Would Grover Have Liked This?

 My daughter, Leah, got me interested in emeals.  (Read her blog here.)  They provide a week's worth of meals, recipes and shopping list.  Leah uses the organic menus which are for Whole Foods for 4 people. 

 Ours is Walmart Low Fat for two people.  Tonight we had the menu above with the recipes below.  It was delicious and under 200 calories.

 But, when I got the "kale chips" out of the oven, I had to think of my father-in-law Grover who used to eat dinner with us.  One night, he accused me of feeding him weeds out of my garden (mixed greens) and he really didn't go for stir-fried green beans.  Beans were supposed to cook all day on the stove with bacon!

I am sure he would have thought I'd lost my mind with these Kale chips---maybe accuse me of giving him toasted sea weed. . .or he would have told me how his mother stewed it on the stove for three days.  Really, Grover, they were delicious!  Yeah, I can imagine you shaking your head in Heaven! 

Birthdays in Webster!

 Last weekend I went to my cousin's to celebrate two of her grandchildren's birthdays---Kyle and Delaney.

 It was great seeing everyone since so many live out of town including Kyle, above!

 And it was great seeing the ones in town, too.

 Kathy has done a beautiful job with her decorating outside and inside making it a great place for a family party.

The mantel says it all---family is important even as spread out as we are today.

Spring Break St. Louis Part II

After Rachel's family spent Spring Break in St. Louis,  Rebecca and Roman also came for a visit.  The weather was again beautiful, so we went to the zoo again.  The St. Louis Zoo is so large, we didn't duplicate much from the week before.  The Reptile House was high on both families' list. :-(

Roman loves to climb as you will see in the photos.  The photo above has him on Phil the Gorilla whom I remember seeing when I was a child at the zoo.  He took great joy in harassing visitors by splashing them with water and tossing various food items out of his cage---the gorilla that is, not Roman.

The high-light of this visit was seeing the baby elephant and daddy Raja below.

Lately, I have been buying the kids "face-painting" rather than a trinket at the zoo store.  Roman chose a dragon for his arm.  That night we watched High School Musical Three and ate ice cream.

 We finally got all of Kansas City's rain on Thursday, so Roman played in the basement, then donned Grandpa's raincoat for a walk in the drizzle.

We had a great visit---I wish the grandchildren lived closer, but I can't complain as long as I see them once a week---so who's next?

Spring Break St. Louis Part 1

 Rachel and her kids came last week to spend a few days of Spring Break with us.  The weather was beautiful, so we had several outdoor activities.  Usually, we go to Longview Park.  Click here and click here.

 But, we decided to go to Queeny Park this time.  It's just as close as Longview and the park my children played in when they were children.

The playground isn't as grand as it used to be, but the kids still enjoyed hiking and playing there.  The next day, we went to the zoo, but parked at a different entrance which had us exploring some new sections of the zoo.

 We went to the Children's Zoo where the kids enjoyed petting a hedgehog, sliding down a slide by an otter water attraction.

 

 We also went in the Insectarium which has a butterfly room---not as big as the butterfly house, but still fun for the kids.

 We did get to see other parts of the zoo, but my camera took a holiday?

Rachel's Art

 As I mentioned in an earlier blog, I love children's art.  While cleaning out my basement, I found several boxes of my daughters' art from elementary school.  While Rachel was in town last week, I dug her art out.

 This was her daughter Libby's favorite---a kite.

 Not sure why everyone is so brown here, but I like the outlining---really makes those colors pop.

 The playground at Henry School doesn't have this any more, but Rachel's kids found one at the zoo.  Rachel said they always called it "The Eagle's Nest".

 This one is my favorites---I may regret letting it go.  The wing is out-lined in glitter!

 Rachel apparently went through a Garfield phase. . .

 Bet you never thought you'd see a photo of animals being herded by two Garfields!

Although this one had no name, Rebecca and Leah agree that it has all of the ear marks of Rachel!  If you are interested in seeing where all of this art took Rachel, click here.

Women's Retreat Day Two

 After a good night's sleep, we woke up early for Yoga with Pastor Susan,

 Followed by more Spiritual enrichment.

Women's Retreat Day One

 About 30 women from our church went to Todd Hall in Columbia, IL for a 24 hour retreat.

 We spent most of our time in Cramner Hall

 But, had comfortable clean rooms to stay in at night.

 We had several hours of socializing while women arrived.  We had several who brought their knitting.  But, most of us just brought our social skills.