Matthew's second grade field trip.

Matthew is in second grade and enjoying school a lot.  I got the privilege to go along on their first field trip of the year!!!  It was so much fun and I know I enjoyed it just as much as the kids did!

We left school right after morning chapel.  A school bus drove us to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm!  There we spent the entire day exploring, learning, and having fun recreation time on the farm!  Check it out ...

Hay tunnels ...

 Swing hard and try to get the bell to ring on the very top! Also, throwing balls in the diamond holes.

 There was a huge 'pillow'.  Shoes off ... and jump all day!!!  The long slides were awesome!  I even did this event!!!  Oh, yes!

 We did a race who could get to the bottom the fastest ... yepper, it was me!  :)

 Humongous sling shots ... really fun swing/hammocks!

 "Lincoln Logs" at its all time favorite size!!!

 Going back to do more sling shots!!!

 We learned about corn and milk.  We even made our very own butter!  Shake up some heavy whipping cream in a tight container for a few minutes and ... ta la - BUTTER!  So cool!

 The butter we made was yummy on crackers!  Now, off for a hay ride to the pumpkin patch!

 Each student got to pick their very own pumpkin from the big patch!

 They each weighed their pumpkin.

 They measured them.  We learned that pumpkins float.  They are hollow inside ... therefore they float on water.  Interesting!

 We toured the animal farm section.  Pigs, goats, ducks, chickens, lama, etc..

After having to reschedule this field trip for the third time (because of rain), we were blessed with a very nice, sunny, warm day!  Thank you Miss Mohr for your organization and for planning this wonderful day out for second grade!!!  We all realllllllly enjoyed it!

The storm is over ... Hurricane Sandy.

Hurricane Sandy sure made her presence known around our area the past few days.  I woke this morning with it not raining and the winds were calm.  I actually thought for a few seconds we were going to have a sunshine!  The sun tried to break through the clouds and I got excited.

I drove the kids off to school this morning because "Hermy", the hermit crab we have been pet sitting, couldn't return back to school on the bus.  It felt good to be back out and around instead of being inside my house yet another day.

We tried to take precautions for the upcoming storm.  The rain started Sunday already here but getting together late and watching the Giants play the last game in the World Series, still got us out of the house and cheering with Matt's!  We got calls saying that our school will be closed Monday and Tuesday.  We went to bed late glad we could sleep in!

Monday morning came and the rain was still coming down hard.  We are surrounded by farm fields here with no creeks or rivers never by, so the flooding was not an issue for our family.  Instead, it was the thought of losing electric and living without running water.  We all got showered up and the bath tub got filled Monday morning, just in case we would need some water to flush toilets.  Hadassah kept begging all day long for a friend to come over and I would promptly remind her why she was home from school ... there is a storm going on outside!!!  Who wants to be out and about in a hurricane?  The kids played school and entertained themselves inside with games and toys.  Mike went to work and came home at 4:15.  It was getting miserable outside and the wind was picking up.  We moved everything off the porches and hoped things would all be OK outside. 

Speaking of getting out and about ... we did decide to make a quick trip over to Mike's dads and spend the evening/night(?) there.  They are Amish and so if the electric goes out, they are not affected.  Mom made a wonderful supper for us and then we hunkered down for some settlers mist the storm outside!!!  Matt and Lena joined us and we played two games of 6 players settlers.  The night was fun and a great way to make the storm hours go by quickly.  I had packed our bags in case we would have to spend the night.  The weather reports were all saying high winds.  It felt like a snowstorm was coming with all our packing up and hanging out!!!  We did drive back home that night and when we got home, we still had heat and water!!!  I told the kids that night when we tucked them into bed that if the winds are too noisy or if they get scared, they were to come and wake me up and we would go downstairs to sleep.  Each of us had flashlights beside our beds when we feel asleep just in case of an emergency!

