Sweet Potato Casserole

I have been getting a lot of requests for this recipe so I thought that I would share it here. Even though all of the recipes that I have posted thus far are very sweet I promise I do eat healthier fair most of the time.

Sweet Potato Casserole

3C. cooked and mashed Sweet potato (just peal and boil like regular potatoes)
1 1/4 C. white sugar
2 eggs
Dash of cinnamon
3/4 C. butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix ingredients well. Pour into a butter baking dish. Bake 20 minutes at 400 uncovered. Remove from oven and sprinkle with topping of

1 C crushed cornflakes (I use Ritz crackers)
1 C. chopped pecans
1/2 C. brown sugar
1/4 C. butter
Melt butter and stir in brown sugar, add corn flakes and nuts- mix well until crumbly. Bake for another 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Grace is 6!

Grace my sweet Grace Noel. My little christmas time finger sucking baby is 6. Six years old today. She slept through the night at 5 weeks of age, but she learned to climb out of her crib at 14m. She has given me many of scares and even more joy. I love her spunky attitude and her go get’em view on life.

Grace quit sucking her fingers for early this year but after six months I saw her sucking them again.

So I asked her, “Grace what are you doing?”

“OH, Mom,” she says, ” I was just faking you out.”

Really really Grace where do you get this stuff?

Happy 6th Birthday Grace!

New Tradition

I am so so excited for our new tradition this year.  See my wonderful mother in law buys all the grandkids an ornament everyone gets the same ornament meaning this year we will have 6 of the same ornament on our tree. It has been suggested to me that each child get a little tree of their our but then we would have 7 trees and that isn’t really gonna happen. So I have decided each child gets a ribbon above their bed or around their bed to hang their ornaments on. I am so excited I think it turned out really cute. They each get to show off their ornaments and have some decorations in their room. It is a win-win for everyone.Elizabeth was so excited to show off her ribbon of ornaments.

 

Fresh Blackberry Cake

 August is the time for blackberries. Nothing quiet says summer to me like blackberries. Fresh blackberry cake is a treat from my childhood. I enjoy it. My kids enjoy it. So I thought you might enjoy it, too. I would have taken a picture but well we ate it all up.

Fresh Blackberry Cake

2 1/4 C. sugar

2 eggs

 2 C. fresh blackberries

3 C. Flour I use whole wheat

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 C. sour Milk

C/ butter

2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. allspice

2 tsp. nutmeg

2 tsp. cinnamon

Combine sugar and spices; add melted butter and mix til creamy. Beat in whole eggs and sour milk. Sift flour, salt, and soda and gradually into mixture. Fold in blackberries.

 Pour into a well-greased 9×13 pan and bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Serve with whipped cream and garnish with whole berries. I like it still warm! I also like it slightly stale. Pretty much I just like it.

* You can use frozen berries if that’s what you have.

Summer 2011

  Before school let out for the year the girls and I wrote out a list of what we wanted to do this summer. We wrote down all the ideas whether I really thought that we could get it done or not. We have been having a lot of fun. With So without further ado here is our Summer 2011 bucket List.

Go to Beach, Bubble painting, VBS, S’MORES in backyard, Star gaze, Water War, Marion County Fair, MT. Saint Helen’s, Hike McDowell Creek, Silver Creek Falls, family movie, Soccer game, write a book, play monopoly, Scrapbook day, teach girls to swim,  ride bikes, visit new park, have Lily over, sparklers, 4^th of July Parade, learn to make cookies, Zoo, family board game, sew aprons, make gak, make Christmas presents in July, listen to Christmas music, sidewalk chalk art, Linn County Fair, State Fair, dry tomatoes, sell vegetables, dry flowers, Lego day, 100 verses, make a painting, Summer Reading Program, plant Veggies, Farmers Market, read Hank the Cow dog, learn 10 things about France, raise chickens, dance, visit HOPE 107.9 station, group picture of kids, family picture, individual picture of kids, chocolate play dough, salt dough, sleep outside, cheese factory, clean rooms, learn about Africa, Russia Day, Camping, make candles, have Veronica over, get a tan, jump rope, prayer walk, make a daisy chain, Fairy party, laugh-make jokes, Corvallis Water Park, ballet, art, mail a letter, sew handkerchiefs, stay at beach house, fishing, dodge ball, write a new schedule, new chore lists, stay in a hotel, ICE CREAM SUNDAY Party, visit Huttinga’s, blow bubbles, have Herold’s over, A.C. Gilbert House, OMSI, Learn about China, coloring contest, make homemade ice cream, paint Lydia’s room, Strawberry Jam, Home school Conference, Crater Lake, Lydia’s first swim, make popsicle, picnic in the park, finger paint, Scavenger hunt, Nature Journals, T.V. free week, handwriting, Smile, rock candy, Taffy, Doll house day, JBC fireworks,

I updated to bold all the ones we have checked off.

What do you do for summer fun?

At the Car Wash

A rare bit of sun.

Plus a daddy who got off work early.

equals

a whole lot of

fun at the car wash!

Does it matter that the car wash is in your driveway?

Three Weeks

Three weeks have gone by and I havent introduced Lydia Faith to you. Sorry you are really missing out she is one special girl. I would tell you how perfect she is and that she never cries but well then you might hate me. Instead I just let you look at the latest pitcure of her cuteness.

