I Guess She's Growing

I remember having a few favorite restaurants when I was growing up . . . why do I remember them? Because they served hot beef sandwiches! My favorite thing to order for years! Well, I made a version (my gravy making continues to improve with practice) for the kids a year or so ago, and this became our oldest's favorite "mom" meal. When she spotted those three special words on the dinner menu at a local restaurant, how could she resist an order? :)

What she didn't realize (and what the picture only sort of shows) is the MAN-SIZED pile of meat, potatoes, gravy, and bread the waiter plunked down in front of our dainty daughter. It's all good . . . she was up to the challenge.

IN FACT, so up to the challenge that she did.not.bring.home.leftovers. The waiter's jaw might have dropped a little bit; he actually told her he was impressed :) To be fair, she did share some of her delicious dinner with her siblings . . . and then had some of their pizza, and the bread that came with our overall meal--both before and after our meal. I sure hope all of their appetites don't take off like this at the same time!

(As it turned out, they needed the hearty meal to keep up their energy playing in the snow for almost two hours tonight! They had a blast and came in soaking wet!)

He Provides

Soooo . . . I mentioned before how I misunderstood that we couldn't stay at a "basic" level in karate indefinitely. Turns out, we have to switch to black belt training or stop attending karate. All four kids in the same sport at the same time and all enjoying it is just too good of a thing to give up so easily . . . so, we asked the club owner if we could "borrow" the sparring gear required for the next level. "Yes!" (mixing and matching from their donated boxes with some gear my mom handed down from my brothers, we only had to purchase two face shields . . . savings of $800!) Now the kids just can't grow and need new sizes :)

A couple weeks ago, Buck had to drive to his old store to help run inventory. Unfortunately, the first middle of the night trip was a bust, as the computer systems went down nationwide. So, he "got to" make the drive a second time (in the middle of the night again) to complete the process. Now, this was a hassle, and not much fun for me worrying about him, everyone was sick, and he was up all night instead of getting the rest he needed. Major headache, right?

Well, God really surprised us and used this to our benefit. Both times, there and back, Buck got mileage. Gas is ridiculously cheap right now, and because he didn't get a hotel or eat out, he ended up "ahead" quite a bit on the mileage refund check. This covered more than half of what we needed to get the kids' weapons for their next belt level purchased! So rather than figuring out how to pay this bill more and this bill less to squeeze in the payment for all that karate stuff (x4!), God provided.

Now, this may not be how Buck wanted to spend his nice "surprise" check, but I'm sure something good will come along or from it to make his double sacrifice worthwhile :)

Beary Nice Weather

The animals were active at the zoo today . . . perhaps the wonderful weather (Bren didn't even bring a sweatshirt! Granted I did catch him outside barefoot in a sled full of melted ice water yesterday . . . ay yi yi) had them feeling spring was in the air. We thought maybe this little Sunbear wanted to climb out of his enclosure and come home with us! I'd already told the kids that if they could convince a zoo-keeper to give them one of the new baby lion cubs (they were soooooo cute!!!) to take home, they could have one. Why not add a bear to our zoo? (BTW, we did NOT come home with a cute little lion cub :)

In other funny animal-related tidbits, we ate dinner at a restaurant. As G perused the menu, he noticed one of the choice for a kid's meal side dish was goldfish. He looked at me in utter shock . . . "Mom, what does that mean??!" LOL . . . "Goldfish crackers, buddy. The little cheese kind." Hot Pockets, microwave popcorn, Spaghettios and Goldfish crackers . . . foreign foods to our little crew :)

2500

We're guessing there's a colorful piece of puzzle action (with white stars on the back) hiding beneath Uncle C or L's couch somewhere in the Nordic lands :) John Deere was a couple edge pieces short, but other than that our count nearly reaches 2,500 pieces in just a few days. They wanted to keep the set together for a more impressive display of puzzle awesomeness!

Mr. Engineer

 

 

Two Bits

We know some of you (I won't mention names) are enjoying warm and sunny locations with palm trees and ocean breezes . . . but I have to say, for January in our little part of the world . . . sunny and 63 is pretty sweet! The kids asked if they could eat lunch outdoors . . . you betcha!

With all of my recent knitting experience (I even made a two-tone hat with the "magic knot!"), I decided I was qualified enough to teach Mr. B how to knit. We'd tried once before, but it was the blind leading the blind. Plus, he chose green needles and green yarn which made it next to impossible to figure out what was going on :) So, not feeling well and slumped on the couch instead of at church, we gave it another go.

