Pie Night

For most families, traditions come naturally.  For blended families like ours, we have to work at it.  So when I heard of this idea I really wanted to give it a try and see if we could make it an annual tradition for our family.  Pie Night - where you get together the night before Thanksgiving and eat nothing but pie.  As I thought about it, it made sense to me.  We'll ALWAYS have the girls the night before Thanksgiving so this seemed like a great tradition for our family.  Not to mention there's never enough room after Thanksgiving dinner for all the pie you want to eat!

So, invitations were sent...

The girls and I made acorns from Nutter Butter cookies.  (Thank you Pinterest!)

The church cultural hall was decorated.

And pies filled the table.  (Yes, there's nothing but pie on that table!  The term "a slice of heaven" has a whole new meaning.)

We played Oink! Oink! and Thanksgiving charades but basketball was by far the most fun!

We also got caught up on the latest family gossip. (Sorry about the blurry picture. I'll work on my photo skills for next year.)

Hey!  Did you know Chelsea and Adam are expecting?!

 

 

All in all, I think it was a great night! I know most of you traveled an hour or more to be here. Thank you for supporting us in our endeavor to find new and lasting traditions for our family. We love you all!

 

Here are some of the recipes from that night:

Grandma's Cherry Cheesecake

2 pkg cream cheese (8 oz), softened

1/3 C sugar

8 oz Cool Whip, thawed

1 graham cracker crust (1 - 9" or 2 - 8")

1 C cherry pie filling for 9" crust or use 1 can for 2 - 8" crusts

Mix cream cheese and sugar with electric mixer until well blended.  Gently stir in Cool Whip topping.  Spoon into crust and refigerate 3 hours or overnight.  Top with cherry pie filling.

Chelsea's Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cake

Spice cake mix

1 big can of pumpkin

1 bag of chocolate chips

1 big container of whip cream

cinnamon

Pour spice cake and pumpkin in bowl.  Mix together and pour in chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees until knife come out clean (about 28-33 minutes).  Let cool.  When ready to serve, put whip cream on top of cake and lightly sprinkle cinnamon on top also (for flavor and decoration).

Heavenly Peanutty Pie

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1 C extra chunky peanut butter

1 C sugar

1-1/2 tsp vanilla

3/4 C chocolate chips (can use mini chocolate chips)

8 oz Cool Whip, thawed

1 graham cracker crust

With mixer, beat cream cheese and peanut butter; blend well.  Add sugar and vanilla.  Fold in chocolate chips and Cool Whip.  Pour into graham cracker crust.  Chill at least 6 hours or overnight.

The Yard

My husband has been working LOTS of hours this summer & I have been charged with maintaining the yard. I use the word "maintain" loosely because I don't even come close to keeping it up like my husband does. When he does it the yard looks like something out of a Better Homes and Garden magazine. When I do it - yea, not so much.

The heat this summer has taken it's toll on the yard and I've had a hard time keeping it watered and green. Someday we'll have a sprinkler system to do the work for us.

When you do the yard work you notice lots of things that you normally don't see.

Like the damage done to the aspen trees by our resident moose. I'm torn because I'm sympathetic to the Momma Moose. After all, she just lost her baby and I'm sure she's hanging around because she's hoping her baby will come back, but is it really necessary to destroy our trees?  There's lots more trees to choose from besides ours.  Silly Moose!

And these tumbleweeds!  Have you ever had a tumbleweed sliver?  It's painful!  I've since learned to use leather gloves when removing them from the yard.

Oh tumblin' tumbleweed. Couldn't you tumble somewhere else?

In the past when I've mowed the lawn it's taken me 3 hours because I felt like I was going to pass out at any moment from lack of oxygen and water! But this summer I've been able to cut my time in 1/2. (Except for when I stop to blog because my mind is racing with all these random, pointless thoughts.) I'm sure the reward of a pint of Ben & Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream waiting for me in the freezer helps motivate me to move right along.

The best part about mowing the lawn is this:

I HATE these! It goes back to a time when I was 20 something and my nephews were naughty little boys (ages 10, 8, & 6), and they tortured me by chasing me into a bathroom with a grasshopper. It was a terrible experience and I've been traumatized ever since. Anyway, when I mow the lawn these little suckers hop for their lives to keep from getting torn to bits by the lawn mower blade.  It gives me great pleasure! Just sayin'...

But probably the most important thing I've noticed while doing the yard work is how much I appreciate my husband. Stepping into his shoes this summer has made me realize how hard he works at keeping this place in tip-top shape. One thing's for sure, I don't tell him enough how much I appreciate him and all that he does for this family!  Love ya honey!



Watermelon Pitchin'

Some people pitch baseballs.  Some people pitch horseshoes.  But at the Battson house, we have a tradition of pitching watermelon rinds.

The object is to throw the watermelon rinds across the road.

If you stand too close to the road, Dad will call you a sissy!

And if you throw like a girl, Dad will call you a sissy!
(What does he expect from a house full of females?!)

And if it lands in the road, then you'll be forced to do the "Walk of Shame" down the driveway and throw your rind into the field.

So if you come to our house in the summer, you'll find us pitchin' watermelon rinds across the driveway.

And the more watermelon you have on your face, the better.

It's a Battson tradition!

Liar! Liar!

Last weekend we celebrated Cassidy's 9th birthday.  Dave thought it would be fun to throw her a surprise birthday party so I enlisted Kasey's help in "pumping" Cassidy for information (i.e., her friends, her favorite things).  After a week of trying to keep it a secret, I became really good at lying and I had the perfect alibi - Primary.



She thought this pile of supplies was for...Primary!



And she thought these cupcakes were for - you guessed it - Primary!  Heehee!!

Since it's been so warm (high 90's) I thought a water party outside would be PERFECT!  And yet when I woke up Saturday morning, I looked out my window and saw this:

Rain and temperatures in the 60's!!

So, again with Kasey's help, I got on the computer and found some indoor games to play.

At about 12:30 p.m. I started to decorate for the party which meant MORE lies.  I told Cassidy that she needed to stay in the basement while Kasey and I wrapped her present.  Autumn was given the assignment to keep Cassidy entertained.  (Ssshhh...Autumn can't keep a secret so she didn't know about the party either.)





The guests started to arrive and I kept them outside until it was time to surprise Cassidy.

Can you see their little faces waiting in anticipation for Cassidy?




Twister



Let the games begin!  M&M Straw Game







    



   

 

 

 




Even a few water games - water relay, water tag, and Drip, Drip, Soak  



Then it was time to shake, shake,
SHAKE your ice cream!



Always a lady!







 



   





  



The one thing Cassidy really
wanted for her birthday was
duct tape. She is her
father's daughter.



In spite of the rain I think she had a wonderful day!
I hope she's forgiven me for all the lies I told her.

Happy 9th Birthday Miss Cassidy!!