Zach's Trail ride!

Just one girl lord, thats all I asked for just one.... Little princess dresses, dance recitals, barbie dolls, ice skating performances. I guess thats why he gave me nieces that I ADORE because I did get to do all of those things with them, but now they are into ATV riding, bow hunting, fishing and camping....

Heres Zach on his first ATV trail ride driving his OWN wheeler.... He passed his ATV test and now he is able to drive alone on the trails. MY GOSH where have the years gone? I feel so old just thinking of him learning to ride a bike and now he is driving a ATV on the trails doing over 30 mph and hitting mud puddles like a pro! Between these two boys of mine I will be totally gray by 50 for sure.

I love the shot of the deer on the trail, she looks so peaceful and not even afraid of the wheels or the guys. Todd said she just stood there as if she wanted her picture taken. And to think in a few short months they will be hunting her..... Just one girl is all I asked for, was that too much? I don't think so..........

We are going to a Brewers game in August so I will post pictures of that adventure.

Rock Falls Raceway

SRT 4 RACE DAY!



I had to share our day at Rock Falls Raceway watching Shawn race his red SRT 4, as some of you may know this is my GRANDSON, Shawn's baby if you will. There were 16 of us that went to Eau Claire to watch him race, the weather was beautiful (almost too sunny for all the red heads that were there, 5 of us to be exact) But it was a gorgeous day to be outside cheering Shawn on. He was running racing slicks on the front of his car for the first time and my goodness you should have seen him burn rubber to get those bad boys hot before he took off. Even the guys on the line were shaking their heads! He sure does have his fathers blood in him when it comes to the "NEED FOR SPEED".

He took 3rd in his bracket which I thought was really good. He did a 1/4 mile in 13.08 seconds, he is .09 off of his personal goal of 12.99. I believe his top speed was 107 miles an hour (and I wonder where the gray hair is coming from?). Wow that is quick!! He loves to race and I just thank god it is drag racing!

We enjoyed our day and cant wait to go again to see him break his personal goal of 12.99.

Until next time.

PS~ Shawn is in the orange hat in the group picture, he is standing with a bunch of other guys that were racing.

Family Update

I thought I would share some updated pictures of all of us at a wedding I stood up too.... We had such a good time UNTIL it was time to get a picture for my mom of the three of us!! My god it is so difficult to get a good shot of the three of us (I know the reason but think its better to keep it to my self)..... Brothers & Beer is the only thing I can say.......

The order of the group picture is Cher, Frankie, Myself, Todd, Linda and Jim....

Have a great 4th of July!

BIRTHDAY BOY

My baby turned 12 years old today! He came into this world three weeks five days early due to a medical condition I was suffering with. I had the easiest labor ever due to the wonderful procedure called an "Epidural" Something I didn't have when Shawn was born but that is a whole other story.

We had Zach's birthday party on Friday night (which was my 10th wedding anniversary) he had three friends over and we took them bowling. All the boys camped out on the living room floor playing xbox 360, watching movies and EATING!! Wow those boys can eat!!

We bought him a new bike and he loves it. I cleaned his room spic and span and surprised him when he came home from school with his bike sitting in the middle of his room with a big red bow on it. I don't know which one he loved seeing more the clean room or the bike!

School is out on Monday and then we head into the long summer months of "I'm Bored", "What's there to do", "I hate your day care job", "Why do you have to watch babies all day" It is never ending all summer..... He makes it very verbal on how he hates my job while he is home for the summer, I don't blame him because there isn't much for him to do but does he have to make it so miserable for all of us? Wish me luck!

Have a great summer!

Black Bear

What an exciting morning we had! Right after breakfast Todd spotted a Black Bear in the yard, we are not sure what he wanted but he stuck around to visit for about an hour! Todd even yelled at it and he just turned to look at him and then just kept walking.

We have never seen a bear in 17 years that we have lived here, and to be honest it can be another 17 years before he comes back!

FINALLY

Well I can finally say Spring is here! We have a Mama Robin nesting on our front porch so I had Todd take a picture of her baby that hatched on Mother's Day! Looks like she has one more egg to hatch. Mama Robin was a little ticked at us for taking pictures of her baby but I wanted to show the day care kids what was in the nest. We watched the Robin build this nest for 2 weeks, the wind kept knocking it down on her but she never gave up. Now we watch her feed the baby worms and water it, we are all learning how a Robin takes care of her young.



The next picture is of my new bird feeder out my kitchen window, the kids love to watch the birds eat. I do love Spring!

Warning!

Here is a recipe I received from my mother in law that I just LOVE.... I am warning you now so don't blame me if you eat the whole darn batch when you make them. They call for cocktail peanuts but I didn't have any so I put cashews in this batch and OMG is it yummy....
It is a fun recipe to make with kids. Enjoy


Caramel Pretzel Mix:

1 box crispex cereal
1 bag stick pretzels
1 can cocktail peanuts (with out skins) or cashews or both:-)
dump in a brown grocery bag set aside,

On low heat in saucepan
melt 2 sticks of butter (I told you not to eat the whole batch)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cups lite Karo syrup, stirring constant bring to boil remove from heat
add 1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda (mixture will foam up)
stir until well blended
pour over mix in brown bag and shake well (stir if you have to)
roll bag closed and put into the microwave for 1 minute on high, take out and shake well
return to microwave heat on high for 1 minute, remove and shake repeat this 2 more times for a total of 4 minutes in microwave.

spread mixture out on wax paper and let cool.

ENJOY!!

SPRING BREAK

Here you will see the life of a 21 year old on Spring Break that didnt go to Florida! Cell phone and Remote in hand flipping channels to find a basketball game on ONE of the 300 channels we receive. He warned me right away that March Madness was starting and he planned to watch most of the games. I didnt mind because Todd, Zach and I were leaving for the Dells on Thursday night when the basketball frenzy started! Shawn didnt want to go and to be honest I didnt blame him.

Most of the time he was either sleeping, on the cell phone, on the computer, or flipping channels. He would go out to meet up with friends when we were heading to bed. To be 21 again!

He demanded one thing while he was home and that was a meatloaf supper with all the fixings. I could handle that demand!!

Face Book

Here he is chilling out on the computer, checking out Face Book! This is a big deal right now for all ages! They post pictures and events of their life so other people can view them, hey doesnt that sound like a Blog?

He checks for car parts and also is on his Car forum.... Doing what I dont know I just know he spent time on the computer.