Yesterday we hosted a casual get together with friends for Memorial Day. These dear friends are the people we met the week we set foot in DC over 6 years ago. They have stuck with us through our comings and goings. We all have older kids now and have spread out geographically so we don’t all see each other as much as we would like. It was nice to get everyone together, comment on how big the kids have gotten, eat yummy food and relax on a holiday from work! The guest of honor was an adorable 7 week old golden retriever puppy, Wesley Friesen! He was a charmer!
At dinner time we set all of the kids up outside with their plates and headed in to eat, a few sprinkles later and all of the kids had successfully shifted their picnic of 11 kiddos into the clubhouse of our swing set. Why we run around coordinating the kids so much I don’t know, they can clearly fend for themselves!
The Menu
(only possible because I think morning sickness has finally passed!! It only took 17 weeks but I am thankful)
many of these recipe links might be repeats because we pull them out each summer!
Appetizers
Sun-dried tomato artichoke dip with baguette (with this recipe I sub goat cheese for feta, it’s more of a spread then a dip)
Spinach dip and veggies
dinner
fried chicken- cheated here, left it to the experts and picked up KFC!
loaded baked potato salad-another cheat, thanks Costco!
corn salad with cilantro lime vinaigrette
Barefoot Contessa’s Pasta Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes
Fruit Salad…thanks, Margaret!
Dessert
Blackberry Peach Cobbler Bars, thanks Rebecca (and Southern Living)!!
Homemade ice cream a la Seth and the kids who helped crank it!
The absolute best overflow of a great night was that we finally wore Owen out. He fell asleep immediately and slept until 7 AM for maybe the second time in his entire life. I was about to keel over from exhaustion after such a packed weekend but clearly it was just the right balance for the O man.
Happy Memorial Day! And of course more important than any friendly gathering and yummy food, we want to thank those who have served our country and those who continue to serve. We greatly appreciate all you do. And this year we especially remember the Foreign Service Officers who gave their lives doing what they love!
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We decided to start out small…as in, a tent in the back yard. Seth has been talking to the boys about camping for a while. And once you mentioned something to a 3 year old you can expect to talk about it often! This past weekend Seth had planned to take the boys on Friday night but some major winds kept them inside that night. Saturday we had a busy, fun day ending with a dinner with my brother Ryan and his family and my cousin Rosanna and her husband Evan. Seth decided since the boys would be up late anyways to surprise them that night with a rain check camp out. We were not sure who, if either of them, would make it through the whole night out there. I was invited for reading time but then I got the boot and the rest was boy time! They went to bed nicely but were up before the birds at 5:15!!
first s’mores of the summer!
first water balloon fight….silly Easter bunny brought some water balloons and we have talked about them EVERY DAY SINCE EASTER! So, last week we pulled them out and filled up a bowl. They lasted all of 5 minutes. But the boys loved them!
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I mentioned a few weeks ago that Jackson had begun his first season of soccer. So far so good! He is really enjoying it and burning off lots of energy.
goofy smile
We told Jackson before the first game that he would have 10 mins to vent in the car after each game…but then it would be done. He could be frustrated and upset but he had to save it for the car and couldn’t take care of it on the field. To our amazement he has had a super positive experience and hasn’t needed his vent time. Owen has enjoyed cheering him on and makes himself at home on teammates family blankets. The boy figures everyone is there to meet him. Last week he met a blind Yorkie dog. When the owner said that he would need to talk to the dog to let him know he was there Owen proceeded to softly bark to the dog for the following hour. Holding his leash and watching his every move.
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Hiya!!
Well we are finally getting into our new groove with a new sitter, job, and lots on the Spring docket. We sat down a few evenings ago to really look at the calendar and it seems we are booked most weekends and a couple evenings a week until school gets out in mid June! We have a trip planned early July to have a Kolb family reunion and to spend time with my family welcoming our niece Grace into the world! It’s all good stuff but we definitely need to pace ourselves! It’s nice to be busy this year with life and not a move. It’s nice to literally put down some roots and look forward to seeing the fruit.
The biggest gig around here right now is the garden project. When we were house shopping last year one of our biggest things on the list was a yard that could both fit and provide enough sunlight for a garden. While the house and yard have some quirkiness we are excited that it does fit the bill to have space and sun for a garden. We are hoping our light green thumbs darken as we dive into this learning experience of growing lots at one time.
My mom is my garden consultant from afar. She is the one who planted the love for gardening in me. So much of her life as a young mom was spent being involved in serving others through our church as a pastors wife. Her garden was her own project that she enjoyed cultivating and sharing with others. She always had some kind of garden no matter what parsonage she was in. The one that sticks out to me the most was the one that she did down the road from our house on the church property. Our yard had a steep slope and a zillion trees so a garden was impossible. She asked the leaders of the church if they would let her use a plot of land on the back of the property to plant. They agreed….not withholding their chuckles about planting a garden in a back field with no hose or water line. I can remember my mom saving milk jugs and filling the minivan with enough jugs to water the garden. Not sure how on earth she did it with three young children but it must have been a project that brought her sanity and joy because she pressed on! She recalled the shock of the small town Ohio folk when they saw things like eggplant growing in her garden. They had never seen it and the thought of growing it and eating it was unheard of. That might have been the year she wowed us all with Eggplant Parmesan. Even my not so adventurous husband is now known to request it. That and ratatouille…which by the way isn’t just a kids movie. We are looking forward to lots of deliciousness to come…or at least we hope! Currently we have strawberries and herbs in the ground as well as flower pots. Next round will be tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, watermelon, cantaloupe, zinnias and sunflowers. The only thing missing is my mom being close by or able to just pop up!
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