If two's a couple, rehash

Did you read my previous post on this?

If two's a couple....

Well, now that you've read it or re-read it to refresh your memory on TJ's seriousness to this case, here's my rehash.

The other day we were in the car, and TJ....yes TJ himself was talking to Monkey about something.  Monkey asked a question, and TJ's response was, "Yes there probably are a few."  So Monkey said, "Oh, so there's only 3!"  But there were in fact more than 3!  TJ looked at me and I laughed at him!  He didn't follow through with his own rule!

It was hilarious....and really only because TJ is so serious about this matter.  I'm not kidding you.  He very much dislikes it when you use it incorrectly.  And then he did it himself.

I couldn't help but laugh at him.

Randomness v20

1.
Sitting around the supper table Monkey was still eating but started to ask if he could have a treat.  But before he could even finish, I knew what he was going to say, so I said, "I'm going to go ahead and throw out a NO."  And he looks at me and says, "Uh.....that would be littering."

Ah hahahahahaha!  It was so hilarious!  I laughed at him and he said, "What's so funny?"  I explained it to him and he said, "I still don't get it."  Even more funny. :)

2.
Bear-Daddy you have a speeding ticket.  Here take it.
TJ- How much is it?
Bear- $70 dollars
TJ- What if I can't pay that.
Monkey- Then you have to go to jail for that many days.

(that might be a good idea!  Who should we present this idea to?)

3.
TJ was reading a spiderman book to Monkey.  There was a sentence that said Spiderman worked with other heros to fight crime.
Monkey said, "Who's crime?"

4.
We were sitting around the supper table.  Usually TJ gives the new recipes a rating.  Monkey loves to rate them too.  He was saying that they either had to be a 4, 6 or 10.
With our soup TJ was asking Monkey what he rates it.  I said, "Well, it has to be either 4, 6 or 10."  TJ said, oh yeah, there's only 2 options. Me- Huh?!  TJ- Oh yeah, that would be 3 options, wouldn't it?

5.
TJ- "How come none of your comments go on the blog?"
Stephanie- "Because I never say anything weird."

Craft Time v7

Music Makers

In talking with different types of instruments, we made our own instrument.

First we colored different types of instruments, string, wind, brass and percussion.

Then we made a percussion instrument. :)

Start with a toilet paper insert.  Put paper on the bottom, fill with popcorn kernels, or noodles or something that will make noise!  Put paper on the top.  Tape it up with packing tape to make it more sturdy.

Then we cut a piece of paper to fit as a wrap around.  Wrote the word music and colored it.  Wrap around and again, put more packing top over it to make it last longer.

Monkey did a good job drawing his music notes! :)

Fun times, and then great music! :)

Duluth pt2

Here's some of the snapshots from the second day of our overnight trip away.

We went on a train ride along the river.  Rode the Alpine slide again.  Went to the lift bridge at night.
Ate at Texas Roadhouse!  And if you've never been there, it is the best food ever!  Ok....well I haven't eaten everything on their menu, but the porkchop and mashed potatoes are to die for.....you'll have to try it next time you go there.  We also visited the Glensheen Mansion.  Awesome.

Enjoy! :)

On the train ride.

 As we were riding on the train another train drove right over us. 

Another shot from the train ride.  I took TONS of pics.  If you can only imagine. :)

The Mansion from the back.

 The boathouse on the shore of the mansion property.

 TJ walked down towards the shoreline.  This is still on the mansion's property. 

I love this shot of him in the distance. 

Looking through the trees to the lake.  And the ship out there.

Another beautiful tree turning color.  Isn't it amazing?

TJ and I at the Mansion.  You couldn't take pics inside, but the outside was beautiful enough.  I got so many more pictures than I could show you.  Probably 800 from the 2 days! :)

These last 2 pictures could be better, I know.  But I still need to figure out the night shot settings and ways to make these shots better on my camera.  But you still get the point.

 The lift bridge at night.

 The lift bridge up for a huge vessel ship coming in!  This was 1000 feet long.  Coming in to get some coal to bring somewhere else, and fuel for the ship to run!  I wonder how long that takes.

Bacon Wrapped Waterchestnuts

Someone once told me there is a funny name for these but I'm not sure what it is so I will just go with the self-describing name. 

