'tis the gift to be simple

Sunday...A day of rest??

2009-10-25T21:37:00.005-04:00

While our Sunday was not actually a day of rest, it was a gorgeous day for getting some necessary things accomplished.

We did start our Sunday in the best way possible. At church, worshiping, singing, praising, giving thanks, and soaking in His word.

Once home, after eating a couple of fresh, delicious doughnuts, we all got to work on our to-do lists.

Doug finally had access to a working tractor and mower and spent the better part of the day mowing down long neglected sections of grass, weeds, and anything else that happened to be hidden in his path.

Billy, who really couldn't understand why he couldn't just go play golf all day, reluctantly accepted the fact that he had things to do too.

First on his list was school work from last week that for some mysterious reason, never got completed. He was thrilled to be working on school on a Sunday!

After school, he tackled his pile of dirty clothes that was covering the floor of his room.

Finally, he unloaded a large wagon load of sawdust for the stalls in the barn. Good, hard, physical work. Just what every 18 year old needs a daily dose of!

Tommy cut the grass in the front of the house, and mulched up all of the fallen leaves there.

He also tackled his dirty laundry.

He went out several times throughout the day and evening to ride his bike. It sure was the perfect day for that!

He actually did find some time for rest. It looks like he's contemplating something really important!!

I spent a good part of the day in the kitchen.
I made: brownies and granola bars,

Grape jelly

and bread and rolls for the week.

I planned a week's worth of school work for both boys.

I also wrote up a menu for the next two weeks. Maybe I'll share that tomorrow though.

I'm ready to go pack Doug's lunch and crawl under the covers to read my new book.

Here's a picture of the beautiful sunset. I took the picture while we were enjoying our dinner of chicken lasagna florentine. It was a recipe from my new cookbook Family Feasts .

It was a DELICIOUS dinner and will definitely be on our regular meal rotation.

Sleep well...

PUMPKIN CARVE

2009-10-24T08:18:00.007-04:00

This week was our town's annual Great Pumpkin Carve. We've been really enjoying this tradition for the past couple of years. This year was extra special because we knew someone who would be participating. Our friend Kelly, along with her friend Madison, were going to be carvers/designers/creators/pumpkin artists, and they asked Andrew and Hannah to be on their team. Kelly and Madison are both artists and would be doing the designing.

This pumpkin carve started in the early 1970s when Andrew and Jamie Wyeth carved pumpkins for a local Inn. Our friends and family were in GOOD company!!!!

The team had 3 hours to complete their creation. They registered early so were given an awesome spot and the #1 pumpkin.

Their design was a scene from Where the Wild Things Are. It was a very popular pumpkin!!

Andrew did a lot of the grunt work while Kelly and Madison worked on the finer artistic details.

Hannah did a beautiful job carving the many tiny leaves on the trees.

It was an unusually warm night for late October, and there was a huge crowd. I kind of missed the crisp air, but it was enjoyable walking around without shivering!

Billy and Tommy were there with their friends Allie and Richie, having a great time together as always!

The creativity of these pumpkins amazes me every year. We'll be carving pumpkins later today. Maybe I'll be inspired to do more than cut out some triangles!

I think they were relieved to have it all finished with no mishaps. They did a great job!! I'm already looking forward to seeing what they come up with next year.

OUR LITTLE NATURE PRESERVE

2009-07-17T20:25:00.004-04:00

This evening Doug and I enjoyed an absolutely delicious dinner for just the two of us. We had grilled steak with sauteed mushrooms, baked potatoes, caesar salad, and fresh picked today corn on the cob.

After dinner, we were in the kitchen doing the dishes, when Doug spotted a gorgeous deer browsing in our yard. I grabbed the camera and started taking some pictures that turned out a bit fuzzy because I was shooting through the screen.

When the deer moved into a different part of our yard, I snuck a peek out of our side door and took a little video. I thought I'd share it here for those of you who are nature freaks like me. The video gets a bit jumpy at the end when I was trying to keep my friend's dog, Beau, from pushing through the door to go "play" with the deer.

I hope you enjoy the video. It's time for our dessert now. Homemade peach cobbler!

SUMMER??

2009-07-02T20:03:00.003-04:00

We've been enjoying the most amazing summer weather ever! We haven't had one horribly hot, humid day yet. I really hope I'm not jinxing things by writing this!!!!

Today, Tommy and I, along with Sofia and Vincent (my niece and nephew) decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and go for a hike in the woods. Of course I took along my camera and would like to share some pics from our day with you.

Usually by July this woods feels like some sort of tropical rain forest. Not today! We didn't even break out in a sweat on the way home when we were walking uphill the whole way.

There is an old, falling down, stone house in our woods that is always a fun place to explore and imagine who lived here so long ago. They would have been one of the closest neighbors to our house.
No matter which way we head out on a hike, and no matter which trail we take, the goal is always to get to a creek. Today we visited the creek at the bottom of "old house trail". On super hot days, this is always a great place to sit in the water and really cool off. We didn't need to do that today, but we did have fun exploring anyway.

We enjoyed eating our dinner out on our side patio. There was a very cool breeze blowing and it really didn't seem strange to be eating soup for dinner in July.
Boomer is definitely enjoying this gorgeous evening!

It's probably too much to wish for for this great weather to continue for the rest of the summer, but I'm sure planning on enjoying it while it lasts!

MOVING DAY

2009-05-04T19:50:00.002-04:00

I can't even believe I'm writing this...Andrew moved out this weekend. How can my little, quiet, red-headed baby be old enough to leave me???? I knew this was going to happen eventually, but I think I just put it out of my mind.

He didn't move far. It's just a 20 minute drive (40 minutes if you pick the wrong time to travel). It could be on mars though for how far away he feels right now.

After stopping and taking pictures of the wrong house, we pulled up to his new home.

Isn't it pretty! I was very impressed. The house is split into 3 apartments. Andrew and his friends have the middle floor. It's an older house with a lot of really interesting, beautiful features.

I love this banister and railing.

This window in his bathroom is gorgeous!

The front entryway has such character. The beauty may be lost on the boys who live here, but this mama sure likes it.

We have a long standing family tradition of eating Kentucky Fried Chicken on moving days. It just so happens that there is a KFC right around the corner from Andrew's new house.

Andrew's absence keeps hitting me at odd moments.

When I was making Doug's lunch last night, I got a bit teary- eyed about not having to pack Andrew's and hoping that he had good, filling, healthy food in his kitchen to pack his own (he did).

This morning as I was washing up in our bathroom, I saw Andrew's hook with his towel on it and it made me sad thinking about it empty like Sarah's.

I'm not just sad though. I'm also so proud of the man Andrew's becoming. He's making his way in this world as he was meant to do. I'll cope. I hope he'll drop by to visit...a lot!

He's happy and I'm trying really hard to be happy for him too.

PLEASE DON'T LOOK IN MY CART!!

2009-04-23T15:39:00.003-04:00

Take a look at what I bought at Target this morning. Not my usual shopping trip that's for sure!!!! Doug and Andrew are going on a road trip and will be sleeping in a tent at their destination. They'll be buying their dinners there, but for the rest of it...well, this is what they wanted.

As a person who mainly shops for ingredients, this was a new thing for me. I was a little embarrassed when I checked out. I felt like I should explain why I was buying all of this junky food to the check out girl (like she really cared!)

I was getting hungry buying all of this and actually treated myself to some goodies that I don't normally buy. I bought Tasykake peanut butter KandyKakes, and Milano cookies (thanks to my friend Jennifer for talking about them and making me suddenly crave them like mad!)

BEAUTIFUL!

2009-04-22T20:06:00.002-04:00

We had a cold front come through this evening, and this is the view that was left behind. It definitely doesn't feel like late April tonight, but seeing this makes the cold temps totally worth it!

ANOTHER SPRING WALK

2009-04-18T18:51:00.004-04:00

Today was an absolutely gorgeous day. I feel like I've said that a lot on here. I guess I don't tend to blog about the boring miserable days.

It was really the first day that I would call truly warm. I was not the least bit chilled when I was outside (inside is a different story though-these stone houses hold the chill of winter for a LONG time!)

Tommy, Billy, Allie, Boomer, and I set out before lunch to take a nice long walk in the woods.

The trees are still not looking like they know it's spring. I know the leaves will be coming soon though! The spring flowers are out in all of their glory. We found all my favorites except for jack-in-the-pulpits. I think this is a little early for them. We found...

VIOLETS

BLOOD ROOT FLOWERS (we've had a lot of fun over the years using the sap from these stems to paint faces)

SKUNK CABBAGE all grown up

SPRING BEAUTIES these were my favorite when I was younger. Our backyard would be a carpet of them, and I would be very unhappy with anyone who stepped on ANY.

MAY APPLES with their blossoms just about to open.

FUZZY FIDDLE HEAD FERNS

TROUT LILIES I think these are so graceful looking!

We walked down to the creek where Boomer got and drink and we enjoyed the beautiful water for a little while.

The hayfield is a gorgeous green. In another couple of months I won't be walking this way anymore because the hay will be waist high and it gives me the creeps to walk through. Who knows what's in there!

The home stretch. LUNCH TIME!

YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT TO SEE BETTER

FINAL EXAM

2009-04-17T15:03:00.002-04:00

Today is the day Tommy takes his final exam for Algebra I.

Doesn't he have a gorgeous classroom?!

EGGS

2009-04-11T12:22:00.002-04:00

There is a definite theme to our Easter preparations!

Eggs, eggs, and more eggs.

Candy filled, deviled, dyed, and buttercream. Delicious!!

2009-04-09T11:51:00.005-04:00

Spring is making its VERY slow arrival in our neck of the woods. It seems like for every warm day, we get 5 chilly, drizzly days. Just 2 nights ago our nighttime temps were flirting with the 20s. Today though, is one of those gorgeous, sunny, getting warm days that we have been looking forward to.

The grass is starting to turn green much to the delight of the horses.
The butterfly bush is making its promised comeback after the severe fall pruning it received.

The day lilies are looking positively lush in the morning sun.
Some trees are beginning to bud and lend the view out our windows a little color. It's amazing to think that in less than a month all of our trees will be in full leaf!

This is just a tiny tree among a bunch of larger ones. You can't even see it once its neighbors have grown leaves, but right now, it's the star!

The wood pile on the porch has dwindled and given way to...

Fishing gear. Trout season started over the weekend and the freezer is full once again with fresh caught fish.

Our new chicks arrived earlier this week and we are LOVING having babies in the kitchen again.

Tommy has once again taken the job of naming them. This one is Scraggles.

