October 30, 2011 – 1:44 pm
This one has been stating all week, “I don’t want to go back to my house! I want to stay at Pa’s!!” Several times a day. Any time she thinks about it. Interjects it into unrelated conversations. Just wants us to know…
This afternoon we’ll see how that goes when she, et al, move into their new home and stay the night. 🙂
~~Ma
October 29, 2011 – 7:12 pm
I was able to get out in the yard for a while this afternoon. Really enjoyed the autumn sunshine and the beautiful foliage colors. The leaves are turning quickly this week.
The bright yellow gold of the hickory tree was beautiful against the blue sky.
DH raked enough leaves to pad the wagon and we took the twins for a ride through the tiny woods and around the yard.
The crepe myrtles are so pretty this time of year. These shrubs and small trees are worth the garden space. They bloom late in the summer season for a long period of time and add wonderful autumn color.
A few autumn violets poked their faces above the rough end-of-summer plants under the apple trees.
The violets weren’t the only spring and early summer flowers blooming. The hydrangeas had a few stragglers, too.
The girls had fun. They climbed the mulberry tree…
and tried to catch butterflies on the asters.
When they got tired of riding in the wagon, they got out and walked for a while.
The Southern Oak behind the house has turned a bright gold this week.
The dogwood near the fenced garden is a particularly gorgeous red.
The beauty of God’s creation is always amazing, even in the waning season of autumn. And now, added to that blessing of beauty in the garden, we have the blessing of our son and his family living nearby. There is always something to be grateful for!
~~Rhonda
October 27, 2011 – 10:14 pm
Pa makes fun pancakes (in any shape you want and with chocolate chips added, if you like) and the twins are always eager to help!
These grapes were particularly good. The girls finished them off in record time.
Sometimes the TV is a nice babysitter. A snack of Pa’s good homemade rolls and a nice Richard Scarry story equals quiet in the house. :-}
For a while anyway…
~~Rhonda
October 25, 2011 – 11:51 pm
The weather has been beautiful and the twins had a great time playing outside yesterday and today. Yesterday they walked in our tiny woods with Aunt E. Twin2 was a little nervous. “Look out for monsters!” she said. Aunt E asked if there were monsters and she said emphatically, “No!” After a while, she announced, “We’re lost! I can’t see Pa’s house!” I guess our big yard seems even bigger to the littles.
Photo by DD#3.
Photo by DD#3.
Photo by DD#3.
Photo by DD#3.
Indoor play is fun, too. Twin1 likes the little brown chair I used as a child. She sits in it at every meal and plays with it between!
Twin2 has the bread dough under control. She thought punching it down was more fun than forming the rolls.
I did a little reconstruction on some of the rolls before they went into the oven, but most of them baked “as is.”
The teddy roll was too hot to eat…so she blew and blew and blew…
They were very good about sharing the teddy roll. No complaints and lots of “I’m sharing!” was announced.
Their parents are due tomorrow evening with the moving truck. Twin2 keeps stating, “I don’t want to go back to my house. I want to stay at Pa’s house!” We’ll see how she feels about it after reuniting with her Mama after six weeks of being apart!
~~Rhonda / ~~Ma
October 21, 2011 – 12:39 am
Our daughter-in-law celebrated a birthday this week and asked for a chocolate chip pumpkin cheesecake for her birthday cake. I used the Hershey’s recipe.
The recipe calls for a chocolate crust, but I used a graham cracker crust instead. DDIL thought the chocolate crust might have overpowered the pumpkin flavor. I think she’s right. The graham cracker crust was delicious.
Not much of that cheesecake left. The birthday girl gets the last piece!
~~Rhonda
October 14, 2011 – 9:48 pm
I made a stack of Christmas tags this afternoon, using a large tag punch and some old Christmas cards.
Choose cards that are light colored so they are easy to read. Cards with a slick finish are shiny and pretty, but don’t work well with ink pens and some felt markers.
Cards may need trimming to fit in the punch in a way that makes them oriented properly when punched.
The tags could easily be dressed up with glitter, ink, ribbon, etc., to make them even better.
Another good way to recycle old Christmas cards. I’m glad I saved mine!
~~Rhonda
October 11, 2011 – 1:17 pm
Our church family makes apple butter each fall. The canned apple butter is sold to raise money for mission projects.
DH brought home four quart jars, like this one.
I decided to recan it in 8-oz. jelly jars. A better size for us. The only issue with recanning is to be sure the apple butter is heated to 212*F before filling the jars. So we poured the apple butter into a large pot. The larger the better, as the apple butter will sputter and splash when it boils. NOT fun to have it sputter and splash on your bare arm. Ask me how I know…
The emptied jars were placed upside-down in a container so the last bits of sticky goodness could drain out and be added to the cooking pot.
When canning, set up the entire process before you begin. Once started, you need to keep moving.
Then it was time to stir, stir, stir as the apple butter heated to the necessary 212*F.
With one load in the canner, I waited till it was almost done before filling the jars for the next load.
I processed the jars in a hot water bath for 15 minutes. Now we have some nice sized jars for ourselves and some for gifts at Christmas.
Doesn’t it look delicious? I can tell you…it is!
~~Rhonda
