Cars 2 and Golfing

As I mentioned in the last post, Drew is very excited to see the new Cars 2 movie! He and Jim have been playing Cars 2 computer games on the Disney website, and Drew knows all the names of the new movie characters, before the movie is even out!
This guy is one of the new characters - Professor Z.
The past couple of Sundays, when I have picked Drew up after his morning church class, he's had cookie crumbs in his eyebrows. When I asked him about the crumbs, he told me that he was being Professor Z! We went out to the golf course to have lunch with Jim one day last week, and Drew was using his pretzels to be Professor Z again.

After lunch at the course, we took a little cart ride, and then Drew putted a little on the putting green.

He had a great time!

Running to chase the ball.

Very excited to have hit the flag!

There is a First Tee chapter at Jim's course, and Drew will be taking his first golf lessons from them in August. It should be lots of fun!

Father's Day

Father's Day is one of the busiest days at the golf course, so Jim usually has to work that day, and this year was no exception. We decided to celebrate Father's Day on Saturday since Jim had that day off.
Earlier in the week, Drew and I bought Jim some gummy bears as part of his gift. I had them hidden away for the weekend, but when Jim came home from work that evening, Drew told him, "Daddy, we are going to surprise you and give you some gummy bears!" Keeping secrets is not one of Drew's strengths!
We got Jim a few little things, and his main gift is getting to play in a two-day golf tournament later this month. One other special thing we did for Jim was to take him out for dinner at Slow's on Saturday evening. We love barbecue, and after seeing Slow's featured on the Food Network several months ago, Jim had been wanting to try it. We were geared up for a long wait (we had seen on-line that long waits are the norm), but we only had about a five minute wait to get a table. Jim and Drew played with cars while we waited for our food. Drew is very excited about the new Cars movie that comes out later this week!

Jim and I each ordered a sandwich, and then we ordered a few sides to share. Jim got a sandwich called the "Triple Threat." It had pulled pork, bacon, and grilled ham. Jim really liked the Apple barbecue sauce.

I got a pulled pork sandwich with coleslaw and pickle slices on it, called "The Reason." I liked the Sweet barbecue sauce.

This was the Macaroni and Cheese that we got as one of our side dishes. It was really good!

Drew liked the waffle fries - they were very good too!

There was a line of people outside when we left, so we were glad we got there when we did.

We parked out behind the restaurant. There really wasn't much parking compared to number of customers.

We enjoyed our dinner at Slow's and were glad that we were finally able to try it!

My Favorite Potato Salad

Jim and I are part of the Young Married Sunday School class at our church, and this summer, several of the ladies in our class are having a Bible study one morning a week. Our Sunday School teacher's wife is hosting and leading the Bible study at her house. We are working through the book, Lies Women Believe : And the Truth That Sets Them Free. All the ladies in the study are moms of small children, so while we meet, the children play with a couple of baby sitters, and then after the study is finished, we all eat lunch together. I have really been enjoying the study and am thankful for this opportunity!
Our Bible study lunches consist of hot dogs and macaroni and cheese and then a variety of dishes that the moms bring each week. I have been enjoying making some of my favorite dishes that I don't normally make at home, since they aren't Jim's favorites. This week, I made my favorite potato salad, and I thought I would share the recipe.
Dill and Sour Cream Potato Salad

3 pounds unpeeled new potatoes (5 or 6 regular)
2/3 cup mayonnaise
8 oz. sour cream
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tsp. dried dill
2 tsp. dried parsley
1 tsp. salt
dash of pepper
Cook potatoes until tender. Drain. Cool slightly. Cut into quarters or eighths. Combine with remaining ingredients. Stir gently. Can garnish with additional dill. Serve immediately or chill.
My mom found this recipe in a Southern Living cookbook several years ago, and it is absolutely delicious! I love it warm (right after I mix it up), but I usually serve it chilled. I use light mayo and sour cream, and it still tastes great! I ran the onions through the food processor this time instead of chopping them, and I really liked the resulting texture.

Water Fight Videos

This first video is of Jim and his mother squirt gun fighting.

The second video shows Drew deciding to ditch his squirt gun for the hose (it was totally his idea - I was honestly just holding the camera). Jim's reaction makes me laugh so hard!

Water Gun Fight

One night last week, Jim and Drew decided that they were going to wash the cars and then have a water gun fight. Jim called his mom and invited her over to have her car washed. He mentioned that he and Drew were going to have a squirt gun fight afterwards, and, to our surprise, she wanted to participate in the water fight. I gathered my cameras for what was sure to be a good photo op!
I think Jim enjoyed chasing his mom a little too much! Drew lost a shoe.

Ganging up on Grandma.

Waiting for her to come around the corner.

I think the Jim might have enjoyed this fight more than anyone else!

Pure joy!

Grandma said she was done, but Drew didn't get that message!

I managed to stay relatively dry, and I enjoyed observing the fight without having to be a part of it!

We've had some computer problems (a virus) in the past few days, and we ended up having to dump the hard drive and install Windows 7 again. I have managed to salvage my pictures and videos either on our external hard drive or by my habit of not deleting things off my cameras in a timely manner, ahem. I was able to find the videos I took of the water fight, and I will upload them as separate blog posts - they are real treats! :)

Sprinkler Fun

It has been hot here this week! We've been staying inside as much as possible, but this morning, I decided to take Drew out to play in the sprinkler before it got too hot.
He loved it! He started by just kicking his feet through the sprinkler. As he got braver, he stood to the sides and let the water fall on him.

He said it was raining on him!

He ran over to me and asked me to "picture" him, so I did.

He stood in all different places in the yard and just let the water fall on him.

Then, he decided to bring out his big dump truck.

He put it right on top of the sprinkler and let the water shoot through the windows.

Toward the end of our time outside, I finally talked him into running through the sprinkler. I had to give him a demonstration, but he finally got the idea.

We might have been the only people in our neighborhood who were out playing in the water at 9:30 this morning, but we had fun, and the water felt good!

Drew and I were pretty wet by the end and were ready to go in and get cleaned up for the day.

I discovered the Picnik photo editing program this week, and I ran the "Boost" action on all these pictures (at around 30%). I love the brightness it added!

Ruffled Sunglasses Case

I made a purse last summer, and since I had some fabric left over from that project, I decided to make a sunglasses case to match the purse. I used this tutorial, but I changed the double ruffle to a single 2-inch ruffle, and I hemmed the ruffle with a zigzag stitch right along the edges. It was a quick and easy project - I think it took about an hour, from start to finish.

I've been on a sewing kick lately, and I have a few other projects I plan to make this summer. I'll be sure to share them when I finish them!