Tea Time

These are my three girls having tea in Molly's room. I was looking for pictures on the Internet to put on this post, when I found these and decided that they are cuter:-)
What is it about tea parties that make girls and ladies feel so special? Why is it that no matter how old we get, we still get as excited about dressing up and eating delicate food and drinking sparkling drinks out of dainty cups, as we did when we were four?
I still find myself collecting pink cups and saucers for that special tea party, even though there is nothing in my dining room or kitchen that lends itself to matching pink.
Still I hold onto these things in the hopes that one of my girls will grow up and have a pink kitchen.
This week we had some dear friends come over for a sort of tea party. The sort of, being because between the two of us Mom's there were six little ones asking for more goldfish and juice boxes and bringing the toy tractors to the table to "show Mom!".
Still we had a wonderful time pretending during the brief moments of quiet, that we were dignified ladies sitting in the parlor, having a quiet luncheon together.
I served strawberry soup, chicken salad, strawberry spinach salad, and sparkling lemonade and if you will allow me to brag, it was most delicious!
I would like to share these recipes with you.

Strawberry Soup
2 cups of milk
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
3 cups of frozen strawberries
1/2 cup of sour cream
3/4 cup of sugar
Pour all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and a lovely shade of pink.
I got this recipe some time ago, but have changed the amounts of strawberries and sugar to my taste. I encourage you to do the same! Once you put your spoon in the blender to try a taste, you will have a hard time staying out of it:-)

Chicken Salad
I have absolutely no measurements for anything in this recipe. I learned how to make it from it my Mom. I boil a three pound bag of chicken a little more than you think you should so that it will shred easily when you stir it into the salad. Then I put in tons of purple seedless grapes and about four stalks of celery chopped very small. (I personally do not care for celery, but find it essential in this salad to give it that wonderful crunch. This explains the "very small".)
Then I sprinkle in pepper and salt and some Lawry's seasoning salt. Then I add enough mayo to make it very creamy but in no way runny. Add a little at a time until you get it the way you like. Then I throw in a small bag of sliced almonds and stir some more. Be sure that you don't stir so hard that you smush your grapes. This salad is excellent on any kind of bread, in a pita, or all by itself.

Strawberry Spinach Salad
This is a very common recipe and more than likely, you've got your own version of it. But just in case this is the way I learned to make it.
Use a bag of fresh spinach, being sure to snap the little stems off. Add as many sliced strawberries as you like. Sprinkle in some sliced almonds and a little feta cheese.
For the dressing, in a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp dry minced onion,
1/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp worceshire sauce, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup cider vinegar. Briskly stir together with a fork. Wait to pour on the salad until you are ready to serve it. Toss.

Sparkling Lemonade
Super simple! All you do is use two frozen cans of strawberry lemonade concentrate (or any other frozen drink that you like), pour in a two liter of club soda and add about 3/4 cup of sugar. You won't believe how deliciously refreshing this is!

Hope you enjoy these recipes and that you find your own excuse to have a tea party at your table very soon!

