2015 Blue Jeans Week 11

We survived daylight savings time change.  Hate that one.  Our normal early morning seminary time of 5:30 was 4:30 and that was not fun.  So glad it is spring break so we can catch up on some sleep and actually sleep in a day or two this week.  Yeah!  I am so not a happy person to be around if I don't get enough sleep :)  It finally feels like spring is coming to us--weather wise and critter wise, and loved us some pie this week for Pi day.  Take a look at our week.

I was at the kitchen table doing some work when I looked out and saw this in our backyard. Ugh!  I instantly texted Ben and told him.  He texted back, "Throw rocks at it or shoot it."  I replied, "Do you want me to get sprayed?  and shoot it with what?  One of the kids' Nerf guns?"  I watched it crawl through our yard and onto the neighbors and into a field.  Joys of country living and a sure sign of spring--skunks!

Major high school band day this week.  We hosted league band which was pretty cool.  Miss A and O on their French horns.  The band sounded amazing as always!

Wednesday night youth group.  We did some yard work at the church and celebrated with pie.  Yum!

Ben and the kids enjoying a beautiful evening.  One nice thing about daylight savings is it stays lighter later, which I do like.  

For PI Day we wanted to make something yummy.  Ben wanted to do a lemon meringue pie--his mom's amazing recipe.  I wanted to just top the lemon with whipping cream, but he insisted, so he made the meringue.  For never having done that, it turned out really good.

The girls enjoy the weather and reading on the front porch swing.

Happy Pi Day!  We enjoyed homemade lemon meringue and chocolate cream.  Yum!

Hope you have a great week!  Come back soon!

Friday thoughts

My random Friday thoughts

My quote for the week.  Simple and basic, but so true.  I tell my kids this basically every day.  This is what matters, not your shoe size or your pant size, or your hair style, but working hard and being nice to people.  That is what matters,.

Along those same lines, I am reading a great book now about an amazing person who worked/works very hard.  Who had an amazing mother who helped him to work hard and turn his life around.

It is Gifted Hands: The Ben Carson Story by Ben Carson.  He was one of the worst students in his 5th grade class. He really struggled in school.  His mom was a single mother, that didn't now how to read and cleaned houses.  She was raising her boys in the ghettos of Detroit.  She barely made ends meet, but she wanted more for her two boys.  One day she noticed that the successful people who she cleaned houses for had lots of books and read them.  She came home from work, turned off the TV that her two boys were watching and told them from then on they needed to go to the library and read 2 books a week. She wanted a report on each at the end of the week.  They were only allowed to watch 2 TV shows a week.  Of course they whined and complained, but she had laid down the law.  That was it, so they went to the library, and read.  By 7th grade Ben was at the top of his class.  He attended Yale on a scholarship and went to John Hopkins medical school.  At the age of 33 he became John Hopkins chief of pediatric neurosurgery and a world-renowned surgeon--separating Siamese twins successfully.  It is an amazing story--a true story.

Our library also had a movie of this story that our whole family watched this past weekend.  It was very good and a testament to the power of a mother and prayer and hard work.  I would highly recommend it.

Have a great week!

What's up Wednesday--crock pot BBQ chicken

If you have been following my blog for any amount of time, you know how much I love crock pot recipes.  They are my favorite!  I love, love, love just throwing stuff in the morning and then having a wonderful dinner ready in the evening.  Makes my life so much easier.  This recipe is my amazing mother-in-law's, and she normally cooks it on the stove top, but I have adjusted it and always make it in the crock pot now.  So easy, and so delicious!  It is one of our family's favorites!  We always serve it over rice, but you can have it however you like.  Hope you like it!

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken

Put 4-5 boneless skinless chicken breasts in your crock pot, if they are frozen, that is fine :)

In another bowl mix together

3/4 cup ketchup

2 Tab brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup chopped onion, or 1 Tab dehydrated onion

2 Tab vinegar

2-3 tsp chili powder, depending upon how hot your family likes things, I use 2 tsp

1 Tab Worcestershire sauce

After mixture is combined, pour over chicken in crock pot.  Cook on low about 6-7 hours, take out chicken and shred, then put it back into the sauce and serve over rice.  Yum!

2015 Blue Jeans Week 10

We had a great week.  Big snowstorm over the weekend and got to play in the snow, and then it turned warm enough to warrant shorts and t-shirts. Crazy!  Our basketball season is done, so that means pep band is done, and then Miss A's Life Smart team made it to nationals!  Here is a look at our week. . .

