Recital Bars

Beatrice had her recital yesterday evening and I was to take a sweet treat to share afterwards. Not really in the mood for baking once I remembered my responsibilities yesterday afternoon I thought of this recipe only because of the appropriateness of the name Recital Bars. They are also very quick and simple to make making them a perfect treat for more than just when you are going to a recital.

I haven't shared a recipe here for awhile so I thought I would give this one to you. I got the recipe out of our church cookbook. It was submitted by someone who plays music for her profession so I suppose she had her share of recitals over the years.

Recital Bars

These are pretty sweet, it wouldn't hurt to cut the sugar down a bit. You can't too much or they won't stick correctly though.

Melt together:

1 cup butter

1cup sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

Stir in :

4 cups oatmeal

Pat in bottom of a 9 x 13 inch pan that is greased, bake for 12 minutes at 350*. Allow to cool and set for a bit.

Melt together: 

6 ounces chocolate chips. (I used more than this, this time)

2/3 c. peanut butter (I never measure this, too messy :)

Spread over oatmeal base.

Allow to set for a bit and cut into small squares. Serve whenever you are ready for them. 

I also have a recipe for funeral bars so someday if I need them I might share that recipe with you, too. Fun names.

Luckily Bea performed yesterday evening because while she was brushing her teeth last night she rested her hand in the door jam of the boys room and got her fingers rather mushed. They are working fine today but we did have our worries about them for a bit.

Ta ta,

~Anna

Today

 It has been a perfect summer day today. I just wish it was actually summer. It worries me that it is so warm and dry right now. I sound like my Grandma, never happy with the weather. But seriously I am choosing to worry about the weather this year. This mild of a winter seems to me that we are going to have a ridiculously hot summer, and this many bugs in March doesn't make me happy either, unless they all die out by the time summer actually arrives. 
Well anyways, we did have a good day today. We did a little of this and a little of that, We got the house relatively cleaned, worked in the yard a little bit, took a bike ride with friends, I banned nerf wars for the day. Life is much more peaceful that way.

When we returned from our ride we washed the van. We aren't perfectionist, but it is much better than it started out. I thought maybe we would also vacuum it, but I forgot to mention it or do it myself. Now we have something to do on an other day. We also watered the apples trees. It seems so dry. 

In between activities a lot of board games were played, I like it when they play them.

Monday we wandered over to the zoo. It was such a pretty day in the conservatory. 
:)
~Anna

My Grandma

February 24, 2012 my Grandma Cleone went home to be with Jesus. She was tired and so ready to have a break, so I am happy for her. But I miss her.Miss her insight into teaching my children, planting a garden, sewing, cooking, all the different things that Grandma had done and was interested in hearing about me doing. Miss that connection to a  place in my history. Hearing her voice. Miss all of her little idiosyncrasies that made her my Grandma.

When I was little I always wanted to sit next to Grandma in the evenings or at church so she could rub her fingers on my hands and arms. She had very soft, warm, round fingers that she would slowly swirl and  curve around on my skin, it was so relaxing.

Growing up Grandma always sent a box at our birthdays and at Christmas time. They were very anticipated events and a lot of fun to open. We could count on a box of whoppers, usually something to wear, something fun and on our birthdays there was always a cake mix with a fun flavor to bake and frosting. For our family who always did things from scratch it was fun to have the crumbling box cakes.

Grandma had a unique way of saying hello when she answered the telephone that was more of a 'yallow', she had a lovely alto voice when she sang. I enjoyed hearing her play the piano for church, it was a heavy chording style that was hers. Listening to her read stories was always fun. At the bottom of this post of my sister's there is a video clip of Grandma reading in 2008 if you would care to hear her read.

