Pumpkin Patch Fun

We had a fun adventure at the Pumpkin Patch earlier this week.
Here are my three playful punks tumbling in the make a scarecrow hay...

Add 4 mamas and 7 other kiddos...and it was a blast!

Tasty Thursday...late night edition

I know, it is not Christmas Eve...but who can resist cookies & milk?
.
This is a cookie recipe I pulled from a website just to use up some spare cornflakes I had hanging around the house. I think the finished product has a bit of a toffee flavor to it...they were good.

Recipe
1 c butter
1 c brown sugar
1 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 c oats
2 c crushed cornflakes

In a large bowl, mix together first 5 ingredients
In seperate bowl, mix together flour, soda, salt. Add this dry mix into the first bowl mix. Stir in oats & cornflakes.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 for about 12 minutes.

at that point

I am there. At that point in the semester where I begin to feel overwhelmed. I get bogged down, and am delayed on turning in a few assignments. I know there is a light at the end of the tunnel...but it is an awfully small pinhead right now. Of course, I do have a wonderful professor who is very understanding about students that have families and jobs :) (I don't think she reads here, haha, maybe I should send her a link?)

It is also the time to decide what to register for next semester. The contract I am under only requires that I have a minimum of 3 more hours before August (easy). They pay for most of the expense. But, I get thinking how many semesters it would take to finish this degree if I only took one class at a time. So, then I think I can do way more than I should. So...I am leaning towards taking one really easy class...at least this time. Of course, none of them are too hard intellectually for me...just time consuming. That's what I'll do...Unless I change my mind again!

Tasty Thursday, October 23 edition

Ta da! This is post number 100! I figured it might as well be about food, right? Enjoy your pumpkin pie recipe...

I used the pie crust recipe from the pioneer woman's site.

The pumpkin pie filling was 2 cups pumpkin (real, I roasted my own, and did it from scratch but you can use canned), 2 eggs, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 2.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice and 12 oz milk. Beat that all together and bake at 450 for 10 minutes, then 350 for 40 minutes. This made 2 pies, and my kids had fun making cut out shapes with bits of pie crust.

Enjoy!

Oh what a random kind of day

I have been putting off posting this week. Mainly, I have been crazy busy, but also I have a special post coming up, and I didn't want it to be a totally random kind of thing. This post is #99. That means the big 100 is right around the corner. I wanted to come up with something grand...but I'm not that kind of person. I would host a giveaway of some sort...but I really do not have anything cool or neat (or new:) to give away.

So, that leaves this post, one short of #100 to ramble in.

My grandmother is having surgery today. That is on my mind. And my aunt & uncle that have to take care of (put up with) her.

I thought you'd enjoy knowing that I am stressed over some special college projects that are due soon. Wow, huh.

My oldest child is jealous of her brother because he got a pack of socks(6 whole pairs) last week and she didn't. (I knew he needed them, I didn't think the she did, and how am I supposed to know that, because she has 500 pairs in the basket everytime I do laundry and never said anything to me...I'll get her some next trip...my bad).

Here's what you get when that brother sneaks Mom's camera (someone else had this on their blog recently...I guess I'm copying...who was that?)

Obviously dirty little sister working a puzzle

Any guesses on what brand of camera we have?

Above-mentioned 6 year old's self portrait.

I'm sure I could go on, but I'll spare you the gory details...

Thanks for listening!

Friday Night Lights (with a shower)

I've never watched the TV show...but I assume it is about the goings-on of High School Football. I was at my alma mater last night for the homecoming game. It was a pretty good game. Our team won., and that always makes it a little sweeter. The girls were all beautiful and the boys were handsome, but a rain shower hit right as they were introducing the court. I felt terrible for them! Most of them kept a smile on their faces, though. The rain continued as we finished watching the game. I was prepared and had brought a bag with ponchos and an umbrella. It was nice to have a (sort of) date with the love of my life (Mr. Snippity...not football :)

Tasty Thursday *small edit*

I did this bread last week, but saved it to share with you today. This is banana bread.


I LOVE banana bread. One of my friends brings me a couple of overripe bananas once in a while. She brought some on a day when I had a couple as well, and that calls for~ a double batch! I do not share my banana bread recipe, because, well, it is top secret. But it is good! It is moist, and yum yum sweet. I do not usually add nuts, but you could if you wanted. This recipe is all from scratch, but I have used a recipe that starts with white cake mix in the past(and that is pretty good, too). So, hope you enjoy the looks of the treat today, it tasted great!

