Taking a little trip!

Well my friends, I bid you a fond farewell for the next week and a half. I am off to Destin with my family! We are leaving tomorrow morning and will not be back until Mothers Day. Packing for this many people is no picnic let me tell you. My list includes such things as: sunscreen, aloe vera, playpens, pillows, toys, books, movies, diapers, spanking spoons, pacifiers, cameras, ipods, colors, blankets, sand toys, Magic Erasers (who knows what my boys will find to destroy!), first aid kit, sunglasses for seven people, hats, and countless others things that I'm so afraid I will forget.

This is our first real vacation in six years. The last time we saw the beach, Meghan was four. The kids are so excited that we have talked about nothing else. The girls have every detail planned out including what pajamas they will wear what night and what the first things they will say to each other when they wake up will be. Poor Molly has absolutely no concept of time just yet, and so when Monday rolled around and we told her we were leaving for Florida this week, she thought that meant this day. Needless to say when bedtime came and we weren't in the car yet, she was distraught to say the least!
She also has no idea what the beach really is. She knows that there will be waves that will splash your feet, but that's about it. So when we took her to Branson and had lunch on the rather pitiful lake, she hollers out "Is that the ocean?!"
She is in for a nice surprise:-)

My kitchen is very nearly close to being done. Jonny is slapping the last coat of paint on the floor tonight so it can dry while we're gone. And then just a little more painting when we get home. It has really turned out nice and I am very pleased with it. Can't wait to show it off to you!

I have to run now. There is much to be done. Have a wonderful weekend and I wish you much sun although I'm afraid you're not going to get it:-(
See you in a week and a half!

Guacamole!!

In all my many years of eating at mexican restaurants, I've never been at all interested in trying their guacamole. It has always looked like a pile of green smush to me and the few times I've been brave enough to stick a teensy bite in my mouth, I've always found it to taste just like it looks. I always thought it looked kind of cool to dip your crunchy chip into it, kind of like I've always thought that drinking coffee looks cozy but I still cannot make myself drink that nasty stuff.

So one day, I was in Sam's getting ready for a barbecue on the back porch when I saw them. A huge bag of beautiful ripe avocados. Not liking the texture of those interesting things AT ALL, I had no idea what to do with them, but I bought them anyway.
So I get them home and decide to experiment with my own version of guacamole, knowing full well that I will not be eating any of it.
I added a little of this and a little of that. Honestly clueless as to what one might put in guacamole never having eaten enough to know what it consists of. So I started guessing. A little later, after I figured that I had done all the damage to the poor avocados that I could, I cautiously dip in a chip and gingerly place a tiny portion on my tongue. It was purely a "Green Eggs and Ham" moment! I felt like saying "I do! I like guacamole!" It was amazingly delicious!!!
I will admit to you that I still do not care for anyones guacamole except my own. This is not being prideful, just honest. Although in all honesty, I have not tasted yours yet, so I could possibly like that too.

This is my recipe, and guess what??!! No measurements again:-(
I live by the motto, keep adding stuff till it tastes right.
I buy avocados from Sam's because they're really big and usually nice and ripe. Not to mention much cheaper. I am not sure how many are in the bag, but I would guess about six or seven. Peel and smash them up real good in a bowl.
Then I add the fresh salsa that you can also only buy at Sam's. It's in the refrigerated section and is so deliciously fresh. Much, much, much better than a jar of salsa. I put in as much I think looks like normal guacamole, then I add a little more because it's just so good!
Next I juice two limes. Don't ask me why, because I usually only use the juice from one. But once again my fear of not having enough always makes me juice two. I don't recommend the lime juice from the bottle. Fresh is so much better!
Then I pour in enough so that it tastes nice and tart plus it keeps the avocados from turning brown. Once again, remember that you can always add more later.
Dump in enough garlic salt until it tastes so delicious that you start drooling. Then add salt and pepper to taste.
Done and done! Very easy. Very fast. Very delicious!
UUmmm not that I'm bragging or anything. Let's just say I got lucky this time. Unlike the time I tried to make up my own tortilla soup:-(

Gotta run! Tonight is bath night and I have seven peoples clothes to pick out. Have a blessed Sunday friends!

