Let Them Be Little

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT TODAY

AS I TYPE THIS

the snow is falling, falling, falling.

And I hope it won't end any time soon.

Although it is very dark outside, I can't help but sneak a peek here and there out the windows, just to make sure it is still snowing.

The kids want school to be canceled.

We won't know for sure if their wish will be granted until 6 in the morning.

But Seminary is canceled, so Smash can sleep in - for a little while - at least.

Which means Jonathan and I may get an extra hour of sleep? That would be nice!

 

I have been preparing for a brunch that I am hosting for 6 women tomorrow.

The hours of 9 AM - 3 PM today were dedicated solely to food prep and laundry.

Lots of cooking, a little cleaning, and a little last minute shopping - was nice to dedicate that much time to the kitchen.

(I worked on our dinner for tonight too; BBQ shredded beef that was marinated and then cooked all day).

For the brunch, I've decided to serve Spinach and Bacon Quiche, Fresh Fruit and Crepes.

I also have homemade Sweet Breads ready to serve and some veggies as well.

If it is still cold and snowy in the morning, I will be making some hot cocoa too and I bought HUGE marshmallows today, just in case. :)

 

This little get-together has had me very excited all week.

So much so that I couldn't lock in a menu, I wanted to make everything for these women!

The women who will be joining me are all struggling with something very difficult right now.

And we need each other to offer love, support and strength,

and hopefully find a way to lift a burden for someone, somehow.

 

One of these friends really doesn't have much time left on this earth.

She is battling her last months of cancer; deciding to not undergo chemotherapy again.

After thinking she had been able to beat the cancer and return to life as normal, she found out otherwise in December. The cancer is back and with a vengeance.

She has no really good options left. (But she is trying anything that might help - other than chemo).

She had such a difficult and depressing time while on chemotherapy treatments, she has decided to live out the remainder of her days feeling as well as possible without the side effects of the drugs.

Her desire is to spend as much positive time as possible with her family.

Although the other ladies have significant needs right now also, they are all more than happy and willing to do whatever is needed for this friend with cancer.

 So, not all of what I just said is something I love today.

But I love that the women here are so very supportive of each other.  And I love that our friend with cancer is so very excited about having brunch all together.

She has also been looking forward to it all week.

 

Hope the weather cooperates just enough to get everyone here safely - and let the kids stay home for the day tomorrow!

 

Well, it is time for me to get to bed!  Love that!

 

Oh, and Phil saw his shadow today.  Six more weeks of winter? We shall see! 

Our niece, Annie, turned 12 today too!  Big things are in store for her!

 

Now...off to bed!

Well, off to finish up a couple of things in the kitchen, take care of a little laundry, turn off lights, put things away as I walk through the house...you know the drill...I will eventually get there. 

I can hear EVERY person in this house snoring right now.  I feel the need to catch up!

 

HAPPY MONTH OF LOVE!

SO, today I am thinking about something that makes me really happy and I LOVE it!

 The older kids, Nathan and Emily, get together about once a week and cook.  Isn't that the best?! They cook, eat together and then divide the leftovers.  So cool! (They see each other at other times as well).

They are spending time together frequently.  That is so wonderful to me!

A couple of weeks ago, I was coming home from Denver with a friend, we had gone to the temple together and I got a call from the kids with cooking questions.  To have them together...out there...cooking and calling me, well, it made a really great day even better!

Since they are asking for recipes and instructions from me, I now have to make things and MEASURE in order to give them some sort of a recipe. :)  Good thing I love to cook!

It is fun!  It makes my day when they call for help with a recipe or to tell me of their triumphs in the kitchen and/or funny stories in the kitchen.

 Smash loves that they are cooking together because he has decided that since I have to work on recipes, I will probably post more recipes here.

And he is correct (about that).

So here is a recipe that I made many years ago. It's probably been nearly 20 since I have made it; I came across it the other day while looking for something else.

I thought it might be a good one for the kids to try and may be a good one for Nathan to make when he is chef for the house. I'm not usually a casserole sort of cook.  But it can be an easy way to make a meal.  And sometimes it is a great way to stretch that good ol' grocery budget.

Smash, Meg and Jonathan really liked this so I will be making it for them again. 

French Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

  1 lb. fresh broccoli, chopped, steam for 2 minutes.*
 3 c. cooked chicken breasts, diced**
 3 c. grated cheddar cheese (or combo) divided
 2 tubes Ritz crackers
 1  stick melted butter
 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

(It calls for Ritz crackers...has to be good!)