Blogging in the Rain

Today has, in spite of the rain, been a perfectly wonderful day. I got to sleep in this morning until...well let's just say I got to sleep in.
The house is all tidy which is a major accomplishment with my two little hurricanes who run around disguised as boys messing up everything that looks a little too neat.
The laundry for once was not piled higher than my head.
The boys are starting to seem like after three weeks of trying, they might actually get this potty training thing.
The rain is pouring out of the sky as though God has been filling the clouds with a ten million gallon bucket for the last four years, making everything a brilliant shade of green and sending with it, the hope that the flowers will be even more bright than they have ever been before.
I have only ten more days until I load my family up in the old suburban and head down to see my Nonny and Papa who I have not seen in seven years, and then after that, we're heading down to Destin!
Things seem unusually good today, especially after the meltdown I had just about a week ago at this time. I won't describe the day to you so as not to get you down. Just imagine a nightmare of a day, add gloomy weather and twin three year old boys, a disgusting mishap or two, and you'll just about be there.
Just a quick update on things around here. I am officially 21 and 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy and we found out last week that the newest Jeppsen will be a boy that we will be naming William Dale Jeppsen and calling him "Billy". The Dale is after my Papa and the William is because it's the only name that Jonny and I could agree on and that goes well with Charlie and Danny.
We had a marvelous Easter in spite of the nasty weather. Our church had huge plans of a potluck and Easter egg hunt that got canceled due to the rain. So we just combined our food with a couple of other families food and had a great lunch here at our house. No egg hunt, but fortunately the three youngest seemed to forget about that and no tears were shed.
We let the kids have their Easter baskets the day before Easter for different reasons. The first was to keep the focus of Easter Sunday more on Jesus and less on the Easter bunny. The second being that we simply don't have time to let the kids dig through their Easter baskets along with cooking a big Easter meal, dressing everyone, making sure little nails are painted, and trying to keep the house in order for company coming. And the third reason is that there are simply no child care workers at Great Light that I hate enough to send three sugared up kids into their care. The kids were simply awful that morning after they spent the wee hours of the morning chowing down on chocolate bunnies, lollipops, nerds, and jellybeans.
The computer has been on the fritz for the past couple of months keeping me from being able to update more often, but I will do my very best to get back on here and give you the recipes for my favorite spring tea that some of us ladies will be serving at our mother/daughter luncheon we're having at church the end of June.
Strawberry Soup, Chicken Salad, Quiche, Fresh Fruit, Crusty French Bread, and Iced Tea.
I also need to give you the recipe for Ally's famous Lemonade Cookies. Yes, I will hopefully get back on here in the next day or two. Talk to you soon!!

Want to know where I've been??

I'm aware that it has been positively forever since I've been on here and for that I apologize. Life in this house as been anything but fun or creative this past month and a half. As I have mentioned before, this baby has been a little unkind in it's treatment of it's Mommy this trimester.
I have been sicker than I was with any of the other babies. In the bed a lot and depending on my selfless daughters and husband to take over ALL the chores including: cooking, cleaning, laundry, school, shopping, and ironing.
Then the kicker came about two weeks ago. Charlie got sick. At this particular moment, my memory escapes me as to what exactly he got sick with. I just remember that he was the start of it all. He stayed sick with fevers, coughs, throw-ups, diarrhea, runny nose for a few days, then he gave it to Danny. Both boys were in my bed with fevers and Charlie still throwing up (on my nice, white, down comforter). A few days later Molly came home from a friends house burning up with fever and saying her head hurt. By that night her temperature had sky rocketed and she was throwing up. She threw up and had seriously high fevers for two days. Then I got the stomach flu and Jonny came down with a sinus infection. Both of us were in the bed bringing whichever little one was crying the hardest with us.
The next morning Meghan started throwing up. Then that same day Molly started having coughing fits and both boys started in with the diarrhea and throwing up again.
By Sunday (a week and a half into it) we thought we were on the mend, when Danny had a diaper blow-out and Charlie called me into his room that night saying "yook!". He was laying in throw-up.
We have watched Charlie lose more weight over the past two weeks than I've ever seen a two year boy lose, we've seen all the blood vessels on Molly's face break from the high fevers and having the dry heaves. We've dealt with crying, whining, fussing, fighting, and everything else that a two year old or four year old does to vent when he or she is feeling bad.
It's now Monday morning and I've taken Charlie to the doctor. He has an ear infection and possibly a little bit of pneumonia.
So far this morning all we've seen is a little coughing from Molly and Charlie, and a couple of diaper blow-outs. But all five kids have eaten very well today and as of yesterday, I am officially in my second trimester with high hopes of being on my way out of all-day sickness.
This is the sad but true most recent account of my life.
Hopefully next time I find time to sit here, I'll have something more interesting and educational to share with you!

My girls

These are my big girls, Ally and Meghan. I could not be more proud of these girls if they grew up to be presidents. They are my gifts from God. They are living proof that if we take the time to train our children, they will use this training to God's glory and our benefits.

