November 17-26, 2013

Time for a "catch-up" post!

Sunday, November 17

Tim's mom sent us an e-mail about the cancer-fighting benefits of asparagus.  Puree the steamed asparagus and take 4 tablespoons once in the morning and once in the evening.  I decided to make it more fun!  So, I found a smoothie recipe:
7 stalks of asparagus
2 cups spinach
2 bananas
2 oranges
1 1/2 cups strawberries
ice
I put all the ingredients into the blender (except the ice because my strawberries were frozen) and set it to liquefy.  The recipe makes 2 glasses full.  This is supposed to be 1 serving.  I guess if this was a meal replacement that would be OK.  Bonus.....doesn't taste too bad!

Monday, November 18

We went to Clarksville, VA for a pastor's fellowship meeting where Tim was preaching.  The GPS said the trip was 2 1/2 hours but we allowed ourselves 4 hours for eating lunch and stopping for gas, etc.  We still arrived an hour early, so we went to a nearby park.  The weather was beautiful and the colors were beautiful, too!  Liz, this would be a good place to camp.

Tuesday, November 19

Worked on displaying all of Tim's cards offering Get Well wishes from so many people who have been praying for him.  I'm calling this the "healing corner."  These cards heal his spirit AND my spirit!

Wednesday, November 20

When I went to Aldi, I found 3 different kinds of squash.....spaghetti, butternut and acorn.  Last night we used half of the spaghetti squash with the homemade spaghetti sauce that one of the ladies made for us.  It was delicious!  Tonight I looked up and found a "Greek-style" recipe to use the other half.  I sauteed onion, tomatoes, garlic and basil in olive oil and then scrapped the spaghetti squash out of the "shell" and into the sauteed vegetables.  It was delicious!

Thursday, November 21

Our only purchase at the thrifts today.  A brand new, HUGE scrabble game on a lazy Susan turntable and giant letter tiles!  Out of curiosity, I looked it up on the internet and the normal selling price is $109.99 and I saw it on e-bay for as much as $129.99.  My price, $5.00!  CHA-CHING!!!

Friday, November 22

Liz and the kids came for the weekend.  We played scrabble. Tim and I helped Ryan, but the girls did pretty well, except for "getting it" when putting the tiles on the board!   We didn't keep score.  The extra girl you see is Shila.  Brad's step-sister's girl.  She is a couple months younger than Hannah.

Saturday, November 23

Liz took the girls and went to Mega Thrift.  Ryan helped me make some pumpkin muffins.  EASIEST recipe ever and they are so good!  2 ingredients.....pumpkin and a spice cake mix.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes til toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean!  They are sooooooooooooo moist!

After Liz, Hannah and Shila got back from shopping, we all went to feed the ducks at Thom-A-Lex park.  There were very few ducks this time since the weather has turned cool.

Get a load of the "hair do" on the duck in the middle!  I've never seen such a thing!

See the squirrel?

Perfect photo op!

After feeding the ducks, the kids wanted to play on the playground.

Even with 3 hands, Ryan could get no further than this.  Do you see the third hand?

Just a swingin'

Feeding the ducks one last time before heading for home.

Making rubber band bracelets.

The kids had fun throwing the leaves up in the air.  Then I thought, OOPS!  Calvin just blew all of those up in a pile under the tree and we went and messed them up without even thinking about it!  Sorry, Calvin!  But, they had fun!  :D

Dinner.....boxed Chicken Parmesan.

The kids and Liz collected pine cones at the park earlier in the day so they could paint them.

It turned into a "paint-on-anything" kind of project!  :D

Sunday, November 24

Miss Abigail all dressed up and ready for church.

For whatever reason, she decided to open all the drawers and doors at the sink.

Sunday afternoon, Liz and I took the kids to Adventure Landing to play on the arcade machines.  Got 140 tokens for $20 (40 extra for Sunday!)

Cashing in their tickets.

Only took them an hour to get rid of all of the tokens, so we went to the play area in the mall for a bit.   Then we went to McDonald's on the way home and let them play in the play area there before making them stop to eat and then head home.

Some high-jumping fun after church and before bed.

Don't step in the water!

Shila doing the splits between the pillows and holding onto the door and trying not to fall in!

Monday, November 25

I watched videos on line and made these rubber band bracelets today (except for the aqua one that I already had made for Kara).

Tuesday, November 26

Went to AC Moore to get some more rubber bands and found the neatest CAMO-colored ones!  The boys are gonna love these!

OK, all caught up now.  :D