  SAUCE:
 1/3 c. butter melted
 1/4 c. cornstarch, dissolved in 1/2 c. COLD water***
 1/3 c. chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
 1/4 tsp pepper
 2 c milk
1 1/2 cups of the above cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a 9X13 pan, layer the broccoli and chicken.

Make sauce: In saucepan over med. heat, combine the melted butter with all the liquids and the salt and pepper. Continually stir while on the heat until sauce thickens. Add 1 & 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese, melt on low heat. Pour sauce over chicken and broccoli and then sprinkle with remaining 1 & 1/2 cups cheese.

Crush Ritz crackers in a large ziploc bag with a rolling pin.  (Don't crush them too finely).  Pour cracker crumbs and poppy seeds into 1 stick of melted butter and sprinkle over the cheese.

Bake uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 25-30 minutes or so.  Look for it to be bubbly and nicely browned on top.

 Notes:

*If you wanted to make this without the chicken, I think adding steamed cauliflower to the broccoli would be really good.  Baby carrots might be good with the broccoli and cauliflower also.

**A rotisserie chicken is a huge time saver, if needed.

***When I made this years ago, I believe I changed the recipe a little and sautéed onion and made a roux instead of thickening with cornstarch. But the recipe turned out fine as is. (The next time I make it I will try the roux method again - just to see if I like it better).

 Not the best picture.  This was the next day just after re-warming. It really tastes a lot better than it looks! (It does look very nice in the pan though).

 I love that the kids are together and that they have each other. I love that they are cooking together. AND I love that they pretend to need my advice on occassion. :)

 

 “Cooking is like love, it should be entered into with abandon or not at all.”
-  Harriet Van Horne, 10/1956

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

OR DREAMS.

The kids love to listen to music while they study and the music selections vary greatly.

But sometimes, there is a song that they want to play over and over...and over...

which is fine, usually.

This song, however, is goofy and gets stuck in my head the way peanut butter gets glued to the roof of the mouth!

And when this song gets stuck in my head, it does funny things, like enter my dreams!

Take a listen...a good listen.  I warn you, it is silly but oh, so funny with a catchy tune.

Download 11 Peanut Butter and Jelly

(the fun part of the song begins about 1/3 of the way through)

Everyone knows I like a good mystery

and we did play a little "CLUE" over the break.

Just thought I should give that as some background.

 

The other night, I awoke at probably around 3 AM singing that song!  I couldn't believe it.

1. Why was I singing in my sleep?

2. And that song?

Well, it took a little while for me to get back to sleep but I was finally able to get my mind off of things and get back to bed.

Not too long after I had fallen asleep, I was once again awake.

But I woke up during the middle of a dream - so I remember it.

I later wrote down a little of that dream, so I wouldn't forget.

It was about that song!

(Not sure how I would forget this one, it isn't every day I dream about PB and J!)

The dream took place in the pantry, a nice walk-in pantry.

Everyone was there: peanut butter, jelly, honey, nutella, beans, tomatoes, spices, rice, oatmeal, cereal, etc. 

You get the picture.

(I was not hungry, in case you are wondering...)

They were all living in the pantry, going off to work, talking with each other, they were even dressed nicely - for jars and cans.

It was a nice little pantry community.

It was clear that Peanut Butter and Jelly were planning to be married.  Honey was sweet on Peanut Butter but he wasn't sweet on her. He only had eyes for Jelly.

Jelly was darling and very sweet. And she was quite the little worker!

They were all going about their every day lives when there was a very unfortunate occurrence.  One that had never happened before - in their pantry city.

A murder had taken place during the night.

Peanut butter was distraught and was trying to ease the blow for Jelly as he told her of the news.

The news brought a halt to everything that was going on in the pantry.

A can of tomatoes had been cut open and spilled on the shelf.

I saw it.

It was disturbing (during the dream).

While some of the pantry folks were standing over the tomatoes and wondering who would have done such a thing,

I thought to myself, "I hope it isn't a cereal killer!"

Just then the law came in to investigate.

Salt and Pepper.

Not just any salt and pepper though.  They were the very tall salt and pepper mills, all decked out in uniforms and badges.

They looked awesome! 

They were very serious about the investigation and they were asking great questions...

that is when I woke up for the day!

 

Oh, how I wish I could have finished that one...

 ***

Megan had a great idea:

 She would like everyone to add their own endings to my dream,

so, Who dunnit?

Leave your awesome conclusions in the comments section, this should be lots of fun if you will leave your thoughts on how this little mystery ends!

Thanks!

 

 

A FOLLOW-UP E-MAIL MESSAGE

about my "comments" post.

