Miss Patsy has been cooking again. This time, she made gluten-free calzones.
They were really good. She used a pizza crust mix from Bob’s Red Mill that had been given to us a while back. She made the crust as the package directed, added cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms and olives, folded them over and baked them. She made a dipping sauce with some tomato sauce thickened with a partial can of tomato paste she had opened last week, and some Italian seasoning. It was great, and I know Grandma enjoyed it along with us when she came to lunch this week. I’m pretty sure I won’t get such a nice lunch this week, as Grandma has other plans on Wednesday, but she’ll come back very soon:)
We spent a lot of time with Jake and Michaela this week. Their daddy and sister returned from Israel today. Rob picked them up at the airport. He says they are extremely tired, as would be expected, but it will be so nice to have them back.
My sister invited Patsy and I to accompany her, the kids, and some friends to Bauman Farms. It’s a farm that has many fall activities and a pumpkin patch. There are also animals, a garden store, and lots and lots of food booths. We ate many yummy, bad-for-us treats, the kids did lots of activities, and we all went home tired. It was a good homeschool field trip–we saw cider being pressed, along with the other activities.
They all went “mining” for rocks and gold with a bag of “pay dirt” my sister bought. They had a blast. Jake was convinced he had gotten enough “gold” to buy a lot of Legos. Once Rob convinced him what he had were pretty, but not expensive rocks, he reconciled himself to having the nice rocks.
Michaela loved shooting the apple cannon and she tried her best to shoot and knock down a pumpkin target, but….not this year!
She also loved the big swings.
My sister got all the kids wristbands for unlimited fun, and they all played laser tag, slid huge slides, rode trikes, jumped on bounce houses, swung on swings, and ran and ran and ran. They were all tired that night!
Patsy got a long turn holding baby Allie on Friday. It was her lucky day, because baby was good as gold, and slept for a long time in her arms:)(Baby’s daddy is doing some work over at my sister’s house, so we are getting to see more of her than usual—my sister lives on the river and there was extensive flooding this past spring–he’s tilling and re-seeding the area that got ruined. In time, it should get established and handle the seasonal floods better, at least my sister hopes so–the neighbor’s place does pretty well. We were able to loan them our biggest Troy-built tiller and it’s doing the job, but it’s a garden tiller and it takes some time.)
I picked a few veggies from the garden. There’s not much left out there, but I got a few tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, lemon cucumbers, peppers and green beans. The rain has returned and things are cracking and getting rotten, but that’s what it does this time of year. I’m having trouble keeping up with all there is to do anyway, and am ready for the seasonal changes. I’d sure like a few more nice days to work outside, cleaning things up, but we will see what comes along.
We still have a flowers all over the place. Patsy took this picture of this rose somewhere. It’s lovely.
We have only been shopping for the groceries we absolutely need, so there’s not much to report from the grocery deals. We just don’t seem to need the things they put on super sale the past couple of weeks, so settled for 99c/1/2 gallon milk, celery, lettuce, and a couple of other things Rob bought.
He made some enchilada casserole, cooked a pork roast, made lots of salads, and generally kept things going at home this past week as I homeschooled, worked many, many hours over at my sister’s house with the kids, and had Jake over here quite a bit as he caught a cold and couldn’t go to school part of the week. My sister has not been well this week and needed extra help since her husband was away. She still had to work, of course. I was glad the family was there for her–we all pitched in–my sister, my mom, my aunt, my niece, and us. Now, I prefer not to catch the family cold they are passing around, but we will see how that goes. So far, so good!!
I love how your kitchen looks like my kitchen! Perfect kitchens with all new stuff are just not reality! The farm looks like it was a blast. Those swings are something I have never seen before.
We were still getting tomatoes until the squirrels found them. They are eating them very green and I am not sure how to keep them out of them. It is still crazy hot here. I had held off planting lettuce because of the heat but went ahead and planted some over the weekend. It will likely go from hot to cold overnight but it cost nothing to plant the seeds that I had so we will see. We are not seeing many grocery deals that are things we use either but we can wait since we are still well stocked and in some cases overstocked. We have gotten to spend time with our 2 year old grandson last week and we will see them again today before they head home 500 miles. He has just figured out that he can be funny which is hilarious. Last week I made him a homemade Lunchable for the park and he gobbled it up. I am hoping you stay well! Have a good week!
I’m so glad you got to see your grandson. They are so cute at that age!
We have a lot of squirrels, too. They ate most of the peaches off the tree–green! Yikes!
As for the kitchen….There are a few minor things I think need fixing as it’s showing it’s age, like the caulking around the sink–it’s getting mold under it. I’ll have Rob fix it one of these days, and we will be good to go again. We didn’t even notice it didn’t have a dishwasher until we had bought the place.. now I am the dishwasher!!! Thankfully, we don’t have many kids left at home anymore, so it’s not too bad:)
One thing I really like about it is the curved shelves by the sink, because we had the exact same ones as I was growing up. My grandpa built them in my childhood home, so I think of him when I look at mine.
Patsy is really doing great in the kitchen. All of the kids look like they had a wonderful day out. I hope you stay healthy.
Thanks! I’m glad to see a renewed interest in cooking for Patsy. I’m a firm believer in the notion that people need to know how to cook! If she never chooses to do it when she grows up, at least she could if she wanted to.
You can see is Patsy’s face that she is turning into a young woman. They grow up so fast. Hope she stays young at heart as long as she can.
She is happier these days. It’s nice to see.
That sounds like great fun for the kids. Stay healthy!
I sure hope so. I can’t afford to go down, too:). Someone’s got to stay on their feet!
The farm festival looked like it was fun. Glad everyone had an enjoyable time.
Your family certainly have had a lot of babyholding time! But then again, babies are little for such a short amount of time. The next time any of your family gets to hold a baby, hold them an extra amount of time for me.
Patsy is certainly becoming the cook. That is one skill that will serve her well in the future.
Hopefully, you did not catch the bug the others caught. Stay well, drink lots of water, and get your sleep.
We are getting all this baby time because the parents of this little cutie are super close to my sister and her husband. They think of the young man as a son. So, they are at my sister’s a lot and I am, too, so…..it’s often my lucky day:). In fact, yesterday, I really felt like I “belonged”, as little Allie urped up all over me in a glorious way. I had to borrow a shirt from my sister. It’s been a blessing to get to be so close to such a little one, and I know we are helping the new mama out here and there. I’m loving getting to know this young mama–she’s a sweetie.
I’m not sick yet, although my nephew, sister, husband, daughter, and brother-in-law have all had this bad cold. I’m feeling like someone better stay standing!!!! So, here’s hoping I won’t get it. However, it’s been a bit of a stressful time in the family as I’ve been needing to pitch in more than ever since so many are sick! It has hit my sister especially hard, so she’s down for the count right now. Yikes!!! But, I know that God will give the strength to make it through.
Hi Becky,
Great to hear everyone’s doing well. I read all the time but never comment. I was wondering how Ja’Ana is doing? I miss hearing how she is going!
I’m glad you enjoy the blog! Ja’Ana went over to Hawaii to visit Lovana a few weeks ago and is still there. I imagine she is having a good time:). How could she not?