Irises

On January 24, 2013 I stepped out my back door to go to work. I looked down and an iris was blooming.

One of my mother's irises.

I stopped. Looked. Smiled.

She loved her irises.

I loved her. Still do.

I miss her.  Always will.

Listening to Shepherd

We have been with our grand-babies for the past few days and, as always, it has been much fun.  Every time we see them it amazes us how much they have changed.  Lydia is growing, turning over, cooing, smiling, squealing and she is just so sweet and precious.

Shepherd has grown and he is talking up a storm.  It is so much fun to just sit and listen to Shepherd.  He has a lot to say.  One of the funniest things about Shepherd talking is how dramatic he is.  Here are some of my favorite memories of Shepherd talking these past few days:

One day Kalyn was going to church with Cary Gay.  I walked outside to show Cary Gay Lydia.  Pap had Shepherd and Shepherd started whining "Oh no, Mamm and Pap", John said, " Shep, I am right here and Mamm is coming right back".  Then, he noticed his Mommy leaving "OH NO, MOMMY!" Then started crying until we got in the house.

Kalyn:  "Shepherd you need to cooperate."
Shep:  "Can't cop-er-rate now."

We took him down to the park and every time he heard a vehicle cross the bridge he would look up and say what it was - "truck", "truck", "truck", "school bus".  He was right.

We went down to the river and he would climb up the hill to get rocks to throw in the river.  As he would start running back to the river his eyes would get big, a smile come up on his face and he would say "Run in the river!"  He almost made it a couple of times too, before I could catch him.

Lydia was on a pallet and I had given her toys to play with.  He took them away one at a time and each time he would say "no share".

One day he was soooooooooooo sad that he was having to go take a nap.  That bottom lip was out as far as it could go and his eyes were sad.  I said, "Shepherd, Mommy will read you "Ole King Cole" (his favorite book here at Mamm's house). He said in the saddest voice you have ever heard "was a merry ole soul".

Giving him a bath I said "Let's count the froggies.  One, two, three."
Shep:  "Uno, dos, tres". None of us knew he could count in Spanish.

His imagination is amazing.  We were letting him play in the mud.  He was having the best time.  Very happy little boy.  All of a sudden he told me "crock-a-doll-doo".  I said "what? a crocodile?" "A crock-a-doll-doo." Then he saw it's "eye", talked about the "ocean" and "rhinos"!

He informed us that Abby (the cat) has "sharp teeth - like a dragon".

Right before we left to go to Abilene he had this conversation with his Mother:

Kalyn: (looking at a picture)  "Who is that?"
Shep:  "Un Bro. Un Bro is really, really tall.
Kalyn: " He is really tall"
Shep:   "Like a volcano"
Kalyn:  "Volcanos are tall".
Shep:  " Volcanos are really, really hot".

(As Kalyn was telling us this in the car, at the end Shep spoke up and said "and smoky".)

Yes, this little boy kept us busy and laughing.  I could spend all day just listening to him.

Here is a couple of pictures of him in the mud, with his dragon hat  - that he put on himself.  So precious.

What a fun week.

Great Idea - Never Happened; Trying It Again

Several years ago when JC and Kalyn were both in Abilene attending ACU John and I had a great idea.

We were driving home from one of our many trips to Abilene and we started talking about Christmas gifts.  We decided that we were going to think of 50 topics and each of us would write a page pertaining to that topic and then we would put all our stories and writings in a book and give it to the kids for Christmas. As we were driving along we thought of our 50 topics.  The next day I sat at my computer and wrote 50 Titles out on 50 sheets of  paper , two copies of each.  Punched holes, put in binders and we were ready to start writing.  Never happened.

About a month ago I found those two binders so neatly done.  Then I found a spiral where I had written out three stories that I was going to put in the "official" binder. Never happened.

I showed the binder to John today.  We read the titles on all fifty pages and laughed at some of the things we had come up with.  What were we thinking?

