Shrimp and Grits Festival

Yesterday was the perfect day to play outside at the Shrimp and Grits Festival. It was about 75 degrees and breezy all day. Jonathon was selling popcorn at the Cub Scout tent so Josh and I took the other kids around the Festival. We met my mom, sister and her two kids. Here's a shot of my mom, Melissa and her son Cooper (next to Jackson) and Bailey (in the stroller behind Madi). We were going to go in and check out the Sea Turtles but it was kind of pricey, so we didn't. Maybe next time.


We did find a bounce house that was free and lots of fun!!

And then we found some tables that had this great tree next to it. The kids played there for an hour.

Then the Queens Army came strolling by. (The restrooms were right next to our table) These reenactors were way SERIOUS about their jobs. I chased after them to get a picture with them. I was yelling for them to stop. But it was not that easy. The Commander (guy on the left) had to yell out an order for the Company (guy on the right) to stop. And then they had to "about face' before they were finally facing us. They were very nice and didn't break character at all.

What a great day!! And we got to see Josh's sister Courtney and her kids and Gigi, Christon and their whole gang. We had tons of fun and ate plenty of very good, a little overpriced, but very good food.

Down in the Dumps

Let's get right to the point. I haven't felt like posting anything. I'm usually a pretty upbeat, positive gal, but I'm having a hard time finding the bright side. I mean life is good. Josh is staying busy at work and I am not complaining because in times like these it's great to still have work coming in. All of my kids are healthy and very happy. That alone could keep me happy the rest of my days.

I'm just worried. I'm worried that we have lived in excess for too long and the bill is about to come due. I'm worried that people (including myself sometimes) have lived above our means and we will have to be knocked on our perverbial bums before we begin to live with what we need as opposed to what we want or even what someone else has. I'm worried that there isn't a man (or woman) alive that can pull us out of the hole we have willingly thrown ourselves into.

This lady seems like a nice person and she seems to have the right attitude as far as cutting spending goes, I just think she is extremely underqualified to become our Nation's Vice President. I'm all for women in government, I just can't believe that there wasn't a more qualified, granted less pretty (Sorry. Is that sexist and can I be sexist since I am a woman?) woman for the job.

I liked this guy when he ran against Bush. I liked him because I thought he would really be different. I don't know if I've grown up or what but I don't like his ideas anymore. What really turned me off to him was when he was asked in one of the debates about our economy and he said, "I will have a staff that knows about the economy and they will help me make the choices for our economy." WHAT??? I felt like I was the only person on Earth who believed that maybe, just maybe, considering the times we are living in, our Commander in Chief should know a little something about the economy.

And then there's this guy. Who I honestly believe has the best of intentions but will not really be able to change anything. I think he simply will not be able to change the face of Government as we know it and that seems to me to be about the extent of the work we need to do.

I didn't get a picture of Joe Biden who is that previous guys running mate, but I do want to add something about him. I really like him a lot. What I like about him is that he has gone home to his family from the first day he was in Washington. I like that he says what he thinks, whether it be politically correct or not. But are those good reasons to vote for the guy??

We need Mitt. Fine, whatever. I just don't know what I'm going to do.

I asked Josh's grandma if she could take care of our whole family when the economy goes down the toilet. She said that we would be fine with all of those cows we have out there. That actually comforted me a little. At least I'll be eating steak while the world crumbles around me.

Dancing

Not me this time. This guy is way better. This is the coolest thing I have seen in a while. I was just saying on another blog that one of these days we were going to figure out that, no matter what nationality you are, we are all one people living in one world trying to make a life for ourselves and our great great great grandkids. I am so inspired by this, right now. Take a look. You MUST!

http://vimeo.com/1211060?pg=embed&sec=1211060

Thank you, Amelia for sharing this with us.

My Monkey and I Have a Follower!!

The way she eat's bananas, you would think she was a monkey. I was trying to save some bananas to make banana bread and she kept gettting them off of the counter and eating them. Every time, I would catch her just after she had already taken a few bites, peel and all. EEEW. I'm sure the peel has vitamins or nutrients or something, though, right?

Am I the only one who thinks she is too cute eating that banana? Probably.

There's the banana bread I made. For the recipe you will have to join me tonight at FHE at our church. Or I guess you could go to the Food Network website.

Whoa. Wait a second. Did you think I couldn't hear you? "All she ever does is put pics up of her kids eating food. And that Emma Mae is in like every picture." Fine. Here's some pictures from the farm.

I guess Emma Mae's in that one too.

No Emma Mae here, though. That's just Noah petting the donkey and explaining to us how he wants to marry the horses.

