TGIF

Thank Goodness it's Friday! Have a great Labor Day weekend everybody!

History Book Green Chile Stew

"Green chile stew recipes are carefully guarded secrets among New Mexican families. Everyone has their own favorite version of this popular stew. This is my best green chile stew recipe. It is rich in flavor and makes a nourishing main dish." Taken from the book 'Real New Mexican Chile' An insiders guide to cooking with chile.

8 ounces stew meat (lean pork - diced) browned with flour and oil
1 large baking potato - diced
1 can tomato sauce (or 1 1/2 cups chopped tomato)
1/2 cup chopped roasted green chile
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp. red chile powder
1 quart chicken stock
1/2 tsp. ground cumin

Once meat is browned, add remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer over medium / low heat until meat is very tender (about 4 hours). Serve with flour tortillas and beans. Enjoy!

(When I first made this recipe, I felt like I was eating traditional green chile stew brought from the spanish families at church potlucks! I would have never thought chicken broth was in the recipe!!)
Simmer the stew for 4 hours.
Ready for tasting! Yum

The goings on...

The boys come home happy from school each day! Today was the first day to switch classes for 5th grade and boy, did Zach have a lot to say about his Science teacher, Ms. Escalante. It sounds like the science class will be doing some experiments and even get to dissect a frog! Drew thought that sounded especially gross! Ha! So far homework has been low, so we are enjoying these days immensely!

Zach is ready to get his cast off, his arm is itching like crazy! Next week he will get a short cast, so that might be easier!

Our local HEB was roasting and selling fresh New Mexico Hatch green Chile this weekend. Dan and I bought a couple of pounds and I've been dying to eat some ever since! Tonight we are having green Chile stew. It smells divine, I hope it tastes as good!!

It seems as if we've been back to school for months already!! Thank goodness for the holiday Monday!!!!

Room for One More

Fuller house: Arkansas mom pregnant with 18th child
Michelle Duggar gives her kids a Mother’s Day surprise: ‘We’re expecting!’
Check out the Duggar website at http://www.duggarfamily.com/ They have a nice video of their family. And what a family they are!
I think they are great.

First Day of School

Its finally here - back to school. Thankfully, we were all rested up, so getting up early wasn't too bad (yet). Here's a shot of the boys the first day back. Sneaky Zach hid his cast! Zach's in 5th grade, Drew is in 3rd.
I had to go give Zach some Tylenol right before lunch for arm pain, but when I picked him up, he said his arm had quit hurting! Yay! Drew came out happy too- both of them having a good first day!

We all prayed together about their teachers and friends for this year! God is good! We are thankful for our blessings!!

We hope everyone has/had a good week back to school! Let us know how it went for you!

Something interesting!!

A rooster lived for 18 months after having its head chopped off?
Strange but true. A farmer from Fruita, Colo., thought he was just putting dinner on the table when he picked up an axe and beheaded one of his chickens. What happened next became the stuff of legend: The headless rooster bobbed and weaved back to the henhouse and lived for 18 more months.

The animal, later dubbed Mike and celebrated with a festival, Web sites and various magazine articles, survived because the blade missed his jugular vein and a clot prevented him from bleeding to death. The axe blow landed high enough that most of the chicken's brain stem and one ear remained intact. Mike was fed and watered by inserting an eyedropper directly into his gullet. Sadly, he later choked to death in a motel room.

Residents of Fruita remember Mike as "a big fat chicken who didn't know he didn't have a head."

Oh No!

Today while Zach was playing football with the neighborhood kids, he fell and caught himself on his arm after a tackle! It immediately swelled up, so we pretty much knew it was broken. After a visit to the ER, he's in a splint until Monday when we can see a Orthopedic Dr.
Monday is the first day of school. The only good thing is that it's his left arm and not his writing arm!
Poor Zach! Didn't we just go through this with Grammy??
Oh, and on the way out of the ER, another kid playing football with Zach when this happened was in the waiting room because he fell and hurt his thumb! I guess today was not a good day for neighborhood football. :(

The Last Week

Well here we are, down to the last week before school starts. We all know it's coming and quickly and I am beginning to get sad. Gone are the days of having no cares and no routines; Hello to the days of early mornings, homework, projects and a faster pace of life.
Ready or not, here it comes!!!