Aren't they just precious!!!!! Last year, out of 8, only 4 survived. We're hoping for better luck with these!

The baskets are lined up, ready and waiting to be filled with delicious goodies.

The most anticipated and important day of the season is quickly approaching. Are you ready?

HAPPY EASTER!

IN THE NICK OF TIME

2009-03-07T14:16:00.005-05:00

Two days ago, Tommy and I decided to take one last hike in the snowy woods. Rumor had it that our temps would be warming soon, so we headed out towards the nearby stream and river to enjoy the winter landscape. I'm so glad we did. It was gorgeous!!

Here's Tommy checking out a huge hole left by a pileated woodpecker. I wouldn't have put my head in there!

Tommy's checking out how thick the ice on the stream is. It held.

In a few short weeks, this is where Doug and the boys will be fishing for our first trout dinner of the year.

Tommy had always wanted to check out this curious entryway that seems to lead right into the hillside. I told him he was on his own. I'm not big on exploring dark abandoned doorways. He went in and said it was some sort of small room. It looks like it could have been a closed off tunnel or maybe an old spring house.

After a LONG walk, we made it to the river. It was totally worth the effort.

Gorgeous!

Spring is making it's appearance through the snow. We found the tiniest beginnings of skunk cabbage and onion grass emerging.

Today the temperature has hit 70*! The only snow left is tiny piles in the deepest shade.

I'm a little sad to be saying goodbye to winter, but I did buy my first seeds for the garden today, and that's pretty cool too.

A TRIP

2009-01-25T21:08:00.002-05:00

We're getting ready to leave EARLY in the morning to go skiing/snowboarding. I love to ski!! I only learned as an adult, so I'm definitely not an expert, but it is one of my favorite things to do.

Of course our preps start with...what are we going to eat. So...

I definitely needed to pack this lunch tonight, because I'm planning to wake up with just enough time to wash up, make my bed, get dressed, eat something warm, pour a cup of coffee and hit the road. I'm REALLY, REALLY not a morning person!

The forecast for the mountain tomorrow is a high of 26* and a low of 13*. So we've dug out all the warm clothing we have in the house

and we should be all set.

A note to any cyber stalker burglars who may use this as a chance to pay us a visit, Doug will be stopping by often during the day tomorrow to feed our killer attack dog some fresh meat!

THE PLAN

2009-01-20T10:02:00.002-05:00

The weekly food plan that is.

Making a menu is a large part of how I'm able to stay organized in the kitchen and provide home cooked meals most days and nights of the week.

I try to not just plan dinners but also list some ideas for breakfasts, lunches, and snacks/desserts for the week. It seems easier to be inspired one time and get it all down on paper than trying to be inspired each time someone is hungry!!

So here it is. Our food plan for the week of 1/19 (I know it's already the 20th. I didn't get to posting this yesterday like I wanted to)

DINNERS:
Mon - baked flounder, pasta salad, peas, green beans

Tues - spaghetti, homemade Italian bread, salad with ranch dressing

Wed - breaded chicken breasts, baked potatoes, steamed cauliflower (I realize this is a VERY white meal, but I like it, so that's what we're having!)

Thurs - roasted pork tenderloin, homemade applesauce, orzo with spinach and tomatoes, steamed carrots

Fri - farmer's eggs (a combo of eggs, potatoes, cheese, meat, veggies), biscuits, fruit salad

Sat - my niece Helena's birthday party (let me know what you want me to bring Jimmy and Susanne)

Sun - Billy and Tommy are having a pizza night at our church youth group. Doug, Andrew, and I will be enjoying my absolute favorite meal of all time, Tomato and fresh mozzarella risotto with Caesar salad

Breakfasts:
~homemade granola
~baked oatmeal
~bagels w/cream cheese
~yogurt w/fruit (Doug bought me a yogurt maker for Christmas and I made my first batch over the weekend. It's delicious!!)
~pancakes with bacon

Lunches:
~ham and cheese
~egg salad
~chicken salad (from the freezer)
~pork sandwiches
~English muffin pizzas
~leftover beef burritos

Snacks/desserts
~peanut butter muffins (I just took them out of the oven now. They smell delicious. We're going to have them with my homemade grape jelly)
~granola bars
~sugar cookie cake
~chocolate chip cookies
~pudding
~popcorn
~clementines (I got a delicious box from the store last week. We are loving them)
~veggies w/ ranch dressing

That sounds like a lot of snacks, but I pack big lunches every day. I don't buy any premade snack foods other than potato chips, so I need to be prepared with plenty homemade options.

So, there's the plan. Of course that's all best case scenario. There may be days when we(I) decide we want fast food for lunch and buy a pizza for dinner, but with a plan, that is much less likely to happen.

E.A.G.L.E.S.

2009-01-11T18:40:00.002-05:00

WHOO HOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARIZONA, HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

14 YEARS OLD?!?!?!?!

2009-01-10T21:08:00.003-05:00

Yep, that's right. My baby is 14! Happy birthday Tommy! I hope you had the best 14th birthday ever!

Tommy had some friends over last night for a birthday party. It was a beautiful, COLD night. The moon was just shy of full. Tommy's plan was to have a bonfire and play outside games like kick the can, manhunt, and ghost in the graveyard. I told him to be prepared for his friends to not be as enthusiastic as he was about playing outside all night in the 20 degree weather. He made some alternate plans for some inside games just to appease me I think.

The alternate plans were not needed. These kids had a blast outside. It was so cool to see them all playing out in the cold, running around, laughing, talking and generally having an awesome time together.

They all came inside to refuel with some pizza, chips, cheese curls, fruit, and punch. Then it was back outside for more fun.

After a couple hours outside, I called them back in for "make your own brownie sundaes"

Tommy's friend, Piper, celebrates her birthday this weekend too so we mentioned her name in the birthday song. I think in this picture Tommy was saying "Hey, it's my birthday!"

It was a great birthday party and a great group of kids!!

We're having another party tomorrow afternoon with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. There won't be a bonfire at this party. We'll be in the family room watching the Eagles stomp on the Giants!!

Happy Birthday Tommy! WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I FOUND IT!

2009-01-06T19:54:00.002-05:00

First of all, my apologies to any readers who could care less about food, menus, or leftovers. Just bear with me for a couple of days. I will blog about something else eventually.

So...I found the chicken stuffed shells, but...it was a MUCH smaller container than I remembered. That was glitch #1. Glitch #2 - I forgot we would be having Billy's girlfriend here for dinner (No, I'm not calling Allie a glitch, my forgetting is the glitch). Glitch #3 - the shells all stuck together when I froze them and fell apart when they thawed.

Let me share with you how I handled these glitches.

I figured since the shells were falling apart anyway, I could just chop the whole thing up and call it "chicken stuffed shell casserole" Problem solved.

Okay, now it's not really enough for all of us for dinner. I used most of our fresh vegetables for our stir-fry last night. Luckily in the pantry I always keep canned fruit. So I made a delicious fruit salad out of canned pineapple, peaches, pears, oranges, and one large fresh apple. There's plenty for Doug's lunch tomorrow and for the rest of us for breakfast or lunch.

I also found 7 rolls leftover from a dinner I took to my grandmother's house over the holiday. I cut them all in half, took 2/3 of a stick of butter, mixed it with granulated garlic, salt, and parmesan cheese. I spread this mixture on the rolls and broiled them. How can you really go wrong with bread/butter/garlic/and cheese!!!!

I even got a delicious drink to serve with dinner from these humble ingredients. I drained all the juice from the canned pineapple mixed it with seltzer and ice, and Allie and I enjoyed delicious pineapple spritzers with our meal. Yummy!

So, once again, with no trip to the store, another delicious, filling dinner.

Tomorrow? Hmmm. Not really sure yet.

FREEZER/PANTRY MEALS

2009-01-05T18:47:00.002-05:00

I've challenged myself this week to make as many meals as I can without going to the store.

In the weeks preceding Christmas I felt like I was running to the store every day to get just a couple of things. My fridge, freezer, and pantry were overflowing, but it always seemed like I was missing one or two obscure ingredients.

Well, I need a break from the store (my wallet does too!).

I really want to see just what it is that's in my freezer making no room for more ice cream!!!!

We're not great leftover people. None of us LOVE leftovers. I'm not very creative about remaking them into something new and exciting either. For lunches we're a sandwich and chips kind of family.

What I have found helpful though is, if after a day or two, no one has eaten the leftovers, I freeze them. For some reason I am much more likely to use them at a later date if they are forgotten in the freezer for a while.

So...last night I took out a bag of frozen mashed potatoes, diced up some leftover Christmas ham, chopped the couple spears of broccoli that were leftover from a dinner a couple nights ago, grated up some cheese leftover from a cheese platter from New Year's eve mixed it all together in a 9x13 dish, and then baked it @375 for about a half hour. It was so good. We ate it while we watched the Eagles kick the Vikings butts!!!!! Yay Eagles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tonight it was just Doug, Tommy, and I home for dinner. Andrew is in Florida at Disney World and Billy is snowboarding.

In the freezer I found some cooked chicken breasts and a quart sized bag of cooked rice. Stir-Fry!!

I found plenty of veggies lurking in the fridge. There were baby carrots and, red and green peppers left from the veggie tray on New Year's. I found a small bag of baby spinach left from our spinach salad we had on Christmas, and I had a whole head of purple cabbage (I only used 1/4 of it) I also used onions and garlic that I always have on hand.

I was tempted to cook up some more rice because it really didn't look like enough. I'm glad I didn't though because once it was thawed and heated up, it was plenty.

So, in less than a half hour, using nothing except what we had on hand, we had an absolutely delicious, nutritious meal. I even have plenty leftover to share for lunch tomorrow at our co op.

Stay tuned to find out what I find for dinner tomorrow. I think I may have some chicken stuffed shells in one of the freezers. MMMMM. That sounds really good!

CANDLELIGHT REVISITED

2009-01-04T19:14:00.003-05:00

I've written before about how much I love candlelight. I really, really do!!

Another reason that I didn't talk about before is how great it is to entertain with. Light some candles and oil lamps, turn off the lights, and POOF, no dust, no dog hair, no smudges on the windows. Just gentle, quiet, soft beauty.

You can take the time that you would have spent scrubbing the house and go have a nice soak in the tub, cook up some delicious food, or just put your feet up and relax before your company comes.

We had some friends over to help us ring in the New Year. We had a lovely evening. We played my favorite card game, Wizard . We played Rock Band, and bingo. We ate awesome food, toasted with boilo, (a recipe passed down to me by my Poppop for a delicious hot toddy). At midnight we all counted down the last seconds of 2008, toasted with sparkling cider, blew on our noise makers (Boomer REALLY didn't like that part), and then went out onto the freezing cold porch and watched Andrew set off fire crackers (the horses in the barn REALLY didn't like that part).

