Grandma’s Swing

You know how certain things stand out sharper in your childhood memories? Lazy days in the playhouse with our cats & dogs…riding our pony Buckwheat while dressed up like an Indian for county fair……getting hit in the eye with a baseball…sitting on Papa’s knee chewing DoubleMint gum…swinging on Papa & Grandma’s porch swing. That porch swing rocked many a dolly with my sisters on quiet Sunday afternoons. It was our bus, car, rocket ship and train. It came from an era of slow, relaxed front porch conversations, back when we knew how to enjoy a calmer pace of life. In a few years, this porch swing will be 100 years old. Oh the stories it could tell if only it could talk! I’m beyond happy that it can be a part of my children’s childhood as well. I love that it’s my boys’ favorite spot to enjoy an ice cream cone on a steamy summer afternoon. It’s where I can sit and relax with my husband while we share an iced tea and the details of our day. This swing is where I get to expand my mind with a good read while our children play in the dirt and down the slide.

It’s really just boards and paint. It needs some more paint, actually. But what it represents to me is what’s important. It’s a reminder not only the simpler time of my childhood, but the part of life I want to always protect and cherish. The part where we put aside some of the rush and to-do list and just take life in. That “Be still and know that I am God” stuff that doesn’t happen when I’m hustling here and there. The memories that I will have to look back on when our boys have kids and I’m the grandma (thankfully I’ve got a few years to go on that ) My Papa died when I was 4, memories of him are precious but few. I’m blessed that Grandma is still with us, just turned 90 this year! I wish I could have her over for some lemonade and sit a spell on the old swing…

Here’s my grandma in 1966 at her home in Truro IA – that’s the porch where I loved to swing as a child (only it was enclosed by the time I came along)

Grandma’s House as I knew it – this was taken when she moved to a care home in 2006.

So what stands out in your memories of childhood? What things will stand out in your childrens’? Somedays I’m afraid for mine it will be mom on the computer, so I think I’ll close here and go sit on the swing for a minute…or longer!

 

Thursdays are Laundry days!

Wow, I can’t believe I haven’t posted since March! So sorry to neglect this page & you who are faithful enough to read it!

Just a simple post for today, Thurs. are my laundry days, and with the gorgeous day we’re having, I’m hanging it all on the line to dry!

I know a lot of my mom friends dread laundry, and while I wouldn’t say it’s my most favorite activity it isn’t something I mind doing. A couple of things that help me, dare I say, enjoy laundry are these: 1. Remembering how tough it would have been in the olden days without snazzy washing machines! Can you imagine hauling the water, using soap you also made yourself, and at best, running a wringer washer for all your clothes?! I’ve run those before and you don’t get much else done if you’re doing that! 2.Doing all the laundry on Thurs allows me to NOT have to do laundry the rest of the week! Sometimes life is hectic and I have to finish folding some of it on Friday, but otherwise all 6 or 7 loads are done on Thurs. We always have clean clothes for Sunday church and the work week so it’s what works best for me. Unless the boys get really messy (like they did with such a rainy spell a few weeks back!) I don’t have to think about laundry for a whole week. I kinda like that! 3. Another thing I do to help laundry not be such a chore is to pray for each person as I’m folding their clothes. Sometimes I go on autopilot and forget to do this, but the days that I remember are a great time of quiet prayer for the most special guys in my life And lastly, 5. Let the kids help! Both my boys love to help sort the clothes into baskets by color (someday their wives will thank me, right? lol). They’ve even started helping fold lately – this is a big step for me, not them, as I’m a perfectionist and before had not really relished the thought of messily folded clothes! But, you know…they don’t do too bad! Jacob loves helping with washrags and Phillip helps fold his clothes & Jacob’s (small items are easiest for small hands and arms!) When I stop and think how blessed I am when it comes to laundry…I have great machines that are on the main floor of my house, I have eager helpers, I have plenty to wear, the boys have been blessed with hand-me-downs that kept the cost of clothing way down for us, I have a hard working husband that is thankful for the work I do at home and I get to see a mess convert into something clean & functional that smells pretty good when we’re all done. Not such a bad chore after all!

