Sam

Baby Sam LOVES food. Yesterday, he discovered blackberries. This boy loves every type of food he has sampled so far. Brother Daniel, however, is a totally different subject. Whereas Sam eats and loves everything, to Daniel almost everything is YUCKY. Jess has to disquise all the fruit he eats. They eat a lot of “purple snack” (blueberries combined with other fruit and pureed into total smoothness). He can’t even suspect he is eating fruit.

Today temperature is not near as nice as yesterday. Wind chills around zero this morning when we go up. It has warmed up some though-mid 20’s with wind chill around 10 degrees. Needless to say, I did not hang clothes on the line outside today. We are doing school as usual, working on history now. They are learning about Egypt. Tonight’s menu is undetermined at this time. I know, though, it will revolve around a deer roast, which is cooking on the wood stove as I type.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

February 3, 2011 7

Geese

This morning as Hubby and I were having our morning coffee together, we saw what we thought were tracks on the pond. Then we thought maybe it was just where the wind had blown the snow in swirls. Later in the day, Grace took these pictures.

They look like they are having fun!

Maybe this is a sign of early spring. They do seem to be here kinda early this year. Maybe it is just wishful thinking on my part.

Yesterday, for dessert I made an oatmeal pie. This is one of my favorites, also Julie and Jess. The recipe is:

2 eggs beaten, 2/3 cup sugar, 2/3 cup uncooked oatmeal, 1 tsp vanilla, 2/3 cup melted butter, 2/3 cup corn syrup, 1/4 tsp salt. Mix all ingredients together and pour into uncooked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for l hr.

Okay, so my crust is not too pretty but I promise you it tasted delicious! It tastes a lot like pecan pie. Temperatures here are warm-mid 30’s. We have some sun right now but a storm is supposed to be moving in. One forecast said 4-5 in of snow. We’ll see. Right now though it is nice. I have clothes on the line outside, hopefully, they will dry before the clouds come in.

Tonights menu is deer bbq, made from the roast yesterday, home fries and slaw. We still have some pie left for dessert. Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 25, 2011 6

Apron

I finally finished the apron using one of the new patterns. What do you all think? I think my other apron pattern was a lot easier and faster but I know it is time to step it up a notch. My thanks to Grace for modeling for me. I used some material I already had to practice on. I’m not sure I like the rick rack, though. I have another pattern to try and then I will decide which one I want to use for the matching mother, daughter, doll aprons.

No church today due to bad weather conditions. Dave, Jess, and boys did get to come yesterday however the wind came also. It was just too cold for Daniel to play in the snow. Wind chills below zero. We had a good visit though. I made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and homemade rolls for “lupper”. For those of you confused by this term, this is when it is too late for lunch and too early for supper. We also had cushaw pie for dessert with whipped creme.

Now I must tell the story of why we had fried chicken for lupper. Earlier in the week, Jess had mentioned she would like to have fried chicken. As I knew they would not get to stay long, I thought something a little faster would be better. I decided on hot roast beef sandwiches with green beans. They called when they were on the way here and she jokingly said David would have liked fried chicken too. This conversation was on speaker phone. Hubby overhearing about the fried chicken, which happens to be his favorite meal, said “Oh, I didn’t know fried chicken was an option”. By this time I am feeling a little out numbered so I decided to give in and make the chicken. It was a wise choice. Everyone enjoyed the meal and that makes this mama’s heart happy.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 9, 2011 6

Snow

We are getting snow today. I am hoping it doesn’t accumulate too much. Dave, Jess and boys are supposed to come up today for a day visit. If they get to come, Daniel will have his first sledding experience. He will have so much fun playing in the snow.

The girls are outside now playing in the snow. It is a very pretty snow that hopefully is not sticking to the road. Can you tell this MawMaw wants to see her boy play in the snow!

Enjoy your day and God bless.

January 8, 2011 3

My Christmas Tablecloth

I love to use this quilt every year as my tablecloth at Christmas. I did not make the quilt and to be honest I have had it so long I don’t really remember who did. I love it though. It looks so pretty on our table. I took the picture of it on the floor because I wanted you all to really see it good. I think if quilts could talk, this one would say cheerful, happy things.

Monday, I did some grocery shopping for our Christmas meal. We visited some with the Horns which is alway fun. Yesterday, I worked some more on my sewing machine. I am still not successful in getting it to work properly. I hope to work on it more today. I have many sewing projects I want to start on. I might have to get Hubby to look at it and see what he can do.

We are getting a drizzle of rain here this morning. Temperatures are warm-33 degrees. Hopefully it will just be rain and no ice. There is a chance of snow for tomorrow and predictions for a winter storm coming in on Friday night. If this happens, our Christmas meal plans will have to change. Chuck and his family are supposed to come tomorrow and Jess and her family are coming on Sunday. It is so hard to plan things in the winter. You never know what the weather will bring.

