On The Twelfth Day of December

On the twelfth day of December my true love made for me three book shelves to sit on my stairwell. He did a fine job, if I do say so myself! He wanted them to match the shelves already hanging on the walls so he made them of oak and bought a router to create the proper edge on them.

 We tried to stain them to match the existing shelves but I think we managed to match the window trim better. At least they match something.
I am so excited about them, I had thought I might try doing them and If I had they would have been much simpler and clunkier looking so I am very pleased!

Things I am enjoying...

Life is good and we are very  blessed! Here are a few of the blessings.

Last Friday we went to a Farmer's Market and bought a couple bushels of tomatoes, some green peppers, celery and onions. While we were there we tried a fruit that was most interesting, it had a gelatinous clear white flesh, a brown skin and a large shiny black seed. I thought it was pretty tasty, but no one in my family shared that view. Travis and Bea refused to try it and Gregory and Margaret hated it. I now have three seeds I hope to plant and see if it will grow next summer, just for fun. I also bought bok choy and think I ought to buy it more often, it went very well in a shrimp chow mien I made for lunch when we got home. Saturday we canned 15 quarts of spaghetti sauce.

Gregory loved the job of juicing!

I am very thankful for hard workers. Margaret stuck to it and worked until the whole job was completed. It is so nice to have good and willing helpers.

Bea turns 8!

Creativity is a wonderful thing and Margaret is enjoying seeing what she can make with yarn and a crochet hook. Bea is modeling her new cape with a hood that Margaret made her for her birthday.

I love plaids!

.And I love her wearing them even more!

Sweet visits with my honey....

And daughters that take pictures of us.

Good friends!

Harrison turned 13!

Great times playing with friends. Here they are ready to head out and battle with the air soft guns.

Clouds reflecting the beautiful sunset. Driving from dance to church the other night we saw the prettiest sunset. It had such deep hues, I kept calling to the kids to look as we came around trees or houses and it was in view again. They thought I was being rather redundant but it was pretty and I wanted them to enjoy it with me. This is the season for good walks and we have been enjoying them too.

Just for Fun

 Just for the fun of enjoying this amazing fall day we took a bike ride around lake Phalen. We were even blessed with surprise visitors who joined us and made it even more fun. Henry got to go along too! The sun was bright and shiny, the air was a perfect 75 degrees and the trail was fine. We rode fast and made it home and back again in one hour. I think that is pretty good.  We typically stop at a park or the beach so that is probably why it seemed so efficient to me.

~♥~

Just because I like to play with my food I made a batch of white looking and a batch of brown looking bread this week and then the kids and I made different shapes with some of the dough and I also rolled two loaves up like cinnamon rolls. When the loaves were sliced they were quite pretty. I forgot to take a picture of them baked and sliced so I will have to do it again some day. They were even quite tasty. I used coconut, barley and oat flour with a little bread flour to make the white loaf, then for the brown loaf I used molasses and mostly hard red wheat.

 ~♥~

 Just for fun four girls made a fort way out in the woods and wanted to sleep in it that night. Just for fun these boys went with us to see if said fort was a safe place to sleep. Just out of curiosity we asked if they even all fit into this fort and this is how it worked, one sat up and the others criss-crossed and they all fit. Just because he cares Grandpa went and helped them increase the size and put a tarp over the top and they slept soundly all night long in the fort that they built with there own 8 hands.

~♥~

Just because he likes to be a rascal Harrison groaned and told me he hates list when I broke out the to-do list for Saturday. And just because he wanted to prove how efficient a list can make things he (and we) got our things down in record time!

Just thought you would want to know,
~Anna

Ginger Cookies

I remember when I first had these, Molly gave them to us one year when I was about 11 on a plate full of Christmas cookies. She made hers bigger than I make mine and they were harder but I loved the flavor, so I asked for the recipe. I make Ginger cookies most often when we are traveling and they need to be good at a later date. They travel, freeze and store great. Keeping their chewiness and flavor for quite awhile.

Ginger Cookies


1 1/4 cup oil
2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses, any strength is fine

Cream these together until they are well mixed and fluffy.

4 cups flour ( I use mostly whole wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cloves

Add 2 cups of the flour and all the spices to the previous ingredients, mix them well and then add the next 2 cups of flour. Mix dough until all ingredients have been well incorporated.

