yummy soup

Okay, so it's 90-something degrees outside, but I had a craving for minestrone soup. Probably because I went to Olive Garden for my birthday dinner - and passed up soup for salad. Anyway, I looked on cooks.com for a recipe.... I revised it to my liking and here it is! 1 lb ground beef, 1 cup chopped onion, 1 cup sliced carrots, 1 15oz can red beans, 1 can green beans, 1/2 cup uncooked macaroni, 1 sm bay leaf or 1/4 tsp crushed bay leaf, 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp basil leaves, 3 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1 can tomato sauce, 4 cans water, and top with grated cheese. Just brown the meat with the onion, drain and add everything else, bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer 1- 1.5 hrs. Even Ben liked it! Even Ryan liked it :) It's great and I had everything on hand. You can add stewed tomatoes, or use rice or potatoes for the pasta. It tends to be salty, so add the salt last a little at a time.

My birthday was great! Thanks for everything :) Ben took me to olive garden, and surprise! he invited some friends too. It was nice for an evening without kids :) I had the 'black tie' chocolate pie for desert...mmmmm..... I think Matthew likes it too, because he's been eating a lot today :) 27 is GREAT!!!!!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

Wanted to wish you a very Happy Birthday! Hope it is extra special from beginning to end. Stretch it out and ejoy every last minute! We love you!

Sounds like everyone is having a busy and fun July! Yeah!! for more Woodard boys :) on the way! Here are some pictures of Ryan and his best bud Tyler from church. Boys get dirty so fast! I gave them both a bath before his mom came back to get him - Ryan and Tyler both were covered in sand!

Ryan's new thing is he thinks he has to feed Matthew. Today, he was sure Matthew wanted carrots and ranch dressing - I looked up and Matthew had ranch all over his face and he was licking his lips funny :) Yesterday, it was an oreo cookie - black crumbs all over his face - matthew liked that one :) How do 2nd and 3rd children survive their older siblings? I'm still amazed that Ryan is still alive after all the stunts he's pulled! Just today he managed to find my gum and put a whole wad in his mouth. I freaked! so he decided to swallow it real fast to hide the evidence. That's going to be lovely in a couple of days.....

This weekend I'm working, and next weekend my parents and sister come :) Yeah!!

The scales have tipped!

So for the past however many years the Woodard grandkids have outnumbered the boys heavily until this year when the sides evened 3 - 3... and now... for the first time ever... mom & dad have more grandsons than they do granddaughters. Baby boy is growing great! He's a shy one but showed just enough for the doctor to say 100% that it's a BOY! We are so excited.

We bought a present for Abigail on her birthday party yesterday that told her and others that a boy was coming! Our first train... we think she was excited. :0

First Birthday!

We had a party for Abigail yesterday with some of our team. It was a lot of fun to watch Abigail explore her presents! Here are a few photo collages, to see them bigger just click on them. That bit of frosting on Abigail's tongue was about all she had of her cake. No great "first birthday cake face" pictures for this girl. She was feeling pretty tired at that time of the day, so turned down the cake. Maybe I should've made a chocolate one?!

Oh...and she loves dolls whose eyelids open and close and have those stiff eyelashes. Some friend's daughter has a doll like that and she let Abigail play with her. The next several days after that she started playing with our eyelashes and eyelids. Pretty cute! New discoveries!

Last one!

We've been playing around with a new program and we put the pictures from vacation into a short movie. I have it posted on my website if you have time. I'm going to take it off in a few days. :)
marielhughes.com

Road Trip!

We spent 21 hours on the road! We went to Orlando, Destin, and Pensacola in a week. Thanks Ben and Debbie for sharing your home with us. It was neat to be able to spend time with you all. The girls had a blast playing with Ryan. He would knock on our bedroom door in the morning and yell for "Katelynmorgan" to come play. I think he has Ben's constant smile. :) I sure enjoyed holding Matthew and watching him smile and laugh. William and Ben went fishing all night and played with the kids on the slip-n-slide. William is still complaining. He didn't quite slide. :) The girls are taking swimming lessons and we just finished shopping for school clothes. They start back Aug. 20th, soccer starts Aug. 13th, and I begin work Aug.14th. William begins school Aug. 23. Let the fun begin!! That's our update! Love you all!

March of the Penguins

Introducing - Penguin Bree & Penguin Noah. I think Noah looks quite dapper in his outfit, but was a bit mystyfied by having to dress in this get-up and have 4 adults sit around and laugh. Bree was not a happy camper - at all! But went along for a few short seconds!

Thank you Aunt Amy for helping create this Kodak moment!

OREGON BLUES

What gets better than this? Jon and I went out this morning at 6:30, in the rain and picked over 20#'s of berries. They are delicous! When we got home we fixed blueberry pancakes, fresh coffee and bacon. Jon started the fireplace and Bree sat in front of it basking in the heat. It was rather chilly - believe it or not! Couldn't get away without putting another pic of Noah. Dad and I watched him last night so Erin and Jon could go out. Grandkids are such fun!!!!!!!!!! 20#'s of berries - minus the ones we already ate and put in pancakes! :)

Oregon - checkin' in!

Love the picture of the cousins! Wish we could have all been there, but I'm glad you had such a great time. We have been having a good time too. We all went over to Erin's parents for dinner tonight. It was fun sharing Noah and I think he enjoyed the attention! :) Tomorrow we're spending some time with Amy's parents. We're looking forward to that also! Jon and I are heading out early tomorrow morning for breakfast and then to buy him a violin! Yep, he's taking up the violin. Sometime during the day we're going to the Sandy festival - that should be fun. The weather is beautiful now - cool and sunny. We took 3 nice walks today, enjoying the flowers and checking out a few shops downtown Sandy. It's been a great trip. Noah is precious and loves chattering. He's already starting to push up on all fours and is trying to turn over. He loves having Erin read to him. As you can see from this photo he's fairly easily amused - a finger to chew on does the trick!

Love you all!

Aiken vs Pensacola....

Hey everyone! It has been a blast having Will, Marie, and the girls here to stay with us! Ryan is having the best time, I think - he loves his cousins! It's nice to have someone around that can actually keep up with him. Here's a picture of the four of them. Yesterday, Ben and Will went fishing, almost all night. Today, Marie and I went shopping at the mall. It was nice actually shopping - no just rushing to get what you have to have before someone melts down or gets hungry. We all had a good time and we are all tired! How's the Oregon 'reunion'? Hope everyone stays safe in their travels...... Goodnight :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!

Can you believe Ben is 29 today? We did a "birthday party" last night on the web cam. Too bad we can't conference those calls! It was fun to watch Ryan eat daddy's cake and Matthew beg for a bite. Debbie did a great job making a cake to reflect the 4th with red, white, and blue sprinkles. Debbie's hair is cute with a new summer cut. Got to see Ryan's new big bed too. He even said he was ready to go to bed. Miracles never cease to happen! :) Any way, hope you have a terrific birthday today, Ben. We love you and thank the Lord for you.