from Academy on the trip. We have had a skunk in the back yard and no way to scare him off. We think he's rabid since we only see/smell him around noon or in the hot afternoon. Coy think she is eating the field mice (yeah!). His old gun was rusted and didn't work anymore. I think he had fun setting the scope and all that this afternoon. Previously our method of scaring the skunk away was to get in the truck and drive around honking the horn....see there is a little of my daddy in Coy after all.

Cantaloupes are growing! Still no baby watermelons though. Got a little beans and okra the other day. One squash was over a foot long. I think I can fry that for one meal. Coy's also still getting radishes and lettuce for his salads. Waiting on the corn also. The girls want to plant pumpkins, so we are thinking of trying that. We have to figure when to plant them though.

I officially finished work this pas t Tuesday at 4!WAHOO! Another year down. Have some bones to pick about the calendar, though. With school starting late which means I work later we missed picking blueberries this year. I may drive out there this week, but I think I have totally missed the season. We have plenty in the freezer but I don't want this to become a habit!!!!!!I'm thinking about talking Coy into planting some of our own bushes.......JoGail loves those things in a smoothie (from her Strawberry Shortcake Cookbook). One cookbook had a bunny shape from pancakes, so I guess we will be trying that also.Back to me, i have been walking with some teachers from Eustace while Grace works out. Now, last year we walked about 30 mins a day and called it wonderful. So that was what I was expecting. WRONG! They decided to entire the 5K walk race here in Eustace for Pioneer Days. (This morning) I missed the race because we had already made plans, but folks, these ladies are walking 3 and 4 miles. I am in the slow group, but we do get it done. I am sore as all get out but truly enjoy it. I am getting to catch up with old friends and getting a work out in, too. I am already wondering how in the world I can keep it up when school starts back. Any ideas.......remember I DO NOT get out of the bed easily in the mornings.....

For get to you that we went to see Get Smart last Friday before heading to Plano. Grace thought it was absolutely hilarious. Let's say JG didn't get all the humor. She just liked the cool stuff and eating the popcorn. They finished soccer and basketball camp last week. I think they had a good time at both. This Friday I am taking them to Splash Kingdom (Christian waterpark in Canton). Coy leaves next Thursday for his big international teachers/technology workshop in San Antonio. I am working on my list of to dos while he is gone and I have trouble sleeping.

Got a new macaroni and cheese recipe from Missy that I am going to try. Cooks in the crock pot. She says it is wonderful.

Got get things together for church tomorrow. We'll never make it if I don't start now!

Garden and Such

The garden is doing well. I think we counted around 12 cantaloupes so far. Watermelon vines have about an 8 foot radius. Squash and okra is starting to make. Corn is growing. Plan to pick a few beans tomorrow afternoon. Coy and I have made a 'track' around the mowed yard. We measured it and it's about 1/4 mile around. It's good to be able to walk without going anywhere.
We all went to Chile's for supper tonight. It was good. Been a while since we all went out to eat together. Made a tater tot casserole for lunch that was awesome. It had been a while since I made one of those, too. JG and I made Coy a double layer devil's food cake for Father's Day.

We did the Friday movie thing again. I'm not a movie person but everyone else it, so I try REALLY REALLY hard. We saw The Incredible Hulk this week. It wasn't bad. I'm not allowed to sit by Coy and Grace (so I can't ask questions). Me and JG are on our own for that!

Monday and Tuesday I have comp days then I am truly finished with work for awhile! (I think Aug 1). Gotta go help Grace sort socks.

Summer is here.

Finally finally finished work. Of course I go back next week to complete my two comp days for next year. At least we do those in house. (I don't have to travel to Dallas for it) Plus after a couple of days off it's good to see everyone one more short time. I think we are going to 'refine our forms'.

Today was my first free day. Yesterday was an ordeal. JoGail had a tooth that was basically dying from the inside out. So it had to be extracted. (fancy word for pulled) So we went to our regular dentist at 8. By 8:30 they came and got me because she refused to let the dentist in her mouth. Now it wasn't her regular dentist, it was his partner. And I think that had alot to do with it. Anyway, we spent the day in Tyler waiting to go to a pediatric dentist. Most of the day was spent trying to get her to forget about what was going to happen that afternoon. It went well after she took the Valium, yes Valium. I put Valium in my 8 year old to get her to relax enough at the dentist. Needless to say we were both exhausted when we got home. Grace spent the night at Lindsey's so thankfully I didn't have to worry

about her. And it was our 14th anniversary.

