Thanksgiving Creativity

I found this Mayflower craft here. The boys did a great job making it. Each family member got 5 slips of paper to write what they were thankful for. It was fun to read them all!

We got the idea for these fall cookies from Woman's Day Magazine here.

But, we used Tim's Aunt's recipe for the cookies. This recipe comes highly recommened. Nice consistancy, good flavor, and no chilling time.

Cut-Out Cookies

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

3 scant tsp. baking powder

3 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time-mixing thoroughly between additions. Add vanilla. Mix flour and baking powder together and mix with butter mixture. Roll 1/4" thick and bake at 400 degrees for 4-6 minutes. Do not overbake. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

Thankfulness~

I just spent the entire evening downloading pictures, selecting layouts and writing captions for a bound photo album that I had a coupon code to get free. It expired at midnight tonight. Luckily, my order went through (they must be in another time zone). What did I learn from this? First of all-I shouldn't procrastinate. But I always have and I probably always will. I have also passed this gene unto a daughter who is currently typing a paper. It's nearly 1 am.
Secondly, we had a very good year as a family. We all got a year older. We celebrated a graduation, our 24th anniversary, and went on a little vacation. God has blessed us so much! I also realized that we don't have enough family pictures. It was difficult finding one that we were all in. I plan to remedy this on Thanksgiving this year. We will all be together and I'm sure I can get someone to take our picture. Besides, we'll need one for our Christmas card.
*When my kids see the above picture it may be removed-so-look at while you can.


"Giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Ephesians 5:20

It's the BIG one!!

Today is the BIG game between Ohio State and Michigan. For some reason, my girls really enjoy football. They always plan out a party with lots of goodies. They are so creative! Cut-out sugar cookies, buckeyes, helmet-shaped finger jello, fruit kabobs and nachos. Wow! Can you tell which team they root for? And me, well I plan on sewing. I just got new orders in my shop :)

New Winter Jumper

Size 1T jumper in cute Moda Smores fabric. In the shop.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas...

I just got this jumper sewn up for the shop. I like how it came out. I wanted to incorporate both fabrics into a simple design. Looks like Christmas to me !

Try Outs...

I recently added Mennonite Girls Can Cook to my blog list. Since then I've had people ask me if I had tried any of the recipes.

The perfect opportunity arose when I had pork chops to use. I tried the recipe for Pork in Sour Cream Sauce. I also made Oven Mushroom Rice They were both very good! Because the pork chops were cooked in a skillet on the stove top, I used the stove top version of the Mushroom Rice. I cooked the rice even longer than the recipe stated but it wasn't tender. I believe the problem is in the type of rice I used. (This happened previously with another recipe.) The flavor was really good.

I really like it when we can produce our own food. It's nice to know the origins of what we eat. The pork was raised this summer by my seven year old. (Which is why he wouldn't eat any.) The green beans were grown in our garden and home canned. The dinner roll was a left-over made by Sarah. We also tried Strawberry Delight This recipe used strawberries that were picked and frozen this past June.

I would highly recommend Mennonite Girls Can Cook I thought it would be a winner since most of my favorite cookbooks are Amish or Mennonite in origin. They tend to use common ingredients and the results are very family friendly. I can't wait to try out some more of their recipes. There are a lot to choose from and they keep adding more :) Let me know if you try some too.

On a Roll.......and a Recipe

Sarah made 215 of these.

Basketfull ready to go to church.

We had a surprise celebration for our pastor's 25th anniversary at our church today. We were asked to make the rolls. Sarah offered to make them. She did a great job and didn't want any help.

Pull-Apart Rolls

{Made in a mixer with a dough hook. We tripled the recipe below and made them in our 6qt Kitchenaid Mixer. (This is larger than the average Kitchenaid Mixer.) They turned out great. Do not double or triple-unless your mixer can handle it.}

1 pkg active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)

1/2 cup butter or marg., melted

3-3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 Tablespoons sugar

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup margerine, 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt. Mix well until blended.
Continuing mixing, and add remaining flour, 1/2 cup (125 ml) at a time, until dough clings to utensil and cleans sides of bowl. Knead for a few minutes until dough is smooth and elastic.
Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about 1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough down. Shape into golf ball size balls and place in 8"-9" round cake pans. Let rise until doubled in a warm place, free from drafts. Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pans immediately and cool on a wire rack.

This recipe yields 12 rolls.

Fall... Before It's Too Late!

We have been traveling so much on the weekends that we almost didn't get in our annual walk through the woods. We finally went on Sunday afternoon. It was a beautiful, crisp day. There were still a few leaves left on the trees for us to enjoy :)

Moving On...And Moving In

Our oldest son, Andy, recently got a job 2-1/2 hours away. His sisters sent him off with some gag gifts. (Isn't that what sisters are for?)
They also helped him stock his snack stash with his favorite Moon Pies.
Here he is in his new apartment. It is pretty nice, but it is very, very small. We helped fill his cupboards with some home canned salsa, applesauce and green beans.

This year has seen our family dynamics change so much. Alissa is 2-1/4 hours away at college in one direction and now Andy is 2-1/2 hours away in a different direction. I know they are where God wants them to be-which is comforting. But, I am feeling the need to pray for them more than ever.