Let the Little Children Come

I just had the most interesting conversation with my 2 year old. Drew has been initiating many conversations about "God" and "Jesus" lately, often surprising me with his unprompted comments. During a recent breakfast, he talked about Grandpa Tice being in Heaven with Jesus. "But his body is in the grave, Mom?" I talked about it with him as I often have done since my Grandpa's funeral last December. I've been amazed at what an impression it all made on Drew, not even 2 years old then, and how he still brings it up.
Anyway, tonight while relaxing on my bed he said a lot of cute, funny things. I was talking to him and trying to read a magazine, and after he almost pounced on my tummy I said, "Careful! Don't hurt me!" He replied, "Well Jesus can fix it!"
Then he said, "I can't see God."
Me: "I know you can't see Him right now, but you can see him in Heaven someday. And you can talk to God. When you pray, you are talking to God." He listened intently to everything I said. Then I asked, "Would you like to talk to God? What would you like to say?"
Drew: "Yes, I will talk to Him. " Then-this cracked me up- "GOD! (almost yelling) WAKE UP!"
I tried not to laugh, he was so serious...but it was so funny! I explained that God never sleeps. Drew then told me that God "hears when babies cry" and "holds them when they take naps". That really got me misty-eyed; he said it so sincerely.

I love taking the time to listen to little children and wish I did it more!

Team EPIC

To follow the story of some wild adventurers, Team EPIC, of which Tom's brother Carl and my brother Ian are a part, click on this blog link to read about their antics and view pictures of their trip out to Oregon and back.

Vacation in Branson

We arrived home this Sunday afternoon from a week of family fun in Branson. Thanks to my Grandma's generosity, Tom and I and children, and my parents and siblings, were able to stay in spacious condo units near Silver Dollar City. As the kids get older and have more commitments, and with some of us in school and work, finding time to ALL be together is getting hard! This worked out beautifully.

Various cousins, aunts, and other adorable relatives were able to join us for some festivities as well. We wore ourselves out at SDC, boating on the lake (in which none of us females were successful in getting up on the water skis), flea market shopping (Hey, us girls are bargain hunters! And when we went to Starbucks afterwards we discovered we were all using gift cards-it was pretty funny.), miniature golf, go-carts, tennis, and lots of swimming.

The downer was/is that Hosanna has been dealing with heat exhaustion, so she wasn't able to join in as much. We've been giving her electrolytes and keeping her out of the sun as much as possible.

I did remember to bring my camera, but I forgot batteries. And never remembered to pick them up from the store. But, my brothers were taking a lot of pictures as usual so when they post them on Facebook I'll probably steal them.

Other news:
Tom crashed his radio airplane. Poor guy, he never really learned how to fly it well and then the last evening we were there he decided to fly it...into the concrete. He thinks it's fixable. I'm not so sure.

I re-discovered my love for Almond Joys. Buying those mini size candy bars was a waste of time. I should have gotten the biggest size available! I think my body needs coconut. Or almonds. Anyway, I've been taking care of myself, that's for sure.

On vacations we make 98% of our food (Tom and I went out to dinner, once, with Mom, Dad, and Mara) and tend to stock up on things we don't normally keep around like chips, chocolate pudding, candy bars (Snickers actually have a lot of protein), Gatorade, beef sticks, etc. The kids loved it. I loved it (think: Almond Joys). Our family dinners consisted of meats that Mom had already cooked and brought along, such as sloppy joes, or shredded pork sandwiches. She's amazing like that! Then we all added our special sides. There was a lot of hodge-podge (it seemed like we consumed an unusual amount of pork: Italian sausage, breakfast sausage, bacon) but that's part of the fun.

During some of our downtime, in which we watched TV-I think there were about 8 to go around-I learned some new tricks for roasting chicken that I am dying to try out. I also watched 5 minutes of ,"The Man from Snowy River", "The Lion, Witch, & Wardrobe", "High School Musical 1 & 2", "Pride & Prejudice", and something with Bruce Willis. Now I remember why we don't have TV--
One, I would be addicted (I'm weak that way-esp when it comes to new ways to roast a chicken)
Two, It's a time waster (see number One)
Three, I'm not missing anything, when it comes right down to it (except a lot of stuff I don't want to know)
Four, what a lot of junk!
Five, the commercials are insanely long and usually leaving me wondering where everyone's clothes are and why they walk around in underwear, and
Six, Tom is way to busy to watch it anyway so with all those factors why have it?
It's nice for vacations, though. Especially when all the kids are watching Animal Planet with their mouths wide open during the "tapeworms and other disgusting creatures are living inside me" episodes.

