Smoooooooothie

We recently purchased a new blender. Thank you, Kohl's. Oddly enough they were having a sale.

Our previous blender was a wedding gift. 13 years using it every few months apparently was too much for it to handle. So we purchased not only a machine that could blend, but also a food processor!! I'm kind of excited about that. Apparently not excited enough to actually try it out yet - but when that next recipe calls for it, I'm ready to crunch ingredients.

Anyway - we decided that we would try making smoothies for breakfast last week while the girls were here. I've been searching for recipes to try out so that maybe during the school year we could have Friday mornings be smoothie mornings. Something different, fun, and yet still some bit of healthiness.

Our first batch involved bananas and strawberries, some orange juice and 3 ice cubes. This was met with shrugs mostly. I don't think anyone was ready to drop the Cocoa Puffs for these. We took a poll, including a taste-test from Mike in the basement for what we thought was missing.

And when I say "we" I mean "they". I thought smoothies would be something I could like. I don't like fruit, but I like grape juice and grape jelly and apple juice, so I thought maybe it would all blend together and I wouldn't really taste anything. Not true. Bananas are fairly potent so unless I'm being served a chocolate smoothie, there's little chance I'll be partaking of this concoction. (Don't feel bad for me - a chocolate smoothie recipe was one of the first recipes I looked for found...those will be for the really special Fridays. Health-Shmealth)

Anyway - they choked down the first batch and we started over. This time we threw caution to the wind and added whatever we thought it needed. The new variation included a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream flavored protein powder, a spoonful of sugar, OJ, more strawberries, less bananas, milk and more ice. Lots more ice, actually.

And they were all pleasantly surprised with the results.

It wasn't the perfect results, but a good start so we stopped. We also happened to run out of strawberries. We'll keep looking for new recipes and hopefully we'll find that favorite before too long. Maybe even before school starts.

It's Official...

We bored them so much we turned them into little old ladies....

Actually, Amanda came downstairs one day last week and just sat and watched me empty the dishwasher. I asked if there was anything she wanted to do and she shrugged and said no. I closed the dishwasher and randomly said, "would you like to learn to knit?" Another shrug with a quiet, "sure."

So, she and I sat down and she caught on fairly quick. We found a pattern for a dishcloth on the Internet and she got to work. The next day I came downstairs and found the girls deep into their own projects. Samantha started work crocheting and was teaching Maddie how to turn on her own crochet project.

I prefer to think we aren't boring. We are just the hosts of the fabulous new "teen-knit-crochet bees" that will be sweeping the nation shortly.

Visitors

This week our nieces, Amanda and Samantha, are staying with us. They are 15 and 13 years old. Normally when we go to Iowa to visit, these girls along with Madison, don't stop giggling.

But, on Sunday when they got in the car to come up with Mike and the kids, they turned almost mute. They are so quiet - it's almost frightening. We've decided that we must be incredibly scary to live with. Or we are incredibly dull and they are bored out of their minds.

But, we have heard the occasional squeaks from them - mostly poolside.


A couple nights ago we had a bonfire and Mike found another visitor. Maddie named him Cocoa.

They're A-L-I-V-E!!

I think I've mentioned on more than one occasion how we do not claim to have green thumbs. We don't have any real plants in our home. We have one fake one. We don't even take care of that very well...I finally realized that I was supposed to dust it. Yuck.

Anyway - when we look to our west we see this growing in our neighbor's backyard:

It's a bit intimidating, let me reassure you.

About a month ago Mike and I were over visiting our neighbors. They are Chinese and have been in the U.S. for around 10 years. Super nice couple. They were showing us their garden and explaining all the different vegetation they have growing all around their home. So Mike - thinking he's going to get in on some ancient Chinese growing secret - said, "So...did you learn all this growing up in China?" They looked at Mike with a blank or slightly confused stare and said with their thick accents, "No....we read how to grow gardens in the Star and Tribune."

