A couple sweet pics from Spring Break

These were taken in Gruene - top one outside of the Gruene Hall and the bottom was taken in the social area out back from the Gruene Hall.

Garden pics

What to do with your oatmeal leftovers

Last night, I soaked one cup of steel cut oats so that the girls could start their first day back to school after spring break with a good hearty breakfast. I drained the oats then added to a pot and covered with water, adding more as needed. When the oats were cooked just right (have you ever had steel cut oats? They are so yummy!) I served them with honey, chopped pecans, and some fresh raw milk. It was so good! I meant to eat the leftovers but time got away from me and they didn't get eaten right away. They coagulated, or solidified, or whatever you call it, so eating them all warm and mushy was not an option. I took out my little non stick frying pan, melted some butter on it and fried the oatmeal in the butter. It came out of the pan in two hunks, so I got two nice fried oatmeal mush patties. I ate them with a smear of butter and some honey. It was good enough to make some intentional leftovers! : )

Bye, Mom, we'll miss you!

Today, we saw Mom off at the San Antonio Airport. It was the end of a nine day, excitement and love-filled visit. We haven't seen her since October of '07, so you can imagine how much the kids have grown since the last time. They all had oodles of fun, from teaching her how to play the Wii (and beating her! Poor Mom) to playing horse (basketball) to eating, walking, wine tasting, margaritas and mariachis. We even went for a little dancing one evening at an old dance hall. We took lots of pictures (a challenge getting Danny Jr to sit still for that many pics! HA!) and never was there a dull moment.

The car ride home, apres drop-off, was very sad, indeed. Olivia gazed out the window, the wind blowing her hair and her tears across her face. Sophia sat as quiet as could be, wiping away the tears as they came. I have never seen Danny Jr show such deep emotion. Tears streamed down all three of their faces (I forced myself to hold it together for their sakes). After about 10 minutes, D broke into a very mournful wail which the girls fed off of, turning into three mournful wails. If it wasn't so sad it would have been funny.

Now everyone is exhausted - physically and mentally. So with that, I'll say good night. More pics tomorrow.

Love to you!

Mo-om!

Sophia: "Mo-om, Danny bit me!"
Danny: "I wasn't biting, I was chewing."

Calgon, take me away.

Oh, How I Love...

BANANAGRAMS!!!!!

The best $14.95 our family has ever spent. The thing we love about it is we can all play on a fairly level playing field. You don't win due to the length or strength of your words, you simply win for having the least amount of unused tiles in front of you when the game is over. It develops critical thinking skills and vocabulary. It is so much fun. I would highly recommend it to anyone! We have done some serious family bonding over this game!

A sad thing to witness...

This morning, I took Olivia and Danny to the local feed store to turn in our rooster, Star. I was tired of having to be armed when going near him, and he actually BIT me yesterday, and drew blood! Needless to say, it wasn't a teary farewell. Even Danny Jr, Star's official parent, was OK with leaving him behind.

After the feed store, we were headed off to the pediatrician for Olivia (she's been pretty sick all week, and missing her 3rd day of school today - sinus infection).

As we were pulling out of our parking spot, a small, late 80's model car pulled out of it's spot, but continued in reverse at high speed, doing about 6 donuts, knocking a rack over. As the car came to a stop and I determined that the driver was in park, I ran over to find a confused elderly lady, completely unaware of what was going on. I kindly asked her to pull the park brake, which she couldn't find, so I reached in and pulled it. I asked her to shut her car off and she pressed the gas pedal, revving it up, reaching for the shifter. I begged her to stop. Meanwhile, another woman approached and we talked the lady out of her car, which I then parked. I handed the elderly woman her cell phone and the store owner her car keys. I had to leave to take O to her appointment, so I don't know how things turned out.

My heart broke because she was so sweet and so unaware. This may well have been her last car trip, meaning the end of her independence as she knows it. I know that we will all be there one day, but it is so incredibly sad to see it happen to someone else. I am extremely thankful that she didn't get physically hurt, nor did she hurt anyone else or cause any property damage.

I hope that there is someone who is able to console her and care for her today.

La Grande Visite

A surprise guest is coming to town tomorrow! My mother is coming to visit - it was originally a surprise for the kids and me, but I found out by accident and now the surprise is for the kids! We haven't seen my mom since October of '07 so we are all excited!

There is one problem, however, 60% of my household is sick!!!!!! We are praying the germs away! We want to all be well by tomorrow evening, and we don't want our special guest to get sick, too.

I will try to remember to take a lot of pictures! : ) Look for an update next week sometime.

Love to you!

A Stitch in Time

It's been a while and a lot has been going on! Lots of activity plus one yucky illness and some fun stuff.

Danny Jr is always full of funny sayings. A few days ago, very seriously, he asked me if I used to have a Sugar Momma or a Sugar Daddy. I was laughing hysterically in my head, but he was so serious I had to hide the amusement. I think he got it from the Proud Family cartoon, where the grandmother's name is Sugar Momma.

