So Much To Write About...

It's been a busy time around here with the kids getting ready for school to get out for the summer. Can you believe there is only a month left? Only a few more things left to do before the end of year... spring concert... a couple of field trips... and kindergarten and 8th grade graduation. Now the graduations is a conflict they are both at the same time! So I guess I will be going to one and Tony will be going to the other. Next year there will be two in high school and one in elementary.

We had kid weekend the first weekend in May. The two grandchildren and our niece and nephew... 1, 3, 4, and 7 year old. Oh talk about a noisy time! They all came on Thursday evening and two left late Sunday night and the other two left early Monday afternoon. Yes, I was ready for a BREAK! Colin had a blast with all the kids here and hated to see them leave.


Here are the little angels in one of the few moments I got them to sit still. Emily's favorite place to play was under the kitchen table...it was her house. The boys had a blast all weekend with the cars and trucks pushing them all over the house.

We went one afternoon the the park in Baxter. It has an awesome fort to play in along with many other things to do. The little ones had a lot of fun and as you can tell the older ones were slightly bored. lol

My precious grandangels!

My favorite part of the day everyone ready for bed!

For Mother's Day the kids washed all the cars. They did this on Saturday since it was to rain on Sunday. We ended up only gettting some early in the morning but it was much cooler and windy on Sunday. But it wasn't only about a half hour away that they were getting wicked storms with hail and threats of tornados.

I had painted this wall a couple of weeks ago but couldn't reach the top to finish it. Tony finished it Saturday and I was able to get things into place. The wall plaques I bought from Sue's Kitchen and I love them! The Brown Bag Cafe one is really fitting with all the lunches that are packed everyday. I was surprised the kids really liked all of them I thought for sure I would hear something smart from one of them on how country they look.

I managed to finish this afghan over the weekend and it's getting put up for Christmas. This one will be going to Brendon so don't tell him. I've started another one for Kaylee and this time I'm trying granny squares.

I tried a new recipe for dinner yesterday Smoked Sausage and Sauerkraut Casserole. It was different and good. It has a sweet taste which is really different for having sauerkraut.

Smoked Sausage and Sauerkraut Casserole

6 fully-cooked smoked sausage links, such as German or Polish sausage (about 1 1/2 pounds)

1/3 cup water

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoons country-style Dijon mustard, Dijon mustard or German-style mustard

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1 jar (32 ounces) sauerkraut, drained

1 small green bell pepper, diced

1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Swiss cheese

1. Place sausage in large skillet with water. Cover; bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low; simmer, covered, 10 minutes. Uncover and simmer until water evaporates and sausage browns lightly.

2. While sausage is cooking, combine sugar, mustard, caraway and dill in medium saucepan; stir until blended. Add sauerdraut and bell pepper; stir until well combined. Cook, covered, over medium heat 10 minutes or until very hot.

3. Spoon sauerdraut with bell pepper into microwavable 2 to 3- quart casserole; sprinkle with cheese. Place sausage on sauerkraut; cover. Microwave at HIGH 30 seconds or until cheese melts.

Makes 6 servings.

***Note***

Instead of using the microwave I put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

This morning all the mother's were invited to come in for Mom's Muffin Morning and have breakfast. His teacher went all out there were muffins, bagels, banana bread, strawberries, grapes, madrin oranges, bananas, juice and coffee. She had table clothes on the tables and paper flowers in vases. The flowers each child made to give to their mom's at the breakfast. It was very nice! I just wish I hadn't forgotten my camera! I guess I can blame it on it was so early and my brain hadn't kicked in yet. While there said Colin was a real trip last week... ok, I'm used to hearing this comment from her. lol But he was determined he wanted to make a robot so she said ok we will make one and they did this using paper and string. Now all the kids want to make one so she went to the library over the weekend and found some books on robots and she had changed her plans a little this week to include some robot learning. She is a wonderful teacher!

Oh my gosh I just noticed the time and need to get moving. I have a special package to mail out and better get going. Seems like there is something missing from what I wanted to write about. Hmmm... it will come to me.

Take Care