You know you live in the COUNTRY when......

This is a traffic jam!!!!!!

Old Friendships, Good Times!

(A-29mo, L-15mo, and Trevor-29mo)

LONG TIME AGO, when I was a new mom, I did daycare for this wonderful family! Her Daughter and my Son were just Days apart in age. In fact we met at Post Baby Classes! I ended up doing her daycare for her and I loved it! For a few years I loved her children as my own! Her second child came just 14 mo after her first.... YES, crazy I know! And then my second child came just 19 mo after my first.... SOOOO if you do the math, I had 4 children under the age of 2 in my care, 5 days a week!!!! It was great time..... AND then the summer before I had my 3rd baby, I quit daycare! NOT for any reason, other than I was feeling alittle overwhelmed and I knew another child of my own would take tooo much from her children!

Anyways, as time went by, we stayed close.... had playdates, and park picnics... and then.............

we moved away.......

Just 1/2 hour, but still, away..........................

and we lost touch..........................

(Trevor-9, A-9, & L-almost 8)

and then after 4 yrs of NOT seeing eachother we got together for a playdate at our house! It was sooooooooo much fun! The kids laughed and wrestled and played hard! They had so much fun and I had lots of fun catching up with an old friend!!!!!! Like I said, it was GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She also has another child who is 5 and I have our youngest (whom she had never met!)

Anyways, if there is a lesson to be learned here..... it is this=

OLD FRIENDS ARE ALWAYS THERE! JUST CALL THEM UP AND GET TOGETHER WITH THEM...... MAYBE THEY ARE TOOOOOO CHICKEN TO CONTACT YOU BECAUSE SO MUCH TIME HAS GONE BY..... SO TAKE THE FIRST STEP AND DO IT FIRST! YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT, IN FACT IT MIGHT JUST START YOUR OLD FRIENDSHIP OFF AND RUNNING AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel pretty... OH SO PRETTY....

So, since March of this year, my sister in law and I have been working at losing weight before a family wedding (which was yesterday)....Anyways, here we are looking as pretty as it gets! I am VERY PROUD OF HER! She lost over 20 lbs and looks great! I on the other hand have only lost 9 lbs, but I feel uber healthy and am in great "HEART" shape for turning 33 last month.....

So here we are in all our glory, celebrating our success from the past few months!

(psst: Incase you didn't know, I am the one in the black dress!)

Breakfast Tortilla

WOW, you need to try this!!! A inexpensive alternitive to a great breakfast!
First you will need Tortillas…. I make my own with a recipe I got HERE….(I make up a bunch and freeze them… very convienent!)
Then you just scramble some eggs (I made 10 of these the other day for lunch, I used 12 eggs for the 10 of them) and add Ham or canadian bacon or sausage… whatever suits your fancy!
Lay a spoon full in the tortilla and sprinkle with about 1 T. of cheese. Roll it up and lay it in a baking dish (no need to grease it!) Finish all of the tortillas. Sprinkle cheese all over the tops of them and put them into a 350 deg. oven to bake for 10-15 min or until cheese is melted! Pull them out and serve with salsa if you like! You could also add spinach, peppers, onions, anything you would put into an omelet…. YUM YUM YUM!!!!
The kids loved picking these up and eating them like a taco!!!! Of course I have no photos because these were scarfed down so quickly!

ANOTHER Oatmeal recipe!

OH, these were so yummy and sooooo super simple to make! My oldest 2 hated them because they had RAISINS ( I used strawberry flavored one I thought that would help!) but they said they would have liked them if they didn’t have raisins!!!!!!! I enjoyed the 3 1 I have eaten so far!!!!
You can find the recipe HERE!

Oatmeal Pancakes.....

2 C. Quick Oats

2 C. Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 T. Baking Powder

2 T. Cinnamon

1/2 t. Salt

1/2 t. Cream Of Tarter

2 Eggs

5 T. Butter , Melted

2 C. Milk
Mix all the dry ing. together. Add Wet and mix JUST until mixed… DO NOT OVER MIX. I like to let this sit for about 5 min to let the oats soak!Cook as you would other pancakes!!!! YUM!!!!!
We love these with strawberry jam and whipping cream, whipped!!!!