What a marvelous suggestion!

Thanks to Casie's wonderful idea of approaching the subject of manners, you may call me Miss Manners tonight! I'm totally kidding. Although it seems sometimes that my family could sure use a visit from that lady!

The only reason that I'm so excited about writing this is that I hope to figure out exactly what I believe and act on in the process of sharing it with you. Can this qualify as talk now think later?

The subject of manners is one that is seldom brought up in any circle these days and one that in my opinion, is a sad loss indeed. Not to mention that for we as adults, is our loss as well.
I have sat at my table many a night and wished that my children were as respectful and well-behaved at home as they thankfully are at others homes.

In response to Casie's question about teaching our children to mind their manners at other peoples homes, I have found one thing to be true. As offensive as it might be to hear one of my older girls tell the hostess that they didn't care for dinner, I have never been offended at any 3 or 5 year old who voiced their honest opinion as long as it was properly dealt with by the parents. No one can fault a pre-schooler for being honest. It is something that they are hopefully taught everyday in everything they do. This is an excellent training opportunity for the parents.
My suggestion would be that when they inevitably express their opinions, you take that opportunity to, without embarrassment, quietly take them by the hand, lead them from the room and have a chat with them. Explain to them that what they said although perhaps true, was hurtful to their hostess. Remind them that this meal was made especially for your family's enjoyment and much work went into the preparation. Help your child to remember that they should only speak positive encouraging words and help them quickly practice a compliment that they can pay her. Then take the child back into the table, have her apologize without making a big deal of things, and go back to your conversation saving her and everyone else at the table any embarrassment.

As far as at your own table, I suggest coming up with a list of things to work on such as saying "Please pass the rolls" or "Thank you so much Mom for making dinner tonight". Not to mention the other obvious rules such as no bodily functions at the table. And one day I hope to accomplish this one:-( If it wasn't already difficult enough, I had to go and have two boys who are one big constant bodily function and everyone thinks it's hilarious!
I have many times had to warn my girls that if they couldn't mind their manners and behave themselves at the table, that they would be taking their plate to the island and eating their dinner all by themselves.
Get your husband to help you enforce these rules. I guarantee you that you will be glad you exercised these practices at home when your children reward you by behaving themselves beautifully in public.

All righty then, now that I have told you all exactly what I think, I believe I will start enforcing more of it! No more elbows on the table! Napkins in the lap Charlie! Danny take your feet off your high chair tray! Girls stop laughing at that, it's disgusting!

As I have told you before, I do not in any way, consider myself to be an expert. I am only giving you my own opinion because I always seem to have plenty of those things:-( I would absolutely love to hear some steps that you have taken to enforce good table manners!

Without further adieu...Lemonade Pie

I have been promising this recipe for so long that I'm sure you have given up on ever getting it. But finally as promised, the most delicious, succulent, creamy, tart, dessert you've ever tasted.

Lemonade Pie

Two (5) ounce cans evaporated milk

2 (3.4 ounce) packages lemon instant pudding mix

2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened

2 (3 ounce) packages cream cheese softened

1 (12 ounce) can frozen lemonade, partially thawed

1 (9 ounce) ready-made graham cracker crust

Garnishes: whipped cream, fresh mint sprigs, lemon slices

1. Whisk together evaporated milk and pudding mix in a bowl 2 minutes or until thickened.

2.Beat cream cheeses at medium speed with an electric mixer, using whisk attachment, until fluffy. Add lemonade concentrate, beating until blended; add pudding mixture, and beat until blended.

