fun stuff

Christmas with the Cuties

/ apronsandappetites.com / 5 Comments

Ava saying "cheese" for her Christmas pig; Kate just saying cheese.

Here are some of the pictures of the girls and me.  We are making Christmas cookies.  They have on their little pink aprons because I did not get around to putting the gingerbread men on their little red aprons.  I may do that this week because we still have to make our gingerbread house.

Yeah, I know.  Christmas was yesterday.  This has been a bad month.

 

Ava still saying "cheese" for her Christmas pig and Kate acting like a monkey. I think.

We had ingredients galore; a big, big mess; and two wild girls.  They cracked eggs and mixed with the mixer and stirred and flipped dough all over the place as they stirred.  It was exhausting!  And messy!

Ava still "cheesing" for the pig; Kate running to make some kind of ridiculous pose. (sigh)

The sugar cookie dough was finally made and wrapped in plastic wrap… to take home!  I love those words:  Time to go home now.

They took their prized creation home for Momma to help them cut the cookies.  I checked later and they were lovely, delicious cookies.

Ava STILL pig cheesing; Kate STILL acting like a monkey. I think.

I will post the recipe tomorrow.  I’m still recuperating from Christmas.

Catch a Falling Star…

/ apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

On the way home from Alton this evening I was graced with viewing two falling stars and one burst of some kind of extraordinary light in the sky.  Nate and Mike googled meteor shower, and sure enough, there was one since Thursday.  The next viewing will be on December 13 and 14.

meteor shower by Simon Filiatrault

Every year there are numerous meteor showers.  The Perseid in August and the Geminid in December are the ones I have been able to view this year.  They are awesome! There are some great pics and good information out there in the webosphere.  Environmental Graffiti is one of them.

Wikipedia has a table as to the names of the meteor showers and when they will be as well as whether they are weak or strong showers and the best viewing times.  Click on the link; it is very interesting.

Try to get out and see the Geminid this week.  You should be able to see some falling stars by 6:00 or so — we saw ours around then — and make lots of wishes.  Click on this link to read all about wishing on a shooting star.
May all your wishes come true!

Living the Good Life

/ apronsandappetites.com / Leave a comment

I actually made a salad!

Home fries -- very tasty

My tired buhiney is sitting down for a minute after a long, arduous day of cleaning house and working on transcripts.  My head was pounding, but all it took to fix it was a couple of Excedrin and a short, little lie-down.  The short little lie-down has my pace slowed a bit, so decided to look through some of my pictures.  Then decided to share them with you!  All that deciding has really tired me out!

In keeping with my blog motivator, I actually cooked last week.  Since I’m starving right now, these pictures got to be first.

a piece of the fruit of my arduous labor

The new flocked tree was decorated with whatever was in the big plastic container I dragged in from the garage.  It was pretty just with the lights and flocking.

the girls with our new puppets

The glare from the piano is, of course, me with the camera.  Jeez. The smiling little munchkins are, of course, my sweet grandgirls.

my just scrubbed grandduck

There is nothing that makes life good like having children around, whether they belong to me or someone else.  Today I talked to two of the girls who used to come over when they were in town at their grandma’s and play dress up.  Now they are in college; one going to graduate next year.

The fun of posting pictures of the family, silly pictures, and waiting on them to find them, just brings a smile to my face.  Except when they are silly pictures of me.  I can’t see why that would be one bit enjoyable or make anyone feel good.  So please, I beg you, don’t post any.  Please, please.

worn out family from partying all day on the farm

Living the good life may not be the same to everyone.  And it changes from time to time for me as well.  Getting things accomplished, even when I have to give up a trip to the cookie walk, makes me feel good.  Knowing that Excedrin is the best headache medicine of all time is fantastic.  Having food in my house and being able to still enjoy playing makes me feel great.  Celebrating the birth of Jesus the Christ with a lovely tree, well, that’s just good stuff.

The Christmas Piano Recital

/ apronsandappetites.com / 2 Comments

WHAT in all that is musical are we doing here?

Sunday, December 4, was the piano recital for my four piano students.   We must have had a lot on our minds when this pic was taken.  We can do better than that.

Ah, yes. Our sweet little selves are shining through.

We practiced a bit and finally got a smile or two that was pretty good.

I just gotta tell you about my awesome students.  They only started in the spring of this year and can already read and play Christmas songs.  Since I think they are so awesome, we had a recital with a small cookies and punch reception afterward.  I’ve had several comments about how other people think they are awesome as well since they heard them at the recital.

Emily

Lindsay

Emily with the long, dark hair is a senior in high school.  She played Christmas songs, hymns, and a duet, Swan Lake, with Lindsay.

Lindsay is the high school science teacher.  Since she also plays saxophone, she could read the treble notes well when she started.  Putting the paper notes with the piano keys has been a smooth transition for her.  She may not think so, but for such a short time taking lessons, it has been.  Both her and Emily have busy, busy schedules to fit learning piano into.

Little Emily

Little Emily is nine.  She likes to pick out the tunes and then learn them by memory, but she also is learning to read the notes.

