One morning I was looking out on the deck and noticed a bird that would come and take a rest on the deck with straw in its mouth. I figured he must be building a nest and then I noticed that the bird was indeed building a next as he worked to stuff himself and his mouth full of straw into the side of the grill. After working up courage (I was having flashes of Hitchcock's Birds) I used the broom handle to pop open the grill and this is what I found. The birds were mad (there were at least three that were bothered by this) and later that night Ryan and I decided to burn the nest. They haven't been back since.
A friend of ours encouraged me to get a tennis racket for Audrey as she has one for her little girl. So I finally got around to getting a racket and our rackets were brought up from Florida. I know that Nathan isn't interested in sports and I never push him to become interested. But, we wanted to get Audrey on the court so we asked Nathan to bring along a book and sit with Elysse as we worked with Audrey. Well, guess who said that he would like to give it a try? Nathan is very good at hitting the ball. He gets very proud of himself for hitting the ball and he really enjoys it. We are thrilled! We have played three times in the past week and he expects to go out again on Saturday.
Strawberries. We really enjoy picking strawberries. Audrey and I have been out twice with our friends the Tuckers to pick. Audrey declared that picking is, "the most fun I have ever had." She doesn't even like strawberries but she is a good sport when it comes to picking. This time I froze two gallon size bags of berries and I did another two batches of strawberry freezer jam. I think that makes 6 batches of jam. I gave some away as Mother's Day gifts and I hope to have a full year supply for our family. Ryan still takes peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to work everyday and Nathan now likes jelly/jam.
A certain sister-in-law of mine had a birthday coming up but didn't want to have another birthday and didn't want to make a big deal about it. So, I threw her a non birthday party. She loves Olive Garden (mostly for the bread sticks) so I had Ryan pick up a lot of bread sticks and I looked up a recipe for her favorite thing to order from Olive Garden - Venetian Apricot Chicken. As I contemplated making a cake (I truly thought about just getting one from Ingles) I remembered that she loved the Chocolate Lasagna that Olive Garden stopped making - so I found a recipe for that too. Without ever having had the Chocolate Lasagna I think it turned out really well. 
My little kitchen helper. She always want to help with whatever creation is being made in the kitchen!
2 comments:
.......and a wonderful dinner it was. We all enjoyed it! So glad that both kids now have an activity that will get them outdoors and running around. Better watch out, you're becoming a Holly Homemaker!! :)
I keep saying I am going to go pick strawberries and make some freezer jam...You have inspired me to do it!!!
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