3. Pour into crust; freeze 4 hours or until firm. Garnish, if desired.

This came right out of Southern Living magazine and I have not changed the recipe in any way, shape, or form. I promise.

This recipe needs no help whatsoever! A couple of tips though. BE SURE that your cream cheese is softened or else the pie will be full of little lumps that are not so wonderful. Then as far as garnish goes, I always thinly slice a lemon in a large curly-q, then twist it and place it on top of the pie. Mint leaves are absolutely gorgeous!

One more recipe to make up for my long silence. My version of chicken salad. I am aware that there are hundreds of different ways to make this, but the only two recipes that I'm really crazy about are mine and Spring Creek Tea Room. Is that bragging? :-(

Once again, I have absolutely no measurements at all, so bare with me.

I boil a three pound bag of boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Then cool and shred. I cut up loads of grapes into halves because I just love lots of grapes in my chicken salad. Then I cut up a three or four stalks of celery into pretty small pieces. Celery is not my favorite vegetable by any means. I consider it only a tool to get ranch dip into my mouth. But nevertheless, it does add a nice crunch. Then I put in a small bag of sliced almonds (if you're lucky, you can find the seasoned ones. They are delicious!!) and some Lawry's seasoning salt. Then I add enough mayonnaise to make it nice and creamy. Top it off with some salt and pepper (watch out with the amount of salt, the Lawry's is really salty) and mix together. I love to serve it in a pita pocket. But I have been convicted of sneaking into the fridge and eating it right out of the bowl!

Now to the news which I know that you are all sitting on the edge of your seats to hear! The remodel is coming along. Way too slow for my taste, but getting there nonetheless. I have it all set back up including new pretties hanging from the pot rack. The back-splash is put in, just not grouted yet. The counter-tops are being finished as we speak. The floor is painted but let's not talk about that unpleasentry just yet. The fireplace is painted and the new light is put in. All that is left is a little painting, a little trim work, and some wallpaper.

I am planning an open house the middle to the end of May. But first I have to find some old mirrors in different sizes. Let me know if you know where I can snag some. I'm going to paint them red and hang them in the hall.

Must run now. Coming soon: Guacamole and deviled eggs with bacon!

Training your kids to eat what's put before them

The idea for this post came to me the other night while reading H. Clay Trumbull's "Hints on Child Training". I realized how frequently in this day and age we hear parents saying things like, "My child won't eat salad" or "My child hates fruit". Then proceed to give him or her whatever they demand simply to "keep them from starving". Do not get me wrong, I have been guilty of doing the same exact thing. You would think that having five kids would make me be more strict about what they eat considering that I cannot afford to keep everyone happy nor do I have the time to cook something different for every single person. But alas, I have found myself giving into demands rather than taking the time to enforce what I know is good for them physically and emotionally. The physical is obvious, but emotional you might ask. I firmly believe that it is vital for a child to know the rules and be forced to live by them. It not only brings order to your home, but gives your child an extreme sense of security.

Anyway, back to the book. This book was recommended to me by one of my favorite mentors whom I consider to be an excellent example of what a good mother should be. It is however, not an easy read. The book was written in 1890 and when he made the statement "All progress in knowledge is a result of continued questioning. Whence? What? Why? Wherefore? Whither? These are the starting-points of investigation and research to young and to old alike", it took me forever to figure out how on earth we got who, what, when, where and why out of those five words.

The reason that I love this book though, is because he teaches us that we should be training our children to adapt to our world our rules and our God instead of the common teaching in even Christian books that seems to imply that we do everything we can to make things as comfortable and easy for our children as possible.

