Swinging

Megan swingingWe went to the park to get fresh water and food for our tadpoles.  Megan wanted to play on the swing set so Momma pushed her while I took pictures.

I took a LOT of pictures. These were the only two that worked like I wanted.  It is hard taking pictures while Megan is swinging.

Megan close up

Spiced Cookies

Spiced CookiesI wanted to make cookies. I wanted some thing different. So I tried an experiment. They turned out very good.

Spiced Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • 1 batch of your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe (made with half regular flour and half soft white wheat if you have)
  • 1/2 tsp cloves
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp gingerbread spice (you could probably use pumpkin pie spice too)

Add spices to your dough when you add flour.  Bake as normal.

 

 

Flowers

flowersI learned how to make paper flowers. Momma’s cousin’s wife, Dove, taught Audrey and me how to. They are fun and easy to make and they look pretty.

Caramel Popcorn Day

PopcornToday is Caramel Popcorn Day! If you want to celebrate, here is a recipe from my grandma’s friend, Miss Margaret.

1 cup butter (We only use 1/2 cup and still get a great snack!)
2 cup packed sugar, brown (I used 1 3/4 cups sugar + 2 Tbl molasses)
1/2 cup corn syrup
1 Teaspoon salt
1/2 Teaspoon baking soda
1 Teaspoon vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon (optional, not in original recipe)
1 1/4 cups unpopped popcorn, pop your favorite way.

  1. Pop the popcorn. We have not tried this using microwave popcorn. Butter the bottoms of two large cookie sheets.
  2. Melt butter, stir in sugar, corn syrup and salt in large heavy pot. Bring to a boil, stir constantly 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla. Pour over corn carefully. Stir to coat as many pieces as possible. Pour onto greased pan (two cookie sheets work well).
  3. Bake at 250 degrees for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes. We stirred 3 times for the whole recipe.
  4. Remove and cool. Store in airtight container. Enjoy!
  5. Can add unsalted nuts with popcorn if desired.

P.S. Some places say 7 April is Caramel Popcorn Day, so if you missed it today, enjoy it tomorrow instead!

National Chocolate Covered Strawberry Day

StrawberriesToday is National Make Up Your Own Holiday Day. So my made up holiday is “Chocolate Covered Strawberry Day”.

I made some chocolate covered strawberries. I warmed up some chocolate and then dunked strawberries in it. Then I let them cool. We will eat them for dessert.

Have fun making up your own holiday!

Two Bite Cookies

Audrey wanted some peanut butter cookies. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies.  So,I played with a favorite recipe and made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.  They turned out very good!

Cream together

Cookies1/2 cup + 2 Tbl butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

3/4 c sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

Add

2 eggs

Stir well, then add

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (I omitted)

1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

OPTIONAL:  Use white chocolate chips and/or dark chocolate chips in place of one or both of the other chips

Mix well. Use teaspoon to measure dough and roll into balls. Flatten slightly on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 for 6-9 minutes or until cookies are just brown around the edges.  Try not to eat too many warm.

If you want larger cookies, adjust baking time to 8-10 minutes.

 

 

Going Crazy

One cold slippery afternoon, Daddy said, “Get into the car, we are going crazy!” We all hurried to get ready.

I saw Megan crying because she could not find her shoes. I looked under the couches. I looked in her room. I looked everywhere! Megan finally found her shoes in the shoe cupboard. I did not look in there because they are never where they belong!

Mark warmed up the car, while we all got in. One of the seat belts froze, so we all went inside while the car warmed up. The seat belt finally thawed so we scrambled back into the car.

We slowly drive down County Road 24. It was slippery and snowing. When we got to the horse farm, school just got out! There was a line of ten buses waiting to cross the street. It took awhile to get to the four way street. Adrian started asking riddles. Mark gave silly answers.

When we finally got to the next crossing, a bunch of cars were going by. We had to wait at the stop sign for a long time. While we waited, Megan started to sing “Do You Want To Build A Snow Man”.

When we crossed and got to the three way street, the other school buses where there! We counted fifteen more buses. Audrey’s knitting yarn rolled away while Adrian told a story about a snake. Audrey’s yarn rolled with help to Momma’s leg. Momma screamed because it felt like a snake! And Momma does not like snakes! Daddy started laughing and then turned left.

We reached the split in the road. There was five inches of snow where we turned. We got stuck. Daddy backed up and tried again. We got stuck again. We tried again and got through!

We turned right in Wings Etc. There was a line so we had to wait. We were seated. It was the waitresses first time on her own. We got our waitress so confused because some of us ordered with someone else and some did not. We ordered a lot of different kind of wings. We were able to help her out. Our order came out right on the first try.

When we got home, it was late. I went straight to sleep. But when I got up, I decided last night we didn’t go crazy. With four siblings at home, home is crazy!