I'm really grateful we had the opportunity to get away from Tom's crazy-busy-gone-a-lot work schedule, and hang out with no Internet, barely any phone, and a bunch of hilarious and wonderful people. Smiles all around!

Silver Dollar City, Here We Come!

Susie E and Rachel H
Naomi and Sarah H
Me, Hosanna, and Kaylee on the swings
Trouble! Rachel H, Grace M, Sarah H, Clara M, and Naomi

The girls at SDC

Susie, my sister-in-law, and Naomi, my sister.

The girls at Silver Dollar City

Friends

Yesterday I took eight (8!) giggly girls to Silver Dollar City. Here are the two youngest (Kaylee and Hosanna), enjoying the sights and smells of the candy shop and showing off their lovely "coffee filter flowers" painted in the craft room.

A Four-Leaf...Strawberry?

Hosanna found this funny looking strawberry in our little strawberry patch!

If I could send a note to Heaven...

Dear Amy,

Happy Birthday! What, you are 28 already?!? Seems only a couple years ago we were celebrating our 13th and 14th. June was a much anticipated month since our birthdays are so close. I admit, though, I'm not nearly as eager to turn 27 as I was to turn 13! You know, I've still got that magnet you gave me for my 14th birthday. It came attached to a Marjolein Bastin card-we both shared a love for her artwork and I think her cards were the only ones we exchanged. The years added up to a whole pile of them. I sure do miss sending and receiving one from you in June.

Lately I've been thinking about you and Skittles and how you loved those things. I always contended that chocolate should take first place, but you insisted that Skittles were the winner because they didn't melt! Most years I gave you a bag of Skittles and you gave me a chocolate bar. It was a happy arrangement.

Today I'm remembering you and June days of the past, and the beauty of your friendship and the Lord's love in our lives.

I'll be seeing you-I'm not sure when exactly, but when we're together again we've got some June birthdays to catch up on.

Love,
Rachel

P.S. Enclosed is a bag of Skittles!

Menus 1

These menus weren't all served in sequential order-I just jotted them down now and then, when I remembered to.

Listed in order of breakfast, lunch, dinner-

Cold cereal
Leftover pizza and misc
Chicken salad with lettuce, grapes, celery, walnuts
deviled eggs, skillet-cooked broccoli, fresh homemade bread

Oatmeal muffins (using leftover cooked oatmeal from a previous breakfast)
Fresh popcorn with melted butter and sea salt, banana smoothies (did you know that frozen peeled bananas, when blended, taste surprisingly like thick vanilla ice-cream?!? I added a little yogurt and juice)
Chicken tortillas-leftover cooked chicken on homemade tortillas with cheese, salsa, and other toppings

Eggs and bacon
Peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, chips
Sirloin tip roast, mashed potatoes, steamed carrots & cabbage, homemade artisan bread

Cold cereal and toasted cinnamon bread
Leftover roast slices-sandwiches
Pan-fried tilapia, steamed veggies, fresh fruit salad

Coffee cake
Beef taco salad with Doritos
Leftovers

Bread pudding (made from donut holes that were getting a little stale!)
Crock-pot roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, steamed mixed veggies
Homemade macaroni and cheese

Cold cereal and English muffins
Egg salad on crackers, apple slices
Chicken Alfredo Pizza (homemade)

Pumpkin and Zucchini Bread, Apple Pastry
Hamburger Casserole with tator tots
Casey's Pizza

Rice/Sausage/Scrambled Eggs, Fruit
Sweet Italian sausage w/ sauteed peppers and onions, pasta with basil pesto
Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad

Blueberry Cobbler

Laurel over at Grace and Glory asked if I would share the recipe I recently used to make this blueberry cobbler. I've tried many recipes in the past-some with lemon juice, or tapioca, or even cornstarch. I think I made it harder than it needed to be. So I turned to Pioneer Woman's Blueberry Pie for a basic, easy, tasty recipe! I was so happy with the results. I think the butter pats on top make a difference. That's what my Mom always did to her blueberry pies, and they were wonderful too.

