Mom is Not Always Strict

Life cereal and Doritos for breakfast.

Remodeling the Tree House

Arnie tore down the tree house this summer and is rebuilding.  Bigger, Better, Faster...no wait. That was the bionic man.  The tree house is definitely bigger and better, though.  It has the coolest ladder/staircase on the back wall that leads to two loft spaces on either side of the eaves.  The deck on the front is gone so that the inside is bigger.  The kids love it.  He's not finished with it yet.  The roof and siding still needs work, but wow is it a popular place around here.  Katie brought her whole soccer team up to see it. The12 girls poked around in it, sticking their heads out the window, climbing the back stairs, and sitting on the lofts.

I like this picture because the zip line is still attached.  The infamous zip line.  The day that Robby and Arnie tested it, Robby ended up in the ER.  He fell from the line about 3 feet from the tree house. I don't think I'll ever measure it to find out exactly how far he fell, but I estimated 12 feet for the ER. He once again escaped his accident with a minor concussion and soreness.  Amazing.  Needless to say, the zip line came off the tree house the next day.

I started this blog last summer, before Weyerhauser started logging the forest behind our house.  Here is the tree house today, in the snow, with no trees behind it!  Arnie now has a roof on it and is putting paper on the walls.  I know, I'm not very technical.  Hopefully he will help me with my vocabulary!

The tree house is cool!  Arnie and the kids tried to sleep in it during the windstorm in December this year.  They made it to midnight before coming inside.  Pretty fun.

New Years Party at the Lewis's

My table decorations.

I love New Years.  It is a new beginning - a new look on life.  The years go by and I try to be a better person every year.  There is something inspiring about celebrating a new year with family.  I was so excited that Cathy and her kids, Erik and Mara, and Mom came down this year to celebrate with us.  The Lewis tradition continued.  Everyone brought an appetizer, we put together a puzzle (this one saved from Grandpa Bruce's garage sale), and watched TV.

Grandma started the appetizers with freshly marinated mozzarella balls and Ritz crackers.  I forgot to pull the camera out before they were all gone!  Katie and I followed Grandma with little smokies.  Katie made Pigs-n-a-blankets and I made smokies in BBQ sauce.  I used my peach preserves from the summer to sweeten the sauce.

Katie's Pigs-in-a-blankets.

She made a special sauce for them.

 Next, Mara made fruit smoothies for us and Cathy put together a tray of veggies and dip.  Yum.

Look, you can see tomorrow's breakfast behind Mara's smoothie!

Queen of the blender.

Erik made his specialty for us.  We ate toasted bagels with peanut butter, cream cheese, or jam.  He even brought my old fashioned strawberry jam to use on the bagels!  I love that they love my jam.

Arnie and Robby prepared chicken for us.  Arnie smoked drumettes with a mixture of wood chips and Robby made hot wings for us.  Robby would like to work in the restaurant business when he grows up.  I think he's got a good chance.  He is quite a chef.

Coating the chicken parts.

Brushing on the delicious sauce.

Arnie's smoked drumsticks.

We had a great time and wish everyone a happy new year.  Hopefully we can make the party a tradition from now on.  Maybe next year the Floyd clan will join us!

After a game of Banana's, Katie and Mara wished everyone a Happy New Year!

Cheers!

Wildlife on Val Vista

Since the trees have come down behind us, we hear fewer birds and animals, but have some very interesting bugs hanging around.  This guy stayed on the screen on the garage window for several hours one night.  I felt badly for him/her...so lost without the forest.  Or, maybe, so happy to have new digs.

This froggy seems like an old friend.  We have lots of these little tree frogs around our house.  They sound like giant bullfrogs - the loudest and deepest croak you can imagine.  How do they do that with this little tiny body?  Here, the frog clings to the siding of the house right outside our living room window.  So sweet and tiny.

Brussel Sprouts Gone Wild!

Yes!  I grew these this year for the first time.  Very easy and fun to watch grow.  So many ways to prepare brussels sprouts - here I seasoned them with salt and pepper then roasted them in balsamic vinegar at 350 for about 20 minutes.  I can't believe that I did not like these little cabbages as a kid.  Now, I love them.  The kids are really great about trying them when I pick them.  Tonight I harvested the last of my trees and made Rachael Ray's Sprout Slaw with them.  Katie liked it a lot - maybe she will be a fan as a kid.

Lemons from a California Garden

A colleague from work brought lemons back from her sister's garden in California.  They were beautiful, plump, firm, aromatic lemons.  Katie and I went through the cooler she offered to us and chose the most lemony ones we could find.  We brought home 20 lemons!  And made lots of lemonade.  Katie became a sugar adding expert.  Not too sweet, but just enough.  She even topped off the lovely juice with a sprig of spearmint from Dad's herb garden.  (He only grows spearmint!)

Garden Grows Greater

My green pepper harvest this year beat last years by 2 peppers.  This year, I grew three peppers that were 4 inches across when I picked them.  Yahoo!