Homemade Granola

You'll need:
1 tbsp butter
1/2 C brown sugar
2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
4C oats (quick or old fashioned)

Melt the first 3 ingredients together in sauce pan. Let it simmer for 2 minutes then take it off the heat.


Mix together cinnamon and oats in a very large bowl.


Add the butter mixture to the oats and keep stirring until well coated. Spread the oats onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 15-10 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. You're looking for just the right crunchiness. Let it cool and then store in airtight container.

We use this mostly for snacks and parfaits. I have yet to manage a picture of "after" but I know I will someday!

Bacon wrapped brown sugar chicken

You'll need:
a few chicken breasts, cut into strips
salt and pepper
lawrys seasoning salt
bacon
brown sugar


Season the chicken strips with the s&p and lawrys.


Wrap each one with with a slice of bacon and place in a baking dish. Sprinkle with a little bit of brown sugar. You can also add a few drops of apple cider vinegar if you like.


Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. I'm not good at timing on chicken. I have to keep checking for the thick pieces to be not pink anymore.

This is delicious!

Homemade Vanilla

Vanilla Beans and Vodka. That's it. Oh, and you'll need a jar.


I used 20 vanilla beans and almost a liter of vodka for each jar--because that's what would fit in each one. Then I put them under my laundry room sink.


It'll be ready in time for Christmas gifts for everyone!

Random pictures

A boy and his dog. Bronco is so tolerant of the boys. And he LOVES when they go outside to play. I know he misses Denver so much.


Both boys enjoy making their "necklace". It's just a shoe string and some large wooden beads from Hobby Lobby. But it keeps them occupied for 5 whole minutes!


Oh, and this summer has been the season of not wearing a shirt. Riley started it and his brother had to follow it. I guess it's good they're boys.


Cuddles


In the "pit". We have to make these all the time. The boys like to lay (or, more likely, jump) in them.


Gimme that.


Shhh. I'm busy eating my smore.


Movie and popcorn time.


Riley has becoming an amazing little fish this summer!


Everyone but me.


All the "little" ones. I don't think Trouble really qualifies for his species but we'll let it slide this time.

New Orleans

The Thomas grandparents treated all of their progeny and their progeny to a great weekend trip down to New Orleans. We stayed at the gorgeous Windsor Court.


The view from our balcony.


We encountered some interesting folk. Did you know that the devil has tan lines? I wasn't as surprised to find out that the smoked.


My cute boys waiting at the aquarium.


We went out to Brennans for dinner one night. That night just so happened to be mine and Josh's 6 year anniversary.


The food was fabulous and we all had a great time. Before we left they brought us a very interesting creation in celebration of our big day.


I mean, really, he can be so cute sometimes. And other times he can be down right demonish!


The boys and their cousin, Alex.


BeBe got a photographer to come one morning while we were there. We got lots of great pictures done. This was our little family's first professional shoot!


The other half of the younger clan. My brother, his beautiful wife, Nakissa, and probably the nicest kid I have ever met, my nephew, Alex.


The grandboys.


All together now....Awwwwwwww.


Grandparents and grandchildren.


The original set.


My favorite shot!


Love BeBe and Granddaddy.


Since it was our anniversary we agreed that this trip would be our gift and we needn't do anything else. Yea, The Guy pulled an awesome.


We got one last souvenir from our trip. The last day, in the last hour, we were all down at the pool and were getting ready to leave. Riley was all bundled up in a towel, took a step, and fell onto the cement. With his chin. I had no idea what was wrong at first but he had a DEEP cut in his chin. We left right away and got home just in time to turn around and head to the pediatrician. Thank goodness the cut was just deep, not long. GLUE!


Riley was a total champ and we had a great time (other than that rough bit at the end).

Random pictures

Bronco is getting more and more brave when it comes to Trouble. Normally, he would have slowly gotten up and moved away when Trouble got this close to him. You can tell he thinks about it, but he doesn't do it anymore. So proud of our big boy.


Some outside time.


Lizard!

A post brought to you by Riley

Riley really loves taking pictures. So does Brock but they usually consist of pictures of his thumb or shirt. So here's one from Riley's stock of pictures.

An interestingly composed shot of Brock.


His brothers.


Getting ready for the pool.




Streaker!


He told us all to get together for this one. Hey Grandma!


I think Daddy took over for this one.


And another posed shot. He wanted me, Bronco, and the big duck to all be together.


And one more of Grandma. Riley misses his Grandma!

The wreck

This will certainly tell you how far behind I am on the blog. And it kind of explains the reason why, too.

On May 23rd a man ran his red light(going at least 50) and hit my door. We had just pulled out of Walmart and I didn't even see him coming, just felt the impact. We don't think Brock was that lucky. He had a horrible time sleeping for about 3 weeks after the accident. Since I felt the impact every time I closed my eyes, I wonder if Brock saw it and felt it every time he closed his eyes. Talk about heart breaking!

Today is August 11th. I finally got the van back yesterday. It took that long for them to fix it all. Here's why--








Don't you want to just pick him up and cuddle him?


Something is a bit off with this car....


After the sleep issues, Brock got better. He had a few relapses but seems to be pretty good now. He's very quiet in the van so far, but it's only been a day. Riley talked about the time that guy hit our car and it was really loud and really scary for a while. He then told everyone how are car was broken and why. Then it was talk about how it was almost fixed, just one part to do. He's faired the best of all of us.

I went to the hospital right after the accident. The EMT's and firemen cleared the boys so Josh took them home. I had xrays done of my left shoulder and arm and of my right ankle. They were the worst of the pain. Nothing was broken so I went on home. I went back a week later to a regular doctor because I could barely move my neck and I couldn't do anything without pain. More xrays, more medicines, nothing worked. A week after that I went to another doctor and started physical therapy and massage. Two and a half months later and I'm still not better. MRI should occur at some point next week.

So I'm the only casualty left. I can't believe I didn't take a bunch of pictures in the beginning, but Riley got a picture of one of my bruises the day after the accident.


I just continue to thank God it was my door that was hit and not Brock's. And I thank Him those airbags worked. And that the boys are ok. And I'm gonna be ok, someday.