He caught on fairly quickly, and where he had trouble, I could mostly go back and fix it up. He kept saying things like, "Mom, do you like to knit?" "Me too, that's something we have that's the same." "Wow, this is so great! I'm so glad I learned to do this!" "Graysen, you should really learn how to knit. It is so much fun!" Granted, he didn't even pick up his needles today on day two, but he's determined to make himself a scarf (or at least he was  yesterday), so we'll keep posting updates as the project grows.

Random Throw Back

So our kids (primarily the boys) compare everything money-wise to the most expensive LEGO set they've ever seen. Tonight we were contemplating making the leap into the next phase of karate and they were round-eyed at the price. "Mom, that costs more than the Death Star!"

This got me remembering the last time I'd heard that wondrous LEGO structure of their dreams mentioned . . . back at Santa's Castle in December. The girls weren't too excited about meeting Mr. C . . . Caelan actually has moral objections to the fact that these people dress up as a lie and trick children (she has a point :)

Our kids know, and have always known, the scoop on Santa. They know their gifts come from family and us, because we love and care about them. So when the jolly man "from the North Pole" asked the boys what they wanted for Christmas, they were momentarily stumped . . . they'd already given mom and dad their lists.

Finally, Graysen says, "The Death Star!"

Santa looked a bit shocked, then fished around in his basket of books (a free gift for visiting children), until he found a book about Jesus and the manger. LOL! I guess he wasn't up on his Star Wars Legacy LEGO sets this year . . . he thought our child needed a little Savior for Christmas :) Which is actually pretty awesome.

Row, row, row your Boat . . .

So, I've been drinking a ridiculous amount of water to try to wash this illness action through my system. Combine this with a harsh, sudden cough . . . and the drive to church can be an interesting experience ;)

As I was race-walking in with C, I started reminiscing aloud about car rides with my sister. I recalled how (I was not a very nice sister :) as soon as my younger sibling asked for a bathroom break, I'd start singing water-laden songs . . . Row row row your boat, gently down the STREAM . . .

She'd shriek, "Mom!! Make her STOP!!" And I'd switch to, "I've got a RIVER of life FLOWING OUT OF me, SPRING up oh WELL *gush, gush, gush, gush* into my soul . . ." Ruthless :)

So Caelan brings up this story as we're leaving church, relating the details to her siblings who thought this trip down memory lane was pretty hilarious. Serious amount of giggling from the backseat vicinity. Eventually, we switched topics, and were discussing other things (it's kind of a long drive).

We get about four stop lights from home, and I randomly (forgetting about our earlier conversation) mention my readiness for a restroom visit upon reaching our abode.

Without missing a beat, Graysen calls out, "GUSH GUSH GUSH GUSH!!" *giggle, giggle* :)

So funny! I guess he was paying attention and wanted to help me relive a childhood memory. Sorry, sis for all those serenades (wink).

New Skillz

With all of the sickness we've been experiencing, we've realized our kids are kind of on the edge of needing to know how to swallow meds rather than drinking them in liquid form. Buck's doctor told Caelan that it was okay that she didn't know how to swallow a pill yet, because he was pretty sure that wasn't on the college entrance exam :)

But, why not teach them a new skill? They were all game!

We've been using Young Living essential oils on the recommendation of a dozen friends or so :) You can rub them on your skin, smell them, or put them in a capsule and take them internally. The kids wanted to try swallowing a capsule, so I put a couple of drops of lemon in a capsule for each of them and then began instructing.

1. Take a little drink of water and kind of keep it at the back of your tongue (so the capsule doesn't "stick").

2. Position the capsule the same direction as your throat . . . not sideways, that will be much harder to swallow.

3. Take a bigger drink and wash it down!

Then the hilarity ensued :) We had kids sloshing water in their cheeks, spitting soggy capsules in their hands . . . Caelan was the best, she stood on her tiptoes with her chin pointed at the ceiling trying to will the thing into her stomach. So funny :)

Gabby had the least amount of trouble, G was unable entirely (it's a pretty big capsule after all). He just popped the bottom off and dripped the lemon into his water. Ahhh, refreshing.

Shen Yun

Last night, the girls and I went to a performance at the Orpheum Theater. We joined my friend Stacey, and the girls’ friend Elaine, for dinner in the old/original part of the downtown area. Our original plan was to meet at the Old Spaghetti Factory, but it was closed for a corporate event. We walked two doors down to an earlier “find," which is delicious, inexpensive, and lets you order any flavors of pizza by the slice, baked while you wait.

