Grandson #5!

We got the call just after midnight yesterday that it was time for Jenny to head to the hospital.  We were expecting the call.  We just weren't expecting that it would be coming from Afghanistan!  (Jenny didn't want to wake us - Travis said "I don't have that problem!")

Sarah and I took Jenny to the hospital while Grandpa stayed with the two boys.  The "morning addition" arrived just before breakfast:

Milo Travis Charles Lynch

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

7:14 am

7 lbs. 3 oz.

19.5"

They had picked out the name before Travis deployed but sweetly added Charles as well since yesterday would have been my dad's (Milo's great-grandfather) 93rd birthday.

Milo meets his brothers Jax and Shay

~later, gma terri

I Scream, You Scream...

July is National Ice Cream Month!

(Have I mentioned how glad I am to live in this country!)

Anyway, with the remodel nearly complete and Jenny's in-laws thoughtfully upgrading her to a bigger/better ice cream maker (so I inherited her previous one along with her extra freezer bowl) I can now make LOTS of ice cream!  This coincided nicely with our decision to get our dairy products delivered by Smith Brothers' Farms (I LOVE THESE GUYS!)

And as if that weren't enough - I have discovered the easiest ice cream recipe EVER.  It makes delicious ice cream that a) requires NO EGGS; b) requires no cooking; c) requires only 3 basic ingredients (which produces wonderful vanilla ice cream but could easily be added to in order to make any flavor you can imagine!); and d) requires no advance "refrigeration" of the mix before you can even begin to freeze it.  I mean, seriously - how amazing is that!!!

So here it is, my new favorite ice cream recipe:

2 C. Half & Half
2 C. Cream
1-14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk - big difference!)

Mix it together with a splash of vanilla for vanilla ice cream.  We've also tried adding some raspberries (yum) or some peppermint extract and wonderful chocolate chunks (okay - so that one is a work in progress.  Those minty extracts are pretty powerful and this first attempt wound up tasting like you'd just rinsed with mouthwash and then had some really great dark chocolate.  It either needed a lot less extract or a LOT more chocolate to balance those flavors!)

I have a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker (which can be found everywhere for under $60) and now keep all my freezer bowls in my freezer - ready at a moment's notice to make yummy frozen treats.  I'm also going to experiment with frozen yogurts and sorbets.  Fun and delicious!

So go enjoy the month and make yourself some ice cream!

~later, tw

Happy Independence Day!

I know - I've been neglecting my posting duties.  I was hoping by now that I would have "ta da" photos of the completed kitchen.  You have no idea how much I was hoping that!  I figured we'd have been done WAY before now.  I had all kinds of ideas about how to post it:

We (finally) SPRING FORWARD with our new kitchen!

A MEMORIAL is held (finally) at Weilers' kitchen to remember the old and celebrate the new!

Our new kitchen (finally), like the month of JUNE, IS BUSTING OUT ALL OVER!

We celebrate the  INDEPENDENCE (finally) of our new kitchen!

Sad to say, we are not quite there (so I'm thinking up my next headline - there really aren't any good holidays between now and Labor Day - oh please, don't let it go that long!)  Actually, we are close - SO VERY CLOSE!  Yesterday, the last of the tiling was accomplished and it's GORGEOUS!!  Tiling was the last of the "big" projects - now it's time to just get a few more things checked off my list and it will be D-O-N-E!

Naturally things are in total disarray here and we rush to "repopulate" (more like "relocate" as in FIND everything!) and get rid of as many boxes before the Swedish delegation arrives on next Friday (I can hardly wait!)

In the meantime, we will celebrate (again - we've already had a couple of get-togethers here.  Fortunately our friends and family are quite used to our chaos and a few boxes here and there doesn't phase them at all!) with not one, but two BBQs (today and on Saturday).  It's a big country and deserves at least two parties!

So wherever you are (and of course we always wish you were here!), we hope you (safely) enjoy a very

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

(and may your fireworks last longer than San Diego's did last year!)

~later, enjoying her independence, tw

PS - I will try to get "ta da" photos soon but the grandsons will all be here for a while so...well, you know how that goes!