Refrigerate dough for 1 hour, a little more or less is just fine. (If you don't refrigerate the dough you will have a flatter cookie (like those in the picture above))

Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Roll teaspoons full of dough into balls. Then roll them in granulated sugar before placing balls two inches apart on cookie sheet.
Bake for 5-7 minutes or until browned and beginning to set. I like to over bake them just a little. Doughy ginger cookies just don't seem as good as doughy chocolate chip cookies. Almost burnt ginger cookies can be quite tasty, so if you are going to go one way or the other I recommend over done.
Enjoy warm cookies with a fresh cup of coffee or a cold glass of milk.
~Anna

New Look # 2

Once more we have added to our

 mouth bling and now we have three sets of braces in this house. It doesn't seem like you can see them in their mouths very well in the pictures but Margaret is indeed sporting top and bottom sets of braces and Beatrice has them on her top teeth. Harrison actually has added to his as well and has them on the bottom row, too. I didn't think to take a picture of him for this post.

          Since Margaret got both sets on, on the same day her poor mouth hurt quite a bit more than Harrison and Beatrice's did when theirs were put on. She has recovered well and they are all eating about normal. Although every once in awhile I remember they do have braces when I suggest carrot sticks and whole apples for snacks. Those really aren't the best choices. I made apple sauce this week so they could eat more apples, easier. Having the girls with braces is helping Harrison with his tooth brushing. I think it is getting done more regularly now.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was kind of the main baker growing up and I did a lot of baking to keep up with our family's ravenous appetites, especially Peter's. He often needed a sweet treat when he returned from an afternoon spent cross country skiing. In northern Minnesota you can burn a lot of calories doing that. Items with chocolate were his favorites, all of ours really. So this recipe was adjusted years ago to fit our family of eight and I have continued to adjust it as my baking style changes, like adding whole wheat to it for the last ten years. So here you go, my
Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

2 cups butter
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup dry milk
2 cups brown sugar ( I often fill a 2 c. measuring cup 1/3 full with minced dates and then put the brown sugar over top of this to add a little more nutrients to the cookies)
4 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs

Place this all in a large mixing bowl and then beat together until thoroughly creamed and mixture is fluffy. Then add:

1 cup oatmeal
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups whole wheat flour

Mix this well and add:

2 cups white flour
12 ounces of chocolate chips

Mix this well.
Drop onto greased cookie sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart and bake at 375* for 7-10 minutes, until they are nicely browned and set.

When they have cooled a little, remove from cookie sheet.
♪This recipe makes a lot, I am not really into counting cookies but I think it might make about 8 dozen. Enough to last a few days or more around here.
♫ I sometimes make the dough the night before and bake these for breakfast. I figure with a glass of milk and some fruit on the side they are a fairly balanced diet. When I do that I also sometimes use oil for 1 cup of the butter. It is cheaper and depending on what health food group you are listening to it might be better for you. Once I have it mixed up I cover the bowl and store it in the fridge until I am ready to put them onto their cookie sheets for baking.
Happy Baking!
~Anna

A Book Review; J.R.R. Tolkien by Mark Horne

This book is a brief biography of the life and times of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. I chose to read this book because I have never been very into The Hobbit or any of J.R.R. Tolkien's books but yet I am impressed that his books have been so widely read and so popular for many years. I wanted to know the man behind the books. I now want to read The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The book spent a fair amount of time explaining different parts of the trilogy and where in his life he was at when he wrote it. Mr. Tolkien was part of reading and book circles most of his adult life  and received much encouragement from the men in these groups to pursue his creative writing. It was neat to know that the books began as stories he wrote for his children each Christmas, year after year. Although this book did tell about J.R.R. Tolkien it did it in a very factual way, rather than in a story form. Not bad, but not as entertaining as it could be.
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Honey Whole Wheat Muffins

This month we have been enjoying fresh raw honey and also as a special treat honey in the comb from Abbi's honey bees. It has been a special treat that we have enjoyed on our bread with butter, in tea and even by the spoonful (the honey comb). It has certainly been a sweet and sticky treat! This morning however we branched out and had it in baked goods. Chocolate chip muffins were requested for breakfast so that is what we had, or the children had. Travis and I had chocolate chip muffins minus the chips and they were delicious. These are plenty sweet enough to be used like a cupcake and served with a little frosting to dress them up. The original recipe prior my modifications came from my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It is my regular go-to cook book that my Grandma Cleone gave me for Christmas in 1991. It is getting very dog-eared and worn but I continue to use it regularly. It has all the basics in it.

Honey Whole Wheat Muffins

The orange zest adds a just-right touch to the honey flavor!

3 cups Whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

3 beaten eggs

1/2 cup kefir

1 cup milk

3/4 cup oil

1 1/2 cup honey

Zest of one orange

optional: mini chocolate chips

In a large mixing bowl stir all of the dry ingredients together.

All at once add the liquid ingredients, mix together well.

