Easter....family and food!

We had a wonderful Easter again this year! We colored eggs, and did baskets but most important we celebrated the TRUE meaning of Easter! Jesus dying and rising again!!! HE IS RISEN!!! My kids will never be too old to get Easter baskets and I still hide them and they still look! Here are the girls checking out what's in their basket! Jordan was slower on the go Easter morning...he isn't as enthusiastic about finding his basket as he gets older! ha

Jordan did help me make chocolate bird's nest cookies! I'll share the recipe below! they are such a yummy treat and so cute for Easter/Spring!

I should have not made them for Easter though...we had TOO much food and too much dessert to really enjoy them! haha We ended up with EIGHT Chocolate bunnies!! It makes me cringe that I know they are in this house....they call to me all day!! and sad to say I've downed one whole Crispy bunny since Sunday!!! oh well.....perhaps it's out of my system! (yeah right!)

We bought a Tie Dye egg coloring kit this year! it was fun and made really cool looking eggs! I always love to crack the eggs open for devilled eggs or egg salad and see the colors that leaked through the cracks making a cool pattern on that bright white egg! Jordan didn't join in the fun this year.....I can picture him in college in a few years WISHING to come home and color eggs with his sisters...so I can wait him out!

Easter Sunday I cooked for 13!! my mom and Mike's aunt helped bring food! as always it was all delicious and we had lots of fun! The sun was shining so it made a nice day for all of us! It's a blessing to all of us to have grandparents join. My Grandma has a tougher time getting out easily so we missed her this year but Mike's Grandpa was able to join us and he was in great spirits Easter Sunday! We were laughing at him getting into the Easter Candy! I suppose once a sweet tooth always a sweet tooth! He's thin so he can afford it! We played some games including "Headbands" it's alot of fun so he was a good sport and played along!!

We treasure our family times together and the laughter we all share rings in mind for days after!! Hope you all had a great Easter!!

Birds nest cookie:

1 bag Chinese crunchy noodles (these are the cracker type noodles, they are crispy and you usually put them over chow mien)

1 bag chocolate chips OR butterscotch chips

1 ts. Crisco

1/2 C. mini M & M's

Place waxed paper on to two baking sheets. Pour Mini M & M's into a bowl. Melt chips and Crisco in a glass dish in the microwave until melted. Stirring every 25 seconds until completely melted. Pour 3/4 bag noodles into a large bowl and pour chocolate over that and stir until coated. Spoon by Tbls. on to baking sheets to form nests and put 3-4 M & M's into center of nest. Chill in refrigerator or on the counter overnight!

Good words....

from Jesus Calling(devotional) I am training you in steadiness. Too many things interrupt your awareness of Me. I know that you live in a world of sight and sound, but you must not be a slave to those stimuli. Awareness of Me can continue in all circumstances, no matter what happens. This is the steadiness I desire for you. Don't let unexpected events throw you off course. Rather, respond calmly and confidently, remembering that I am with you. As soon as something grabs your attention, talk with Me about it. Thus I share your joys and your problems; I help you cope with whatever is before you. This is how I live in you an work through you. This is the way of Peace. Psalm 112:7; Isaiah 41:10

Crispy Oatmeal Raisin cookies...

These were SO good! I'll make them over and over I think....I love an oatmeal cookie that is crisp and stays that way the next day! (I love the Quaker recipe too for Vanishing Oatmeal cookies when I'm in the mood for a soft cookie too)

Crisp Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 C. shortening

1/2 C. butter (1 stick)

1 C. packed brown sugar

1 C. white sugar

2 eggs

1 ts. vanilla

2 C. flour

1 ts. baking powder

1 ts. baking soda

1 ts. salt

1 1/2 C. rolled oats

1 C. Raisins

Nuts Optional

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Grease cookies sheets.

2. In a large bowl, cream together shortening, butter and sugars. Mix in the egg and vanilla until well blended. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; stir into batter until well blended. Mix in the oats, and raisins until well distributed. Scoop with med. cookie scoop or

1 1/2" rounds and place on baking sheet 2" apart. Press dough with a fork to flatten cookie (this makes a bigger cookie!)

3. Bake for 12 mins. or until edges are browned.

Makes almost 4 1/2 dozen.

You could add chocolate chips, chocolate covered raisins, nuts, M & M's, coconut ......dried cherries...the combinations could be endless!! enjoy!

Spring break....

We just had Spring break last week and it was one of the best we've ever had....We didn't go anywhere warm and it was plenty cold here during it! but the sun was out alot! The best part were the late nights and LATE mornings! Very restful! One of the days we went to the Henry Ford Museum. My kids and Mike have been on several field trips there but we haven't been in ages as a family...as a matter of fact I think I haven't been since I was a child. There's also a Village there but it won't open for another week or so! Check it out here if you are interested...we found that buying a family membership was the best route to take since it's good for a year!