Starting last Saturday, morning sickness (or more accurately, all day sickness) began. It has gotten steadily worse each day, until no longer does food sound good and even slightly rocking in the rocking chair is enough to make my stomach turn.

I have been slightly less sick first thing in the morning, so I've been trying to quickly get myself and the babies ready, my bed made and the laundry going. Their school schedules are not difficult because I can make those from my chair.

When I was pregnant with the boys, I was so ill that I was completely bed-ridden for the first and last trimesters. This time around, I am trying my hardest to get myself prettied-up and down to the recliner if for no other reason than to be an adult presence for my kiddos.

In spite of this set back, I just walked downstairs where I found a sparkling house, happy boys, the washer and dryer both going, fresh banana bread baking, and dinner in the oven.

My girls wanted to see me happy and they have been successful.

I remember when they were little and they wanted to help cook or wash the dishes or do the laundry, thinking "I could do this so much faster and so much neater by myself!", but I would take the time to stand over them showing them how to do their jobs well. I was not always patient mind you. I still get frustrated when a job isn't done the way I like it done. Nearly six kids and I'm still way too uptight:-(

The rewards I am now reaping have made those hours well worth it. The girls do a better job at keeping house than I do. They sing while they work, they play games to while away the hours spent at the kitchen sink, they quote favorite movie lines. There is a general attitude of cheerfulness and contentedness while they go about their work.

God promises us that if we "Train up our child in the way he (or she) should go, when they are old they will not depart from it." Although my children are not old yet, I am already seeing Him fulfill His promise to me.

I am so proud of my girls, and so grateful that God gave them to me!

Delicious Dinner!!

Every time I sit down here to write, my first thought is "I wish I had time to do this more often." But life just seems to keep getting in the way of computer time!
Christmas was extremely busy, even though I kept on looking for ways to make it laid back. I will say, that this was the best Christmas our family has ever had. We enjoyed each other so much. Jonny got to take off work basically the entire week of Christmas, Nate and Steph came with their precious babies, the food was delicious, all five little ones were completely quiet while Papa read Luke 2, we got so many gifts that we kept losing children under all the wrapping paper, we watched all the Christmas movies, I made toffee three times due to the high demand, we were all healthy.
I felt God's blessings this year more than I ever have.

I don't usually have as hard of a time going into January as I have this year. I was really sad to see the Christmas decorations come down, to take down the lights, to stop baking, and to have to stop the general attitude in the house of vacation.
Starting school this year has been a little difficult for me and for the girls. This could be partially attributed to the fact that I discovered the day after Christmas that the sixth Jeppsen baby is on their way.
This particular pregnancy has exhausted me so far. No sickness as of yet, just that weary feeling that starts when my eyes open in the morning and lasts until they close again at night. Maybe it's because I'm getting older:-(

Well onto the purpose for this post. I mentioned tonight on Facebook that we were having a feast for dinner, and was asked to put the menu along with recipes on here. So here we go.
Tonight I made Roast Beef with pan gravy, mashed red potatoes, glazed baby carrots, broccoli with cheese sauce, rolls, and chocolate layer cake. I should technically be cutting way back on the fat intake after a rather rich December, but I just love cooking in January! Not to mention that I got a new double oven that I couldn't wait to use.

The recipe for the roast is on one of my first posts entitled "Regarding Roast" and the chocolate layer cake, I'm sad to say, was from a box, but the rest of the recipes I will put on here for you.

Glazed Baby Carrots
Put about 4 cups of baby carrots into a skillet full of boiling water and let boil just about five minutes. Drain the water and add a half a stick of butter to the carrots. Allow the butter to melt and then put in a cup of OJ and 1/4 cup of honey and let simmer about ten minutes stirring every couple of minutes.

Mashed Red Potatoes
My entire cooking life, I have used Russett potatoes for making mashed potatoes. That is until I went to my in-laws the week of Christmas and had my mother-in-laws mashed red potatoes. They were so delicious that I new I had to change my ways. I'm not exactly sure how she made hers, but I just scrubbed and boiled about six pounds of them until they were easy to cut. Then I drained them and put them in my mixer. I had to use the bread hook because they were to thick for my whisk attachment to handle. Then I slowly poured in enough whole milk to make them nice and creamy and added way to much butter and salt to tell you about. You put in as much as you like. They were amazing!! We poured the pan gravy over them that I made with the help of my sister-in-law, using the roast drippings, gravy mix, salt, pepper, and beef broth. Delicious!!!

