Delicious Treats

Just this week I was looking for a little something sweet to make and came across this recipe. It will work well for you ladies that are a bit more health conscience than I am and still be tasty enough for the rest of us! : )


Without further ado here is the recipe for health honey cookies (I did grab this recipe from a Penzeys One (fabulous spice company) catalog)

1 ½ cups flour                              ½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup ground flax seed                 ½ cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda                          2 eggs
½ tsp salt                                      2 TB milk
1 tsp cinnamon                              2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup applesauce                           2 ½ cups oatmeal (old fashioned or quick)
2 TB butter, softened                     2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup honey                                  1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 375. In large bowl beat the applesauce, butter, honey and sugars together until well blended. Beat in the eggs, milk and vanilla. Add flour, flax seed, baking soda, salt and cinnamon (I used a bit more than a tsp) and mix. Fold in or mix the oatmeal and then the chocolate chips. The dough will be moist. Drop by tablespoon onto lightly greased (yes, you really should grease the cookie sheets, promise) cookie sheets and bake 10-11 minutes for chewy cookies or 12-14 minutes for crispier cookies. These cookies firm up very nicely after a day if you can restrain yourself from eating them all fresh out of the oven. : )

These cookies truly are delicious. I cooked them 14-16 minutes and they were quite brown- not burnt, just brown. However, crispy is not a term I would use for this cookie. It is more the texture of a cupcake and since we don’t live in a drier area I wasn’t able to try to leave them out so they could ‘firm’ up. It is just a forewarning that these don’t have the texture or ‘bite’ to them that a hard cookie would but they lack absolutely nothing in flavor- really and truly. Healthy or not your kids will gobble these up just as they would any other chocolate chip cookie. Just had to share since the recipe was fresh on my mind! Have a blessed afternoon. : )

Goings On

A lot and a little has been going on at our house these last few weeks. We’ve had dance recitals, birthday’s to celebrate, Father’s day and of course getting ready for B-day…that is Baby’s birth day.

Let’s start with the recital. Kiersten was in her first ever dance recital the middle of this month. We missed last year’s due to a family commitment we decided to honor. Well, this year was something new for me. Wow! What a production for a small town! We had rehearsals on Monday and Tuesday afternoon with the full show Wednesday and Thursday nights. Thankfully, and I mean thankfully, Kiersten was in the opening number and the one just after. So for each rehearsal and for the first night of the show we only needed to stay for less than an hour getting her ready and having her perform before being able to head back home. This was key for me because I had all 3 of the kids with me and the show started at the time we are normally getting ready for bed. (Beloved had a later working week and just wasn’t able to be home before 7pm each evening.)

She did fabulously. Really and truly she did wonderful. I was thankful for the bright, bright lights that didn’t allow my sweet girl to see how big the audience was and thus get more nervous than she needed to be.

I was also thankful for getting to watch the rest of the show with her the second night. After she performed she changed clothes and we became audience members enjoying seeing all that she might some day learn and be as a dancer. (Should she choose to remain one!)

During recital week it was my Dad’s birthday and the weekend following was Katie’s 2nd birthday along with Father’s Day. We celebrated with a little family party the day before and had leftover cake the day of. What a spoiled little girl she is- chocolate cake two days in a row!!! : )

One of my favorite things about little ones is how honestly easy they are to please and thrill. The night before the party I picked up a foil Dora balloon for her. (Dora is all the rage.) When we arrived home that night she played and played with the balloon, talking up a storm all the while. During all of this she turns to me, talking about her balloon, and loudly says, “Mama! I like it!” So funny and feisty that one is.

Other than celebrating accomplishments in dancing, age or being a Dad I have been doing things here and there to get ready for Baby. I still don’t have my bag packed just yet, a chore I will tackle this very evening. However, I do have the bed set up, the car seat in the car and I have purchased the littlest diapers known to man. Time will tell when he/she will make their grand debut. Honestly though, if another person makes some comment about the largeness of my belly or says to me, “When are you going to pop that kid out?” (Yes, Beloved, I am speaking to you!) I just might feel inclined to take physical action!

Don’t people know that it isn’t wise to contend with a woman at the end of her pregnancy? : )

Happy Birthday Grandma!

