Montana State Fair

Today, Rocky took Maggie (and Grandma Alana) to the fair. They went at the right time, as kids 5 and under were free, seniors were free and they went at lunch so Rocky’s entrance fee was returned if they left before 2, [and of course, they did!]

Maggie LOVED it! She got to ride lots of different rides and told her dad the mini-roller coaster was the best ride EVER!! She told me the best part was the Dizzy Dragon, “and I didn’t even get dizzy!”

I Come to the Garden

I did do a garden this year, but haven’t been able to spend much time in it, much less taking pictures of it.  Too many kids/puppies to keep an eye on.  I have been blessed with a garden that does so well with minimal watching.  This year, we did strawberries, tomatoes, basil, rosemary, potatoes, peas, lettuce, corn, carrots, pumpkins and watermelon.  We’ve enjoyed a lot of lettuce, a few peas and some beautifully plump carrots so far.  I’ve got a lot of green tomatoes and the corn is starting to get silks.  The pumpkin blossoms are now leaving plump starts of pumpkins and I found 2 teeny tiny starts to watermelon.  I’m trying hard to keep the potatoes and carrots in the ground longer as the longer they stay the sweeter they get.  We did pull some beautiful carrots last night that were almost there.  As my mom said, they tasted like dirt – in the right way!

Swimming Lessons

Does anything quite say summer like swimming lessons? We have finally gotten Maggie into lessons at the YMCA and she LOVES it. She has no problem now getting her face wet and just loves every. single. second of her time in the pool. She is learning the basics of the front crawl and back stroke. After lessons are over, she has to show me how she can swim to various parts of the pool. This is the hard part of it, because with Rocky working Saturdays, I’ve got both girls in the pool and it’s so hard to give Maggie the attention she needs and keep a hold of Jessie when all she wants to do is get out. Jessie is in lessons too, though her lessons are more about getting the kids used to being in the water and an introduction to blowing bubbles, jumping in and a little bit of kicking. She might be just a bit young for it, but she’ll be in it next year (you have to be 3 to be in the class Maggie’s in) and will really get a lot out of it then.

Rocky was able to come by lessons one morning and got the photos!

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Don't You Wish You Were At My House for Supper?

Several years ago I was inspired to try making slow cooked bbq ribs after watching Alton Brown's "Good Eats" episode on ribs. It starts with a rub that ends up used as a starter for the sauce. My rub starts with his recipe but usually uses what I have. This time I used:
6 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp each: red pepper flakes, parika, Old Bay, cinnamon, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, cocoa powder
Mix well. It's best if you let it air over night to let the flavor meld.

The ribs: this works best with pork baby back ribs but I'm getting better with spare ribs. Spare ribs are a little harder to prep. You want to trim most of the fat and what I call the "film" from the ribs. Leave a little for flavor and cooking with. Put the ribs is a large foil pouch still open and cover with the rub. I find this recipe will coat 2 slabs fairly thick. Cover and seal the foil pack and refrigerate over night or at least 8 hours.

The next day preheat oven to no more than 200 F. Cook ribs in foil pack for 4 hours. Remove from oven and open small part of one corner of foil and drain juices. Separate fat and reserve liquid for bbq sauce.

The sauce:
In a sauce pan combine
Liquid from ribs
1 cup Coke
1/2 cup ketchup
3 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp honey
3 dash Worcestershire
A few dashes each of garlic, salt,
pepper
Cook over medium high heat until reduced.

Remove sauce from heat and ribs from oven. Ribs should be ready to fall off the bone. Remove top piece of foil and brush or spoon on sauce. Place ribs under broiler at high and carmelize the sauce 3-4 minutes. Watch ribs to prevent burning. Let ribs cool slightly. Cut into 2 ribs sections and toss with remaining sauce. Enjoy!!

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My almost 6 year old

In about 2 and 1/2 weeks, Maggie starts Kindergarten. She has gotten so tall and refuses to hear any talk about her being anything other than a “Big Kid.”  She loves to read to us (and is getting really good at it) and enjoys practicing her math skills with workbooks.  She is so looking forward to Kindergarten.

 

14 months of Jessie

 

The child rarely stands still long enough for a photo, but at least it is easy to capture her outstanding personality!