Fun Dip

I never know whether to start with the cute or the disgusting. I would rather leave you thinking of the cute so I guess I will do the gross first:



These children...



love



Fun Dips.

Fun dips are pretty much just pure, slightly chemicalized sugar poured straight into their little systems. Did you ever read Calvin and Hobbes when Calvin was eating breakfast. Calvin eats Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs. (Whenever I see Cocoa Pebbles, I think of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs, by the way.) Fun Dips would probably make a pretty good substitute for CFSB. It amazes me that they can stand still and not just jitter across the floor when they get down from eating it. *It should be noted that they went upstairs and had a racuous session of jumping on the bed after this. However, they do that almost every night, Fun Dip or no.

Now, on to the cute. We have a new look in our house this autumn:



Layered shirts. Somtimes Pnut comes down already dressed in the morning, sometimes I get her clothes out, but either way, lately she has been putting a short-sleeved shirt over her long-sleeved one. I used to do that a lot. I don't think she is ready to give up her short-sleeved shirts yet.

Aren't they cute in this picture? They were dancing if you can't tell:)

Tomorrow is cleaning day. There is also a man coming because something is wrong with our phone line. And I have to make a cake for Saturday morning. And Lyn is coming tomorrow evening and we will be practising a few wedding favors (yay!). It will be a fun but busy day.

Stop the Rain!

We haven't even gotten to November, not to the beginning of winter, and we are already going stir-crazy. I think on all days that are not rainy or -40 we will be going outside.

Today was a rough day. I have been having to change my work schedule around because there is no longer any work in the early morning. It makes it really hard to work because Pilly is anti-work. She plays so nicely with Pnut at any other time and is as happy as a lark, but let me turn on those work programs and she goes crazy. I typed much of this morning with her in my lap. That slows me down, which is frustrating. So if anyone wants to volunteer to just start giving us money every month, I'd be happy.

We played play-dough for an hour this afternoon. That is a lot of play-dough time. It is fun to see the things the girls come up with. Pilly mostly takes hers in and out of the container. She puts the lid on and then tells me "open door, open door." Anything that needs opened is a door, by the way. Pnut today was focused on chocolate eggs which would hatch candy chickens or something like that.

I got some good work done on my Pay It Forward last night but still have a ways to go until I am finished. I am chomping at the bit to get this done! I won't let myself start anything else until I finish it.

So, as there is not really anything to say tonight, I will go before you all start crying tears of boredom! Have a great night:)

Hash Brown Casserole

I made this for Bible study this morning. It disappeared rather quickly! The top was perfectly crispy-crunchy. I now have a request to make it for our retreat.

This is also from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur on page 109.

1 26-ounce bag frozen hash browns (I used shredded)
2 c shredded Colby cheese
1/4 c minced onion
1 c milk
1/2 beef stock or canned broth
2 T butter, melted, separated in half
Dash garlic powder
1 t salt
1/4 t ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 425 and combine hash browns, cheese, and onions. You will have to use a relatively large bowl. Mix all of the other ingredients in a separate bowl with only half the butter. Pour over the hash brown mixture. Melt the other half of the butter in a skillet and pour the hash browns in. Keep on oven until cheese has melted then transfer to a 9 x 13 pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes until crunchy and slightly browned.

I omitted the onion from the dish. There are dishes that onions add to, but I do not think that baked hash browns is one of those items. I could only find a 30 ounce bag of hash browns so I just guesstimated how much was 24 ounces. The cheese seems like a small amount when compared to the hash browns, but it turned out perfectly. This really was a great dish!

Children, would you like to know how to charm your parents and make them think that you are the sweetest kids ever? Gather your nearest sibling and listen closely:

First, ask your little sister if she wants to read a book



Then invite her up on the couch beside you and proceed to read to her.



*Sigh* They love each other :)

I wanted to update you on Grace and thank you for your prayers. She was able to be extubated yesterday morning and is recovering. She is hopefully soon going to be moved out of the busy part of the burn center to a room with a door because it is hard to sleep with all of the noise. Her throat, from what I gather is understandably sore. Pray for continued healing and patience for her and Lamar. Praise the Lord for what he has done!

In other news, quite bad, the final season of Lost is going to be split up because of the Olympics. How lame is that?! We don't want to see the Olympics. We need to know what happens to the people on Lost Island!!

