Another project weekend

We had lots of projects lined up for the weekend... some we planned for, and some we didn't.

We planned on working some more on the front flower bed. The boys did a great job!!


We decided to not try to extend the bed down the side of the house just yet. We are excited by how just the front bed looks now... we love it! Now it's time for me to go flower shopping!!



We also spent the weekend replacing a dead battery in one of the cars, running kids to different activities, shopping for Easter basket stuff, hitting the dollar movie (I am Number Four was awesome!!), and we even managed to sneak in a little bit of relaxing.

Hope you had a great weekend, and an enjoyable Easter Sunday!

There she goes again...

Meg is being all creative!

She grabbed my camera and headed out the other morning to take pictures of the peonies and irises.


And I think she did a great job!

Blooms and Faces

Blooms

Very slowly this week, my peony has started bursting out of its shell!

Friday morning:


Saturday:


Sunday:


It smells heavenly, and there are 2 more buds just waiting to open up. I'm so excited!!

Faces

This is the face of my youngest before she left for her first church youth dance! She was really excited, and she had a fun time!


These are the faces (and hands) of the two youngest after they devoured some wings:


It has been a busy weekend. I am sad to see it come to an end. I really wish I could get a three day weekend every weekend. Saturdays are used for catching up around the house/running errands, Sundays are Church days (having services in the middle of the afternoon really cuts down on my Sunday rest time... just saying!), and I need one extra day just to do something that I want to do. It could be anything... crafting, reading, road trip. Just something fun and relaxing!

Oh well... enough complaining! Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Diggin' in the dirt

I am not known for being a very patient person. When I get an idea in my head, I want to do it right then. My hubby, on the other hand, is a fan of "some day". You know... that will be nice to do "some day". Well, we have been talking about different projects that we want to do outside around the house. Barry suggested that one day we should get a clip board and walk around outside and write down everything we want to do. That way we have a list of weekend projects that we can work from. I thought that was a great idea, so yesterday while the shrimp stock was boiling away, I grabbed him and a clip board and we headed outside.

We have always hated the bushes in the front of the house. There are at least 3 or 4 different varieties out there, and they don't make any rhyme or reason. And on top of that, there was a HUGE butterfly bush that was taking over everything. We wrote down our plans for the front, then started wondering about the cost of some of our ideas. I suggested a quick trip to Lowe's to price some things. He agreed, but stated that we were NOT buying anything today... $40 later we were on our way back home! Barry gave me a bit of a dirty look, and stated that he was sure it was my diabolical plan to make him actually work yesterday!

Well, he did work very hard. He and the boys removed several bushes, transplanted some others, and we planted a couple of new things as well. It looks so much better out front! We are also going to extend a bed around the side of the house and plant some more things there.

I tried to find a good before picture... I forgot to take one before we got started. The only one I could really find was taken during one of the snows we had over the winter... I'll post it just so you can get an idea of what we did. So, before:


And after:


We got rid of all the bushes in the front row, and the overgrown butterfly bush that was taking over everything. We got two new boxwoods to match the three in the back that we liked. We kept/transplanted the gladiolus and the irises, and I put in an azalea.


My plan is to put in two more... one on either end of the bed. In the front of the bed, where we removed the bushes, I'll plant flowers. Then we want to extend the bed down this side of the house... we transplanted a couple of bushes there:


We have a small little area to the right of the entrance. When we moved in, there was one little bush planted there, and then tons of monkey grass that was choking the poor thing to death. We removed the grass, but the bush never really seemed to fill out and look any better. We removed it yesterday, too, and replaced it with a peony. I am really excited about that... I love them!


And it's almost ready to bloom, too!!


We got a little pink (okay, red!) out in the sun yesterday... or maybe that was just me! But it was worth it, and when we get it all looking like we want it to look, I will be so thrilled! I'm thankful that my hubby put up with me yesterday, and my boys helped to provide some of the labor. I knew having teenage boys would pay off one day! ;)

Shrimp Etouffee

A while back, Barry decided that we should have shrimp etouffee for dinner. He got online and researched some recipes. Then we forgot all about it! Last week as I was putting together my menues and grocery shopping list, he mentioned it again. I got the recipe (actually a series of recipes), and we added the ingredients we needed to the shopping list. Because we were making everything from the creole seasoning mix to the shrimp stock to the actual etouffee from scratch, we knew we would need a Saturday to put it all together. We just don't have that kind of time on a week night.

Yesterday we decided was the day to make it. We started out with fresh shrimp with shells and tails on. Barry took care of prepping the shrimp while I chopped the veggies. For the stock, we needed the tails and shells of the shrimp, and some onions, celery, garlic, lemons, bay leaves, fresh thyme and peppercorns.


That has to simmer for about an hour, and it smelled really good! After it was finished we let it cool, then strained it.

When it was time to make the etouffee, we made up the creole seasoning... lots of garlic, paprika, salt, pepper (black and cayenne... also called for white, but we couldn't find that).


We used this to season the shrimp and the sauce.

We began by sweating some onions, bell peppers, celery and garlic.


Then we made a roux, and then added the shrimp stock. Next we added chopped tomatoes and fresh herbs.


That cooked and thickened for a while, then we added the shrimp and let that cook until the shrimp was done.


We then served it over rice... and it was so yummy!!!


Josh decided he needed to make his plate look like it came straight from a restuarant chef... the rest of us just piled it up!

Some of our kiddos do not like shrimp, but we made them eat some of it anyway. They decided that they liked the rice and sauce by itself, but they were still not fans of the shrimp. I loved it all the way around, and so did Barry. Those who do not like shrimp asked us if we could make it again but use chicken instead. I'm thinking some yummy smoked sausage would be good in it, too.

And special thanks to Megan for being out photographer! Her daddy asked her to document this dish. I'm not sure which needed documenting more, the new dish, or her daddy in the kitchen! He is a great cook, but doesn't do it often.

What the...

Hail!!

A couple of weeks ago we had a pretty bad storm roll through on a Saturday night. I can usually sleep through thunder storms, but I was jarred awake by a huge clap of thunder, then heard the unmistakable sound of hail hitting the house. It sounded like it was the size of golf balls, and scared me to death. I got up and grabbed the camera... this is what we found outside:


Thankfully we did not have any major damage from it. Some of the plants in the garden looked a little ragged, but they are all coming back nicely now.

I love a good spring thunderstorm, but I think I can live without the hail.