Roses

My knockout roses are finally beautiful. Of course now everything is freezing over and I won't enjoy them for too much longer. (The hydrangea bush also in this picture is as old as the house. It's one of the only plants still surviving since the house was built in 1991.)

Here is another view. You can see one lonely little knockout rose bush that isn't anywhere near as big as the others. Up until about mid August all of my knockout roses looked like that little one. I'm not sure what kicked in but all of a sudden they started to grow and look great. I think we had too much rain in June and not enough in July to make them behave well. Anyway now they're beautiful.

Purdue!

A big congratulations goes to Leah AND Jennifer! They both have been accepted to Purdue University!! We are very proud. Of course no decisions will be made for many many months but it is very nice to know they have their first acceptance. We probably won't hear from any other schools until after December. 

Happy 85th!

Bob's mom celebrated her 85th birthday yesterday. We ate yummy BBQ before the HS football game. Today we are taking a ride to Brown County to see the beautiful fall colors. 

Forced organization

One of the areas affected by our little flood was a bedroom closet in the basement. Before the flood it didn't look too bad. If you needed wrapping paper, a pipe cleaner, zig zag scissors or some ribbon, glue, glitter or embroidery floss you could easily find it. Because The drywall was soaking wet and the floor was wet too we had to take everything out of the closet. I couldn't believe how much craft crap I had collected over the years. While digging through the mess I realized I have kept things way too long. Many things are going to Good Will or the trash. Most of the cross stitch and scrap booking supplies are leaving the house. I haven't done any of that in 15-20 years!! I did find the cutest little scrapbook Maria made with her sisters. It's very elementary but adorable. In it was this picture from Halloween 2001.  

Aren't Leah and Jenn cute? They were 4 in this picture. Jennifer wanted so badly to be a tiger that year. I have no idea why. And Leah wanted to be a cheerleader. She really didn't care about the color of the costume or the team. She just wanted to have pom poms. As a funny side note, Bob was always the one who walked the girls around the neighborhood. He would smoke a cigar and take them to all the houses that gave the best candy! 

Water

We had a leaky toilet. 

The water slowly leaked into the basement. 

We didn't know about the leak for about 2 weeks. 

Once we figured out what was going on, water had covered the floor in a bedroom and the exercise room. 

It's a mess but I'm glad we caught it before it got worse!

I grew that!

I grew these peppers!! I don't have a real garden but every year I plant some cilantro, parsley, sage, chives, thyme and basil. This year Home Depot had a few sorry looking pepper plants in 3 varieties on clearance for $.10 since it was already July. All the plants were flowering or already had a pepper growing so I knew I would have at least one pepper. The fatter pepper in the bowl isn't spicy at all. It's really good to cook with and I had at least 5 bigger ones all summer. The skinny peppers are very hot and spicy. I have collected more than 20 of those. Maybe I'll grow a tomato plant next year!

Happy b-day Jenn and Leah!!!

The twins are 18!!!

And for a little nostalgia, here are the girls when they turned 11. Leah is on the left and Jenn is on the right. Their best gift that year was a Wii. This year they both got watches for runners with GPS etc. 

Even though we just ate this same cake recipe last week, they requested it again! I made two small cakes but we were very full from dinner and will eat cake today! 

I'm glad I'm not 17

We are busy this week. The girls are on fall break so we are visiting colleges. Leah and Jenn have worked hard so they can really go just about anywhere. I'm very tired of listening to those repetitive admissions presentations. They are all the same and soooooo boring. We visited 5 schools so far and we have 2 left this week. There are 2 more schools that were applied to but they are far away and not as easy to visit. 

Here is what I have learned so far:

•College is rediculously expensive. 

•The most elite schools have the worst admissions/tour program. They think they are good but they are all exactly the same cookie cutter speeches. 

•College food is not healthy. Every school except one has showed us food trucks and fast food options. Show me the cafeteria! And while they are showing us where the real food is, they should show us where the kids will sleep! 

•Students either wear boots or flip flops. That's it. I saw no other footwear. 

•On a college tour the guide is the key. On our list of schools there was one that I was sure would be the winner and the tour was so bad that the girls have no interest anymore. On the other hand, the school that I thought they wouldn't like was the absolute winner so far. 

•I'm glad I am not 17 and have to make this decision. It's tough to choose a college and a major!

Apples and pumpkins

On Saturday we went to AppleWorks. We have been visiting this orchard/pumpkin patch since we moved to Indiana in1996.  In the beginning it was just a small place with a barn, orchard and pumpkin patch. Now it's a huge place! They have a corn maze, zip line, tractor rides, live music, pie, ice cream, nachos... It's huge!  We like it because they let you taste all the different apples and build a bag of the ones you like. I can remember doing this when we would be all alone in the barn. This year there were at least 1,000 people at this quaint place. I'm happy for their succes but I long for the days when we were the only ones in attendance! Leah and Bob tested the apples while Jenn and I searched for jars of local honey and apple butter. We took the tractor out to the pumpkin patch and walked through the vines to find a pumpkin. We took some cute pictures too. 

Birthdays

Today is Bob's birthday but we celebrated yesterday. My parents were visiting so we ate cake in honor of Bob and the twins, who will turn 18 next week. Bob said this cake was the best he has ever had in his entire life. Up until yesterday, our wedding cake had that top honor and he has been dreaming about that cake for 28 years!! 

Both Bob's parents and mine were on hand to sing and eat cake. 

I've been making that cake for Bob for many years. It's just a Pillsberry box yellow cake mix. I think the icing is the key to the success of the cake. I always use the recipe below. My mom passed it onto me way back in 1989.  She got the recipe from her sister Ruth. (Hi Aunt Ruth!!)

Over the years I have changed the recipe a little. I don't melt the butter but I just use it at room temperature. I replaced the water with cream and I doubled the butter. I know. I know. All that fat could make this cake the last one you will ever eat but nobody eats the entire cake right?

 It only took 24 hours for us to finish off this cake!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Last night was out last Parent/Teacher conference for the rest of our lives. Wow. It really wasn't necessary for us to go and talk to the girls' teachers. Their grades are superb, attendance spectacular and participation exemplary. Bob and I have never missed a parent conference for any of the girls. Believe me, we were tempted to skip the the process and go straight to McQ's, the unofficial neighborhood bar and celebrate the accomplishments of our kids with a beer. But we had to go anyway. We had some nice conversations with very talented and devoted teachers. 

I love the high school Leah and Jenn attend. Check out this link to a very cool video about Roncalli!

http://youtu.be/tvMHALNpnWQ

Maria was home

Maria came home this past weekend. It was great to take care of her while she got all 4 of her wisdom teeth out.

My ice contraption is made with two long socks tied together. The ice is in zip lock bags and tucked into each sock. A huge paper clip holds both socks together on top of Maria's head. 

She did great and is already back in AZ. 

Time flies

2 months since my last post? Well I will have to rectify that problem! 

Here are a few pictures from Honecoming the weekend of September 26. 

Leah and Jenn

Jenn was on the Homecoming Court. She didn't win the queen title but both girls are still our princesses! The parents of Leah's date had all the kids over for a beautiful dinner before the dance on Saturday. They have a great group of friends!