Wedding

Me and 5 other friends put the black covers over the chairs and tied these pink sashes on all these chairs! I loved doing it and doesn't it look beautiful?

Oops!

Correction - Zach and Drew and Allie and Avery are Lindsey's cousins, not nieces and nephews.

Wedding Rehearsal and Dinner

Drew and Alli practicing walking together! That is so cute! That man is Alli's dad and the lady is Sue, the wedding planner. Drew was less than thrilled about doing this, but boy, is it worth it!
Zach and Avery. Avery is Alli's sister. Zach wasn't very thrilled about it either, but I think he really did like it... ;)
Here are the kids together. We have been friends with Avery and Alli's parents for 14 years. They are Lindsey's nieces, from her dad's side. Alli is going in the 2nd grade and Avery is going into the 3rd grade. The kids go to the same school and really enjoy each others company. God is so good! What great looking kids! I just love them.
Here I am with Abby, Lindsey's sister and Maid of Honor. She is going into the 11th grade and is a great dancer on the high school dance team. We enjoy watching her dance and cheer. She is a real sweetheart. When she recently got her license, one of the first things she did was pick the boys up from school and take them for a snow cone. And she is my personal hairdresser. It doesn't get any better than that!
Abby is giving Lindsey and Brady a toast at the dinner. It was very cute, funny and touching.
Mom made it in late last night. We went and picked up the boys tuxedo's today. I almost cried when I saw them dressed. They look incredible. I can't wait to share pictures from the wedding. It is going to be so beautiful! Thank you Lord for love!

The fun is about to begin!!

Here I am with Lindsey, 14 years ago! She was 6 years old!!! Now she is 20 and getting married!
And what a beautiful bride she is.
The wedding fun is about to begin. I know the family is ready, as preparing for the wedding has been a lot of work. But it will be spectacular!! Mom is coming in Wednesday night to be here for it! Both Zach and Drew will be in the wedding - they will walk the two flower girls down the isle. What a handsome sight that will be!! :) The wedding is Friday night - with a fabulous reception (that I wish I could dance for) to follow!! Then Saturday the boys, mom and I will go to the Painted Poppy and paint some ceramics! Yea love!

Llano River, Junction, TX

We decided to take the trailer out for a camping trip! Pluto helped drive! We took our neighbor and friend, Jacob with us. The boys were thrilled bringing a friend.
We stayed at a beautiful KOA right on the river.

There was some sitting around...
some computer games...
swimming in the beautiful KOA pool...
and a canoe trip down the river!!

The river was low, so there was some getting out to push the canoe through...
and we found a spot where the water was clear! A perfect swimming hole! We saw a huge fish in it too!!! Too bad we didn't bring our poles.

We spent the afternoon at the Llano State park - floating down the river. Didn't get any pictures of it, because our camera wasn't waterproof. We did get some video - I'll try to download some it next. After a big Mexican food dinner, we played a game of washers. The boys had a blast! We all did!

Except Pluto, when he had to be tied up. :) Wish you all had been with us.

Paintball and loose birds...

Drew asked if he could take Stripes the bird out of his cage. It's wings are clipped and it can't fly, so hey, why not...

Drew loves his budgie sooooo much!
Dan finally found CO2 and filled the boys tanks, so now it's paintball time!!
Wow! Look at our colorful fence!! :
Watch out!

This is what we did last night.
The happy couple!! Lindsey and Brady!
Uncle Dan and Aunt Yoli with the happy couple!!
All the girls. Aunt Yoli, Aunt Becky, Grandmommy, Tia, Lindsey and Abby!
This is a picture from Lindsey's first shower. You can't tell I photo shopped Lindsey in, can you??
The boys were at home with their 2nd ever babysitter. (besides family) They had a blast!!!