I 'm off to Ohio to see Carter...

Lucky me...I will be spending the next 10 days with this cute little guy...I just can't wait to get my hands on him again!!

Young love....

My beautiful niece was asked the "big question"....the families were all invited out to Lake Ontario to witness the proposal. We all hid inside a cabin, cameras on zoom, and watched with anticipation as he asked her to spend the rest of her life with him...

And she said YES!! Which was a good thing because about 50 people were waiting to "jump out" of the cabin as soon as he waved his hand.




What a joyful evening....what a beautiful engagment ring....what a lovely couple!!

Blueberry Pickin'...

My husband has never been blueberry picking, so that is how we spent our Sunday morning.


When I was young, our family used to climb Pleasant Mountain in Bridgeton, Maine to pick blueberries. My Grandparents lived there and my Grandfather had a HUGE vegetable garden (his gardening talents were not passed down through the generations!). Food was always fresh and homemade whenever we visited. And my grandmother always made breads.

So what did we do with our "harvest"? I made lemon-blueberry bread and we froze the rest of the berries. John puts blueberries on his cereal every morning and I will make blueberry muffins when we return from Ohio.


Lemon Blueberry Bread:
Cream together:
3/4 c sugar
1/4 c butter
Add:
2 eggs
peel of 1 lemon
Mix in:
2 c flour
1t salt
3/4 cup milk
1t baking powder
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
Bake in greased loaf pan @350' for 1 hour
Glaze:
2T lemon juice and 2 T sugar - pour over immediately after baking, then cool

And what do you do after a morning of picking? Go out to lunch, of course, at the Edgewater Grill, along the river:


I think we have begun a new summer tradition in our family, BLUEBERRY PICKING! In a few years, we will bring Carter along and I will tell him stories about my summers in Maine.

My sister-in-law's garden...

This is what I want my garden to look like...but as you already know, I hate to garden:



But what I can do is make a good Pina Colada Fruit Dip to eat in her garden:
Pina Colada Dip:
1 small box instant coconut pudding
8 oz crushed pineapple
1/2 cup sour cream
3/4 cup milk
Mix with a electric mixer and chill for about 1 hour. serve with fresh fruit.

What a little bit of paint can do....

Isn't this a cute sewing table? I bought it at a garage sale for $5.00 and decided to use it to hold my sewing supplies, but the wood was in poor shape....so, a little bit of paint turned it into this:
Stay tuned to see what I have been sewing.....

My girls...

There's something about this photo that reminds me of an old ad from the 1960's - perhaps a RayBan ad? Not sure, but aren't they beautiful babes? And yes, they are mine!

He makes me smile...

Carter at 2 weeks

Boredom awakens my creativity....

I was bored today so I painted an old table that was given to me a few months ago. It was in bad shape, the veneer was lifting and it was very scratched.
A little sanding, priming and spray painting brought it back to life. The white stripes were a bit too sharp for my home so I dulled the white with some watered down tan paint....and voila....a funky table by my front door!

Happy Hour

"SKIP AND GO NAKED" (This is my favorite summer happy hour slushy):

Fill a blender with ice
Plop in 1/2 large can of frozen pink lemonade
Add 1/2 can of beer and 1/2 can vodka and blend
Freeze for a few hours
Serve the slushy in tall glasses and add some Ruby Splash Sierra Mist.

Rain, rain, go away....

It's raining in Central NY and it is gloomy, so I went into iPhoto for some sun. These are a few pics taken in the Carribean. They will have to do until the sun returns!

The Boppy

Here's Carter in his "baby boppy" at 8 days old. Whoever invented the "boppy" probably made a gazillion bucks....I think of many times, years ago, when I would prop up my babies with pillows and towels and blankets to take photos or to help them to strengthen their muscles....why didn't I invent the boppy? And why didn't I invent "bottled water" or "90 second microwave rice", or even the "TV remote control". How did I ever survive without these simple, but fabulous, inventions? Just think, I could have been a "gazillionaire!!"

NICU

Carter spent a few days in the NICU and was the largest baby in the unit. (the nurses nicknamed him Bubba as they are so used to caring for preemies - and Carter doesn't fall into that category, at all!) Lucky me, I got to spend some quiet times with him, feeding him, swaddling and rocking, and attempting to brainwash him into believing that I am the #1 grandmother. He came home Friday and is as healthy as can be. Leaving him in Ohio was very difficult and I look forward to seeing him again next month - -For now, thank goodness for digital photos, the internet and skype!

Carter arrived

It was a long wait but he is beautiful...8lbs 11oz and just perfect...here he is one minute old!