One of the chapters was "Training a child's appetite" and I was extremely convicted as I read it. Imagine cooking whatever you wanted to try without worrying if your kids would eat it or not. One of the points that Trumbell made was that there are children all over the world who eat different kinds of things that there habitat offers and they are never given the choice of chicken fingers or hamburgers. I will quote my favorite section of this chapter.
"That a child inherits tastes in the matter of food and drink cannot be questioned; but this fact does not forbid the training of a child's tastes away from it's inborn tendencies; it merely adds an element to be considered in the training process. A child born in the tropics soon learns to like the luscious fruits which are given to him freely; while a child born in the arctic regions learns with the same rapidity to like the grosser diet of fish and oil which is his chief supply of food. In one region the people live mainly on roots and berries; in yet another they devour raw flesh or drink fresh blood; in yet another, they eat dried locusts or grasshoppers; in yet another, it is milk or honey which is their chief means of sustaining life."

After reading this I realized with startling clarity that cannibal children probably never look up at their parents and whine "I don't feel like eating people today!" You laugh, but it is all too true. Yet we allow our children the luxury of picking and choosing exactly what they will or won't eat.
I have had parents bring their children to my house for dinner and then let them pick through the dishes only to discover that they don't like any of it and are allowed to move on to dessert.
Call me old fashioned, but when I was growing up by golly, you ate what was put before you or suffered the consequences later on at home. Not only that but you pretended to enjoy it and thanked the hostess for serving it. Whatever happened to this practice I ask you?

Due to my three youngest having pretty strong food allergies which I am so sad to admit, that I think it is because I was unable to nurse any of them for longer than a month, my kids cannot have alot of the snack foods offered today. Chicken nuggets, peanut butter, whales, white bread, instant oatmeal and multiple other things bring about unwanted consequences and these consequences are slowly but surely forcing me to feed my family more the way that Holly mentioned in her comment on a previous post. More whole grains, cheese, veggies, and lots of fruit. The result has been well worth the effort. I have learned that when I serve biscuits with dinner, my boys will eat nothing but that. But yet if no bread is served, then after a few spankings they eventually realize that the salad, green beans, and chicken is all that there is and without fail, will end up eating exactly what we have on the table.

One more short point and I will shut up. I am amazed at the parents who tell me that their children will not eat what is served to them at mealtime, and yet I have watched them fill their children all through the day with whatever snack they can find. The poor kids are so full that by the time dinner rolls around there is no way they could stuff in another bite. So instead of eating the more than likely, more healthy dinner that you have prepared, they are filling up on dry cereal, cookies, chips, and crackers that do absolutely nothing for them besides fill them up. Trust me when I tell you that if your child is hungry enough, he will eat whatever you give him.

If you are still reading them I am impressed with you. I tend to get a little long winded when I talk about children because God has blessed me with multiple older mothers who have been generous enough to share their time and knowledge with me. I am so grateful for my Mom, Jill, Michelle, Valerie, and Carol. Mom's like you are rare and valuable. If you do not have a mentor, then I encourage you to pray and ask God for one. He promises to give wisdom to those that ask for it, and He also tells us to learn from the older women. Allow them the joy of sharing their wisdom that they have gained through their mistakes and realize how blessed you are to hear about what you should avoid before you make the same mistake.

Thank you for reading. I love you guys so much and cannot tell you what your encouragement through either comments or messages have meant to me.

My attempt at writing down my potato salad recipe

No pictures just yet, but we are making great progress! The floor is now painted although I'm afraid that my fear of going too bright made me go too light. We are going to wait to put on the second coat until right before we go on vacation the first of May. I think I'll have to make that coat a little brighter. Mom came today and helped me put everything back in the cabinets. Considering that Jonny forgot to put plastic up over the doors, everything single thing had to be washed and dryed and not having a dishwasher just yet, everything had to be done by hand. It was a chore and a half let me tell you!!
I'm really hoping to have pictures by next week. Hopefully we will be mostly done by that time.

All righty then, how about a recipe? I can't get to my Southern Living magazine to give you the lemonade pie because of the wet floor, so I will give you one that really has no recipe. I just made it up myself. Hopefully you don't get too frustrated by the lack of measurements.
This is my very own recipe for potato salad. It is very southern, so if you are not a fan of southern foods, then steer clear of this one.