Line or grease 30 muffin cups. Fill with batter 2/3 or so full. If you wish to have chocolate chips in yours add about a tablespoon to each batter filled cup.

Bake at 385○ for 18 - 20 minutes.

Serve warm and enjoy!

~Anna

♥ If your family is smaller that mine you can easily half this recipe or 1/3 it as I have tripled the original recipe for our family's needs. They should keep well for a few days, too, in your refrigerator, I wouldn't know since we finish them to quickly.

Savoring the end of summer

Here is a 'brief" synopsis of our perfect summer day, in pictures. We have had a lot of wonderful days recently. Weather and activity wise. I feel saddened that summer is coming to an end and the freedom it brings from knuckling down to schoolwork. Learning in a leisurely way is fun, though not productive enough to allow to go on always. I am trying not to feel too sad that we haven't gotten in as many bike rides and canoe trips as I had wanted this summer. Maybe fall will give us several more opportunities for those things.

So, onto today's delights,

We started the day off at the baseball diamonds. It was a sunny, high wind day and so delightful to be out in. Here is Gregory with some of his team mates, the Brown Cannon Balls! They were in great form, all of them, hardly ever getting struck out. The Green Lightnings were playing a mean outfield so they had to run fast to get on base.

This noon Harrison and Gregory were wanting to get right onto the computer when we returned home so I was suggesting books for them to read. Harrison thinks he has read all of the books in this house that interest him so I was trying to give him some new ideas. We have a lot of great books around here that he hasn't read, although he has read a large percentage of them, there are a few gems left. Today however was not the day to deviate from the old tried and true and this time he introduced one of his favorites to Gregory. For an hour after lunch Harrison read out loud the Boys Book of Sea Fights by Chelsea Curtis Fraser. I have never read the book but I think Harrison has read it enough times for every one in this house to have read it at least once. I should look and see if Chelsea has written any other books. This one is a good fit for him, in that it is geography and fighting in one cover.

We played board games and then while I let everyone have their computerized time I ran and got groceries. I have been on an every other week big grocery shopping, little grocery shopping pattern. The little week I just get the basics at Kwik Trip since they have the best price on milk and bananas. This was the big week. Some played dolls. I was the grandma and had to pick the beans for supper with a doll on my hip. Because Suzy wanted to see Grandma. For supper we enjoyed beans cooked in olive oil and a liberal amount of slivered garlic; fresh tomatoes; apples (from our tree) fried in butter, cinnamon and brown sugar; round steak baked in a lovely gravy and mashed potatoes. I actually had salmon since I am not eating beef right now. But the gravy looked and smelled very lovely. All in all it was a yummy meal. Although I threw in a picture of my lemon drop pepper plant we didn't eat any of those, I just like how many peppers it has on it. And they played some basketball.

So the end of a good day has come. I am including a picture from our walk on Monday evening since it fits the theme so well. They have been overhauling the train tracks the last week or so so we needed to check out their progress.

All my love,

~Anna

Coffee Vanilla Bean Cookies

I love to drink coffee and I love vanilla so this should be a win-win cookie. It really is only a win but I do want to write down the recipe in case I ever feel the need to make them again, which is quite possible. They are very tasty. They hold up pretty well too, for storing. I took some four days after I made them to lunch with some lady friends (not kids, although they like them to) of mine and they all thought they were pretty good, so they do keep pretty well.

A few years back I was reading a blog called I am Mommy, I think, and she had a sugar cookie with coffee in it recipe she put up. I finally tried it this winter, but at the time I didn't have a coffee grinder and used pre-ground coffee from a can and we weren't too thrilled with the results so I tossed that recipe. Now this past week when I was messing with both the vanilla beans and putting away our coffee I thought about that recipe and decided I would try it again only now I couldn't find it so I came up with this one. Which was a winner in our book. I hope you like it as well. The basic recipe came from Margaret's Betty Crocker cookbook called Brown Sugar Refrigerator Cookies.This is what you need to make the cookies.

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 egg

1 1/2 cup white flour

1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

I doubled the recipe and used 4 cups whole wheat but I think a little less whole wheat would be better.

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon vanilla beans

I used vanilla beans that I had already had soaking in vodka for about 1 year so they weren't as powerful. If you are using fresh beans I would say don't use the liquid vanilla. You be the judge though.

To get the beans out of the pod I cut it lengthwise with my kitchen scissors and then used a teaspoon to scrape down the middle and collect the beans that way. It goes real easy.

1/4 cup very finely ground coffee.

We get our coffee beans from Feed My Starving Children and really love the flavor!

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

This is how you make the cookies:

1. In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and egg until nice a creamy. Stir in the remaining ingredients until mixed well.

