Adam's High School Orientation

Last night was an orientation night for the 8th graders from Cannon/Mac going into high school.  What's amazing is seeing parents that I used to see from Kindergarten through all those years and we're amazed how fast the time has gone.

Here are a couple of pictures of Adam in his new high school.

All through school  their colors were Blue and Gold just like at Admiral King

 

Close Up

Amy's Birthday

Saturday (yesterday) was Amy's birthday.  It was a stunningly beautiful day for 2/22/2014.

Here's what we did.

Early Luke rode his bike in the driveway-- pretty day

 

Luke being silly on his bike

 

Over the deck--- LOOK at that BLUE sky!!!

Amy came down from her shower to this.  Then we went to Lunch/Dinner at Longhorn Steak House.

Amy LOVES to keep her car clean--- her waxing it, she really does like it.

The boys need clothes-- we went to the Outlets before our Birthday meal.

At Texas Road House- Adam and Justin

 

Adam

 

Justin doing what he does best.  Amy didn't like any of the pictures of her.

Singing and Eating Birthday Cake

Singing and Eating Birthday Cake

Dinner Tuesday

This is what I was making when I was talking to you.

It's browned pork chops in a cheesy gravy sauce -- lots of flavor DEVELOPMENT--here's how I did it and what it looks like

Here are the seasoned pork chops.  Garlic powder, season salt, pepper (freshly ground).  We've been going to Shop-n-Save which makes Aldi look like a gormet store- these chops were very inexpensive (Amy said "cheaper than chicken.").

Slowly sauteing the onions, then celery tops--FLAVOR DEVELOPMENT- It takes time, baby.  Note the cast iron pan.

Now browning the chops-- more DEVELOPMENT.  Getting a good brown on.

Browned Chops

d chops

The cheese soup.  Before the soup, I added garlic and used white wine to get the bits off the bottom of the cast iron pan.

Everything in the pan-- onion, celery, garlic, white wine, cheese soup, pepper, dried parsely and dried basil.

Now the chops back in the gravy and in the oven  to bake at around 350

The plate!  The chops were unbelievably tender and juicy, the gravy was unreal, the mashed potatoes perfectly seasoned and fluffy perfect.

This was our guest for dinner on Tuesday- he's a nice guy.

Saturday And More Snow February 15, 2014

We got more snow last night-- but what's great is have 2 boys old enough to shovel!!!  Who needs a snow blower?  I actually shoveled quite a bit on Tuesday, it's their turn today.

Luke just played:

The booger threw a snow ball at me and I wasn't wearing a coat.

More shoveling- nice, isn't it?

Friday 2/14

The kids had a day of school off on Friday and so did I.  Our favorite place to eat is BW3 for wings so for lunch we went there then went to buy Amy her Valentine's Day present for all of us. 

Here's the video:

Even Luke loves the spicy wings

Adam's Birthday

Adam is 14 years old-- his birthday was on Thursday.  I made him his cake while he was at school and he wanted to frost it.

His and his brothers favorite place to eat is Moes (a Mexican fast food place) we went there after Amy got home from work then the boys frosted the cake.

Eating at Moe's.  I don't particularly like it- they all do

Cake decorating, although fun, leads to frustration and of course a bit of fighting

The Cake--Beautiful

Happy Birthday-- Adam's starting to think he's too cool

One of Adam's gifts- a fishing rod

Adam and his rod

Wednesday's Chicken Dinner

I made chicken in a pot today-- one of Amy's favorite meals.  I like making it and it's very good.  Here are the pictures.

I like posting things here-- kids aren't doing much special so here's some food.

First thing in the morning, the raw chicken, onions, celery, carrots and broth in a pot to cook all day.

The boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes

The roux for the gravy

Now the gravy cooking

The brown bird-- browned in the oven-- too juicy out of the crock pot.

  

And the plate!

New Design

I'm SICK of winter-- sick of it.

I picked a new design in anticipation of spring and SUMMER.

Hope you like!

Sausage Dinner On Tuesday

I made sausage and peppers, home made macaroni and cheese and we had a pea salad for dinner today.  I felt creative so I took pictures of our meal.

The start of the ingredients

Again, the start

The sausage and onions

Now the peppers and tomatoes

Almost done

 Again, almost done

The plate

Luke, Jojo, and Brutal Cold

February 11th and it's -8 degrees F before the kids go off to school.    The sun just rose and everyone has their heat on, as evidences by smoke out of their chimney's.  I thought that was a cool shot.  And the past few days I've been playing with my camera so I took a cute one of Luke and a couple of Jojo.

The first one of Luke is from Saturday-- our neighbors behind us went sledding down their hill and Luke went.  He was outside for hours.

Luke Sledding

An experimental picture and Luke being cute.

Experimental, Jojo a little blury.

Crisp Jojo

Another crisp Jojo

BRUTAL- Taken close to sunrise

Everyone has their heat on.

BRRRRRRR

Adam Getting A Talking To

Adam was being a booger- what he was doing wasn't important but sitting on his mother's lap and getting a talking to was!!!


Amy said "come sit on my lap like when you used to be a baby..."

Stir Crazy

It's getting to be late winter and we're getting stir crazy.    Amy thought it would be a good idea to entertain Luke by making brownies with him.  He loved it.

He likes to sit on the counter and help.

 

Licking the paddle.

 

Hands in the bowl

 

The spoon