Tuesday morning came and we still had power!!!  Thank you Lord!  Everyone slept good and the kids slept in!!!  No school today again.  The winds and rain calmed down a bit.  Hadassah again begged for friends to come over, and so my sister Jody and her kids stopped in in the afternoon.  That was fun!  Thanks Jody!  Even though our electric was on, my Internet service was down.  I was hoping to at least get some pictures edited or blogging posted, but it all has to wait.  Instead my scrap booking supplies came out of their bags and I got some pages cropped!  I find that if I keep my stuff out on my desk, even though it looks a bit messy, I get more cropping done that way!  Mike did go to work and when he came home last night, the kids were ready to hang out with him.  Small groups was canceled so we played a few games of 'marbles' here at home as a family.  I really have come to enjoy games with the kids.  We have moved on from 'chutes and ladders' to more exciting games!!!  :)))

Now that the storm has passed by our way, we don't want to forget all those that were 'hit hard' by the nasty weather.  New York and those shore side states have so much clean up to do!!!

It was good to have the kids up and ready for school this morning.  They really get so bored with the rain outside and no school.  When it snows, they can at least play outside.  (The rain didn't stop Matthew from going out in it though!  He bundled up twice and played outside.  Guessing it's a boy thing???)  Matthew's class has a hermit crab as a pet and we signed up to care for it this past weekend.  We got to have two extra days because of no school.  "Hermy" was an entertainment at times around here!!!

Now that the storm has passed by our way, we don't want to forget all those that were 'hit hard' by the nasty weather.  New York and those shore side states have so much clean up to do!!! 

Our things are back on the back porch but my leaves and debris from the winds and rains need to be worked on!  Gotta go get to work!

I hope you stayed safe while the storm passed by but if you were affected in any means, may the Lord bless you and keep you safe today!!!  I am praising Him for His protection!!!

Ashlyn's Baby Dedication!!!

Even though Mike and I pray for our children and even as a newborn we dedicate them to the Lord, there is something special about having a dedication service for your child.  That happened on Sunday for Ashlyn!

Our church tries to have a service like this once every few years and every time we have a huge group!  That's one blessing of a growing church!  There were 12 families with children that dedicated them to the Lord.

The devotional before the service was very good too!  (Thanks brother Jason for sharing!)  Jason read a poem that I really liked and he later texted it to me.  His topic was on children, being it was a baby dedication service. 

Some other thoughts of what were said on Sunday were:  "Children will believe what they see ... not always what they hear."  "The children are our next generation."  "Love is the only thing on earth that can take all the hatred away!"  In Deuteronomy 21:18-21, it talks about when a son was stubborn and rebellious and after the parents tried to bring correction and nothing helped ... they were to take him to the elders of his city and they stoned him.  Yikes!!!  They really took sin seriously back in the Old Testament days and we should today yet!  However, things changed big time when Jesus came and died for our sins!  He gave us a much better way!!!  He said things like "Suffer the little children to come unto me", "I forgive you", "Go, and sin no more"! 

There is a better way for us today!!!  Thank you Lord!!!  Let's be willing to tell our children our mistakes and help them to grow up being a 'better' man or woman of God.  Let's help them 'do better than we did'!!!

Jesus ALWAYS loved the children and NEVER pushed them back!  He noticed them and spoke of them often in the Bible!  He even referred to them as "for of such is the kingdom of God" Mark 10:15.  It says, "And He took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them."  Verse 16.  Imagine being that child?  Those children ... that He took and held and blessed!  What an experience!

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Here we are praying a prayer of blessing over Ashlyn!

 

The whole group!  2012 Baby Dedication!

 

 
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The poem that my brother Jason read as part of his devotional goes like this:

We need to teach our daughters to distinguish between:

 

a man who flatters her

and a man who compliments her,

 

a man who spends money on her

and a man who invests in her,

 

a man who views her as property

and a man who views her properly,

 

a man who lusts after her

and a man who loves her,

 

a man who believes he's a gift to women

and a man who believes she's a gift to him.

