Spring Photos and a Wee Catch Up

Lots has been going on here. And I am too far behind on blogging, so I will just have to catch you up in photos.

I love these little monkeys. Snack time.

I was pretty sick on Sunshine's confirmation day but managed to get this shot with Gram and Grandpa.

Her Godmother and Sponsor, Lisa, flew in from Washington state and surprised us by bringing along Mamaw (whose photo I forgot to take in all the pre-church excitement.)

Pepper and her boyfriend, The Chef, cooked while we were at church.
 Everything was perfect including this lovely relish tray!

With Lisa and Mamaw here, we had to take advantage of this year's
extra pretty Bluebonnets. (The Captain and Tink were in school)

Here's Mamaw!!

Mamaw looks extra pretty in a field of blue.

Stinker!

He loves to mug for the camera.

So does Sunshine.

Blue is Lisa's color too!

Here is our Pepper!

The Blitz had a birthday(FIVE!) and this is the only picture I have! He wanted
vegetables on his cupcakes. I made these out of starburst, M&Ms and tootsie rolls.
Pepper styled the cabbages for me out of corn flakes (frosted) and gum drops.
These were a big hit at school. Pepper made him a carrot cake for home and
he loved it. It was a great day even if I didn't get any pics!

Mamaw's Potato Soup with Egg Dumplings for Cold Weather

It's that time of year again. I was so grateful to see all the kids with their legs covered up this morning. Summer is long. I get tired of looking at their knobby knees! (I'm not being mean -- I'll say the opposite in March.)

It seemed like the perfect day to post Mamaw's Potato Soup Recipe.  I grew up on this soup and it is still my go-to comfort food.  A word of warning, this is the over-large family version. You may need to scale it down for your family, or just eat it two days in a row. When you refrigerate it, it appears to turn into mashed potatos, just add milk and water in equal amounts when reheating to re-liquify it. (No picture, sorry. We are always too excited to get to the eating!)

Mamaw's Potato Soup with Egg Dumplings 

5# Potatoes, peeled and cut into 2" pieces (rough cut) (I like white or russet for this)
3 large stalks celery, cleaned and chopped.
1 Tablespoon butter
Water,
Salt,
Milk (lots - probably about 4 cups)
6 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
4 eggs
1 to 1-1/2 cups flour

Cook the celery in the butter in a saute pan. Just cover the potatoes with salted water and bring to boil. Add the celery to this. Once they boil, reduce heat to simmer and let cook 10 minutes. Test with a fork to see if they are almost done.

Meanwhile, beat the eggs with a fork and slowly add the flour until it is a thick batter. 1-1/4 cups of flour should be about right. Add about a tsp. of salt to the mix. These are your egg dumplings.

When the potatoes are nearly done, drop the dumplings on top of the potatoes and replace the lid on the pot. Simmer 15 minutes. Test dumplings to make sure they are done; they should be dry inside.

By now your water should be down to less than half the level of potatoes. Slowly add milk until it is up to the level of the potaotes; heat this until bubbly. When the milk is hot, add the cheese and turn off the heat. Slowly stir the cheese in.

Enjoy!

Variations:
Add cooked, crumbled bacon to the top
Include two peeled chopped carrots with the potatoes
Add a chopped onion to the celery (we're allergic)
Top with chives or green onions

This is also a very good potato soup recipe made with a really special cheese, Cougar Gold.

Seasons

I cannot believe it is almost Halloween already.  Wasn't it just a minute ago I was frantically making Wizard of Oz costumes for everyone?  Oh yes, I meant to sell those costumes this year.  Ooops.  Maybe next year!

Well that was then and this is now!  After our "second honeymoon" cruise to Alaska, life was a little too chaotic for costume making.  We have an "everyday hero" theme planned for this year and all the costumes are "boughten" ones.  The Blitz will be a fireman and he loves his new boots so much he wears them 18 hours a day.  Tinkerbelle will be a nurse; her love of the medical profession started after that trip to the hospital in May.  The Captain is an army hero; our family appreciation for members of the military seems to have rubbed off on him.  Sunshine will be a police woman and Pepper, Rosie the Riveter.  So fun.  Daddy seems to usually pull off a costume at the last minute.  He's my hero everyday so maybe he can just wear his blue jeans!

We are really enjoying the autumn.  Not the weather, of course-- it's still summer here--but we are enjoying the rhythms of school and fall ball and all both entail.  The Captain is a ball player now.  Picture a little absent minded professor in center field and you've got the picture.  It is actually totally adorable and completely entertaining and I can't believe I haven't posted a picture until now.