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce
I just steamed a bunch of broccoli in the microwave for about six minutes and then made the best cheese sauce I've ever tasted. I've always just melted Velveeta and added a little milk to it, but this was a million times better! You put about a cup and a half of extra sharp cheddar cheese, a block of cream cheese, and four slices of American cheese into the food processor. Add about 3 to 4 tablespoons of whole milk and about 5 drops of Tabasco sauce. Blend it until it's completely smooth and then put it in a double boiler and slowly melt it stirring with a whisk until it's nice and creamy. Then pour over the broccoli. Even Jonny liked this recipe and he really prefers his broccoli without cheese.

It really was a delicious dinner although it took me about three hours to make, not to mention the time it's taking the girls to clean up from it. I usually try to keep the kitchen clean while I'm cooking, but because the girls were at art class and I had all three babies by myself, not to mention about ten different foods cooking at the same time, the place looks like a hurricane ran through it. Thank goodness for big girls;-)

I am off now to sit on the couch and try relax despite the fact that the boys destroyed the living room while "watching a movie" this evening. The question is, can I actually sit and ignore it, or will I have to clean it up first. Hhhmmm.....
Off to clean up!

Christmas Traditions

Look at me will you?! Two days in a row!! I am sitting at my desk surrounded by Christmas lights. The fireplace making the room cozy and warm while the wind is whipping outside. The house smells like cinnamon and pomanders. Jonny is heading out to get the four of us bigger folk some dinner so we can have a fun evening sitting in front of the fireplace and watching "A Christmas Story", one of my all time favorites.
Both boys just went down for bed with Vicks in the humidifier to hopefully soothe their atrocious coughs, and Ally is reading a book to Molly so she can head off to cuddle under her covers.
All is peaceful and quiet in the house.
My Christmas shopping is officially done, and as of this afternoon, most of my gifts are wrapped and I got my Christmas cards ready to be put in the mail.
Things feel strangely calm around here.
I thought I would steal a few moments to share with you some of our families favorite traditions. I was recently asked to teach a class on traditions in a friends church, so these are all very fresh in my mind.
When I was first married, Jonny and I put up our very formal tree sometime the beginning of October. I was bound and bent on starting up the fireplace even though it was Indian summer. The house got so hot that we had the air conditioner running and all the windows open as well. I decorated my house with my few pewny what-nots and bought an Ann Murray cassette.
I wanted so badly to have a certain type of Christmas, but being a new bride, I had no idea what that certain type of Christmas should look like.
A few years later, after Ally and Meghan came along, I decided we needed a more friendly tree and so I hit the after Christmas sales and stocked up on snowman, Santa, and candy ornaments.
We also started making Christmas cookies and having a tree-decorating night with Nana and Papa and all kinds of finger foods.
Then as our family continued to grow, I discovered the pickle ornament. After seeing someone open one of these interesting ornaments at an ornament exchange and hearing the oohs and aahs that filled the room, I was instantly curious. The tradition is to hide the pickle somewhere in the depths of the tree and whoever finds it first gets to open the first gift.
In our house, we let whoever finds it, be the gift passer-outer. Our kids really enjoy this tradition.