Anyway - at that point we were offered tomato plants. They had some growing in containers and didn't need them all. Mike just looked at me with a smile on his face that said, "Go ahead...I dare you." Truthfully - we really aren't tomato-loving people. But, how could I refuse? So, we walked home with three tomato plants.

Somewhere in my genes there is plant growing ability. Tracy and Rob grow tons of stuff in a garden. My grandpa had a garden at least as big as our neighbors, if not bigger. I remember helping him dig up potatoes - a job I LOVED - and helping pick raspberries each summer.

So, I talked to Tracy about the containers I would need and was informed I really just needed to plant them in the ground. We don't really have many places to plant anything. So, I cleared some rock away from the fence and placed these little plants in there with a light pat of the soil and a small, "Good luck, guys" said under my breath.

I even remembered to water them. This is no small feat; I have dehydrated many a plant.

In the meantime the kids and I went and purchased three hanging potted plants to go in the new plant hanger that Mike and I decided to purchase. Because really...why not??? If this biology experiment worked, then we have nice colors in our backyard. If not - it's just one more thing to add to the garage sale at the end of the summer.

To add to this mix, we received a plant from a local Boy Scout. "Received" may be a loose term - we bought it. It was purely a guilt purchase because how do you turn away the Boy Scouts? I bought a Columbine because out of the 35 plants in the pictures it said, "full sun" and had a lot of flowers. How do you kill a plant that thrives in full sun I figured...it should be used to no water.

A couple weeks ago high school friends were over and I mentioned the tomato plants. I told them that even though we weren't getting actual tomatoes, the plants were growing little yellow flowers so I would be satisfied with this mild progress; at least they weren't dead. My friends informed me that those flowers would turn into the tomatoes and not to pick them off. I have to say, that bit of information almost made me hyperventilate. Could it be??? Would I really be able to grow something?

Tonight I yelled across the street to Kristy to ask about her tomato plants. She said she had little green ones. I drove away pouting because I checked a couple days ago and didn't see anything on our plants. When I got home, Mike was out working on the yard and casually said, "You know....you've got some tomatoes growing."

I stared at him wide-eyed and bolted to the backyard where Lo.And.Be.Hold!! I think I counted 10 tomatoes!!! We put the wire cages around them that Tracy advised us to put up weeks ago (lesson learned on that one...wire cages are hard to put around big tomato plants - just like she said they would be).

I ran in the house where Maddie, Samantha and Amanda were sitting and yelled, "I HAVE TOMATOES! I need to take a picture!" I believe Maddie rolled her eyes and said, "Why does she always need to take a picture?!?"

I'm a farmer!!!

Here's the proof:


The rest of the plants are still doing well.

Here's our Petunia. I'm not a fan of pink, but it's all that Lowe's had. We grew these in North Carolina and I loved going out everyday and picking the dead buds off. Very relaxing to me after a yucky day at work. Turns out I still like to go and pick off the old buds. I throw them in the fire pit we have. This slightly surprised Mike last night when he went to make a fire and saw all this old vegetation. He said for a second he thought we had a mouse nest started. He was happy it was just his lazy wife not wanting to walk up front to the garbage.

This is some type of geranium, I believe. I'm supposed to be able to pick the flowers from it (like the petunia) so that new buds will sprout. I haven't figured out what exactly to pick - the actual flowers or the stems they sprout from. I do a little of each - basically whatever falls off in my hand.

This one...I have no idea. I accidentally threw away the spike thing that tells about the plants when you buy them. Really...kind of an ugly plant up close - it looks kind of vicious in real life - I managed to successfully blur out the ugly parts. But, again...slim pickings at Lowe's.

This is the Columbine. In the brochure it has a gazillion flowers. Miracle Grow's best efforts have not produced a single petal of any shape or size. But again...still living.

This is weedis-maximus.

We actually have a hard time NOT growing these.