Enjoying the snow--Miss O and Mr J have a snow ball fight

Ben and Miss E work on making a snowman.

And here is their creation.  Love it!  

And then 3 days later, this is our weather.  Crazy!  But we are ready for spring, so we will take it. Mr J and Miss A love the trampoline.

Last basketball game of the season was this week, so last pep band performance.  Miss A and Miss E with their amazing band director!  We can't say enough good about this guy.  He is just plain awesome!

 

Miss A is on a Life Smarts team--which is basically a quiz bowl team, they answer questions about personal fiance, technology, health and safety, and the environment.  They made it to the state competition this week, and then won state, so they are headed to national next month!!!!  Way to go team!

Thanks for visiting!  Hope you have a great week!

Friday thoughts--

my random Friday thoughts. . .

We can do so much more than we think.  We have so much more potential than we realize.  We just need to trust in our Heavenly Father and let Him guide us.  We are His sons and daughters.  He will never leave us, even if we sometimes shut Him out.  Do your best and put things in the Lord's hands and He will guide and direct you and make you much more than you could ever had been on your own.

Have a great weekend!

What's up Wednesday--Andes Mint Cookies

These are one of our family's favorite cookie recipes, which says a lot because I have tons of cookie recipes, but these definitely stand out.  Our library had a chocolate sale on Valentine's day last year to raise some money.  I made these to sell.  When I saw they were doing it again this year, I signed up to bring these again.  When the library ladies saw I was signing up they asked, "Are you going to bring those mint cookies again?"  They remembered.  So, I made several plates for this year.  The sale started at 9 and by 10, all my mint cookie plates were sold.  They are good cookies!  I found the recipe on Becky Higgins' website many years ago.  I don't know if she still has it one there, but thank you Becky for sharing!  I have doubled and tripled and even quadrupled this recipe because I have made them for cookie plates at Christmas.  It works well, you just have to cool it longer in the fridge if you double it.  These also freeze well, if there are any leftover, which at our house isn't very often. 

Andes Mint Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 Tab. water

Melt the above in a medium saucepan over medium heat until melted and smooth, then add

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir until completely melted.

Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes.  Pour into a mixing bowl and beat in

2 eggs

then add:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Mix together and chill for 45 minutes to an hour. Roll into balls about 1 1/2 inches big, or I use the medium pampered chef cookie scoop.  Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and bake 350 for 10 minutes.  You do not want these over-baked. Under-baked is much better than over.  These are a really soft cookie.

When the cookies come out of the oven, place an Andes mint on top of each cookie and allow to melt for a few minutes.  Swirl the melted chocolate like icing and allow to cool completely.  One bag of Andes mints will easily do one batch of cookies with a few leftover.

Enjoy!

2015 Blue Jeans Week 9

We had a great week.  It started out nice and warm and ended with a blizzard!  Miss O finished her basketball season.  Miss A and Miss E got to play pep band for a division 1 women's college basketball game and we went to the game!  Mr J had his cub scouts blue and gold banquet.  Cool stuff!  Here is a look at our week. . .

I neglected to get this recorded, but this is my valentine from Miss E.  So cute!  I wanted to make sure it made it in the scrapbook.  

A nice warm day this week so Miss E and Mr J enjoyed some time on the trampoline.

Cub scout blue and gold banquet this week.  Mr J, his scout troop and his amazing leaders!  It was a nice evening!

Had a wonderful day with my girlfriends.  We had lunch and made these cute burlap wreaths.  So grateful for good friends! And so fun to make something cute :)

Today we had the amazing opportunity to listen to the author Wendelin Van Draanen speak.  She has written lots of books, but the one she was visiting with us about was The Running Dream which is excellent!  Mr J and I got to meet her and get our books signed.  She was an excellent presenter!

And the university women's basketball game.  The band is up there on the left.  Miss A is in there paying her mellophone and Miss E in there playing her trombone.  It was a really fun game to be at and hear the band play.  They did excellent!   

And after our nice warm start to the week, this was our end of the week.  I was not sure why Ben was shoveling right in the middle of the storm.  It snowed about 3 more inches after he shoveled it, so it had to be done again, but I guess he was bored :) It was a beautiful snow storm, and nice that we had no where to go, so we could enjoy it from inside.  Church was canceled, so we had a very nice and relaxing weekend indoors admiring the snow.  

Thanks for visiting!  Come back soon!  Hope you have a great week!