Another tradition we have is going to Silver Dollar City and having the kids picture made with Santa. Then we pay to have it put in an ornament and hang it on the tree. Our tree is covered with ornaments that start when Meghan was a baby to now having five children surrounding the smiling Santa (which by the way, our family has deemed the "Real Santa").
I have come to the conclusion that by the time our kids are grown, I will have to have a tree that is especially designated to hold the Silver Dollar City ornaments.
Something else we've started in the past few years, is a shopping day with me and the big girls.
When we first started, it consisted of lunch at McDonalds and trying to make their five dollars stretch for everyone on their list. It has now become on of my favorite nights of the year. We went last night and had the best time! The girls now have allowances, not to mention the little odd jobs we've found for them around the house the last couple of months. So they had a nice stash put aside to spend. We started out with a little shopping, then had sushi at Oceans Zen. I quickly figured out that my girls are growing up when the host kept insisting that we wait in the bar and have a drink until our table was ready. We spent dinner laughing over how easy it is to embarrass Ally and how frequently Meghan would look at herself in the mirror to make sure that the face she just made, didn't in any way detract from her lovely outfit.
Then we headed off to the mall to finish our shopping, then ended the night with "The Chronicles of Narnia". It was a marvelous evening!

I have realized through the years that you don't force traditions. Traditions happen slowly and often by accident. You don't necessarily use everyone you grew up with. You make your own. Write them down. I recommend buying a Christmas journal. It might sound silly, but I keep track of every gift I buy each year, how much it cost, what we had for dinner, what parties we hosted, who we sent Christmas cards to, and how God has worked on our family that year to make that particular Christmas different from the one before. I so enjoy pulling it out and reviewing each year.
I hope that you have found your special Christmas traditions that you enjoy with your family. I would love to hear about some of them. I'm always looking for something new to try each year.

Good night readers:-)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!!!

Well I'm finally getting a few minutes together to post about the season that I have been looking foward to posting about since last February. But now that it's upon me, I haven't been able to find two seconds together. My problem is that I'm constantly trying to get everything done well before Christmas so that the days before, I have nothing to do but play board games with my girls, sip hot cocoa, and watch Christmas movies. That day usually comes January 2nd when it's time to start school again:-(

The Springfield News Leader came this past Monday morning and took pictures of our house to feature in the paper Sunday December 19th. So between getting ready for that, shopping for the perfect gifts, wrapping these perfect gifts, making Christmas candy, making sure the pantry is stocked up with all the last minute things that one needs to make Christmas dinner that the store always runs out of, and repairing all of the ornaments that the boys keep breaking, the hot cocoa and board games evenings have been few and far between.

Every year starting in December, I have this nightmare that it's Christmas Eve and I haven't done anything. The tree isn't up, the gifts aren't bought, the food isn't prepared. Ever watched "Christmas with the Kranks"? That is my nightmare so perfectly pictured, that while everyone else is laughing, I'm biting my nails hoping that this year she gets to the ham in time, or that Frosty doesn't fall off the roof, or that the store does have white chocolate.

You needn't worry about me though. I am determined to relax the remainder of this month. I am anxiously anticipating my shopping trip with the big girls tonight along with dinner and a movie. I had a wonderful evening in Branson with Jonny last night looking at lights and eating a delicious dinner. I am stocked up on hot cocoa and I bought a new board game yesterday while Meghan and I were out shopping for winter gear just in case in snows this year.

That is the one bummer about living in this area, is that inevitably, if we buy snow gear it never snows, and if we don't guess what? A snowstorm.

Apparently everyone else in Springfield has realized the same thing. Which is why last year when Christmas Eve day came and the big snow was in the forecast, everyone and their brother, including my husband and daughters ran for the nearest Target or Wal-Mart to see if they could snag a pair of boots or a sled.

Oh well. This year I will be prepared no matter what happens. As Jonny pointed out last night, a Proverbs 31 woman doesn't worry about the cold because her house is dressed in scarves and snow boots;-)

I am planning on redecorating my blog next week after the pictures that the New Leader took are available. It's positively silly how excited I am to see pictures of my own house.

I also am going to try my hardest to get on here again in the next couple of days and post some of my favorite holiday recipes for you.

Strawberry salad, English toffee, popcorn balls, and buckeyes are just some of the recipes I am anxious to share with you.

I need to skidder off now to get myself ready for my night with Ally and Meg. If you're out looking at Christmas lights one night, be sure to drive by and see Jonny's masterpiece. The house looks better than it ever has this year!! He even did the tree house!!!

Merry Christmas to you all!