I thought we would forgo the group singing and let each one go solo to wish Grandma a most happy birthday. So without further ado, from youngest to oldest, here are the kids sending you their love Grandma!!!

Katie & Grandma's Birthday from Jess on Vimeo.

Sorry Grandma, but Katie was a little more interested in seeing herself on the camera then actually singing to you. : )

Isaiah & Grandma's Birthday from Jess on Vimeo.

Isaiah being an Isaiah boy...giggling, singing and then running around so he could watch what we just recorded. Hmmmm...I sense a theme going on with these recordings!

Kiersten & Grandma's Birthday from Jess on Vimeo.

Poor Kiersten girl. The phone started to ring while she was singing and I think she felt she needed to close her video up quick. She also didn't exactly get to go solo. You can see the Katie girl honed in on her time just so she could watch herself again. :)

They are all hams, the whole lot of them! Know we love you and we are sending you lots of birthday love across the ocean! Looking forward to seeing your sweet face soon. Happy Birthday, MOM.

The Cabin

Last weekend we made a trip 'up North' to see my Grandparents. They have this wonderful cabin with a little lake front beach. We didn't make it up there last year but vowed to do so this year...and hopefully twice. Once before the baby comes and then once again in early Fall.

I have to say there is something special about sharing a bit of my childhood with my own kids'. When I was younger we went nearly every year for almost as long as I can remember to The Cabin. If my mom had 2 weeks vacation we drove up there and spent the entire 2 weeks. It is just a wonderful and special place with a lot of good memories and laughter. (Back in the day there was no T.V. or phone and all you had for night time entertainment were games. Cribbage is a family favorite and was played often.)

My kids' seem to love being at The Cabin just as much as I did, and still do. They were eager to don their swimsuits and get wet. Let me tell you that lake is cold in August so it is more than a little chilly at the end of May...but kids' just don't seem to know any better. : )

Katie was particularly funny to watch because we were temporarily putting this life jacket on her until we retrieved the one from the car. (She doesn't look happy in this picture, but that is because she wanted to get up and was saying, "Lease!" to my asking if she would like some help.) Well once this baby was on she was not taking it off even though it looked completely uncomfortable. She couldn't tilt her head down at all because the jacket was right there and not moving. She couldn't get up from a sitting position or from her knees because the jacket impeded her motion. I was thankful she was in the jacket...but man oh mister it was a trial of sorts.

The other two did really well with their life jackets. My aunt and her family was there as well and her twin boys fall between Kiersten and Isaiah. They have a rule about being down at the dock and having their life jackets on at all times which helped us out in a huge way. It just became common to put the jacket on before even heading down to the water and there was absolutely no complaining about doing so! : )

The best part about being at The Cabin besides the quiet, slow pace of things, spending time with some wonderful grandparents and being away from it all is that you have to make no effort what-so-ever to entertain your kids. They will spend hours down by the water 'doing things' and playing. If you keep a cool drink nearby, sun yourself on the sand while playing life guard all will go smoothly and splendidly! : )

P.S. You know the trip was a good one when you are home less than an hour and your son wants to know when you are going back!

Joshua

Not too long ago…mid-winter or so we decided to buy Kiersten a big girl Bible. We have a couple of kiddy Bibles but not anything for a young reader. Our church was doing this family February event, tying together church and home, and they were selling the Adventure Bible and worship CD’s. I went online to see what I could find because although the Adventure Bible sounded great…well, it just didn’t appeal to a girl’s heart.

I ended up buying this young readers edition of the Adventure Bible. She was sooooo pleased with the purple soft cover. She held onto and flipped through it for days. It was just real sweet.

Anyhow, a few days later for our Bible time we were going to start the book of Joshua. So I handed her her Bible and asked her if she thought she could find the book of Joshua.

This is what I heard in reply, “Sure, Mama. That’s easy, squeezy double ga-beezy! Is that 1st Joshua or 2nd Joshua?”

That one got me just so and I couldn’t stop grinning for the pure sweetness and innocence of response. 1st or 2nd Joshua. It took me a minute or two to reply and to tell her that although there are a lot of books in the Old Testament that do have 2 books Joshua was not one of them.

A memory to cherish, remember and share again with a sweet young soul.