In the foreground of the following picture, you can see a delicious appetizer that has recently become one of my all time favorites. Someone from my book group made it a couple months ago, and she was kind enough to share the recipe. Thanks Kathleen!

Baked Brie:
Take a round of brie - put it on an oven proof dish - remove the rind from the top and sides - spread raspberry jam on top (I used seedless, all-fruit spread) - sprinkle with chopped pecans - take crescent roll dough and press the seams together - flatten a little and then wrap pieces of it around the brie until it's completely covered. The past 2 times I've made it, I took the scraps of dough pressed them out flat and then cut out a shape with a cookie cutter to put on top. For Christmas, I put a cut out a Christmas tree, and for New Year's, I used a star.
Put it in the oven according to the directions on the crescent roll can. Bake until browned.

This is soooooo good!!

One last thought on candles. They actually do provide warmth. I'm not sure if you'd notice this in a large room, or in a house that has actual heat. In our house though, which can be really, really cold, I can totally feel it. We have a bathroom on our main floor which always has the door closed. Since we don't use any central heat, it is an unheated bathroom.

On New Year's eve I had 4 votive candles burning in there all night. It was truly toasty in there by the end of the night. Now, I'm not suggesting that we all use candles for heat, but it is a nice fringe benefit!

So, for your next get together, plan it for after dark, put away your mop and dust rag, get out your matches, and go take a bubble bath.

2009-01-03T16:53:00.010-05:00

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!

We had a truly wonderful holiday. Sarah was home (big smile). We all went to church together on Christmas eve and celebrated, with LOTS AND LOTS of people, the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.

I am so blessed to have kids who, although they are not little kids anymore, still revel in the joy of Christmas. They are certainly not afraid to act a little goofy.

We got to visit with lots of family and friends.

This is Nana getting to hold, for the first time, her 18th great-grandchild, Josephine.

A perfect Christmas picture of all 10 of my parents grandchildren.

Sarah got her wish of holding her new cousin, baby Josie, for the WHOLE day.

We ate wonderful food.

We enjoyed giving and receiving thoughtful, fun presents.

This is the felted handbag I knitted Sarah.

This is Andrew trying out his new banjo. It was a big surprise!

Doug made Billy a horseshoeing tool box. Very cool!

Tommy opened a gift that was a box with an old hay hook in it. He did look perplexed for a few seconds until he realized that it was actually a clue to where he could find his gift. He ran out to the hayloft, followed by his brothers and Dad, and found his brand new bike. Doesn't he look happy!

This is my brother, Jimmy, holding the HANDMADE knife that Doug made him for Christmas. I think he liked it. A LOT!!

After 3 days of festivities, we relaxed and relaxed. Then we relaxed some more. Actually, that's what I am still doing. I plan on returning to my regularly scheduled programming come Monday, but for now I'm reading, knitting, watching movies, Lost, and football, and still eating plenty of sinful food.

I love the holidays, but I have to admit, I also REALLY love the quiet that follows!!

TORTILLAS

2008-08-19T10:23:00.003-04:00

I've wanted to learn how to make flour tortillas for quite some time now. I really wondered if it could possibly be worth the effort though. I don't LOVE the taste of store bought tortillas. For me, they are just a vehicle for all of the wonderful things you stuff in them.

The other night I was searching through the freezer for something I could use up for our dinner. I came across a bag of chicken burrito filling that I had made and froze months ago. The only problem with this dinner plan; no tortillas.

I figured now was as good a time as any to try my hand at making some homemade.

I searched the internet and immediately found a recipe that sounded like it would work. Isn't the internet cool!!

You can find the recipe here .

The ingredients were very basic. I had everything I needed. Flour (I used white, but I imagine part whole wheat would be fine too), oil, salt, baking powder, and milk.

The dough was easy to work with and mixed up just like the recipe said.

It did take some kneading to get the stickiness out.

I divided the dough into roughly equal pieces with a pizza cutter.

Forming the pieces into balls before rolling out is an important step to getting round tortillas.

I skimped on the resting time, (I was really hungry), so some of the first tortillas took longer to roll out because the dough was king of tight. After a good rest though, the later ones were much easier to roll out.

They cooked up perfectly just like the recipe said, 30 seconds a side. I got into a rhythm and was able to have the next one rolled out by the time the one in the pan was finished cooking.

It sure was a good workout for my arms. I guess I'm pretty out of shape if I can "feel the burn" while doing a simple task like rolling out 8 tortillas.

The effort was so worth it though. These tortillas are in a totally different class than the gummy ones that I normally buy from the store. Absolutely delicious!

I heated up the burrito filling that is my sister Maria's recipe. It's an awesome recipe to have. Actually, it's not a specific recipe as much as a list of ingredients to put together however you want.

Cooked rice, cooked shredded chicken, canned corn, canned diced tomatoes, canned chilies, cheese, sour cream, any seasonings you think will work (cumin, garlic, chili powder, salt, pepper, cayenne) Mix it all together with enough sour cream to make it easy to stir. Put it in a casserole and bake until it's bubbly.

Serve on a tortilla with whatever toppings you like. I kept this one simple with just some dollops of sour cream. Delicious!!!!

21 YEARS OLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-07-20T15:17:00.003-04:00

Today is Sarah's 21st birthday! Happy Birthday Sass!!!!!!

Even though we are not with you today to celebrate your very special day, we are thinking about you and hoping you are having the best day ever. I baked a cake for all of us to enjoy in your honor.

We can't wait to see you in two weeks to celebrate with you.

I'm remembering today many of your past birthday's. When we had a pony in our tiny backyard. When we had the carnival and Dave was a clown and terrorized Andrew. Your tea party with all of your ballet friends. Your 10th birthday when we went to Knoebels Grove. Your 16th birthday when we all visited you in Washington DC and had brunch in Georgetown.

Even though you no longer live with us, you still bring us so much joy. I look forward to talking to you every day. Even if it's just for 5 minutes. I love hearing about what's going on in your life.

I hope this year brings you all the happiness, peace, joy, contentment, and love that you so deserve!

WE LOVE YOU SARAH! XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

SEASONS OF LIFE

2008-07-17T16:19:00.002-04:00

I spent the beginning part of this week visiting my grandmother. I travelled to her house with my mom and my dad. No kids. Just my mom, my dad, and me. We had a great visit! My grandmother has such wonderful memories to share.

We spent hours sitting on her porch. We watched the cars and trucks pass on Centre Street. We watched the people walking about in the town. We spent a fair amount of time talking about these same people. We reminisced about my great-aunt Flossie who passed away this winter and lived in the adjoining house to my Nana's. Nana shared stories of other relatives who lived in the town over the years.

We made a visit to a nearby state park. Locust Lake. It is a gorgeous park! I grew up going to this park. When I was a child and visiting my grandparents' house with my siblings and four cousins, we would often go to the park for a walk in the afternoon. I imagine it was a nice change of pace for the grown ups to get us all out of the house for a while. My Nana would pack a cooler or basket with snacks and drinks. We'd walk around the trail that looped all the way around the lake. We always stopped at the playground. Nana and Poppop would sit on the benches and we'd all spend frantic minutes trying to play on everything at once. The swings, the see-saw, the jumpy bridge, the tire swing, the rolling log. Fun!! We'd continue on the loop and stop at a small bridge to watch the fishermen and see if we could spy a fish in the shallows. Next up was the amphitheater. It was used for different purposes in the camp ground. Church, movies, lectures etc. My cousin Chrissy and I loved to stand at the podium and pretend we were making speeches to a crowd of imaginary people seated on the log seats.

When I grew up, had kids of my own, and took them to visit Nana and Poppop, we would always include a trip to Locust Lake at some point in the visit. Nana would pack snacks and drinks for her great-grandchildren. We'd walk around the loop. Of course we visited the playground and my kids played on the same equipment that I grew up enjoying. My grandfather would talk to my kids about the mushrooms he'd hunt in the woods of the park. He told them plenty of fishing stories and would often stop to chat with a fishing buddy near the bridge. He always brought along peanuts to feed the squirrels. Poppop called all squirrels "Charlie". All the Charlies seemed to know Poppop.

Doug and I camped at Locust Lake several times with our kids. Since the park was so close to Nana and Poppop's house, they would often come to visit us in the evening to enjoy the campfire and a marshmallow or two. I saw my Poppop for the last time at Locust Lake other than a few minutes in the hospital when I said a painful, tearful good-bye to him. I treasure the memory of that last visit around the campfire at the Lake. I can still see his smile!

This visit was a different kind of visit. No kids. No Poppop. No playground. Quiet. Peaceful. Sitting still with our memories. My dad took a walk around the old loop while I sat with my mom and Nana on a bench in the shade. I went to the camp store and bought us some hand dipped ice cream to enjoy while we soaked in the beautiful day.

I hope someday Doug and I will bring our grand kids to Locust Lake and share with them all of the wonderful memories we have of this special place.

EIGHT NEW BABIES!!!!

2008-05-06T22:19:00.002-04:00

Boy, that title got your attention didn't it! No, not baby babies...baby chickens.

Last week, Doug called from the feed store to tell me that they had some extra chicks and asked me if I wanted them. Well, yeah!! I LOVE baby chicks. Our hens' egg production has slowed down so we really need to get some fresh layers going if we're going to continue to eat the VERY large amount of eggs that we are accustomed to.

Tommy and I scurried around trying to find a temporary home for them. They need to be in the kitchen for several weeks where it's warm. Anyone who's ever been in my kitchen knows that "warm" is relative. We'll be using a heat lamp and a portable heater for a while too, don't worry.

Awww. How cute.

Tommy's our official namer, so these chicks were christened, Penny, Polly, Lucy, and Lola.

It's not easy to tell them apart right now, but Tommy always seems to know who's who.

Hello!
Yes, I did say 8 new babies.

The next day, Doug called me from one of his customer's farms to say that her hen had just hatched out 17 chicks and could we possibly help her out. Well, sure, why not. The more the merrier!

How could anyone say no to these little guys?

Names: Mary, Marcy, Pablo, and Susie. The feminine names are really wishful thinking. We won't be sure for a while if we have hens or roosters.

New boarders in our barn gave us a gorgeous basket of flowers. I just couldn't resist setting the chicks in the basket for an awesome photo opportunity.

How cute is that!!

A DEATH

2008-04-27T19:26:00.002-04:00

Our beloved rooster, Ace, was killed by a fox on Friday. He was an awesome rooster!!

