well now THAT was a weekend!!!

First of all, I need to wish some happy birthdays to Miss Suzanne Eleanor, who is in California, she turned 19 yesterday. We sang to her, and we miss her.

(that's Wulf in my arms)

So here are a few pics of Miss Suze:


Did you know that once upon a time I had four boys and four girls? (Emily, Abigail, Mirielle, Mali and Benjamin, Joseph, Aaron, and Sam). That tie breaker was Margaret, the girls were winning! But winning was not enough for the girls, no, Margaret was the first of five girls in a row in five years. She was five years old when Sonja was born, and Kathryn, Evelyn, and Suzanne were between them. (then baby Robert was "born", then Jonathan, Charlotte Claire, and Camille)
Here's Margaret Cheryl, Kathryn Grace, Evelyn Joy, Suzanne Eleanor, and Sonja Kathleen:



...with my eleven daughters. I know, I know, you've seen it before, but I like it, ha.

Saturday was Mirielle's birthday.


Here are a few cute pics I stole from the girls...they had a get together Friday night with a few of their friends...

Third from the top is Cam, then Char, then the two next to each other Margaret and Evelyn (in green), then Sonja in peach...looks like so much fun.


Margaret on the bottom, friend Anna, Evelyn, Cam and Sonja on top, then Miss Char on the very top.

So the weekend: at our church, we have a conference center nearby. We are rather centrally located, so we have weekends where gatherings happen, our friends come from Canada and Ohio and and and, therefore we have accommodations, such as cabins, dorms, and campers, at our conference center. So there is a new project going on in which two of the dormitory buildings are being renovated into more family friendly units, with kitchenettes, ect. Construction crews came to start the demolition of the old rooms this past weekend, and guess who was in charge of the meals? Yeah, me. Friday night was shopping for four meals for 35+ people. Saturday, 12 hours of cooking and serving, with help from Char and Cam and a few other friends here and there.

We had: scrambled eggs with cheese for brekky, Jon made them. Sausages, cantaloupe, blueberries, English muffins, little cinnamon bagels, donuts, ect.

Lunch: fajita chicken (boneless breast in crockpots, with taco seasoning and salsa), rice, red, green, and yellow peppers, Mexican shredded cheese, sour cream, ect.

Dinner: Pork loin roast, which had marinated in lemon juice. I rubbed it with brown sugar, salt and pepper, some steak seasoning...it went in the oven with a foil tent, which was removed for the last bit of roasting, fat side up, sizzled it up nicely. Sliced it up, then doused the slices with melted butter with garlic and parmesan cheese. We also served roasted potatoes and carrots, green beans, Vienna bread with butter, and apple sauce (jars of unsweetened applesauce, with about 15 apples, peeled and sliced into, with cinnamon and a little sugar sprinkled on top, baked in the oven.

Dessert: brownies we baked in the afternoon, some M&Ms, boxed chocolate chip cookies.

Sunday morning brekky similar but with pancakes, thanks to my brother Bob, who came out to help.

The food came out really good, and believe me, this is not a pat-myself-on-the-back post. It's more like phew. I did it. By the grace of God, things came out well. There is always the doubt and second guessing, timing the food, quantities, and did I forget something MAJOR? So when the day is done, and your feet hurt like the dickens, and all you want is your comfy chair and a hot cup of decaf, and the day was a success...food all served hot and done and there was plenty, but not tons of waste, wow. It's a good feeling, to know you blessed your friends by doing your best.

These weekends will be going on for the next few months, but it won't be falling all on me in the future, as more are stepping up, and Emily is back from her weekend in Florida. I do have more meal ideas though...I think it's nice to serve hot, hearty, food, when they've been working so hard in the cold.

Anyway, it was a busy weekend. Margaret and Adrian came over for dinner last night, with Wulf. We had steak, a huge nice salad with bacon, blueberries, and strawberries in it, really good. We had green beans too.

Somehow, Suri didn't go in anyone's room last night, and somehow, the garbage can didn't get locked in the laundry room, and somehow, Ms Suri-pants smelled those steak bones, and yeah, what a mess. She looked so guilty. But she couldn't help herself, I suppose, it smelled so good, she had to tip the entire can over, and rummage. The parchment paper from the oven...yum! (I browned them in olive oil in frying pans, then baked them for a bit in the oven). She is a very very bad doggie, but it's not her fault. Who of us, when tempted by the thing that is yummiest to us, can resist? We need to improve our communication around here and make sure she is in someone's room at night. Because apparently, she gets a little hungry at night, a little peckish. She's like a big fat bear, snoring on the couch. I saw the mess that greeted me this morning, the Monday morning surprise, and thought that well, the floor needs a good mopping anyway.