Saturday mornings was Grandma's day to call us. When we were little we each took a turn talking to her, gradually that faded away. Then in her older years I tried to call her regularly. Each conversation she would make sure I was still home schooling my children and let me know just how important that was, check on Travis and if he still liked driving trains and she always wanted to hear how church was going. If we had  had a VBS that summer, how that went or other seasonal items. Almost any time of the year she also checked on my garden in some way. How it had produced, had I started planting it, did it grow well, if I was able to can anything from it.

Grandma usually made it up a couple times a summer to visit us in northern MN from southern Iowa. She didn't ever want to get caught in bad weather. But she often timed her visits it seems when there was butchering to be done. A part of life that I may have tried to avoid but she knew how to be a help and wanted to help. 

Grandma really liked to craft; sewing, crocheting, ceramics and lots of other enterprises she liked to try them all. When she would come for a visit she often brought a project for us to do with her. We painted lots of lovely figurines, hers always turned out so much nicer looking than mine. She tried to teach each of us how to crochet. It worked well with Peter and Abbi, me not so much, I never developed an even stitch. 

One time when my mom gave Grandma a perm to give her the wave she liked to have, it washed out her hair dye that she had in to give her a salt and pepper gray look that she had all of my younger days. I couldn't believe she would cover up a most beautiful head of snow white hair with dye. It shook Grandma up a bit to have us all see her white hair since she was a very private person. The gray promptly returned for a few more years but gradually she let it go to white. I didn't understand then just how hard change is. Our comfort zone is a very comfortable place indeed.

Some smells make me think of places or people. Cutting open a grapefruit often makes me think of breakfast at grandma's. She set the halved grapefruit into individual bowls and then she had special grapefruit spoons to dig out the flesh.

When I was in college in Ottumwa, Iowa I was near enough to spend the Saturdays I didn't work visiting or shopping with Grandma. We liked to go down to an outlet mall and browse the stores, we rarely stayed together, but we were together and we always ate lunch at Arby's. A few times we went to the Amanna colonies to a sweater factory store where she liked to get her button-up sweaters. She almost always had a sweater with her to ward off cool breezes.

Most all of the Sundays I was at college the afternoons were spent at her house, she made Peter and I and usually a few friends dinner every week after church.

Grandma wasn't a very cuddly person, we didn't get too many hugs and kisses from her, but yet she showed us love in so many ways. I am very grateful to have had her, and to have all the memories I do. So many more than I can tell. It has been emotional thinking about her this evening, but also rather fun. I do hope you have a Grandma you can reminisce about as well.  

Blessings,

~Anna

We have had quite the week here at the Edwards home. I didn't plan for it, it just came swiftly in the night Sunday. It started just before bedtime my littlest two had tummy aches, not bad, but they did complain to me of this. We had had a very snack-y supper so I thought they may have eaten to much of something. Gregory blamed the orange slices, I don't. All that to say the first two hours of my sleep that night were the longest I got. I started doing laundry at 1:39 am. The poor washer got very few breaks for the next 16 hours and got right back at it Tuesday morning for the last few loads, I thought. Poor Margaret got the bug about 7 am and I wasn't once needed to help her. She hit the toilet every time! I am so very proud of her! and pleased and thankful for her. Monday was a tough day for them but fortunately Daddy was home and had a good book he was reading to them. So for hours they all laid around the living room listening. I ran to L'ttoille Du Norde french immersion at midday to pick up MyKayla. It wasn't just our house that was attacked, I was the sixth adult to sign out a sick child that morning there. She got right into the book and joined the others on the floor with their blankets. Truly a sweet sight if it hadn't been under these circumstances, it would have been lovely. 