These are an appetizer.  Great for an extra food item with large people, or for watching a game together or something. :)

2 cans WHOLE waterchestnuts
1 pkg bacon thawed
BBQ sauce (I love Rich and Sassy Famous Dave's BBQ sauce)
toothpicks

Cut the bacon in half.  Wrap the waterchestnuts each with one half a strip of bacon.  Use a toothpick to hold the bacon around it in place. 

Put on a pan and bake in the oven at 350 for 40-50 minutes.  Or until the bacon is done to your liking. 

Then put in a crockpot and pour on the BBQ sauce.  Let it warm through.  Enjoy! :)

Craft Time v6

Tin Can Phone

Remember doing this as a kid?

Well considering my kids age, they pretty much watched me.  But then they got to enjoy playing with it afterwards. :)

What you need,
2 cleaned out tin cans, hammer, nail, string

Use the nail and hammer to poke a hole through the bottom middle of each can.  Put the string through and tie a knot.

Make sure you are pulling the string taught! :)

Duluth pt1

TJ and I are on an overnight stay for the first time since we became parents.  We came up to Little Falls yesterday, spent the night with the kids at Grandpa & Grandma's house and then left them there this morning.  They were so excited to visit they didn't care too much.

TJ didn't have any trouble with leaving them there since he has to leave to go to work every day, however, I don't really leave them that often, besides going to eat with some ladies or something, so it was harder for me.  Mostly if I go somewhere, I know they are still at home and with Dad.  Anyway, I cried just a little on the way here.  But we are all having a good time and everything's going to be just fine!  

Here's a couple shots from today so far.  I've taken almost 300 pics already. :)  Just practicing.

First we went on a roller coaster ride down Spirit Mountain.  That was so fun!  TJ and I rode together.  If you held the handle forward you went fast, and you pulled it back to slow down.  TJ was pushing it forward and I was trying to grab it to pull it back the whole time.   It was totally fun, but I was kinda scared as we went around the corners really fast.

 There are flower gardens along the lake shore. 

 Beautiful!

 Sitting by the shore, capturing more of God's Handiwork!

Boat in the background, and the waves splashing against the rocks!  

Amazing!

 This is an amphitheater  set up....I'm in the left round structure picturing the right one through the opening.  Neat stuff. :)  They put a blow up screen along these poles and play movies free to the public every Friday night in the summer.  Out in the front of here there is a beautiful lawn.

 Walking along the bridge and looking through the arch design along the side to see the lake.

The lift bridge is UP!

 Now a huge Vessel is going under the bridge.  This was 730 feet long 75 feet wide, and 27 feet in the water.  It's carrying can't remember the #...but TONS of grain.  On it's way up to Canada.

 Now the bridge is back down.

 Looking at the rays from the sun on the water.

 Beautiful Fall colors on this tree!

Looks even more amazing with the brilliant blue sky in the background! 
Praise the Lord for a beautiful day for us up here in Duluth today.

Photography-God's handiwork

This is an important blog today because right now in my town there is a flood.  The river is continuing to rise.  Risking all people of Owatonna losing power.  And loss of power with this much water and rain could mean water in basements even in parts of town like where I live.  Because even though we are up high, my sump pump is running every 20 seconds since we had the equivilent of 3 months rain in 1 1/2 days.  Yikes!  That was a lot of rain.  And they say we might get more.  

Just the other day I was out taking these pictures.  And I am still in awe of God's wondrous works.  Today is windy, and we can be thankful for that wind because wind.....helps dry up water!

So, this wasn't my first thought when I set out to type this blog, but I think it fits nicely.  Even now when times are stressful, or terrible and painful, and full of material loss, we can KNOW God is in control.  And we should still PRAISE him in this storm.  

And it's always important to stop and see God's handiwork in all the little details around us.

I love taking pictures so much.  And I love God and his creation so much!   I put them together alot.....like by enjoying them and in return taking pictures of lots of things in nature/creation.

The other day we had a bunch of mushrooms in our yard since it's so wet out there.  And by each other there were 3 different kinds of mushrooms growing.  Amazing at the little details God has given us.