 

And then we need to teach our sons

to be that kind of man.

 

 

I love that!!!  Have a blessed day!  Cherish your children!  Give extra hugs and kisses today and realize that they are gifts from the Lord!

Saturday Caramel Apples!!!

This morning was so gorgeous.  The sunrise was beautiful with a mist over the neighboring farm fields!  Mike got a good photo of it!

Mike and I went out last night on a double date!  (Thanks John and Ruth for hanging out with us!  We love you guys!)  While we were enjoying prime rib and shrimp, a storm swept through our area.  We didn't even know it was raining outside till after our meal we went outside to leave.  Ruth got a text and asked if they survived the storm.  Storm???  We soon realized that a tornado went through our area and the roads were wet, leaf covered, and lots of branches down.  We got home and our electric was out.  We grabbed some flashlights as we tucked the children in bed.  (The storm was not real close to the restaurant we ate at.)

This picture was taken this morning after the storm was over and electric was back!

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Caramel Apples are fun to make.  They are easy but do require a small amount of time.  I unwrapped a hand full of caramels and then melted them in the microwave.  The instructions I have suggests to add a Tb. of water to the caramel.

Hammer a stick into your washed and cleaned apples.  Dip them into the caramel and cover the entire apple.  You got to work fast, so quickly add your candies or nuts on top of the caramel.  Keep them close to the core because they slide down the sides of the apples as it dries.  We like chopped pecans or walnuts.  Tiny m&m's.  Crushed up peanut butter cups.  Whatever you like!!!

Then melt some chocolate and pipe it over the top of the candies!  It works pretty good if you pour your melted chocolate into empty squeeze bottles.  This adds a nice touch to the apples!

I made three this afternoon.  1.) peanut butter cups crushed with white and chocolate drizzles
2.) mini m&m's with white and chocolate drizzles

 3.) crushed walnuts with chocolate drizzles

We are having friends over tonight, so we might just enjoy a few of these for dessert!!!  Yum!

Have a great weekend! 

Soups ... soups ... soups!!!

With all this soup mixing and cooking - I think I am ready for cold weather and easy suppers!

On Wednesday, we gathered at my moms to make soups!  Soups for easy winter suppers!  I picked to make Spaghetti Soup.  Jody picked Chicken Noodle and Fannie Lynn wanted some Potato Soup.  Mom and Mindy helped with the work too and soup we did mix.  We did cook.  We did stir and put into jars.  We then put it in our cookers and canned them all for three hours! 

We do it every time ... LOTS!  Every time we get together we work!  We do something in huge quantity!  (Like 1000 ears of corn!  Boxes of grapes.  And over 100 quarts of soup!)  It's the fun way of doing all that work though!  Being together and laughing and talking makes any work just a bit lighter!

The recipe I used for my soup was from the Farehaven School Cookbook.  It's called "Spaghetti Soup to Can".  I changed the recipe just a tad.  This is what I used.

3 lb. spaghetti noodles, cooked just until water is about to boil, drain

3 lb. hamburger

3 stalks celery

1 qt. chopped carrots

1 gallon Great Northern Beans

2 Lg. Onions

1/2 lb. butter

4 gallons tomatoes juice

6 Tb. salt

3 cup brown sugar

Brown hamburger and onions with the butter.  Mix all ingredients together.  Put in jars and cold pack for 2-3 hours.  Don't fill the jars too full or they wont seal.  Makes 35 Qt.

These are the pictures I captured with my iPhone.  Not real good ... but it's proof we did all this work!  Here's my spaghetti soup being mixed and jarred.

Ready for lids.  Also jarring our chicken noodle soup.  We had a recipe that said to layer our ingredients in each jar ... so we did.  After all the food was in the jars we poured in the broth.

