49th Annual Peach Jamboree

The third full weekend of every June our local community hosts the Stonewall Peach Jamboree. This is the first year we've had the privilege to attended as locals.

Connor road on the Boy Scout float in the parade. He also entered the peach pie contest. He didn't win a ribbon, but his pies were gorgeous for an eight year old who did the work himself - down to the homemade crust!


Both boys participated in the Mutton Busting at the rodeo. It was their first experience with the sport. Logan had the 4th high score out of the 25 kids (of all ages) that he road against. Connor also ran is heart out in the calf scramble.

I entered peach preserves and won with the family peach preserve recipe. I can't really take credit for the win since it's a family recipe that was handed down from my great-grandmother.

It is so wonderful to live in a small community!

The Mighty Hunter

Obituary

This morning at 6:32 a.m. Arnie A. Armadillo went to be with his maker. He encountered enemy fire while digging holes in the yard of a Texas Hill Country farmhouse. He will not be survived by any children and will not be missed. Arnie was proceeded in death this week by three rather large scorpions.

Rest in Peace.

War. It's War at my house. Armadillos and Scorpions are on my hit list. I am not a mighty hunter. My weapon of choice is to holler for my husband or boys and let them do the killing. I'm admittedly scared of bugs with stingers and pinchers, don't particularly care for snakes, and have a strong distaste for anything that digs in my yard or tries to kill my chickens. My guys have been gone the past few days so the killing has fallen on my shoulders. This morning I looked out my kitchen window to find a cute little armadillo digging up my yard. I saw red, got the .22 and went hunting. Happy Friday!

Just Plum Good

I am very blessed to have one of the most genuinely giving and kind hearted Christian women I know for a mother. One of my favorite things about her is her happiness. She takes it everywhere she goes and shares it with everyone around her without even knowing she does it. I am so blessed that after 15 years of moving around Texas, I have the privilege of living just up the hill from Oma.

She has more talents than I can list. She is a wonderful cook. Wields a mean flyswatter when the grand-kids get out of hand, I love that about her! And, she makes amazing homemade jellies, preserves, and jams. Yesterday Logan and I helped her make plum jam and jelly.

Isn't that pretty!

And the best part is we got to have fresh heaven in a jar on our toast this morning for breakfast.

My favorite part of this specific batch of jam is that my mom picked the plums herself from a tree at my grandparents house in San Saba, TX. By the way, she climbed the plum tree!

Mowing The Yard

I walked outside this afternoon to find my guys mowing the yard.

How fast little boys turn into little men.

This is a shot of the fire-wheels that are all around the house right now. Lousy grazing for the milk cow, but beautiful the look at!

The Amazing Wedge

I don't get to town much these days. And by town I mean the small town of Fredericksburg, TX. It is even more rare that I travel to an urban destination that has a franchise other than Sonic or Dairy Queen. I've been craving a wedge salad from a favorite big city restaurant for weeks and finally decided to re-create. It is just so so so yummy I wanted to share. I'll confess I don't usually have candied pecans or Gorgonzola cheese on hand in my kitchen, but it was so worth the splurge.



1 Wedge Iceberg Lettuce

Chopped Granny Smith Apple

Sun Dried Tomato Slices

Chopped Candied Pecans

Crumbled Bacon Pieces

Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

Garlic Ranch Dressing*



Plate the iceberg wedge. Drizzle on the ranch and top with the remaining ingredients. That's all folks! Just dig in and get ready for your tongue and tummy to tango!



*I use homemade ranch dressing. Here is a great link for a ranch dressing recipe. Roasted garlic can be substituted for fresh garlic if you want a sweeter mellow taste. The fresh garlic gives the dressing a nice bite that I happen to love and works beautifully with this salad.

Little One

Our "Little One" turned five today. So we celebrated our sweet Logan and the blessing of his addition to our family.

Presents...............

Hot dog roast in the backyard followed by a pinata....

A friendly round of birthday spankings................

And the finale - Logan requested a Chocolate Cherry Candy Covered Cake .........

Bluebonnet Blues

I have been trying to take a good bluebonnet picture of my boys for the past three years. I have a few friends who can attest to this as they've tried to help me with the project - boys will be boys and I have 100 bluebonnet blooper shots but nothing frame worthy.

You can imagine my excitement when about a month ago I found young bluebonnet plants popping up on the hill in my backyard. Surely I can get a decent picture of my boys in these flowers now that I don't have to go further than my backyard. So this morning I grabbed me camera determined to get some candid shots before the flowers disappear. Please note here that being the mom of two boys I am out numbered three to one in the male to female ration in my house. And while my darling husband humors me, boys just don't want to sit in a bunch of stink'n flowers and pose for their mother to take pictures - no mater what you say. And once again I find myself with the bluebonnet blues.


Just for fun throw in a dog who wants to play fetch in the bluebonnets,

then add a few nosey chickens.....................

What is perfection anyway?

THE END