My Simple Diary: Week 13 of 2012

Outside My Window On This Monday……

Another week of beautiful weather and leaving the windows open all day and night. Thursday afternoon and evening brought some heavy rains which were good for our plants. Other than that- it's been sunny and beautiful.


Something That Made Me Smile This Past Week…..

Listening with the younger kids to the woodpecker that has taken up residence in the woods behind our property.


Something I Am Thanking God For This Week…….

Our first raised bed garden is in and completed. That means that we have strawberries, lettuce, squash, zucchini, and tomatoes planted in the backyard.


Something We Watched This Week…..


Our family LOVED it! We thought it was the best Muppet movie yet. It brought back fond memories of my own childhood.....I loved the Muppet's and had a Miss Piggy puppet doll when I was a young girl. This is a movie I would like to own.


In My Kitchen……

I made some sausage squares this past week. A recipe everyone in our family enjoys.

SAUSAGE SQUARES:

2 rolls of Pillsbury Crescents
1 small roll of Jimmy Dean regular sausage
1 8ounce of Cream Cheese
Shredded blend of Cheddar Cheese

Cook sausage in skillet and drain. Remove from heat and immediately add in your cream cheese. Stir to combine until cream cheese has melted. Spread one roll of crescents out and seal together. Press into a greased large baking pan pressing up the sides of the pan. Spread sausage mixture over crescents. Sprinkle shredded cheese over that. Take the 2nd roll of crescents, roll out and seal together, and lay on top of cheese. Pinch edges to seal the top layer of crescents to the bottom on the sides of dish. Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes until crescents are brown and baked through.




I tried another new recipe that I saw over on Pinterest. It was a BIG pleaser with everyone in our family.


EASY CHEESE DANISH:

2 tubes Crescent Rolls
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese (softened)
¼ cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. butter (melted)
8 tbsp. light brown sugar

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese with white sugar and vanilla extract. Mixture should be creamy and smooth when finished (like cheesecake batter). Separate dough into eight rectangles. Seal perforations. Using a brush or spoon, spread melted butter all over crescent rolls. Sprinkle each rectangle with about 1 tbsp. of brown sugar.



Roll up from long side; pinch edges to seal. Holding one end, loosely coil each. Now you want to get in there with your fingers and spread out the dough some to make room for the filling. Just pull and stretch and make a nice dent in the middle. Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Top each coil with about 2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling. Bake at 350(F) for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.

For the glaze, in a bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir until smooth and drizzle over each warm danish.




These are soooo delicious! Really fast and easy too.

The original recipe came from, HERE.


My Favorite Thing About This Past Week……

On Saturday Bryan and I took Houston and Emmy to the shooting range down the road from us. We had a fun morning target practicing with them. I shot off Houston's new 22 a few times and we practiced with pistols too. They both seemed to really enjoy the morning. Saturday afternoon we finished up our raised bed in the backyard. Very glad to have that finished.


A Favorite Photo(s) From This Past Week……




The rifle that Houston is shooting here is one that Bryan's dad passed down to him. Bryan just had some work done on it and this was the first time that he and Houston had had a chance to shoot it together.


The range


Emmy pistol shooting.

28 Weeks Past 40: And Still Reflecting on my 30's

In August of 2007- the month before we moved back down to Alabama we got a call from Panasonic. Bryan had been doing some research on one of their products and he ran across a contest the company was holding. They were looking for families that would be apart of a program they were starting called, Living in HD. Whoever was chosen would be given a huge package of Panasonic products and in return they would use them and report back to Panasonic their thoughts of the products. Bryan thought it sounded like a pretty cool project and he submitted our names for the contest. He really didn't think we would be chosen. That August though- we got the call that our family had been selected to be one of the Panasonic Living in HD families. We were shocked and of course very excited. We told them we were moving the following the month from NC to AL and they scheduled our delivery of products to be for that November- near Thanksgiving. Between August and November we faxed papers back and forth with them. Their wasn't really a contract per say with them- but we did have some papers to sign about receiving the products for FREE and we had to sign papers stating that if we were asked to be be interviewed by newspapers or news channels regarding our winnings that we would participate. We were also required to fill out any surveys by Panasonic for the products we were sent. The whole point of the contest was to put their products into the hands of families and then after those families had used the products for a bit to have them report back to Panasonic on what they thought about the products. If you go, HERE, and click on Alabama you can see a picture of our family that was taken on the day our products were delivered to our home.

So at the end of September we moved into our rental here in Alabama.


Emmy and Camden right after we moved in. Look at how much weight Camden had put on from that special formula. At this point he was off of the high calorie formula and eating foods and he was doing great gaining weight on his own. No more failure to thrive issues!!