Monday :: Baking Day with Amy

Monday of this week my sweet sister-in-love Amy joined me for an afternoon of baking. She's a good sport and loves to bake and make a mess in the kitchen like I do, so I think we make a pretty good team.

My goal was to use up the last of the frozen pumpkin, zucchini, and squash and the pumpkins I had recently cooked and pureed from storage...which amounted to quite a bit!

Before Amy came, I made two batches of zucchini bread:

The first was using a basic recipe containing nuts and coconut. I doubled it to make two loaves. It was good! I highly recommend it slathered with cream cheese.

Next, I whipped up two loaves of this chocolate zucchini bread. Okay people, if you have never tasted chocolate zucchini bread before I feel sad for you. I will definitely use that recipe again; the bread turned out very moist and chocolaty.

When Amy arrived, I began mixing up four pie crusts for two pumpkin pies and two squash pies. My pumpkin/squash pie recipe is an oldie but goodie from my mom's Joy of Cooking. This is the pumpkin pie of my youth. Oh wait, I'm still young. This is the pumpkin pie of my past, present, and future. It's ageless. Joy of Cooking just knows how to do it. (Look for the recipe at the bottom of this post.)

Meanwhile, Amy began mixing up a double batch (4 loaves!) of Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread, otherwise known as the Mosher's Famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread. My friends the Moshers know how to make fabulous cookies and pumpkin bread, among other treats, and this recipe is a winner.

However, after making the chocolate zucchini bread I was out of chocolate chips. I was kind of winging it, looking up recipes online and in my recipe box as the inspiration struck. Not a lot of planning went into that afternoon, just a panicked realization that I had to use all that pumpkin and squash up or I would go crazy!

I did have butterscotch chips on hand, so we made two loaves with those and with the remaining two loaves we (I'm starting to giggle here because this was pure genius) added a cream cheese filling!

Now, after this things start to get fuzzy. I remember a lot of pumpkin splatters everywhere, and a film of powdered sugar and flour covered the kitchen as well. We mixed up some batches of pumpkin pie filling for the freezer, minus the evaporated milk (I ran out, of course). Now, when we want to make a pumpkin pie, we just thaw out our little Ziploc bag, whip in some milk, and bake it in a pie shell! With the remaining pumpkin, we made Pioneer Woman's Pumpkin Butter. We froze some too, with everything except the yogurt. Like the pie filling, it will be a cinch to mix in a little yogurt before serving.

I think that covers it. After dinner (which my good friend Rowena made, delivered, and served!), we all tested the pies to determine the difference between pumpkin and squash. We didn't really notice a difference, except the pumpkin pie was perhaps a little creamier since I pureed all the ingredients in a blender.

Amy was amazing. She calculated how to mega multiply recipes (my brain was fried) and contributed some stoneware and a nice, big Pampered Chef cooling rack to help out. Plus, she brought her cute baby Ryley and a bag of sugar, among other things.

Oh, and we used over three dozen fresh farm eggs! What an afternoon.


Mosher's Famous Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

Combine in medium bowl:
3 3/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

In a large bowl, cream the following:
2 sticks butter or margarine OR 1 cup oil
1 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs

Spoon dry mixture into creamed mixture slowly, alternately with 1 1/2 cup pumpkin, beginning and ending with dry. Mix well. Stir in:
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 package chocolate chips

Divide batter into 2 greased small loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 min-1 hour.


And now for the fabulous filling~


Cream Cheese Filling

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 Tbsp sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Store any extra filling in the refrigerator until ready to use. Keeps for several weeks.
You can use this as a filling in your favorite brownie recipe, nut bread, coffeecakes, pumpkin bread, etc.


Pumpkin or Squash Pie

Line a pie pan with your favorite pie dough.
Mix until well blended:
2 cups cooked or canned pumpkin or squash
1 1/2 cups evaporated milk or rich cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger (I prefer 1/8-1/4 tsp ginger)
1/4 tsp nutmeg or allspice (we sometimes use both or 1/2 tsp of one or the other)
1/8 tsp cloves
2 eggs

Pour the mixture into the pie shell. Bake 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then lover oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake30-45 minutes longer or until an inserted knife comes out clean.

Serve with whipped cream if you like!

Aunt Naomi Reads to Drew