Wordless Wednesday:

Busy Weekend:

Friday:
For some stupid reason, I cannot sleep late anymore!!  This drives me crazy as I have ALWAYS slept late, even when my babies were small.  I now get up at six a.m. whether I want to or not!!!  This has got to stop.  lol
But it did make it easier for me to prepare for my evening meal as we were having Mike and Susan down for their 36th Wedding Anniversary.  36 Years?  Where did it go?  And we are right behind them, as we will be celebrating 36 years in September.
I made chicken lasagna, corn, Caesar salad and an apple crisp pie.  Everything turned out good except the pie.  It was okay but definitely not a repeater.
We played Liverpool rummy, visited and just had a wonderful evening.  We need to do this more often.
Saturday:
I slept in until 7, whoo-hoo!!  Chad came over to help Dwayne move cattle and I piddled around the house for awhile.  I had a surprise birthday party to go to that afternoon for my cousin's 70th birthday. Liz and Nathan came over to ride with me. I never would have guessed Bill was 70, 50 maybe, 60 at the most but he certainly does not look 70.  They had the hall decorated in  Hee Haw decorations and off of that theme a little, but entertaining non the less, Alaina dressed up as Marilyn Monroe and sang Happy Birthday to Bill.  They went to a lot of work on the decorations and food, an overall great party.
MacKensie came home with us and the three of them played games and watched TV while I took a much needed nap.  I haven't been feeling well again and seem to need all the rest I can get.
Sunday:
I went to church and then we went up to Mom and Dad's to celebrate the February birthdays.  Judy's was the 1st, Jay on the 2nd, MacKensie the 12th and Troy's will be on the 26th.  We had cake and ice cream.  Tony brought these great waffle cones and I ate two and that was two too many.  I was stuffed.
We then left to go to April and Mike's for supper.  The meal and visit was great but once again I didn't feel good so we left early.  This not feeling well is a pattern that I hope goes away, I so hope I do not go into another flare up with the lupus, but this feels the same as the other times my body got weak.  Oh, well, could be worse.

The weekend was just what weekends are for; family, visiting, food....... and all that goes with getting together.  I am grateful for these times.

Ham 'n bean cookoff:

Desserts

Mom:  Bread Pudding

Me:  Chocolate Chip Brownies   *Winner

Nadine:  German Dessert

Chad & Todd Bean Entry:
Old fashioned brown beans with ham
My Entry:
White pinto beans with ham and rice *Winner
April's Entry:
White bean chili

Wayne Corn Bread Entry:
Coarse Mill Ground corn bread
Dad's Entry:
Yellow corn bread in a skillet * Winner
My Entry:
Green chile & corn muffins

The group going around and voting for their favorite dishes after tasting each one.

Dad and Dwayne relaxing

Mom and Nathan sharing a joke

Grand Prize Corn Bread Winner:  Dad!!

Dad with his winning plaque.

Lizzy decided we should have a cook off, the women versus the men.  Men could cook in the basement and women upstairs.  I kind of modified her vision and had a ham and bean cook off.  Entries cooked before hand and voted on at the contest.

We had alot of fun and everyone was excited with the choices and just the whole joy of the event.

The afternoon was spent visiting and just relaxing.  People stayed almost all afternoon so that meant it must have been a success.

We were missing a few as Judy was sick with the flu and Katie had an event to go to.  Hope they are able to attend the next cook off Lizzy has planned.  An Italian themed meal will be held at Tony's house sometime in February.  Looking forward to that afternoon.

I am so thankful for the get togethers we have and the close bond I have with my nieces and nephews.

January Sundays:

This is typically what they guys do on Sundays.  Yes, I would rather them be in church but for some reason they don't go anymore.  I'm hoping they will come back in their time frame.

Wood cutters are hungry guys and can't wait to eat their Sunday meal.

The second Sunday in January I made a huge pot of chili and had grilled cheese with provolone and longhorn cheese on Texas Toast size bread.  That was a big hit and they could only eat one sandwich of that size along with their chili.