I especially love Psalm 19....

vs 1 says  

The heavens declare the glory of God;
       the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 

I'm always in awe of God's awesome workings just by looking at the sky, but there are so many things around us on the ground too that proclaim the work of his hands.

Since it's autumn, I also was noting some of the changes God has put in place.  Most flowers are dying and gone, but this is one late bloomer.  Standing out among the bunch.

And proof that fall is here.  A small little section of my burning bush starting the turning process.

 

Are you rejoicing in the beauty of God's creation when you look around?

Homemade Applesauce

After our visit to the Apple Orchard we brought home a huge bag of apples!  So what do you do with all those apples.  They don't last forever you know!

Well, the first thing I decided to try was homemade apple sauce!  Wowza!

Did you know how incredibly easy that is!  I have never even thought about looking it up or trying it before.  But I've also never visited an apple orchard and had that many apples on hand before either.

So....Here's the scoop.

First, of course, you will want to peel and cut up the apples.  Then put them in a big pot.
Measurements for every
4 medium size apples.
3/4 cup water
1/4 cup sugar
cinnamon to your liking

The first time I did 4 times that amount.  Bring to a boil until the apples get mushy, and start to mush apart already. (20-30 minutes maybe? just keep checking back. depends on how many apples are in the pot) Let it begin to cool and then mash the rest with a potato masher.  (you can also put them in the crockpot for half the day!)

They say you can freeze this for up to a year.  So I'm going to get some containers for that, and make some more!

Yay!  I'm never buying applesauce again!


There are definitely other ways to do this, including the fact that the sugar is not necessary.  Some of the recipes I looked up said sugar, some didn't.  Some said lemon juice.  But I didn't do that.  You could always look it up online yourself.  But this one sure is good, so I'll save ya the trouble.

Photography-Ariana 1 year

Happy Birthday to Ariana Quindt.  She is 1 year old!

Here's a few pics to celebrate this occasion. :)

 I thought it looked like she was saying she's one.  She's really just pointing to the boys because they were making her laugh.  But you don't need to know that part, right?!

There are way more pics than this, but I'll just highlight them for you.  I got some good shots.  I was amazed at how many turned out.  She wanted to crawl around, and I had to keep picking her up and putting her back by the blanket so I could take more pics.  She didn't always like that.

Good job anyway, Ariana! :)

Kitchen Tips v8

Parchment paper, or tinfoil.

I use my pampered chef stones for everything...except, my cheesy bread.
I'm not really sure why, but once I started doing it this way, I guess I just stuck to it.

Well, when you are making cheesy bread on metal pans, it's really hard to get that crusty cheese off the metal.  And you know there's always going to be a couple pieces of cheese that falls off while you are topping the bread.

So to remedy this I started putting tinfoil on the pan first then making the cheesy bread.

That way whatever falls, lands on the tinfoil.

And then it's easy clean up!

Now you don't even have to wash the pan!

Honestly I don't really use parchment paper but I could for this same purpose on my stones.
I just never think about buying it.

Chicken Penne Al Fresco

Tonight's supper was done in a jiffy! :)

3 garlic cloves
1 small container cherry or grape tomatoes
3 cups uncooked penne pasta
3 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup dry white cooking wine
1/2 tsp salt and pepper
1/2 cup parmesan
2 cups cooked diced chicken breasts
basil and garlic pepper to taste
 

Place pressed garlic and tomatoes in a 9x13 stoneware pan. (Important that it's stoneware because this gets cooked in the microwave)
Cover and microwave on high for 4-5 minutes or until tomatoes burst.  Crush the rest of tomatoes. (Watch out because they will squirt out right at you when you crush them.)
Meanwhile cook chicken, with seasonings until no longer pink, and chop into cubes.
Add uncooked pasta, broth, wine salt and pepper to 9x13 pan.  Microwave for 16-18 more minutes, or until the pasta is tender.  Add chicken and parmesan cheese.  Stir to mix in.  Let cool for a few minutes.

Quick and easy, yet delicious meal.  And yes, cooked in the microwave!

TJ gave this meal an 8 out of 10.

This is actually the 2nd time I've made this.  The first time was over a year ago, and when I made it them TJ walked in and said,  MMMMM...it smells like Olive Garden in here. :)