The show is part of Elaine’s Christmas gift (to attend a production and invite a friend). We have been studying Asia and spent a lot of time reading about China, so this seemed like a great opportunity to kind of lock that in by both of my girls attending the performance, and bringing me : ) Officially declared a girl’s night out, we set off for the fancy theater.

An enthusiastic greeter offered us a glossy picture book filled with details about the original structure, the imported Czech chandeliers (and originally carpets, though those have been replaced in the last 100 years : ). The girls felt like princesses and giggled and dreamed . . . non-stop chatter at fever pace! They loved looking at the ornate moldings, the golden-thronelike chairs in the lobby, the artwork along the hallways, the sweeping staircases (I heard the idea of banister sliding thrown out contemplatively), and sat on the edge of their seats throughout the performance.

 

 

About the performance itself . . . there were parts that were absolutely stunning to watch. The artistry and grace, the color and detail is astounding! At one point the stage was completely covered with thick stage-fog; suddenly 18 dancers in peacock blue dresses stood up through the fog (appearing like magic!) and began dancing. The girls gasped!

The cheesy thing was the background . . . it was like a computer-animated curtain of scenery. As various gods and goddesses floated in on clouds or chariots, the actors would spring up from behind stairs like they’d emerged from the screen. The idea was good, but it was such an elegant show, that this seemed discordant. Granted it was necessary, because the whole thing was dance. There was a narrator pair who would describe the upcoming scene (also listed in the program) in English and then Mandarin. This gave the dancers time to change and reset for the next portion of the show, but they also needed the animations on the screen to help the story along.

There were also some operatic singers and a Chinese musician playing the ummm, starts with a u . . . three letters . . . two-stringed tradition instrument . . . anybody? Well anyway, they were pretty amazing. The opera portions were in Mandarin, but they put the words on the screen behind them. I could have done without the translation :) It was a lot about reincarnation, their fight against atheism and evolution to restore the divine word (from Buddha). I don’t know; not my jam.

The girls recognized this and we, of course, expected it. For them, it didn’t damper the show at all. They loved it and would go again. Stacey and I were kind of bored from time to time. If they could have condensed it a bit more, it would have been more enjoyable.

But, a night out with friends is a treasure! We gained some culture and saw some amazing color and athleticism . . . and with that . . . I am caught up! Just in time for Jimmy to begin (Fallon ;)

Christmas at Maga’s

On the weekend, we packed up the van and zoomed over to Maga’s house. Grandpa B flew home from the land of sunshine and palm trees, but caught a bug and spent the first part of the day in bed. We were happy to meet C’s sweetheart . . . he thinks he’s so sneaky, but I told him to bring someone along. I reminded him of this, and I think it’s such a nice thing that he listens to his sister ;) We all enjoyed getting to know L, and she impressed me by remembering all the kids names and knowing who to call what. Little niecey G crowned her, then snuggled right up to play some video games on my mom’s phone.

We also celebrated . . . five birthdays? Wait six . . . it was a lot of names to fit in one round of the birthday song. Noodles for lunch, cake and donuts for dessert, piles of presents for birthdays and Christmas, kids roller-skating—oh wait, those were ours—through the kitchen, cousins, nieces and nephews acting goofy, playing together, talking, laughing, whew! It was a fun day, and it was nice when dad felt well enough to come down for some conversation.

Unfortunately that was the only time we got to see him, because our new New Year’s tradition is getting sick for two weeks straight. Kind of like last year, where the kids were (are) achey, coughy, snotty, sneezy, fevery, ear-achey. I managed to escape the germs . . . from the fb article I read, it’s because I’m a writer, and writing improves my immune system (wink ;) No really, it was mostly people praying for protection, thank you all! That pretty much catches us up, since we did not leave the house (all activities blessedly suspended for two weeks Christmas break), until this week. Still the boys are not 100%, B was up last night wailing because his ear hurt so bad. I think maybe though, we are on the upswing!

 

(It's been a week since I wrote that . . . B has severe double ear infection, C is also on antibiotics for ear infection, my husband is on antibiotics for ear/sinus infection, and my stint of wellness has crumbled into coughs and hollow sounding ears . . . ugh!)