Well, tonight I am going to try to finish up a lot of my Pay It Forward. How long have I been saying that? But really, I am tonight. I have two hours to work until I head upstairs so I need to get on that!

Chicken and Dumplins

This is adapted from Top Secret Restaurant Recipes by Todd Wilbur on page 114. He came up with a recipe for Cracker Barrel's Chicken and Dumplins.

What you need:
1-1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or strips
6 cups chicken broth
1 Bay leaf
1 T lemon juice
1.5 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper

For the dumplins:
2 c flour
1 T baking powder
1.25 t salt
1 c plus 2 T milk

Bring the broth to a boil. Slice the chicken into long, thinner strips...not too skinny though. Once boiling, add all ingredients. Proceed to mix all the dumplin ingredients together in a bowl. It will be sticky. Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Turn out onto floured surface and roll out to about 1/2 inch thickness. Make sure your rolling pin stays well floured. Cut into small squares, 1/2-1 inch. Try to keep them uniform. It works well to flour your fingers and your knife! Add the dumplins to the boiling mixture and cook for 25-35 minutes. Stir often. Remove bay leaves and serve!

In the cookbook, he boiled the chicken and made his own broth and all that. Umm, if I have an extra three hours, sure. Or not. I cubed my chicken, but Joel says that at the restaurant they are in larger pieces because they fall apart so easily and it can be hard to pick them up with your fork if they are too small. They really get tender, and this dish has such nice flavor! It thickened up really well and made quite a bit. Joel and I will be having it for leftovers one night this week. Once Pnut was forced to try it, she liked it. You would think we try to poison her daily with how she responds to anything besides chicken nuggets or peanut butter and jelly. Pilly liked the chicken but was not too keen on the dumplins. I think she tried one while it was really hot and wouldn't try it again. These are better than dumplins made with Bisquick (sorry Mom). I liked using the chicken breast because I always thought that the dark meat in chicken and dumplins got too slimy. I do not like dark meat to begin with, let alone when it is slimy. Gross.

In other news: Pilly peed in the potty last night!!! Every night when she is taking a bath, she gets out of the bathtub about forty times to sit on the potty. It is a wonder she ever gets bathed as she is constantly hopping in and out. I haven't begun to potty train her, and she has never gone in the toilet before. I tend to let her get out and try because she has pooped in the bathtub on many occasions, and I like to avoid that when possible. So last night she was sitting there and I heard a tinkle. We were all so excited. We called Daddy and Gramma to tell them, and Pnut and I both praised her! I guess I need to start doing it more in earnest because she gets upset when she goes in her diaper sometimes, and I think she might be ready. Wow!

This picture is so Randa can see Pnut's outfit from church yesterday. I love this little pink dress with the white leggings!



And this. Well, I think it speaks for itself:



Honest to Pete, how can she be so messy? I just don't understand!

Well, I am making a hash brown casserole for Bible study tomorrow morning so I am going to go shred my cheese to reduce the flurry I will experience around 8:00. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and beginning to their week!

Almost Famous Breadsticks

These are from Food Network Magazine and are a replica of Olive Garden breadsticks. They are good. Jackie made them yesterday so I had to try them today because I liked them so much!

For the dough:
1 package active dry yeast (2.25 teaspoons)
4.5 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
2 Tablespoons butter, softened
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon fine salt

For the topping:
3 Tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8-1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
pinch of dried oregano

1. Make the dough: Place 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of a mixer; sprinkle in the yeast and set aside until foamy, about five minutes. Add the flour, butter, sugar, fine salt, and 1.25 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water, mix with the paddle attachment until a slightly sticky dough forms, 5 minutes.
2. Knead the dough by hand on a floured surface until very smooth and soft, three minutes. Roll into a two-foot-long log, cut into 16 1.5 inch-long pieces. Knead each piece slightly and shape into a 7-inch-long breadstick; arrange two inches apart on a greased or parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a cloth; let rise in a warm spot until almost doubled, about 45 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Make the topping: Brush the breadsticks with 1.5 tablespoons of the butter and sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. Bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. meanwhile, combine the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt with the garlic powder and oregano. Brush the warm breadsticks wiht the remaining 1/5 tablespoons melted butter and sprinkle with the flavored salt.

I just have a terrible time with yeast. I really do. I tried three times to get my yeast to be active. Not happening. So I just made them anyway, and they did rise in the 45 minutes they rested. Next time, I am not going to look at the yeast or talk so it doesn't know that it is me trying to get it to work. How could it not work three times?!