I don’t know how Suzie managed to escape a solo picture.     She is in the sixth grade.  Her songs were Jolly Old St. Nick and a duet with me.

Learning music is learning a new language.  Students learn to read and then speak (play the instrument) the language of music.  They learn to hear it and know what’s being said (know the notes, melody, harmony, timing).  It’s tough.  The joy comes each time they make a step forward in their progress.

Little Emily is always saying she doesn’t know what the note on the paper is… until she stops for a few seconds and thinks about it.  Then she always knows it.

It’s been a great pleasure of mine this year to teach them.  One of my goals for 2011.  My pastor videotaped the recital, so next year we can see how far they have come.  I’m excited about that… and them.

I like these guys!!

Christmas Haps and Mishaps

/ apronsandappetites.com / 4 Comments

My sister and I were talking about the family get-together this Christmas, what all we were going to have to eat and who was bringing what and how to make it fun for everyone.  We are hoping Santa will show up… she’s looking for him.

One of the things we love is the new tradition tree.  Each year each family will bring at least one ornament that reminds them of someone in the family.  For example, one of the ornaments I have is a boy playing soccer.  I am going to paint Jack and Sam on the shirt which, of course, will make the ornament represent them and their soccer playing.  I have another one I am bringing but it is a big surprise, so I can’t tell you just yet what it is.  Our party is December 17, so after that evening I will post pics and the ornament.  It is just way way too cool!  I don’t even want to think what kind of ornament the fam would pick for me.

bingo game

We are also going to play bingo.  Dar has bought this neato paskeato bingo game, and we are going to round up a few prizes plus make everyone pay the big bucks for a card… a dollar maybe?  But the most fun idea is the one where everyone comes up with the most memorable Christmas.  I think we should all put a buck in the pot and the best story should win.  It’s going to be a hoot, and hopefully everyone will be over any ill feelings they may have had from that memorable moment or maybe it will bring back such good memories we all get the fuzzies.

If I were guessing, Davy’s story will probably be about the year he gave his Uncle Benny a fake lottery ticket.  Before I go any further, I have to clarify that we are of Scottish/Irish descent and full of mischief, albeit some not quite as funny to the recipient as it is to the purveyor of the practical jokes.  Davy is a huckster as are some of my other cousins, and sometimes he can really bring out some doozies.  As he did with the fake lottery ticket.

fake lottery ticket

As we sat around opening gifts, everyone was tense knowing Ben was getting ready to tear into a fake lottery ticket.  Everyone that is but Davy.  He was all pumped for the big “win.”  The rest of us were sort of watching sideways, getting ready to jump up and run out of the room when Uncle Ben killed him.  So the gift is open, Ben scratches off his lottery ticket, looks at it, looks again.  Then gets excited!  He was talking new carpet and fixing this and fixing that… and we were one by one making our way to another room.  His wife, Annie, started to get excited as well until she noticed the exodus and either Dar or me or both were shaking our head no.  Annie takes another look and tells Ben it’s fake, but he’s so far gone with the joy of winning some badly needed extra money (I think he had been out of work at the time) that her voice fell on deaf ears.

Finally, she was able to calm him down and get him to really look at it.  Oh, man, that was just sad!!!!  At least Ben didn’t kill his nephew.

We have been waiting ever since for the other shoe to fall.  Davy keeps one eye looking over his shoulder all the time.

The Cure for Down Days

/ apronsandappetites.com / 1 Comment

cousins after a hard day of playing

I can remember these days… back many moons ago.  Playing hard all day long, coming in to get a bath, then sitting down with a snack to watch tv.  Mine was usually a big bowl of New York Vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate and then swirled with a spoon till it looked like the soft chocolate ice cream of today.

Dairy Brand Ice Cream

Here are from left, Sam, Owen, Maci, Ava, and Kate.  Leader of the pack Jack was sitting in the big people’s recliner next to Sam.  This pic is from the trip to Kansas City early in November for the fall party Owen’s and Maci’s Daddy and Mommy held at their little farm.

It’s about five acres, just enough for two cows to be fed hay, a chicken coop, a fat cat, and two dogs.

Either Dora or Diego guarding the chickens

The kids had a great time tormenting the chickens.  If they laid for the month of November, I would be surprised.  It was a great adventure traipsing through the chicken poop in the coop.  Kate wore her Southern belle dress with the hoop skirt all day with her big long sword stuck down the back through the belt of the dress.  It was hysterical.  From the front she looked all prim and proper; when she turned around to run off, there was that big sword in her dress.

The three boys and Kate found all sorts of neat, secret stuff that weekend.  They had a clubhouse down in the dry creek bed.  There were villains galore to fight with their swords.  There wasn’t much time for fighting amongst themselves since they were so busy fighting imaginary bad guys and hanging out in the secret hang-out spot.  By the time evening rolled around and they all had baths, they were ready for a little S&T, snack and tube.

Nothing like being around kids to make one forget bad memories, to remember that life goes on, and to put a smile on a face.

