Dad's away, so we're heading to Grandma's!

Chad went elk hunting in Colorado and so the boys and I went to my Mom's for the weekend.  These are just a few sites and "sounds" of being up North in the quiet country!

yes, there are still Christmas lights up.

Her dog, Dufus, enjoying the pond.

and some people wonder why I have gray hair?

Baby Shower

Baby shower for Baby.   Big Sisters Kasidie and Kelsie were excited too!

Baby Shower, baby shower, baby shower!  Who doesn't love a baby shower?  And luckily for me, this baby was coming into my family!  My sister Angie and her main squeeze Don are having a baby!

Ok, and now I know that this has come and gone and that he's already here, but I still wanted to blog this so you can see her shower!  Angie's friend Shannon {my friend too :)} asked me if I would want to help give her a shower.  Lord knows it's been 14.5 years since she's had a baby!  So, Shannon, Claire (Don's sister) and I threw her a shower. 

They live on a little "farm" and we decided the farm theme would be cute, and Baby's room is farm theme too!

Shannon made these cute centerpieces!  Each one had a different animal on them, but I'm kinda partial to this cow.   

This was the guest book!  Pages that Angie can add right into Baby's scrapbook.  The two pictures at the top are of Don and Angie when they were little babes.  

This is the cake/cupcakes that Shanon's boss made!  So so so cute and the chocolate ones had peanut butter filling, the white cupcakes had raspberry.  Man I wish I would of ate a few more!  

Angie and Baby!  And yes, we know the baby is a boy!

Who doesn't love gifts?  Angie received many nice gifts!  I forget how much fun it is to watch an expectant Mom open them up and ooh and ahh over how little they are.  I particularily love the litte "Dude" hat! 

Claire and Angie.  Claire is so excited to become an aunt!  Being an Auntie is fun.  Spoil them and send them home!

The Grandma's!  This is Mary's first grandbaby and she is sooooo excited!  My Mom, eh....she's an old hat at being a Grandma.  This baby will make #7!  And my boys.....yeah, they are excited because they get a boy cousin!

Shannon may kill me for this, but this is the only picture that really I have of her.  The other ones we took didn't turn out well.  I truly love my Mom's face in this picture.  I think she may have been saying something important, but then again, maybe not! 

My Sister, My Friend.  I love you so much!  I can't wait to meet this Baby and snuggle up!  

The Right of Passage: Corn

Each fall, we look forward to our harvest.  Tomato juice, Salsa, and Corn.  Lots and lots of corn.  Like 40 dozen ears of corn.  Yeah.......what are we thinking?  We love corn.  Not so much by the end of the day, but in mid January when you are craving some delicious corn, we can open up a bag and taste the best frozen corn on the planet! 

This year, Kelsie and Kasidie and Evan were part of helping.  It's become something we look forward to as we teach our kids so they can carry on our traditions.  With Ang being 34 weeks pregnant, we weren't sure how the day would go and if she would need multiple breaks.  She did great!  One minor episode early in the process, but we let her do her thing and we all carried on.  She managed the day with no swelling of the feet/ankles!  That's awesome! 

Here is our process and what makes our corn so yummy!

Start with the husking.  Don and Evan managed a bunch, then decided to leave to do "man stuff".  They were able to get us a jump start anyway.  

The cows loved the husks and the cobs.  Special treats for my bovine family.

Mom sharpens up the knives.  This needs to be done a few times to get the corn off the cob quickly.  Dull knives, no good.  

Pretty corn. 

Before the corn is cut off the cob, it needs to be washed and as much of the silks off that you can.  Cut out any bad spots as well.

Cut the corn off the cob.  We use a bundt pan to do this.  We stand the corn cob up in the center hole and the corn will then fall into the sides while you cut it off!  Genius, right? 

Let Tinkerbell enjoy some more corn treats.

Secret family recipe......not so secret anymore!

prepare the corn for cooking.  We try to have a pan or four on the stove cooking at all times. 

boiling...almost time for next step.

Make a bed of ice in a sled.  Yep, a sled.  This will stop the cooking process. 

Bagging the corn.  Mom found this handy dandy little contraption that actually worked quite well!  I had my doubts, but it lasted the entire day without breaking.  3 cups of corn per bag.  If you choose, you can add more, but we've done this for quite some time and have found 3 cups to be just enough at a meal for 4 people. 

it's a sled!  And for those that read my blog that have worked or know someone who has worked at EPC, yep, it's that sled!