October went by pretty fast as we were busy with unpacking and I jumped back into some heavy school with the kids. We had missed a lot during the summer months with all of our traveling that year. The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that it is flexible and it's very easy to catch up.


All of the kids at Aldridge Gardens (a garden in Birmingham) that October.


Camden's first trip to a zoo- The Birmingham Zoo that October.


Caught getting into the cat food.

We started back at our old church in Tuscaloosa. It was the church family we had been apart of for 6 years prior to moving to TN. At the end of October we attended our church's fall festival. November went by pretty fast too.


Thanksgiving 2007


Houston that Thanksgiving.

Before we knew it the scheduled date of our new Panasonic products was upon us. They were delivered the weekend after Thanksgiving. The products that we ended up winning from Panasonic were, a 50 inch big screen TV, a wii, a blue ray DVD player, two cameras, a video camera, a color printer, and several blue ray DVD movies.

On the day of delivery, Panasonic sent out a representative from the company that spent the day with us and showed us how to use all of our new products and he answered any questions we had. The company also sent out a local worker to install our new tv on our wall. It was an exciting day. I took pictures but unfortunately they are on a hard drive that we don't have currently hooked up so I can't get to them right now. The representative from Panasonic was at our home from early that morning until evening. He bought us pizza for dinner that night. It was a bit of a shock to see all of the products we had actually won in the contest, in our home/hands. It was really fun and while our family has won a few things through the years, that contest was by far the largest win our family had ever scored.

After two years of craziness, the win was a really fun blessing from God for our family and a fun way to start out at our new home in Alabama. That Christmas was really special with all of our new toys that we had to play with *wink* but it was especially special because our entire family was finally back in one state together again and we were so thankful!


Our family that December


Camden that Christmas


The kids acting out the nativity story that Christmas.

Coming up next......our first year back in Alabama.....2008.

President's Day 2012

Here are a few fun things we did during February to celebrate President's Day.

FOR GEORGE WASHINGTON:

We read several books on Washington but I failed to get pictures of them for this post.


We made crayon rubbings of Washington


We made this pop-up craft that has a poem about Washington on it.




I surprised the kids with some George Washington and family paper dolls.

We watched the following video.....




ABRAHAM LINCOLN:


Books we read




We made these Abraham Lincoln dolls using toilet paper rolls.


We did crayon rubbings of Lincoln.

We watched the following video about Lincoln......




I surprised the kids with some Abraham Lincoln and family paper dolls. Camden had as much fun with these as Natalie and Ally did. They acted out things they knew about Lincoln with the dolls.






FOR WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN:


We made president mobiles. They had three things about Lincoln and three about Washington on them.





We watched two videos that showed the Presidents through the years. This first one shows every president from Washington to Obama.



This next one is an older video that is made by Disney and it's hilarious. The kids got a real kick out of this one.



And lastly.....I showed the kids the following song which is about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln and they fell in love with the song and wanted to learn it so we spent most of February working on them memorizing it. I need to video tape them singing it and post it here on the blog. It's so cute to hear them singing it. They made up some hand motions to go along with the song. It's a pretty catchy tune.




UNSELL LAND LINKS:

George Washington Poem and Puppet
Abraham Lincoln toilet paper roll craft
My President's day Pinterest Page

Pictures from Houston's 15th Birthday

For quite a few years now Houston has been fascinated with history. A part of that fascination centers around learning about the history of various weapons and guns that have been used in war. He is a big gun lover. It's a passion he and Bryan share. Houston can name the type of gun just by looking at it. He also greatly enjoys target shooting- a hobby that he and Bryan share. My dad and Bryan's dad also share the hobby so I guess you could say that Houston has it in his blood. *Grin*

Bryan surprised Houston this year for his 15th birthday, with a new customized 22 rifle.




The perfect gift for our gun loving son. :)

A couple of weeks prior to Houston's birthday, Bryan made a fun discovery. He discovered that just 5 minutes down the country road that we live on is a target range that is run by a retired police officer. It's a great range and because we are out here in the country the range rarely has anyone at it. It's open on Fridays and Saturdays. Bryan and Houston headed down to the range with Houston's new rifle for some birthday fun.








Bryan trying out Houston's new rifle

The retired police man that runs the range is really nice. Bryan and the kids have returned several times since. They do gun repairs and restorations at his shop. Bryan took down a rifle that had been passed down to him from his dad for them to do some work on. Needless to say- the guys around here are very excited to have discovered a target shooting range that is so close to home.


