Eric and Lee

This is my nephew Eric and Lee playing one night when I babysat him. I usually babysit 2 nights a week right now for about 3 hours. Isn't he cute with the little construction worker hat? (This one is big because otherwise I lost the quality of the picture)

Paul and brothers in overalls

Paul got everyone all dressed in overalls one day! Aren't they cute all holding hands? I wish they were like this all the time!

….got interrupted!

I got interrupted, so had to post that before one of the boys erased it or something!

I was reading the most interesting book on the way home. It is called “Mommy Brain” by Katherine Ellison. It was really good! It is all about how motherhood makes you smarter. Motherhood actually causes your brain to develop new pathways and helps you later in life! It also talked about differences between a mother and father and how they react to a baby, by the way their brains react. They did all sorts of studies on rats and monkeys and the like anyhow, I think it was a great book (I haven't finished it yet!)

Anyhow, mom gave me a pan of leftover lasagna, so we had dinner with a salad and garlic bread. I made the garlic bread with fresh garlic so we probably all smell…but no one can tell because we all ate it! At mom's we made garlic bread with mostly coconut oil on it. It was really tasty, she made popcorn with it too. That was good too!

Well, better take care of some very hyper young men. I think we need some quality time spent together!

First snow!

Of course, it has to snow the first time when we are going to be driving home from Libby! But anyhow, it didn't stick at all, but it is getting cold!
We had a nice weekend in Libby.
My mom bought a house, in town, she is making into a birth center. We spent Sat. painting one of the large rooms (it will be a birthing room). She decided on a tan walls with white trim. There is white trim around the windows and doors and ceiling and floor. It looked really nice, even though we did not get everything done. We got the ceiling and walls painted and still have the trim to do. Mom worked on the bookcases while we did that.
Fred, the boys and Joe finished the railing on the deck and the staircases, and cleared some wood out of the woods for firewood.
It looked really good!

Coffee Braids!

Apple braid

Dough:
1 c. evaporated milk
2 T butter
1/4 c. . sugar
1 t. salt
1 T. yeast
1/4 c. warm water
21/2-3 c. flour

Filling:

4 1/2 c. sliced apples peeled
1/2 c. sugar
1 t. cinnamon

Icing:
1 c. powdered sugar
1-2 T. milk

In bowl mix milk, butter, salt together. In separate cup mix warm water, yeast and sugar. Let set until bubbly. Add to milk mixture with 1 1/2 c. flour. Add enough flour to make a soft dough just barely firm enough to handle. (The softer you can make it, the more tender it will be)

Let raise until double in oiled bowl.
When dough is almost doubled prepare apples mixing sugar, peeled apples and cinnamon together.
When dough is doubled divide in 2. Roll out on cookie tray one half of dough to a wide rectangle about 10 in wide, place 1/2 of the apple filling down the center. then using a sharp knife cut strips (not quite to the filling) down each side. Then carefully seal ends with the end strips, and then using the others pull them up to form a fake braid look, crisscrossing one another over the apples. You can brush with beaten egg if you like a egg wash look also. Let raise about 10 min. and bake in a 350 oven about 20-30 min, or until brown on underneath and apples are tender. Cool on wire rack

When cool mix powdered sugar and milk to form a thin icing. Drizzle over top of braids thinly.
Serves 8-10

Libby for the weekend

I think we are going to go up to Libby for the weekend. Mom needs some help painting and she would like to do some scrapbooking, and cooking so we are going to go. I have bills to pay and a house to clean so have not had time to too much writing!

Baking day!

Don't you just love how the house smells when you bake? I think I bake just for the smell of it sometimes! Today I made a couple of coffee braids (They taste really good, but I cooked them a little long so they are kind of crunchy), a pan of soft garlic/parmasan rolls, and a apple crisp. I added flax seeds to the apple crisp topping! Have any of you ever tried that?
Then I made a small pan of vegetable soup for supper. It is meatless as I didn't have any beef to put in it. Oh, well I hope it tastes good!
We did get school done today, someone came and replaced my kitchen faucet too! Yippee! No more leaks! It was getting really bad where it would spray at the base when you turned it on! Lee is doing really well in speech too! He loves it! I think the one- on- one attention is good for him. The boys and Fred went out and raked a huge pile of leaves up. They mowed the lawn for the probably the last time this fall as it is almost winter!! I cannot say I am looking forward to the snow, but the boys are!