It isn't uncommon for Travis to read to his babies for long periods of time but more precious to me this time because Sunday night we watched the movie Courageous. I was way more touched by this movie than I ever expected to be. It drives home the point how very important a Father is in a child's life. Even with good mothers we need our dad's to be present! I strongly recommend that you watch Courageous if you haven't. The best price I found was at cbd
You will be blessed by Courageous. It may be a little corny at times but really it is pretty much just good.
Monday night I introduced my kids to my Uncle Tim via a foggy video. The video was taken just weeks before his life was brought to an end -way to early, in August 1990. He traveled around doing gospel concerts in churches all over the USA and this was a recording of him in Brainerd, MN. I think of Uncle Tim when I hear certain songs still. Two that he sang at that concert keep going through my head since then. The God On the Mountain talks about God being with us wherever we are in good times and bad times He is always with us. When things go wrong, he'll make it right. It is encouraging. The other song I always think of Uncle Tim when I hear is God Bless The USA. Patriotic songs are one of my favorites and this is one of the favorites.Watching the video made me all sentimental, so we got out a few photo albums from that time. Memories are so sweet, and sharing them with my children is even sweeter.
Tuesday we were all healthy, wealthy and wise. We thought we had kicked the flu monster and we were back in the game. Travis and I got our taxes done. Travis went to work. I caucused. The kids kept busy playing, helping, studying, being thankful they were well again.
Wednesday morning at 12:37 we heard a mighty hacking from the bathroom. Harrison was hit by the flu bug in a mighty way. Poor guy has had it the worst of all the children. I hope Thursday is much better for him. We laid low all day today, hoping to strengthen and heal.

In our reading we read The Wonderful Way Babies Are Made. This book covers exactly what the title states, the wonderful way babies are made. It covers details that are maybe uncomfortable to visit about with our children but very important for them to know and understand, before peers misinform them. The Wonderful Way Babies are Made is written from a biblical world view and gives you opportunity to have an important discussion with your children, our most important asset. It is written in layers so you can read it with varying age levels.


This week may not have been what I expected, so far, no music lesson, no swimming, no Wed. night church... but we have been very blessed by extra time just us hanging out, with our buckets handy, as a family. 
I received a letter from an elderly friend today and in closing she reminded me to enjoy the years of my family being with me. Because they go so fast. She double underlined it. It is so true. It is true of any season you are in though, I think. When you look back it will be over so very quickly.


Enjoy the present,
~Anna

Coincidence

co·in·ci·dence

   [koh-in-si-duhns] 

noun

1.

a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance: Our meeting in Venice was pure coincidence.

In our schoolwork this week we have been reading about Vikings and their settling of the countries they settled and their "i viking" habits to sustain themselves when they needed more food or luxury items.They came from Greenland all the way here about 1000 A.D. and settled probably on Newfoundland, but they called it Vinland because of all the grapes Leif and his pals found when they first landed there. Where the vikings went they often left Rune stones. Some have even been found as far inland as here in Minnesota! I found some here in my oven today. I am not sure it was a coincidence, but, maybe.

I was reading a book the other day about an English lady touring our country in 1873. She landed in San Francisco and visited a bit and then headed east, her destination Colorado, but she stopped here and there on her way. Her first stop was Truckee, CA near the "lovely Donner Lake", it sounds like it was quite lovely. When I turned the calendar the next day to February there was a bird's eye view picture of Truckee's train track and a bit of the town.  One thing I thought was fun, the English lady noted that the train was precisely on time at 11pm to take her on to her next destination. So that makes me wonder, Why can't trains be on a schedule in these modern times that I live in?


It is probably a coincidence that although I spent much of the month of January cleaning and organizing my house I feel like it is worse than ever now that February is here. It has nothing to do, I am sure with the fact that my mother-in-law came for a visit last weekend and brought a truckload of stuff in an effort to clean her house. We are now set in all sorts of crafting endeavors! We are having a lot of fun browsing through it and thinking about all the things we can make, but currently I don't want anyone to visit my basement. Soon all will be under control but right now it is a masterful mess.


It is not a coincidence that Margaret has been creating sweet pictures on leather with all of the tools Granny brought up in one of the bins we now harbor in our basement. This puppy is my favorite.

2011 RePlay

January

 Although I know we must have done many exciting things in January I seem to have lost those pictures. I know we took pictures because Jaten Rae came for a visit with her family and Margaret can't be around her without taking at least a few pictures. We went to the Winter Carnival, froze our feet at the Grand Day Parade and toured the Bakken and did school work.