Natalie made a homemade gift for Houston- a target to shoot. She taped together some Sprite cans with other stuff to make him the target. It was all her own idea! :)




We gave him his rifle the weekend before his birthday so that he and Bryan could go shooting at the range with it on the day he got it. On his actual birthday he received a tin full of ammo for his gun and a Wii game that we hid in the tin.




Houston with his melted ice cream birthday cake.





And as I shared in Monday's blog post I made a joint birthday dinner for Houston and his grandfather (who also has a March birthday). I made a graham cracker icebox cake for them. It was sooooo yummy! It was another Pinterest find but the recipe reminds me of a cake that was popular with our grandparents generation. I'm not sure if it's exactly like the icebox cakes that our grandmothers generation made- but I do believe it's similar. The recipe came from, HERE.

GRAHAM CRACKER ICEBOX CAKE:

For the custard:
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 large eggs
3 egg yolks
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups half-and-half
2 teaspoons vanilla

For the chocolate frosting:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Line the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish with graham crackers, using about a quarter of them and breaking some in half if necessary. Set aside.

2. To make the custard, place the cornstarch in a small bowl. In a second small bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Set both aside.

3. In a deep, heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat and stir in the sugar. Add the salt and half-and-half, and stir. Warm over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the liquid. Do not let it boil. When the half-and-half mixture is hot, turn off the heat.

4. Pour a ladleful of the hot half-and-half mixture into the small bowl holding cornstarch. Whisk vigorously to combine. The mixture should come together smoothly, with no lumps; if there are any lumps, add a little more liquid and whisk them out. Pour this cornstarch mixture into the beaten eggs. Whisk vigorously to combine.

5. Pour the egg mixture into the pot, and turn the heat on to medium. Whisk continuously and vigorously, working all the angles of the pot and scraping the bottom. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes, or until the custard becomes very thick and starts to boil, with large bubbles that slowly rise to the surface. Turn off the heat and stir in the vanilla.

6. Spread one-third of the pudding evenly over the graham crackers. Top with a layer of graham crackers, and spread half of the remaining pudding over that layer. Add a third layer of graham crackers and top with the remaining pudding. Cover the top of the pudding with a final layer of graham crackers. Set aside.

7. To make the frosting, melt the butter with the cocoa powder in a small saucepan. Bring to a light simmer over medium-low heat and let it bubble for 1 minute. Whisk in the milk and cook for 3 more minutes, letting the mixture bubble up around the edges. Remove from the heat and beat in the confectioners’ sugar with a whisk or hand beater. When the mixture is smooth, beat in the vanilla. While the frosting is still quite hot and liquid, pour it over the top layer of graham crackers and smooth with a hot knife or spatula dipped in hot water.

8. Cover the layered dessert with a lid or aluminum foil and refrigerate. (If using foil, be careful not to let it touch the top of the dessert, as it will stick to the frosting and spoil the look.) Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours and up to 2 days before slicing and serving. Serve chilled.



Again, this recipe is sooooo good! Definitely a keeper recipe. Easy to make too.



Houston had a great 15th birthday celebration. I stand grateful when I look at what an amazing young man Houston is turning into. He has a hilarious sense of humor, just like his dad. He is gentle and sweet and fun, an amazing older brother, and most importantly, he loves the Lord.

Proverbs 17:27- "A man of knowledge uses words with restraint, and a man of understanding is even-tempered."

I see that bible verse in action in Houston.

My Simple Diary: Week 12 of 2012

Outside My Window On This Monday……

Our weather has continued to be gorgeous this past week. We had one day of overcast and rain but other than that it's been sunny days in the upper 70's or low 80's. We have taken advantage of the nice weather to work on flower beds and some gardening.

This past week some road crews ended up in front of our house working on our road and Camden got a real kick out of watching them do their thing that afternoon.






Something That Made Me Smile This Past Week…..

Emmy wasn't feeling well on Friday so she missed her ball room dancing class but Annie went and I tagged along to watch her this past week. I had sooo much fun watching the class. The class is very casual and relaxed and is just plain fun. The older couple that owns the studio teaches this class and they are really great teachers. The class is set up for homeschooling kids and it's a large class. The younger kids class is right before it and so many families come for it and the older kids hang out and visit during the younger kids class and then the younger kids sit with their parents or run around the edges of the studio during the older kids class.


Each week focuses on a new ball room dance move and you trade up partners throughout the hour as you practice the move to different song clips.


You can really tell that the kids enjoy the class.

We had originally thought that this would be an extra curricular activity for Emmy and Annie but Annie and I got to her class early and were able to watch the last 15 minutes of the younger kids class and after seeing it I know that Natalie and Ally would love to participate in the younger kids class so we are considering them starting up in a couple of weeks. It would just mean that we would need to arrive at 9pm instead of 10 and the older kids would finish up at 11am.