This message was sent to me by Bemmer-Bo. (Our Emily)

Sent at 1:04 AM.

 

"Comments! :) haha... when I first read the title, I thought you were either going to say something about how you wish your children (specifically those not living at home) would comment more, or something about the time of day my most recent comments have been made :) haha... 

I am trying to make more comments!! :) even if they are made in the middle of the night... :/

I love you Mom!!

-Emi"

 

Think someone is a little worried that I may have noticed her comments left on the blog at 2, 2:30 or 3 in the morning?

I did notice.

I thought about teasing her and planned to mention to her that I did see that she (and her cute friends) are on the blog awfully late at night - or rather early in the morning!

But I wouldn't have 'called her out' here on the blog - that is, until I got her funny e-mail.

Oh Bemmer! You are a doll! (Now..., go to bed!  Ha, ha!)

 

(She does know I plan to post her email - we talked and laughed about it on the phone, so please don't worry about her response).  :)

 

 

IMAGINE MY SURPRISE

 when I found these photos that the kids had taken while we were on our trip to Alaska back in June and July of 2008!  

The other day I needed another SD card for my camera. My favorite one is full and I don't want to erase it - still have the jitters about my computer and I don't want to lose the photos. I know, I know, trust issues...

So, I grabbed an old card that I don't ever use and when I put it into the computer to upload the photos, these precious photos were there!  Taken from the kids point of views; mostly Meg and Smash as the photographers.

I was so excited to see these and to see the changes in the kids in the last few years.  2008 doesn't seem all that long ago and yet a lot has happened and changed since then; many of those changes are evident in their faces alone. 

The photo below is of Meg and I on a bus in Denali National Park.  Look at Nathan and Emily just behind us.

 

Here we are with the girls. Emily had long hair then and had it in braids.

 

 And here we are with the boys.  Smash smiled in photos back then! 

Not the best photo of us but I had to show just how much Smash and Nathan have changed since then:

Smash was SMILING in photos then. :)

 

Although the moose photo is a little blurry, it's fun to remember all of the moose we saw - as well as other wonderful animals and scenery.

The blond in the photo below is me. 

Just kidding, it's not a Mar-bear, it's a real bear.

  The kids zoomed in on him, or her:

 

Kids are great, aren't they?  There were a lot of photos taken of this next creature! Ha, ha!

They did make friends with him, he followed them all over while we were stopped at this little picnic area.

But they took a lot more photos of him than they did of the moose or bear, or anything else.  I love kids!

 

I think Meg took the photo below of Smash; it's so cute.

 

 

The kids caught whales too - - on camera.

Whale back.

 

Whale tail.

 

 

2!

And the photo below is a really great capture.  Not sure who took it but he/she managed to capture the sea lions on the rocks and a whale in the water next to them.  Really cool!

 There are many more photos but that's all I will share for now.  It's a lot, I know.

What a very fun find for me, I'm kind of happy that they were tucked away until now because it makes them seem even more special.

Great job at capturing these photos!

Kids, do you remember taking them?

LEAVING COMMENTS

I have heard from several people that it is difficult to leave comments on my blog sometimes.

I'm sorry about that.

I have no idea why.

My niece had difficulty a while back as well and I thought she may need to change the browser.  When she did she found success. 

Google Chrome is usually a good browser.

Also, it may be that you need to clean out your cookies and cache.  Sometimes that will help.

Or it could be Typepad.

Sometimes I have problems with the site also.

I have lost several entries while trying to post recently and they are GONE, gone, gone.  Which is super frustrating when I am working really hard to catch up! (I really am trying to get this blog caught up!)

But whenever Typepad is trying to improve something on the site, I have that happen.

Try cleaning out your cookies/cache first, it's good to do that from time to time anyway.

If you want to try another browser, I would go with Google Chrome.

 

Thanks bunches! 

I hope to hear from you again.

CREAM CHEESE FILLED CREPES

 with raspberry sauce and a little Nutella drizzle. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

 

2 Crepe recipes and cream cheese filling recipe below.

 

 

Crepes

1 1/2 c flour

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 c milk

2 Tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

3 eggs

Beginning with liquids, combine all ingredients in a blender and blend well.  Chill in refrig. for 1 hour. Heat saute pan on med-high. (Do the water dance test to check to see if the pan is ready).

Brush pan with a little butter and pour 1/4-1/3 cup of batter on pan.  Quickly tilt and rotate the pan so the batter covers the bottom of the pan. Cook until light brown on bottom and dry on top.

