Wish Granted!

 

Happy Birthday to my niece Angela.

She and my daughter are only a few months apart.

They played barbies together 30 years ago.

 

 

First thing at a party: eat!

Angela ate a Jakes at Dirty Daves.

The rest of us had pizza.

(Notice her lovely round earrings?)

 

Then, open presents!

Her mom made her an album commemorating her

40 years!

Next comes the CAKE!

Light the candles...

 

 

make a wish!

Wish granted!

 

Happy Birthday!

Thanksgiving dinner 2011

We went to my cousin Mike's new house for dinner.

He cooked the turkeys - twins!

they came out delicious!

Mike had a little "adjustment" to make to the dining room table before we could eat. This was a unique T-day activity!

Tori and her cousin Sam and two other little girls did all the decorations for the table. Here they are making little pumpkins to set around the table. Sam's mom gave them their drinks in margarita glasses - They loved it!

Wyatt was everyone's little darling.

So sociable and he brought out the best in everyone.

Here's the dining room table, decorated with many candles, fall leaves, mini pumpkins...I think there were 18 of us. The table was so long, that I sat in the Foyer and Phil sat in the dining room, and we sat next to each other! It was all beautiful and like a page out of Good Housekeeping.

delectable...

We couldn't eat until Mike got a photo of everyone sitting at the table -- see him in the corner?

So much food, so much plenty and thankfulness.

A very joyous occasion.

Hardly any dessert was eaten! There's always tomorrow.

We played Clue and apples to apples with the kids.

***

Tomorrow I start thinking about Christmas.

Party Party Party

This cake needs 83 candles!

That would be quite a blaze, but hardly enough to show EIGHTY THREE years worth of experiences...Three daughters, 6 grandchildren, 20 (?) great grandchildren, a couple of great-great-grandchildren! We had fun today celebrating my mom's birthday. FOOD: IKEA-style meatballs with gravy and rice and lingonberry sauce; Asian lettuce roll-ups; cole slaw; pumpkin muffins. And of course CAKE and ice cream! All three daughters attended, and our cousins Mike, Suzie and Samantha came too. We planned out Thanksgiving. A lovely day in spite of rain.

Many flowers and cards too.

Mike took a picture of "all the girls" that turned out nice and I hope I get a copy of it to share here.

Earlier that day...

At our scrapbooking group, it was my turn to make cards for the two birthday ladies. I had a lot of fun making these and they were easy! torn paper, ribbons, music paper and stickles.

I always like incorporating music paper into my crafts.

I don't know why, it just always looks so elegant with all that black and cream.

We also planned our annual Christmas party at this meeting.

I made these pumpkin muffins using my "Colonial Pumpkin Bars" recipe, but putting the batter into muffin tins. I piped the cream cheese frosting on top, moderately, and then put a big bowl of cream cheese frosting and a spoon nearby.

All that socializing - I need a nap!

Smell this!

I've had a pretty industrious day so far...housework, a little; I baked my mother-in-law's RAW APPLE CAKE this morning too. It turned out delicious! The only thing was she didn't write on the recipe how long to bake it! So I set the timer for 30 minutes, and then just kept adding on 10 more minutes if it wasn't done yet. As it turned out, the center fell a little, but I believe it to be cooked, and very delicious! Recipe follows...

We ate some warm and it was heavenly...even cold it is very very good! I can't stop nibbling on it! I knew this was going to be a problem...

Phil and I went for a nice long walk in the sunshine today. The leaves are falling and it is not as pretty as it was a week ago, but I did find some lovely leaves. . .

I thought I'd see more mushrooms, but I was not in the right place for that...

This Rhododendron against a Douglas Fir trunk appealed to me.

And here is Betty Shave's recipe for

RAW APPLE CAKE:

4 cups chopped raw apple

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Mix the first five ingredients thoroughly. Then add the next four.

She added 1 cup raisins at the end and 1/2 cup walnuts. I passed on the raisins, and added chopped almonds to the top of the cake just before baking.

Pour into a greased and floured 9 x 12 pan (or I used my largest spring form round pan).

Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

The cinnamon and the apples will make your house smell heavenly! The top is crunchy and delicious. I sprinkled with powdered sugar.

My trip to Minnesota - Day 1

Heading to Sea-Tac on Wednesday morning...dreary, rainy, gray gray gray...

