Chainsaws, play dates and projects

Yesterday evening a storm rolled through and brought some major winds, enough that we lost the better part of one of our trees.

Most of the tree landed on our yard.

And some landed in the pond.

A big huge thank you to our neighbors Gene & Steve for helping Eammon with the clean up.

Ours weren’t the only chainsaws being heard this morning, neighbors on our street had a big tree tip right over but thankfully a smaller tree caught it preventing it from going through the roof.     

We definitely fared better than our neighbors across the pond who did have a tree limb land on their garage and damage their roof.

While the guys cleaned up the tree Maisie had some playtime with “K” & “A”.

Between all the sports and activities these three participate in, they’re like ships passing in the night as they rarely have time at home, at the same time, to play together so today they had fun and got a little silly.

So what did I do?  I kept all the guys and children fed and watered and I also worked on a few projects around the house with my fabu handyman “H”.  Once the projects are complete I’ll post pictures.

Later in the afternoon there was a change of children as “K” & “A” headed out to other activities and Maisie’s teammate Alyssa came to play.  I was so involved in my projects with “H” that I didn’t take any pictures until Alyssa was getting ready to leave.

We are all tired tonight as it was a busy day.  The tree has been pulled out of the water and it’s all been broken down and later this week the guys will chip up all the wood.  The house is still in a state of disaster as the projects continue but “H” will be back this weekend.  Maisie was thrilled to play with “K” & “A” as it’s been a long time since they’ve had time together and she also loved having a second play date with Alyssa…and she didn’t want her to leave, but with the two of them that’s par for the course.  We are very thankful for our wonderful neighbors and all their help.  Maisie’s sound asleep and soon Eammon and I will be sleeping too…hopefully as the thunder and lightning has started again and we’re keeping our fingers crossed that there’s no more damage.

Other than feeding the guys a nice hearty breakfast and hot dogs for the kids & “H’s” lunch, I didn’t do any cooking today.  There is though a new recipe posted over on Cook Lisa Cook for a Double Chocolate Mousse Cake.  This cake was my July’s Secret Recipe Club entry and if you’ve been reading along with my food posts about the meal I served a couple weekends ago when Lisa, Doug & Briana came over for dinner and a play date, well this cake was the dessert.  This cake was made famous by a fancy Michelin-starred French chef Michael Rostang, so you figure I wouldn’t change a thing….  Well I messed around with the recipe making it lower-carb and with no added sugar and it totally rocked and satisfied my chocolate and sweet tooth.  Click on the link or the picture to be taken to the recipe.

Other delicious recipes posted on Cook Lisa Cook include: Mango Lassi, Stir-Fried Asparagus with Water Chestnuts, Ginger & Cashews, Curried Roast Chicken Pieces with Spicy Sweet Potato & Carrots, Grilled Corn & Bacon Pudding, Oriental Chicken Salad, Potato Salad with Bacon, Coffee Crusted Steak, Home Style Chicken Curry, Watermelon Frosty,  Mango Gazpacho, Toll House Double Stuff Oreo Brownies, Long Beans with Walnuts, Blacksmith Pizza, Rhubarb Crisp, Laksa, Math Book No Bake Cookies, Aloo Gobi, Mint Lassi, Red Curry Chicken, Lamb Curry, Grilled Corn, Avocado & Tomato Salad with Honey Lime Dressing, Baked Egg Cups Two Ways, Thai Peanut Salad, Holy Guacamole, Cantaloupe Agua Fresca, Wallaby Darned, Piggy-Out Cookies, Wicked Good New England Lobster Roll, Long Beans with Garlic, Super Simple Summer Shrimp Salsa Salad, Grandma’s Teriyaki Steak, Watermelon Tomato Gazpacho, Red Chinese Long Beans with Peppers & Red Curry, 24-Layer Crêpe Cake, Fig & Watermelon Salad, Grilled Chèvre & Fig Panini, Spicy Asian Cucumber Salad, Grilled Prawns, Spicy Brown Sugar Bacon, Kicked Up Piggy-Out Cookies, Pesto Pita Pizza, Cilantro Lime Chicken, Nutella Crêpes, Mango, Lime & Chile Spiced Ice Box Pie, Roast Beef & Garlic Herb Cheese Sandwich, Layered Crespelle with Bolognese, Fresh Mozzarella & Basil, Jamaican Jerk Meat Pies, Nutella No Bake Cookies, Velvety Mac & Cheese, Welsh Cakes, Tom Yam Ghoong (Spicy Shrimp Soup), Lime Jewels, Southwest Pasta Salad, Walnut Roca Squares, Uncle Bubba’s Shrimp & Grits, Chocolate Chip Gingersnaps, Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies, Copycat “KFC” Coleslaw, Happy 6th Birthday Maisie Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies, Thin Mint Irish Coffee, Caramel Apples, “Rotisserie” Chicken, Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich, Mummy Hotdogs, Mango Upside Down Cake, Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens, Aloo Tikki, Pink Strawberry Cake Balls, Praline Pumpkin Cheesecake, Apple Dumplings, Rum Cured Salmon, Apple, Cranberry & Rhubarb Crisp, Hasselback Potatoes with Garlic Sour Cream, Crunchy Oat, Almond, Cashew & Pebbles Granola Bars, Texas Chicken with Lime Butter, Biscoff Fudge, Eggnog Popovers with Cranberry Butter, Creamed Corn with Cheese and Cilantro, Potato Crusted Pork Chops, Oatmeal, Cashew & Chocolate Granola Bars, Texas Chicken Sandwich, Seared Scallops with Creamy Pesto & Lemon Pepper Pasta, Thai Chicken Noodle Soup, Glazed Lemon Squares, Chang-Style Brussels Sprouts, Maisie “safe” No Bake Cookies, Ponderosa Lemon & Sour Cream Tart, Pork Dumplings with Rice Wrappers, Sweet & Spicy Apple Pork, Dark Chocolate Dipped Candied Lemon Peel, Crunchy Fudgy Heart Bites, Double Chocolate Meyer Lemon Mousse Cake, Malted Pretzel Crunch, Shrimp & Avocado Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing, Apple Pancakes, Baked Egg & Avocado, Health(ier) Peanut Brittle, Crab Cake Stuffed Mushrooms, Broiled Sushi, Tomato Sauce with Onion & Butter, Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole, Slow Cooker Chicken Curry, Slimmed Down Loaded Potato & Buffalo Chicken Casserole, Baked Meatballs, Skinny Blueberry Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins, Fruit, Nut & Poppy Seed Chicken Salad, Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars, Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich, Hearty Sausage, Mushroom & Cheddar Mini Quiche, Strawberry Soup, Chicken Tenders, Mango Melon Banana & Chia Smoothie, Lacy Cheese Crackers, Dried Cherry Almond Tart, Thai Cucumber Salad, Grilled Thai Chicken, Chili Maple Mustard Ribs, Curried Grilled Thai Chicken Salad and Copycat “KFC” Original Recipe Fried Chicken.

Enjoy!