*edited to add*These are mini loaves. I am also pretty bad at overcooking the regular size. My double batch makes about 6 of these. They are 5 inches by 2.5 inches. The wells on the pan are about 1.5 inches deep, but this bread rises, and the finished loaf is about 3 inches at the peak. This is perfect for the bread ministry project I bake for at church. Also, it is just the right size for giveaways!

Princess love

We love princesses. I mean, my dream vacation was Disneyworld!
We were able to meet and dine with Cinderella and her girls.
Evidence:
(don't mind the goofy looks on our faces, we had been awake a looong time and still hadn't had breakfast at this moment in time)

But, if I have to hear Ariel's theme more than another 10 times today, I might have to buy earplugs.
That's all.

They had a blast

I think there was a little bit of sleeping, surprisingly! I have heard all kinds of stories, and they are all good. The adults in charge said everyone was well behaved, and that was good news, too. The day has been busy since then with a soccer game and housework. Mr. Snippity and eldest child worked on some minor exterior housework.

I've worked on a new 'homemade' endeavor this evening. It certainly is not something I'd ever think to do except I read about it on another blag, and went hmmmm....I'll have to see how it turns out and share the results one day soon, after it has been thoroughly tested.

I watched a movie last night called Waitress. It was rather quirky, and not at all what I expected. Mr. Snippity says I always pick movies that are unusual. He's right. A few years ago when we used Netflix (you know, back when I thought I had time to watch movies) I did find some rather interesting movies... This particular one did cause Mr. Snippity and I to have some hilarious discussion that chased rabbits and ended up with us selling the house, buying an RV and me homeschooling the kids while he worked odd jobs wherever we ended up, or buying a farm. (That is SO not gonna happen).

Lock-In

I just left my oldest at a lock-in. This is a first for her, and I am excited! She took 3 friends with her. I hope they all behave reasonably well...I remember similar events from my youth, and we were kinda bad sometimes. At least I trust the adults in charge very much. (They are family, the good side , haha!)

They are going on a digital scavenger hunt in town...I hope the town is ready! (They aren't going to do the 'lock' part until a lot later :) I can't wait to hear the stories!

Tasty Thursday

Today's treat:
Veggie Rice Pilaf

Who says the treat of the day must be sweet?
I had never made rice pilaf before. Today was an experiment. It turned out delicious. I did a search on "how to make rice pilaf", used the first result here, made a few substitutions and voila!
I used some leftover vegetable soup stock(about 2 cups liquid) instead of the chicken, and threw in some cooked vegetables from the soup towards the end (also about 2 cups veggies like carrots, green beans, corn, peas, onion, rutebega, tomatoes, maybe a leaf or two from a brussels sprout, whatever I threw in the soup.).

The kids ate it surprisingly well. Of course some just picked out the veggies and ate those, but who would complain about a kid eating just their vegetables? I loved it as my main dish.

after the conference

The conference was okay. Another of Hannah's teachers was invited to join us, and that was good. She was so much more professional and positive towards my child, even when she was talking to her about what the deal was. I don't think that the first teacher and I are going to be best buddies or anything, but we've come up with some ideas to help my daughter remember to do her homework. We'll put it into practice, and see how it is working in short order. We all think she is just trying to get out of as much work as she can (maybe some lazy going on???).

On another note, church tonight was so uplifting. I needed that! We had some major prayer, and it always makes me feel good to be reminded of the promises God has made us!

teacher conference

Today, I have the dubious distiction of getting to go to a teacher conference. Not the fun kind, like I am a teacher and we get to travel and netwrok. Nope. i am the parent, and I am meeting with a teacher that my child is having issues with her class. I have a few points to discuss, and questions to ask. But, I'm still a bit nervous. I requested this conference, but I am somewhat dreading it. I guess I don't like conflict (mostly), but if I have to I will say what needs to be said. I know my kid is not an angel...but I think there may be other issues. So, hopefully, we can get through this without too much stress. :)

happy monday

Hello, and Happy Monday!

