Raising Joseph

7.20.2008

Garden Update

Just a few pics to show you my bountiful garden - and YES, the tomato plants are now taller than me.

The herb garden...

Tomatoes galore....I'm planning on canning them...

Tomato plants almost 6 feet tall.

Red Onions...Mmmm..

Yet another F%^&ing zucchini. I am so over zucs. Remind me not to plant them.

Friends, Fire, S'Mores and Silly Faces

On Saturday, we had a friend and her kids over for dinner and fun. I've known Debbie since college, she was one of my bridesmaids...and we have been able to keep our friendship for many years. It's nice to visit with friends, and it reminds you how important friendships are, and how they should be valued and cherished.

Anyways, we had good food, a fire in the fire-thingy, and crazy kids! I made roasted veggies (Zucchini from the garden, a vidalia onion, a red pepper, and baby bella mushrooms. A little EVOO, S&P and fresh oregano from the garden). Wrapped in foil, plpped on the grill for a while. Perfect, and there were TONS of leftovers too - lunch for the week!!

Ahh....FIRE!!!!

Here are the kids (Ella, Colin and Joe) being crazy....

And here they are normal...not much difference.

We had s'mores...YUMM!!

Joseph enjoyed the marshmallows...but only a bite or two out of each...and not very crispy from the fire.

This is Ella - Debbie's silly daughter. She was making a silly face (and channelling Gene Simmons). Too cute!!

My headache...

So - Thursday night, I pulled in the driveway, and couldn't figure out where this HISSING noise was coming from. Until Joseph pointed out the HUGE DECKING SCREW in my Right Rear tire. So, I attempted to put the spare tire on. And I couldn't get the lugnuts off. So, I stood there, in my driveway, crying. Yes - I lost it. Joe wasn't going to be home until later that night, and I couldn't change the tire myself.

So, I left everything there, and went inside and felt sorry for myself. Stupid hormones.

When Joe got home, he put the spare on for me, and saved the day. On Friday morning, I went to Kimberly Tire in Clawson (GREAT PLACE!!!) and had the hole repaired. Seriously though - highly suggested place to take your car for all of it's tire needs. Very nice people. They even have an office dog who is very friendly. They are on Rochester Road, just north of 14 mile.

Attack of the Post-It Notes.

Never tell a 5-year old that it's OK to play with Post-It notes. I am still finding these darn things...he even tried to stick them on the dog.

The Uses of Zucchini

Joe LOVES to help me in the kitchen...so...here's a snapshot of how we make Blueberry-Zucchini Muffins....(recipe to follow)

Blueberry-Zucchini bread/muffins
INGREDIENTS
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup vegetable oil
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups white sugar
1/4 cups brown sugar
3 cups shredded zucchini
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 tsp. fresh nutmeg
1 pint fresh blueberries

DIRECTIONS Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans. Sprinkle crumb topping (see below) on top.

Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

CRUMB TOPPING
2/3 cup flour,
1/2 cup brown sugar,
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon,
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 stick softened butter-
mix altogether with hand and sprinkle all over the top of the loaves before baking.

BTW - No, this recipe is NOT healthy. I never said it was.

Just a few pics of us around this past week. Not too much excitement, but hey, that's life!

All three of us went to Greenfield Village last weekend. Joe's favorite lunch is the "Hobo Lunch", which is a PBJ, applesauce, string cheese and raisins. It all comes wrapped in a red handkerchief on a stick. So - after lunch, we tied the handkerchief around his head. It didn't last long, but it was cute.

This is Joe. In a tent. One the bed. (he was trying to hide)

This is Little Joe. About 20 minutes after telling us that he doesn't need a nap. Yeah, right.

7.06.2008

Picnic, Fireworks, the Symphony and Traditions

Every 4th of July. the Detroit Symphony Orchestra hosts an outdoor concert at Greenfield Village, replete with real cannons for the 1812 Overture, and fireworks over the Oxbow. This is my perfect evening. We can enjoy a picnic dinner, with tasty food, we can listen to amazing music, and witness one of the best ever fireworks spectacles up close!

The picnic basket...a gift from my Dad and David many years ago - and it has come in handy so may times!

The most wonderful artichoke ever. I made a dipping sauce of:

4 TBSP olive oil

3 TBSP lemon juice

1 TBSP dijon mustard

3 cloves of garlic

S&P

1 TBSP fresh minced oregano

OMG! so amazingly good!

Even Dax thought that the picnic looked yummy! She was helping me make the food - cleaning up whatever I dropped. :)

Other food packed: PBJ Sandwiches for the boys; cheese; crackers; fresh cut mango; grapes; nutrigrain bars; juice boxes; and chocolate covered pretzels.

And here is a pic of part of the crowd - Seriously - thousands of people...
Our view of the DSO...from atop to Train Tracks. Best seat in the house, and not sliding down the hill, or sitting in the mud. Ick. AND...all we have to do to watch the fireworks is turn our chairs around, and we have front-row seats to the fireworks. So Cool.

and here we are, enjoying the evening...(Joseph took this picture!!)

You can tell he's a Scramstad!

Ever wonder why some people are just more accident-prone than others? yeah...I have the answer to that. It's called "Being a Scramstad". No - seriously. Scramstad's are more clumsy than normal people. We spill things (espcially red wine), we trip more often, we drop things, we hurt ourselves without even knowing it. And - as evidenced by the photos below...Joseph definitely has Scramstad blood!

How did this happen, you ask? At preschool, he fell out of a wagon...and didn't think to put his hands out to stop his fall...he figured that his forehead would stop him - and it did - when his forehead met the concrete sidewalk. Ugh!!!

Garden Bounty

Well, I told you that I would let you know how my garden is doing...this is some of the first pickins'! Green Beans and Sugar Snap Peas! Yummy!

as more veggies ripen, I'll be sure to add pics! YUMM!!!

Gypsy Moth Caterpillar Takeover!!!

OK - you thought YOU had problems...this is the Shagbark Hickory Tree in our front yard. In 48 hours, we killed over 80 of these big juicy caterpillars!!

Your Mama was a Glassmaker!!!

OK - so, something I have wanted to do for a while has been to pull a glass flower at the Greenfild Village Glass Shop. So, last weekend, the boys went to the movies, and I went to Greenfild Village on my own. I wandered around the village, and did what I wanted to do - took my time in the gardens, and then went to the glass shop. And I did it...

And.....Here is the Final Flower!!!

10 Years of Marriage

On Friday, June 20 - Joe and I celebrated our 10-year anniversary. After a busy day in the field at work, I came back to my office to find a beautiful flower arrangment from my Honey!! Simply beautiful!

Aww.....

I love flowers.

Then, Friday night, we decided to go out for dinner as a family - to Pizza Papalis!! Yummy! We had the scrumptious Bacon Cheeseburger Deep Dish Pizza. (Our favorite!) and enjoyed a nice evening just being a silly family.

The Lawson Boys...

Kisses from Joseph..he LOVES to give kisses! (In fact, he got in trouble at Preschool, because he kissed Kacey (his girlfriend) on the cheek!)

Family

A couple of weeks ago - we went to a graduation party for one of the Cousins...and had a BLAST!!! It's great to remind us how important family really is...