Not Much Going On

The past few days have been busy, but uneventful. We had Awana Wednesday night, and then Class Day on Thursday. John had All-star tryouts for soccer Thursday night. Poor Steve was doing all the running around and dropping off that night. Sarah had youth and usually Jesse takes her, but he was working. Yesterday Steve and I met for our what seems to be our Friday date time.


Joe brought the tree in earlier this week and he set it up. He brought in all the decorations too. My boys are the ones who decorated our house this year. I had/have no desire to decorate. With everything else that I do to add Christmas decorating on top of it is too much! I use to go all out, but who wants to do all that work? I've come to think that people who go all out just don't have enough to do.


Adah is now pulling herself up to a stand. Her legs are so much stronger than just three months ago. She'll start walking before long. She got herself stuck this morning in her crib. There is a bumper pad in her crib because she scoots to the very end of the crib and ends up sleeping against the bars. (They both actually do that and Steve thinks we should have just bought one crib because in one crib they both could have had an end and they'd be happy.) Well this morning I went in because she was crying. She was under the bumper pad with the blankets over her head. She was stuck and couldnt' figure out how to get out. She was relieved when I rescued her from herself.


This week I started blinking at her. She makes the funniest face when she blinks back. Her whole face gets very serious and she puckers up her lips. It seems like it takes much effort on her part just to concentrate on her eyes. It is the funniest thing I have seen in a long time and we're all in stitches by the time she's done with us.


Trying to get our homestudy update approved by our agency so we can continue. Our contact was on vacation and getting back into the work mode. I hate waiting on other people. God has given me patience though so I shall exercise it. The whole adoption process is a wait, wait, and wait some more time. It's very refining for my character. :-)
Have a great Saturday!

Granola

Many years ago I was on the MOMYS board and an acquaintance that I went to an Above Rubies retreat with posted this recipe. I've tweaked it to my liking. My version is below. I thought I lost it, but found it today! Steve has asked me to make this again., but he has to go to the healthfood store to buy some of the items.

Good Day Granola
8 cups rolled oats
1-1/4 cups brown sugar
1-1/2 cups unprocessed bran
1-1/2 cups natural wheat germ
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup coconut
3/4 cup canola oil
1 cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips.

Stir oats, sugar, bran, wheat germ, sunflower seeds and walnuts in a large bowl. Heat oil and honey in small pan on low heat until bubbly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour liquids over dry ingredients and mix THROUGHLY! Divide mixture evenly and spread on two rimmed cookie sheets. Bake in a preheated oven at 325* for 15-20 minutes and stirring once to keep granola evenly browned. When completely cool, add in chocolate chips (unless you kind of want the choc. to melt in a little-yum) Store in an airtight container.

No Bake Cookies

If you like peanut butter and oatmeal together then this is a recipe for you! Jesse thinks these are better than fudge and fudge is just about his absolute favorite thing in the world.

No Bake Cookies
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1/2 butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
4 cups uncooked oats

Cook sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter over medium heat until it starts to boil. Boil for one minute. Remove from heat. Add in vanilla, salt, peanut butter and oatmeal. Stir well, then drop by spoonful on to waxed paper. Let them sit and they'll harden up.

Yesterday

Yesterday was a great day! My eight year old son had two soccer games because his team was tied for first place. I got to go to church and worship. I went to my favorite Mexican restaurant with Steve. We stopped at Cold Stone for some ice cream and I tried a new flavor. They have a dark chocolate peppermint that is wonderful!!!! It's not too minty, but just right. I tried their mix-in selection, but will leave out the mini-marshmallows next time. Next time I buy it, it will have the ice cream, chocolate shavings, and oreo cookies. It tastes just like the Girl Scout Thin Mint ice cream. It's so good!!!! I came home and puttered around on the computer. Having dial-up limits my puttering so I headed upstairs and got into my pajamas and then lounged around on my bed under my rag quilt and read my book until I finished it. The book I finished was Incidents of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. That poor girl stayed in a small attic crawl space for seven years so she and her children might have freedom. I cannot even imagine what strength of character she had. She was treated so badly simply because her skin was a shade darker than what was desirable. May we never see that kind of injustice again. Look with me past the color and see the person, the person that God created in His image. I finished the night up with popcorn, Hot Tamales and of course, Diet Coke. Just the perfect end to a perfect day.

Pumpkin Blueberry Streusel Muffins

I found this recipe years ago in a free magazine for pregnant moms. www.verybestbaby.com/recipes is the web page given on the recipe page. The idea was that dad could make you a healthy breakfast while you were recovering and resting with baby. Along with these muffins it was suggested to serve scrambled eggs, fruit slices, and milk.

I made them today since it's been a while that I've made them, and oh my goodness! I forgot how good they are. They were so yummy! The streusel didn't turn out quite like I remember, but it was still good.

Pumpkin Blueberry Streusel Muffins

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups pure canned pumkin
2 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Struesel Topping (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 24 muffin cups with Pam.

Combine flour, sugar, pumpkin pie spice, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Combine pumpkin, eggs and vegetable oil in medium bowl; stir well. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Gently fold in blueberries. Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

Bake for 28 to 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. (It seems that I only cooked mine for 15 minutes, so check them at 15 minutes) Remove from pans to wire racks; cool slightly. Serve warm. Makes 24 muffins.

For Streusel Topping: Combine in a medium bowl-
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Cut in 2 tablespoons butter with pastry blender.

Enjoy!