***

TIP! To freeze crepes:

Cool crepes.  Stack them in between pieces of wax paper.  Wrap in foil and/or put into freezer bags.  Label and freeze up to 3 months.

***

Another recipe for crepes - not as many ingredients.  (I like the first recipe best though).

Basic Crepe Recipe

3 eggs

1/2 c milk

1/2 c water

3 Tbsp butter, melted

3/4 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

Prepare with the same method as above.

 

Cream Cheese Filling

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 1/4 c powdered sugar

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp vanilla

Blend all ingredients together with mixer.

Then fold in:

1 c heavy cream - whipped

 

Serve cream cheese crepes with fresh fruit: strawberries, raspberries, balckberries, or whatever you like!  If serving with fresh fruit, plan on approx. 4 c. fruit.

 Or serve with a warm fruit sauce. During the winter, I make sauce from frozen fruit. I warm it in a saucepan until the fruit begins to soften and become juicy.  I then add a little sugar and bring the fruit and sugar to a simmer until the sugar dizzolves and the fruit juice thickens a bit.  (I don't like to use a lot of sugar though). Sometimes I add a sprinkle of cinnamon, or vanilla also.

If you want to drizzle Nutella on top, just heat the Nutella in the microwave until it is warmed through and drizzle with a fork.

 

WELCOME BACK SKIES

 When we arrived back to our new neck of the woods in CO, these are the skies that welcomed us.

 Every day I see something breathtakingly beautiful here.

 I loved these yellow and orange zebra-like stripes across the sky. 

Such beautiful evidence of our Creator and His love for us.

SAY CHEESE?

 While we were in Provo, my sis and her family came to spend an evening with us.

We were so thankful to them!  I love seeing them; I always want to see family when we travel but it isn't always an option to make it to everyone.  So, it was heaven to me that they would make the trip to see us.

We had a little "cheese" with dinner and then a lot of cheesiness after dinner while I was trying to get a photo of the kids together... :)  I love this group of people!

(And a lot of operator error too...not sure what I was doing with the camera!)

 

 

 

 Hmm...

How about this one from last November?

 

 

STRIKE!

 OUT!!

We are Terrible at bowling. Horrible. No good. Very bad.

Which made for a fun day.

(We hadn't gone bowling in many years...but these lanes were calling to us).

(This is a great bowling alley - at the Y).

Oh we had a few spares in there and even a few strikes but for the most part it was a fun way to send the ball down the gutter, or perhaps hit a few pins at a time. 

Nathan and Smash both hit pins from gutter balls.  I have never seen that happen before. Those balls were in the gutter most of the lane and with some miraculous stroke the balls jumped up at the end and took out some pins!  When it happened to Nathan, I was amazed and remarked that I had never seen such a thing but then it happened to Smash too!  They must throw those balls with a lot of force and a good hook on the end.

 

While watching that happen, the simple thought occurred to me - you never know what will happen in the end. 

What seems to be a lost cause may not be that. 

I know I am talking about bowling here and that doesn't necessarily translate well into every day life and circumstances.

But I believe there is something to the idea that if you desire a particular outcome and you give it all you have,

there may be enough positive force (even towards the end of a journey) to alter the course and therefore the outcome.

Now, that doesn't apply to others; we are all in charge of our own journey and destination.

(Just as the hook and force of Nathan's ball would not be able to knock down someone else's pins).

But a good example may have a positive effect on those who come after us.

Sometimes we feel that our choices have determined our destiny - which they do, but we do have the power within us to change.

We can change our attitudes, our desires, our choices at any given time.

And when we choose to change, we are determining something new for ourselves.

We are beings that are meant to change, to grow, to learn and therefore succeed. (We also choose what we believe to be success).

I love this quote from the general conference talk given by Dallin H. Oaks last April.

"Desires dictate our priorities, priorities shape our choices, and choices determine our actions. The desires we act on determine our changing, our achieving, and our becoming."

So true.

All of that from bowling balls and gutters? 

Yes. I recognize I have a lot of growing and changing to do.

:)

 

Oh, and we had such a good time at bowling terribly, we did it again. 

We thought we were getting better so we were certain the next game would be GREAT!

I had to bowl with my left hand at times - and I think I perform better with the left.

But not better enough.  I was still terrible.

The boys did about the same.

Only Megan improved on the second game. (In fact, I think she won the second game).

:)

*Emily was working, we were waiting for her so we could go to dinner - so maybe Emily would have been our spectacular bowler?  We will have to find out some time.

*Nathan had the funniest little hop with his wind-up.  Can't wait to see that again.