 

Come Eeeeeen… And Geeeve Me Your Blooood

/ apronsandappetites.com / 4 Comments

Velcome!

That hat looked much cuter in the store.  And in all honesty, I am much cuter than this picture depicts.  Normally, my bosoms are high and firm (no, I am not lying about that), not almost to my waist as it looks like in this picture.  And that saggy,  pudgy elbow sticking out is not mine.  I do not know where that came from.  You may have to click on the pic to get a closer view of my vampire teeth.  They are so awesome!!!  I am wearing them to work in the morning.

All the little munchkins started coming around 6:00 this evening.  Here are my first ones:

the dude looks like a lady!

Oops!  That’s Nate.  He helped hand out whistles, play-doh, tattoos, booger pickers a/k/a monster fingers, glow sticks, spider rings,  freshly cut hands a/k/a latex gloves with a little air with some surprises inside, and caramel nut chocolate apples.  I would estimate we had around 200.  There were 140 small play-dohs, and we handed out those till they were gone, along with two or three other items.  After that we started on all the other things until I got down to just spider rings and a few glow sticks.  It was a fun-filled, packed neighborhood this evening.

My first guests to arrive:

A beautiful princess and a super hero

Next came this little cutie below.

Aniston

Most of the evening I spent here in these chairs or up walking around filling bags and talking to the kids.  They all love the whistles.  I love hearing them blow them all over the neighborhood.  A little whistle band.

Gigi the Vampire

My little Kate was Pocahontas, and Ava was the cutest flower petal you’ve ever seen.  I moved them around the yard trying to get a good photo of them.  If you’ve looked at some of my attempts to photograph them before, then you won’t be surprised at these.

"No, over here, Sissy."

Kate thinks she is the boss of Ava.  I don’t know why she should think she is the boss of anybody; she is always telling me, “You’re not the boss of me.”  So I guess that only works one way:  Kate is boss of everybody.

We kept after it until we finally sort of got a pretty good picture.

Flower Petal and Pocahontas

um, pretty close

Hold it! Hold it! Click

A happy time was had by all.  A tired Gigi had a ball.

Hope your Halloween was spooktacular as well!

Tree Climbing Goats

/ apronsandappetites.com / 4 Comments

Sometimes I wonder around the world on the internet.  The following are some pictures I found that I loved.  They are rather unbelievable even though I know that goats can go just about anywhere and eat just about anything.  Enjoy!

Goats in tree

In Morocco, the native Tamri goats are so enticed by the berries of Argan trees that they have become adept at climbing the branches to reach their food. Even stranger still, the goats’ droppings contain seed kernels which local farmers then grind into an oil that is used in cooking and cosmetics.

goat eating in tree photo by Johan Versteeg

goat in tree photo by Neil67

goats in tree by Kristel Van Loock, copyright 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read more about the tree-climbing goats, check out WebEcoist.

Halloween Contest Winners

/ apronsandappetites.com / 9 Comments

Thank you for playing along with me!  Happy Halloween!

Scooby Doo and The Gang

Congratulations, Sarah, on your winning photo!

Here is your sequence for the Halloween treat for the lucky voter:

Congratulations, Darla!

3  Darla
2  Dymisha
6  Sarah
1  Addie
4  Cheryl
7  Jill
5  Jeana
8  Robin
9  Cecilia

Scaring Darla… Again

/ apronsandappetites.com / 5 Comments

It’s just sooo easy!  She’s such a scaredy cat!  Saturday we went by Keely’s to pick up the grandgirls.  On the porch was a rubber snake… which scared her!  Jack went to pick it up, and Dar starts begging, “Please don’t throw it on me.”  He was only going to move it away from her, but she had already jumped up off the swing and hurried out to the yard.  Poor girl.  It took all my willpower to keep from throwing it on her!  But I didn’t.

angel of a sister

I am such a good sister.

The time at the mall, though, I did have to laugh so hard my belly hurt.  Dar and I and some other family members (can’t remember now who all went) were standing just inside a store in the mall by the front window displays.  We were all talking, and Dar starts calling my name in this weird voice.  I turn to look at her, and she is staring at the mannequins while she is trying to get our attention with her arm extended to touch us.  She couldn’t touch us because she was mesmerized with fear and couldn’t look away from the mannequins long enough to see where we were.  Just flapping her hand behind her in our general direction.

She said, “That mannequin moved its hand.”  Say what?  We all stood there and looked at the  mannequins on display.

mannequins

None of them were moving anything.  So Dar keeps on trying to convince us as she is staring fearfully at the display.  “That mannequin moved its hand!”  Uh-huh, we believe that.

About that time the mannequin lifted it’s hand off the shoulder of the one beside it and did a little wave, then put it’s hand back down.  I think, maybe, we all could have screamed.  I can’t recall right now.  But I do remember the group of four or so college-age kids standing outside the window dying laughing.  And, finally, the “mannequin” couldn’t stand it any longer either.  He also started laughing.

It was great!  Dar gave them a great time that day, and they gave us one.  We have laughed about that ever since, and that was years ago.