Sunday is a good day to start with!

I normally post on Sunday nights but did not get around to it last night. So, I am posting tonight. We had a busy but fun week last week. We went to Jungle Rapids, went swimming, went to the nursing home, and hung around home. I have Bea's quilt all ready to "quilt" but was interrupted by a project or two - so this week, after finishing painting I will start the quilting process. Yesterday was a great day to worship the Lord. We had a fun morning at church, followed by lunch at Zaxby's, our third cheapest place to feed seven people. Taco Bell is second and Little Caeser's is FIRST!! Pan! Pan! We went back for our evening service, ready to enjoy the sermon but that was not to be! Kristinie the Great, a.k.a Beaker, was not going to sit quietly. Not quite as bad as "the incident" several weeks ago as I did not have to get wet in my clothes, she started throwing a temper tantrum because I wouldn't let her play with the hymnal. So I snatched her up and carried her out. That may seem inocuous but when you sit in the second row and have to hoist an angry toddler (who was smart enough not to scream at me) under your arm and skitter out of the service with a look of "this is not going to be good" on your own face, it's pretty obvious who's in trouble! Needless to say, after an intervention, she did great the rest of the service - from the second to back row.

Saturday was spent at THE POOL. After that Mr. Handsome watched the children while my friends and I went out to Taco Belly Buttonito!! Yup, Taco Bell. We're big time spenders now!!

Friday was a great day. It started out with breakfast at the Causeway Cafe. Now that may seem like a very nondescript name for a restaurant but it's been around for, well, forever. AND they make the best Belgian waffles this side of Belgium! :) The added blessing was eating breakfast with great friends. And all of our children behaved great!! Here are our children sitting on the steps of the cafe.

As one can see everyone is SO happy. They should be - it's payday!!! And that means everyone gets their allowances. After breakfast we headed to my favorite store, the FABRIC store. Not just any old fabric store. THE fabric store of all fabric stores. One of my friends works there so we get to visit her, too. After the fabric store, we headed to THE POOL. Everyone had fun swimming with Grandma and Grandpa and of course I forgot my camera. Aunt Erin and John and Rachel were there, too.

I have been trying out my new cookbook from Dorothy, Cooking Light 2011. It's all the magazines from the previous year in a cookbook. Here are some of the results:

 Above, is chicken with lemon-leek linguine and a broccoli garnish. It was wonderful. The children call me Mama's Olive Garden! I have arrived when I my name contains a chain restaurant.

 This is Rosti casserole (German potato dish) with baked eggs and bacon. I didn't get to try this but was told it was very good. I was a bit sorry for not getting a bite, but I am glad the family enjoyed it.

Here are Beaker and our Robert preparing the coating for coconut shrimp. We also had a fiery peach sauce with it. It was great. Beaker didn't care for it - I think the coating was a bit much for her. Just a word of caution: I have never had any problems with any of these recipes. None of them have flopped (well, that's not true but I think in the case of the beef short ribs, it was O.E. [operator error] not a recipe error) and that is quite a feat because I only have one cookbook and one chef I trust recipes to come out right: Joy of Cooking and anything by Julia Child. Anyway, as far as the caution goes: if you make anything from Cooking Light, it is truly LIGHT. And you will be heading for the cookie jar if you're not prepared nor have the self control necessary to keep from filling the carb craving. They are definitely healthy and well worth the effort. Most of the recipes take only thirty minutes from start to finish. Anyway, back to my week!!

 Maddie's birthday pie made by her. And her birthday cobbler made by Lindsay. If you are not sure which is which, the pie is round; the cobbler is not.

Here is Maddie with her birthday desserts!

 Here is our nephew John totally enthralled with our Robert's peach fuzz!!! Aren't they too cute. Below are the fingers of fury rubbing Robert's head!!