I divided my dough in half and put half in the freezer. However, because I like to use my brain a lot, I put it in before I let the dough rise so I think that I might have killed the yeast and won't be able to use it. Jackie, help me out here...did I kill it?

Alright, well The Office is on so I have to go!

Diaper Bag

I finished the bag this morning in time to take it to Jackie's. Maybe I just work best under pressure. I don't really think so but that seems to be how I operate lately!



The design doesn't show up very well in the picture, but if you click it, you might be able to see it better. I am really pleased with how it turned out! My bag had grommets in, and one of them ripped out so I sewed the straps on this time so hopefully they will be a little stronger. I hope she likes it. I always get nervous about that part! What if the colors or the design aren't right? Aagh. I am kind of glad I won't be there!

This was happening today also:



A one-year-old can fit very nicely inside the lid of a sewing machine.

I ate well today! We had cooking club, and I am going to have to kick it up a notch next month. Last month we had an awesome Margarita pizza, and today Jackie out-did herself. It is fun because our husbands won't eat these fun things we make so we get to try them out on people who really enjoy them! We had a salad with yummy goat cheese, walnuts that Jackie candied herself, and poppy seed dressing. Then we had homemade breadsticks, which I could have just filled up on! She made two kinds of soup, a vegetable beef and a cabbage. Oh my. It was one of those meals where you just don't want to stop eating! For dessert, we had a pumpkin creme brulee. We got to toast our brown sugar with the little, umm, fire thing. You know what I mean. It was delicious. Pumpkin is an awesome flavor! Alright, I will stop making you all drool:)

Tomorrow, I am planning on taking the girls on our last picnic for this year. We are having really nice weather this week so I want to do it one last time. They love picnics!

I need to get working on a card so I am not up until all hours! Have a wonderful evening:)

Weird

Do your children abuse the furniture?



Or stick their tongues in their noses?

We have some real weirdos here!

Well, I didn't finish my project. *Sigh* I should have it done before Friday's shower, but we will see. I didn't realize how long it would take to attach the fusible stabilizer to the lining. It took like an hour.

I'm trying to type and talk to my sister on the phone at the same time. I'm trying really hard to not type what we are saying.

We all walked to the playground today, and the girls took an awesome nap for two hours!!! I think I am going to make them walk a mile every day!

I'll leave you with this now:





Have a great night!

*Edited to add: I forgot to mention Wormy Worm. How could I forget Wormy?! Tonight the girls were outside in the back area and called me with such fervency that I thought someone's leg had fallen off. When I went out, both girls were crouched down on the ground around a worm who was making his way across the cement. They were fascinated! I tried to get them to touch him, but they weren't having it. I touched him and finally Pilly touched him. Wormy squirmed like crazy and Pilly jumped back. Then she laughed about it. Finally we put him in the dirt and went back inside.

So tonight Pnut was wigging out at bedtime, and I went up and she was crying for Wormy. I left. Joel ended up going up and praying with her for Wormy Worm. Good night! What a silly girl:)

Apple Crisp and Curtains

Mom's group was here this morning so I needed to make a dessert. Somehow my brain forgot about this before we went to the grocery store last week. Then I thought about apple crisp. It is such a perfect fall food. The ingredients are ones that I usually have on hand too! I like apple desserts for that reason!

4 c sliced apples ( I just used three apples)
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c oatmeal
1/3 c butter
3/4 t cinnamon
3/4 t nutmeg (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. Arrange apples in greased square pan (8x8). Mix remaining ingredients using a pastry blender; sprinkle over apples. Bake until topping is golden brown and apples are tender, about 30 minutes. Serve warm. You can put ice cream on top, which would be really good!

Yesterday, Joel made cupcakes for a treat. The girls were pretty excited about getting to eat some.



Isn't Pnut's dress cute? I never can find material that looks like this!



This child basically ate the icing and any cake that may have been attached to icing and then proceeded to crumble the rest. She is on cupcake restriction. (Could her eyes get any bigger?!)

Because I was having mom's group today, I wanted to get things cleaned up and get the final set of curtains done. However, I didn't have time to work on them Saturday as had been the plan. So I decided to start them Sunday afternoon. And of course once I started them, I had to finish them. I broke my rule about not staying up late to work on projects anymore and was up past 11:00. I paid for that today! But I did finish those curtains:)



This is a close-up of the border:



I do like them, especially against the brick. They look nice with the green trim too. I don't think the first picture does them justice, which we all know is due to my sadly lacking photography skills. You all should just be thankful that these photos are relatively in focus is all I can say.

