Skillet Ball

I really am a little ashamed that it has taken me this long to get around to posting about our favorite memory from the most recent trip we took to Phoenix.

It's always interesting, how family memories are created. Some are carefully planned, but others, like Skillet Ball, emerge and evolve into their final memorable state. It started with Greg showing up with his new skillet and excitedly cooking for the family. Then Greg's parents mentioned that when they visited Greg's grandparents farm in Pennsylvania a few years ago to clean it out, they saw an old skillet. They thought they'd maybe picked it up and brought it home...

So while we were watching the kids play outside, they did some looking through the garage and sure enough, there was Grandpa's old skillet. This skillet had seem some use, that's for sure.
After some careful studying and internet research, we're pretty sure that the antique frypan is about 50 years old. And Greg's parents let us take it home and make it our very own! We're so excited! We're such nerds!

So as Greg stood outside, holding the new prize, we started discussing the feel of it in the hand. Then the kids came by with their tennis balls...


What would any self-respecting man do with a heavy flat object and a ball?
HIT IT. Duh.

And thus began the game of Skillet Ball.

First, it was just Greg bouncing it around a bit...

Then we got a pitcher...
Then Mark took a turn...

All agreed it was quite fun!


Before you know it, the brothers were making up rules and special lingo for the game.
I must admit, the only one of their special terms I remember is an "Abundance"- and I don't remember the definition of it. They had themselves, and us, laughing pretty hard.


Dad joined in and the game went on for quite a long time.

Skillet Ball 2: The Girls Take a Turn

So after we watched the men having such a good time, we women folk decided to give this game a try too. Greg pitched to me, after being given some strict instructions (I belive it was "don't bean me in the head with a tennis ball")
I may not look like much swingin', but I DID make contact with the ball. That's all I wanted.
Julie shows her capabilities at swinging a cast iron skillet.

We decided that if any woman in the past had actually clobbered a man with a skillet, she was some tough woman! Those things are heavy!

A Few More Phoenix Memories

OK, so I'm a slacker. I never finished posting all our adventures on our last trip to Phoenix. So I'm catching up now.

What to do on a Sunday afternoon?
Why not take the kids out and play in the cul-da-sac?
A little normal, boring play led to some Spangler-style fun.
Why not see if you can jump said kids while they drive the jeep?

It's the circus- Spangler style.

It is also quite entertaining to give toddlers tennis balls and rackets and watch them go at it. Thankfully they only hit the balls, and not each other.

Here Addie tries to boss around her cousin Micah, but he already has an older sister, so he knows just to ignore her.
Notice the racket is as big as the rest of Addie.






This play led into something even more interesting- a game of "Skillet Ball." But I'm not going to tell you about that yet, I'm going to make you wait until tomorrow.

Checking In

Ah, finally a post on our poor neglected blog. There has been a silence lately for a few reasons:
One, there just isn't much to report.
Two, I (Niki) taught a session of our ladie's Bible study at church yesterday. So that last week or so I've been giving my free time to finishing the study and presentation, more than the blog.
Three, the only really interesting thing to report is that not only did Greg have to report for jury duty last week, but he was put on a jury, and as of yesterday is serving as the jury foreman (of course), and while that is quite interesting, he can't say ANYTHING about the case he's on. So that doesn't give us much to blog about.

I have to admit we were touched by the thoughtfulness of a certain friend's mom (who lives in Texas- you know who you are), who inquired of her son whether we were ill, since that's usually why the blog goes quiet. We think you are very sweet, mom in Texas. Greg and I are healthy, but Addie is suffering from reflux issues again. We are a little down about it, since there is no reason we could think of for the reflux to be bothering her- no illness to blame, no change to anything we can think of, just all of a sudden we're back to Addie crying out in her sleep and burping and hiccuping and wanting to snack all day and having a lot more meltdowns than usual (those are some of her reflux "tells" and we know to recognize them by now). After several months of a break from reflux, we are amazed at how accustomed we had become to "normalness" and are not so happy to see it go. Oh well, what are ya gonna do?

I will do better about putting some fresh posts up over the next few days, and I assure you that when Greg's case is over, he will tell you all about it. So that's it for now!

Chez Spangler

So last night, we went out to eat for Valentine's. Nothing fancy, just a nice break from cooking and doing the dishes. Now, the food was great (I had a chicken salad with bleu cheese, walnuts, cranberries and strawberries), and it WAS so nice to skip the dishes, but after eating back at home tonight, we questioned why we ever go out!