 Here is one of my detour projects: a friend asked me if I could put a vinyl sign on a canvas painted with latex paint. So I said sure!!!  And here is how it came out. Maddie wants one now with her favorite verse: Proverbs 17:22 - A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

 AND my OTHER project detour: FINALLY after six years of living in our house, I am painting the kitchen - with a little help from my friends! Second coat, and Lord willing, the final coat, will be applied tomorrow.

Here is the current project: Beatrice's quilt. I am going to try using the free motion foot. Maybe next week I will have it quilted. My other detour project I have not taken a picture of, but I can assure you it is signature Me. It is my Sunday afternoon skirt. I don't take naps on Sunday because I can't sleep at night if I nap during the day so I find something else to do. And a friend of mine gave me this great skirt pattern that is way out crazy, if you'd like, or subdued conservative if you're boring. I will take a  photo this week. 

I am going to end with lederhausen guy because I don't think I posted him from our trip to NMB. I could be him: playing my saxophone night after night at some restaurant that wants live entertainment!!! But God had other plans for me. I'm glad I listened. Mr. Handsome would be bored to tears without me and the five children. And I don't like lederhausen anyway.

The years are slip slidin' away!!

 Kristine needs a serious fashion citation.

Below are photos from our trip to NMB -North Myrtle Beach. Some will have captions by way of identification.

 I am rarely in photos because I'm the person behind the camera!! :)

 My terrific niece!! We love when we get to visit with her and her brother. And this time we got to visit with one of their cousins as well.

 Here is my sister-in-law being brave with Robert and our nephew!!! VERY brave!!

 Beatrice had way too much fun I believe. She has "grown" out of naps, though. At five, naps go by the wayside but she generally falls asleep by 3:30 in the afternoon on the couch still.

 Here is the NMB Birthday celebration for our Maddie and Beatrice. My niece's cousin decorated the cake with my niece's help. They did a terrific job!

 Robert, catchin' a wave!!! He's on a shortboard here. Don't ask me the difference, but Mr. Handsome has a longboard and it is a bit more difficult for Robert to maneuver on his own. He can do this one solo, though.

 Mr. Handsome and our Lindsay

 Here is the Lily Tomlin chair. My sil told me her character that sits in the big chair but I can't remember her name. We don't know where it came from, who brought it, or HOW in the world they got it through the doors!!! But it's there. And it's BIG!

 Sometimes teachers need disguises in case a student or two sees them. This is my sister-in-law's disguise. I may borrow it one day and see if my children recognize me in the morning. 

 Here is our Bea with one of my other nieces. She is the youngest in the family - on my side. She and Beaker are 3 months apart.

 Maddie made her own birthday cake. Here we are celebrating her birthday on the Fourth of July at Dorothy and the Great Oz's house. She made a mocha cake with coffee frosting. It was delicious.

 We were supposed to go to Jungle Rapids and my other, oldest niece on Friday but we got rained out. So, Oz and Dorothy took us to McDonald's instead. 

This is what it's like when you try to order for five kids who are hovering around you waiting for their food. The Great Oz is the taller guy on the right with the white hair. I let him take care of this order on his own and he did pretty good. He wasn't even grumpy when he got back to the table!!! 

Yesterday was Maddie's official birthday. The children get to pick their favorite meal - even Mr. Handsome does too - and their cake. I will make one, or they can get one at SAM's. Maddie settled on a peach pie. And Lindsay surprised her by making a blueberry cobbler. Her meal was less than thrilling but since she got to pick it, that was what counted. She had Kraft mac-n-cheese with canned tuna mixed in. We had peas for a side dish. The peas were great. Those photos will be posted shortly. Maddie turned 11 yesterday. She is my right hand girl, the go to gal for anything, she is the dearest young lady you could ever know. She is such a blessing to us. She will help without being asked and she is glad to take care of tasks the little kids can't do. I love her dearly and thank the Lord He has given her to us. While I am a bit melancholy about her getting "older" it is such a blessing to see her grow into such a sweet young lady. She is very excited about the day she can babysit and I can go out!! She will do great. She and one of her good friends babysit about once a week for me during the summer for practice and they do great!!