Valleyfair

Mom was able to get some free tickets to Valleyfair for all of us so Saturday was the big day. Our kids have been BEGGING to go to this amusement park each summer, but Jake has never been tall enough to go and we didn't want to deal with the "unfairness of it all" when he sat on the sidelines as we all went on rides. When Jake told friends he was going to Valleyfair they measured him at exactly 48 inches - the requirement for many rides so he was extremely excited.

This doesn't mean he could go on everything - and that first ride he couldn't go on did result in a couple tears and pouts, but he got over it and the day was fairly smooth.

Fairly. The morning...eh.

We got there around 10:30am. We eased into things by hitting the Merry-Go-Round first. Next on the list was "The Enterprise". I loved this in high school. My dad (who can't do many spinning rides) loved this. I talked Maddie and Mike into going on it also. Afterwards I looked at my dad...who looked as bad as I felt. I was ready to take a hiatus from rides as of about 10:45.

Next was bumper cars...just the thought of hitting or getting hit made me want to throw up. Luckily the next few rides Mike could handle with the kids while I did my best to recuperate. Really though, by about 11:30 I was ready to not ride on anything again and even told my mom that if I sat there all day without going on a ride, I would not feel bad in the least.

In the meantime our fearless children wanted to try just about everything. On the list was the "Power Tower" Mike, dad and Maddie went on this one. The other three of us thought they were crazy. We were right. This slowly took them up into the air and then suddenly dropped them. They handled if fairly well, but it wasn't something anyone was begging to do again.

After that we wanted to find a ride Jake could/would go on. Jake and mom had been eyeing the "Extreme Swing" ride the entire time we were sitting on the sidelines of the Power Tower.

I said there was no way I was going on that ride. But they were getting more and more excited with my mom saying to Jake, "I will go on that ride with you! I think it looks AWESOME!"

Here's what you should know about my mom. She is able to go on all the rides that my dad can't go on. Whenever we went to Valleyfair as kids, she could/would go on anything. If I remember correctly she LOVED the Corkscrew when it first went up. The weird thing is - she's totally afraid of heights. She has trouble on a step-ladder.

So back to the swing...Mom's gung-ho to take Jake on this and telling him there's absolutely no problem. So, they all went to get in line - all of them. I said I'd try to grab some pictures while I sat safely and without much motion on the sidelines. About 5 minutes after getting in line I see an employee walking a lady out of the line...wait...that lady was my mom. She came over shaking her head and said there was NO WAY she was getting on that ride after seeing it up close. I don't blame her. I don't think anyone else did after they got off either. Both kids said that was their LEAST favorite ride of the day.

Finally we got lunch and things started to look up (at least for me) after that.

We headed to "Thunder Canyon" where we were sure to get drenched. The kids had been begging all morning long to go on a water ride so they could get wet.

Be careful what you wish for!

Five of us were soaked. My dad was a little wet, but somehow managed to be in that one chair that just missed getting all the splashes. It was ridiculous, really how dry he looked compared to the rest of us. I think that Jake and my mom were hit the hardest. Both kids were shivering by the end.

We did walk through the Kiddie Park and came across a ride that looked like a small version of the Power Tower. Then I leaned over and whispered to Jake, "You are the only one out of all of us that could ride on this...". His face lit up and he said he definitely wanted to go on it. He at least got off it with a gigantic grin - can't say that for the rest of the Power Tower crew.

We did have to walk over to the other side to get the "Antique Cars". Both kids wanted to drive so the boys were in one auto and the girls in another. Men drivers....somehow the boys managed to stall out their car. This, in turn, caused a 4-car pile up behind the girls' car. Dad ended up getting out, walking across the grounds and getting an employee who was probably wondering what happened to all the cars they had sent out.