He took such good care of his ladies. He always knew where they all were. If one was missing he started calling to her and rounded her up when he caught sight of her. He would peck at the ground until he found a tasty bug or worm. He would never eat it though. He'd stand over it and call to the hens to come and get it. When I called them over to the porch for some table scraps, he made sure all of the hens had their fill before he would take his first bite.

He was NEVER aggressive with his hens or with his human family and friends. He was so handsome and regal looking. I have no doubt that he died protecting his hens. I'm so sad that I let them out of the coop that day!

It is definitely open season for foxes around here!!!!

The mornings are so quiet without his beautiful crowing to bring in the day. I imagine we'll get another rooster, but I think it will be really hard to ever find a rooster as beautiful, gentle, brave and cool as Ace.

SPRING FEVER

2008-04-17T20:50:00.002-04:00

I've been looking forward to a quiet day at home today all week. We didn't have to leave the house until the afternoon for a lacrosse game. I pictured a quiet day getting tons of school work completed, doing all my long neglected housework, hanging the laundry out to dry in the beautiful spring breezes, baking bread, weeding the flower beds.

I still had the idea of this quiet day in my head for maybe the first hour of my morning. Then, the reality of the amazingly beautiful day that was unfolding sunk in.

I told the boys to put away their math books, packed some water and food, grabbed the dog and a blanket, called my friend Jennifer, and headed to the park for a hike and a picnic lunch.

Happily, Jennifer and her kids were game to set aside their plans for the day and join us.

We had an awesome hike and a delicious lunch. The dogs even got along. They may become friends after all.

After being sick all week, Billy was pretty tired out after our 1 1/2 hour hike. I think he was very grateful for the comfy blanket, soft grass, and warm sun. After a little rest he was revived enough to go play in his lacrosse game. He's the goalie and had a great game.

CRACKERS

2008-04-14T21:22:00.002-04:00

In my quest to make, from scratch, as much of our food as I can, I have been searching and searching for a recipe for crackers that was not too complicated and actually tasted like crackers, not thin bread.

I think I found it!!

I found it here . I used the 2nd recipe on the page. It was really easy. Took less than 1/2 hour to put together. I did make a change to the recipe. I used half white and half wheat flour. I may try all wheat next time and see how it works. I also cooked them a little longer. I just kept checking them until they looked crispy, but not too brown.

I didn't need to use the roller. The dough was very soft and spread just fine with my hands. I think I would keep spreading and make them just a touch thinner next time.

I cut them with a pizza cutter in roughly wheat thin sized squares.
These are sesame, but I am imagining all kinds of variations to try in the future: poppy seed, garlic, parmesan, cracked pepper, dill...

MMMMMMMMMM!!

3 DOWN 1 TO GO

2008-04-10T19:49:00.002-04:00

Today was the big day. The day Billy has been eagerly anticipating for the last 6 months. Maybe even for the last 16 years!!

It was the day of his driving test to get his driver's licence. We've spent the last 6 months totaling up over 50 hours of driving experience. It was REALLY scary at first. Little by little though, I stopped fearing for my life as Billy gained confidence and ability. He's a great driver now.

He listened willingly and attentively to all of my lectures. He didn't roll his eyes too much as I told him story after story of accidents that other teenagers have gotten into. We talked about there being a good reason that teenage boys have such expensive car insurance. I've begged, pleaded, and prayed that he will be a cautious, relaxed, slow driver.

Now it's up to him.

This is him waiting for his test. I think there were definitely some nerves. Both his sister and his older brother passed their driving tests on the first try. The pressure was on!

No worries!!! HE PASSED! Billy is now an officially licenced driver.

Congratulations Billy! PLEASE DRIVE SAFELY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT'S COOKIN' AND GRAPE JELLY

2008-04-07T08:37:00.003-04:00

PICTURE FROM www.allposters.com

I haven't shared our menu in a while, so here it is:

Monday - tacos, fruit salad

Tuesday - chicken corn soup (in the freezer from my mom) homemade wheat rolls I'll be going out for pizza with my book group!

Wednesday - lacrosse team dinner for Doug, Andrew, and Billy. Tommy and I will be doing our own thing

Thursday - sloppy joes on homemade wheat rolls, butter/parm noodles, sauteed zucchini

Friday - homemade pizzas

Saturday - baked chicken, rice, corn, steamed cauliflower

Sunday - beef and noodles, tossed salad

Monday - broccoli/chicken casserole, cheese muffins

Tuesday - chicken spaghetti, caesar salad. This is an amazingly delicious casserole recipe from an awesome blog. Here's the link if you'd like to try it yourself http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/chicken_spaghet/

Wednesday - Lacrosse team dinner - this week Tommy and I will be helping to serve the teams and coaches - we'll all eat there

Thursday - bbq beef sandwiches, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli

Friday - homemade pizzas

Saturday - grilled hamburgers, baked potatoes, green beans

Okay, now for the grape jelly. I've been making our grape jelly for years. I know, it's not very expensive to buy, but I just love to make it myself. I figure I'm doing my little part for the environment too, not continuing to buy new jars of jelly. I just reuse whatever empty jars I have in the cabinet. It really is a very easy thing to make. I use the recipe from Hillbilly Housewife. http://www.hillbillyhousewife.com/grapejelly.htm

It doesn't take much time or many ingredients. Grape juice, sugar, powdered pectin.

Gather the ingredients and then it's just a matter of cooking it together and boiling for 1 minute. Definitely not rocket science!
The results are so yummy, and pretty too! Absolutely divine on a piece of toasted homemade wheat bread for breakfast. In fact, that's where I'm going now. Breakfast time.

HELLO AGAIN!

2008-04-05T21:03:00.005-04:00

No, I didn't leave town. I haven't been on vacation. My computer's not broken. No one is ill. I haven't even been particularly busier than usual. I just took an extended, unannounced break from blogging. I'm actually quite surprised at how missed my blogging seems to have been. I've gotten so many calls, e-mails, and personal requests to hurry up and start blogging again. I'm really touched! Here I was feeling all boring and uninspired. I guess boring works for a lot of people.

I've been kind of agonizing over how to start again. Should I recap all that's happened in the last 3 months? Should I pretend I never took a break? Should I just jump back in? This last option was Doug's advice, so here I am.

I may end up sharing a couple of pics of the highlights of the past couple of months, but not today. Today, we're talking about TROUT.

Today was opening day of trout season in a neighboring state. Doug and the boys met my brother, Jimmy, and his son Nathan at the stream at 6:30 this morning. The weather was perfect (I think. I was still in bed.) At least it was perfect when they came home at 9:30 after each of them caught their limit of 6 fish.

We bagged up fish from each of their stringers for dinner tonight and froze the rest. We figured on inviting Nanny and Poppop to dinner. Hannah was here as well as Billy's friend Richie. We ended up grilling 15 fish. Aren't they pretty?

My mom and Nana always made homemade french fries with fresh caught trout, so I set about peeling, slicing, pre-frying, frying and salting 5 pounds of potatoes. They were so good. Totally worth the 2 hours that they took me to make!

I steamed up some delicious green beans and made 2 pans of corn bread. My mom stopped by the farmer's market and bought some delicious cole slaw from an Amish stand there. She also made homemade peanut butter tandy cakes and a pineapple rice pudding that my grandfather used to make.

It really was the most delicious dinner we've had in quite some time. This food brings back such wonderful memories for me. It wasn't just the food though. The company was wonderful too! I'm so happy that Doug and our boys have continued our family's tradition of trout fishing.

OVER THE RIVER AND THROUGH THE WOODS

2008-01-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

Billy, Tommy, and I are taking a trip to Nana's house tomorrow morning. We haven't been to visit for several months so we're really looking forward to going.

I have such wonderful memories of time spent at my grandparent's house when I was younger. It seemed like we spent the weekend there at least once a month. I would go with my parents, sister, and brother. Our cousins would go at the same time with my aunt and uncle. So, with my Nana and Poppop, that made 13 of us staying in a 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom home. I never really knew where everyone was sleeping. I just knew that the girls (5 of us) all slept in the third floor front bedroom. It's a gorgeous room with huge windows looking out on the main street of the town. I slept in a crib with my cousin, Chrissy, long enough that I actually have memories of it! She slept with her head at one end and I had my head at the other. We had such awesome times on these weekends.

I am so blessed to be able to share my Nana and her town and beautiful house with my children. I still sleep in the front bedroom on the third floor. My boys will sleep in the "magic room". So called because it has a door that leads out onto the roof of the neighboring homes.

Sleeping above a main street with the trucks, sirens, street lights, people out at all hours, trash trucks rumbling past in the wee hours of the morning is so different than sleeping here in the silence of our farm!! It's much warmer too!!!!

Nana shares my joy in eating. She doesn't do much cooking these days though, so I love to take her a bunch of goodies for here freezer.

Today I made her some pancakes, which she just loves. I package them in in threes for her breakfast. I put them in her freezer, but that's probably unnecessary because I think she goes through them pretty fast!

I also made her some oven fried chicken. This chicken is SO good!!! I make it for my family all of the time. You can make it in nuggets or tenders, but I made it in patties this time. I took 4 large boneless chicken breasts, cut them in half horizontally and then in half again vertically. So out of just 4 chicken breasts, I got 16 patties.

I set up a little assembly line to make the process easy. The chicken first gets a quick dredge in flour, then it takes a dip in an egg wash, and then in it goes into a mixture of bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and seasonings. When I make this for my family, I put garlic, basil, oregano, salt, and pepper in the crumbs. Nana doesn't like things highly seasoned, so I just use salt and pepper for hers.

I put the chicken on foil lined sheet pans and drizzle them with olive oil. I bake them at 450* for 12 minutes, turn them and bake for 10 more minutes.

These are absolutely amazing dipped in homemade ranch dressing!

Tonight I made raisin bread. I made Nana 2 loaves and I'll leave a loaf home for Doug to enjoy while we're away.

Tomorrow, before I leave, I'm going to make jam crescents. I'll share the recipe another time.

Right now, I'm going to go watch the rest of American Idol!

PRETTY FOOD

2008-01-11T08:25:00.000-05:00

Don't you think that food from the bulk food store is so much prettier than food from a regular grocery store!!

A delicious trail mix I made from some of the above goodies:
banana chips, dried apricots (chopped), peanuts, cashews, dried cranberries, and mini chocolate chips.

In the interest of full disclosure, I must show you this purchase as well:

Not quite the most healthy snack option, but they sure are yummy for a special treat (like Tommy's upcoming birthday party)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOMMY!!!!