The third Sunday, I made a huge pot of vegetable soup.  So much that Dwayne and I were looking forward to leftovers one night during the week.  No such luck!!  They ate every bit of it!!  Even with monster grilled cheese to go along with it.

I've enjoyed these laid back Sunday afternoons.  I'm never sure when and how many will show up.  I for sure have Dwayne, Chad and Todd.  And usually a few more show up such as Tim, Dustin and my nephew Michael.

The final Sunday meal calls for a post all in itself.  Hopefully, I will find time this afternoon to post on that fun afternoon.

I am grateful for my family and also wood to give us warmth on these cold winter nights.

January Weekends:

So hard to believe it's the first week of February and I haven't blogged about January yet.
1st Weekend:   Dwayne and I went to church and then to Jefferson City to eat at Chili's as I had a gift card for there.  We stopped by Menard's, at least I've found a store Dwayne will shop with me at.  lol
We drove the back way to St Elizabeth and visited with April and Mike for awhile.
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day weren't too exciting.  Dwayne cut wood and I just watched TV.
I did go down to Tony's on New Year's Day for a drop-in.  Lizzy had planned the day, they had snacks and just a time of visiting.
2nd Weekend:  April was getting her car serviced at Weidinger's so I met her there and we went to St. Roberts to shop.  We had a few things to take back to Maurice's and things to pick up at Lowe's.  We were going to eat at a Korean Cafe' I saw advertised but it was only open Monday thru Friday.  (I did get to try the cafe out last week with Sheila and Liz).  We were getting a little worried on trying to find it, the road was getting narrower, businesses a little shadier and then a dead end.  April is like, "Where are you taking us?"  As we were turning around, I saw the little cafe in a row of shops.  Much smaller than what we thought it would be.  We wound up eating at Culvert's.  We had never ate at one before and it was very good.  I had the pot roast sandwich and it's the best and most moist roast beef sandwich I've had anywhere.  Their fries were also very good.
That Sunday, April came over and we went to Mom's for the January birthday's.  We celebrated with cake and ice cream.
3rd Weekend:  I begged (really, I did, I wanted to get out of the house) to tag along with April on her weekly shopping trip to buy groceries in Jefferson City.  I got a really good deal out of my Christmas present from April.  The two sweaters she gave me for Christmas were too big and they didn't have any other sizes.  I took that money and we went to J.C. Penney's.  I usually always find tops/sweaters in my size there.  They had a great clearance and for the money April had, I got one sweater and four tops.  Totally lucked out there!  We tried a few more shops and then April had her rings cleaned and inspected.  Off to Kohl's we went.  I found a purse I liked and that was about it.  Ate lunch at Chili's with the rest of my gift card.
4th Weekend:  Dwayne and I went to St. Elizabeth and met up with April and Mike to head to Jeff City.  We ate at Longhorn Steakhouse and it was very good.   The only store we went to was Menard's as we were on a mission to get counter tops and tile for their kitchen.  (and we DO NOT want to shop anywhere else with them ever again...............  Remember Christmas Shopping Trip Disaster???????  lol)  We had quite the time with getting the counter tops loaded, uh maybe some customer service would have helped out in that area.  April picked out the tile, grout and all the goodies we needed to re tile the back splash in her kitchen.  Dwayne and Chad worked on that last week.  I still haven't got over to see it yet.  Pretty excited to do that this coming Sunday afternoon.
Intermingled with the exciting weekends, I've been sick off and on all month.  I've missed at least two Sundays of church.  I am so planning on getting back to church Sunday.  I've even had a couple people calling to check on me.

I am so grateful for my family and the times we have together.

Wordless Wednesday:

Chansyn Rae

David's beautiful granddaughter

Freaky Friday:

Haven't had time to blog, so I'll have to let pictures do the talking today.
So much fun the kids had with "Red Solo Cups".