Coy and I are thinking about trying to get away, just him and I, for a night or two......so if there are any volunteers to watch the girls let us know! Normally we get a week or so to ourselves when they go to mom and dad's . But with school getting out late this year it didn't work out.

Grace finished volleyball camp this morning. She didn't feel good this afternoon and slept most of the afternoon. So she opted to use her one 'free passes' from Coy to miss her performance camp.
Next week she has a combination of soccer and basketball camp plus her performance camp.

JoGail has picked several cherry tomatoes from the garden. The watermelon vines are everywhere and the cantaloupe ones aren't far behind. One squash has gotten brought into the house but I haven't cooked it yet. Maybe tomorrow.

I'm trying to find all my soccer pictures so I can make a movie maker movie for the team. May take me a while to find all my pics. From some from third grade and fifth grade. Missing the fourth grade ones.

I'll find them. They are here SOMEWHERE!!!

Blueberry thing

The blueberry thing was practically GONE by 11:30. It was good. I stopped and got butter (the liquid kind, Toot) thinking it would be a like a coffee cake, but it wasn't like that at all. It was really good. I think it's a weight watcher's recipe but don't know for sure. It is fat free. I m going to make it next week for Coy to take to work.

Grace said vball camp wasn't too bad. She's at her performance camp workout right now. This is the first time for her to do it at night. Actually it's not night, more like late afternoon.

Made a new recipe for supper. I've been on a kick this weekend-rereading all my cookbooks. Anyway it was like stromboli sort of. You take a package of the Pillsbury crusty French dough loaf and unroll it. Put mustard (or whatever) then load it up with lunch meet. I did ham, turkey and roast beef. Roll it up and cook for 25 mins at 250. The recipe called for sheese all in it, but I didn't do that for Coy. It was still pretty good. JoGail likes it. Coy likes it too.

Later, laurie

Toot and Rebecca-there's a recipe hidden in here for you!

We had a good weekend. We let Grace pick what we did Sat . We went and saw Kung Fu Panda and then went to Tyler to Barnes and Noble and out to eat. The rule was we had to eat somewhere we hadn't before. Coy chose someplace like Hilltop BBQ (near the bowling alley). Neither of us can remember the right name. But it was good. We were glad we went.

Then this afternoon JoGail chose swimming. We invited Haley to go with us. Grace had the option of choosing someone to go but declined. I couldn't figure it out until I got to watching her and she had more fun aggravating Haley then anything.......that's why she declined. JoGail and Haley swam the length of the pool twice and both tackled jumping off the diving board. JoGail discovered it wasn't as bad as she thought. Then I took them to Braum's for ice cream. Grace ALMOST took a risk. She ALMOST ordered the fudge brownie sundae but chickened out at the last minute and ordered her usual- two scoops of vanilla. I guess some things will never change.

I made a new recipe to take to work tomorrow. It's called blueberry squares. It's just an angel food cake mix and a can of blueberry pie filling. Bake at 350 for 25-30 mins. I'll try it tomorrow and let you know if it's good or not.

Mom and Dad are volunteering at Glorieta NM again. They seem to enjoy volunteering there. Dad helps outside 9gets to play with someone's tractors, etc) and mom helps in the office. Keeps them busy.


Grace has volleyball camp which starts tomorrow in the morning and then has performance camp in the evening. She isn't excited about volleyball-but I think that's mainly because she doesn't know that much about it. She's loving performance camp. She said she loves lifting the weights.

I finish work Tuesday. Then JoGail has the dentist on Wed and then Thursday she and I are going to toys R Us. She has a gift card to use. She's held onto it for a while (since Jan).

Blueberry thing smells good!

JoGail

what Jo Gail looked like when I came home this afternoon....

Note the blue eye shadow!

End is in sight!

The end of work is almost in sight.......I finish next Tuesday afternoon.....Sorry about the typos in the last blog.....didn't spell check...JG wants to be a storm chaser in a blue suburban.....I'm uploading picts of their awards ceremonies last week. The girl with JG is Haley. Grace is shown with Rosie.

JG has had teeth problems this week and we go back next week to take care of it. Other than that she's just driving us crazy......she goes to work with Coy while Grace is at performance camp. I think she's been lots of help there.

Grace has started the performance camp at school and is loving it! She has volleyball camp next week. She isn't excited about vball camp, but when your dad is supt you TRY everything!She has discovered that she loves lifting weights.