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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Love this time of year...

We've had a pretty good couple of weeks!  My kids have been busy with school activities and homework...............
                                           

Sometimes requiring help from Dad.......
Derek has been doing an awesome job of ironing his own shirts....
Debbie and I were busy with peaches.......She helps with all the prep work of peeling and taking out the seeds.  I canned peaches, peach preserves, peach butter, and also put some in the freezer.  Of course I kept a few out for a great peach crisp!





Also this week......Blaize and Lyndie had a blast swinging .......




With the weather being so nice outside, I took my grand kids on a nice walk!  It really touched my heart when they held on to each others hands without being asked to!


They were pretty amazed by the apple trees....

During our walk, we stopped for water and M&M's.  We waited til we got back home to eat and they were so happy when they were having their snack!

They are adorable!  

Tortilla soup was one of the new recipes that I made this week! 
It was really good!  
Here's the recipe I used.

First, I used a 2 chicken breasts that I cut in half longways to make 4 thin breasts.
Then, I made a rub out of 
1 t. of cumin
2 t. of chili powder
1 t. garlic powder
and 1 t. of salt.

I put the rub on the chicken and then grilled the breasts.  Do not over cook!  You don't want the chicken to be dry.  When they were done, I diced them and set them a side.  
In your soup pot add a half a stick of butter and a few drizzles of olive oil and saute'
1 medium onion
3 cloves of garlic
1 red bell pepper
1 green pepper
and a sprinkle of chili powder.
When they start to get soft, add 
2 cans of Rotel
1 can of tomato paste
8 c. of chicken broth
2 c. of hot water
2 cans of rinsed black beans
1 can of white beans
1 can of corn
add the chicken in and simmer til everything is hot.  If you want to thicken the soup a little, you can mix a little corn meal with hot water and pour in the soup mixture.
I topped it with corn chips, sour cream, and green onions.
This soup was kinda a light soup with all the veggies and grilled chicken....it was very good served with green chili and cheddar corn bread!
Enjoy!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Green Beans and Tomatoes

Labor Day, September 2, 2013, was a day to work at our house! 
     Monday was a perfect day......77* and breezy.  We were up early and went and picked tomatoes!  Most of you all know that our home was affected by the flooding in the Midwest this past spring.  Our entire finished basement was ruined!  Our children's 3 bedrooms, bathroom/laundry room, furnace room and storage area was all covered in 2-3 foot of sewage.  Devastating to say the least!  Anyway, I will show updated photos in a later post, however, because of the flooding we were very late getting our garden planted.
      So, our garden has provided enough goodies for eating but not enough for canning.  We have been so blessed by good friends sharing some of their green beans and tomatoes, that we were able to get some canning done!
                                         
Emily

Derek

Grandma Keller helped

Bean fight....

I had some wonderful green bean snappers helping me......of course there was a small green bean fight.
 I ended up with 12 quarts.

Sharayah stepped in to help with the tomatoes.....


Love them so much!
We ended up with 16 quarts of tomatoes,
2 quarts of tomato juice, and 21 pints of tomatoes!!
Later on, Sharayah wanted to "hold" Missy....I think she got goosebumps when she was walking on her shoulder!

Such a great day with my family!
I will leave you with a couple of pics of Emily sporting her new outfit from CATO

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:)

Sunday, September 1, 2013

Tammy's Thoughts:       It's that time of year again when the kids g...

Tammy's Thoughts:       It's that time of year again when the kids g...:       It's that time of year again when the kids go back to school!  The first day of school is always symbolic.  The kids are starti...
      It's that time of year again when the kids go
back to school!  The first day of school is always
symbolic.  The kids are starting a new grade, feeling older and also a hint that summer is almost over for another year!
                                       
Derek and Emily both starting 7th grade.

Her last first day of school, Ieshia, the senior!!

Along with school starting, in our little town is the Abingdon Fall Festival.  

Derek and Emily

Emily and Kennedy

Emily and Kennedy

Emily and Lane

Derek
They had a lot of fun.  

This year Emily enjoyed shopping!  You can tell she's growing up because clothes are her thing right now!









I'm so proud of all my kids!  They are doing great at school and are doing homework with enthusiasm!

I am so blessed!
Derek has been picking out his own clothes for church and tying his own tie!!  He is such a sweetheart!                                   
There is one thing that the kids don't like...
my pig!
This is my pig that I set on the table every night during supper.  I have set thru many dinners where the kids actually act like pigs!  So, if they don't use manners they get the pig by their plate.
At the end of supper, whoever has the pig gets to clean off the table.  Things like talking with food in your mouth, burping or having gas, eating with fingers, taking huge bites and letting food fall on your plate.....asking politely to pass food, elbows or laying on the table, just to name a few!  So far it has been working very well!!  We are breaking a lot of habits and getting the table cleaned!!
I actually wish I would have done that sooner!
:)