The railroad was a cool exhibit and I LOVED this stage/train...I could just picture Ma and Pa Ingles riding on to visit Mary and Adam in Sleepy Eye!! can you imagine how bumpy and dusty it would have been.......however, it would have been so exciting for those mama's and daddies that yearned to visit their children and have a means of faster travel! I can't even fathom those big fat dresses they wore and the bustles....imagine that in summer! yikes!

The flying exhibit was very neat!! When you see some of those early planes you just can't imagine anyone would fly in them safely! Some with no enclosed pilot seats...I don't know how they didn't get sucked right out!! Amazing to see how far we've come with flight (and yet...I still do not like to fly! haha) We read an interesting tid bit that Amelia Earhart sold her piano to buy flying lessons as a young woman! pretty amazing....

We met our good friends Dan and Leanne and four of their kids there. That was the highlight for my girls!! haha and ME! Leanne and I had fun watching our little Cherubs walk around filling their minds with great history and interesting facts! I loved her commenting on Grace walking around with a notebook writing down facts...she said "Grace is every homeschooling mom's dream writing this stuff down!" haha Grace enjoyed that alot and there was a rubbing drawing you could make at each exhibit so she did them in her notebook!

Here we are about half way through...watching some of our kids cranking a power source that lit up the harder you cranked. Macy and Lydia were wore out from cranking! haha We were in the big engine section....amazing how some of those old machines ran on those gigantic engines!

I took a picture of a bus that was there but I can only add a limited amout of photos here. We sat on the bus that Rosa Parks sat on when she was taken off and arrested. I was so moved hearing her story.....The tour guide was explaining that actually she was seated in the black seating section but a white person came on and the bus driver asked her to move and she stood her ground. She was 42 years old.....I am 42 years old...could I be that couragious? I hope so....it made my heart ache as the guide told us how the black people had to pay their dime up front and go to the back door of the bus to get in and sometimes the bus driver would take their money and drive away when they got out to go to the back door.

During the time the guide was talking to us a high school aged group of kids got on the bus and there were many African American kids in the group and I just watched their faces as they listened to a recording about this time in history and I prayed they would have courage, that they would be seen as equals ......I said to my kids after that and after we saw some exhibits about slavery "it's awful to think God created people and somewhere along the way someone decided one group of people was less important than other"! how did that happen! I pray things are greatly changed today!!!

Here we are .....the two original Oscar Mayer Wieners!!! hahaha OK some facts about the Wiener Mobile ...it was created as the first commercial vehicle to premiere a product on the streets! It was in many parades through the years and you should have seen all the Oscar Mayer Wiener stuff you could buy in the gift shop! We did buy a Wiener whistle!! I tried to get Jordan a deck of cards but he declined!! haha

We hope to go back to the Village outside when it gets warmer outside. They have a working train and in the Spring months there are some weekends that the train is "dressed up" to look like Thomas the Train! I thought that would be a BLAST to see, however no one in my family said the same! ha

It was a fun time!

We had a great break, good food, dear friends came to visit from out of town and fun was had by all!!!!!!

Icing and cake and yummy stuff....

Do you know about this wonderful product called Vanilla Bettercreme? It's pourable icing and you just whip it 3-5 minutes and it's the most luscious tasty light airy fluffy yummy icing you ever had! Have you ever gone to a wedding and the wedding cake is either that icky gritty greasy icing or that light fluffy whipped icing....Well....this is it! It actually gets stiff and you can pipe and decorate with it as well! It ranges in price of $4-$4.50 per container. It's a bit more costly at the cake supply stores or I buy it at our local bulk store GFS (Gorton Foods). It colors easily as well and you could use it for cream fillings in lots of things! chocolate is my personal favorite! We just had Grace's Birthday not long ago and used it.....it is similar to Chocolate MOUSSE!! yum Have you ever been to a fancy shin dig and they had little chocolate cups with Chocolate Mousse? yep that's what this tastes like.......You could use about half a container to frost a 9 x 13 cake and maybe 3/4 to do a layer cake so it's nice and thick! So.......if you haven't tried it give it a shot! it's tastyyyyyy!

Simple things......

We love the simple things don't we.......That's why we love these old shows! We watch the Waltons EVERY night during the school week! We all love that show (well I can't tell you Jordan loves it as much as we do! ha but I do see him drawn in sometimes!) ha For the last three days Hallmark movie channel has featured the Sarah Plain and Tall movies! I LOVE those........I think we like the "family" feel it gives us.......We can count on Mama's and Daddies that have good morals and take their little ducklings to church services on "Sundie!" We love it when siblings call each other honey like John boy calls his baby sister Elizabeth and we'd like to think that could happen at our house too! ha















We love Ma rolling out some dough to make fresh baked bread or cutting biscuits....We love her feisty ways and how she sweetly apologizes to "Pa" for talking to him gruffly earlier in the day! Or the feeling it would be to let your children run and play all through town without worrying about their safety........We love General stores and all the smiles cracking open a bottle of soda brings and what a special treat penny candy was! No show made a Peppermint stick sound as scrumptious as Mr. Olsen's store did on Little House on the Prairie! Or when the Ingles girls find a homemade sugar cookie in their Christmas stocking on Christmas morning because sugar was such a special treat (not to mention their OWN tin cups!)