I have set myself up for a flurry of activity tomorrow as well. I have a gift to make for a Friday baby shower, but I have to take it to Jackie's on Wednesday, and I neglected to start it tonight. All thanks to you Bill O'Reilly. So we will see if I can get it done. If not, I will have to take it to my friend some other time. Preferably before the baby comes.

An update about my friend Grace who was burned: She had her skin graft surgery on Saturday. Pray that her body will heal quickly and that the pain will be tolerable. They were going to check again if she could be extubated today. I haven't heard yet whether they were able to or not. Please pray that if it didn't happen today, it will soon. The longer you are on a ventilator breathing, the harder it is for your body to do it on it's own once you come off. It also can increase the chance of getting pneumonia so I really hope that she is off already today! Just pray for strength for her husband and family and grace to get them through this. Thanks!

I hope that everyone is having a wonderful start to their week:)

A Beautiful Thing

I succumbed to temptation and turned on the heat this evening. It is wonderful. Heat is a beautiful thing!

Tomorrow we take E back to her parents. Pnut was very sad tonight when I told her we had to give E back. She said, "but I want to play with her all day!" It is amazing how well a 3-year-old, an almost 2-year-old, and a 10-year-old play together! I have enjoyed having her here, but (big surprise) I am looking forward to the return of our routine!

Not too much happening on the cooking or sewing front. Hopefully starting Saturday! Sorry these are such short posts, but again, there is nothing to report right now:)

Just Too Cold

It is somewhere around 60-65 degrees (or less) in our house. But I just can't turn the heat on yet. How?! How can it be this cold halfway through October? Therefore, I didn't sew anything tonight. I have so many projects to work on, but I don't want to move from under a blanket.

Did anyone else watch Mythbuster's tonight? It was awesome! They picked up a car, made a cannon, and made a sailboat...with duct tape!!

Our friend who needs prayer was not able to have her intubation tube removed today. They are going to try again for Friday so any prayer for that would be appreciated!

Obviously, not much is happening. Over and out:)

A Concoction

On Sunday, it was only the girls and I for lunch. Joel got to go to the Bengals v Ravens game. I had some chicken that I needed to use, and I wanted to make something that we couldn't eat when Joel was there (i.e. anything but plain old chicken). We didn't find out in time that he was going to the game to go to the grocery store to make something from a cookbook, but I thought I would just make something up. Now, I will share that recipe with you. Or concoction. Probably the latter.

I cubed my chicken and cooked it on the stove top in butter with generous amounts of salt and pepper. Then I threw in some sour cream. How much? Beats me! It coated the chicken and was pretty much cooked off so I put in some more to make a little sauce. Then I put in chopped tomatoes and dried basil. Fresh basil would have been better, but I rarely (read never) have fresh herbs. I just cooked long enough to heat the tomatoes, and it was ready. I really liked the taste of it. The girls liked it. Pnut ate all of her chicken, and Pilly kind sucked all the sauce off the outside and spit the chicken back out. She likes chicken, but if she likes the sauce more, she just wants to eat that. Naughty, I know:)

I can show you what is happening at our house this week:



This is our friend E. She is here for the week. She is homeschooled so I get to do her school with her, which is lots of fun. Her mom uses the curriculum that I want to use for my girls so I am having fun playing with it! E is 10, and Pnut loves her! Here they are playing a horse game on the DS together. E is the oldest of four siblings so I think only have two little ones around is a nice break!

On a more serious note, I want to ask you all to be in prayer for friends of ours from church. They had a grease fire in their kitchen on Sunday, and Grace was burned on her feet severely and has blisters in her throat and burns on her elbow. She is in a burn center. PTL, she does not have pneumonia as they feared, but just a sinus infection. She is going to have to have skin grafts, which have been pushed back until the end of the week. She is hopefully going to be taken off of the ventilator tomorrow so please just pray that that goes well, and she is able to heal well and that above all God would be glorified in this. Thank you so much!

Ezekial Bread

My mom's friend Jen brought this bread to her a few weeks ago, and we have been salivating for it since. It is the best "good for you" bread I have had. It is very moist and tasty. I do not sprout my own grains though. I am not that far gone yet!