This is my SECOND visit to Minnesota this year! Definitely a record. But, maybe one to be broken again, who knows??? My flight was great. With a window seat, I watched the world underneath me all the way. You really can see the curve of the earth. It is amazing to see how much unpopulated area there is between Seattle and St. Paul. I heard the weather would be beautiful in Minnesota. It was in the 80's when I arrived. I also arrived during rush hour - five-ish. So we went to the MALL OF AMERICA before heading on home. The Mall of America is an amazing place! In addition to all the wonderful stores there, it was like a trip to an amusement park!

First, we went to the AMERICAN GIRL store. The girls understand it is just like a trip to a museum or art gallery -- just to LOOK and dream. It was so much fun for ME...I have a special interest in American Girl dolls myself and picked up a catalog for "fashion ideas" for sewing doll clothes.

These dollies get to sit with the girls in the cafe, see how their little chairs hang onto the edge of the table? I heard that Taliah is going to have TEA in the American Girl Restaurant for her next birthday!

This roller coaster is in the middle of the mall! See how high it is? It continues around a tight short track up and down and upside down...probably about 40 seconds, but trust me it's an exciting 40 seconds!!! No, I didn't do that.

We all got excited to see this! A store just for peeps. I can imagine all the wonders that will be in there!

...and LEGO LAND! there is an area the kids can just play and build... and the store filled with many many wonders...

...including this gigantic WOODY from Toy Story... It was really fun walking around with the kids and Carissa, getting reacquainted, just having some fun together. I can see how wonderful a big mall like this would be in the long cold winter months in Minnesota.

When we got home, it was fun to see the big boys and Michael. So much visiting. It was so nice to see everyone again and the only one who had changed much was the baby.

A hugs and cuddles kind of evening.

And more partying!

Today is the day we are celebrating mom's birthday. I made beef stew, kind of juicy with an ice cream scoop of mashed potatoes in the center; Jonny brought grilled cheese sandwiches; Claudia brought the celebratory red wine. Pop organized the cake. We had a very nice 1-ish dinner and I think Mom enjoyed it a lot. This is the card and envelope I made for her.

Today was also Phil's mom's birthday. Phil went to see her along with the siblings right after eating lunch with us. I wish I could say I made this card, but I didn't. I bought it at the scrapbooking store - I think it was a sample for a class. I really like it though and it has "Mother" in gold at the top.

Phil's mom's birthday is also their wedding anniversary. I made this card some time ago - part of a kit with 20 different cards in it.

I have a pretty busy week coming up so I am going to spend the rest of the evening getting as much stuff done and ready now as possible. We do have a holiday on Wednesday, which means I don't work, so I will be working extra hours the other days to make up for it.

September 20, 2009

Our Front Porch plantings. We bought all these for Walker's graduation party and they are still nice! Reminder to self: next year get geraniums, begonias and Hostas for front porch! They love it!

Our back yard - these tiny fuschias are all over this five foot high plant. They are so delicate and they come back every spring!

Here's one of Phil's stacks of firewood. That's the only thing that makes me look forward to winter - toasty fires in our wood stove!

Grandma J. gave me these flowers from her garden. Aren't they pretty? The big blue one is a hydrangea, I think the purple are asters, and I have forgotten what the white ones are, but aren't they great? The vase was my grandmother's. I had a really nice visit with my mom and dad after helping out with the Shaves. My dad always makes me laugh!

Here is what we really did today. We moved Wayne and Elizabeth to a new home - assisted living where Wayne will have his own apartment and Elizabeth will get extra care, but they can still be together. Wayne is supervising the loading of the trailer. The little girl on the bike visited Wayne a lot and kept shouting "Hey Wayne, look at this!"

September 7, 2009 - Labor Day

Today is MY last day of vacation. Tomorrow I begin work again. This morning we invited my mom and dad over to view our vacation photos. I made an apple pie and individual blueberry pies. We also visited the Sr. Shaves and shared some photos.

We had another load of firewood delivered. We are well set for winter now and couldn't resist building a little fire tonight. It has been raining hard most of the day. Walker said they woke up to rain and Washington-like weather in Michigan this morning too.

We are still settling down into our "empty nest" lifestyle. I am cooking less food, we eat less frequently. I've been looking around for more laundry but its all done.

I picked some grapes from our grapevine. We have had it for ten years and this is the first year we have had fruit. They were a little tart - maybe need a little longer on the vine. But, I did enjoy them!