Christmas Day

 

I love seeing the tree lit with lights, the fire burning in our electric, switch-operated fireplace, and a mound of surprises in colorful paper waiting the enthusiasm of our kids. Buck groggily made himself a pot of coffee and the kids posed for goofy pictures while it brewed. They opened stockings and gifts from each other (I think the givers enjoy this as much as the getters—our kids are so cool). Breakfast normally involves blina and a dirty kitchen, but in our de-stress efforts, we nibbled on a coffee cake Buck brought home from work and drank juice. He put a rack of pork in the oven for our lunch, and we returned to gift opening.

The kids and I managed to surprise him, the man who sees through wrapping paper, with a couple of his gifts. The hockey stick was not one of them : ) However, given the tension headaches he’s been having for months, I thought a good neck massager would be just the thing. And as I was shopping for that, I noticed a leg massager (his favorite!) for a great price (Black Friday, reserved on-line, picked up with a coupon in-store a few days later, booyah!). Technically, I saved in coupons what I was supposed to spend on his gift (in other words, I blew the budget), but I felt bad that I didn’t encourage him to buy the truck that was parked at the turn onto our street for weeks and weeks and weeks, that he was positively drooling over. He always busts the budget for me, so I thought he deserved a treat. Almost literally, he sat in the same spot with those two massage things going all day! All weekend? I think I did a good job : )

He gave me a paper shredder (I’m safety conscious), but not til a few days after Christmas because he didn’t want to wrap any more. He also beefed up my collection of kitchen utensils, added to my supply of “favorite books that I now own,” and added a few other fun surprises to my gifty morning.

 

The kids fully enjoyed their blessings, the only “complaint” I heard, and it was really more just a sad realization, came from Graysen. “I did not get any Legos.” Sure enough, everyone else had Lego kits or stocking stuffers or sibling gifts, but G$ got zilch! (Maga made up for that a couple days later : )

 

Our lunch was weird, ha, but pretty good. I tried a crockpot sweet potato recipe that had pineapple in it (blech), we had the pork which was super tasty, Brussel sprouts (overcooked), corn bread, I think I planned to make potatoes but forgot, and was it the lemon-fluff salad as a side? For supper we had vegetable noodle soup from the broth leftover from Caelan’s birthday meal. Other than that, we really just spent the day calling family, building Legos, checking out our new clothes and gifts, and enjoying the time with each other.

Christmas Eve

I know it’s only been a few weeks, but these days are seriously running together in my poor little brain at the moment. I know that last minute gift-wrapping took place (the kids gifts for each other, some of which were homemade and required a little bit extra time for finishing touches). Buck worked late enough that he wasn’t going to make it to a reasonably houred church service. So, the kids and I attended the 4:30, which worked out great because our friends the Morgans and the Entigers were there. I started with my four in a row across the aisle; then three of Stacey’s five joined us; then three of Glory’s five joined us, and suddenly it was me with 10 kids! So I moved over to sit with the grow-ups and left the kids to fend for themselves. They were all very well behaved and enjoyed the candlelight service, which had elements built in for all age ranges. Again, what a blessing to not only have people to say “hello” to and “Merry Christmas” to this year, but to be able to sit with friends and give a quick hug. Such a blessing!

 

Once Buck got home, he did some wrapping while I worked on finishing up a couple of last minute projects. One was an impossible dream that I could knit an entire hat to stuff in Caelan’s Christmas stocking. I had a hat finished for Gabby . . . and planned to ask the boys if they wanted hats too. Initially, I knitted myself a hat. Then made a matching one to give my sister for her birthday. I thought it would also be fun to make one for my mom to match us girls. My brother changed my plan by adding another girl head to hat with only a few hours warning ;) I decided the night before we drove off to meet her, that I would like to give her one of the hats, so I did. Now I will make myself another hat and we’ll all be matchy matchy, lol. I did make myself a slouchy hat in the yarn colors that Caelan gave me for my birthday, but obviously I need a pink one too. Oh, I mentioned the hat I made for Madison earlier; I also made one for her baby sister, and their Grandma. I r

eceived the most adorable picture in thanks; I love it! So how many hats did I knit . . . ??? Nine I think. Nope, I made a red one for Graysen later and still need to make one in green for B. Buck thinks I need to start learning how to make other things . . . I guess he doesn’t want a hat, hee hee : )

A Dozen

With all the busy, busy . . . I think Caelan counted 16 days straight that we’d left the house to do some thing or another. The polar opposite of our last year :) So, when we asked her what she wanted to do on her birthday—she requested an at home, in our pajamas day. Deal!

