all in a day's work, or play

Well another day with no news, good , bad, or indifferent about Daniel. My morning was different today in that I had a meeting with an Agriculture guy today doing a survey about goat farms. He had a lot of questions to ask, many of which were redundant and somewhat silly, but he shared a lot of really good information with me and I really learned a lot about goat farming that I didn't know...nothing huge, but lots of practical ideas and places to go for feed, special feed mixes and other things to increase production, and some tips on preparing to breed for this fall. It was good!!!
We worked in the garden quite a bit today and were rewarded for our efforts with quite a few great sized cucumbers, tomatoes and squash, and a few peppers. We sliced those cukes up right away and in incredible crunching speed, they were gone! Who knew cucumber was energy food to go out fishing on? It worked, because even Naomi caught fish today as well as Isaac, Malachi and Sopheak : they caught a LOT OF FISH and helped me plan at least two meals for later in the week!!!
After we took the kids to our favorite "Kids eat free on Tuesdays" restaurant for dinner, Charlie and I got to go out for a while. We went bowling. I've missed not bowling every week since the league season ended in May, and REALLY had fun when we took the kids for Noah's birthday. Bowling with just Charlie was a bit more "serious" bowling, but still a lot of fun! I came away pleased with my self after bowling a 161, 144 ,and a 168, and having made most of my spares. Spares don't always go so well for me. Tonight my aim was fairly accurate. Charlie did pretty well, but it wasn't his best night.
Esther told us at dinner tonight that she'd been named Employee of the Month for June. She works so hard at her server /shift lead job at Mexico Joe's I am always so pleased when she gets official recognition. (she is our favorite employee!!) YAY ESTHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have a contest going on right now among the servers to see who gets the most positive comments turned in about them and so far she was leading after all of yesterday and today's turned in comment cards. There are a coule of pretty nifty prizes, plus that's just fun! She's a pretty popular server and quite a few customers come in and wait for seats in her section rather than take the first table available. In her sweet gregarious but absolutely void of hubris- way, she winks and says 'I'm just a stud at life!" That's my girl!
Jael who has so much fun BEING Jael loves anything VEGGIE TALES. When I found a cd yesterday we did't have yet, I got it and tonight she was just dancing up a storm to Bob and Larry and their Silly Songs. Her favorite? " I Love My Lips" IF you know Jael at all, you know this is almost autobiographical!