2008-01-09T11:33:00.000-05:00

Well, I knew it would happen eventually...my baby's a teenager!

On this day 13 years ago, Doug and I welcomed Thomas Joseph into our family. He was then, and continues to be, such a joyful addition to our family. We were truly blessed when Tommy arrived!

Okay, now for the moment you've all been waiting for:

13 very cool, interesting facts about Tommy

1. He was born at home (in the room that is now his bedroom)

2. By the time he was 5, he had broken his nose twice.

3. He is the biggest Harry Potter fan I know.

4. The only school he ever attended was a 2-day a week preschool when he was 3.

5. He is a VERY picky eater.

6. He has a hamster named Stevie.

7. He's the most creative child in the house, and also the messiest.

8. When he was a baby, he did not sleep with a blanket or a pacifier, he slept with a crib full of books.

9. His favorite food is anything having to do with cheese and bread (pizza, quesadillas, ravioli, grilled cheese, nachos and cheese, macaroni and cheese)

10. He can spend hours alone and be perfectly content.

11. He is never cold. You'll rarely ever see him with a winter coat on unless he's skiing or sledding.

12. He loves our amusement park and will now go on ALL of the rides.

13. He writes amazing poetry.

We are so proud of you Tommy. You're an amazing person!!

We love you!

BIRDS??

2008-01-04T20:23:00.000-05:00

Now I know why I can't keep any seed in this BIRD feeder!

TRADITIONS AND MEMORIES

2007-12-31T09:06:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed a truly wonderful, blessed Christmas!

First and foremost, our Christmas starts at church at a beautiful Christmas eve mass. Hearing God's word, singing praises to Him, and sharing fellowship with other believers.

Having Sarah home with us for the holiday was the greatest gift!

~My gorgeous kids~

~The little ballerina searching the night sky for Rudolph~

~The kids putting together our traditional Christmas breakfast, "bubble bread"~

~Making name tags for their stockings (they pick different ones each year)~

~Selecting cookies for Santa's plate~

~Doug reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas"~

~Hanging the stockings~

~Happy Kids!!!!!!!!~

I would have loved to have had a white Christmas, but no luck again this year. As a consolation though, the weather was nice enough for a lovely hike in the woods on Christmas afternoon. It was my favorite part of the day!!

Best wishes for a fun, safe New Year's eve.
~I'll be back in '08~

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

2007-12-24T14:18:00.000-05:00

"And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night"

"And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid"

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people"

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord."

"And this shall be a sign unto you; ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger."

"And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God in the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men." Luke 2:8-14

~~Merry Christmas from our family to your's~~

INGENUITY

2007-12-22T08:45:00.000-05:00

Billy went to a caroling party last night with a large group of his homeschooling friends. He has been working on learning to play a lot of different Christmas carols on his guitar so that he could accompany the group (and also so that he could get out of singing I think!)

Yesterday Billy searched the house for a guitar strap that he was just sure we had at some point. No luck. He begged his brother to try to find his. No luck.

What to do...What to do...

"I know, let's try to make one out of baling twine"

Billy went out to the barn where, luckily, there is always a good supply. He brought in a load of it and he and Andrew set to work braiding.

And braiding...

Then they braided the braids...

Adjusted the fit...

Voila! A guitar strap, redneck style!

OUR AUTHOR

2007-12-18T20:15:00.000-05:00

Many people say that they are going to write a novel. I imagine not many of them actually do. Well, Tommy has!!

Several years ago, when he was just 9 years old, Tommy began writing a story that has turned into a book. He carried it around with him constantly and wrote it by hand over the past 3 years. He would write notes to himself when he had an idea for it. He'd write lists of characters and ideas for their names. He even created a different language to be used in certain places in the book. Amazing!!

This past June, the 28th to be exact, he wrote the last word. Of course I caught it on camera!

Here it is. 366 handwritten pages!!!! Isn't that so cool!! He actually plans on this being the first of 12 books. He's quite an ambitious young man isn't he?
He's so proud and so are we!
Immediately after he finished writing, he began to type it into the computer. As he was typing he did a lot of re-writing. He found that he is a much different writer now than he was when he was 9 years old. Because of all of the re-writing, his typed version is almost as long as the hand-written one. It is 343 typed pages, 34 chapters.

He is printing the chapters out a couple at a time. Several of his friends have been reading it and he has gotten very positive feedback. They eagerly await the next chapters. One of his friends told him that she kept forgetting, as she was reading, that he was actually the author.

He would love to get his book published. We know nothing about how to begin to go about this. He's been reading a book on getting things published, and I imagine that we'll be doing plenty of research on the internet about it.

In the meantime, he's started on the next book. He's written 50 typed pages already!!

PICS OF ANDREW'S 19TH YEAR

2007-12-12T10:04:00.000-05:00

19 years ago today Doug and I welcomed our second child and first son into our lives. Andrew was born at 9:45am and was my shortest, easiest labor (if you can call 14 hours short!)

Andrew has matured into such a responsible, dependable, hard working interesting adult. It has been so fun, and challenging at times, to watch him grow up.

Now onto 19 interesting, cool facts about Andrew ~

1-He has bright red hair.

2-He sucked his thumb as a baby.

3-He had a piece of my nightgown that he carried around when he was little. He called it a shushu.

4-He could throw a fit like no other child I've ever known.

5-He's a huge animal lover and also a hunter (go figure!)

6-He's decided to follow in his father's footsteps and be a farrier.

7-He got his driver's licence before his older sister.

8-He is NOT a picky eater.

9-He loves to hunt, fish, hike, and camp.

10-He's played soccer, baseball, roller hockey, ice hockey, and lacrosse.

11-He broke his arm in ice hockey and his leg when he was skateboarding.

12-He had stitches in his leg.

13-He built a cabin in our woods until our landlords made him tear it down.

14-He can crochet hats.

15-He can beat anybody at poker.

16-He taught himself how to play the guitar and he's really good!

17-He chopped down a tree in our yard with just an axe.

18-He can tie flies for fishing.

19-He's had 4 different bedrooms in our house.

We're so proud of the man you've become Andrew.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

NUTCRACKER

2007-12-09T21:51:00.000-05:00

It's Nutcracker time again!

Doug and I, along with the boys and Doug's mom, went today to see Sarah perform with her company in the Nutcracker ballet. This is the 12th year that we have had the pleasure to watch Sarah in the Nutcracker.

I have cried every year. This year was no exception. Happy, proud tears! Watching Sarah dance is one of the greatest pleasures in my life. BEAUTIFUL!!!!

We saw the first show today, so Sarah didn't have a ton of time for visiting afterwards. Our show was over around 3:30 and the next one started at 4:30. We were able to squeeze in a little family time with lots laughs and pictures of course.

When I see Sarah dance now, I realize that all of those countless hours of driving to classes, rehearsals, and auditions were totally worth it!

We're so proud of you Sarah!

A WINTER AFTERNOON

2007-12-05T18:45:00.001-05:00

We had such a quiet, peaceful afternoon today. My nephew, Mason was staying with us. We spent the morning watching videos, visiting the library, making playdough and then playing with it, eating lunch and reading library books.

After lunch, this is what it looked like in the family room:

~Boomer, napping in his bed right in front of the heater~

~Cleo, our cat, napping in the big comfy chair. Her head was tucked under the cushion to stay warm~
~Mason, napping on the couch with his trusty Shrek the Third DVD~

This is what it looked like outside:

I'm so excited to have gotten our first bit of snow. There is more on the ground now than in these pictures. Not enough to make life too difficult, but enough to cover everything and make us all want to stay home for the evening.

POWER COOKING

2007-12-03T21:24:00.000-05:00

If you have known me for any amount of time, you know that I am not much for "power shopping". What I do enjoy though, is a good session of power cooking.

Our weather on Sunday was not at all conducive to any kind of outside activity. The temps were in the 20's. It was raining/freezing rain/sleeting. It was really cold in the house!!

It was 11 o'clock. I knew I wanted to watch the football game at 1:00, so I figured I could head into the kitchen and see how much I could accomplish in two hours.

When I stepped into the kitchen, I realized that our space heater was turned off and the temperature had dropped to 51*. Brrrr!!! One sure way to raise the heat in your kitchen is to start cooking.

The first thing I did was take a chicken carcass out of the freezer and put it into a pot with a bunch of veggies and water and put it on to simmer. In a couple of hours we had a large tasty pot of homemade stock. I'll be turning it into chicken veggie soup for lunch tomorrow.

Next, I mixed up a double batch of banana bread. The ends came out nice and chewy. Delicious!

I had a large container of chocolate pudding in the fridge so I decided to mix up a pie crust which I baked and then filled with the pudding for Chocolate Cream pie. Tonight I topped it with homemade whipped cream and chocolate shavings for dessert. MMMMM!

Next in line to cook was a pumpkin roll. My mom made these for our camping trip and I have been wanting to eat one again ever since.

I got the icing mixed up.

Then the cake baked, cooled, and filled. It's in the freezer now waiting for the perfect night to be served for dessert.

It's a super easy, quick recipe.

Batter:

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup pumpkin

1 tsp lemon juice

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp salt

mix batter ingredients together - line a greased jelly roll pan with waxed paper - grease the paper and spread the batter evenly - bake at 350* for 15 minutes - place waxed paper on a tea towel and sprinkle with powdered sugar - invert hot jelly roll onto waxed paper and remove waxed paper that was in pan - roll up from the narrow end - cool exactly 1 hour - unroll jelly roll and spread with cream cheese filling - roll up again and wrap in plastic wrap

cream cheese filling:

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup powdered sugar

beat together until very fluffy

Lastly, I mixed up a double batch of peanut butter cookie batter. After the game, I baked them into 100 delicious cookies.

We should be set for treats for at least a couple of days.

The best thing though was that I was able to sit and enjoy the football game guilt free. Well, I don't know about enjoy. That was a hard game to enjoy!!

O CHRISTMAS TREE

2007-11-30T08:59:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we travelled to our favorite Christmas tree farm to take a horse-drawn wagon ride out to the field to cut down our Christmas tree.

It was a perfect day!

The ride through the woods and field was so much fun.

The scenery really makes the trip special!

Going through the tunnel under the turnpike was exciting!! Mason's favorite part!

We found the perfect tree with no arguing what-so-ever.

It was Tommy's turn to put the star (made long ago by Doug) on the top of the tree. Actually it was Sarah's turn but, sadly, she wasn't home.

I so love having the Christmas tree up. We'll have it for an extra week this year as long as it lasts till New Year's.

Advent starts this Sunday.

Best wishes for a beautiful, holy season!