Peel and cut up however many potatoes it will take to feed your clan. I usually do a minimum of five pounds and sometimes as much as ten pounds. It tastes even better left over!
Boil until soft, then drain. Add enough sour cream and mayonnaise to make almost creamy enough (equal portions of both) remembering that you can always add more but can't take any out. Then stir in desired amount of yellow mustard. I personally like lots of mustard as does my family. This needs lots of salt because it just seems to drink it right up. Pepper as well. Then the special secret which you cannot skimp on or it just doesn't turn out right. Use the baby Claussen pickles from the refrigerated section. I usually use half a jar for five pounds of potatoes. Cut them into smallish pieces (not too small). Then if you dare, I sometimes add some of the pickle juice as well. It just really makes it a little more...pickely shall we say.
Refrigerate and serve cold. Although Jonny likes his warm I am not crazy about it this way.

There you go. I did my best. Feel free to ask question if I did not make something clear, and I'll do my best to help you.
I can't wait to keep sharing my favorite summer recipes with you! Bring on the barbecues and picnics!!

And she returns

A million apologies sweet readers! I have been living between two houses for the past two and a half weeks and am not quite done with the going back and forth yet. The kitchen is getting closer and closer every day, but is in no way done yet. I have beautiful white cabinets, a bright red back door and island, a white fireplace, a stainless steel pot rack, partially finished marble tile counter tops, and a mess. I am able to tell at this point, that this kitchen is going to be B..E..A...utiful!!! But whatever you do, do not drop in on me for a peek just yet! I would be mortified for you to see the mess. I need an idea on what kind of an event to have for letting you have a look when it's all done. Open house? Afternoon tea? I have to say that my brain is so tired from all the little details that frankly, I don't really have an really care about, such as, what size do I want the trim, or what type of wood should the floor be made of, or what kind of hardware do I want inside the cabinet doors? Needless to say I have been unable to come up with a good idea for having everyone come see my new kitchen. Feel free to offer suggestions.
Jonny has been working night and day to get everything done quickly, and the girls have been more help than any cleaning company could ever dream of being. But I still have alot of dusting, ironing, and laundry to do. Not to mention putting all the kitchen stuff back. It makes me tired to look at it.

I have been asked to continue the recipes, and I promise to get on that soon. But right now my family has been surviving on the bare necessities as far as food goes and cooking in that kitchen is not quite yet, pleasant shall we say.

I will make you a deal that as soon as the remodel is done, I will put up the best dessert you will ever place on your tongue. Lemonade Pie!

As far as the rest of this week goes, I have to do a ridiculously massive pile of ironing, dust and put away everything in the kitchen, do laundry that has already been done once but got mixed with the clean laundry and now it's anyone's guess as to what is clean and what is dirty, plan Molly's birthday this Saturday, move out of here into Mom and Dad's again this weekend, clean up my entire house, fit in school that we are thankfully almost finished with, and finish pulling all the winter clothes out of the closets and taking them to Children's Orchard.

I do have a wonderful report on the yard sale! There were four of us doing it and the only piece of furniture we had was Mom's desk that she asked $4o for. Yet we manged to make over $1500!! The turnout was unbelievable!!!! We had specifically prayed for nice weather and lots of people, and starting at 8:30 Friday morning we only had one five minute slot where the driveway was not flooded with people. We were finally able to shut down at 5:15 that evening. Then Saturday morning dawned cold and windy and overcast. I looked at Beth and asked her if she would be willing to pack everything up and save it for another yard sale at my house in May. Not an hour later, people started showing up and once again, we never had a moment without people there until about 2:30 in the afternoon when we realized that we had almost nothing left to sell. So we pulled everything into the garage and right then, it started raining! Can you believe that! Don't tell me that God doesn't care about yard sales!!

Have to run now. The nasty ironing basket is calling my name. Have a lovely day friends!!