Another busy day!

I had a horribly busy day! We didn't even get school done I was so busy! I had to get something done for TEACH. I had to get all these titles and descriptions, pictures, values all on a page lined up so she can use it in a ad. It was frustrating as nothing worked right! Anyhow, Michael helped me figure out how to do it, then I took him to the bus stop, stopped quick at the grocery store, came and got Fred, put gas in the van, looked a tractor for Uncle Terry, stopped somewhere for Fred, went to Wal-Mart and bought heaters for June and Terry's house then headed out there. Fred, Hans and Lee and I went under the house (very nice crawl space, no spiders yet and it is almost 5 ft tall) and set up a few so the pipes hopefully do not freeze. The boys amused themselves with moving a very large piece of firewood to here it was supposed to go. I took a few pictures too. We came home and I tried again working on the project until I whipped up some dinner, headed to Moriah to try to relax. I am now ready to go to bed as soon as Anthony falls asleep!

Days in a nutshell (or nuthouse?)

On Friday I went to Missoula with Moriah to get Michael, see the college, meet his roomates, etc. We had a nice time! We went to this meal they had for the family. It was a huge room with lots of different buffet lines. I had a big ceaser salad, some chicken on it, and pizza and then Anthony and I had a bowl of fruit and yogurt. They had a really good apple there though! It was really good!
Then yesterday, Moriah and I drove up to Libby. Joe took 2 of the boys and Fred and went to cut firewood for mom and dad and work on the railing of the deck. They got one side of the deck railing done and built a stairway that is really nice! Joe and the boys got lots of firewood cut up and brought piled over by the wood chute. Mom still cannot work very well and she gets frustrated with it! Moriah and I made a nice dinner for everyone though with mom! Turkey Breast, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, green beans, yams, and pie. It was really good! Mom had bought a bunch of apples for me for .15 a pound (which I forgot to pay her for) so I have 2 boxes of big nice apples. I need to make apple pie filling now, but I think I am going to put a box in June and Terry's root cellar.
We got back at 10:30 pm or so, so not too late, but we were tired. Anthony woke up early this morning so I will be tired tonight! I guess I should go get ready for church now though!
So, that is my story in a nutshell of the last few days!

My mixed up…misc. day!

I have so many different thoughts running through my head I do not know how to even name this post!
Today was a busy day! (When are they not?)

I taught Hans school and started Paul's school, but then it was time to go to pick up a paper from Moriah and run errands. I really wanted to make chicken pot pie tonight, but realized I am out of shortening. I found some recipes making pie crust with butter so may try that. It would probably taste good with potpie! So, tonight's soup will be pot pie tomorrow.
I roasted a chicken last night with roasted garlic vegetables. I made the leftovers into soup with some bits of chicken and then will take the rest of the chicken and make it and the soup into pot pie. The soup was good! I added celery to it!

I have still been waking up alot, but Fred was really sweet and let me sleep in this morning. He was cleaning, taking care of the boys and all! Isn't that a sweet thing to do?

This evening I watched Eric (my nephew) and started working on a project for TEACH magazine. I am collecting addresses of businesses to send them a free issue of the magazine and offer them advertising opprotunities.
So, between keeping Eric and Anthony from attacking each other and making sure everyone was happy, I neglected Lee for a bit! What did I discover, but him in my bedroom with the whole 3 lb. tub of soft margarine with a whole bunch of silverware stuck in it! He also had a potato and a peeler! Thankfully it could have been worse than it was and, everything was rescued. And I thought he was was no trouble tonight???

I don't remember if I have my sister Mishael on my prayer list, but she is planning on getting married soon. We are worried about it, but are praying that God would work in the situation. Mom hurt herself last night avoiding getting burned by a spilled cup of tea, but hurt her back in the process, so I need to keep up the prayers there too!
Good night!