Obviously, we really enjoy the prep and the eating of our food. And tonight was no exception.
FIRST, I found this fantastic little heirloom tomato assortment at Trader Joe's, which inspired a great tomato salad.

(for those of you who have mentioned recently that your withdrawls from Trader Joe's are causing you to consider putting together a support group, I'm sorry to do this to you. But you should have thought about that before you moved to Colorado)

Seriously, if this picture doesn't thrill you, I don't know if we can be friends.
Then Greg grilled Rib Eye steaks and we covered them with smothered mushrooms and grilled onions.
I made mashed potatoes with freshly roasted garlic and braised asparagus to go with.


Just wanted to prove that I still do cook around here. I know some of you were beginning to wonder.

By the way reservations at Chez Spangler are available.



Bonus picture: Addie wearing the new hat her Grammi & Poppi sent.
And yes, I think it was chosen to go with her eyes.

Driving Lessons

At Mamaw & Papaw's house, Addie got to enjoy a little taste of things to come. She got her first driving lesson.

Here I am explaining to her how to push down the pedal to make the Jeep go.
As we enter the culde-sac, look at Addie's face! She's looking at me like, "Are you sure I'm allowed to do this?"
Still having a little trouble figuring out how to make the car go....
Then Papaw came out with a curtain rod he used to walk behind and push down on the gas pedal at the same time. It worked like a charm!
We had the wheels turned so Addie just drove in a big circle the whole time, and the Jeep went nice and slow, so it was very safe.
Eventually, Addie figured out how to push on the gas herself.

Independence

Here she is folks, without any parental assistance. It gave Greg and I a taste of how we'll feel when she's 16....

and it was TERRIFYING!
But she sure liked it!
What a girl- already fiddling with the radio.
Bye mom & dad! See ya later!

Caleb

We're a little smitten with our nephew Caleb.

Especially when he leans back and studies Uncle Greg like this.
Don't you think he's cute?

Fun Time in Phoenix

Yeehaw! Phoenix is fun!
Swinging in Mark & Jess' backyard was really great!
Greg had a great time too.

Trippin'

We're back home after a nice weekend in Phoenix. On top of getting to see Greg's borther Mark home safe and sound, we were also treated with gorgeous weather and the BEST travel days we've had in years. Not only did we avoid traffic (yeehaw!) and cut down our drive from 10 hours to 8, but also Addie was a happy camper both travel days and made the trip extra nice. (And, for you women out there, the icing on the cake was that we found a clean and posh public restroom along the way, which I vow to stop at every time we drive to Phoenix from now on).
So here is Greg and Mark, happy to see each other.
The men promptly went outside and bonded over open flame.

The women stayed inside and laughed. Jess asked, "Can you imagine women doing that? Standing around the kitchen watching one cook? 'Hey Betty, nice salad! What is that? Endive in there?"
Meemaw also enjoyed time with the grandkids.
And Greg made another pineapple upside down cake and fried chicken. Yum!

Butterfly Gratitude

Yesterday we recieved an unexpected package in the mail from Mia, Niki's mom's cousin (what is that? Addie's cousin twice removed?) Anyway, just for no reason except to make our day, she sent Addie a pair of butterfly wings.
Yes, they're upside down, but oh well.
Addie LOVES them! She was sooooo excited!
After putting them on, she proceded to "fly" around the livingroom with great delight.


This must have been the week for unexpected packages, because my cousin Julie also sent Addie a love package this week. Addie got two new books- one about cats (a popular subject at our house), and one called "How are you Peeling?: Foods with Moods" that has vegetables made to look like they have faces. So cool!


So a big THANK YOU to Mia and Julie- some REALLY GREAT cousins!

(Anyone else who would like a shout out on the blog are welcome to send us packages- ha ha ha)

WELCOME HOME MARK!

We are delighted to announce the safe arrival home of Mark Spangler! Mark arrived home in Phoenix Saturday after 20 months away from his family. He was serving in Afghanistan flying Apache helicopters. Mark was greeted by his beautiful (and excited) wife Jess and later their three kids.
We're so glad God protected Mark and brought him home safe!
We plan to go to Phoenix this weekend and celebrate! Greg is bringing THE SKILLET with us and plans to make fried chicken and pineapple-upside-down cake.
Since the above picture of Mark looks a little menacing, I thought I'd include this dandy as well. That's what you get Mark for tying a scarf on your head and letting me take a picture.

Yet Another Skillet Triumph

After a failure early on in his relationship with the cast iron skillet, Greg decided to try again at making a pineapple-upside-down cake.
It was a sweet victory!

Can you believe it? The cake looks almost as good as Greg!