In Between the Butterflies...

We've been keeping plenty busy!  Griffin just keeps growing and getting cuter all the time...


(2 months old in this picture)

When the Bible Class had their benefit for the Magdalena trip, we donated a pasta making class and Italian dinner to the silent auction.  A few weeks ago we actually did it!  Greg did an amazing job on the food and we had a great group of very fun people to eat the meal and take the class, so it ended up being a lot of fun. :)  These were the sauteed veggies Greg made.

Our appetizers and dessert:  tomato, basil and fresh mozzarella crostini, crispy fried herbed goat cheese, and fruit tarts.  I could have made a meal off of just those things!

Set up

We made pasta the night before, so this was the stuff we were serving for the meal...a spinach pasta and a regular pasta.

After that weekend (July 20-21st) is when we signed the contract to buy our house!  Thus we began the process of moving as much extra stuff out of our house as possible so we could clean it up enough to show it.  This is the very first load of stuff leaving our house, headed to Dad and Mom Beutel's basement.

The next weekend, Greg took Max to Chicago for his pre-Kindergarten trip.  The girls and Griffin and I went to the nursing home Friday morning for some long overdue grandparent visits.  

Great-Grandma Gramm met Griffin for the first time.

Thankfully, Griffy was in a great mood!

Then Great-Grandma Rassi got to meet him for the first time...

Unfortunately, he was hungry and a little crabby by then!

When we got back home (well, to Mom's), there was a beautiful double rainbow!

Tirzy the cheese

It was gorgeous!

Eventually it stretched a little more across the sky...hard to see here.  Just a few miles south at Dad and Mom Beutel's, it was a complete half circle rainbow!

Blurry, but precious boys (and Griffin in a dinosaur outfit!)

Sweet.

After vacation we got two little kittens, one gray and one black.  The gray one has been dubbed Rosie and the black one Daisy.  They are much loved by the kids!  Unfortunately, the love doesn't always translate the most gently!  They have been very nice cats, though, and good with the kids.

Daisy even got to wear part of a necklace. :)

The newest news in our house this week is that Griffin is done nursing and is now on a bottle...today Nora got to feed him for the first time!  She was pretty excited and did a great job!