Goodbye August!

Goodbye August!  

August is an interesting month.  Half summer activities and half getting back to school and schedule.  A transition month to be sure!  Then you are thinking the weather will cool down but nope.  

Transition is hard but good.  Necessary.  Needed.

I hope your transition month is going smoothly!  See ya, August!

Recipe: Homemade Croutons

 Have extra bread and don't want it to go to waste?  Try making homemade croutons!  It's super easy. :)

• Homemade Croutons
• 1 loaf of bread (about 12 oz.), cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning, homemade or store-bought
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, evenly drizzle the olive oil over the bread chunks.  Then evenly sprinkle the Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and pepper over the bread.  Toss gently until well-combined.
3. Spread the bread cubes out in a single layer on a baking sheet.
4. Bake until golden, turning once halfway through cooking to brown all sides of the croutons.  Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the cubes, so watch to be sure that they do not burn. (Mine generally take between 15-20 minutes.)
5. Remove from oven, and let cool completely.  Use immediately, or store in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.

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What a Week!

What a week!  August has sure been busy.  We recently went on a three-day camping trip...starting back to our new school year...teen camp...our oldest going back for her sophomore year of college.  Hopefully, things will settle down in routine as August ends and September begins. :)

Here is a view of the sunset on the Pacific Ocean that I took this month.  There is nothing that quite beats a sunset...anywhere you are. :)

Happy Birthday, Melanie!

Happy birthday to my niece, Melanie!  

Hope you have a fun birthday weekend!

Kylee's 16th Birthday Party

My niece, Kylee, had her 16th birthday party on July 30th.  Part of it was held outside.

It was an Anne of Green Gables theme.  It was a beautiful party and Rachel, Kylee and Autumn put a lot of time and effort into it!

All over, they put little signs from the book and the movie.  This was the Haunted Wood.

Lake of Shining Water

Everywhere you would find books from the author, L.M.Montgomery.

Autumn made this K with beautiful little flowers.

Old-fashioned pens and candles

The gift table.

What a cute idea!  Bouquet of flowers with an old-fashioned hat and tea pot surrounded by pages of Anne of Green Gables. :)  So fun!

Beautiful table setting!

Each place setting had a plate, tea cup, real handkerchief, fan, name card and napkin with a beautiful flower spray.

One of my favorite parts of the movie - a rake and 20 lbs. of brown sugar.  Ha!!

The food table.

Loved the old-fashioned sewing machine and table!

And the old books, slate, pen...Hey Carrots!

The craft table to make flower crowns.

Photo wall.

Some of the items on the food table...berries and plums from their trees. :)

Several kinds of cookies.

Cheese, salami, pepperoni, and cracker tray.

Biscuits with butter, grape and strawberry jam.

Ham and tortilla wraps.

Cucumber dill sandwiches.

Egg salad sandwiches.

Watermelon.

Plum puffs. :)

Lemonade and tea.

Marilla's famous plum puffs from the book/movie!!

Even their swing seemed to go with the theme. :)

Addie and Paige

Tabi and Summer

Lucy and Sierra

Autumn and Kylee

After eating, they made flower crowns they could take home.

Then it was photo wall time. :)

Kylee and Rachel

Cousin photo time!

Sierra, Addie, Autumn, Kylee, and Summer

Me and the sis laughing at how tall I was with my wedge sandals!

Sisters Tabi and Paige - friends of Kylee.

Cousins - Kylee 16 and Addie 18

Friends-Paige and Kylee

Friends-Tabi and Kylee

Cousins-Autumn 16 and Kylee 16

Friends-Kylee and Lucy

Cousins-Sierra 14 and Kylee 16

Dad and Daughter - Adam and Kylee

Uncle and Niece - Eric and Kylee

Aunt and Niece - Me and Kylee :)

Group photo - love it!

Cousins-Kylee 16 and Summer 11

Friends-Tabi and Summer

Three-legged race

The sack race

Opening gifts.

Homemade carrot cake with vanilla ice cream.  

Of course, CARROT cake!

Enjoying a glass of raspberry cordial. :)

Then we went inside and played an Anne of Green Gables trivia game that Autumn created especially for the party with movie clips and personalized answer sheets.  She did a great job and we had a lot of fun trying to answer the questions!

Again, great job to Rachel, Kylee, and Autumn who worked so hard to put this party together!