Amy Sue

Downtown Trick or Treating is a yearly event here each Halloween.  Our city businesses dole out the candy for all kinds of characters, from witches to robots.  Cole & Taylor have participated for years, and this year was no exception. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were strolling down one of the downtown streets, we passed in front of the movie store.  I couldn't resist taking a photo of them with this haunting poster (edited to make look old).

 

 

We also had a little fun with our pumpkins & graham cracker haunted houses.

 Finally, here are a few Halloween sky photos.

 

 

 

 

 

 

why I can't get onto my Facebook account.  I tried at lunch time & a message came up saying maintenance was being performed on my account & to try back in a few hours.  Well, it's been over 4 hours & I keep getting the same message.  Has anyone else with FB had this problem?!  So Frustrating!

 

So I logged into my son's account, with no problem, and went to help.  I found the problem:

Bill has permission to hunt on some private land, so today he & Cole are hunting for a cow elk. Cole broke his time record this morning for getting up, getting dressed & eating breakfast!  He was so excited to go with his dad.  Since Cole's not 12 yet, he can't shoot, but Bill intends to teach him everything he can about the whole process.  I pray they are successful with their hunt!

 

 

 

Cole's school is having a special assembly tomorrow, along with a peer training session & a community assembly tomorrow night.  It's all about Rachel's Challenge.  Rachel was the first victim of the Columbine shootings in Colorado.  Her story is so special...and I can't wait to attend this assembly tomorrow night!  I'm thinking it's going to make a huge impact on our kids.  :)

 

http://www.rachelschallenge.org/

Cole was pretty excited about the assembly his school had on this.  We went to the community assembly tonight.  Rache'ls stoy is such a powerful and special one.  I enourage everyone to check out the above webpage, and other internet links to Rachel Joy Scott, especially if you have children.  Here are the 5 steps to the challege, as presented this evening:

1. Eliminate prejudices (look for the best in others).
2. Dare to Dream (Write down your goals. Keep a journal).
3. Choose positive influences (what goes in comes out).
4. Use kind words & small acts of kindness to make a difference.

5. Express your love & appreciation to loved ones.

Simple, yet life changing. As Rachel expressed in her writings...START A CHAIN REACTION!

Wonderful Fall

~ Last winter/spring I was hired as the OT assistant for the district, as she was only working part time due to a new baby.  Well, she came back full time, so I went back to subbing. Work has been steady.  I've had assignments just about every day.  From kindergarten to middle school...love the variety of my jobs!  It's always an extra plus when I sub and have my kids in the class!  I've been able to do that for both the kids so far this year.  :) 

~ We had gorgeous weather the last few weeks of September.  I was able to let the tomatoes stay on the vines so much longer than last year, which resulted in lots of juicy, red tomatoes! I used those tomatoes to make so many yummy dishes.  The last one I made was homemade chicken vegetable soup.  Actually, I used the last of several things from my garden for this recipe.  The aroma that filled the house was just as yummy as the taste!  :)  A friend gave me a couple zucchinis, and I used them to bake up some zucchini/apple muffins.  The two made a great combination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 ~ We scouted out a lake that we've never fished on before, and what a pleasant surprise!   We only drove about an hour, and we definitely plan to make this one of our steady fishing spots!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~ The canning pantry is stocked, a couple cords of firewood are stacked outside, and God willing we will have a freezer full of elk soon.  Bill is so excited to go hunting! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Where Did Fall Go?

 ~ October came, and Mother Nature must have forgotten that we still have a couple months of fall left!  We woke up to this sight just the other morning.  Even though this is on my not so great list, I still think it's beautiful!  But hey, let's not have anymore of this for awhile, OK?!

 

 

 

We've been so blessed with tomatoes!  I remember thinking in July that we might not get very many, due to the colder weather we had.  August brought sunshine, hot days & warm nights, and my tomatoes thrived!  I've canned tomatoes & tomato sauces, made homemade salsa more times than I can count, and now I'm trying to be creative by using them in main dishes.

I found several recipes on the internet for tomato soup, and decided on a combination of two for dinner on Saturday.  I like to tinker with my recipes...sometimes that produces the best creation!  Here's what I came up with:

 

Heat 4 TBL butter (the real stuff) in the bottom of a dutch oven (or large soup pan).

Add 1 cup finely chopped sweet onions (I used Walla Walla), 1 large finely chopped celery, 3 gloves garlic (minced).

Let this all simmer while getting everything else ready.

Cut up lots of tomatoes!  I didn't measure how many I used, but I'm guessing it was about 8-9 cups worth.

Add tomatoes to the simmering mix.

Add 1 can of Swanson's chicken broth.

Add 1/2 pint whipping cream.

Season with a little salt & pepper.

Stir, and bring to a boil.

Let simmer for as long as you want, stirring occasionally (at least 30 minutes).  The longer it simmers, the better it tastes!

Enjoy!

 

Beautiful color, texture & flavor!  My daughter, Taylor, said she tasted cheese, but there was no cheese in it!  YUM! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I served this with a spinach/lettuce salad & garlic bread. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still...I had more tomatoes!

Homemade chili is a dish I've made for years, so nothing new here.  Chili always tastes better with garden tomatoes!  :)  However, I did try a new way to serve it up Sunday night.  The Miami Dolphins were playing, and that's Bill's favorite team.  I wanted to make one of his favorite meals, and chili is up on that list!  I bought some hard crusted steak rolls, and cut out a hole so they resembled a bowl.  I added the chili & topped with cheese to make a pretty dish!  Everyone, including the kids, loved this one!