Last Friday, we took a friend to see our chicken coop and he commented how the chicken named Molly was so "impressed" that the other hens laid some eggs.

**We got 3 new hens last week - Molly, Lani, and Snow White Ducky. Pictures to come later.**

At first we were getting one egg every other day. Then on to one a day, then either 2 or 3, and yesterday we had 4! Woo Hoo!!!

Danny Sr. started a new job at Wells Fargo Home Mortgage division. If you live in S. Central TX and have mortgage/refi needs, comment here and I'll get you in touch with him. He is the bomb(with lots of mortgage experience). And the Bomb went to Denver CO this week for training. He has been learning a lot and is looking forward to serving our community with their mortgage needs. On the home front, things have gone exceptionally well - we have had company for dinner 2 out of 3 nights. The kids have been well behaved (for the most part, hehe!) and it's been life as usual.

I had a cold last week that ended up in a ruptured eardrum. Ouch! I am better now. Thankfully!

For those of you who are unaware of our current weather conditions, it was mid to upper 80's earlier this week. Our area has been experiencing the worst drought in the country and the worst drought in our history. Yesterday a cold front blew in and it is now 43 degrees and raining buckets. It is freaking ugly out there right now! Blek! But I am ever so thankful for the rain.

I started catering lunch every Wednesday (I think I mentioned that before) - the last 2 weeks I have served 16 instead of 11 plates. That is wonderful! Makes the whole venture a little more worth while. It is also a stroke to my cooking ego - everyone cleans their plate every time. Yesterday I served Quiche Meloise (My take on Quiche Lorraine, recipe will be at the end of this post).

My Jaywalker socks got a nice hole right under the ball of my big toe. I wear them a lot and have worn them down quite a bit. I don't usually wear socks other than the ones I make), so I don't usually have holes to repair. I had to do some research on how to darn socks. Since this isn't what I mean by darning socks, I had to do it the old fashioned way!

While researching, I discovered the meaning of the saying, "A stitch in time saves nine." I love finding useful tidbits of information!

I used an egg from my backyard! You run your yarn across the width of the hole, a bunch if parallel stitches, then go back across the length (or vice versa) and weave through the parallel stitches, covering the hole with a woven swatch of fabric. Here's the tutorial I used.

The finished project turned out more comfortable than I expected.

A smile for you : )
Have a lovely week!!!!!


Quiche Meloise
1 pie crust
1/4 lb peppered Canadian bacon, chopped
1/3 onion, chopped
1 - 1 1/2 c shredded strong white cheese
1 c cream
1/3 c milk
4 eggs
salt pepper
2 T butter

~Preheat oven to 425^
~saute onions in 1 T butter till translucent. Add to the bottom of the pie crust.
~saute Canadian bacon in 1 T butter till warmed through and starting to brown, layer on top of onions in the pie crust.
~add shredded cheese to other ingredients.
~beat together cream, milk, eggs, salt and pepper and pour over onions, bacon, and cheese.
~place quiche in oven, set timer for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 375^ and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes, till golden brown and set in the middle.
~Let cool for at least a half hour before cutting.
~Enjoy!

Putting all my eggs in one basket

Monday, the girls started laying eggs in a more prolific manner. It seems that they are becoming more familiar, more comfortable with their surroundings. They could also be reacting to the speech Big Danny gave them, "Listen here, if you don't start producing eggs, we're gonna eat YOU." No matter what the motivation was, I am glad they started laying more eggs. They have been laying 3 per day.

This bowl is so special to us. It was Danny's Grandma's bowl. She used it to hold her eggs.

That makes me smile.

Oo oo ah ah

Here is my first Monkey sock - I knit it with Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn in Frog Prince. I cast on last Sunday evening and finished it this Sunday. It knit up surprisingly fast! I love the sock, love the pattern, and hoping to NOT suffer 2nd sock syndrome. Hoping for a little more cool weather so I can wear them. : )

Chicken Marinade

This week at a local grocery store, split chicken breast was on sale for $.88 a pound! I bought a couple of family packs and froze one and stuck the other in some marinade to prepare for company. I placed all the marinade ingredients into a gallon sized Ziploc bag, shook it around to combine, added the chicken and mushed it around till I could tell that the marinade covered all the chicken. I placed the bag into a tall plastic food storage container and turned it over whenever I thought about it. The chicken came out delicious and here's the recipe (forgive the casual-ness of the amounts):

A good glug of canola/olive oil blend (maybe a third cup)
juice of 2 lemons
a few shakes of Worcestershire sauce (maybe 1 1/2 - 2 T)
a spoonful of jarred minced garlic
a good shake of garlic powder
pepper
sea salt

Place the chicken breast, skin side up, on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 30-45 minutes (I didn't watch the time, just occasionally checked the temp with my meat thermometer). Let sit for a few minutes to let the juices distribute.

This gave the chicken a nice light flavor - I served it with brown rice and asparagus. The asparagus was served with a little shmear of butter and lemon wedges for squeezing.

We ate it all before I thought to take a pic. Sorry!!!!