What, you aren't all cheerful and smiling today? I am. It's nice and warm here. However, this snippy gal didn't have time to shave this morning, so I'm wearing pants (yuck). That, and several other minor things have tried to cause me to lose my good frame of mind...but I'm not letting it work! It is always hard for me to get back into my groove on Monday. After weekends I'm usually recuperating from soccer, sleepovers, church, shopping, etc...but today, I'm determined to be happy all the day! The day is more than half over & I'm still there, so chances are good that this will stick!

Flashback

I had the opportunity to attend a football game at my old high school. This was the second game I remember going to since that time. I went to one about 6 years ago, too. This time, there were so many changes! Since then, the school had grown and was split when a new building was completed in another part of our county. This school building had been remodeled. It looks the same from the front (pretty much). But move around to the side, and it was so changed. A lot of little changes that made abig difference. At least the field was in the same place!

Some other things were very similar. All the kids going constantly up & down the bleachers. People wearing their school colors and cheering out. The kids' socializing down by the concession stand (which was different, but so much better!).

I was part of this organization, back in the day...they are smaller than when I was there, but still sounded nice.


And isn't it always nice to go to a home game when the home team wins?

My seatmate (the quarterback's mom) and I were glad the other team at least got one TD. Can you tell we've had kids on losing teams before?

Miss your tasty thursday?

One of my 'gal pals' decided to step up and host her own delicious episode of Tasty Thursday . She also used peaches, Yum Yum! Check out her creation here. Thanks Mommy B.

I also am not going to have a spare minute to make anything creative or fun today...so no surprise delight from me. Check back this upcoming Thursday, I'll be sure to have something good to present.

Other stuff: I ran out to do an errand today. I was pleased to see my son's school class walking on their way to the "post office" field trip. I was not able to find a substitute for me so that I could accompany them. I didn't want to bring the other kids and try to keep up with them at the same time. Plus, the last time I went to his classroom, I had a couple of younger kids with me, and it embarrassed him because "none of my friends' moms bring little kids with them." After talking with him some more, it came out that he was afraid that all his friends thought he had bunches of little siblings.(and so what if he did...is that embarrassing???) So, I did not even beep at them while I drove by when I saw them today.

:(

Delay notice

I doubt there will be an episode of tasty Thursday today. All my baking pans are dirty, and I don't have time to wash them all, and then cook as well. My family is getting a crockpot meal tonight, since the crock was clean! Of course, I don't know if they'll have time to eat.

How's this for crazy schedule: *edited*, because there is a game and I had the wrong time!

youngest child sport at 4pm - 4:45pm, about 8 minutes from my house.
middle child sport game 5:30pm-6:15pm, same place as youngest.
oldest child sport practice 6:30pm-7:30pm about 2o minutes away.

I don't know when we will all get dinner! It defiantely won't be a family togetherness affair!

At least I didn't burn anything at lunch today!
Maybe I can whip up a Friday surprise to share.

Can you cook?

I can cook. I can cook some downright delicious things. Even complicated stuff. So can someone explain why I always burn grilled cheese sandwiches? It's a phenomenon around my home. It doesn't matter what time of day, or if I'm super busy or it's quiet. I burn grilled cheese sandwiches. Today for lunch, the menu had grilled ham & cheese. I had to perform a little surgery in order for the kids to get their lunches. Fortunately, I didn't use the last slice of bread, and the repair was possible! I didn't take pictures, because I am embarrassed at how bad it was. I did NOT set off the fire alarm though. Too bad, in a way, because I need to do our monthly fire drill!

Here is what was left of the poundcake yesterday morning. It disappeared fast.

I was kind of dreading going to class last night. I had had a headache for most of the day (cold..sinus, something). I took ibuprofen a few times to make it better, which had no effect. However, I had a good time at class. I learned a few good things, even! I got to giggle and commiserate with a few ladies who do the same thing I do. (the hot topic was our licensing consultant...we think she needs prayer:). I even got to have dinner out. Ok, that is exaggerating. I got a ranch BLT from Mc'Donalds on the way to campus. But, and this is big...I didn't have to share my fries with anyone!

I guess it looks like I need to share some recipes with my frinds again, huh Apple?
I hope everyone's day is going great!
Please, if there is something simple that you can totally ruin...let me know so I don't feel so bad!