Hot Stuff

Keri is still having a blast trying new recipes several times a week. Our new way of eating has been fun and satisfying.

Pear-Cranberry Upside-Down Gingerbread



Sweet Potato-Cauliflower Gratin with Crispy Sage Leaves

Other dishes we have enjoyed recently are Acorn Squash Quesadillas with Tomatillo Salsa, Apple Cider Pulled Chicken Sandwiches with Apple Slaw, Okonomiyaki (savory Japanese style pancake), Maple Balsamic Dijon Salad with Strawberries and Pecans, and Gorgonzola Garlic Bread.  So good!  We tweak things when needed to meet our updated healthy eating standards but splurg when we see fit.  We've had some less than memorable meals sprinkled in there too but who wants to hear about those, right?!  

Cattle Drive

Keri and the kids raced to one of our local parks to meet up with Daddy again this year for the second annual Cattle Drive to kick start the Texas Stampede Events. Some of the long horn cattle moseyed kind of close so we got a real good look at them as they walked down our city streets to the event center.  Rhys was happy to converse with them with his happy "Moo! Moo!"

Day of Service

Our stake (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that live in a designated geographical area) performed a day of service for our communities. Hundreds of hours of service provided by men, women, and children of all ages blessed the lives of those in and not yet of the church. Fire hydrants were painted, land was cleared of brush, fences repaired, care packages created, materials for the local women's shelter collected, and so forth were just some of the acts of kindness provided.

 

One side of the tree remaining after the other side had been removed down to the bottom of the split.

We were also grateful to personally receive help with felling the remainder of our large front yard tree. It was removed down to a stump and hauled away in one morning.  It was split down to one foot above the ground and we did not want it to cause harm to our neighbor's or our own property.  We were very appreciative.  What would have taken several hours and hundreds of dollars was done in approximately 3 hours at to cost to us.

While Neal assisted with the tree, Keri and the kids met at the church to decorate items for care packages.  We colored, glued, and tied ornaments that will be included in Christmas care packages to military service persons and missionaries.  We were happy that our littlest ones were able to give back to others as well.

Thanks for all the help we received and for being able to participate in such a well organized event.

Roar!

Awesome Dad

Tender moments: Daddy, kids, and cartoons!

We've All Done It

Our kids discovered that crayons on windows can be fun until you have to clean it up.  Sadly, Sophie did not fully embrace this lesson and used crayons on the walls, doors, switch plates, and dresser a couple weeks later.  Thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Erasers!

Child-Free Getaway

Last Christmas we were generously gifted with a getasway to Fort Worth. We cashed in this past weekend. We dropped the kids and all there stuff (which took up 3/4 of our trunk, leaving just our single small suitcase) at Oma's and Opa's house (Thank you!) and took off to Fort Worth.

We checked in at the Hattie Mae Inn, a late Queen Anne style residence that was built in 1904 and is a registered Texas Landmark. The second owner of the house, James Liston was robbed and killed on his back porch in 1917 but we couldn't report any hauntings. A bullet hole remains on the back porch were it missed it's target.

That Friday night we enjoyed walking around the Stockyards and the rodeo at Cowtown Coliseum.  Cowtown Coliseum has a proud history.  It was built in 1908 and in that year held the first exhibition round-up of cattle ever held under a roof in the United States.  In 1918 it housed the world's first indoor rodeo, and in 1934, bull riding was first introduced to the world of rodeo there.

While we were there, a live news was shot with the newscaster standing directly to our left.  They were spotlighting Hay for Horses an organization trying to save livestock because of the shortage of hay due to the terrible drought we have had.  They are shipping in hay from surrounding states and it costs $4 a mile to do it.

After a good food and company at the breakfast table we headed out to the local art museums.  We visited the Kimbell and Amon Carter and took it all in without whining children pulling at us.  It was great. 

Keri in particular enjoyed this painting of paper wrapped oranges.  Her paternal grandmother, Lena, used to do this as a job. Lena said they had to be wrapped with the paper twisted just so and then put twist side down and the oranges had to neatly line up in the box.  Now they just dump them in a box.

We had a great time enjoying our first getaway since the kids were born.  It was fun just to hang out with each other on an extended date!

A Family Tradition Deflated

We enjoyed the first hour of the Plano Hot Air Balloon Festival this year with a picnic dinner - Turkish green olive turnovers, blue cheese coleslaw, and oatmeal raisin cookies.  They postponed the sky divers and then cancelled the sky divers.  Then they postponed the balloon launch which was no surprise because not one had been inflated yet.  All this was due to developing storm conditions.  Then they asked us to go wait out the rain in our cars.  We checked out the weather radar on our phones and saw that it was not going to clear for much longer than the event people were saying so we left for home. Found out later we made the right decision.  Still had fun!  Hopefully balloons next year.

Rhys Starts Preschool!

Just look at our little man!

 Our baby!

He went off to his first day of preschool today!  With only a bit of dismay that mama was leaving, he regained composure pretty fast, we were told.

We decided to start Rhys in preschool at the age of 2 instead of three because A.) the opportunity presented itself for Keri to participate in a parent-led preschool co-op, B.) it would be good for Rhys to have social time with others around his age, C.) he would have other children model good speech and language , and D.) it could be a lot of fun if it is the right placement for him.  We gave this a lot of thought and we thought we would try it out and see how it goes.

On his first day, he did not participate in painting but the teacher said he sat and willingly observed when he chose not to participate.  That works for us!  We just want him to be exposed and learn to follow the routine. He has 2 more preschool years to get all the other academics.

Hooray for Rhys!  Way to grow! 

And They Did Go Forth and Labor...