So, whatever chore you’re tackling today…may it go quickly with an attitude of thankfulness!

 

“Wii” had a Super (Mario) Birthday!

This post is just a little late, but I’ve been a bit too busy to work the pictures until tonight! We now have a 7, going on 30, year old in our house! Phillip had his 7th birthday on March 15th, which we celebrated as a family with one of his favorite meals, Pizza Hut and chocolate cupcakes. I let him open one present from us, a Mario t-shirt and some astronaut guys. He was thrilled to wear the shirt for his party on the 17th

My creativity finally got going the week of his party – everything for the decorations was made from items we had in the house. The question mark boxes are a kleenex box I covered with printed question marks like you find in the game. The plant is a Pringles can filled with marbles, then a balloon I colored with a sharpie and made leaves from construction paper. I’m surprised it actually worked, lol! The spooky ghosts were just balloons with paper cones & sharpie drawn faces. Once you start seeing recyclables this way, you’re never the same

This was the first party that Phillip got to invite friends, so he was way beyond excited! I printed out invitations by scanning in a Mario coloring page Phillip had done.

We really enjoyed having Landon, Laszlo & Rye Tyler over to help us celebrate! Thanks guys for being such good buddies to Phillip!!

With this spring being more hectic than usual & my frosting skills somewhat lacking when it comes to putting Mario & Luigi on a cake, I left it to our local Sweet Things Bakery to fix Phillip’s cake. We emailed the design and voila! A perfect & tasty cake with all the favorite characters from Super Mario Bros! (This mama thinks that was a very good use of $22 and I may never stay up late frosting a birthday cake again!!)

The weather was unbelievably warm for March, so we made good use of the backyard for playing a little treasure hunt game that lead them to their goodie bags. While it was hot like summer, the yard didn’t have very many hiding places! The boys had fun anyway

We followed that up with a game of pin the mustache on Mario. I found out after the third boy nailed the exact location that the blindfold I tied on was not actually making them blind Unfortunately, I can’t upload videos to this blog, but maybe I’ll post a few on facebook for you to see since we didn’t get any snapshots of this game!

Phillip was blessed with some really great gifts, but especially the gift of friendship. Thanks to the adults that made it possible for these guys to spend the afternoon together!!

 

 

In the Kitchen: Spagetti & Meatballs

First off, I have to apologize for letting almost a whole month go by without a post! Yikes, February was a busy month and time just got away from me!

Today is a slow day, a sick boy on the couch kind of day, so I’m just doing a few quiet projects to stay around where I can get whatever Phillip needs. He must feel pretty bad to let me play Mario by myself!

So for today’s post I thought I’d share a good standby recipe for Spagetti & Meatballs. I made this a few weeks ago but it’s on the meal planning board for this week too. If you like Italian, drag up a chair and we’ll get in the pasta mood!

Here’s what you’ll need for the meatballs:

Start with a pound of ground beef. If you do like me and freeze your ground meat when you get home from the store, you’ll want to make sure it’s thoroughly thawed or you’ll freeze your poor hands!  Add minced garlic. I really like my garlic press from Pampered Chef:

Next you’ll need to crush a package of saltine crackers. I like to place the crackers in a gallon ziplock and use my grandma’s rolling pin to get them nice and fine.

Next add parsley, salt & pepper.

Then add eggs and Parmesan cheese and cracker crumbs & milk.

You can mix somewhat with a flat spoon…

But to get it really worked together well, you’ll need to use your hands. Remove your wedding ring first (No picture of the messy hands, couldn’t bring myself to get my Nikon that close to the mess!) You’ll want to mix until it looks like this:

Now make small balls about the size of a ping pong ball, maybe a little smaller. Form with your hands, working the mix together so they won’t fall apart in the skillet.

You’ll have quite a few from one pound of ground beef, but you could double this easily if you were expecting company.

Next, heat up a few tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.

Let the skillet get hot before adding the meatballs to reduce possibility of the meat sticking in the skillet. Add meatballs.