February

 We had a visit from the Johnsons. Had tea parties. Went bowling, went ice skating and did school work.

 March

 We traveled to Bemidj and attended the annual winter retreat at the church there. Where we sang songs, listened to others sing songs, watched a play, heard good preaching and had good fellowship. Harrison attended a one day band festival, we did school work and were involved with other church activities. Beatrice had a frenectomy done and we finalized our decisions about braces on the children's faces.

 April

 We went on a hike at one of our favorite spots for the first time this year. We played Pooh sticks over the little crick. We did school work. Harrison was in Honor band one Saturday, he was honored by Grandma and Grandpa, Keren and Irindee coming to be in the audience for the evening's concert. We also were honored to have the Cobbs be our guest one weekend. We took the first bike ride of the year.

 May

 Beatrice made the decision to have Christ as her Savior and to follow Jesus for the rest of her life.
Gregory turned into a six year old, he chose to have a pyramid cake and asked his friend Walter to come with his family to make the day more special. We went camping at the Wilderness and had more visits from the Johnsons, among others. We did a little school work, but the weather was getting awfully fine to be committed to wholly to the books. We rode bikes. We took a walk to Cub in a down pour so Martha bought shampoo to use on the way home. We try to keep the neighborhood entertained.

June

 On Travis' birthday the girl's had their music recital. Margaret played beautifully on her violin and Beatrice did amazing on the piano. We did a photo shoot with the soon to be newly weds. We went to Feed My Starving Children a couple times. We went to Sharon Bluff Camp for a week. We visited Grandma Cleone. We played with Pandas for a week at VBS. We finished the Life Group year. Travis got a basketball hoop for the kids to play with their friends at. It has been well used. We took a canoe trip on the hottest Sunday.

July

 We had a blast with our neighborhood shooting fireworks and visiting on the fourth of July. We went to Bemidji and had wonderful fellowship with our dear family who live there and joined us there. Pay Day was the board game of the summer, the boys played it most every day, taking breaks to drive Henry crazy with wild nerf wars through out the house. We went to the zoo. Took a canoe trip. We packed bags at Feed My Starving Children. All four of my offspring played in the Junior Horseshoe league this summer.

August

 My little brother married his Molly Bea. 

 We toured the Landmark and took a picture for old times sake. It was one of the first places we toured when we moved to the area.

 We went to our first Twins game and said that was enough.

 Took a trip down the Cannon River. And packed bags at Feed My Starving Children. Took bike rides. Cleaned our teeth and put braces on them. And we had friends and family come visit us!

September

 Margaret turned 11. We did FMSC. We started the school year. We went camping at our favorite camping spot. We took our final canoe trip and bike rides for the year. We had family and friends visit. We sang songs, we read stories, we prayed. Life Group started up for the  year.

 October

 Beatrice turned eight and Harrison turned 13! I grew older. We played bocce ball. We worshiped the Lord. We learned about bridges and arches and concrete. We took a short trip.

November

 We went to the Minnesota History Museum for like the 5th time this year. We celebrated all of our blessings on Thanksgiving. We harvested the last fruits of our garden for this year in the form of carrots. They were great and we were pleased. 

December

 We traveled a round about route to Indiana by going to Bemidji first to watch Keren perform in the Christmas Carol-so well done. We got to spend time with our grandparents! Such a treat. They are such great people. We have been so blessed to have them in our lives. 

We got to spend time with other great folks too and we are so Thankful for that time. Margaret drove the Polaris all by herself for the first time. Harrison had a Christmas concert with his band. Beatrice drew a thousand pictures. Gregory showered love in many ways, I hope he keeps his sweetness. We dreamt dreams, laughed laughs, cried tears, hoped hopes and shared memories. 2011 has been a good one.
Thank you for sharing it with us,
~Anna

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.”