We had a good time with the kids last night. Alicia's cousin from Guadelahara is visiting them and is such a cute and sweet girl. She speaks perfect English, is 15 and in high school. She goes back home later this month I guess. Jackson followed Thomas around last night asking him a bazillion questions and Thomas showed Jackson some fun stuff on his Ipad. He has this thing where he can make this robot on the screen or a cat, repeat back anything you say to it and Jackson loved that. He told Thomas "You are my best cousin friend!"
Thomas is so very sweet with him not getting bored with him and such. We have our own little Justin Bieber going as his hair is pretty long now. He went to his first dance yesterday afternoon, can you believe it????Jean: Thomas takes cooking lessons with his parents all the time and some of them by himself as well. I think he really likes cooking and boy will it serve him well when he gets older.
Maggie: We have been hotter than blue blazes here too. I actually look forward to a bit of cooler fall weather, but not until we get back from vacation so the swimming pool is nice for Jack as it is outdoor at the hotel.
It is a countdown to vacation now with only two weeks. We are so looking forward to it and to getting away from everything.
Continue to pray for Missy Gandy, the friend of my dd's. This poor young woman has colon cancer that has invaded her female organs. Her surgery I think is next week and they are going to have to remove most or all of her colon, a hysterectomy, I don't know the technical name, but her vagina is going to have to be removed too. She has gone through tons of chemo and radiation. It is the sadist thing I have ever heard of. She just went to the dr for treatment of Celiac disease, which is a colon problem, and the dr she saw had people with this do a colonoscopy. Her tumor was so large in her colon they couldn't even to the procedure and she had no idea and had no symptoms. She is now fighting for her life and her wellness. She has a young daughter around kindergarten age I think she is and is only 38 years old.
Well gals, time to take off. Have a great weekend. Faye
GOOD AFTERNOON MAGNOLIAS
We don't always go where there is a permanent grill to cook on so this will be just the ticket for us especially since it won't burn what it sits on. And the top closes up and latches like a tool box. We would hate to start a 
somewhere. I just reached for my coffee and then duh realized Will was just in here and snagged it for he is going to the coffee shop and will bring back my favorite for me.
It's too bad they don't live a little closer so the kids could get together more often. I do hope that Missy will be in good hands during her surgery and post operative care. She really has more than her fair share. That is so sad.
The Tool Box Grill sounds interesting. It has continued to rain off and on all evening; I'm hoping tomorrow will be sunny and warm for the kids to be at the lake.
Better, I hope.
I asked him how much he wanted me to get and reminded him I was NOT going again to get ice so he better plan on what he wanted to do.
I will smoke something come Monday. We are going to grill some steaks this day. I have got to tell you about smoked potatoes. Cut washed baking potatoes into 3/4 inch slices, leaving the skin on. Put them on the rack and sprinkle with lemon pepper then smoke them for 45 minutes and they are the earthiest tasting potatoes with perfect texture that you could ever imagine. Smoked with apple wood chips. YUM. Smoked shelled boiled eggs are yummy too. They only have to be smoked for @7 minutes for they are already cooked. I could go on but I will stop with it now. 
I hope that your problem gets fixed finally after vacation and on your vacation you aren't plagued by it. That must make you so miserable.
When I've baked things they always get done on one side first. So thought I would be smart and put several thermometers scattered around to check. Sure enough the back runs almost 10 degrees hotter. So I dug out the book and decreased the temp by 10. Well, the bars didn't bake in the alloted time -- soupy! 
I kept adding time so have no clue how they will taste but at least they aren't more done/dry on one side than the other because I turned the pan around half way through the baking time. 
It's nice that you can go to Kelly's and spend the time with your family. How many days until you leave on vacation? I know how anxious you are for that! 
It's great that you are staying on track with your eating.
Have fun playing with your smoker. 
I will probably be using my stove top smoker on monday and smoke something then. 
on your 44 years of being married. And I hope you have many more to celebrate. Yep our weather sounds like it is about the same. What a bummer that your oven doesn't work right.
Hope you are having a lovely time today!
at Marty chasing marshmallows around. That would be entertainment in itself. Bob did check the oven to make sure it is level. I don't bake bars or cakes often enough to really figure out how to overcome how it bakes, if that's even possible. It is fine for cookies because they don't bake as long; it's also ok for casseroles, potatoes, etc. Bob is tired of me complaining so I'm going to call the repairman this week. The problem will be to have enough notice, before he comes, so that it can be turned on for a period of time to show how the temperature gets hotter the longer it is on. 
We wore jeans and sweatshirts to the lake; Bob took shorts along but I didn't. There was a breeze so I was really glad I'd worn long pants and sleeves so I was comfortable. Did you have pot luck at church today?
Have a marvelous Monday tomorrow and enjoy! 
That is a good idea to try something new, but I don't think I could eat escargot either. I'm a lot like the kids -- if it doesn't look good I won't eat it.