Grandma and Girlie annual day out

 Since Alaina has been in school, we've had a tradition of going out shopping before school starts.  We shop for shoes, and usually a shirt and just have fun.  Of course, Ruby has been coming with us for a few years now.
Since school starts here in a few weeks, we had our outing last week.

Here we are at their house, ready for our day.

I told them they could choose where they wanted to have lunch and they chose Culvers. Ruby said their grilled cheese is the best and Alaina enjoyed her cheeseburger.

Then it was off to the mall.  We started by looking for some shoes.  We usually try to find some type of boot, so they have a change from tennis shoes.

Ruby had immediate success!  These were the first boots we saw, and she loved them - and they fit!

Aren't they cute?
We looked around for something for Alaina, but there were no other boots to be found.

We did find these cute sweatshirts.

Then we went to ride the carousel.

And it wasn't running.  Is there any sight so sad as a beautiful carousel with no kids on it?

They went on some other rides instead and had fun.

Here they are walking ahead of me, and it struck me how old they are looking.

I told them they could pick out something from Claire's.  Ruby bounced from thing to thing, exclaiming over it all.  Alaina said "Grandma, you don't have to do that.  We have enough".  :)    That is the difference between being almost 8 and almost 11.

Alaina ended up picking out this little squishy panda.  Ruby got a container of lip gloss that excited her more than shirts or shoes!

On our next stop we found boots for Alaina.  As you can see, she was very happy with them.

Our next stop was to my Dad and Ann's house to bring some flowers.  It was their 15th anniversary!  Unfortunately, Ann was out with her daughter, but great grandpa was happy to see the girls and he knew Ann would like the flowers.

After leaving Dad's house, we stopped to get some ice cream.  It was hot and sunny out.  The girls each got a gummy worm sundae.

We made one last stop at a pick your own flower farm.  They had corn hole games out and the girls tried that out before picking flowers.

We picked sunflowers, zinnia, bluebells and coleus flowers.  Then we went back to their house and gave Laura the flowers.

It was a very fun day.  I always enjoy spending time with them!

Friday Funny

 

Cooking Thursday

 A few weeks ago, a couple of the girls at work were talking about what they were making for supper. One of them said she was making Chicken Puff and when she described it, it was something I've made a lot, but my recipe calls it Chicken Bundles.  It made me think I needed to make it again.  I made them last week, and Bob said he was happy to have them again.

Chicken Puff

8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
5 tablespoons butter melted, reserve 1 tablespoon
3 cups cooked chicken, cubed (may used canned chicken)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon minced onion
2 -8 ounce cans Pillsbury crescent sheets
3/4 cups seasoned croutons, crushed or sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
Blend cream cheese and 4 tablespoons butter until smooth. Stir in chicken, milk, salt, pepper and onion and mix well. 
Open crescent sheets and cut into 4 sections. Spoon 1/3 cup of the chicken mix on one side of the crescent.  Pull the other half of the dough over the chicken mix and pinch sides to seal. Place them on ungreased cookie sheet.  Brush with remaining melted butter and sprinkle with crouton crumbs or almond slices
Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown.