Veggies...It's What's for Dinner

The week began with my Mom getting a new hip.  Her intention was to have her post-surgical care provided by her 80 year old friends, but the plan changed when all parties involved decided it would be best to have her go to a rehab center instead.  Good call!  As of yesterday, she seemed to be back to her old self (weather wars and visitors).
Brad continues to work on "rehabbing" Grammas house and is nearly finished painting.  And speaking of painting, he spent several hours on a ladder yesterday repainting the "lifetime guaranteed" trim on our house. 
The kids were out of school on Friday, so I went shopping with Meredith and her kids as well as Gabi. She (Gabi) is pretty pumped about her upcoming birthday, therefore it was time to shop for her party dress!  She had fun trying on several.....

Ultimately, she picked the purple one! (a girl after my own heart)

 On Saturday, Amie ran her second 1/2 marathon in Denver.  It was a beautiful day and she was pleased with her time, shaving off a couple of minutes from her previous run. 

 Sophie created this at Aunt Heathers' house


Oh, just thought of something worth mentioning....Friday night Spencer's football team in Kersey played the Brush Beetdiggers and crushed them.  The interesting thing was that Brush' quarterback was named Grayson Simmons! What are the chances of THAT?  Crazy, huh?
Yesterday, I scrapbooked for awhile (after the usual laundry, cleaning etc.) then took Carrie & Amie and the kids (minus Grayson) to the Miller Farm west of Platteville.  Amie had taken the kids last year and they really enjoyed it.  It was quite an experience and I'm pretty sure farming is not a part of my future! Hard work!  We rode around on a tractor driven hayride for several hours (90* degree weather...) and got off at various fields to pick vegetables, including corn, potatoes, onions, leeks, celery, carrots, pumpkins, cabbage, eggplant, green beans and a wide variety of peppers.

Here's our "Haul"!  We were all exhausted, thirsty and filthy when finished, but had a great time.  Afterwards, we all got together to enjoy Brad's yummy pork loin, mashed potatoes, FRESH green beans, and to top it off, a pumpkin cake made by Meredith.

Not so much news.....

It's been a week of, "hmmm, can I really write a blog page about this?" The answer is, "sure, but it'll most likely be the most  boring post yet!"

I had a typical work week, and as always, looking forward to the weekend.  Gramma got up on the wrong side of the bed on Friday morning, (acting just a smidgen cantankerous) so I offered to take her on a little outing.  We loaded up her walker, and drove to Centerra to "shop". She had never been to Macy's, and knowing how much of a fan my own Mom is, I thought she might like it.  Ok, so we made it into the store, down one aisle, picking through the sale racks as we moved along, and then she was done! We did find some things for her, as she's shrunk down to a small woman. It was truly the fastest shopping experience I've had!  Meanwhile, upon her request, Brad got stuck with the task of bringing all of her "winter wardrobe" over to our house so that she could sort things out.  After discarding about 90% of it, (I "helped" her decide on what to keep and would have actually tossed it all!), she is set.  She is still finding those " treasures" that she feels we should share. 

You never know when you'll need one of these folded rain bonnets, which fit so easily in a gals' handbag!

I picked Gabi and Rory up from school on Friday afternoon.  She was very excited about an upcoming PeeWee cheer leading clinic, open to boys and girls, ages 5-13.  She thought Rory would love being a part of it.....
Saturday morning brought round 2 of the soccer games.  Just a perfect day!  Unfortunately, the soccer game proved to be a little lopsided, and not in the girls' favor!  I think the final score was about 52-1....Grayson loved being out there, although it was challenging to keep him off the field!

the Big 3- Gabi, Sophie & Sunni

Saturday afternoon we took the kids to see a movie, "The Odd Life of Timothy Green".  Not what I was expecting, but entertaining for all of us. They all did really well and stayed focused on the movie!  Of course, as always, afterwards we HAVE to spend a few $$$ in the arcade!

Sunday brought the annual Cheyenne bridge tournament, where we played with Bill and Marilyn.  We did well until the last round.  It was nice just getting away, even if it was Cheyenne!

Labor Day & Beyond

The week started with Labor Day, and as the name implies, we did some.  I spent several hours taking off the finish on a chest of drawers that came from Gramma's house. Thought I could clean it up, refinish it, and use it for storage in my craft room.  Ok, it was a good idea, but proved to be more work than I'd planned.  What a surprise!  After working on it Monday, then painting it Friday, repainting on Saturday, then calling it "good", Brad got the drawer pulls on and it's now in it's new home.  Of course, I had to spend several hours sorting and cleaning to get there.

Pinterest sure makes DIY projects look easier than they are!

The girls had their first soccer game Saturday.  It's always interesting to watch kids play a sport for the first time and not really understand the concept.  I thought they did great, though.

Saturday was also a celebration of Corbin's REAL birthday.  He told me that he didn't "feel 4 yet" that morning, but I think that by the time he heard us singing and opened his gifts, he felt it!

Aunt Meredith made Hulk cake pops

The birthday boy

 We celebrate at Carrie and Spencer's house where Spencer and Curt had an opportunity to show off some of their "finds" for resale on Ebay.  They both really have an eye for marketable items!

Spencer's favorites- a decoy, an electric "hotdogger", Playboy puzzle

Curt found a 50's Pepsi sign

The revolving disco-ball like Schlitz sign adds some ambience to the garage!
Forgot to add that we celebrated our 43rd wedding anniversary on Thursday.  What'd we do?  Had Carrie and the kids over to enjoy dinner with us.  We did go out to Bonefish Grill for a scrumtious meal on Friday night.....Lovely!
And, to wrap up the week, Carrie, Brad, Spencer and Curt went to the Broncos game, which just happened to be a night game.  I watched the kids and got in 3 minutes of the game.

 

A great game, and Peyton Mannings' first win!

September's started

As we wrapped up August and zoomed into September, the weather has shown little difference.  Still just HOT!  The girls started soccer practice on Tuesday & have practice twice weekly until their games begin.  Corbin starts his practices tomorrow, so Grandpa and he had their own little game going.

Sophie, Sunni & Gabi

Sarah, Trent and Emi flew in on Thursday for a visit/hair-cutting-coloring marathon.  On Friday, she (Sarah) did mine, Amie's, Carrie's, Lisa's, Tracy's and Jessie's hair!  I am so in hopes that she will come back again in about 8 weeks!  So wonderful of her to spend vacation time doing her "job"!  We enjoy having her here so much and it's great for the cousins to see one another again. 

Emi having dinner at the big kids table

 

Corbin will be 4 next weekend, but we celebrated his birthday on Sunday so that his California cousins could enjoy it with him.  The party was held in Ft Collins at "Pump-It-Up" and was very successful, with over 25 kids there!  Crazy!

Corbin had a blast with his superhero themed celebration.

Corbin's girlfriend, Victoria

King Corbin

After the party, we (family) all went out to dinner at HuHot Mongolian Grill, a restaurant where each person assembles their own ingredients, then it is cooked on a central grill.  Fun and delicious!  Oh, and no Sunday dinner at our house! (Of course, tomorrow is Labor Day, and we will make up for that!