Dishes

Do you know how much fun it is to teach two little girls how to do dishes?  Under their mother's watchful eye, they got to do the dishes.  You may think, that's crazy, they are 8 and almost 7 years old, they should already be doing the dishes.  But, you do not know how hot my water is when it come out of the tap.  I measured it at 125 degrees F.  And, we do not have an automatic dishwasher.  They have to be extra careful.  Since we use mainly glass, that presents another issue.  Both of my girls wanted to hold the glasses up high and wash them high above the water.  So, I kept reminding them that the glasses are slippery with soap on them and if they were to slide out of their hands, it would hit the sink and bust, getting glass all in their water.  So, they would gently lower the glass close to the water and very gently rub the glasses and plates with their little bitty hands.  They had so much fun.  While one was washing, the other was drying and putting away.  After about an hour, all my supper dishes were done!  I know... I know... it would probably take me about 15 minutes to do the supper dishes.  And, I could use water that was a lot hotter and maybe get those dishes extra germ free.  But, what fun would that be?  My girls are growing up and I love teaching them how to care for our home.  Here are some pics from the evening...

It's the little things...

This winter, I have missed the sun oh so much.  The caring folks here at Word Of Life nailed up plastic on our windows to try to keep the cold air out and the warm heat in.  They were nice and thoughtful enough to leave the plastic off of the front two windows.  However, the sun only shines in two of my windows.  One is my bathroom window on the back of the cabin and that is around 9:30 am.  The other window is on the side of the cabin in my dining room.  Around 11:30, when the sun is out (we have had plenty of cloudy days), it shines in that window for about an hour.  This winter, I would sit at my indoor picnic table and stare at the plastic covering up my beautiful sun.  I could see some lightness on the plastic, so I knew the sun was out.  So, I would continue to sit and stare at what little bit of light I could see.  It was still too cold to face the outdoors (for me).  When we returned from spring break, Michael removed the plastic from that window.  Oh, how I love that man.  You could not wipe the grin off of my face when that sun came pouring into my dining room that day.  And, still today, when the sun is shining bright outside, I smile because I remember the plastic.

This is the plastic, it is white, not clear.

My beautiful sunshine.

   

Thanksgiving

Maybe I am off a few holidays, but I couldn't help but post this.  The girls and I have been reading 'Stories of the Pilgrims' every night.  Tonight we read about the 'First Thanksgiving'.  Our story read, "the pilgrims fired their muskets into the air."  At the end of the story, I asked the girls how our Thanksgivings were similar and how our Thanksgivings were different.  Cari said, "Well, we shoot.  But, we shoot little disc and they didn't shoot nothin'."

For those who don't know, every Thanksgiving, my extended family gathers at my uncles home to feast on BBQ.  We have lots of pies and such (just like the pilgrims).  The guys always come a little early with their guns and shoot skeet.

Stop laughing Dad.  My left handed shooting has always cracked him up.  I only shot this gun twice.  I hit the skeet the first time even though I closed my eyes because I knew it was going to hurt.

I love you guys.

North Carolina Blessings

We headed home for spring break.  The time was short, but very much worth the 14 hour drive home.  We had one week.  We were able to visit with lots of our friends and family and we still had time to relax.  We didn't go out to our favorite resturants in Winston Salem though.  Do you want to know why?  Because I was busy COOKING!!!  I love to cook! 

We left New York at 3:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon.  We arrived home at 5:20 a.m. Saturday morning.  It was a rough ride home in the rain and darkness.  It rained almost the entire trip home.  My niece and nephew spent the night at my parents' home so they could greet us as soon as we arrived.  My brother and Michael's sister (for those who don't know, they are married) drove up right after we arrived.  He bought both of the girls BB guns.  They were SUPER excited.  They couldn't wait for him to show them how to shoot them.  We spend the first couple of hours just visiting and talking.  I made 'Breakfast Biscuits' around 7:00 and my mom made me some sausage gravy.  The girls and I were exhausted, but Michael headed out to our nephew's soccer game.  My wonderful friend Sherry came by to visit and dropped off a VERY yummy oatmeal/breakfast/dessert/thing that was still warm out of the oven!  The girls spent the night at my brother's so they could continue to play non-stop with their cousins they miss so dearly. 

This week was full of 'yeses'.  Can we go play in the sand box?  Yes.  Can we dig up worms?  Yes.  Can we play in the mud?  Yes.  Can we dig up more worms?  Yes.  Can we take our shoes off?  Yes.  Can we dig up more worms?  Yes.  Can we eat cake and chips?  Yes.  Can we go shoot our new gun with uncle Daniel?  Yes.  Can we pick onions in the yard for you?  Yes.  Can we put them in a vase?  Yes.  Can we keep the worms?  Yes.  Can we spend the night here?  Yes.  Can we hide eggs and hunt them?  Yes.  Can we eat just one more piece of chocolate?  Yes.  Can we dig up some more worms?  Yes.  Can I have three scoops of ice-cream on my cone?  Yes.  Can we stay up late and watch a movie?  Yes.  Can we have popcorn too?  Yes.  Can we dig up some more worms?  Yes. 

I'm not sure what they obsession with worms were this week, but they found TONS.  Poor things, they were floating in water when I found them.  Too bad they didn't get a chance to go fishing. 

I even had the opportunity to  teach my mom, my girls, my niece and nephew and my friend Sherry how to make some of the breads that I have  posted about on my blog.  That was the most fun.  We all had a blast.  While I was at home, I made the Featherlight Rolls twice, the Breakfast Biscuits twice, the French Bread, the No Excuse Bread, the Oatmeal Crazin Bars, buttermilk pancakes, four pizzas, Crockpot Apple Butter (that is so yummy on the Featherlight Rolls!), the 'best piece of cake I ever ate' cake, and Italian Cream Cheese Cake (my dad's favorite), oatmeal candy, and two Texas sheet cakes.

It was a week full of wonderful memories.

Thank you to all of our friends and family who took your time to visit with us.  You all are wonderful blessings to us and we appreciate you.

Granola Bar Replacement

Every day, Michael has a short break and has time to eat a small snack.  He was taking a granola bar to eat during those breaks. 

I made him something to replace them!

I know they are not exactly like those granola bars you buy at the store because they are not sticky, ooey and gooey. 

Do you know why?

  Because they are not stuck together with High Fructose Corn Syrup and other unknown ingredients.

Oatmeal Crazin Bars

2 sticks of butter (melted)

1 cup of brown sugar

½ cup of white sugar

1 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

½ teaspoon of salt

3 cups of rolled oats

1 cup of crazins

½ cup of walnuts (chopped)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Mix all together.

Press into a 9x13 baking dish

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

These bars freeze perfectly.
(I used Whole Wheat Flour the second time I made them and they turned out just the same.)