3 packages active dry yeast (each package is 2 T)
5 cups warm water, divided
1 T plus 2/3 cup honey, divided
2/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
2 t salt
4 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup toasted wheat germ
6-8 cups bread flour

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 3/4 cup warm water and 1 tablespoon honey. Add the remaining water and honey, the oil, sugar, salt , whole wheat flour, wheat germ, and 3 cups bread flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining bread flour to form a soft dough (dough will be sticky).
Turn onto a lightly floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic,a bout 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turning once to coat the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour.
Punch dough down. Shape into four loaves. Place in bread pans coated with cooking spray. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.
Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cools.

Yields four loaves.

Notes: I cut this by fourths. I don't need four loaves of bread at once. I guess you can freeze the dough and pull it out when you are ready to use it, but honestly, I have an awful hard time making bread that isn't like a brick so I am not sticking it in the freezer! I also used all of the called for bread flour in mine. It is a sticky dough! If you have a Kitchen Aid, use your bread hook and it will mix and knead it for you. You only have to let it rise and bake it. I didn't want to try this in my bread machine. It was really easy with the Kitchen Aid, and I will probably keep doing it like that. I love the smell and taste of freshly bake bread!!

Now, I have something disturbing to share. I apologize for any emotional damage I am causing, but I just don't know what to do:



Can you tell that the little child is not wearing a diaper? That she took it off in the living room and let the dog chew it up while I was working? That she repeated this act later after she had pooped?! What a nut!

Tonight we went to Joann Fabrics, but Joel and Pnut went to TJ Maxx instead. Joel hates coming to the fabric store. I am rather indecisive. While they were in TJ Maxx, they saw some children's underwear on the clearance rack and checked them out. Joel told Pnut they were too big for her, and she said "but that is why I have a big butt." Ahahahahahahaha! Joel said she really wanted those underwear!

With that happy thought, good night:)

Painted Pumpkins

Today was the kind of day when you could grab your teacup for a cup of sunshine to drink. The air so cool and crisp adds it flavor in and exhilarates down to your toes. Wonderful. I am not the only one who thought so:



Yesterday and today I was asked if they were twins.



Perhaps I shouldn't put them in pigtails at the same time. But they are so cute!



Do you see the concern on her face? The man was there mowing the grass. Pilly is not afraid of many things, but loud noises would be on the list of scary things! *Please note the leaf in her hand. She brought from our house to the playground.

This evening we finally got to paint our pumpkins! Yay! It began well.



Excellent technique. Look at that skillful use of finger.



Those blobs are feet. I have no idea why, they just are.

Then things started on a downward spiral.



This was generally expected, but this:



She was just using one finger, how did it get all over her hand?



Then someone said "put your hands on your face!" It was not me, but it was a so-called "adult."



Then Pilly said something about her toes and started pulling on her socks. I left at this point to put water in the bathtub. As I headed up the stairs, I heard giggles and "here, let me paint a face on your stomach."



Praise the Lord for washable finger paint. I think it will be a while before we finger paint again. They will not soon forget getting to paint their bodies, and I don't really want them to do that every time. It was fun this time though! Little girls are so sweet:)

Corn, Wind, Purse, Whew!

Joel received a surprise donation of late corn this year so he brought home some to freeze. We didn't freeze any during the summer so I was really glad to get it. We just kept eating it this summer instead of saving it. I had some good help with the husking.



This kid helped too:



Isn't that about the cutest thing ever?!! She kept saying "big corn, big corn."

I had 36 ears of corn for freezing after the three that were eaten for supper. I got nine bags out of that. Nine. I have to put a lot of corn in each bag. If I don't, I just end up using two bags because Joel loves fresh frozen corn. He won't even eat it from the grocery store. (Big shocker there).

Now, I want you to go back to the first picture and notice our clothes in the background. Today was a very windy day! My pants kept blowing up over the edge of the fence, and I was afraid that some smart-alack kid was going to grab hold of them and pull, but no one did. Thank goodness!

As promised, I took a picture of my other project from this weekend, my purse.



I forgot to do it during the day so I had to take it on the counter under the bright lights! It is hard to photograph corduroy. It showed up funny on the screen! I really like this purse. It is not huge, which is fine with mean. I just can't stuff too much junk in, which is good! I love the appliqued leaf. I was actually supposed to put fabric yo-yos on it, and I did that to one I made for a gift and was not too fond of them so I decided to do this instead. However, I will make that decision before the purse is sewn together next time! It is a very fallish purse. Fun, fun!

