Monday's Case

I am happy.
My sisters came on Saturday.
They left Sunday.
My parents came on Sunday.
They left Monday.
The house is a mess.
My kids are napping.
I spent an hour on the phone talking to someone I hope will be a good friend.
I have some time to myself right now.
I am happy.
This is going to be a good week.

One, Two, Three, Four.... There is no more

I feel like I've been gone from blogging land FOREVER. Lots has happened folks!

Firstly, sickness has struck. Mostly me. It was disgusting and I shall spare you the details.

Secondly, renovations. That's right Dusty decided to built a railing by our front entry to the kids didn't nose dive off the cliff and perish. It's now safe and sturdy (very very sturdy). It's a railing but seriously people the railing will be standing long after the house is gone.

Thirdly, there has been a lot of belly dancing practising around here

(not by me..... I know relief felt by all).

Fourthly, exhaustion for little Lucy. She is at the climbing out of bed, won't stay in, up all night, so I'm going to sleep all day exhaustion phase. I have been making her stay up during the day (minus her regularly scheduled nap period) so that she'll sleep at night (hopefully) but so far no luck. She just stands at her baby-gate and screams until she passes out from exhaustion.

Twice Baked

Stuffed Potatoes

They are delicious. These are my families favorite recipe (if you can call it such).

5-6 potatoes

bake them

cut in half

gut them (put the stuffing in a bowl)

put the shells back in the oven

Get your bowl.

Add...

4 heaping Tablespoons of cream cheese

a couple of handfuls of bacon (I don't really like fake bacon so I usually have crumbled bacon kicking around and the real stuff makes it, but I'm sure bacon bits would be delish)

1 green onion

1-2 teaspoons of garlic (I put more in BUT all of us like garlic)

Parsley (to combat the garlic... you can use fresh or dried.... I use dried I can't be bothered hauling fresh herbs around the country BUT if you have fresh it would probably taste even better)

a splash ( a tiny bit) of Worcestershire sauce

another splash (a tablespoon maybe?) of milk (just the get it all mixed)

Mix it all up

grate some cheese

take the potato skins outa the oven

stuff them

put a good amount of cheese on top

throw em' back in the oven

back 25 minutes

broil for like 1-2 minutes (till the cheese is all crispy on top)

Eat

Crazy Bread

Ellie calls this crazy bread. I don't actually know if there is such a thing but my kids LOVE it when I make dough and they can fill it up with whatever is lying around.

I just use the extra dough and roll it out like I'm going to make cinnamon buns and let the kids go crazy.

To this batch we:

put 2-3 tablespoons of butter on

1/2 cup of brown sugar

sliced and peeled apples (gala... Dusty won't eat anything tart)

and Craisins

I twisted it all up and threw it in a bundt pan (tube pan).
Baked it at 350 for about 25 minutes (until the top is a nice golden brown)
I flipped in on a plate immediately and drizzled
(I didn't actually drizzle it was more of a plop and drop)
cream cheese icing on.

Cream cheese Icing
(I don't measure)
cream cheese (like a couple of tablespoons)
icing sugar (1/4 to half the bag)
taste
add a tablespoon of milk
(just so it gets "drizzlie)

I let the icing ooze down into all the cracks and then we eat it.

Parenting 101

tip one:

DO NOT let you child play with your watch.

tip two:

Be sure that, if you child is playing with your watch, that you make sure it DOES NOT go into the child's mouth

tip three:

If the watch happens to go into the mouth and you hear a large crack, DO NOT yell the child's name. (they will immediately swallow or run or, if you are as lucky as I am, they will do both!)

tip four:

A good parent doesn't need to call 4 people before locating the emergency number. A GOOD parent would have it on hand.

tip five:

(this tip comes from our goodly emergency department)
If your child coughs, vomits, or spits out blood, take them to the emergency room (I thought this was to be mocked but then I realized I did (er or someone) just called about a child eating glass!)

tip six:

there IS a reason why kids shouldn't be allowed to play with watches!

Buttermilk Buns

This is another recipe out of my Great Grandma's recipes. I've found tons like it floating around in internet-land. It's easy, delicious, and can be created into a bazillion tasty treats.

