My favorite part of this little video is certainly Oakley’s obliteration, but the rest of it is fun too. Last night, we watched some video taken by the late, great Thelma. I was struck by the fact that even really bad video can become exceptionally valuable/enjoyable with the passage of time. Hopefully this is reasonably fun, even now.
Ripped!
30 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | 1 Comment | 46 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: aspen, duck, lindy, oakley, video
34 of Our Closest Relatives
28 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | 2 Comments | 84 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: aspen, family, jenn, lindy, oakley, tim
Each summer over the last 14 years, I’ve made the same joke. “I’m going to the beach with 30 of Jenn’s closest relatives.”
No one ever believes me… not until now. Now I have proof.
34 leaves on Edward & Drucilla Williams’ Family Tree
What Have We Been Doing?
28 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | No Comments | 51 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: aspen, duck, lindy, oakley
Father’s Day Architecture
23 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | 1 Comment | 66 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: art, oakley
Check out this father’s day card from Oakley… Our girls have often drawn our house, which I think is really cool. Sometimes they take the time to get the parts of the house right, down to the colors of their respective rooms.
This time, though, Oakley decided to kick it 3D-style. She did this totally on her own, and gave it to me… Pretty awesome.
Strawberry Preserves
17 Jun 09 by Jenn Martin | 2 Comments | 124 view(s)Categories: food | Tags: breakfast, preserves, strawberry
Make these. Quick! Strawberry season is almost over. Come winter when you open your pantry looking for inspiration for breakfast or “breakfast for dinner” (my fave!), you’ll be glad you did.
*Note: After attending a canning class last Saturday at our local Ag Expo where I missed the hallway for the classroom and ended up being mesmerized by a calf-roping competition in the arena before remembering why I was there in the first place (much like this post!), I’m sure I’ll go to hell for sharing this unapproved canning method. But, hey, it works for me - as does this non-traditional jam-making technique. By macerating strawberries in sugar overnight and then cooking the syrup, not the berries, for the bulk of the time you get soft-set preserves with big berry chunks and distinct fresh-strawberry flavor. Delicious on toast, biscuits, pancakes, PBJ’s, yogurt, ice cream, or just straight off the spoon! It’s like summer in a jar.
Sausage Balls, a guest food post
14 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | No Comments | 98 view(s)Categories: food | Tags: bisquick, oakley, sausage
That’s right, folks, I, Tim, am doing a food post. We’ve been eating sausage balls for years, but today, we venture into the post Bisquick world… today we create them from scratch…
Hula Hoop Throwdown
11 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | 5 Comments | 164 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: aspen, jenn, lindy, oakley, tim, video
Ask yourself this… are you ready for a throwdown? –Bobby Flay
Bobby Flay has a show on The Food Network in which he travels the country challenging various cooks to make their favorite dish in a competition with him.
A couple of days ago, Angie suggested that sharing Oakley’s hula hooping skills wouldn’t be enough… We needed to provide some context… We need to know from whence she got her skills.
And so, the Hula Hoop Throwdown was born. Was I ready for a throwdown? Yes I was.
Brentwood News::A New High School?
10 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | No Comments | 93 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: brentwood
Since I know a few of the readers of this blog are Brentwood residents with kids, I thought I’d go ahead and share a bit of news I came across. My source is Susan Leathers’ blog, Brentword.
The fact that Ravenwood is already overpopulated and headed for a collection of Learning Cottages is interesting. This quote, even more so…
The rep indicated the county is looking for land/site for a new high school in the northeast part of the county, perhaps by the 2011 school year, but obviously no promises, and there did not seem to be great conviction this would occur.
Personally, I wouldn’t have guessed that an additional high school would go in the northeast corner of the county. But, I’m somewhat uninformed. While this is certainly no guarantee, it is an indication that it’s a possibility. And the time frame is well within the realm of my kids.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t be thrilled or crushed if a new one came along that affected my kids’ destination… but I suspect a few of the folks I live near would be.
Monkey Bars
9 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | 1 Comment | 114 view(s)Categories: family | Tags: lindy
I don’t like the monkey bars… Why? Well, I might point to the fact that lifting girls onto monkey bars constantly is work. Or the fact that watching them fall is terrifying. Or I could even be honest with you and admit that I hate them because I could never do them! (Oakley’s hula hoop dominance will be a matter for another post too!)
Borax, not Borat
8 Jun 09 by Tim Martin | No Comments | 76 view(s)Categories: food, garden | Tags: ants
When the strawberry orgy was mid-flight, we were not the only ones enjoying it. That’s right, hundreds of ants decided that they, too, were worthy of the sweet goodness of the strawberry. And they figured they might as well walk right into our kitchen.
Many families would run right out and buy some ant traps, or call in the exterminator. In fact, I had some ant traps in my hand at Target, but we decided to trust the “internet” on this one.
Jonathan Hatch provided the recipe, and I have to say, it’s worked for us!
- 1 cup hot tap water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons of Borax
Mix it up, soak some cotton balls in it, and throw the balls wherever you see the ant trails. They eat up the sugar, get a load of the Borax, and take it back home with them. Success (so far).
How great is that? A detergent as a pesticide…