Spring Tea

Synnove's Preschool was set to have a Mother's Day Tea fundraiser event on the Friday before Mother's Day. I invited 5 of Synnove's 8 grandmothers and 4 were able to come. I think Synnove had the biggest crowd there!

The day started with a short program. The kids sang songs and showed off some of their artwork. Synnove barely opened her mouth the entire time, and half-scowled through the whole presentation. That's just what she does when she's nervous or embarrassed. It was frustrating though, because she had performed the songs to me MANY times before-hand. Eh...whatever. After that, we all funneled into the preschool room for soup, tea, and cookies. The kids had helped to make the soup that week, and had even gone on a field trip to Hunt's Market to buy ingredients. We had potato soup and taco soup...both were yummy!

Grandma Barbara brought Synnove a gift for her first tea party...a beautiful cup and saucer!

Here's Synnove standing by her name on the quilt that was raffled off for the fundraiser.


We hadn't seen Grandma Quashnick in a while, so the kids got their Easter gifts from her a bit late. Right when we got home, this is what Synnove looked like. So, you can safely say that she loved her Easter gift Grandma :)

It was sad when the tea was over, the Grandmas wanted more time to visit...so I think they are going to plan a time when they can meet up once a month or so. I love that they all get along so well and enjoy each other's company. AND, they are excited that Soren will be going to preschool for the next two years so they'll get to come again...and again!

Fox Friends

For the last couple of weeks, Adam has been working non-stop for the annual mill shut-down. It's always hard when he's gone. He leaves before I get up and gets home just as the kids are going to bed...7 days a week. During these times I really try to fill our days with lots of things to do. Fortunately, the weather has been the best it's been all year! Synnove's preschool has also been keeping busy with lots of field trips and activities. Anyway, we sort of had a blip in our week when Synnove caught a nasty cough and we had to cancel some plans. However, at the last minute, my dear friend Mandy asked me when I would be free for a visit! We planned for Saturday. Even better...my dear friend Natalie was going to be able to tag along! I was soooo excited!

They arrived before noon. I cooked up some fajitas and we ate strawberry shortcake for dessert. The kids we very happy to have guests, and, as usual, tried to steal their attention every moment they could. Synnove was especially excited to see "Matalie," who she fell in love with when Nat came for a visit over a year ago. The kids were very good though, and even gave us a show at the end of their visit, complete with singing and dancing. Mandy and Natalie didn't leave till almost 9! It was great!! I hadn't seen Mandy since I was pregnant with Soren 4 years ago!

I had to ask Synnove to snap a photo...not too shabby...

Notice Snow White's slipper?

Thanks for coming girls! Love and miss you both :)

Like Veggies? Check this Recipe...

When I'm trying to drop a few pounds I try my best to add lots of vegetables to my diet. Most nights, while dieting, I choose to skip regular dinner to eat a heaping plate of lightly sauteed onions, zucchini, and red peppers. I love this meal...I really do! But, if given the choice, I'd eat pasta, cheese, and bread for every meal.

Several YEARS ago I used to spend a lot of time watching the Food Network, and occasionally, I would print out recipes I would see on TV. I found this recipe in my recipe book the other day and decided it was the perfect compromise between like and LOVE =)

It's Giada's Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables...YUM!!

LOTS of vegetables tossed with olive oil and Italian seasoning ready to head into the oven...

The final product.

Beware: it's a HUGE dish that will feed a regular sized family for days!

Surprise 25th Anniversary Party!

I suppose I had been planning this party for the better part of the last year, however, I didn't really get started till about a month ago. With my siblings on board, I decided to throw a small surprise 25th anniversary party for Mom and Dad. I could go into great detail on how elaborate our plan was to surprise them, but I'm afraid this blog would go on for quite some time. It's hard to keep a surprise in such a small town, let alone Synnove (she LOVES to spill the beans!). We covered all of our tracks and made sure that the party was a well kept secret.

The plan was to invite them over for a "pre-mother's day dinner" at my house. Henry was leaving for Junior's Abroad with GFU to Australia and Dad was going to be working on Mother's Day (their actual anniversary), so it was a good excuse to get together. I told them to meet at my house at around 1:30. It worked out perfectly, because we had to find a way to get them here after everyone arrived...but everyone goes to church (some of them the same church) and if they left early from church, that would look quite suspicious. Fortunately, my church gets out quite a bit later than everyone else's, so it was a logical reason to meet at my house later than they would get out of church. Make sense? We, of course, skipped church to prep for the party. We decided to try to hide everyone's car for a true surprise. Adam spent all morning clearing out 3 of the 7 bays of the shop (yes, every one is FULL) and strategizing. He successfully hid about 6 cars!