We had told a few of our friends that our main tree in the front yard would have to come down sooner than later because it was at the end of its life and it had recently split all the way to the ground. With a few winds, it would be a danger to our house, possibly car, and the chance pedestrian. We asked if anyone was available, to come out for an hour or so on Labor Day morning.

 

Upon returning from Westfest on Saturday afternoon both our mouths dropped open when we drove up to the house and saw this...

 Yes, half of the tree lying on our lawn!  Tom, our friend and home teacher and Rich, another friend, had given us a head start!  We were so thankful!

On Labor Day morning, we with Tom and, our friend, Carter did, well, labor.  The chainsaw and loppers were out and in a little over an hour the branches were all stacked for removal later in the week and the limbs, in part, had been converted to firewood and stacked, and the rest awaited a new chainsaw blade.  It would have taken us all day without the help of our friends and we are grateful for their willingness to serve.

We will get to the rest of the tree later but for now we feel the chances of it suddenly splitting have been greatly reduced.

Polka Pride!

Today we headed south to West, Texas for Westfest and embraced all things polka and sausage. Westfest is a Czech/Polka festival.  It includes food, culture, dance, and Czechoslovakian fun!  We started out by ordering some kolaches (both fruit and sausage) and gobbled them up while listening to polka and watching a few brave couples dance.  Who doesn't love a little accordion, right?!

After that we perused the wares and I didn't know "bedazzled" camouflage pants and tied-dyed shirts were part of traditional Czech dress but to each their own. Keri had to be strong.  Didn't even touch the tied-dyed stuff.  She knew once she did her college years addiction to it would resurface. (Kelly, you'd be so proud of me!).

Doesn't tied-dye just make you feel happy, though?!

We made sure we did fun stuff for the kids too.  Played with blocks, visited the petting zoo... 

Then we enjoyed some of the cultural dancing and parade of costumes.  It was shaded and we had a breeze there!  Whew!

The folk costumes were traditionally worn at wedding, funerals, and important occasions.  The decorations revealed what area the person was from, marital status, and often included symbols depicting their religious beliefs, such as designs repeated 3 times to represent the holy trinity.  The embroidery and lace on many of the clothes was amazing.  And the sleeves were puffy beyond belief in some cases.

 

This couple has been married for over 50 years!

We had a great time even though it was still in the triple digits out and our kids held up pretty well.  On the way home we stopped in Waxahachie to venture into a crazy little art studio we'd heard about.  It was funky as all get out!  There were several toothpick sculptures - an Eiffel tower, zeppelin, Ferris wheel, wind mill and other craft, each made with thousands of toothpicks.  Thank goodness for Elmer's glue! Couldn't get a decent picture with either glare from outside and back lighting from inside!  Oh well, you get the idea.

 Also, just a few steps away we saw this beautiful Ellis County Courthouse, constructed in 1895.  Gorgeous! 

Very full day!  Lots of fun to try something new!

Sophie Heads Off to Real Preschool

As you may know, Sophie and I participated in a parent-led preschool co-op last year to introduce her to academics and develop those social skills.  We had a great time.  This year, however, Sophie is enrolled in "real" preschool.  She is attending two days a week in a play based program. 

Today was her first day!  She was not hesitant at all (no surprise to those who know our Sophie).  Today Sophie got to pack her favorite teddy bear for some teddy bear fun and Mommy got to pack her first of over a thousand school lunches.  Hooray for our little girl!

 

Sophie in line to get name tags for herself and her bear.  Ms. Debbie (above) and Ms. Louise are her teachers.



Grandma Sue Comes to Stay

Susan, Neal's mother, came for her annual August visit.  It was great to spend time with her.  She had lost 80 pounds since last year and looked great.  She also had more energy to play with those grandkids of hers and run around town with the family. 

We had a lot of fun.  We went out to Lake Lewisville to beat the Texas heat.  We finally got Rhys to put his feet down on the sandy ground when in the water.

We went for a nature walk at the Heard Wildlife Sanctuary but at the end of the walk we took a wrong turn and ended up hiking up steps and wearing everyone out before making it back. We did see a water snake, though.  That was cool.  Also, as a lovely souvenir, we took home some chiggers--just Sophie and Keri.  Maybe our cat brought some in, we are not sure how we got them we just know that we got eaten good.

We also had the chance to see the Barnett side of the family and get caught up.  We missed Alvin, though, who passed earlier this year. They are a kind, accommodating bunch.

From Right to Left: Susan, Melba, Dorothy, Frank, Diane

We also shopped, watched the kids play in the fountains, visited the farmer's market, hit a few restaurants, and went for some walks.  Neal and I even went on a date to the Crow Collection of Asian Art in Dallas. The museum was spotlighting the mystical arts of Tibet.  We were able to observe monks preparing the mandala surface for the sand and an outdoor blessing for adults and children encompassing emotional well-being, wisdom, and healing.  Which sounded like chanting, singing, chanting, singing, followed by yet more chanting.  It was interesting to see another culture and religious view.

It was a nice 10 days with Susan.  Because we live in Texas, we had to send Grandma off with much fanfare!  The day before leaving we parked ourselves along the parade route for Allen's High School Band.  Every year before school starts they march the city through neighborhoods and parks to kick off the new year.

Neal was in band in California but band is BIG here.  It is actually cool to be in the band here.  The band is huge!  Neal was in a band of approximately 30.  Allen has well over 600 members! and includes band, color guard, and drill team.  They just kept coming and coming.  They had police escort, a prop plane doing fly-bys, and all!  It was fun and a great way to show Susan that we do everything big here in Texas.

 Glad you came Grandma Sue!  We love you and will see you next year!