Thursday, November 24, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving

Dollywood style!
Have a wonderful, family-filled Thanksgiving!

Thursday, November 17, 2016

Another Throwback Thursday!

The year is 2009.
Washington DC - Department of Treasury.
One of my absolute favorite photos
of Kate and Kim.

Wednesday, November 16, 2016

An overnight with Myah and Kylee

We had a sleepover with Myah and Kylee a couple of weekends ago.  I try to pack their time while they are here so they don't get bored.  So... we played games until Kim got off work.
 After Kimmy got home from work,
we went to Red Robin to eat dinner.
 On the way home, they told me they really wanted
to decorate a Christmas tree, so we thought "why not?"
 We decided to take them up on their offer and get a head start 
on setting up for Christmas.
I mean, I had plans to do it in a couple of weeks anyway,
so why not now?
 Kylee had fun taking the ornaments out of the box
and talking about how old they are, and who gave them to me,
or where did I buy them.
 She also found an elf hat
and a Santa apron, which she promptly put on.
 Jackie always likes to snuggle up with Myah.
 When we had enough of decorating the tree,
we went out and made s'mores over the fire pit.
 They are good but sticky!
 After a breakfast of pancakes, we made Christmas ornaments.
Lunch... and then home.
The next day was a school day for them
and a work day for me.
Great fun while they were here.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

Salted Caramel Apple Sheet Cake

I wanted to try a new dessert recipe so I found a recipe for Salted Caramel Apple Sheet Cake.  It was really good, but took longer to make than I anticipated.

 First, I chopped the apples.
 I didn't take any pictures of making the batter, 
but it was actually made on the stove, cooked in a saucepan.
 Then the batter is added to finely chopped apples.
 Placed in a larger pan to bake.
 Bake.
Create a brown sugar glaze and add
1/4 c. salted caramel glaze.
Here it is.  It really was so very yummy!

Monday, November 14, 2016

Feed My Starving Children

My daughters introduced me to a non-profit agency that packs and provides food for third world countries.  The agency is called Feed My Starving Children and one of their permanent locations is in Mesa, Arizona - right down the street from me.  Kylee needs to do some volunteer work in her community and so Nicole signed them up and asked me to go along.  I asked my friend, MaryAnna, who also went along.
Myah and Kylee told me they were embarrassed for having to wear hairnets so they wouldn't agree to let me put a picture of their faces on my blog.  But then....
I talked them into going for it - make a fashion statement (I said)!  We had a really good time.  They make it an entertaining evening by playing fun, "makes me want to dance" music.  On the left is Nicole, Kylee, and Myah, with MaryAnna on the right.  Me?  I took the picture.