Grandma Barbara offered to make spaghetti and and bread and left church early (and yes, my parents asked where they went!) to come over and finish making it. All morning I was stressing out about Mom and Dad's arrival. It wasn't until my brother texted me saying "Grandma Backe just told mom and dad that Grandma Barb (her daughter...not to be confused with Grandma Barbara) is headed out to our house for a party!" I couldn't believe it!! I was sick. For those that don't know, my Great Grandma Backe is 99 years old and lives in a retirement/care home...the same place where a gentleman at my parent's church lives. Normally, I think, my grandparents (the ones who left church early) take him home after church. BUT, since they weren't there, my parents did...and when they did, they decided to visit Grandma Backe, whom they haven't visited in MONTHS!! That day...of ALL days...WHY!!?? ANYway, my Dad corrected her and said something like "no, we're going over to Nicole's for a Mother's Day dinner." No suspicions arose, no damage done. Phew!

Elise and I strategized on how they would arrive. They would all go in one car...Elise's truck. That way, they wouldn't have the chance to turn around in the driveway and risk seeing the cars parked on the side of the house. Like I said, it was an very well thought out plan.

All the guests (just the Thompson families and the Balensifer families) arrived on time and we anxiously awaited Mom and Dad's arrival...they were 30 minutes late. I stood at the top of the stairs with a video camera while everyone stood silent hidden in the living room. Mom didn't even seem to think it was odd that I was holding the camera while they walked in the door, and it took them a while to finally realize that the party was for them. It worked out perfectly. The party was awesome...just plain awesome. It was so nice to give them a special day complete with cake, gifts, toasts, family, and food (something they didn't get when they eloped 25 years ago!).

I included a bunch of pictures, but they are all terrible...taken with that camera that I took back. But, they're all I got!...

The cake "table"

Waiting for Mom and Dad to arrive. I stole 5 photo albums from my parent's house of the "early years" from before they met till Henry's birth.

Just coming up the stairs and realizing that the party is for her :)

Still arriving...Dad's finally cluing in.

All of the people present on their actual wedding day. To the right of my dad is my Uncle Mark (my Dad's brother) and to the right of my mom is my Aunt Jeanne (my mom's oldest sister). I was 4 when they married and proudly adopted by my Daddy :)

Some heartfelt and tearful toasts to the happy couple...

I stitched them up a gift and had it framed...a special anniversary record with names, dates, children, etc.

Dad, opening up the "2nd Honeymoon Fund." Instead of guests bringing gifts I told them to bring cash to put in a special gift box. It's hard for proud adults to accept money from their family...so this way they didn't have a clue who gave what!

Yes, we made them do it all...and they were gracious receivers.

Mom and Dad got the first bite...and Soren got the second :)

Thanks Mom and Dad for being such wonderful parents. I love you both so much, and it was a pleasure to surprise you. You deserved your day in the spotlight :)

Chicks, Chicks, and More Chicks!

Recently, with the addition of our 3 full-grown chicks from last year, we have had an egg explosion. It's a rough guess, but I'd say we average about 8-12 eggs a DAY! We only have about 10 hens, and I'd say that maybe 7 of them are religious layers. Our family loves eggs, but we certainly can't keep up with 8-12 a day, so Adam has been taking a lot of them to people at work and we've been passing them off to friends and family. Since doing so, Adam and I have had several offers to pay for eggs...on a regular basis. Now, we live out in the sticks, and a LOT of folks out here have chickens, and some sell eggs. I wouldn't have thought the demand would have been so high...but apparently it is. Adam has talked about the kids selling eggs ever since we moved in. I just sorta passed the suggestion off as something to do in the far future. It was a good idea, and not so foreign to me. When I was a kid, I had a flower stand where my mom and I sold arrangements of dahlias and greens. I think I was in the 4th grade when I started doing that. When we moved in to this house, Synnove had just turned 3 and Soren was a mere 1 1/2. I had a hard time imagining the kids selling eggs, but time has passed SO fast and the kids are already pitching in with the animals daily (sort of).

Adam decided, that with so many offers, it was time to start beefing up our brood. Fortunately, Adam had anticipated having many hens, and built the ULTIMATE chicken coop and run. There is a total of 12 nests in our coop, but chickens are weird and like to share nests. We usually find eggs in 2-3 of the nests every day. Anyway, Adam picked up 15 chicks at the feed store on Saturday. I don't know how we'll keep up!

The kids are so sweet with the chicks, but the chicks are fast little movers! Soren ended up squeezing one too hard...oops :(

Tayahnna was over for my parents' anniversary party and got to play with the chicks. Can you tell the difference between these last two pictures and the 3 above? Yeah, I did get a new camera...(thank you Adam and the kids!), but it took horrid pictures, so I took it back. I'm still using my old one. Sorry honey, it's nothing personal :)

By the way, you would be doing us a great favor by saving your egg cartons and passing them on to us!