Making Cookies

I want all of my kids to know their way around a kitchen, to be able to whip up meals and feed themselves instead of depending on take-out or microwave meals. Cooking is a good life skill and I am so grateful to my mom and dad for teaching me how to cook. Home Ec. was one of my favorite classes when I was in school and it's a shame that many schools no longer offer that class.

Reading recipes is also a good math lesson-- figuring out how many halves are in a cup and how many teaspoons make a tablespoon and so on. Cooking usually becomes a math lesson when I have one of the kids helping me. Makes for a yummy home school lesson.

The other day, the kids wanted to make cookies. Oatmeal with apples was the pick and while the Baby slept on a blanket on the floor, the girls got busy in the kitchen!

I keep a blanket in the kitchen for moments like this, sometimes I need two hands and asking for help is not an option and the Baby doesn't like the swinger and screams his little head off. Put him on a blanket and he's happy and then he falls asleep.

The girls kept pinching bits of oatmeal to eat. I'm glad they like oats, but I wasn't happy with the mess on the floor. I'm a lazy cleaner, which means I try to make the least amount of mess so I don't have to clean. My blood pressure went up when I let the girls make cookies all by themselves. I had to look away more than once and tell myself it's only oats, easy to sweep up; only egg, easy to wipe up; only batter, easy to clean up.

Oldest is cutting up the dried apple slices into smaller bits for the cookies. Between their snacking and the one cup designated for the cookies, they used up a whole quart of dried apples! Next year I will be drying more apples!

They took turns adding each ingredient and then stirring the cookie dough. They made the cookies all by themselves and I was so proud of them. I shooed them out of the kitchen when it came time to bake them but not before they all got a big spoonful of cookie dough to nibble on. Never did get a picture of the cookies, but they were quite tasty.

Hammin' It Up!

Despite the fact I never shop at the malls or buy specific brand clothing, my girls have seemed to develop a style all their own. The clothes that I picked out for them to wear get rejected in favor of frilly, shiny, glittery, ruffly, girly stuff instead. I was such a tomboy when I was a kid, so it shocks me how much my girls like wearing dresses and skirts. I have to be firm with them when it gets cold and insist they wear long pants. They found a loophole and wear leggings or stockings in place of pants.

One chilly morning, I was trying to get Youngest to wear jeans and a long sleeve hoodie. She wouldn't have it no matter how much I tried to appeal to her 2 year old mind. I love the hoodie and told her if I could wear it, I would. Finally I came up with an idea-- if you put on these clothes, I'll take pictures of you and you can be my model! It worked! Here are some of my favorite pictures from our "modeling session".



Is that not a cute hoodie and jeans? Isn't she a cutie??

"Whatchu lookin' at dude? Wanna make somethin' of it?"

How about this one?

"This is my angry face."

It is? More like a smoochy face to me-- c'mere and let me smooch you!

She is such a ham! Just look at those blue eyes!

Wanted: Chef to Cook for Ravenous Kids

For me, one of the hardest parts of being a parent is the cooking. Day in and day out, I have to constantly and consistently serve meals and snacks to the kids. It seems like my kids are also at the age where they are having growth spurts and they are asking for snacks more frequently than they used to. It feels like I always have a kid saying they're hungry right after I just fed them!

What then, would be the problem? I am trying to eliminate processed foods from our diet. That means no quick-fix meals like cheesy pastas and rices, open-a-can-and-heat soups, chips and cheese puffs, frozen snacks like chicken nuggets and taquitos. In other words, almost everything I make and serve is from scratch. I like the way we eat and I believe we are healthier for it, but it does leave me drained of ideas and I find myself in the kitchen more often. I can only make PB&J's so many times before they go on strike!

Another issue is the hours my husband has for work. Some days he works in the mornings, which I prefer, and he is home at night for dinner. The days he works evenings I find the hardest, because I make a late, large lunch, since he'll be missing dinner with us, and then I have to think of something to make for a light dinner with the kids later on. They aren't big meat eaters and my Middle is the picky eater of the bunch, and Youngest will watch her and then follow suit even if it is her favorite. argh!

I try and solve the snack problem by making large batches of certain things-- oatmeal cookies with dried apples or raisins, tortilla chips, and popcorn, to name a few. I also try to keep fresh fruit and vegetables available, but I am amazed at how quickly they get eaten up and they very rarely last more than a few days and then I am caught without until the next shopping trip. On a tight budget and a once-a-week grocery trip, buying more or going more often is not an option.

We came up with some extra money last week and I promptly planned a trip to the warehouse store. We purposely went during lunch time and we noshed on all the yummy food samples they offered. We left with nice full tummies and a cart full of stuff. I can easily spend $500 there in one shot, but we can't do that anymore, and I have to be choosy and stingy and get only what we absolutely need. "Honey, we need a 5 gallon bottle of olive oil, don't we? We just have to have that 8 pound jar of maraschino cherries! Look it! A big box of cotton balls, we gotta get that!" No, our shopping trip was more like: "Toilet paper- $11.99; eggs- $3.49; ham-$8.99; that's about $25 so far, $75 to go...oh wait, more like $70, can't forget the tax!"

