"Middle children have remarkable diplomatic skills."

-The Secret Power of Middle Children, by Catherine Salmon

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Seedless Blackberry jam...Hello Deliciousness!

I posted on the family website that I made seedless blackberry jam...with F.R.E.E. berries that grow wild here. These sweet little bundles of fruitiness grow everywhere. SCORE! In the past, to make seedless jam I had to ruin a perfectly good  use a wire strainer and a rubber spatula.

Lot's of pressing and scraping until all the fruit was through and all the seeds were left in the strainer. It took forever! (but totally worth it!) When I told Ron that I was going to make seedless jam he brought me this strange looking little pan:

True kitchen gadget love!
I think it was one of the treasures from the Talbots. It hooks on the side of a pan or bowl and you turn the handle and it presses the fruit through the bottom and leaves all the big ol' seeds in the top. It looks so old, I wasn't sure if it would be effective at all...but it worked like a charm! I didn't adjust my recipe for seedless.







Monday, September 12, 2011

First Major League Baseball game!

Ron took me to my first ever major league baseball game tonight. The Mariners vs. The Yankees. It was so much fun! See all those seats behind us? Yeah that's 'cause we were practically on the field!! Our seats were so awesome! Our team lost...but it was still a great time! My hubby spoils me so!
Oh, and we got free Ichiro t-shirts tonight too! I put mine on, but Ron already had a cool Mariners t-shirt. And what baseball game would be complete without a HOT DOG! Make mine with mustard only, please!

                                       Looks kinda gross, but it was tasty!
                    It was a beautiful night and a fun way to end the summer!

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Going to Utah ....soon



Here are two of my little munchkins that I get to see when we go to Utah at the end of the month! Yay! I can't wait!

Friday, September 2, 2011

All Fixed

If you read the previous post you might be wondering what-the-heck I was talking about. Well, my brilliant son-in-law made that snaffoo disappear!  The background is still not the one I wanted. But I'm going to leave well enough alone for now. I'm so grateful to have smart people around me...and he didn't even mock me...not openly anyway ; )

How did THAT happen??

Okay, I'll be the first to admit that I am techno-challenged to the max! Last night I decided that I wanted a new background for my blog. I've changed backgrounds before and I L.O.V.E. Shabby Blogs, so I copied the code and set it up. Easy peasy. Hmmm...something went funky and it didn't give me the background I wanted. So I did it again and it gave me a different background but still not the one I wanted. After repeating this process about a hundred times I decided I would just keep the ugly one that is on there right now. But somewhere in the process I copied the instructions to the code for the background and I can't figure out how to get rid of it. OIY! If anyone can tell me (in detail) how to get rid of that too, I'd appreciate it. And if you feel the need to openly mock me, go right ahead. I'm already mocking myself!

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Sweet Listenings

I'm visiting Ron's daughter Janae and her husband Peter down in Oregon for a week. Janae is on strict bed rest during the final months of her pregnancy, so there is no heavy lifting of any kind...and that includes sweet little Annabelle. So I've been one of the fortunate ones who gets to play all day with little Miss A. and occassionally fill Janae's water mug. I've had the opportunity to meet some of her friends as they have come over to visit her. She always introduces me as " my dad's wife...", which I know I am...but it sounds kinda like she's introducing the cleaning lady, or the pool boy, or the plumber that lives down the street. So the last person who came over I introduced myself as Janae's wicked step-mother. There. That sounds a little more personal. You may be thinking "Why would she title this post Sweet Listenings?"  Well this afternoon Peter was putting Annabelle down for her nap...that baby girl goes down unlike any other child I've ever seen...and I could hear them in her bedroom singing "I am a Child of God" together. She's only two! I'm telling you it was the sweetest thing ever!
Annabelle today at the park

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Cannon Beach Family Gathering

Our family trip to Cannon Beach, Oregon was fabulous! Everyone had such a good time being together!
From left, top row: Chris, Angela, Jon, Ben, Erin, Bryce, Peter, Andrew, Amy, Shannon.
Middle row seated: Landon, Ron, Grandpa Talbot, Grandma Talbot, Kathy, Annabelle, Hudson, Dave.
Front row: Logan, Tyler, Ella, Nathan, Elly, Owen, Coleman.
We're missing: Sean, Vanessa, William, Gracie, Daniel and Janae : (
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
  Our theme this year was THE WILLIAMS FAMILY CIRCUS....And believe me, it was very fitting at times! The cousins had fun getting to play with each other again, and Ella and Coleman were immediately included as if they were always part of the gang. That's what I love about kids...no agenda's, just come play with me. We were trying to take a picture of all the grandkids at the same time...kinda like trying to count baby chicks...I think I did get everyone in this shot except Bryce (I think he was napping).


From left to right: Hudson, Annabelle, Elly, Owen, Coleman, Landon, Nathan, Ella, Logan and Tyler.
**********************************************************

Of course no trip to the beach would be complete without a sandcastle! Or in our case a sand circus tent!


Everyone is packing down the sand as it is piled up....we have professionals here. It was fun to build something so big. Here is the finished product: Williams Family Circus.
**********************************************************
....And off to our next adventure: Walking out to Haystack Rock at low tide to see the star fish   sea stars.



(I still call them star fish) I don't think I've ever seen a real, live starfish. They are actually kinda gross. All fat and squishy looking, hanging on to the rocks by super suction leggy things....eww.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Really, does it get any more hysterical than this??

                                                 Bryce and Owen

 

"...got room for one more?" Dave packing Hudson in the front, Coleman on top, and I was wondering if Ella was hangin' on the back!

...and this. Oh my goodness this child makes me laugh!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Kids playing with their circus cars they painted for one of our activities.


Circus performances by the grandkiddo's!
Using their "balancing stick" they walked across the "high wire".
(with a little help from Uncle Peter, Uncle Andrew & Grandpa)
They also jumped through hoops and learned how to juggle!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

And Finally.........


Elly giving hugs to Great Grandma Talbot.
Sorry it's blurry, but I thought it was so precious.
This is what family get-togethers are all about!