I'm so glad we own almost all seasons of Road to Avonlea and we love to see what mischief Felix King is going to get into or Felicity fussing about Spring cleaning with her mother! Every Christmas we buy another season and I can't tell you how many times we've watched them and wanted to slip into long white ruffled nighties and make popcorn over a roaring fire.......To find an orange a delectable treat or buy a pair of little white gloves for 5o cents in the General store!












I love to hear the laughter from my girls as they watch Lucy and Ethel try to stuff chocolate bon bons in their mouth or churn their own butter! Ricky telling Lucy she's got some "splainin to do!" and precious little Ricky playing his drums while Fred and Ethel tease about Ethel's healthy appetite although Fred isn't any skinny stick himself!
There's no swearing, there's no nasty commercials, no sass that isn't dealt with, no harsh words or mom's and dad's yelling over dirty laundry on their bedroom floors.......Tough times that make us feel blessed today that we have all we need........The simple life, a great place to escape, teaching great morals to our kids without even speaking, cozy as a family in front of a fire, or tucked into the covers on Mike and my bed with just a candle lit and the light of the tv. screen.....how we crave these little escapes......how we wish tv. was like this today.......but we enjoy the time together, the popcorn the laughter the bonding!! Ahh the Simple Life!

Sweet faith....

This was from an email that someone forwarded to my dad and I thought it was so touching and so true.......

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Don't start reading this one until you've got more than a minute to just 'scan' over it. It deserves some time for reflection.
GOD LIVES UNDER THE BED
I envy Kevin. My brother, Kevin, thinks God lives under his bed. At least that's what I heard him say one night.
He was praying out loud in his dark bedroom, and I stopped to listen, 'Are you there, God?' he said. 'Where are you? Oh, I see. Under the bed...'
I giggled softly and tiptoed off to my own room. Kevin's unique perspectives are often a source of amusement. But that night something else lingered long after the humor. I realized for the first time the very different world Kevin lives in.
He was born 30 years ago, mentally disabled as a result of difficulties during labor. Apart from his size (he's 6-foot-2), there are few ways in which he is an adult.
He reasons and communicates with the capabilities of a 7-year-old, and he always will. He will probably always believe that God lives under his bed, that Santa Claus is the one who fills the space under our tree every Christmas and that airplanes stay up in the sky because angels carry them.
I remember wondering if Kevin realizes he is different. Is he ever dissatisfied with his monotonous life?
Up before dawn each day, off to work at a workshop for the disabled, home to walk our cocker spaniel, return to eat his favorite macaroni-and-cheese for dinner, and later to bed.
The only variation in the entire scheme is laundry, when he hovers excitedly over the washing machine like a mother with her newborn child.
He does not seem dissatisfied.
He lopes out to the bus every morning at 7:05, eager for a day of simple work.
He wrings his hands excitedly while the water boils on the stove before dinner, and he stays up late twice a week to gather our dirty laundry for his next day's laundry chores.
And Saturdays - oh, the bliss of Saturdays! That's the day my Dad takes Kevin to the airport to have a soft drink, watch the planes land, and speculate loudly on the destination of each passenger inside 'That one's goin' to Chi-car-go! ' Kevin shouts as he claps his hands.
His anticipation is so great he can hardly sleep on Friday nights.
And so goes his world of daily rituals and weekend field trips. He doesn't know what it means to be discontent.
His life is simple.
He will never know the entanglements of wealth of power, and he does not care what brand of clothing he wears or what kind of food he eats. His needs have always been met, and he never worries that one day they may not be.
His hands are diligent. Kevin is never so happy as when he is working. When he unloads the dishwasher or vacuums the carpet, his heart is completely in it.
He does not shrink from a job when it is begun, and he does not leave a job until it is finished. But when his tasks are done, Kevin knows how to relax.
He is not obsessed with his work or the work of others. His heart is pure.
He still believes everyone tells the truth, promises must be kept, and when you are wrong, you apologize instead of argue.
Free from pride and unconcerned with appearances, Kevin is not afraid to cry when he is hurt, angry or sorry. He is always transparent, always sincere. And he trusts God.
Not confined by intellectual reasoning, when he comes to Christ, he comes as a child. Kevin seems to know God - to really be friends with Him in a way that is difficult for an 'educated' person to grasp. God seems like his closest companion.
In my moments of doubt and frustrations with my Christianity, I envy the security Kevin has in his simple faith.
It is then that I am most willing to admit that he has some divine knowledge that rises above my mortal questions.
It is then I realize that perhaps he is not the one with the handicap. I am. My obligations, my fear, my pride, my circumstances - they all become disabilities when I do not trust them to God's care.
Who knows if Kevin comprehends things I can never learn? After all, he has spent his whole life in that kind of innocence, praying after dark and soaking up the goodness and love of God.
And one day, when the mysteries of heaven are opened, and we are all amazed at how close God really is to our hearts, I'll realize that God heard the simple prayers of a boy who believed that God lived under his bed.
Kevin won't be surprised at all!