Friday thoughts

Some random Friday thoughts to wrap up the week. . .

The inspiring bathroom quote I had on my mirror this week.  Ben and I are lucky to have similar interests and enjoy going to lots of different things together--sports, art, drama, music.  We rarely attend things without each other.  That is a blessing!

Keeping it real here--this was what my kids' bathroom looked like one morning after they left for school.  The result of 2 teenage girls and one pre-teen girl running late for school.  I was not happy when I saw this.  Needless to say, we had several discussions about how Mom is not the maid and about how things left out were going to start disappearing and owing Mom money to get things back.  We will see how well that works. . .  

I was very sad to squeeze the last tiny bit of lotion out of this bottle this week, can you tell?  I got this before Christmas at Bath and Body works--Merry Marshmallow Kiss, and I should have bought 3 or 4 because I loved it, and of course since it was a holiday scent they don't make it anymore.  Maybe next Christmas?  I hope, then I will stock up :)

I read this book last week.  It is number one is a trilogy.  I am half way through the 3rd book.  It is a good series!  Molly is a 7 year old girl unwanted at home and sent to the castle to work.  Little does she know she will grow up there, discover a new life, a gift, and save the king.  Magic, adventure, and a little romance make a good combination.  The story continues in The Cup and the Crown  as Molly continues to serve the king and discover her past and who she really is.  The story concludes in The Princess of Cortova which I hope to finish this weekend.

Have a great weekend and see you Monday!!  Don't forget to change your clocks--man I hate daylight savings time!  Go to bed early Saturday or take a long nap Sunday to catch up :)

What's up Wednesday--Cream cheese potato soup

This is my girlfriend soup.  I have had it twice over at one of my bestest girlfriend's house, and it is wonderful!  She just made it on the stove top, and it doesn't take long to do it that way, but I made it in the crock pot when I did it because we were leaving in the a.m. one day and weren't going to be home until dinner, and I wanted something that would be ready to eat when we walked into the house starving.  Because my kids are always starving, at least that is what they tell me--are yours?  This recipe worked perfect to do that way.  Perfect for starving kids--and their parents :)  And I had to get a picture of it on my new St. Patrick's Day kitchen table table runner that I made last week.  Cute, huh?  It is called a "10 minute Table runner" but it took me an hour :)  but it is done, and I like it.  Now onto the soup. . .

Cream Cheese Potato Soup

6 cups water

7 tsp chicken bouillon granules

12 oz cream cheese, cubed

1 (30-32 oz) pkg frozen cubed hash brown potatoes

1 1/2 cups fully cooked ham, cubed

1/2 cup chopped onion or use 1/4 cup dried onion (which is what I use)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp dill weed or less to taste

For crock pot--put all ingredients in the crock pot except dill weed and give a little stir.  Cook on low 6-7 hours or until potatoes are tender.  Before you serve, stir soup and make sure cream cheese cubes are all melted and stir in dill weed.  Serve with yummy rolls.

If you are going to just make this on the stove top, then your frozen hash brown potatoes need to be thawed.  In a large pot combine water and bouillon.  Add the cream cheese, cook and stir until the cheese is melted.  Mix in the potatoes, ham, onion, garlic powder and dill weed.  Simmer uncovered for 18-20 minutes or until veggies are tender.  

Either way is good .  Enjoy!

2014 Blue Jeans Week 9

 A fun busy week.  Last pep band performance, state choir competition for Miss A, cub scout award for Mr J,  and Project Life fun with my friends.  Take a look at our week. . .

My 3 girls are going to do a special musical number at church next week with the sister missionaries.  They were practicing today, and it sounded really good!

Last high school pep band performance at the basketball games this week.  Miss E got to play also for the last one as they were short a few trombones.  This is Miss E and Miss O with their amazing, we-cannot-say-enough-good-about-him, band director.  What a blessing he is in my girls lives!  We love Mr. K!