Chef Angelina Jolie and her bump.  This is her job when we do corn.  She's a slave to the stove.

Kasidie prayed that the corn would turn out and so did we.  A few years ago we had a bad bad bad (did I say bad?) experience.  It ruined all of our corn.  Very expensive and disappointing to us as we look forward to corn in January.  :(

And yes, Kelsie was on her phone a LOT that day.  Although, she did help bag and seal. 

And this my friends, is corn.  We harvested 132 quarts of scrumptious, buttery, perfectly made corn.  

Of course, then after the corn is done, it's the never ending clean up of the dishes, the tables, the utensils, the floor........the floor again......and one more time just for good measure. 

It's a long day, but so rewarding.  Yes, more expensive than buying corn in the store, but so rewarding.  More work, yep, but so rewarding.  And in the middle of January when it's blizzarding outside, yep.....so rewarding. 

It's a dogs life

Ruger is our 11 year old Black Lab.  He is the apple of Chad's eye (well, ok, his children are, but Ruger rates right up there).  He is getting old.  His hearing is sketchy, he is lazy, he sleeps too much, he needs help getting in to the truck, but we know his time is coming.  As hard as it is for me to think about it, it's a fact of life.  His time with us here is limited.

This past weekend, we let him hang out by us at the fire, and he thought he could be a lapdog like his 4 year old brother, Oscar.

 And, apparently he loves to give kisses too.

Chad will certainly be lost without his hunting companion.  I do know of 2 boys that will be even more sad.  Evan has never known life without Ruger.  He already cries when a dog dies, I can only imagine what will happen when it is our turn.

He has lived a great life!  He loves Grandma's house and the free run he gets there.  He loves swimming even though he is stiff and sore the next day.  He loves to sneak in and try to stay inside the house or camper.  He loves sleeping on top of his dog house when it's -40* outside.  He likes to play with the boys' soccer or basketball.  Once even getting the basketball stuck in his mouth and I had to call a neighbor to come help me get it out! 

Plain and simple, Ruger is a part of our lives.  He's our family.  He's the world's best dog.  He's old, but his time is coming.

(Wow, now that was a depressing post....and I'm crying.  No more sad posts).

Enough already.....I need to start blogging!

This is ridiculous.  I need to start blogging.  I am so far behind on the boys' scrapbooks that maybe I'll be able to use this to help me remember when I actually get to it! 

This past weekend, we stayed home from the camper to do a couple of fun things with the boys before school starts.  It really was our only weekend that worked between our planned weekends and when Tyler was going to be home. 

Saturday, we headed out to the Minnesota Zoo.  We hadn't been in quite a while.  In fact, I think Evan was still in diapers the last time we went.  Tyler wasn't too thrilled about going as he has went there for his field trips for school, but I think the fact that Dinosaur was there may have been enough for him.  Being at the zoo makes me feel like a kid again.....and who doesn't love that!

Isn't he just adorable?

Tyler

 He looks like a natural!

T-Rex

only Evan

I want him......or her.

Looking for fish.

Trying to touch a shark or a stingray.  Managed to touch a shark!

My adorable boy.

My Goatee is longer than yours!

This baby was so cute!

When we returned home Saturday evening (of course after a great meal at Red Robin......YUMMMM!!), I managed to wipe out in the garage.  I messed up my left foot and managed to fall on my right hip.  I'm a walking, or shall we say, hobbling mess.  My hip pain has now radiated into my back.  ICK!  Ice, Tylenol and being lazy is on my agenda for a few days!

Sunday we headed to the beach.  We went to Schroeder Park by Clearwater.  Very nice beach.  Evan made friends quickly with 3 boys and they built sandcastles and played in the lake.  Tyler, Chad and I hung out on our blankets and sat in the chairs.  We only stayed for 3 hours, but in that time, we managed to catch a few peeks of sun.  It was cloudy, but once we arrived back home, it was H-O-T. 

I enjoy the kind of weekend where we have no rush to go anywhere.  Looking forward to some off time this fall and winter.  Evan wants to join basketball, so maybe my weekends will be full once again!  And, of course, I need to get caught up on my scrap books. 

Later,
AC