 

 

 

The previous night, the other three helped decorate with Caelan’s selected theme . . . “ocean”. . . which we loosely interpreted as “tropical beach.” Gabs cut out palm trees and the boys taped beach scene-themed calendar pages (thanks Dollar Store!) to the walls of the kitchen and up and down the hallway. We were quite the eclectic décor mashers there for a week or so, with thankful turkeys from Thanksgiving all over the entry wall, Christmas garland, lights, and trinkets throughout the upstairs, and a beach party in the kitchen. It’s all good.

We ate breakfast, we opened gifts before Buck left for work, the kids played some Marvel Lego on the XBOX, we ate angel food cake (with Rachel’s frosting made passably well for my first try; the sprinkles covered up the crunch ;), we enjoyed roast and potatoes for dinner. It was a much-needed low-key day to celebrate our growing up girl!

Eye Test

Here is a random bonus post . . . I seem to have contracted the family's cough. I held out for almost 3 weeks, now it is mine. I decided to take some cough medicine after laying in bed for an hour unable to sleep and likely driving my poor, tired husband crazy. Then I decided while I wait for it to kick in, I'll come post some of these pre-written ponderings to the blog. Well guess what I forgot? My glasses . . . I can't see a darn thing :) No clue what I'm typing right now, hee hee :) My coughing has so annoyed the dog, that he has chosen to relocate upstairs until I am finished with my 1 a.m. blogging update. Perhaps not the best time to figure out how to post pictures, layout, and format. How long does this stuff take to work anyway? Blech!

Rewind to December

Last Christmas was hard. Really hard. You know that feeling when you think you recognize someone you’d love to have a hug from, and then it turns out to be a total stranger? Yeah, that happened like a million times last Christmas. We did not know a single person to say hello to or Merry Christmas to, and it was so lonesome! Our house looked so sweet and pretty; we baked up a storm; we had no one to share it with . . . so this year, I decided to focus on doing some things differently.

First, Buck and I looked at his schedule and found the very few days that he actually had off from work and we coordinated with our babysitter. Part of the loneliness was that I felt like I was doing everything myself . . . the shopping, the wrapping, the decorating, the schoolwork (which, I mean, every stinking year I wait too long to close the classroom . . . next year THAt will be different too ;) Anyway, Buck and I set times to spend together. We went to dinner, we saw the last Hobbit (not my fav, but I guess they can’t all be the best), we did some Christmas stocking stuffer and birthday shopping together (for C). It was a good thing!

I also set goals along the way . . . all the kids’ t-shirt quilts needed to be done in October, so I could work on Photobooks all of November (plus Christmas cards . . . which, as I mentioned on fb went swimmingly with the help of my organized little crew of folders, stuffers, lickers, and stampers!) Gift purchasing was mostly done before December, and then Buck bought me It’s a Wonderful Life, so I could keep my wrapping tradition alive and not have to wait til Christmas Eve (when it broadcast on television this year). All in all, things were less hectic, calm and cool. The house was clean and friends came over for a playdate . . . people in the house, kids to run up and down the stairs with our kids, a baby to play with the dancing monkey toy (and then my kids played with it for the next week, while their father just shook his head J)

 

The snow stayed away, but we liked driving up to our Christmas-lit house . . . Buck made the (we think we’ve conclusively identified it as a male Weeping Mulberry) tree in the front yard look almost like a little palm tree. And as I write this, several neighbors still have their lights lit! I l.o.v.e Christmas lights; they make my heart happy, so seeing the neighborhood still lit up in mid-January makes me smile.

Big December events: we went up to the north so Buck could hunt. The kids splashed the day away in the  waterpark. Both girls got to experience the hunt with their dad. Their dad got to experience Santa’s Castle with us J Though the hunt didn’t go as well as hoped (and the warm weather ruined the meat Aaron sent with us), sitting with the cousins, laughing over the hopeless little hat I was knitting for our niece Madison (with ear flaps) helped make it a memorable weekend.

When we returned, the girls had their Bright Lights Christmas party. It was several hours long, and they had a wonderful time popping balloons, and running relay races, eating fun foods, and singing carols around the piano.

