Weekend fun

We had a fun weekend.  Bob works a lot of Saturdays and I work every other weekend, so it doesn't happen often that we are both off, but it happened this past weekend.
After Bob got out of work, we picked up Alaina and Ruby for a sleepover.  We went to Culvers for supper, because Alaina thought a hamburger and fries would be good. (That's what she always asks for.)  After supper we stopped and visited Bob's mom and stepdad.

 Ruby was quite fascinated with Grandpa and Grandma's puppy.

 Ruby sat with Grandma for a little while.

 After we got home, Alaina wanted to play hide and seek.

They played with the toys for awhile...

 and then did some coloring.

 Ruby decided it was fun to climb on the stool and get into things on the counter.

She thought it was great fun to turn the phone on and off.  She loves to push buttons...

It was a long night.  Ruby usually sleeps pretty well, but this night she woke up shortly before midnight and numerous times through the night.  She and I spent the night on the chair in the living room.  I wondered if she was having bad dreams or something because she would wake up crying hard, out of a dead sleep.  The next morning she woke up with a smile though and was her usual happy self.

I did some baking on Saturday, and I had two helpers all too willing to get their hands into things!
We brought them home in the afternoon, and I took a little nap.  :)

Sunday we had a very good service at church.  Our pastor is doing a series on end times which is very interesting.  Our small group from church came to our house in the evening and we had some great discussion and a whole lot of laughs.
Yes, it was a very nice weekend!

Winter returns!

We've had a much milder winter here than usual, and early last week there was only the occasional spot of snow left melting in some areas.  That changed on Wednesday.  It started snowing about noon and by the time I came home around 4 it was snowing like crazy and the roads were slippery.
Here's a few pictures from the afternoon.

 

By Thursday morning we got 9 inches of snow!  When I left for work in the morning the skies were clear and it was just beautiful!

It's been quite warm this weekend and the snow is almost melted again.  However, I hear another big storm is going to be heading our way on Tuesday and Wednesday.  We'll see what happens!
I must admit that even though it's been a good winter, I'm looking forward to Spring.

Friday Funny

And that,  is why the chicken crossed the road!

Cooking Thursday

Last week I posted about the shower we had for my niece Katelyn.  I had quite a few requests to get the recipe for the apple roses my sister Cheri made.  They were so pretty and yummy too!
She said it took a little practice to roll them up, and also said that the apples need to be thinly sliced.  Here's the recipe!

Baked Apple Roses

4 apples, cored and halved (leave skin on), cut into thin slices
juice from 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons fruit preserves
2 tablespoons water, plus more for apple soak
1 sheet puff pastry
cinnamon
powdered sugar

Preheat Oven to 375 degrees.
Put apple slices in microwave safe bowl. Fill bowl with water and juice from half a lemon. Use enough water to make sure apple slices are covered by water. Microwave for 3 minutes. This will soften the apple slices and make them more pliable for rolling up.
 Next grab a sheet of puff pastry. Flour your board and roll out the puff pastry enough to make 6 strips at 3 inches wide. I scored and cut mine with a pizza wheel but you can also use a knife.
 In a bowl mix your favorite fruit preserves with a couple tablespoons of water. Then spoon out the preserves in the center of the strip of puff pastry.
Next place the apple slices long ways halfway on the strip. Keep adding slices until you reach the end. Then fold the puff pastry over the bottom of the apple slices.
 Roll up the puff pastry and place in a greased muffin tin.
Bake for 35-45 minutes or until apples are tender.
Let cool for 5 minutes, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Here is a link with a video if you want to watch them being made:
http://tiphero.com/baked-apple-roses/?ref=cmts

Wordless Wednesday

MOPS fun!

I've talked before about the MOPS (Moms of pre-schoolers) group that I'm a mentor with.  We always have fun, and enjoy some encouragement and advice from each other.  I love my group of young moms!
We start with an "ice-breaker" and the one we did this past month had us all laughing.  Each group was given 3 rolls of toilet paper, tape, a scarf, paper buttons and nose, and was told to make one member of the group a snowman - a fun game for February!

 Our group was the first to finish, so we won the game!  Here's our cute snowman.


After the ice breaker, we have a speaker or a video, and then spend some time talking in our small group.  To end the morning we usually do a craft of some type.
Our craft this time was easy and turned out so cute.

We each decorated mugs.  The mugs were purchased from the dollar store.  We then chose a shape that had been cut from contact paper.  There were hearts, and letters to choose from, or else the one that I chose, which is my state.  The contact paper is placed onto the mug and smoothed out, and then using a paint pen you can trace around it, or put dots all around the edges. Remove the sticker and add anything you want into the open space or leave it empty.  I added the red heart to show where I live.
To finish, place the mug into the oven at 250 degrees for 2 hours.  Hand wash only.