Today was so fun!  I got together with 2 of my bestest friends, and we did Project Life together.  We actually got almost a whole year done for my friend holding her album in just a few hours.  Project Life is just awesome!  She used the Cobalt core kit and Holidays mini-kit.

Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet was tonight.  Mr J got his Wolf patch and a gold and some silver arrows.  Way to go Mr J.  He also did a presentation on Denmark, and we ate aebelskivers.  Yum!

Miss A was gone Thursday to Saturday to the state choir competition.  She is in there on the bleachers on the left.  She had a great time, learned a lot, worked very hard--they rehearsed over 17 hours, and their concert was AMAZING!

There she is 2nd row, 2nd from left.  The concert brought tears to my eyes.  It was so good!  What a great experience for her, and we are so proud of her!  Way to go Miss A!!!

Miss E (2nd from left) and Miss O (with her hand raised the highest :) had fun with some friends this weekend "performing."  Those girls are a hoot!

Thanks for visiting!  Come back often. I blog Mondays/Wednesdays/Fridays.

Have a great week!

I am linking up with The Mom Creative.

Friday thoughts

 Just some random Friday thoughts to round out the week.  It has been a crazy busy one, but a good one.  And where has February gone?  Oh my.  Taking down my Valentine's decor to put up St. Patrick's Day stuff.  Bring on the green--inside and out--hopefully!

Love my bathroom mirror quote from this week.  So true!  But I must confess, I was very lucky to marry the right person, now I just need to keep on trying to be the right person!

And the countdown has begun here. . .baby chicks are coming March 6th, and Mr J can hardly wait!

Our poor chicken coop has been empty since end of summer when a raccoon got in and killed all 6 of our laying hens.  Not a pretty sight.  The farm store does have chicks in the fall, and we planned to get some, but by the time we got there they were all gone :( so we have had to wait until this spring.  I have missed my fresh brown eggs and am looking forward to getting some more in a few months.  Mr J is looking forward to taking care of the baby chicks.  His sisters aren't looking forward to any of it :)  They haven't missed the chickens at all . . .oh well.    

I read Hattie Ever After by Kirby Larson a few weeks ago.  It is a sequel to Hattie Big Sky which Ben read to the kids a few years ago.  Both are very, very good.  Hattie is an orphan who finds out her recently deceased uncle, which she didn't know, left her a big homestead in the Montana prairie in 1918.  If Hattie can keep it up and take care of the land, farm it, and make payments then she can keep it.  Her adventures continue in Hattie Ever After. I love books with strong, intelligent, hardworking female characters, and these deliver.  The whole family enjoyed the first one, and they are looking forward to reading the sequel which I really enjoyed.  

Have a great weekend and see you Monday!

What's up Wednesday--triple chocolate bundt cake

I very freely and wholeheartedly admit I love desserts.  Always have.  Always will.  Life it too short not to have them every once in a while.  I will also admit that cake is not one of the first things that comes to mind when I try to decide what to make for dessert.  Cookies and bar cookies/brownies are probably my first love, but every once in a while I need to make something different.  When I do make a cake, this triple chocolate bundt cake is the one I usually choose--easy, moist, chocolate--need I say more?  It is even better because the base is just a chocolate cake mix---use German chocolate, Devil's food, milk chocolate, whatever chocolate cake mix you have on hand.  I have used them all, and they are all good.  I sprinkled this one with powdered sugar just to make it prettier because we had company, but plain is fine.  I have never put a glaze or frosting on this.  It doesn't need it.  

Triple Chocolate Bundt Cake

1 chocolate cake mix--any kind, milk, dark, Devil's food, German, whatever you have

1 small package instant chocolate pudding mix--again any kind, dark, milk, etc

4 large eggs

1 cup sour cream--I have used low fat, but fat free doesn't seem to work as well

1/2 cup warm water

1/2 cup oil

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Mix everything together except chocolate chips in a mixing bowl.  Beat for 3 minutes--it will be thick.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spread in a well greased Bundt pan and bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean from middle.  Allow to cool in pan for 20 minutes before removing and then cool completely.  Enjoy!  A scoop of vanilla ice cream with this is just heaven!