 

 

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It's a rainy Friday.  My washer and dryer are going.  My hot tea, sweetened with honey, is almost all drank!  My Christmas CD is still in our Bose and playing softly.  I just love that CD and we are all spruced up with the Christmas music a tad early this year!  :)

 

I am hoping when the rain stops, it will dry enough for me to mow the yard.  We've got a weekend to look forward to and some birthday parties that the kids will be participating in. 

 

Be a beacon of light wherever your path leads you this weekend!  Shine for Jesus!!!

Marshmallow Popcorn Balls!

There are some food blogs I follow.  There is one that is my favorite!  I love her simple style of food and it's always a huge plus if the pictures are great too!  Her pictures are fabulous!  Her photo's just seem to make the food look like you can't resist it!  Some recipes you just gotta try!

Well, the other day she posted these little marshmallow popcorn balls!  I seen the same idea done already in the shape of Christmas ornaments but these looked so cute and fun to make!  We helped family move up from Florida on Saturday, so I figured a little snack for the boys and kids would be a good idea to take along!

It's so simple you almost have to check the recipe a few times to make sure your not missing something! 

You need:

4 Tb. butter

10 oz. bag of marshmallows

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

12 cup popcorn (I used two bags of kettle corn!)

Sprinkles for decoration

Melt the butter and add the marshmallows, vanilla and salt.  When it's all melted pour it over your popped popcorn and stir.  With buttered hands, shape into balls and sprinkle with your decorations.  Stick a stick down the center of each ball.  Cool and enjoy!
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Melting my marshmallows, vanilla and salt.

Popped popcorn ...

Form into balls and sprinkle with sprinkles.  Insert a candy stick in each ball.

The final product ...

Ashlyn loved the sprinkles!  :)

My first bite was like this ... OK they are cuter than they actually taste.  I don't think I left them set long enough because the popcorn was still soft from the marshmallow and tasted stale.?.  I tried one the next day and it tasted better!  The kids enjoyed them!

Getting these candy sticks out from my cupboard reminded me of our carmel apples we did last year.  Maybe we will have to do them again!?!  So yummy!!!

Autumn splendor!  So blissful!

Supper Time!

As I quickly type, my supper is baking!  I had someone say to me the other night that she likes when I post food posts, so here goes for today.

I normally like to have my menu planned out for the week.  Most times I sit down Sunday afternoon or Monday mornings and write out my next weeks food list.  I choose my meals and then grocery shop according.  This week I didn't sit down and write out my meals, so I am having to decide everyday as we go.  The weather was sunny today (and I was happy to see that sunshine and cloudless skies again!).  After I finished working outside this afternoon, I was chilled.  My thoughts went to my healthier version of pork and sour kraut. 

My supper went like this for tonight.  My main meal will consist of my own canned Boneless, Skinless Turkey Thighs.  Open one jar (you can use chicken too) and place in a baking dish.  Sprinkle with brown sugar (about 1/2 cup).  Top with sour kraut.  Cover and bake at 350 for 1 hour!  A lady from church shared this idea with a few years ago.  I love it and would much rather prefer it this way then with the traditional "pork and sour kraut"!

I also had about 2 cups of left over mashed potatoes in the fridge that I wanted to use up.  This meat dish goes great with regular mashed potatoes, but tonight I mixed things up a bit.  I took my mashed potatoes and mixed them with 1 egg, 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese and a dash of onion salt.  I crushed Ritz crackers and put them in a bowl and then rolled a ball of my mashed potato mixture in it.  Put the balls in a baking dish and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Recently, I have been thinking about baked apples.  The kind as a hot fruit and not a dessert.  I searched online for a quick and easy recipe.  Of course, there are tons and tons to try but I just picked one and found this:  Peel and cut 4 small tart apples into slices and place in a zip lock bag.  Toss them with 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1 Tb. cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg.  Gently toss the apples with the spices inside the bag.  Put into a dish (or into individual dishes).  Top with very thin slices of butter and 1 tsp. water.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until soft!