Buttermilk Buns

Dissolve:

4 Tablespoons of yeast

1 Tablespoon of sugar

1 cup of warm water

(let sit for about 10 minutes)

Add:

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups of sugar

In a Saucepan warm:

4 cups of Buttermilk

1 cup of unsalted butter

Remove from heat and add:

2 teaspoons of baking soda

2 teaspoons of salt

Stir

Slowly mix buttermilk mixture into egg mixture (make sure the buttermilk is just warm though cause you don't want to cook the eggs!). Gradually add 13 cups of flour to form a soft dough. Place in greased bowl and let rise till doubled (1 hour). Punch down and make into buns or cinnamon rolls or crazy bread.

YUM.

Oh yeah you should bake the buns at 350 for about 20 minutes.

exhaustion

My Dad came home from Egypt on Tuesday, so we decided to go and visit him. We got to town before he did so Dusty and I decided to take the girls to the theater. We saw Madagascar. Ellie enjoyed the whole experience but Lucy mostly enjoyed the popcorn and pop

(mostly the pop).

When we go to the farm, my Dad had a surprise for the girls. On the floor he had laid out two Princess Jasmine outfits and two magic carpets. The girls LOVED them. Ellie was especially excited to try it all on.

We got home late last night but early this morning I woke up to the sound of jingling coins. Ellie and Lucy were both sitting on their magic carpets with their scarves wrapped around them.

I'm glad that they liked them because apparently my dad had to sit through a belly dancing show (which apparently isn't as glamorous as Shakira's music videos).

I am exhausted. The girls are exhausted.....

Thank goodness for that!!

The Sunbeams are Praying

Sunbeams was so awesome yesterday. I finally felt like I knew what I was doing! Our lesson was about praying to our father in Heaven. I really didn't know what I was going to teach. The lesson manual mostly focused on the physical part of prayer BUT I feel like the foundation of pray is more the emotional and spiritual part. I am clearly aware that I stress out far too much (I am only teaching 3 year olds) but I wanted to convey the importance of both. I started to think about how I was going to do this. Then I remembered my Sunday school teacher had a bible alphabet book so I decided that I could do something along those lines. I came up with the idea to do a prayer book. It seriously was a perfect idea. I'm SO NOT a scrapbooker, but I went to work trying to make an easy (and cheap) way for the kids to make this book. I finally got it all figured out and it worked SO SO WELL. The kids LOVED it. I talked about prayer for 45 minutes and they ate it up. They listened to every word, while they diligently glued and colored. They were so PROUD of their little books. During closing exercises the primary president asked for a show of hands of who brought their scriptures and all the little sunbeams raised their works of art. I chuckled to myself, as I told them that those books weren't scriptures.... they looked a little disappointed that they didn't get to be counted but I think that the prayer books will be well used by them at home and maybe in church. I know Ellie promptly put her creation in her church bag and explained to her dad that she made a special book and it was about Jesus and God and that she gets to play with it, EVEN at church! I'm so happy I did this. It was such a good class. I'm so excited for next week.

Down-home Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

Down-home Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is a modified old recipe from a centennial cookbook.

This cookie is very good. It makes an excellent chewy cookie or a delicious dipper.

Recipe:

2 cups of sugar

1 1/2 cups of margarine

2 eggs

1/2 cup corn syrup (light)

2 teaspoons of vanilla

4 1/2 cups of flour

4 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 package of chocolate chips

Mix sugar and margarine until creamy. (seriously cream it. It will be light and fluffy). Add eggs, syrup and vanilla. Beat this until light and fluffy. Mix in dry ingredients. Form into balls (or you can just drop them) the size of a walnut.

Bake at 350

The baking time will vary.

IF you want a chewy cookie make sure you take them out when the edges are just browned. It will look like the cookies aren't done yet but these cookies get crispy fast so better undercooked if you want it chewy.

IF you want a really tasty dipper then let then cook till they're golden on top.

The above picture it what they'll look like if you want a good dipping cookie.

Both ways are yummy. I usually just split the batch into chewy and dippers.

This recipe makes a lot of cookies.

A great day.

Today has been a good day... perhaps even great.

I actually felt like I knew what the heck I was doing in sunbeams.
I had people over at my house and I didn't scramble around like a mad woman cleaning (not that my house was clean but it wasn't crazy messy.... I did clean a little.... I'm not goin to lie..... but it wasn't crazed cleaning)
The persons we had over brought food... not just food but GREAT food.
I ate lots and LOTS of chocolate cake.
I felt like I hadn't been lead astray with the simple statement of "the best chocolate sheet cake".
I laughed.
The kids were awesome.....tired but awesome.

I will post all the details later.... all the awesome details..... all the fabulous yummy details later.

Did I mention the cake...... mmmmmmm.