 

Another singing opportunity, this time for the three youngest—the church Christmas program took place the following Sunday. The boys were shocked and alarmed to discover that all the Christmas song practicing they’d been doing in Sunday School was leading up to an on-stage performance. You should have seen their faces! “We’ve been duped!” J It went very well with several funny moments from the littlest musicians—another fun aspect was knowing several children in each age group, youngin’s from our friends and neighbors for whom we could cheer. I say “we” because Caelan was too old to participate (sigh). Brennen remained quite stoic, singing along, but not grooving to the accompanying actions, until a favorite song made it into the line-up. Next thing we knew, he was busting out the robot moves and getting into the jam :) Gabby made it a point to turn away from the screens to show how well she knew the lyrics to the songs (there are big overhead screens within view of the stage, and she didn’t want to “cheat” and read the words posted up there for the slackers, lol ;) Graysen was kind of in the middle . . . a little dancing, a little singing, a little seeing what everyone else was up to. If you want the recap, we have it all on DVD!

Caelan attended her first Middle School Christmas party at church. It also included the high school group, and because it started later, eventually included her younger sibs. I’m her group leader, so of course, I was there to see the foursquare tournament, Christmas tacos, cookies, worship, ugly sweater goofiness and photo booth fun that all found its way into that one busy evening of funness J

The five of us (Buck wasn’t able to make it to enough classes), graduated to our next belts in Karate. I made it to the first belt after the first belt . . . okay, so the second belt (lol, am I ever a rusty writer!) The kids progressed to their yellow from orange, so their third belts. We also discovered, that at the next promotion we need to bump it up to the black belt training program (which means buying weapons for each child and sparring gear for each child). It also means we have longer classes and can attend more each week. I’m thinking about just pitching the tent the kids got for Christmas in the corner, and living at the club part time. Sheesh! I think we’ve got it worked out so the kids are just going to borrow the sparring gear, which knocks a solid $800 off our price tag (gasp!) Our “cheap” training just caught up with us J

I think that brings us to the festivities directly pertaining to the celebration of Christmas. Yeah . . . catching up! :) Nope, wait, we’ve got a birthday first!

Back to Blogging

Well, you’ve seen my first couple goes at getting this blog back in motion. In all honesty, I never intended to revive it. I was soooooooo burnt out from writing. However, seeing the sweet (and sometimes hilarious) moments that I’ve recorded over the years . . . I’m kind of kicking myself for “losing” the past 18 months. With that said, I did order a couple of facebook My Social Books for the time period not covered by the blog. At least I’ll have the descriptions of our adventures that I typed along with all those Dad Fun Day Adventure pictures I posted. Plus it’s kind of fun to see all the positive comments from friends and family. We’ll see if it was worth the change when they arrive in the mail.

 

Oh, and I think I’m going to figure out how to privatize this too. I don’t need the whole world to have access to our diary of family memories (CEA aren’t you proud of me? ;) Anyway, I realized I was starting to write “in my head” again . . . I don’t know if other “writers” do this, but when I’m in a situation, I start writing about it or thinking how I would express it if I were to write it down (write being used in the loosest sense, because obviously I am typing it down J)

 

FYI, I spent quite some time last night writing December through now (as you had so sincerely hoped CEA). Hold on to your hat . . . well, actually, I feel kind of not all well today, so it may be a couple days, but it's written. If you're patient, it will come . . . IDK . . . :)

Feeling Fancy

Knowing our New Year's celebration would be pretty low key, my husband brought home some fancy cheese and sparkling cider for us to enjoy. And then . . . everyone (but me!) got sick. So we have this plank of fancy-shmancy cheese in the fridge that we finally cracked into about 10 days later. We chose our favorites and then saved the rest to share with the kids . . . new culinary experiences and all that ;)

So today for lunch, while eating strawberries (and other things), they sampled Manchengo (sheep's milk cheese), Tipsy Goat (goat's cheese, hence the name), and Iberico (a combination of goat, sheep, and cow milk).

They collectively decided that all of these rather bitter cheeses tasted best when smothered by Triscuits :) I agree, although I do like the Iberico best. To my surprise, the sheep's milk cheese had the most votes for fav! Who knew?

 

As I don't have a picture of G sampling cheese, I will include his quote . . . upon passing around the fancy cheese samples, he pointed out, "You know Grandma Judi makes cheese." So, there you have it . . . Grandma J--you are on the spot next time we visit. Get your cheese-making gear ready!

Guess who found her password?? :)

You've heard of dog shaming . . . well for my birthday, I got a little 'blog' shaming (from my sis, hee hee).