We have our weekly shopping trip tomorrow, and I am planning to get a few extra items to make our own version of trail mix. If it's a hit, and I think it will be, I hope it will be enough to keep their tummies filled between meals. What do you give your kids for snacks? I could use some fresh ideas.

Have You Ever Had...

Kool-Aid Ice Cream?

No? Ohh! It's So-o-o good!

I made up a batch of Kool-Aid ice cream and it's the easiest thing to make. When I was a kid, Kool-Aid used to have recipes on the back of the packets. This recipe came off one of them and we've been making them ever since. No more recipes on the back of the packets, but this has remained in the family recipe box all these years.

It has a similar taste to sherbet or italian ices, depending on what flavor Kool-Aid you use. This one was cherry and the girls beg for a bowl everyday until it's gone. Then they beg to make more!

Here's the recipe:

1 packet Kool-Aid

3/4 to 1 cup sugar

3 cups milk

Combine all ingredients in freezer safe bowl (I use a pyrex serving dish) and beat well. Freeze 1 hour and beat again. Return to freezer. Freeze another hour or 2 and beat again, returning to freezer when done. Serve when frozen completely. If there is any left after serving, it will freeze harder the next day and becomes like italian ice and you have to scrape it with a spoon.

Try it and let me know how you like it.

The Love Affair Is Over...

We finally did it.. we killed the Television!

It's something I've been pushing for awhile now, to end our service with the satelite company, but Hubby was resistant, saying he liked to watch the news or some of the other shows. I pointed out that he usually gets his news off the internet or the radio, since he falls asleep in front of the TV before the news even comes on. With all the money we paid for the TV service, and all the channels there were to watch-- there was never anything good on. Almost always reruns and repeats and stuff that we weren't interested in.

I tried the money factor, telling Hubby we were paying X-amount of dollars for stuff we never watch, but it didn't fly. We ended up calling the satelite company and revising our service and paying about $20 less. A few more months go by and again, I bring up the subject of canceling the TV service. "We can watch movies and catch up on TV shows when they come out on DVD. TV shows get released on DVD so quickly now," I'd tell him. But still, he didn't want to let go of the TV.

I tried the kid factor, showing him the language the girls were picking up from the shows they watched on TV. The commercials the girls get bombarded with and then they turn and ask if they can have the latest crying baby or polly pocket or cupcake maker (No No No!). "Wouldn't you rather the girls play outside or use their imagination and play with their toys instead of sitting in front of the TV, turning into zombies?" I'd ask him. Still, he wasn't about to let go of the TV.

I tried the time factor, explaining that we would get more stuff done around the house if it wasn't for the TV. Instead of watching some mindless show and falling asleep out of boredom, he could be working on his projects or reading that book he's been wanting to read. I could catch up on sewing or doing my other projects I've been meaning to get around to. We could go to bed earlier and get up earlier (especially me, night owl that I am). Still, no go.

Then last week, my husband had an epiphany on the way home from work one night. He came home all excited and said, "Let's do it! Let's cancel the TV!" I was so happy. He called and stood his ground when the service person on the other end of the line tried to convince him to change to a cheaper service instead of canceling. They offered $20 off, then $25, then half of what we were paying. Finally, when they realized my husband wasn't changing his mind, our service was cut.

It's been bliss ever since! We have been doing more reading, playing and spending even more time outside. The weather has been glorious lately and we are taking advantage of it and working on the rest of our wood pile. The kids hardly miss the TV and they are watching movies that they haven't seen in ages. I don't miss the TV either. I have actually read 3 books in 4 days! My husband has started writing again and he is finally several chapters in his latest book.

Who knew not having the TV would be so freeing? While we are still watching movies that we have, it is stuff that we approve of and have watched and know that the girls will not be picking up bad language or behavior. I'm just glad I won't have to suffer through any more lousy commercials, especially all the toy ads and diet ads!! Good riddance!

::30 Days:: Day 30

We voted... Did you?

::30 Days:: Day 29

We had another family day of being outdoors and splitting more wood. Oldest is right beside Daddy, helping move the split wood out of the way.

The younger two girls were happy to just jump around in the back of the truck.

After Hubby split the wood, I loaded them up in the back of the truck (the girls got evicted). When the truck bed was full, we drove around to the front of the house where we keep our wood pile for the wood stove. Hubby goes back to split more wood and I unload the wood and stack it. I'm a better stacker than he is, so we both agree that I stack and he cuts/splits the wood. This is the best wood pile we've ever had and I hope we have more than we need. The wood behind me is almost as tall as me, stacked in 4 rows. This is more than 5 cords and we still have more wood in the pole barn.

After I empty the truck, we get to ride in the back of the truck, back to the pole barn to load it up again. I remember what fun it was to ride in the back of my dad's truck when I was a little girl, and I'd see big trucks go by and motion for them to honk their horns. I always got a thrill when the truck drivers would pull their horns and honk them for me. The days of riding in the back of a truck on the highway are gone, but we can still let our kids ride in the back around our property. I sit in the back with them, to make sure they stay seated.

I couldn't resist a photo of Youngests' "plumber's butt"!! She was helping me pick up wood to load into the truck and every time she bent down, this is what I saw. The cutest plumber's butt I've ever seen! :o)


A sweet ending to a very good day-- making peachy muffins for breakfast the next morning.