Pictures in the Park

 We went to the park with Aaron, Laura and the girls, and Andrew, Heather and Cassie to try to get some pictures.  It was a gorgeous day, the sun was shining and the leaves where almost glowing!
We had some issues with Miss Cassie, who wasn't thrilled with this whole idea and would have rather been playing on the playground!
Here's a few I thought I would share.

Ruby and Alaina

Alaina

Ruby

Bob and I with our grandgirls.  Check out Cassie with that pout.  She did start smiling though and we got one for our Christmas card, which was the original reason for doing this.

Ruby, Cassie and Alaina

Cassie is happier here!

Heather, Cassie and Andrew

Aaron and Laura, with Alaina and Ruby

Aaron, Laura and girls

Andrew, Heather and Cassie

The girls walking in the leaves

Such a pretty spot! We had fun, and the girls did get some time to play on the playground too.

Alaina spends the night

 This weekend, Alaina spent the night with us by herself.  Ruby was supposed to be having a friend spend the night, but Ruby ended up sick so it was cancelled.  We decided to still have Alaina come over.
Just like we did when Ruby came, we told Alaina she could choose where to go for supper.  

Her favorite place lately is Culvers, so that's where we went.

While we were sitting there, she showed us how to make a snake with our hands.  Can you see the snake tongue and the eyes? Bob and I decided our hands are not nearly as flexible as hers.

When we got home, Bob had something for her.  He had a nice little Nikon camera he wasn't using and thought she would enjoy taking pictures, so he gave it to her.  Here she is learning how it works.

and trying it out herself!

On Saturday we had a craft to do that involved leaves.  The table was full of them!

Look at this giant leaf that Alaina found!

We were making a wreath, stringing leaves onto a wire hanger.

Making progress!  Once we got the leaves on, it was very hard to twist that wire together.  I decided that if I ever do it again, I'll just buy heavy duty wire that's a little more user friendly than a hanger!

Here's the finished wreath.  It turned out really cute!

We went and had lunch and stopped to see Great Grandpa and Great Grandma before going home.  When we got Alaina home, we found Ruby back to feeling fine.

We enjoyed our one on one time with Alaina!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 I tried a new recipe for breakfast recently.  These can be made ahead and put in the freezer, then popped into the microwave for a quick breakfast. I thought it would be nice for Bob to have something different for breakfast.  They were easy to make and a big hit with Bob!  I'll definitely be making them again.

Breakfast Bites

36 Tator tots
6 eggs
splash of milk
3 strips cooked bacon or bacon bits
Cheddar cheese
Finely diced green peppers
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray 12 muffin cups with non-stick spray.
Place 3 tator tots in each muffin tin and bake for 10 minutes.
While they bake, scramble eggs and milk.
Remove and smash tots with a glass or a fork.
Pour eggs over the smashed tots, then top with cheese, green pepper and bacon.
Bake for another 10 minutes until eggs are cooked through.
Remove from muffin tins and freeze.  Microwave 30-45 seconds.
*Next time I make these, I will use muffin liners. Even though I sprayed the tins, they were hard to get out and beastly to clean!

Wordless Wednesday

 

Overnight with Ruby

 Last weekend Alaina had a sleepover birthday party with her friends. Laura said she though Ruby might be a pest to them (imagine that!), so Ruby spent the night with us.
We told her we could go for supper anywhere she wanted.  She had a hard time deciding between Chik-fil-A and Red Robin.

She ended up choosing Red Robin. We met there after I got home from work, so she rode there with Bob, and home with me.  There was non-stop talking all the way home!

When we got home, we did a crystal making kit.  We set these in the window sill and I sent pictures to Ruby to show her how they were growing.

Here's what they looked like after a week.

Ruby brought along an art book she's been making. She loves to draw and wanted to show us some of her work.

Here's some of the pages in her book.

We watched a movie and then tucked her into bed.  But then she heard I was going to be painting some things for our craft the next day and said "I can help"!  She was so excited to help, that I let her get back up and paint.

Here she is, 10:30 at night painting!  We were painting Jenga blocks.  She painted the orange ones, I did the white ones.  She did a good job and we went to bed around 11. She was pretty excited about staying up that late.

Here they are, drying overnight.

The next morning, Ruby made a card for my Dad who had fallen the week before and was pretty sore.

Then we started working on our craft.  I have a cool melt glue gun so I let Ruby do the gluing. We glued the blocks together, put a cinnamon stick in the middle for a stem and then put a rafia bow on them.

Aren't they cute little pumpkins? Ruby was pretty proud of them.

We stopped to see Great Grandpa on the way home and give him the card she made.  Of course, he loved seeing her and the card.

It was a fun time, and nice to have one on one time with her.

Happy Birthday to our girlies!

 It's birthday time!  My Alaina will turn 11 on Monday, Ruby will be 8 about 1 1/2 weeks later.

Laura and Aaron had a birthday party for them Saturday.  They had it at a local restaurant that had a room we could use.
Most of Aarons family was there and so was my Dad and Stepmom.

Here's everyone enjoying lunch.

Here's Laura, Aaron and girls with Dad and Ann.

Aaron's Dad, Mom, sister and family

Cassie was enjoying her lunch

Alaina and Ruby with Aaron's niece Hazel.

Time for presents!  Cassie was very helpful in opening them!

Happy Birthday Alaina and Ruby!  We sure do love you!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 We had a church potluck recently and I was looking for a crock pot meal to take.  That way I could plug it in when I got there and we wouldn't have to run home between the service and the meal.

I found this chicken and rice recipe.  It was good and I went home with an empty crock pot!

Parmesan Chicken and Rice
4 to 6 skinless boneless chicken breasts about 2 lbs, cut into bite size pieces
2 (10.5-oz) cans cream of chicken
1 package Lipton Onioni Soup & Dip Mix
1¾ cups milk
1 cup regular long-grain rice
salt and pepper to taste
¼ cup grated parmesan

Spray the insert of the slow cooker with cooking spray. 
Mix together the cream of chicken soup, Lipton Soup Mix, milk, and regular rice. Stir in chicken. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. 
Cover slow cooker and cook on high for 3 or 4 hours, or on low for 6-7 hours.
If rice mixture is too thick, add water, chicken broth or additional milk to thin out.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over top shortly before serving.

Wordless Wednesday

 

Fall Beauty

 We are having the most beautiful show of color in Michigan this year.  They say the weather has been perfect for allowing this, because we had cold nights, and sunny days.

As I've been driving, I am just amazed at the beauty around me!  Here's some pictures I've taken in the last week. Come see a little of West Michigan with me.

The view outside my window at work.

The deer are still visiting us at work.

"Oh Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all, the worlds Thy hands have made.
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout the universe displayed
Then sings my soul, my Saviour, God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art."