Fry meatballs until browned on all sides and not pink in the middle. I cut one in half to check for sure. You could also brown these on a broiler pan under the broiler in your oven, but personally, I hate washing those pans!! While the meatballs are cooking, bring a pan of salted water to a boil and cook your spagetti. We prefer angel hair at our house!

If you like bread with your spaghetti but don’t have time to make Italian garlic bread, try these easy three ingredient Italian croissant rolls, they are super yummy, so make a bunch if you have a crowd! What you’ll need:

For our family of four, we limit ourselves to one tube of dough, making eight croissants. Start by unrolling each croissant, then sprinkle with garlic powder and place a portion of string cheese at the largest edge. I’ve found shredded mozzarella is even better than string cheese, but either will work well.

Roll up as usual and place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake at 350* about 15 minutes, until rolls are nicely browned. Flakey, cheesy, ready to devour goodness!

Once meatballs are done, remove from skillet and discard grease.

For the sauce, you could slave away all day cooking down the tomatoes, but since I’ve been there, grew up doing that….well, let’s just say when you’re a mom to small kids, you learn to go with the simple!

Next time I fix this, I’m using two cans of sauce. For some reason, meatballs need the 2nd can, when just browned loose hamburger doesn’t. Not sure I understand the phenomenon, but it’s consistently short on sauce when I do meatballs! Add in your meatballs and heat thoroughly.

By this point, your spaghetti should be cooked and drained. Toss with a little olive oil to prevent the spaghetti from sticking to itself. The croissants should be ready to pull out of the oven and you can add a salad or a vegetable to complete this satisfying meal!

Enjoy!!

 

~ Meatball Recipe ~

1 pound ground beef
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 package saltine crackers, rolled fine
1 T parsley
1/2 tsp. salt
fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
2 eggs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup milk

Mix all ingredients together and shape into small balls. Pan fry in a skillet with a few tablespoons of oil until browned all over and no longer pink on the inside. Add to spaghetti sauce and serve over cooked spaghetti.

 

 

Vintage Book Party

I’m surprising myself by actually posting two days in a row but this party was just so fun I have to share! Since I’ve got this little addiction called Pinterest, I keep finding great ideas and this book party is the best so far! It’s very simple, and versatile – maybe the next exchange party we’ll trade movies…or cook books… or games… I could go on & on!

My macro lens just loved the vintage decor, the yummy snack foods and of course, antique books! My sweet friend Amber graciously hosted our little book party and I just adore her gorgeous table we used to welcome our guests!

I made the bird and flowers on our sign from newspaper. Again, Pinterest gave me directions! Just a little glue, a sheet of newspaper and a couple of beads and voila! Our welcome sign!

Our invitation and bookmarks

Wrapped books awaiting the exchange

With a couple dear friends our day was amazingly fun! Lots of great conversation and we even stole away for a quick garage sale where I (of course) bought an old book But what’s a party without food??

Amber made these lovely & tasty Chai Cupcakes. I’ll have to ask her for the recipe but I think she got it from…you guessed it, Pinterest I think this is my favorite image of the day, love the focus on Nikkor’s macro lenses!

I experimented with mini pies baked in a regular muffin tin. I was quite pleased with the result! They were cute and perfectly sized for our little afternoon tea!

Our tea corner was decorated with Amber’s fun collection of antique children’s books. Chai tea or herbal?

Looking forward to all the tea parties we’ll enjoy with my new tea set, best Goodwill find so far in 2012!

Books….

Books….

And more books! Aren’t the old trunks great?!

There were poetry books…

There were even cook books!

We had an amazing day, book parties are such a novel idea!!

So grab a couple friends and host your own book party! Fun, simple & memories to cherish!

 

 

Sugar Cookie Bars, why haven’t I tried this before?!