Sunshine is back at it too; she is not always enjoying the season but things will get better.  Her team is not gelling as well as is often the case and most of her friends were on the other two teams, but all is well.  I haven't gotten a picture of her in new uniform but maybe this week.  She plays at 8:40 in the evening and apparently, my brain has checked out by then!

School is going great!  Pepper is practically a college pro now and is taking two dual credit courses, English Comp and Art History.  Of course she is also taking all the regular fare at home, math, science, etc.  She has been practicing her driving and will get her license in December; neither of us can wait.

The big news, though, is that Mamaw and Papa are here from Idaho and we are soaking up the Huntley time. That explains the radio silence of late; we are just too busy playing Bingo and Pinochle!

Hope your fall is a beautiful fall too.

Grandparents: It's "LOVE Thursday!"

 I just sent a "shout out" to our fabulous five grandparents on one of  my Adoption.com blogs.  Because of copyright laws, I can't replicate it here, but I can ask you to go over there and take a look at it, please!

Dear Hubby and Grandma

Enjoying dinner on a cruise

I am also limited to one tiny picture there, but not here so before you go there, take a gander at these snapshots.

Papa and Mamaw

(To visit the blog, just click on any of the blue words.They all head to the same place!)

Grandma (Dear Hubby's mom), Papa and Mamaw (my folks)

Papa reading to the Littles

Gram and Pepper

Dear Hubby and Grandpa

At the State Fair of Texas

Gram and Tink

Summertime is Family Time - Album 2

It was worth driving 2400 miles for what awaited us once we arrived.  We arrived at my sister's in Montana on Friday and then got to the folks' in Idaho on the Saturday before Mother's Day.  Somehow the time just flew by and I did not get out to see the Uncles and Aunts, but I was so thrilled to get to spend so much time with "my" Idaho kids.  We didn't get to see Guy and John (in London)  Royce (in Montana), Anneka (in California) or Carin and clan (in Oregon) but we are hoping to drag them out for the next Huntley camping extravaganza.

 Uncle Jason and Gabriel

 Aunt "Dark" (Darinda) and Papa

 Alli looking happy to be out of the car

 Yes folks we have it right here -- Kolby can be captured for a kiss from his beautiful mama

 Lisa with her newest niece, Zita.  These two have a special bond.

 Cousins and friends; Kolby was so patient with all the Littles

 Ted looking pretty in Maggie's hat

 TJ and Mikayla monkeying around 

Love this sweet shot of Papa and the Littles 

He has endless patience!

 Mamaw and Papa

 Guy was busy working in London but here are the rest of us "kids" with Mom and Dad

 Mom and her "baby."

 Alli and our precious Zita

 She is the best of both her parents

PHere is her proud mama, Melissa.  We love you so much, Melissa -- we're so glad you and TJ ran into each other!

Every child should get to play in the wheat.

Uncle Ted

Sweet Christmas

I did a lot of baking on Monday, the official start to the holiday around here although Pepper and Dear Hubby were still at their usual tasks.

I started with an old fashioned treat, Washboard Cookies.  The unusual combination of fresh nutmeg and coconut makes them so yummy.

Then in honor of Papa who is celebrating Christmas 2400 miles away this year, Molasses Cookies.  We make them each and every year.  Miss you Mamaw and Papa!

I always make at least one new cookie;  this year's recipe from All You is chocolate sandwich cookies with peppermint filling.  Oh, my goodness, they are good!  The filling has marshmallow fluff so it has a lovely texture.

What is Christmas without Spritz?  I use Betty Crocker's recipe for mine.  I also make pink poinsettias with green veins but they all got eaten before I remembered to take the photo!

 

Finally I rounded out the day with super-simple haystacks.  Mamaw and I have been honing the recipe.  I loved this formula best so I will stick with it for a bit.  You just melt the chips in a double boiler and pour them over everything else and then drop them on buttered wax paper.

11 oz butterscotch chips, melted with

2 Tbls.. peanut butter

1 cup peanuts
1 cup marshmallows
2-1/2 cups chow mein noodles.

I made chex mix too, of course, the classic recipe off the box.  I just substitute some Cajun spices for the seasoned salt to which I'm allergic.  It's yummy. 

Pepper will make her trademark Brown Sugar Cookies tomorrow; I'll make another batch of haystacks, spritz, and Chex mix.  We'll make gingerbread snowflakes and let the kids decorate them.  Then, I think I'll call it a wrap!