 

So many fun ways to use up those tomatoes! 

 

than 1200 miles apart!  I'm so glad my brother George and his wife Joni came to visit us for a few days.  Cole & Taylor adore them, and were very happy when they rolled into town!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They flew to Denver, and then rented a convertible to drive to Wyoming in.  Of course, they asked Uncle George to pick them up from school Thursday afternoon!

My mom was so excited to have them here!

We had such a wonderful visit!  The last night they were here, we went out in the backyard & Bill got the fire pit going.

We sat around the fire, talking & laughing!  We even did a little singing (sorry Mr. Neighbor!). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We roasted marshmallows to make S'mores.  We debated about which was the better way to roast the marshmallow...slow roasted brown, or catch on fire burnt!  In the end, it didn't matter because they were so yummy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My brother is such a great person, and I am so blessed to have him in my life!

 

Unfortunately, they weren't able to bring their dog Bud, who is the brother of our Snickers & Hershey and my mom's Bandit (puppy story).  We were able to get George & Joni posing with Bandit, though!

Until we meet again, I'll miss you guys! 

 

Now at the end of the gardening cycle, harvest is so much fun!  Lots of work, but fun.  Rhubarb, corn, peas, spinach & raspberries are all taken care of.  I was a little worried about my tomatoes, it seemed like they were never going to turn red.  At last, they did!

This is one of several batches I've picked.  I'm so glad they are ripening a little at a time.  We've really enjoyed having fresh salsa.  My mom has enjoyed having tomatoes that she can slice for sandwiches!

 

I've made several quarts of canned tomatoes, both the spicy (chili) kind & Italian.  I also canned up some Italian tomato sauce, which will be great to make pizza with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Like last year, I ordered peaches & pears from a family in Colorado.  I have never been able to find fruit this wonderful in the grocery stores!

My mom came over to help me can this fruit.  I love listening to her tell stories about how my grandma canned.  For her, canning was a neccessity.  She had 9 children to feed, and running to the general store was just not economical.  My mom has fond memories of going out to pick bushels of berries, and the wonderful cobblers my grandma would make before starting to can.  My grandpa would bring bushels of apples & peaches home & my grandma would can those also.  They also had garden vegetables, which my mom has not so fond memories of cleaning & shucking for days on end!  This is the second summer my mom has been able to help me can. She is such a blessing!

 

 

Canned peaches & pears; peach jam; and pear-raspberry jam

On to the Never Made Before Receipe of the Week, and this one will be for the last 2 weeks!

 

Our bachelor neighbor has an apple tree in his back yard.  He told us we were welcome to the apples, because he won't use them!  You know I jumped on this opportunity!  The process for making any kind of canned apples is tedious, and probably up there with my least favorite. 

This seive will be gone by next year!  Bill has promised to buy me a seperator for Christmas.  According to him, the seperator does all the work, thereby reducing my "canningitis" shoulder!  :)

 

 

 

 

Bill helped a lot with the apples.  We made apple butter & apple sauce.  I have never made this before, so I learned new things!

I made quart size jars of apple sauce, because my family loves it!  

I also made a couple apple pies.  One of the apple pies & a jar of the apple butter was delivered to our wonderful bachelor neighbor!

 

 

 

 

The last of the garden will be coming along soon...carrots, potatoes & peppers.  Cucumbers were slow in coming this year, but I might have enough to make a few jars of bread & butter pickles.

 

I don't HAVE to can all this food, because Walmart or Pamida will always have specials, like 3 cans for a dollar.  I do this because I really, really enjoy the whole process, from planting the seed to seeing the jars lined up in our basement canning room.  I wish I had my grandma around to share my joy of canning with.  Since I don't, I will keep her tradition of making something sweet before canning, and I will pass the joys & trials of gardening on to my little girl....I'm so looking foward to it!   

is always so exciting!  This year is different than any other so far.  Cole starts his first year of Middle School and Taylor no longer has her big brother at her school. 

Taylor is so excited to be in 4th grade, the year of projects, as I call it!  She is so organized.  This was the first year that I didn't have to label all of her supplies...she wanted to do that herself!

Cole seems calm & cool in this photo, but he was kinda nervous!  One of his comments this morning:

"Mom, do middle schoolers carry backpacks?  I'm not sure if I should take mine."  To which, I responded, "how else are you going to get all your supplies to school?"  When I pulled up to drop him off in front of the middle school, all the kids had backpacks!  Whew!  ;-)

 

 

These turned out really good...even the kids liked them.  Served with garden corn on the cob, garden raspberries mixed with pineapple & toasted Parmesan bread. 

 

Still haven't organized all my recipes, it's just so easy to find them on the Internet

 

 

 

 

 

 

I didn't follow the Internet recipe completely.  I used chicken breast strips, instead of a whole chicken breast, because that's what I had in the fridge.  I also used cooked bacon in the stuffing, instead of broccoli, because my kids wouldn't have touched it otherwise!

For the stuffing, I mixed 1 pack of cream cheese, 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, 2 tablespoons garlic bread crumbs, a half pound of cooked bacon (crumbled), and salt & pepper.  After stuffing the chicken pieces, I fried them in a nonstick skillet for about 5 minutes (just a little PAM in the skillet).  Then I baked at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. 

I'm really enjoying my plan of making something new at least once a week!