~Ann~

THANKSGIVING PICS

2007-11-23T08:55:00.000-05:00

What a wonderful day we had!!

~The tables were ready~

~The "fire" was lit~

~The turkey was roasted~

~The buffet was set~

~The most important thing...family, was gathered~

The weather even cooperated for a hayride after dinner.

I hope everyone who celebrated Thanksgiving was able to enjoy time spent with family and friends and lots of delicious food!

THANKSGIVING

2007-11-22T08:27:00.000-05:00

Best wishes for a happy, blessed, and fun filled Thanksgiving!

I am so grateful for all the blessings in my life. How wonderful that we have a day to celebrate our bounty!

~Ann~

MORE SOUP

2007-11-17T20:24:00.000-05:00

I thought I would share yet another of my favorite soups.
This recipe comes courtesy of my sister, Maria. She made this up years ago for some family dinner.

It was a big hit and I have made it many times since.

She calls it "Mexican Chowder"

It's an easy soup to make because most of the work involves opening cans.

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped onion
1 garlic clove, crushed
3 Tbls oil or butter
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp cumin
pepper flakes ( I use cayenne)
1 can diced tomatoes
2 cups diced potatoes
2 cups broth
1 can corn

Saute onion and garlic in oil until soft
add spices and cook for a couple of minutes

Add chopped potatoes, tomatoes, and broth

Simmer until the potatoes are tender
Add corn (I don't drain it)

Take about 1/2 of the soup out and blend it until smooth in a blender or food processor

Add the pureed portion back to the chunky portion and reheat it

This soup holds wonderfully in a crock pot.

It is absolutely delicious topped with shredded cheddar and maybe a little crumbled bacon.

ENJOY!!!!

THE HIKE

2007-11-14T15:17:00.000-05:00

Were you worried that we didn't make it through our hike? Sorry about the delay in posting. Sometimes real life must take precedence over my online life.

Our hike was wonderful. Cold, tiring, challenging, exciting...wonderful!

We met Jimmy, Andrew, and Billy at the visitor's center in the morning. They were none the worse for wear after spending the night out in the below freezing temperatures. Billy swore that he was sweating in his tent at night and Jimmy said that he slept with his tent flap open. Really????

As we stood around waiting for everyone to gather to begin our hike, I noticed two white things drifting down from the sky. I joked that maybe it was snow. Well, no joke, it was snow! It snowed off and on throughout the whole hike. I loved it!!

The hike began with a short, gentle climb to the south lookout. Just enough to get our muscles warmed up.

The view was overcast but still amazing.

The down portion of the hike was very relaxing. Not too difficult except for watching each step because of the rocks and protruding tree roots.

We stopped a couple of times to take off layers, put on layers, have a drink of water, eat a small snack, or snap a few pictures of the beauty that was surrounding us.

Our trail meandered down through the woods and eventually went through this amazing rock field. There are several of these fields throughout our state. My brother tells me that they are debris left over from a glacier passing through long, long ago. We irreverently refer to them as "glacier poop". They are really fun places to explore, difficult, but definitely worth the effort for some pictures. Luckily because of the freezing weather, we saw no snakes. I imagine this would be quite the snake playground in the warm weather. I don't intend ever to find this out though!

After a stop for lunch, we started the climb back up the mountain. This was, as always, the most challenging part for me. I get out of breath very quickly. I took it slow, stopped A LOT to catch my breath, and eventually made it up the steepest part of the trail.

Then we came to the truly scary part of the trail. Oh, did I say scary? I really meant fun and challenging!

We have climbed this trail many times. Each time I seem to forget just how hard it really is. The snow on this trip added quite a lot more excitement with the slippery foot and hand holds and frozen fingers trying to grip the rock.

Finally, after 4 hours, and some help on the rocks from Scott (Thank you Scott), we made it to the top, North Lookout.

The view was not what it usually is because of the snow and overcast conditions, but it was still breathtaking and totally worth the trip!!

After spending just a short time at the top admiring the awesomeness of the place, we decided to head back down. IT WAS FREEZING!!!!

The walk down seemed like more of a stroll in the park compared to the hike up.

It was a terrific day. One of the best ever! I already can't wait for our next hike.

Any takers??

TRAIL MIX

2007-11-08T21:41:00.000-05:00

I just finished packing our food for our hike tomorrow. I am packing lunch and snacks for myself, Tommy, Billy, Andrew, my brother, Jimmy and his son, Nathan. Doug is not hiking with us unfortunately, but I have packed him our same hiking lunch. That's a lot of food!!!!

One of our favorite hiking foods is our version of trail mix.

Tommy and Nathan mixed up a large batch this evening and then I split it up into individual bags for us all to take along in our packs.

Here's our recipe in case you'd like to give it a try for your next hike.

1 bag each of original, cheddar, parmesan, pizza, and pretzel goldfish
1 bag cherry flavored dried cranberries
2 cups milk chocolate chocolate chips
2 cups sunflower seed kernels
1 box mini honey flavored teddy grahams

DELICIOUS!!

BACKPACKING

2007-11-08T08:31:00.000-05:00

Andrew and Billy left early this morning to meet up with my brother to go on an overnight backpacking trip. We all love to hike! This will be Billy's first overnight trip.

I took these pictures last night as they were preparing to go. They both got new packs last year. Andrew for his birthday and Billy for Christmas. This will be the first time they are getting to use them.

Their food is all organized and ready to be added to the packs.

I bought them all kinds of convenience snack type foods that I never buy. Boy is that stuff expensive!!

Their food plan is: lunch-summer sausage, cheese, triscuits, dried fruit; dinner-canned chicken mixed with instant potatoes that I added some milk powder and gravy mix to. They'll heat that all up with water on their stove along with some hot tea to drink; breakfast-instant oatmeal packets, poptarts, and dried fruit, more hot tea.

They have cheese crackers, peanut butter crackers, peanuts, and lots of candy to snack on.

Tommy and I, along with Nathan, my nephew, will be meeting them tomorrow morning to join them for a day hike.

We'll spend the night at home where it will be much warmer than the mid-20's that are forecast for the mountain where the older boys will be sleeping tonight.

MORNING FROST

2007-11-02T09:12:00.000-04:00

Earlier in the week, our area received our first frost. To me it seems like it was pretty late to be getting our first frost, but I don't really keep good track of these things!

It was a beautiful sight to behold.

Our wood stove is still not up and running, so Cleo, our cat, had to find warmth in the only place available, the lone burning lamp that was still lit to chase away the morning darkness.

Tommy and I enjoyed a wonderful breakfast of hot oatmeal with honey, brown sugar, and cinnamon, and hot tea or coffee. Billy was still tucked warmly in his bed, so he missed out and had cold cereal later in the morning.

HALLOWEEN PARTY

2007-10-31T10:44:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we hosted our 10th annual homeschool halloween party. We had a turnout of around 100 people!!!!

We had the perfect weather. The food was plentiful and delicious. There was games, hayrides, hikes, relaxing, visiting, and lots of eating.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and made it such a great day!

LOTS MORE PICS

2007-10-24T07:35:00.000-04:00

Well, here they are. It was hard to stop myself from adding even more, but I tried to pick the highlights.

Here Billy is trying a new method of climbing a tree that he learned on a show we love called "Man vs Wild". It seems to have worked great for him!

On this night we grilled meat over the fire along with potato packets. Leave it to our family not to rely on hamburgers and hot dogs. We grilled 3 different kinds of steak, chicken breasts, pork, venison steaks, and a venison chop. Oh and some hot dogs too!

We got a visit on rainy Friday from Nana and our cousin, Father Bill. It was so fun having them visit and enjoy a meal with us, even if we had to huddle under the porch roof to stay out of the rain.

Nathan and his whittling injury. Luckily, no stitches. He was back to whittling in no time!

We celebrated Susanne's birthday while we were there. My mom made an absolutely delicious pumpkin roll for the birthday cake. YUMMY!!!! Happy birthday Susanne!

I hope you enjoyed sharing my vacation memories with me. I am so blessed to be able to spend weekends like these enjoying the beautiful outdoors with my loved ones!

HOME AGAIN

2007-10-23T07:30:00.001-04:00

On Sunday we came back from a family camping trip. We were gone for 4 days. Doug and I went with our boys, my parents, my sister and her family, and my brother and his family. There were 16 of us all together. We went to a lake in the mountains about 2 1/2 hours north of our home. We had an amazing time!! The color of the leaves was breathtaking.

The weather was...well interesting I guess. We expected very cold weather going at this time of year. We haven't really had a typical fall though, so we didn't get what we expected. The first day and night was warm and muggy. The second day was warm and rainy. The second night we had torrential downpours (leave it to us to break the drought with a camping trip!!) The third day and night was perfect. Sunny, breezy, and crisp.

We stayed busy with hiking, canoeing, eating, hunting, fishing, eating, climbing trees, whittling, eating, and playing with the fire.

We already have plans to return in the spring to celebrate 5 of our family's birthdays and Mother's Day. I can't wait!!!!

I took over 200 pictures and every one of them turned out great. I figured no one but me would want to look at that many, so I whittled down to 30. Unfortunately, blogger is having trouble loading pictures today and stopped me at 10. So, here's the start of the pictures and I'll try again tomorrow to load the rest.

THE CLOTHESLINE

2007-10-16T17:46:00.000-04:00

Confession time...I love hanging our clothes out on the line! I have done this for a long time. At times I've done it out of necessity because we were without a dryer. One time for 2 years. Currently, our dryer is broken and has been broken for a couple of months. Even when we do have a dryer though, I prefer hanging the clothes out.

My Nana thinks it's a ridiculous thing to hang your clothes out in this day and age when it's not necessary. She thinks I should be conserving my energy for more important things, like making Doug happy! Doug loves Nana!!!!

Many years ago, before we lived here on our farm, we lived in a city neighborhood. All of our backyards were visible to each other all down the block. It was often a competition to see who would have their clothes out first in the morning. It was fun!

A friend of mine from a message board that I'm on, Cathy, says that she likes to pray for her family while she hangs out their clothes. I love this idea! What a wonderful way to spend my mornings. Praying for my family, out in the fresh air, conserving energy, making our clothes last longer.

I have had many different clothes lines, but have always wanted one like I see on the Amish farms. One with a pulley going way up high. One Christmas a couple of years ago Doug put together a gift of the pulleys, a really long clothes line and the clips to hold the lines together. It was an awesome present. I had tears in my eyes I was so happy. I think Sarah thinks I'm a little pathetic!!