2. Shape dough into a 1 1/2 inch diameter log on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap and refrigerate 2-12 hours. I wouldn't go any longer for fear of your coffee getting bitter flavored.

They just need to be cooled until they are firm enough to hold their shape.

3. Heat oven to 375○ F.

4. Unwrap log and slice into 1/4 inch slice. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Then I dipped a glass in sugar and flattened each one a little more. Making sure I put plenty of sugar on it to give it a nice sparkly look.

5. Bake for 6-9 minutes or until browned lightly. Cool 1-2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet.

I frosted some of the cookies with a glaze of powdered sugar, vanilla beans and half and half. I thought that added a nice touch but it didn't really affect the flavor. The icing dried hard so it was good for stacking.

Enjoy,

~Anna

P.S. If you don't have a coffee grinder I bet you could get what you need from a coffee shop.

Canning

Summer is here and so is preparing food for the winter.

I did something this week that I have never done before. I was pretty proud of myself when I thought of it so I am going to share with you my lovely efforts at homemaking.

We buy a whole steer for our beef for the year and that totally maxes out our freezer space, or over maxes it when it comes in so this time I solved a little of the problem. I cooked down all of the soup bones the day after I brought home our beef and then canned the meat and broth so it is all ready to pour into soups or noodles or whatever I need broth for. I am just thrilled with my efficiency. It took two days of quite a bit of labor and now I have 29 quarts of beef stock all put away and ready for a quick meal.

One day while the broth was canning we also made 9 pints of hot pepper jelly. Margaret chopped all of the peppers for me. Which was wonderful and Travis stirred the jam while it came to a boil.

Such helpers I have. We love hot pepper jelly with cream cheese and crackers for a light meal or snack. So I am excited to have all of those jars ready for later as well. In other food preservation news we have canned 14 pints of black raspberry jam this month. I am always very proud of ourselves with that one since we have to fight for every berry from the very prickly viney bushes they grow on that don't like us taking from them. Unfortunately we have already eaten two jars. At that rate we will be through it before winter even sets in.

We also had a visit from Travis' parents this week and they brought us green beans, corn and other treats from their garden. Monday we canned 21 quarts of green beans and put several packages of corn in the freezer, now our freezer is completely full!

We have done more canning this past week than I have done in several years. It is so exciting to use my jars again!.

Happy food preservation to you!

~Anna

Book Review

This is a review for the book Pujols, More Than the Game.

I need to do a bit of a disclaimer about myself before I tell you my opinion on the book. I am not a huge baseball fan, in fact I hadn't even heard of Albert Pujols before I read this book, so I probably shouldn't have chosen to read it, but I read more than the game in the title and thought that meant it would be more his life than about baseball statistics.

Albert Pujols sounds like a very neat guy. He has amazing baseball skills and a deep love for the Lord. He has a desire to serve and help children with down syndrome and their families. He also does alot for the people in the Dominican Republic, which is where he is from. The chapters telling about these works were very fun to read. Unfortunately a lot of chapters spent a lot of time telling about his hitting percentages, RBIs and game plays from games throughout the years, that for a baseball fan would be very interesting to read, but for me was only tedium. What I got out of this book is that Albert Pujols is a very hard working, studious baseball player that wants to do his very best for his team the Cardinals and give the honor to God. He is also very dedicated to being a great father and husband.

So, if you are a sports fan you will probably love this book if you aren't, this book may not be for you.

Our New Look

In the past weeks we have added some features to our smiles around here. So far they enjoy sporting these new features and don't mind the pain or bother. I pray that continues.

After years of orthodontist visits and following their dental recommendations Harrison is finally wearing their signature products. I totally thought he had managed to skip out of needing them and then in January Dr. said he really felt that it was time to put them on and that he truly needed them the sooner the better. Not for now so much but protecting his teeth for the future. His lower jaw is shorter than his top to much and causing his lower front teeth to wear out, he doesn't have any bumps on those teeth any more and that means that down the road those teeth would be shattering as he ate something hard. The big challenge he is having is learning to play the trumpet around them. His instructor had some good tips this week though so he'll be playing like the pros again soon. The challenge for me is remembering he can't have nuts and so on when I suggest or send a snack. No more whole apples for awhile.I am enjoying what a cute brace wearer he is.

Beatrice's aren't so apparent but she too has extra hardware in her mouth. She is in the first step to getting her teeth lined up in the correct places. Currently she is wearing a retainer that will straighten her top front teeth. She also had a frenectomy this winter and a couple teeth pulled to get her ready for this stage. Then when more permanent teeth are in she will be wearing braces as well. All this for the dream of easy masticating and a smile that is not only beautiful but straight as well.