We have also had THIS!!! YUM YUM YUM!!!! I made it up the night before, like is says…. and cooked it up in the morning! I served it with some mini chips sprinkled over it… 2 kids had it with milk (so did I) and 2 had it just plain! EVERYONE LOVED IT!!!!!! Try it! It really does taste like a oatmeal cookie in milk!!!!!!!!!!!
AND, we've had THIS great recipe!!!!! I loved it!!! NOT diet friendly at all, but worth every calorie!!!!!!!

25# OF OATS!!!!!

SOOOOO What do you do when you get your Co-oP order of 25# of Oats???You start start searching high and low for recipes to use it up! At .09 a Cup, it is a great deal!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here is the first of many OATS recipes to come!!!!!!

BUTTERSCOTCH OATMEAL

1 egg, beaten

1 3/4 cups milk

1/2 cup brown sugar (can use less)

1 pinch salt

1 cup rolled oat

2 tablespoons butter
In a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat, whisk together the egg with milk, brown sugar, pinch salt and cinnamon (if using). Mix in the oats; bring to a simmer. When the oats begin to boil, cook and stir with a wooden spoon until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in the butter until melted. Serve immediately.

Pea Shucking anyone????

What have we gotten our selves into?????

10 rows of green arrow, 2 rows of OTHER garden peas, 10 rows of Snap Peas........

Here is what a picking looks like..... Worth it... hopefully..... Takes 1 1/2- 2 hours to pick one kind, and about an hour to SHUCK the garden peas to get about 14 C. Then there is the De-stringing of the snap peas and the blanching/steaming of both.... and then freezing them!!!!!!!

Snap Peas (11.5 lbs!)

Garden Peas (14 C. worth after shucking!)

What it looks like when we make our kids shuck them! They usually eat more than they shuck though!!!!!

GO FISH!

What a great CONCERT this was!!!!!!!!!

The kids all had a great time..... Jim said he had an OK time... and I thought it was super fun!

The best part was looking over at my 9 yr old singing away to the music without a care in the world, worshiping God!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you have a chance to take your children to see them, DO IT!!!!!!!!! You will NOT regret the money spent!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The church that held the concert sat 850 people, they sold 700 seats (to keep the seating comfy!) and since we got there early to stand in line, we were in row 6!!!!!! At one point, all the guys headed into the audience to greet the kids...... ANDY, (they LOW NOTE GUY) shook my kids hands, even TRYING to get K to shake his.... IT WAS GREAT!!!!!!!!!!

FYI: for all your moms who live around MN, they will be at the hearts-at-home conference in Rochester, MN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know I will be heading there FOR SURE!!!!!!!!!! Not just for GO FISH, but for all the wonderful workshops and speakers!

Please lift this family up in your prayers!!!!!!!!

While reading one of my favorite blogs moments ago... I clicked on a link that would open the flood gates of tears! Please, just head HERE, and read their recent tragedy! And then lift the family up in your prayers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing makes that heart more heavy and sad than what happened to them just 2 weeks ago!

What's New Wednesday??!! ON FRIDAY!!!!!

So it has been a long time since I did WHATS NEW????
here goes!
1- Our garden is on a roll..... producing more peas than I can freeze fast enough! I am heading out to pick yet again soon!!!!! (I will post pictures soon!) The green beans are flowering and the tomatoes have lots of green balls waiting to grow bigger and turn red!!!!! AND, the strawberries are ALMOST done... so sad!
2- The kids are enjoying their summer! Trev just got done with swim lessons and passed to go on to the next level! WAY TO GO BOY! Luke and Shayla are loving Gymnastics!!! Only downfall I see is they don't have the GUY things there, like the rings and the parallel bars!!!! :-(
3- We are going to see Go Fish Guys tonight and are sooo excited!!!!!! The kids love jamming out to them!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And I don't think they are half bad myself!
4- We are heading to a wedding in 2 weeks and are super excited about seeing family we haven't see for awhile! Too bad the drive is 4 hours and we have to stay in a hotel....LOL!!!!
5- My husbands Co-workers are in love with me... I don't know if that is a good thing....LOL! See, I send a homemade item each week for their treat! My husband has been their since mid November and I have only made the same things twice (that was brownies....) They think I am amazing... I think I will let them keep believing that!
6- There have only been 4-5 HOT HOT days so far this summer so that is super good... unfortunatly there has only been 4-5 days with lots of rain too... that is a super bad thing!!!!!
7- My boys head to Church Bible Camp at the end of this month.... 5 days, 5 1/2 hours a day! YAHOOOOO!!!!!
8- My good friend from Wyoming might fly out here with her 3 kids at the beginning of August! I am so excited... we vacationed with them 2 yrs ago in South Dakota and I miss them dearly! Now to look into renting a passanger van.... !!!!!
9-Summer break is almost 1/2 way done..... AND my baby girl (ok she isn't the baby, but aren't they all the baby???) is almost 6! WOW, 6 and ready to start all day kindergarden!!!!!
10- I have missed blogging due to the busy summer we are having.... soon very soon my days will change again and I will be home with just one baby... (OK again, not a baby, but she is the BABY!!!!)