Weekend wedding

One of the young guys Bob works with got married on Saturday afternoon and we had the privilege of attending the wedding. They had a country type theme, and used snow and trees as part of the decorations.  The invitations were on dark blue paper with black tree silhouettes and snow falling.  The front of the church had small trees with sparkly white lights.  Here's a few pictures from the day.

This sign was at the back of the church where we came in.

 This was a unique way of lighting the room that was used for the reception.  This is a large tree branch, strung with lights and hung upside down!  

They had 4 of them hung up and it looked nice when you could see the whole thing.  Bob said they had to get a lift into the building to hang them up.  :)

They used stamped pieces of wood to number the tables.  They also had pieces of wood with slits cut into them, where the put name cards to show the seating arrangements.

Here's one of the centerpieces.


We had chili, baked potatoes, cornbread, soup and salad to eat.  Then, instead of cake, we had cheesecake!

Aren't these beautiful?  Such a variety of flavors and all were made by the bride and her mom!

What a nice evening it was. I like the way people personalize their weddings now!

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

A few weeks ago I shared a picture of some orange bread I had made, and I told you that if it was good I would share the recipe.  Well - it was very good, so today I have the recipe for you.
I got this recipe from my sister-in-law.  The nice thing about this recipe is that it's so flexible; you can make about any flavor you want because the base is a cake mix.  It makes a very moist bread, and everyone that has tasted it, likes it.

 Orange Bread

Strawberry Bread

Cake Mix Bread
1 package dry cake mix, flavor of your choice
1 3.4 ounce package instant pudding mix, flavor to go with the cake mix
1/2 cup oil
1 cup water
4 eggs
Mix all ingredients together.   Pour into 2 greased 8x4 inch loaf pans.
Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees.  Allow to cool and drizzle with powdered sugar glaze if desired.

*Possible combinations:
Orange cake mix with vanilla pudding
lemon cake mix with vanilla pudding
strawberry cake mix with banana pudding
chocolate cake mix with chocolate pudding

Wordless Wednesday

Katelyn's shower

We had a bridal shower for my niece Katelyn at my house on Saturday.  My sister Cheri and I had a lot of fun planning and getting ready for it/
Here's a few pictures from the morning.  Katelyn likes vintage and pink so that's the look we went with.

A welcome sign...

Letters I painted with crackle paint for Katelyn and Nathan. This was on the beverage table.

My friend made these.   Isn't this a cute way to set out the silverware?

These are tin cans wrapped in burlap and lace.

One of the games we played was this match game.  These were covered with numbers and when someone found a match, they got a prize to  go with the clue; She measured up was measuring spoons, They'll need these was Payday candy bars...

Here's the prizes ready to go.

We had a wonderful brunch that I forgot to take pictures of until it was too late! We had orange juice, frozen coffee slush,  an egg dish, sausage, yogurt with fresh fruit and granola, blueberry coffee cake which my sister Terri made, strawberry bread and these beautiful apple roses made by my sister Cheri.

Everyone enjoying the food.

Here's Katelyn opening her gifts.  Such a cute sign!

We ended with these cute miniature cookies.  They were so intricate; one said Katelyn's Bridal Shower and then there were an assortment that included bridal gowns, tuxedo's, rings, cakes, bouquets and hearts.

We all had a great time and are very happy to welcome Nathan into our family!

Valentines Day at the Nursing Home

We have some wonderful activity staff at the nursing home.  Our activity director is full of fun and is always looking for ways to give enjoyment to our residents.  Valentines Day is not as enjoyable for many of them who no longer have spouses living. She talked to a lot of them about memories of Valentines Days in past years and decorated all over the facility.  Every residents door had a heart with their name on it.

They even put up a heart for myself and the Dr on the room we use when he does rounds.


Another fun thing they did was collecting valentines for all the residents.

A lot of family members and staff took part in this and the envelopes looked pretty full.  I wasn't there on Valentines Day, but I know that a lot of them really enjoyed opening those envelopes and seeing all the valentines and notes.

This is something a few of the evening nurses and aides came up with and have been working on.  Each resident got a surprise on Sunday evening.

I even had a few surprises left on my desk on Thursday.  There were also some pictures that were drawn and colored by some residents that I put up in my room.

And in business other than the nursing home, here is Alaina with the card we sent over to her and Ruby.  Laura said she was excited to see how big it was when she unfolded it.  Their whole family has been sick with nasty colds, plus Alaina had an ear infection.  She's feeling better, but Ruby and Laura are still feeling pretty crummy.
Valentines Day is also Heather's birthday!  I know she and Andrew celebrated and I'm sure he spoiled her well!

Busy, Busy, Busy

I have a very busy week ahead of me, lots to do and not enough time to do it.  So - I've decided to take a little blog break.  I hope you have a good week and will see you next week!

Friday Funny!