This year, I decided that it would work better to have the line even longer and much higher. Andrew came to the rescue and climbed the chosen tree with his climbing tree stand really, really high. Doug bought a new line that is 200ft long! Andrew attached the pulley way up in the tree and Doug fixed the line to the pole by the house.

I love my new clothes line. Yesterday I really tested it with 4 loads of laundry. I even had a load of towels up there.

The only problem was that I ran out of pins. That's okay. The socks dried anyway just fine.

LUNCH TREATS

2007-10-14T19:59:00.000-04:00

No Tastykakes or Hostess for my boys!!

I love making different treats every week to pack in everyone's lunches. Doug and Andrew take a lunch every day to work and Billy and Tommy are both out of the house once or twice a week when they need a packed lunch. So, even though we are a homeschooling family, we have lunches to pack.

Andrew and Billy have been asking for this treat for a while, and I finally got to them today. They are individual pumpkin pies. I freeze them and by the time the boys are ready for lunch, the pies have thawed. I got the recipe from http://www.30daygourmet.com/ . You can find the recipe here .

Basically, you make a 2 crust recipe for pie crust. I use your basic 2 cups flour, 2/3 cup crisco, 1 tsp salt and enough water to make it come together.

The recipe calls for using a custard cup to cut out circles. I have cutters that I use to make english muffins, so I use them instead.

I got more crusts than I had filling for, so we used the extra for dessert tonight. I sliced apples in small pieces and sauteed them in a little butter with brown sugar and cinnamon. I filled the cooked crusts with the apple mixture, topped it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a drizzle of homemade chocolate syrup. The syrup was Doug's idea and it was a big hit!

I froze them on a tray and then put them in a gallon baggie in the freezer so I can take them out one at a time.

Another lunch box favorite of ours is granola bars. These are really delicious. I wrap them individually in saran wrap so they are easy to just grab. Wrapping them individually also keeps them fresh longer, not that this has ever been a problem. They go pretty fast!

I got the recipe originally from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook, but I've changed it a bit to make it a little healthier.

1/2 cup butter (softened)

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbls honey

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 1/2 cup oats

1 1/4 cup rice crispies

1/4 tsp salt

combine butter with sugar, honey, egg, and vanilla. Mix well.

stir in flour, oats, rice crispies, and salt

at this point, you can add whatever you like. I like to use a small handful of mini chocolate chips and a small handful of butterscotch chips. You can add coconut, raisins, sunflower seeds, dried fruit, nuts. You get the idea.

press mixture into a greased 9 x 13 pan (if you wet your hands with cold water and shake the water off, you can press it down without having it stick to your hands)

bake @ 350* for 20 minutes

Cool for a couple of minutes and then cut while still warm (not hot). I cut it once down the middle longways and then cut each half into 10 slices to get 20 granola bar looking shapes.

I hope you try these, they are really awesome!!

PREPARATIONS

2007-10-13T21:18:00.000-04:00

The preparations have begun. For winter that is. We woke to temperatures in the 30's this morning. Some of the windows in the house were still open and we had no fire, so it was quite chilly!!
Seeing as how we were using air conditioning less than a week ago, we are not quite ready to begin heating our house with the wood stove. We're now on our way though.
Doug and Andrew removed the wood stove from the fireplace and took it outside where it can be cleaned out well. While it's out, we're going to have the chimney cleaned for the first time, hopefully sometime this week.

Doug custom built a really cool and really strong dolly to use for moving the stove. I'm sure he'll find plenty of other uses for it too.

It seemed to work quite well!!

Then it was on to the wood. We had a tree fall across our driveway earlier in the summer. This is that tree. It will be the start of our large wood pile that we'll need to heat the house for the winter. Doug was a happy boy having his new tractor for hauling wood today. Everything is easier when you have the right tools!!

Finally, I got our bed ready for the chilly nights. I washed the comfy flannel sheets and hung them out on the line in the sunshine all day. I also hung out the down comforter that has been off of our bed for the past couple of months. After they got a good airing, I brought them back in and made the bed. The whole room smells like fresh air now. I can't wait to crawl between the sheets and pile the blankets on tonight. I may have to go to bed a little early!

Tomorrow we'll work on switching out our summer clothes for the winter ones. Usually when I do this, the weather turns right back to warm. We'll keep a couple of t-shirts out just in case.

CANDLE LIGHT

2007-10-11T08:18:00.001-04:00

One of the things I love about fall and winter is the darkness of the evening. I know, this is something that most people dislike about these seasons (Right Kim?).

~I love that Doug often comes home earlier when the days are shorter.

~I love that our evenings seem longer and cozier.

~I love that we are all in the house together instead of all over the property doing our own things.

~I love having more time for quiet pursuits: sitting in front of the fire, watching a movie together, playing a game or cards, knitting, reading.

~My favorite thing, though, is eating dinner by candlelight!

We eat every meal with candles. It doesn't matter if it's an elaborate roast beef meal with all of the fixings, or just hot dogs and frozen fries. We even used candles at breakfast this morning because it was a cloudy, stormy morning. They made the kitchen seem warmer.

It all tastes better and seems more special with candle light.

Our family seems to take dinner more seriously when the candles are lit. The meal is not just something to get over with. It is a pleasant occasion to thoroughly enjoy.

We all tend to linger longer at the table in the darkness. There is no rushing off to get things done like there is in the summer.

Have I gone on and on enough? Can you tell that I am passionate about candles? Not just the decorative candles that make your house smell nice but the candles that have a real purpose, to give light to your beautiful home and family.

I'M BACK!!!!

2007-10-10T20:18:00.000-04:00

I'm back from my unannounced vacation from blogging. I've not been finding time to blog lately. There have been various reasons for this. The main reason, though, is that I have been fighting off a perfectly horrible cold and cough. I'm better now, thanks! It really knocked me low for a week or so, and the computer was not really a priority for me. Life goes on though, so I have some pictures to share with you about what went on during my blog absence.

It was opening day for archery season deer hunting. Andrew and Billy went out bright and early to sit in the tree stands that they set up earlier in the week. They came home late morning...empty handed. It seemed like they enjoyed themselves anyway!

A couple of days later, they went out in the evening and Andrew shot a deer. They trailed it for a couple of minutes but it got too dark to see well, and Andrew decided to go back the next morning to find it. He found it right where he expected it to be. He brought it home to get a couple of pictures and then took it to the butcher's.

I baked Nana's favorite cake for her birthday dinner.

We all had a wonderful dinner celebrating. Nana blew out all of her candles on the first try! She loved the cake and took all the leftovers home to my mom and dad's house (sorry Mitch!)

We spent the next day shopping, sightseeing, and eating out with Nana. It was such a great day!

My mom, my sister and her kids, and Tommy. It was late September, but it was a really hot day! Doesn't Nana look like a model in a fall magazine sitting with the mums and pumpkin?

On our shopping trip, we went to our favorite bulk food store. Tommy picked out some autumn sprinkles and, later in the week, I made some sugar cookies to try them all out. You can't really see it in the picture, but the black ones are little black cats. How cute!!
Last Saturday, Billy, Tommy, and I took a long hike in our woods. Billy has been finding lots of new trails in our area with his new mountain bike so he was our trail leader. It was fun hiking on new trails after living here for almost 15 years! It was a terribly hot day AGAIN!!!! I will enjoy these hikes MUCH more when we finally get the fall weather that we are supposed to be having.

I was so excited to come upon this pond in the woods. If you look carefully in the background, you can see a house. They could kinda be called our neighbors, I guess, since we walked to their house from our house.

Isn't this tree amazing?!! It's my favorite tree in our forest. Doug, can you guess where it is?

Well, that brings you pretty much up to date.

I hope you all had a good week too.

Hopefully, I'll be back soon.

~~Goodnight~~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA!!

2007-09-29T21:47:00.000-04:00

Today is my grandmother's 90th birthday!

Nana is an amazing woman. I am so lucky to have her genes running around in my body!

She is a beautiful, funny, smart, loving, interested, devout woman.

I cherish the stories of her life that she shares with me. She has helped build so many, many wonderful memories in my life.

Nana and Poppop's marriage was the best testament to everlasting romantic love that I have ever witnessed. She is always full of advice for me, and her other grandchildren, about how to keep our marriages strong (always wear lipstick & always wear a pretty nightgown to bed are my favorites).

Nana has 2 children, 7 grandchildren, and 16 (soon to be 17) great-grandchildren. She is well loved!!

Nana is coming to my mom and dad's for a visit this week. I can't wait to see her and give her a huge birthday hug. She has requested her favorite cake from me - White cake with lemon filling and coconut icing. We'll spend a couple of days shopping, visiting, and of course eating really great food.

Nana with her 16 great-grandchildren:

Happy birthday Nana! I love you more than I could ever say!!!!!!!!

SOUP TIME AGAIN

2007-09-28T22:35:00.000-04:00

I made one of my favorite soups for dinner tonight. I won't lie to you and say that it is everyone's favorite, but we all ate it, and some of us really enjoyed it. Many people who I've made this for before have asked for the recipe, so I know I am not the only one who thinks it's delicious. I made a double batch, but I'll give you the recipe for the single.

Roasted Winter Squash/Apple Soup:

1 large butternut squash (about 2 1/2 lbs)
2 onions
2 firm, tart apples
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbls olive oil
salt, pepper, chili powder
4 - 5 cups chicken broth

peel and seed the squash and cut it into chunks

peel and quarter the onions (I only had one very large onion tonight so that's all I used. It was fine. I think 2 per batch is a little much for our tastes)

peel the garlic

peel, core, and quarter the apples

toss all in a roasting pan with the olive oil and spices to taste

roast in a 400* oven for 45 minutes or until all veggies are very soft.
stir every 15 minutes

Cool slightly - put into blender or food processor to puree in batches - add some broth to make pureeing easier

Pour into a large pot. Add enough broth to make it the consistency you like.

Heat, serve, and enjoy!

This soup keeps really well in a crock pot so it's great for a party or holiday buffet. It also freezes great so go ahead and make a double batch to enjoy later.

~Goodnight~

DESSERT

2007-09-27T21:58:00.001-04:00

Tommy and I made one of our favorite desserts this afternoon.

It is really easy to make and tastes amazingly delicious.

Give it a try!

It needs to be made ahead of time and makes a lot of servings, so it's a great choice for when you're having company over. You don't need to wait for company though, because it keeps fine in the fridge for a couple of days and the leftovers are wonderful.