We have decided that we are going to make this happen though - just a little differently.  We are going to go ahead and write about the 50 things we had originally decided on, but we are going to put it on our blogs.

I hope this time we actually do it.  I think it will be fun.

Kids, you might even learn a thing or two about your ole parents (in-laws) that you did not know.

 

Dessert

We were having company over today for Sunday lunch.  I was trying to think of something to have for dessert that would not totally destroy our diet.  I had a new recipe for a Pineapple Upside Down cake.  It is a WW recipe.  The recipe called for it to cook a good bit longer than it needed to.  I started smelling it and looked in the oven and it was done and there were still 8 minutes on the timer.

We all really enjoyed this recipe.  The next time I cook it I will shorten the cooking time as I thought it was a little over done.

If you like pineapple try this recipe.

Yum, New Recipes

I mentioned in my last post that this year I am going to be trying some new recipes.  I anticipated that I would do one a month.  I have totally surprised myself by already - January 24, 2013 - making three new dishes!

John and I are sooooooo sick of chicken.  BUT chicken is one of the main things we need to enjoy to stay on my WW plan.  We have tried two new chicken recipes.  Both of the recipes come from some of my WW cookbooks. 

The first one was Apricot-Lemon Chicken:

This dish was very good.  John and I both enjoyed it very much.  It was juicy, not dry and the sauce on the top was very tasty.  I loved the lemon zest because I got to use my new zester that I got for Christmas!

The second and third recipes I cooked tonight for supper, Double Mustard Chicken and Smashed Potatoes.

John and I both loved this chicken dish.  I will be cooking it again.  I love mashed potatoes, so at first I did not know if I was a fan of these potatoes.  The more I ate them the more I liked them.  John does not care for mashed potatoes and he really enjoyed these.  This chicken was not dry either and the sauce was really good.

It is so much fun trying new dishes.  I am so glad we are doing this.  

Wow, How Time Does Fly

I can not believe that it has been almost two years since I have done any blogging.  It's not because I have not had any thing to say or that I have not had any subjects to write about.  I guess it was partly laziness, partly busyness.  The biggest reason was my old computer.  It was so slow and aggravating that I sort of lost interest in writing. 

This past Thanksgiving we purchased a new computer and the kids set it up for me.  We are really enjoying it.  John and I are both enjoying learning more and more on it.

Since my last post my family has grown.  I have a precious new daughter-in-law, Stephanie and granddaughter, Lydia.  My most prized procession on the earth is my family and it just keeps getting bigger and better.  I will be writing about them more in later posts.

This past Christmas John Carol and Stephanie came to stay with us a few days.  As the first child often does he started telling me things I ought to do. (The first born is always the bossy one, right?)
Anyway, he said that I needed to get back to blogging and I agreed.  Although I do find it funny that my last post was May, 2011 and his last blog post was February 1.2010. 

He also signed me up for Goodreads.  He has been telling me I needed to do this for some time now.  But this time he was setting at my computer and was typing away while explaining to me that we were in the process of signing me up for Goodreads.  Me:  "Oh, okay."  Stephanie standing near by says "My mom is getting signed up also". 

While I am getting signed up for Goodreads he says "okay, mom, now how many books are you going to read this year. What is your goal?"  Now, he is very serious about this, he read 89 books last year.  Stephanie read 60 books last year.  I think I read two last year.  Ugh.  I do not know what was wrong with me last year, but I read magazines and not books.  All year!  So my goal is twelve books.  That is one a month.  I think I can handle that. 

For 2013 I am also planning to try a new recipe each  month.  John and I have gotten so bored with the same things we eat all the time.  We are in a rut.  So we are going to try and branch out.  I hope to remember to take a picture of the new dish and post a blog on this subject also. 

So, for me, 2013 is looking busy.  I plan to blog, read, cook, enjoy my family. 

It is shaping up to be a fun filled, blessed year.