Stuff I Love!

 I love watching my kids watching their kids....

 I love watching Sophie playing soccer...

 I love seeing the ball go flying towards the goal....

AND.... I love the boom of the Badger Canon marking a goal and finally a winning game!  This years Badgers look strong and healthy.  

Easy as Peach Pie!

 Ceci's cross country team is having a car wash and a bake sale this Friday.  Ceci asked me if I would help her make two pies to sale.  Of course I said yes!  I did not mention that it has been more than 30 years since I've made a homemade crust.  I usually cheat and buy the ready-made crust.  But, I have been watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS and decided it was time to try it again.

 Since it's peach season we decided to make fresh peach pies.  Ceci learned a lot of stuff today - how to easily peel a peach was first.  Making the yummy filling was next.  Tapioca, what is that?

 Rolling out the dough and making it fit into a pie dish.  Ceci had never seen my Tupperware mat...

Lattice was next.  Ceci got creative with the moon and the stars.  

 Ready to go into the oven with foil to protect the crust a tip from the test kitchen show.  Ceci was pretty impressed when we took the foil off halfway through baking and the foil wasn't hot.  Interesting.....

 After Ceci made two pies for the sale she made a pie for the family.  Love this rose!

 Isn't this gorgeous??

Ceci with her pies.  

These are the mini-rolls Ceci whipped up with the left-over crust..it's been years since I've sampled one of these gems too!  All in all we had a fantastic time baking today.  Ceci learned "Easy as Pie" can be true and I realized after working all those years and taking shortcuts it's time to get my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook out and do some cooking.  I really do enjoy the results!  

Daytime Visitors

This year we have three Momma's hanging out almost every evening.  Around 2 o'clock this afternoon one of the families showed up and I was able to get some pictures of this Mom and her twins.  We also have a Mom with a single and a Doe that lost her fawn to coyote.  Darn that coyote, second year in our area.  At least we didn't see the slaughter like last year.  Bruce just found the remains on the hill.  

 This brave fawn sneaked away from Mom to check out the crab apple trees.  Notice the game cam on the tree?  This morning after leaving a bunch of fruit under the tree last night for the deer, we discovered the game camera was not turned on.  Oops! 

 This fawn used the alone time for some snuggling with his Mom. 

I love watching the deer interact with their families.  This evening we had the single Doe hanging under the tree, no pictures, she is camera shy!  

2019 High School Soccer

 Sophie is a sophomore at Bonners Ferry High School.  The Badgers had their first game on the 24th at Priest River.  Last year the Badgers did not win a game so this year we all have our hopes are up. This is a picture of the team in "prayer" before the game.  Seriously the girls ask a blessing for courage and faith.   What a group.  I admit I am not a "Sports Nut" but I do love seeing kids in uniform.  The grandkids can count on Grami to take pictures and to tell them how cute they are, even the boys.

 What I know about soccer....the game is started with the referees leading the teams onto the field.  All of the kids put their right hand over their heart and left hand on their teammates shoulder for the Star Spangled Banner.

 Each starting player is introduced and takes a step forward and gives a wave.  Sophie is #4, she is giving her family her best smile!

 Sophie had quite the honor - the kickoff kicker for the team!

 Sophie played tough from the get go.

 Heading for the Spartan's goal.

 She's fierce.

 And Sophie is very kind.  So proud to watch her help her teammate off the field.

 Number 11 was the superstar of the Priest River team and Sophie kept her in her sight throughout the entire game.

 Tough kids

 A little ballet..

 Sophie flying down the field.

 Keeping her eyes open for obstacles and where her team members are.

 Protecting the ball.

 Yep, it's Soph's ball.

And after 90 minutes the game was over without a score for either team.  Looking forward to the next game.  

Yard Sale

The Roemers and the Oergels had a yard sale on Friday.  Gia got into the spirit with a little help from her Poppi and Grami.

 Poppi and Gia built and painted the board.  And Grami went through her old Christmas ornaments and Gia set up the display.  The board was just about empty at the end of the day with Gia's profit at about $8.00.  Gia learned about merchandising, sales and customer service.  Great way to end the summer. 

 As far as the rest of the family, we all did pretty darn good.  Sold most of the big stuff and donated the rest.  Nothing came back inside except for the trading Tracy and I did.  These fresh vegetables were brought up for barter from a neighbor. 

It was hard to see by the first picture just how large that onion actually is.  Blooming Onion on the menu for this week!   The Friday sale was a huge success with folks coming from all over the place - Troy, Montana and a couple from Olympia passing through.  The coolest thing, a gentleman casually asked us if we liked our house and we responded that we love our house, the fellow said, "Well, I built this house 22 years ago!"  Neat to meet our neighbors and so many nice people.  

Soccer

 Gia played her first league game on Thursday evening.

 All sizes and boys in this league. 

 Gia knows how to move that ball and play her position. 

Looking forward to the rest of the season.  

Westside Road

Pelicans and Cormorants hanging out in the pond. 

Saturday

I went out to water the strawberry planter this morning and was greeted by this lovely lizard.  Quinn was busy eating bugs so I didn't bug him.  The strawberries are looking great, can't wait for strawberry season next year.  

 We headed into town for Ceci's first High School Cross Country track meet.  While the girls warmed up we were treated to a football team practice.  The boys are looking good.

 Ceci did some great stretches with the Badger team.  The 2 mile race started behind the bleachers and ran up into the hill and finally down to the track.

 Here is Ceci on the home stretch.  About 15 girls behind her!

 Strong to the finish!  Ceci placed a very strong 3rd for her team and 10th in the overall finish.  Not too bad for a freshman.  Go, Ceci, Go!

Tracy and Wes were Marshall's on the field so Gia hung out with Grami and Poppi in the bleachers.  One more year and Gia will be competing in Middle School Cross Country Track.  Oh my!

Cousins - the Oergel kids came over the night and we headed to the Boundary County Fair.  First stop was to check out the Park Model.  Just noticed the kids are all on their knees!  What a crazy room?  We were too late to sign up for the greased pig contest so basically we checked out the animals, ate dinner and headed home.  The Cousins had a ball this morning heading up the hill to play "The Hunger Games", complete with masks and swords.  Fun to watch from the patio!