CHOCOLATE ECLAIR PUDDING:

2 3oz pkgs instant vanilla pudding (I buy this in bulk and I think I use 1 cup dry mix)

3 cups milk

8oz cool whip (I use homemade whipped cream that I sweeten slightly with powdered sugar and vanilla)

1 box graham crackers

mix pudding mix and milk
when it starts to thicken, fold in whipped cream/cool whip

lay graham crackers out in a 9x13 pan (I break some up to get them to all fit in a single layer)

top with 1/2 pudding mix

make another layer of crackers

top with second 1/2 of pudding

make a last layer of crackers

icing:
1/3 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 Tbls milk or cream

mix butter with sugar and cocoa until well combined
stir in milk until it is the right consistency (it needs to be a little softer than regular icing)

spread on top of the crackers

cover and refrigerate for a couple of hours before you dig in to give the crackers time to soften

This is pretty rich and you can get by on serving small portions to make it last. It packs great in lunches too.

ENJOY!!!!

MENU TIME

2007-09-24T21:55:00.000-04:00

Our weekly menu:

Monday: Tacos and Caramel Apple Salad

I have been using the recipe for taco filling from the Hillbilly Housewife website. It is really delicious! Much better than the taco meat I used to make.

Tuesday: Texas Style Breakfast Casserole - Homemade wholewheat toast - fruit plate

Wednesday: Beef and Noodles - Tossed Salad with ranch dressing - steamed cauliflower

Thursday: Roasted Squash/Apple Soup - Homemade wheat rolls - Cheese and Fruit

Friday: Homemade pizzas

Saturday: Stuffed Shells - Tossed Salad - Homemade Italian Bread

Sunday: Roasted Chicken - Mashed Potatoes - Corn - Green Beans - Dinner Rolls

It's not gourmet food, but it's yummy & satisfying, and it's homemade!!

~Goodnight~

FIRST DAY OF FALL!!

2007-09-23T18:52:00.000-04:00

I am so excited that fall is finally here!

It doesn't necessarily feel like fall right now. We had to put our air conditioning on yesterday it got so hot and humid. The nights are getting much cooler though, so I know the heat is not going to last for too much longer.

We only have a couple of trees in our yard showing any signs of fall, but of course I went out and took a couple of pictures to share. There will be many more to post in the coming weeks. I think it is the prettiest time around here.

I planned out my weekly menu this afternoon while I was watching the football game (I'll post the menu tomorrow). One of the desserts that I am planning on making sometime this week is called "Frost on the Pumpkin Pie". Isn't that an awesome name? How could I not try it!
In honor of the first day of fall, I thought I'd post the recipe tonight. I promise to post a picture of it later when I actually make it.
The recipe comes from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook called "Fall, Family, & Friends"

1/4 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cup gingersnap cookies, crushed
15-oz can pumpkin
1 pint vanilla ice cream
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
8-oz container of cool whip:thawed

mix butter and cookie crumbs together and press into an ungreased 9" pie plate
refrigerate
combine pumpkin, ice cream, sugar and spice
blend until smooth
fold in whipped topping
pour into crust
freeze for several hours
let stand at room temp for 20-25 minutes before serving

I imagine that I'll reduce or leave out the powdered sugar and I'll probably make fresh whipped cream instead of using cool whip. A topping of some more crushed cookies will probably be called for too. I'll be sure to post how it works. It sure sounds good!

Happy Autumn!!

DRIVING!!!!

2007-09-17T10:16:00.000-04:00

Billy's driving! He went and took the written test for his permit last week and passed on the first try. Now he gets 6 months to drive around with Doug and I.

This is our 3rd teenager learning how to drive. It really is getting easier! When I got in the car for the first time with Sarah, I thought for sure that I would never make it out alive. No offense Sarah!! It was just my first experience driving with one of my precious babies.

It is an awesome responsibility teaching someone to drive. I am so happy that it is Doug and I teaching the kids and not some random driving instructor! We get a minimum of 50 hours of our teenagers undivided attention. It is such a great opportunity to talk to them about being safe, considerate, respectful, and patient. Values that we think are important in a driver, and are missing in so many who are on the roads today.

Billy is really having a blast driving! He's been looking forward to it for a long time. He is pretty relaxed behind the wheel. Maybe it has something to do with the countless hours he has spent behind the wheel of our riding lawn mower!

While we were driving over the weekend I saw this beautiful view and just had to have Billy pull over so that I could take some pictures. It is in the parking lot of a local shopping mall. You never know where you'll find amazing beauty!!

Finally, I have been given a "You Make Me Smile Award" by a blogging friend Bren . Thank you Bren! I love reading other people's blogs and am inspired by so many of them. Bren has such a friendly way about her in her posts. I feel like I've known her for a long time.

I never would have believed it if someone told me a couple of years ago that I would be making friends on the internet. It always seemed like such a shady thing. A thing to warn your children against doing. Well, I have met so many wonderful friends lately on the internet, who I feel like I know better than some of my "in real life" friends. I am thankful for the opportunity to widen my horizons without having to leave my wonderful home to travel all over the country!

Who knows, maybe some day, I'll take a road trip and meet a few of my new friends.

CATCHING UP

2007-09-13T20:39:00.000-04:00

Boy time flies! I can't believe it's been 4 days since I posted.

We're all recovering from the weekend of parties celebrating Billy's 16th birthday. Our gift to him was a new mountain bike. He didn't even ask for one so it was a complete surprise. He loves to go on really long bike rides on the trails around our farm. His old bike has been broken for a long time. He's been using a bike that someone trash picked for me a couple of years ago. My bike is a street bike so it's not particularly suited to the kind of riding that Billy likes to do. He was SO excited when we gave him the bike. It has gotten a ton of use already. On Tuesday he had fun taking a long ride in the rain. Imagine my happy surprise when he came home and washed and dried the bike!!

Billy had 2 parties over the weekend. The first one Friday night was with his friends. He had 16 kids over for pizza, chips, fruit, veggies and dip, lots of candy, and this amazing birthday cake.

I got the recipe here . It is a chocolate torte. It was sinfully delicious. I made two because we had quite a crowd. We only ended up eating one at the party, so we have thoroughly enjoyed the 2nd one all week. The blog that I found the recipe on is my favorite blog I have ever read. If you enjoy reading blogs, it is one you should definitely check out if you haven't already. You can find it here .

Billy's second party was on Sunday and it was with my family. We had a wonderful time visiting and eating as usual.

Billy picked the menu:

Oven-fried chicken, roasted potatoes, macaroni and cheese, steamed broccoli, candied carrots, and dinner rolls. DELICIOUS!!

Instead of a cake, he requested pies.

My mom made pumpkin and shoo-fly and I made apple. I have eaten a little of each and would have a very hard time picking a favorite!

Finally, I want to share with you the newest member of our motorized vehicle family. A new (to us) Ford 9N tractor. Doug bid on it on EBay and won on Sunday night. He and a friend drove 2 1/2 hours each way last night to pick it up (and only got pulled over by the police once).

We've been without a tractor for many years. The old one died a long time ago and we've never been able to replace it until now. Needless to say, Doug is out in the driveway working on it now. It has a couple of problems, but with parts from our old one, I'm sure Doug will make it as good as new in no time.

Okay, now for the most exciting news yet...............I am wearing a sweatshirt! It's actually chilly tonight! Yeah!!!!

Goodnight...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BILLY!!!!

2007-09-10T10:19:00.000-04:00

Wow! Where do the years go? My 3rd child is 16 years old! We'll be going sometime this week for Billy to take the written test for a driving permit. Wow!

In honor of Billy's 16th birthday, I present to you 16 interesting, cool things about Billy.

1. He is really tall and really skinny.

2. He is known as "Billy" "Bill" "Willy" "B" "Biddy" "William" and sometimes when I really want to get his attention "William James"

3. He had a blankie that he called an iggy. I think it is still in his dresser drawer. It no longer holds any resemblance to a blanket.

4. He "drove" my van when he was 2 years old and crashed into a car and a truck in our driveway. Thank the Lord, no one was hurt except the cars.

5. He can juggle.

6. He was the first person in our family to be able to solve the rubik's cube.

7. He is a lacrosse goalie and used to be an ice hockey goalie.

8. He likes to ride our horse Jasper.

9. He has bright red hair.

10. He LOVES to golf.

11. He LOVES to sleep.

12. He still eats like an infant (a little bit every hour and a half)

13. He can do amazing flips on our trampoline (see picture above)

14. He plays the guitar.

15. He's twitchy!

16. He is a wonderful, friendly, fun, funny, loving son. We love you Billy!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

MORE VACATION

2007-09-06T07:39:00.000-04:00

Okay, so it's been four days. I have been trying to get back into some kind of routine after our vacation. It's not been too easy! I really need to work on some kind of schedule for my days. Even if it's a loose schedule, I think it will help me not to feel like I am running around in circles never really accomplishing anything. Billy and Tommy have gotten back to their school work and the extra activities are beginning to start.

Before we say goodbye for good to summer though I wanted to post just a couple more pics of our wonderful vacation.

Did I mention, we enjoy LOTS of great food on our vacations? Our family is not shy about our joy of eating. We enjoyed all of our meals together.

My brother and his precious son Mason on a morning walk at the beach.

A really cool creation that Andrew made one afternoon. Look close and you'll see that he used all different kinds of crab shells.

We were lucky to be at the beach during a full moon. Because of this, we had wonderful sand bars each day. We'd wait until the perfect moment and then move all of our chairs out there and pretend like we were on our very own island until the tide came in again.

Andrew, our fisherman.

Okay, time to move on and think about fall.

Football season starts tonight!!

VACATION

2007-09-02T20:14:00.000-04:00

It seems like I can only post 5 pictures at a time. I tried to pick a good assortment. I'll post more tomorrow.

We had an amazing time on this vacation! We had PERFECT weather. It was totally relaxing and rejuvenating. We are so blessed to be able to get away like this together.

We spent hours on the beach every day.

The wonderful, generous couple who we rent the house from took our family out on their boat several times. They took the kids tubing behind the boat 2 different times. I rode in the boat one of these times and was really scared. I'm not really a boat person! Doug and the kids went on a long sightseeing boat ride one afternoon. They went fishing for croaker and spot another day. While they were out that time, they were treated to lots of sightings of mama and baby dolphins swimming right next to the boat! One evening Doug, Andrew, and Billy went out with the owner of our house to go snapper blue fishing. Apparently they had the time of their lives!! It sounded REALLY scary to me, but I am so thankful that they had this great opportunity.

We enjoyed tons of bike rides, LOTS of ice cream, card games, mini golf, regular golf, watching the ferry cross back and forth all day long, great food, watching movies, playing playdough, digging holes in the sand, collecting shells and pretty rocks and basically revelling in our get- away.

We're already looking forward to next June when we'll be going back.