This shot is just after I explained that we can't marry animals.

How did this get in there? Isn't it cute, though? The horse totally wanted her cookie.

Man, I'm a bad photographer. That's Jonathon up on the tractor. The sun is drowning him out a little, but he's there, promise.

I asked Papa to move the tractor to the shade and there you go. It's a little better. Those boys had a blast working at the farm. I would have taken pictures of Madi, too. But she was inside with Nanny laying on the couch watching cartoons.

Also, I wanted to mention that when I signed in to do this post, I noticed that I have a Follower. Oh, my goodness. I have no idea what it means but it sure has blown my head up, big as the sky. Thank you, Reluctant for following me and making me feel important.

Stuffed Shells

You were wondering about my dinner, were you? Well, this is Josh's favorite meal. We call it stuffed shells. I found it in one of my Southern Living cookbooks, but you can also find it on the Southern Living website.

You'll notice that the recipe calls for manicotti. Well, these large shells just seem easier to work with to me. Also, I don't use the tomatoes that it calls for. Recently, I bought a LOT of tomatoes and made homemade marinara.

The recipe for that is on the Food Network website.

Did I mention that I made some marina? About 93 jars to be exact. I gave some to my mother in law and Josh's grandma. And what is in that picture is all that I have left. Which is still a lot if anyone would like to try some.

Anywho, you brown 1 lb of ground sausage. While that is browning boil your shells for about 9 minutes. You don't want them to cook too long because they will start to crack. And they will finish cooking in the oven. Speaking of that, go ahead and preheat to 350 degrees. Once the sausage is done, add it, the cream cheese, 2 cups of mozarella, 1 cup of ricotta cheese together in a bowl. The warm sausage will melt the cheese a little and help it to mix well. Then you pull out your shells, stuff them with the sausage and cheese mixture and put them in the baking dish of your choice. Pour your jar of marinara over them. Put the remaining 2 cups of mozerella over the top and pop in the oven for 25-30 min. And Voila. You have Josh's favorite meal, ever. Please invite him to eat with you when you eat it. Thank you, very much.

Husband Forced to Move Out

See Debbie, there? Look at her face. Oh, she's evil. As a kid you might look at her and her gooey honey buns and think that she is your new best friend, but we adults see right through that devilish smile, don't we?

It all started a couple of days ago. Josh has a renter that works at a bread store. They sell bread and things that are about to expire. Anyway, Josh comes home with this giant box that has 8 of these size boxes of honey buns in it. Oh, he was so proud. His renter gave them to him because they were about to expire. As he was telling me about his 'great deal' he sat the box down in the office and headed back to the room to get a shower. So, that's where the box stayed. On the floor in the office. Very easy for the kids to get to. The first day of the kids asking to eat a honey bun every few minutes was not too bad. It was starting to drive me crazy, but not too bad. Then, yesterday, I thought I was in some kind of honey bun blackhole. Emma Mae was picking them up and begging for one. Madi was opening them and hiding with them.



This is just a shot of our dinner last night. Isn't it yummy looking?

A shot of the smaller dish that I made because the larger dish doesn't fit all the gooey goodness in it.


Back to my point. See there? The half eaten honey bun and it's friends that were apprehended earlier in the day.


Try to ignore my dirty pot holder and notice where I found a honey bun yesterday afternoon.

It all came to a head when I was cooking dinner and I stepped back and stepped on something smushy. Oh my goodness, it was another honey bun. I flipped out. I had had enough. It was either them or me. When Josh got home I let him have it. I was done with the honey buns. I wanted to make them all disappear. I'm thinking cement feet if you know what I mean. This was his solution.

Finally, he put them up. Now they are all in a cabinet over the stove where they will sit and grow old not being eaten by a single soul. The kids have already forgotten about them. Not me, though. I will be there to watch as they get old and moldy and uneaten and I will laugh. Because I won.

Thank you, Mr. Phelps

How cool is that guy?

We think he is pretty cool around here. In case the computer you are reading this on sits on a desk underneath a rock, that is Michael Phelps. And I think he has just officially turned swimming into America's new favorite sport.

Last year, at an appointment with Jonathon's doctor (the one with the phd), Dr. MalFabi (not his real name...) suggested that I get Jonathon into swimming. He said that Jonathon is a little flat footed and it would be really good for his legs and hips if he got into swimming. I talked to Josh and he nixed the 'swim team' idea. Josh, believe it or not, can be a little intimidated by things that he doesn't know anything about. He wanted Jonathon to just stay in soccer and baseball.

Enter Michael Phelps at the Bejing Summer Olympics.

The boys started swim practice yesterday. And the rest, they say, 'is history'.