I am a big fan of individual plates and servings.  It just adds some class and fun.  I have these small Longaberger dishes that we use every single day.  Tonight, the apples went into them.  I put a few slices in each dish, a small amount of water in each and then topped it with a very thin slice of butter.

 

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Supper is over.  The mashed potato patties were a big hit!!!  Everyone loved them.  The apples not so much of a hit.  This was not a huge surprise to me because when the kids see something 'new' on the dinner table, they automatically turn up their noses.  I wish they would not do that!  They were told to try at least one slice.  However, I do have some leftover now in the fridge for my lunch tomorrow.  The meat and sour kraut suited well with the family too!  :)

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This is me today.  It's Friday and my post is again a day late.  Oh well. When the supper is ready and the family is hungry ... we drop what we are doing to eat! 

Thursday nights around here are focused on school work.  Hadassah and Matthew learn their school Bible Verses.  We review all the spelling words.  Hadassah had two other tests to go over.  I am the one that always quizzes her for her test.  The time together usually goes well and fast.  Last night, we went from one sheet to the next.  Mike took the challenge of helping the the kids learn their verses!  They like the way daddy makes them learn.  He gets them to quote parts of the verses out loud for about 5 times.  All the while they are to be walking around the house.  Mike thinks that memorizing and walking around go hand in hand!  After they quote one small piece five times, they move to the next part of the verse.  When they are able to quote the entire verse correctly, they go 'on our stage' (the small ledge by the picture window) and say the entire verse(s) to all of us listening.  (Moms way of learning usually consists of them going to their rooms ... a quiet escape ... and 'study' the verse.  :) )

Our evenings at home are much to look forward to lately!  The shorter days of sunlight makes us all ready for an early to bed!  Love that!

The sun is shining again!!!  I am praising the Lord for that this morning!  I keep thinking of some quotes I heard this week ... "Emotions are meant to be felt.  God gave them to us to feel."

Be a blessing today!

Fall Party in Second Grade

Matthew's class at school had a Fall Party last day.  The day was warm and fun!  Some of us room moms brought in foods for a snack.  I made the party mix.

The kids enjoyed the cold Apple Cider!

They each made a craft!  They also had a scavenger hunt with a treasure bag of candy at the end for each of them!

The kids, the moms and teacher all enjoyed the party!  Thanks to all the moms who got creative and helped!  Happy Fall Second Grade!!!

Spaghetti in hot dogs ...

I love searching the web but just don't get the time for it too much.  Recently though, I have been on Pinterest somewhat just admiring all the fall ideas and fun things to do.  I looked then of course looked at some food fun and this caught my eye. 

I seen this on one of the pages and I thought, "Oh my goodness.  My kids would get a huge kick out of this!  I gotta try it!"

Last night was our Secret Sister Banquet with all the ladies from our church.  It was a supper and fun night out with just girls, so I thought it would be perfect to try this fun food for my family who was staying at home!

It's easy.  It's fast.  It looks crazy.  It tasted good to my kiddoes!

Take a hot dog and cut it into three pieces. 

Then take a few spaghetti sticks and push it though the center of the hot dog till it comes out the other side.  Do this to as many hot dog pieces you need to feed your family! 

Boil the hot dog/spaghetti pieces in water for about 10 minutes or until the spaghetti is soft and the hot dogs are fully cooked! 

Dish them out on a serving dish and enjoy!

I just knew Matthew would be all into this meal!  Ashlyn too!  Hadassah likes hot dogs but is the most mature with excitement about a hot dog supper!!!  :)  The kids enjoyed the meal with some vegetables on the side.  Mike enjoyed his meatball sandwich and veggies while I got to go eat out with the ladies!!!  What a trade!!!!

Be inspired to try different, crazy foods!  If you have an idea that is fun and crazy, please comment and share with me!  I would love to know of some more!!!