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!

Doubly Delightful Birthdays

This week we celebrated Amie's birthday, Carrie and Spencers' anniversary and Carries' birthday. Whew!  Thursday evening, Curt and Amie, Rory and Sophie went to the Hibachi Grill for dinner and left Grayson with us.  He was so good (almost too good), falling asleep on my lap at 7:30.  The mystery was revealed the following day when Amie took him to the doctor and found out he had an ear infection!  Friday brought my sister to the house to leave another load of boxes to store until she needs them (that would be NEVER in my world!).  We ate lunch out and then picked Gabi up from school that afternoon. Pam had brought a boxful of old buttons, which Gabi found enticing and proceeded to make a bracelet for her Mom for her birthday.

The kids stayed that night for dinner while Carrie went out with her friends.'
On Saturday morning, Amie brought the kids by early so she could go run in the "Paw &; Sneakers" event. Meredith ran as well, so  the rest of us met them to watch the outcome.  They both did really well and ended up placing 2nd in their respective age groups!  I was so proud of both of them!
 Elijah and Emma's also ran with dogs (their own Rosie being one of them, the other a nice boxer named LuLu, whom I later offered to buy from the Humane Society for Amie, although it didn't happen), and did great. 

After the race, Brad and I went to Ft Collins to play bridge (poorly) and then had dinner with Beth and Fred.  Afterwards, we traveled the grocery circuit looking for the best bargain on scallops and shrimp.  Amie and Carrie had decided that they wanted a dish comprised of those two items for their birthday dinner, so we searched until we found scallops for a mere  $13/lb.....  Anyway, Brad made a wonderful dinner of shrimp, scallops tossed in linguine along with creamed fresh spinach and fruit salad.  Meredith contributed with her usual wonderful dessert of chocolate and peanut butter.  So delicious!!!! It was the second pre-season game for the Broncos, so we tried cheering them on.  Even Gramma had the spirit! After dinner, while the adults played a game of hearts, the kids put on their usual "celebration" play, with the girls in formal wear, and the boys?not sure about their roles....

Carrie took this picture of Meredith-love it!

Sometimes life is a little rocky....

This week has held several trials for the family. The boys (Brad, Curt and Spencer) worked really hard all week at Grandma's house, in an effort to get rid of some of her stuff at an estate sale over the weekend.  Unfortunately, there were few things that anyone wanted to purchase.  A lot of work for very little reward....Grandma has found the process to be more difficult than she thought, I think, and has been very emotional.  We are still a long way from emptying out the house and getting it ready to rent.
On the bright side (yep, there always is one!), school started again on Thursday, with Back-To-School night on Tuesday.

The girls were very excited to see their classrooms and meet their teachers.  Sophie started first grade and went back on Thursday, while Gabi won't start until Tuesday of this week (afternoon kindergarten).  The big kids, whose pictures I didn't have, all claimed to love their first day of school.  We are all excited that Elijah is now going to the same charter school as Emma.  When I asked Emma about her first day, she told me that it was awesome, and that even though Elijah didn't know any of his classmates, he had already made a lot of friends.  Not surprising to anyone!  Rory has also happy to get back to his school.

This week Carrie had a conference in Washington D.C., so we all got some extra time with Gabi and Corbin!  She said that the conference was one of the best she had been to, and was fortunate enough to get some time to do some sightseeing as well.

  She sent these photos of the Air and Space Museum and of the Capital.

On Thursday night, Brad and I went to see one of my favorite country music singers at the Budweiser Center, Ronnie Dunn.  The concert was good, and it was just the break we needed in the week. 

Saturday night, Brad, Curt, Spencer and Rory went to the first pre-season Bronco game, which by all comments was a disaster.  Ok, the weather was nice!  Gramma and I went to watch the game and have dinner with Amie and the kids.

On Sunday, we had only part of the group here (although by the mess and the noise levels you'd have thought we weren't missing anyone) as Meredith and her family went to a Rockies game.  We grilled steaks, had some garlic mashed potatoes and a yummy new corn recipe, then topped it off with Brad's unbelievably good rhubarb/strawberry cobbler topped with ice cream.  The day ended with a scrabble game at one table, and a monopoly game (my favorite....NOT...where I was the banker) for Sophie, Gabi and Corbin,  Brad and I were so tired that we were asleep within a half hour of everyone

leaving!

Oh, and one more picture, which is where today's title came from...Grandma is still having issues navigating our driveway!

If you look carefully, you'll see an opening down the center of our neighbor's mum about the size of a tire!  And, that junction box?  It was previously buried up to that metal part!