We saw, according to Pnut, Peanut the Squirrel at the playground today. Apparently, he is a well-traveled squirrel. Here I thought he just stayed around our fence, but I was corrected! She chased him around the playground. We also saw Jumpy Squirrel there. There is a Jumpy Squirrel on Curious George for all of you who are not well versed in children's programming. I am afraid that one of these squirrels is going to attack her one day for chasing them around. She chases them until they are some place where she can't get them, like up a tree.

Well, I should go work on my Pay It Forward. I have half a month left to get this all done. Goodness, how the time has flown! Have a great evening:)

Circle Skirt

I haven't taken a picture of the other project I completed on Saturday so I will post about it tomorrow. It is always better if I take the pictures during the day! Both projects were fun!

I made this skirt on Saturday. It probably took less than an hour. I love it!



It is a circle skirt, which is super easy! It has one seam up the side, the hem, and the waistband. I love the way it fits. It hangs nice, is very swirly, and was easy to wear all day, not just to church. I used an Indian battick (sp?), which I have admired for quite a while. It is a little much for a whole dress, but I thought it was perfect for the skirt! You can change the pattern up to, lengthen, shorten, add ruffles, whatever!

We were so busy today! We spent more time than I meant to at the playground (I really need to get a battery for my watch) so got back late and had homemade tomato soup on the menu for lunch with homemade bread. The girls did not lay down until an hour after they were supposed to, but they went right to sleep! By the way, Pilly had three bowls of soup at lunch. She loves soup as much as I do! And she is getting really good with a spoon:)

I am hoping that we will get to paint pumpkins with them tomorrow. We have them on the back porch, and they have wanted to do it since Joel brought them home! I also want to bake the pumpkin to get the pulp or whatever like last year. I have some recipes in mind that I would like to try. I love pumpkin!

I am feeling better today, but I am still really tired. My dear sister told me I have all the main symptoms of swine flu, but I haven't had a fever so I don't know if that is what it is. It could just be a plain old cold! So now I am going to head to bed! Have a wonderful day tomorrow!:)

Fun at the Fruit Farm!

Today we went to a local fruit farm to enjoy their autumn displays. They decorate pumpkins like stories and rhymes. The Five Little Monkeys who jumped on the bed were there as well as the three little pigs.

This, I'm pretty sure, is Mary, Mary Quite Contrary. They were pretty neat.



This picture is for Pap!



She loved sitting on this tractor. She was messing with the handles and probably would have driven off if she could.



Pnut rode in a school bus (or a cool bus as it says), hopefully the only one she will ever ride in! Pilly was in there but for some reason did not want to have her picture taken. Who can understand the mind of a one-year-old?



There was a fun wooden train, which Pilly enjoyed a lot! Pnut was "driving" it, but I didn't get a picture of that.



This is our Mom's Group. I have wonderful friends!

They also had hay to jump in. There was a rectangle outlined in double-stacked hay bales and then the middle was filled with loose hay. It smelled wonderful! The girls probably would have just played there the whole time if we had gone there first so I am glad we did the other things first!



This maniac loved jumping off!



She could have been swimming!



I couldn't believe that she didn't care if it was in her mouth and eyes. She is funny about that with water.



Pilly had to fully enjoy her cookie before she could begin playing.



There were some other kids there...



who threw hay...



and Pilly thought that that was the most brilliant idea ever!



She slid off. At first, she stood and I held her hands and she jumped. Then she wanted to do it by herself. She was getting ready to sit down and slide off when her sister "helped" her over the edge. She was much quicker to sit on her butt and get down by herself after that.

They really had a ball there! They were so worn out! Consequently, they took a good nap and are in bed early!



This is my lovely friend Jackie who comes up with all of these fun ideas with her beautiful little girl Kate who makes me laugh with her funny faces. I am so thankful that the Lord has given me such a good friend!

Tomorrow I will post some projects I completed this weekend. Tonight I am going to find a warm cup of tea to try to get some heat into my body. I have this cold that is making my head feel like it is full of cotton balls and has made me kind of grouchy all day. It had better go soon. I'm taking ecchinacea like it is going out of style!

Have a cotton-headed-less night:)