Moving

On that fateful November day that I over spent my budget I can home to news that my husband’s job was ending. Truly it was a depressing day but even still I knew and still know that God is in control and none of this surprises Him. So now Tad is officially jobless and we have to move because obviously we aren’t staff anymore and don’t belong in staff housing. I was very worried about how we were going to move without a job and pretty much no savings. Silly me I had forgotten that I serve the living God who loves to do what seem to man as impossible.

 It was Tuesday when we found out about the job on Sunday night we got a phone call. Tad and I happened to pick up at the same time. It was Marty and he informed us that he was glad that we both picked up the phone as he had something to tell us. His parents have a duplex. One side has four bed rooms and has been sitting empty for the last two years. They were in the middle of remolding it when his dad suffered a stroke. Anyway they said we could move in rent free until Tad was able to find a new job. I started crying immediately. I know that Marty told us a lot about the house but I couldn’t hear any of it. All I heard was we had a place to stay. I really was worried we would end up in a homeless shelter. You can laugh but the fear of it was real to me. Okay, I did hear one other thing he said we could have cows there. I remember thinking cows? I just want a safe place for my children to sleep.

After the initial shock of having a place we could move to wore off I felt overwhelmed by the size of this gift. It was too great. They couldn’t do that I could never repay them for their kindness to my family. My mind struggled back and forth we couldn’t possibly accept such an offer I didn’t earn it and then back to gratefulness for God working on their hearts to do this for my family. In this struggle God spoke softly to my heart, didn’t He do something far greater for me in sending His Son to die on the cross for my sins? Of course it was far greater and goes on and on for all eternity and yet how do I respond to His great gift to me? Wow! This is not a lesson I will soon forget nor is it a lesson I want to forget.

I originally thought we would be moving before Christmas but they have ended up doing quite a bit more remodeling to the house than I originally understood. But now we are nearing the end and it looks like in two weeks we will be moving into a four bedroom house with a great layout, tile floors, granite counter tops, and it is on 7 acres.  I am very excited to get moved in and start settling into the place. All these boxes are starting to drive me crazy. I can hardly wait to start setting things up for baby Lydia to join our family.

Though there has been many tears God has been so good to us we actually ended up with three different families saying we could live with them and the offer of my brother-in-law’s beach house until we could get on our feet. Many are the people God has used to comfort and provide for us. I don’t even know how to thank them or God. Truly I am among the most blessed.

2011 Goals

Our pastor is big into setting goals. He preaches about it regularly or at least it sticks out in my mind that way. I like to set goals it helps me accomplish things I wouldn’t do otherwise. So back to our pastor he makes a goal for each year of his life every year and I have been doing the same. No, I don’t make all my goals some I don’t even start but I do get more done than if I didn’t set a goal at all. I have been enjoying reading other people’s goals for the year today so I thought that I would share mine just for fun. Goals for 2011

1. Read thru the entire Bible 1x, New Testament 2x, Proverbs 12x, Psalms 2x

2. Memorize 52 verses

3. Lose weight to —lbs. exact number(did you really think that I was going to give ?)

 4. Get eyes checked and buy new glasses

5. Write out cleaning schedule for new house

6. Date Tad 2x a month

7. Have company 3x a month

 8. 3 older girls learn how to swim

9. Pray for the lost daily

10. Read 12 chapter books to girls

 11. Read 24 book for myself

12. Make and send birthday cards monthly

13. Start a crazy quilt

14. Make homemade taffy

15. Try again making rock candy

16. Once a month have a theme night on a different country

17. Finish Grace and Elizabeth’s baby scrapbooks

18. Make Lydia’s scrapbook to 6 months

19. Plant a garden

20. Can produce

21. Eat beans once a week

22. Update blog 2x a month at least

23. Go to dentist

24. Make 52 pages for family scrapbook

25. Make all 6 kids a homemade gift for Christmas

26. Stay at beach house

27. Save $5,000 for a new vehicle

28. Keep food budget to 2 dollars a day per person

29. $500 for clothing for the family for the year (good to me.I have no idea what we spend on clothes a year and I don’t think that it is this m much as the kids wear almost all hammy downs but the number sounded good to me.)

30. $500 for Christmas (this includes immediate family, extended family, the whole shebang.)

31. 30 meals prepared and in the freezer or canned before March 8th

What are your goals for the New Year?

Becky’s Blunders

  It’s confession time. The original name for my blog was…..Becky’s Blunders. You see I kinda blunder through my days. Always making silly mistakes and breaking things. Once I threw away Tad’s paycheck and had to go dig it out of the trash outside the next day. That’s partly why I always have piles of papers on my counters. I am afraid of throwing out something important. But I digress.

  Yesterday, I boiled a turkey. So in my pressure canner I boiled the majority of a 25lb turkey. In the afternoon I walked through the kitchen and a tackle box of beads fell off the top of the fridge. Strange but whatever and I went on wi  th my day. While reading with Abby, Elizabeth comes upstairs and says, “mom, something is boiling.”

“Yes, dear it’s the turkey, right.”

“No, mom it’s your wallet.”

“Ahhh! Get it out!”

  Elizabeth beat me downstairs and fished out my wallet. She ought to get a prize. My very greasy wet wallet didn’t fare well after being boiled for about an hour. My cards inside fared even worse. Did you know that credit cards warp beyond use and that gift cards shrink like shrink dink? Yep they do. I really wouldn’t lie about this.

   I usually keep my wallet on top of the fridge safely away from small hands who knew that our dinner wanted to get its hand on my wallet too? My mom no longer wants to eat at my house. Maybe you don’t either being warned of things like this happening here.

  Hey maybe this will be a regular feature on my blog. Welcome to the first edition of Becky’s Blunders.