Today we celebrated the fifth birthday of a Miss Megan. We had the pleasure of having she and her family here for her birthday today.

It takes some good eyes to see it but this is her girl cake (and her behind it :) She directed and helped with the decorating of it. Do you see the party hat on top? the raspberry smile? the chocolate chip eyes? the coconut hair? the brown skin? the number five nose? and the Happy Birthday necktie? It is all there.

Enjoying the changes.

~Anna

Fighting in the Church Yard

The Fight

This Sunday at Church I was lucky enough to see a red tailed hawk attacking a garter snake. It was really cool. Here is my favorite picture that I took.

The Aftermath

This is the aftermath, neither of them really won but I think the snake got the worst of it. Here are two pictures I took after the fight.

One of the hawk.

One of the snake.

-Harrison

My Winter Reading

I have read several books this winter. Some of them I have really enjoyed. So I thought I would share those with you in case you are looking for a good book for your quiet times. A couple were written by friends of ours and that makes them even more special. (Although harder to get, it appears to me, your library isn't likely to host them).

I am going to put these in no other order than random, since I can't choose a favorite and that seems easiest.

This first one was written by a good family friend of ours named Molly Hymes. I Remember When is full of information on how the Alaskans lived before electricity and snowmobiles and so many things that have changed their way of life in the last 50 years or so. It is memories from her childhood on living a subsistence style life in a harsh climate. The beginning of each chapter has a Yupik word and its meaning and then the chapter further describes that word. The book moves quickly and reads easily. It was really fun to get that insight into Molly's life.

The Dash For Khartoum A tale of Nile Expedition by G A Henty. This is a really old book. Its copyright is in the late 1800's. It was very interesting about boys who had been mixed up shortly after birth and no one was able to tell which was which. The one family was significantly wealthier than the other and it was decided that they should raise both and when it became obvious which boy belonged to which family they were to be separated. The boys were raised as twins and unaware that anything was unusual with their parentage. Because of various happenings they get separated in their teen years and both become soldiers for the British army. Through various adventures in Africa we learn how they find their parents. I don't want to give away the story so I won't share any more. I think Harrison would like this book but I haven't been able to get him to read it. One more thing of interest about this book is that I read it all on my computer. Amazon has a lot of free books for Kindle and this was one of them. If you download their app for reading kindle books on a pc you can read it there as well.

The Incredible Secrets of Vinegar by Marie Nadine Antol was a really amazing book full of great ideas for using vinegar, getting you excited to use more vinegar and the history of vinegar. Also it must be a pretty popular book because I had to wait for it while others had it checked out at our library and then I wasn't allowed to keep it any longer because someone else wanted their turn. Anyways, I do want to recheck it out and browse through it some more. I felt like I learned some good stuff from it.

The Joyce Lumber Story Timber Connections by Warren Jewett and Susan Hawkins. We were good friends of Warren when we lived in Grand Rapids so that is the reason I own this book. We also loved to hike, picnic and camp on the Joyce estate north of Grand Rapids when we lived there and I always enjoyed dreaming about the family who had lived on that property. The book gave a lot of information about other Joyce business ventures and not just the history of their time in that area. It starts with the first Joyce in America (1799) and takes you all the way to the last Joyce, Beatrice who died in 1972. If you are researching the logging industry during those years this book would be an excellent resource, if you have lived in northern Mn, parts of IA, and WI this book would be interesting to learn about the early settling of those areas.

I don't really think I will ever out grow my love for Madeleine L'Engle books. They aren't perfect for sure but such good reading, I do think. Margaret really liked this one, A Ring of Endless Light. She beat me to it and so I had to wait for it. I also read Camilla by her as well. It wasn't her best. I want to read the rest of her Austin family series of which this A Ring of Endless Light is one. I read the first in the series years ago and really enjoyed it then but didn't realize it had family.

This book Abbi gave me and I enjoyed it so much I have shared it with several since I read it. The Heart Mender, A Story of Second Chances by Andy Andrews. I don't think his parents had much of an imagination when they named him but he really does a good job writing books. This is a true story and very touching. It had history about World War II that I hadn't realized before this fall. I highly recommend Heart Mender!

It probably shouldn't have been my first time to read To Kill A Mockingbird, but it was. I totally enjoyed it. Sad and touching, that is probably my favorite genre and what I lean towards when choosing a book.

The kids and I have been reading this every evening after I tuck them into bed. Gets us our daily dose of American history in short clips. It always seems to open up a new discussion as well. We have really enjoyed The American Patriot's Almanac by William J Bennett.

Happy reading,

~Anna