During the three weeks surrounding Christmas, I baked 3 batches of sugar cookies and did a fair job of consuming my fair share of them! There’s just something about thick, chewy sugar cookies lavishly topped with buttery frosting like this:

But they aren’t very good for an instant craving…you have to chill the dough, roll them out, bake them, cool them & then frost them. Way too much of a process if you’re wanting that sugar cookie to eat right away! By inspiration of a few Pinterest recipes, I decided to bake our tried & true sugar cookies in bar form. Seriously a dangerous move if you’re trying to lose a few pounds from the 3 batches you consumed just a month before! But I threw them together right before supper and could eat them for dessert right after! And they were just as hard to stay out of as their finer shaped counterparts

You’ll need the following:

Start with two sticks of softened butter in a large bowl.

Smash a little to make smooth and add 1 1/2 cups sugar

Cream until it forms a nice ball

Add eggs

Cream eggs, sugar & butter and add vanilla

Add 3 1/2 cups of white flour

2 tsp. baking powder

And 1 tsp salt. Note here: precise measuring is my secret to cooking, I learned it from my Grandma

Mix well until it forms a nice stiff dough

Spread evenly on the sheet pan

Bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes. Watch for slight browning, but not a total change in appearance, over baking will make them dry & crumbly. They should leave the side of the pan a little when done, like this

Let cool while preparing the homemade frosting. You’ll need:

This is a great multi purpose frosting. I use it for birthday cakes, too. Add a 1/2 cup cocoa to this if you ever want chocolate

Start with one stick of softened butter in a large mixing bowl. Add half a bag of powdered sugar and about a 1/4 cup of milk (again, I never really measure the milk, so give or take a little there too). Beat well with an electric mixer.

Scrape down the sides and add a teaspoon of vanilla.

Beat well. If you’ve gotten a little too much milk & it’s too thin, add a bit more sugar and beat together. Vice versa if you’ve added too much sugar. You’re basically looking for some peaks to form with the mixer. If you were using in a decorating bag, go on the thicker side. Finished frosting looks like this:

Next, frost those yummy bars! Helpers will magically appear in your kitchen at the sound of an electric mixer

We like sprinkles at our house, but the selection was a little slim after all those Christmas cookies. About time to replenish my sprinkle stock!

And the best part, licking the beaters

I did manage to sneak a few off to the freezer, and they handle freezing well. They just didn’t spend very long in there!

The Recipe:  {SUGAR COOKIE BARS}

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Cream sugar & butter. Add eggs & vanilla and cream together. Add dry ingredients and stir til mixed well. Grease a jelly roll pan ( I suppose it’s about 12×20?) and spread dough out evenly.

Bake at 375* for 15-20 minutes until just starting to lightly brown, it should leave the edges of the pan a little at the edges and have a toothpick come out clean when tested in the middle. Let cool. Frost.

{Frosting}

1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 bag powdered sugar
1/4 – 1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix butter, sugar & milk with electric mixer in a large bowl. Add vanilla. If too thick, add a small amount of milk. If too thin, add a small amount of powdered sugar.

Drop me a note if you give them a try! Would love to hear if they satisfied your sweet tooth too

3..2..1.. BLASTOFF!

A recipe post is on it’s way, but in the meantime I’ll share a really simple, but fun craft. Now that winter is finally upon us (I could have endured the snowless 40′s a while longer myself ) I am trying to find simple projects and activities to busy the boys. I have busy boys! They will either be busy doing something, or keeping me busy chasing after them! Phillip especially loves “projects”. He brought me this book, as you can tell it’s a library reject (their loss, our gain!). We picked out a craft we had all the stuff for, and it actually worked when we got it made! Someday I’ll download the videos off my cell phone, but until then,pictures will have to do

All you need to make your own flying rocket is a piece of paper, scissors, tape, a plastic straw & some glue. We used a larger hard straw from a sport bottle to wrap our paper around, then used a cheapie flexible straw for shooting the rocket. As you can tell, we didn’t get real creative with the decorating, they wanted to see them fly!

Jacob’s never been a pro at blowing with his lips pursed, and this was actually a good way for him to learn it. He thought the shooting rocket was great fun! Not sure why I didn’t capture Phillip with his rocket, he was most likely shooting it down the basement stairs when I had the camera out.

These rockets took all of 5 minutes to make, with things I already on hand, AND they were fun!