2014 Blue Jeans Week 8

We had a good week.  It started off fun with our traditional Valentine's dinner at my parents.  The weather warmed up and after ice and snow, the kids got to play outside without even jackets on.  They loved that.  Had some fun band stuff, and then got some images of things around the house.  Things I want to remember.  Here is a look at our week. . .

Our family Valentine's dinner tradition goes back to my great-Grandma.  We are celebrating it with the 5th generation now.  Normally we try to have this dinner on Valentine's Day, but it didn't work in everyone's schedules, so we had it Sunday.  We have a fancy dinner, and there is a big box in the middle with wrapped gifts inside--just simple little gifts--a puzzle or book or candy.  Each gift has a long ribbon attached to it that goes to each place setting.  Everyone has a specific place to sit, and then when you have eaten all your dinner, you can pull your ribbon and get your prize.  When my grandma was a girl they always ate on their best china and had to dress up.  We have dropped that part of the tradition :) but my mom always decorates so nice, and it is very fancy.  We had extra guests with us this year.  Always fun to share the tradition!

The snow and ice melted and the sun came out and warmed everything today so the kids went out on the trampoline to play and enjoy the weather while it lasts.

Big basketball pep band night at the ballgame.  Miss O is up there playing a mellophone.  They sounded awesome!!

After school today we went to the park for a while to enjoy the nice weather with some friends.  It was a stark contract to last week when we went to this same park to sled down the hill on the snow!  Oh what a difference a week makes!

Mr J is working on a heritage badge for cub scouts.  He made this poster that shows his family tree and some flags from some countries where some of his ancestors come from.  He has had fun working on it and learning about his heritage.

This beautiful flower arrangement is what I got for Valentine's day.  I love getting flowers, and getting flowers that will last and I can plant outside to last even longer is the best!

An image from one of our kitchen walls.  I want to remember this because 

1) I made these little month quilts (the heart one here for February) right after my 16 year old Miss A was born.  I change them out each month 

 2) because we always want to remember that "Families are Forever"

3) that little green bottle and what's inside

Here is a closer look.  Mr J made me this button bouquet for mother's day several years ago.  I love it.  He went to a lot of work, and I want to remember it.  Taking pictures of the things around you are as important as taking pictures of the people.  Things don't last forever, and we probably won't be in this house forever, so I want to get images of the things we love in our house that have meaning to us.

Thanks for visiting!  Have a great week!

I am linking up with The Mom Creative

Friday Thoughts

Some random Friday thoughts. . .

This was my bathroom mirror quote this week.  Love it!

And oh what a difference a week makes--this is last Wednesday after school at this park

This is this Wednesday after school at the park. Crazy weather!

I have been reading this book for the last few weeks.  Finished it last night.  I loved it.  I do believe Brokaw was correct in calling the WWII generation The Greatest Generation.  They went through so much--The Great Depression, WWII, and then all that came after.  We have so much to learn from them, and all we have now is because of what they did.  What a blessing.  Reading it did make me sad because it reminded me of my grandpa--Grum who wasn't old enough to get into the war until after Germany had surrendered.  He was in Germany after to help rebuild, during the Nuremberg trials, and during the Berlin airlifts.  He passed away last year, and I never really got to talk to him about it.  Reading this made me sad I couldn't call him up and ask him about it.  Thankfully he wrote his life's history and had it published so I have a copy.  What a huge blessing!!!  Miss A is currently learning about WWII in her high school history class and had to do a paper about "My family in WWII."  She used Grum's book.   Thank you Grum for leaving us that!

Thank you Grum for all you did for us!  Sure miss you and love you!  You were definitely one of the Greatest Generation!!!