The dance studio is in Hoover right around the corner from Bryan's work which couldn't be more convenient for us because the kids ride into town with him on Fridays on days that I don't go to class too. He drops them at class that morning and a mom of one of Emmys friends has been dropping Emmy and Annie at Bryan's work after class. Bryan will often get off at noon on Friday's but on days he needs to work- they just hang out at his office that afternoon. On days that I head into town to watch class, we all meet up afterwards for lunch somewhere. This past Friday Annie and I did some shopping at Hobby Lobby after class. Hobby Lobby is right next door to the dance studio (win-win for me!) *Grin* We then headed across the street to a sub shop for lunch where Bryan met us for lunch.

Something I read this week……

I had two new books arrive in the mail this week to review.





I am looking forward to digging into both of these- but especially the titanic one.


Something we watched this week…..


Great movie!


I had never really read or researched much on Marilyn Monroe so I found this movie interesting.


In My Kitchen……

I tried a few new recipes from Pinterest this past week, as usual. I made a new chicken dish.

CRISPY CHEDDAR CHICKEN:

Chicken:
4 large chicken breasts
2 sleeves Ritz crackers
1/4 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/2 C milk
3 C cheddar cheese, grated
1 t dried parsley

Sauce:
1 10 ounce can cream of chicken soup
2 T sour cream
2 T butter







The verdict= We really like this chicken. The sauce.....not so much though. As I was heating up the sauce I actually thought it my mind that it didn't seem like it would be that good over the chicken. I am so glad I had that thought as I put it over just a couple of pieces rather than on all of the chicken. We tasted it both ways and all of us but Emmy agreed that the chicken was better without the sauce. The sauce takes away from the chicken in our opinion and isn't necessary. I am keeping this chicken recipe- just not the sauce. ;) The recipe is pretty fast and simple too- the cutting up of the chicken is the longest part.

I actually made the recipe twice this past week. At the start of the week I made it just for us and at the end of the week I made it for us and company. The first time I used store bought already grated cheese. The 2nd time I just had a block of sharp cheddar cheese that needed to be grated. In my opinion- the store bought already grated cheese worked much better. Both ways tasted great but when I had to grate the cheese, the cheese was stickier and didn't cling to the chicken with the cracker as easily, instead the cheese bunched up into small balls too easily. I had to work harder to get the chicken coated well. I will definitely be making it with the already grated cheese from now on.


I also tried a new cake recipe for Houston's birthday this past week. When I saw this recipe over on Pinterest it peaked my interest because it sounded so interesting and yummy. I had never thought to use melted icecream to make a cake.

MELTED ICE CREAM CAKE
Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (18.25 oz) in any flavor
1 pint ice cream, melted
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350
Grease cake pan liberally with cooking spray or butter and flour. Mix the cake mix, eggs and ice cream together and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed. Follow box for baking times. Time will vary based on type of pan you use. Let cool and remove from pan. Allow to cool on wire rack.


I used this mint chip icecream and a dark chocolate cake mix.


Houstons cake.

The mint flavor wasn't nearly as strong as I expected it to be but after thinking about it I know it's because I used a dark chocolate cake mix and dark chocolate is strong. The cake mix sort of over road the ice cream. You could taste the mint- it just wasn't as strong as I was thinking it would be. Despite that though, the cake was very yummy.

I love the possibilities with this recipe! I am dreaming up combinations for future tries. I'm thinking a strawberry type ice cream with vanilla cake or maybe a peanut butter ice cream with a mild chocolate cake mix? What combos can you think up?


My Favorite Thing About This Past Week……

Watching Annie at dance class on Friday, celebrating Houston's birthday, and on Sunday we had Bryan's dad and his wife over for dinner. Charles birthday is March 5th so I did a combined birthday dinner for him and Houston together. We really enjoyed our visit with them. I made the chicken recipe I shared above, my potato salad recipe (recipe here on blog), a martian salad (pistachio pudding salad), baked beans, and 7-up biscuits for their meal. For their joint birthday cake I made an icebox cake which was another recipe I found over on Pinterest but I will share that recipe in Houston's birthday blog post.


A picture of the 2 birthday guys together

A Favorite Photo(s) From This Past Week……


We got back home on Friday afternoon after dance around 2pm and spent the rest of that afternoon working in the yard. The weather was amazing and it was great to have the whole family out working together to get our front flower beds fixed up. We almost have them complete now. Just a little more trim and bark. This picture of Camden was taken Friday.

Have a great week, friends!
~Jen