It Pays To Complain....

I just wanted to let you all know that when you are happy with a product that you purchased, it really does pay to compliment the company! AND on the flip side, if you are unhappy, it pays to COMPLAIN about the product!
Here is a few examples….
When my husband wanted some thousand island dressing awhile back, I bought the kraft like I used to… only this time they had changed the recipe…kraft began making their dressings more natural without STUFF added in… KUDOS to them… right….????? Of course! BUT my husband hated it… he said it was horrible and didn’t want to eat it! SOOO I wrote kraft, thanked them for being ahead of the times, changing their recipes, but that their thousand island was no longer what it had been…. They sent me a coupon for a FREE bottle of any of their dressing!!!!
I also bought Hidden Valley Ranch ORGANIC (we love their orig. stuff, but wanting to find dressing without MSG, I went for this!) IT WAS SO GROSS! It tasted just like mayo… only worse! I wrote, letting them know that we loved their dressing, but the organic was NOT what I expected from them! I got a coupon for a FREE bottle (any size!) of their dressing!
I learned that DANNON Kids yogurt is NOW being made HFCS free and DYE free… OH I was sooo happy, I ran out and bought some just so the kids could try it… THEY loved it…. SO I wrote the company complimenting them on how it was great that they were the first to pull those things from the KIDS line of yogurt and how appreciative I and I am sure lots of others were! I was sent 2 free dannon kids drink pack coupons!
AND my latest was a box of truvia that I purchased for myself… It is a great product, I like to use it in my smoothies, but I pulled out 4 empty packets from a box of 40…. HELLO, these things run about .08 a packet! SOOOO I jumped online and sent them a message, stating that I loved thier product, but was disapointed in finding empty packets in my box (they were part of the 40!) I received a FREE product coupon in the mail…
I also wrote to Thomas’ about their bagels (a COMPLIMENT on having a product with out Hydr. oils and with out HFCS!!!!) I received 2 $1.00 of coupons in the mail as a thankyou for the compliment!!!!
NOW I don’t do this to get FREE things!!!! I think as comsumers, we have loud voices that we should use more often, either to complain or to compliment!!!!!! Things will not change unless the companies know about them!!!!!!!

Bread you will LOVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With my new bread recipe!!! Thanks to my GREAT blog friend DONNA, I was turned onto the urban homemaker and her yummy recipe for BREAD!
Here is a secret! I use WHEY POWDER for the dough enhancer (1 T. for the 2 loaves, which actually makes 3 loaves! The picture shows 2 loaves from the recipe, but they were HUGE and next time I will make 3!!!!!!!) I also use 1 t. Vitamin C powder. The canister will last a LONG TIME!!!!!!!! I do use Coconut Oil for the oil also!!!!!!!! OH, and I added 1/4 C. gluten flour too!
I did figure out that the most costly thing in this is the honey, but a LARGE loaf only cost just under $1!!!!! NOT BAD AT ALL! considering I am using fresh milled Hard White Wheat Berries & Coconut oil. One could do this for much cheaper using cheaper flour and canola or vegtable oil!
I used this recipe for Hamburger buns the other day, and even my picky hubby was super impressed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!