We are doing “half school” today and tomorrow. Then on Friday, we will start our Christmas break. Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 22, 2010 5

Daniel

Yesterday Dave, Jess and the boys came for a quick visit. They had purchased a butchered hog in Burnt Chimney, which is kinda close to here. They had one of the hams cured for a country ham. It has to hang for 3 months. They brought it by here to hang in one of our buildings. They also generously shared some of the pork with us. Thanks! We enjoyed fresh sausage this morning with our eggs and cooked pears. Sooooooo good!!!

Daniel is ready to go to work in this picture. He has his hat on and my shovel in his hand. This picture was my first attempt at learning how to crop pictures on my computer. I should have made it bigger but I’m just learning. We had some ice fall during the night, now we are getting snow. Hopefully, it will just be snow from now on. I really do not like ice. No church today. I think it will be a snuggle in day. Make some candy or cookies-maybe both.

Enjoy your day and God bless.

December 12, 2010 5

Biscuit Mix

Tired of buying this out of the store? Well, today Jess and I came across a recipe to make our own. We found it in our Mennonite cookbook. I needed to make sausage balls for our thanksgiving meal and of course my store bought bisquick mix was out of date. I will be making this mix today but I felt confident enough in Mrs. Shank’s recipe to post it without trying it first. I very seldom do that but every recipe I have tried from this cookbook has been excellent. I feel confident this one will be also. The recipe is:

8 cups all purpose flour, 1/3 cup baking powder, 2 tsp. cream of tartar, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 tbsp salt, 1 1/2 cups dry milk powder. Mix together thoroughly. 2 cups vegetable shortening. Cut in until mixture is fine uniform crumbs. Store in airtight container in cool dry place. Yield 13 cups mix which makes 45-50 biscuits. To make biscuits, blend together 3 1/2 cups mix and 2/3 cup water. Stir just until liquid is mixed into the dough. Form into a ball and knead slightly. Pat or roll out to 1/2″ thickness. Cut with biscuit cutter. Place on greased baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 12-15 min. Makes 12 large biscuits.

Temperatures are nice here today but the clouds are moving in. I have clothes on the line, hoping they will dry. Yesterday was a beautiful day with lots of sunshine. I certainly am enjoying these warm temperatures. I was looking on our calendar. Last year on Dec. 5th we had our first snow and it snowed all winter. It was a beautiful but hard winter. I wonder what the Lord has in mind for this winter.

Time for school. Enjoy your day and God bless.

November 23, 2010 4

Another Fall Picture

I know, another fall picture but soon all the colors will be gone and it will only be snow pictures again. David, Jess, and the boys are on their way up this morning. Our church does a halloween alternative, which we call Christfest. It is always lots of fun. We will be doing it tonight. Kids and adults both usually dress up. I hope to take lots of pictures to show everyone. We will be eating at church for the evening meal. Lunch here will be burgers on the grill with homemade buns, home fries with ranch dressing for lunch. Depending on time, I might make a pumpkin pie-not sure. Anyway, I hope you all enjoy your day. I know I will, lots of MawMaw time. God bless.

October 30, 2010 2

Mr. Squirrel

This little guy was playing hide and seek yesterday while we were at the park. Hubby kept trying to get his picture and he would run away. It was kinda fun trying to catch him in a good pose. Finally, he just gave up and took the shot. I think it turned out good. This question is for Jess-Do you think this could be the one? (It’s a long standing family joke)

The sun is beginning to shine today so maybe we are done with the rainy, dreary days for a while. I really want to hang my clothes outside today. I have them in the machine in hopes of getting them out before the sun decides to hide behind the clouds. Today we will be doing school, as usual, cleaning the house for bible study tomorrow, and hopefully finishes another sack of apples. So I guess I’d better get busy. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 28, 2010 3

Progress

Here’s our progress so far. The outside is finished except for the siding. Hubby calls this “dried in”. Anyway we are glad we got this far yesterday as it is raining today. We will be working on the inside of the room today. I think we will be moving some of the plumbing over and putting up the insulation. Maybe even working on some of the electrical.

Sunday was Pastor Appreciation Day at our church. We had a potluck dinner (of course). We take advantage of every chance we have to eat! It was a nice day. We didn’t have Sunday night study as we were there so late for the dinner. Sunday evening we went down to Jessica’s for a surprise visit. They did not know we were coming. Hubby needed the little window that you see in the picture of the room. There is a place near Jess that sells used windows at a good price so we went down to get the window. We spent the night with Jess then went and got the window Monday morning and heading back home. It was a good visit. She was so surprised when she came to the door and saw us standing there. I love surprises!

Well, I guess I better get busy. Hubby is ready to work. Enjoy your day and God bless.

October 13, 2010 2