Baby Daniel's on his way....

Betsy is in labor,  Daniel's heart beat is strong - 5cm dilated - strong contractions - I'll keep you posted as I can. 

Children and I are heading out in the morning and it's a 11-12 hour drive - so I'll try to update you as I can...    :)    Hopefully I'll have pictures for you next time you hear from me!

Please pray for safe delivery for Betsy and Daniel and travel mercies for children and  I .   

Love you bunches,

Quiet Week...

We should be gearing up for school but instead we are waiting on a new nephew to make his presence known to the world...   

In the meantime I've been making Tammy's Goulash ,

  Beef Tips and MeeMaw's Spaghetti and Meatballs and freezing it all  to take and fill their freezer!  I made an extra batch of the beef tips with rice and green beans for dinner one night. It was very good and everyone loved it.  :) 

Today I baked 2 loaves of Grandma Robinson's Banana Bread and some  yummy Emergency Chocolate Cake.  One thing you should never do is try to remove the cake/bread from the dish before it's had a chance to cool - hence the broken yummy chocolate bread.  :)    Let's just say it was  really yummy and fast to make and cook - but you need to let it cool completely before removing it from the dish.  

Monday we had these cool storms   pass through the area - some  parts of North Texas received over a half an inch of rain  - and while these clouds passed by us - and were so low they looked   like the touched the tops of  trees - they didn't  give us any rain at all.  But it was shady all day and the kiddos loved it. 

This coming weekend is our 'tax free' weekend for Texas - I don't know if it's like this everywhere -but it is crazy shopping - there are a million people  out and they all are very aggressive about what they want.  I don't like it but it really does save a lot of  money.    So I'll keep you posted  and can't wait to find that  perfect ' first day of school outfit'.   :) 

I'll keep you posted - so check back!   

Monday.... Cook book project

I just wanted to blog that I have finished  part one of the typing all the recipes into the computer for the cookbook project.  I've been typing on and off every day and am finally finished! 

OK - part one - make the file ,,,, now part two I down load  the file to this website I found - I'll pass  it along when I find it... if you know me,  I now  have to follow through and it's not one of my better qualities.  I have very good intentions but you'll see!  

I've had a couple  of people  interested in a copy so just let me know :)  

I've let go of a dozen magazines, organized the papers a bit better and have let go of 4 cookbooks - maybe more - it's just so hard to let go of cookbooks; even though I've never cooked from the Frugal Gourmet's cookbook  = he was just such an interesting man and I love the stories he has with  his recipes.   

We had a visitor in our back yard today....

I opened the door to let the dogs out around 2pm and immediately grabbed the dogs and turned them back inside.  Grabbing my handy camera and threw an old gooey tennis ball toward the front door - as the dogs went running after the old gooey tennis ball - I quickly stepped out  the back door and started snapping several pictures waiting for him/her move again.  

After a time of about 45 minutes I went a head and let the dogs out and nothing happened.   He/she just sat there watching the dogs - look up and behind Goldie!  

The hawk was sitting on our back fence for over 2 hours before flying away.  In those two hours - our yard was the quietest I have ever heard in our four years of living here.  

Peach Picking

I have to tell you - it was my first time to pick peaches and in comparison to blueberry and strawberry picking it was a bit more difficult.   

Peaches may look good on one side but if they are green on the other side -and you pick them - they will never go  onto become the yummy sweet fruit you dream of in summer. So you have to be very careful at picking - making sure it was ripe.  There  were trees falling over from the heaviness of the fruit and yet in all those peaches -most of them weren't ready yet....... maybe next week.   

It started out a great day in Texas -in August - at only 74 degrees and stayed in low temperatures till after noon today - and it was drizzling too.  So all the trees were covered with water and as the kids pulled on a peach they each received a shower which brought tons of giggles. 

They did wear out quickly carrying peach buckets so by the end our time there I was carrying three buckets! But the yummy peach ice cream at the end was a tremendous reward.  

Now I'll begin making jams and canning some peaches -I'll keep you posted it's my first time to can peaches!  

Have a great weekend!

Thursday Daily Dose of Cuteness

Just another picture of my furry girls..... notice where they are?

Half way between pantry and sink and right smack dab in front of stove top...... 

This is how I fixed dinner..... ballet steps over the girls..  

:)  Have a super weekend!  

Cool .... Tuesday

It  was a beautiful day today- Hurricane Edouard brought us some more beautiful clouds and almost 10 degree cooler than it had been forecasted - so for those of you not in Texas - 95 degrees and clouds is so nice compared to 105 and no clouds.  It was beautiful. 

Yesterday Rachel had a play date with a best friend - they were in preschool together when they were 3 years old - so they've known each other for four years now and have a super time together. Yesterday they were playing in H & G's pool.  They loved it and had a super time! Thanks H&G!

The children had a play date  today with friends that were siblings - it's very handy when Patrick has a friend  that has a little sister - so Rachel has  a ready made friend.  This one was a bit tough - b/c the friend's sister is only five - and it seems that there is more than 2 years separating 5 & 7 years old.    It worked out in the end.  

The garden is looking good - the purple cone flower is trying to survive in spite of the bunnies - check  out this picture. 

I should have taken a picture of the chicken Parmesan before dinner - but this is all that was left!  It will make a nice lunch for me tomorrow.  :) 

The children and I made an Mennonite Dessert recipe I found on another blog.  I had some strawberries and the timing was perfect.  I forgot the 1/3 cup of sugar you were supposed to put over the fruit and it still came out pretty good.  

Fruit Platz  (pronounced ploats)   

You can use any fruit you want - I want to do it with blueberries next!

Base Layer:

1/2 cup softened butter ( no oil)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup cream or milk

pinch of salt

Fruit Layer:

enough fresh or frozen fruit to cover base layer

1/3 cup sugar (1/2 cup if using rhubarb)

Top Layer:

1/2 cup softened butter (no oil)

1 cup flour

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 *F.  Mix the base layer and spread out with your hands in the bottom of a 10x15 pan.  Spread your fruit on top (I used 1 1/2 pounds fresh sliced strawberries)  and evenly sprinkle the sugar on top.  Mix the top layer with a fork till it is very crumbly, and spread over the top of the fruit.  Bake for 35-40 minutes.  It's great with ice cream - but a whipped topping would be good too.  :)