We thought we'd end up with the "Wild Thing" roller coaster. Jake did not want to go on this (he informed us he would probably go on it when he was 8 or 9). Dad said his stomach was settled by that point, so he may as well shake things up again, and joined Mike, Maddie and me. Honestly, I wasn't totally excited about this ride....that is one steep drop...but I wanted to say I'd tried it. It really wasn't that bad. Actually, it started to slow down and make that clicking noise these rides make when they are nearing the end. I was surprised by how short the ride had been and was sitting by dad and said, "Reall..." and then the earth dropped out from under me. And we started all these little hills and a dark cave and I was laughing so hard from the shock of not being done that I could barely figure out what we were doing. This turned out to be Maddie's favorite ride by far.

After 8 hours we ended up giving each kid one choice of a ride before leaving. Maddie went with my dad on the "Wild Thing" again. Jake chose the "Corkscrew"...his favorite ride of the day. Mike had gone on this the first time with him. I never liked it in high school and wasn't too fond of twisting and turning after the morning. However, Mike had just downed a greasy Pronto Pup and said there was no way he could go on it. So Jake and I got in line and buckled in. I turned to Jake and said, "I just want you to know that I'm ONLY going on this because I love you." He laughed and said I was so funny.

As we were leaving we passed by "The Wave". Mom said this would be a really fun ride to end on. Of course, we had all just about dried up from Thunder Canyon, but we all got in line. There isn't much to this ride except the GIANT wave the boat creates at the end. Even dad couldn't escape getting wet on this ride. And mom's reaction? She said, "Oh! Wasn't that just beautiful!?!" Really, she thought seeing the water go up and come down was lovely. So, she convinced all but Mike to go on it again to which Maddie replied, "Grandma! I just LOVE YOU!! You are SO persuasive!!"

And that finally did end our day. I hadn't been to Valleyfair for close to 20 years and at 10:45a.m. I would have told you that if it had been another 20 years before going again, I wouldn't have been disappointed. But, the day ended up working out well and while I don't really care if I go again this summer, I won't pass up another opportunity to go again another summer.

But Mike and I may have to "Rock, Paper Scissors" which rides we are going to chaperone the kids on.

Thanks, Mom (and Cargill!).

Father's Day Oops

A couple weeks ago the kids and I went to the Japanese Garden in Bloomington at Normandale Community College. I grew up in Bloomington and this is where tons of people went to get prom pictures or senior pictures taken. I'd never been there.

Because I knew we had a large gift coming, I thought we needed something personal to give to Mike...and cheap. He works from home so he eats lunch with us everyday and obviously knows how his kids are growing. But, he has a photo of the two of them hanging up in his office from about three years ago. So, we thought we would update that for him.

Below are the shots that were taken. The kids did fairly well not getting antsy. I learned a few more things about taking photographs (or rather, I put recently acquired information into practice). And we managed to put together some pictures that we could give to Mike for Father's Day.

Except we didn't. We totally forgot to pick them up from Sam's Club until Monday.

And these are the collages I put together for him to hang in his office. And yes...I realized after getting it back that I spelled "Beautiful" wrong on Madison's sheet. Ugh. Mike thought it was hysterical since that bugs me so much. But he totally agreed with me that he would have never caught that mistake if I hadn't told him...he's one of the worst spellers ever.

PS: Grandpa and Grandmas have a picture coming to them. Aunts and Uncles will have to bookmark this page.

Mr. Right

Jake hates being wrong. Actually - it's not just that, but he just plain won't admit when he IS wrong.

Mike and he have had an ongoing debate as to the cost of a Wii system. Despite Mike showing him ads, Jake still maintains that he's seen them advertised for a certain amount.

Sunday night as we were in the waiting line at Dairy Queen I told the kids that it was our anniversary Monday. I said, "Guess how many years we've been married."

Maddie told Jake to go first so he said, "12 years."
Maddie guessed 13 years.

I said, "It's 13 years. Maddie is right."

Jake got a determined look on his face and said, "No she isn't." I sighed - here we go again - and told him she was.

He said, "No she isn't! I said 12 years. You've been married for 12 years."

I looked at Mike who was shaking his head as he said, "You are both right. TODAY we are married 12 years. TOMORROW we are married 13 years."

Mom...where does he get this????