It's a rainy day, it's a rainy day!

Every time it rains this song runs through my head. I was delighted to find the video on YouTube, so I could share it with Miriam. I hope you enjoy this little trip down memory lane as much as I did!!!!

kids are so funny!

Just a quick little blurb about a funny comment Miriam made this week. A little background first though. My youngest brother Chris started working weekends and no longer attends church with my dad. It was his choice since he is now 19 (gosh where did the years go) and thus he chose to make himself available for the weekend schedule. Since not everyone will work weekends he pretty much is scheduled every Sunday. Anyway...
We are in the car driving to a dr's appt and Miriam is prattling away in the backseat as always. I must admit I only half listen to her rambling. She goes on and on all the time and about half the stuff only makes a quarter sense. (did I confuse you with that sentence? read it slowly and it will still confuse you, but it really does make sense! hahaha) This time however she loudly declares that "I need to tell Uncle Chris that!" I was a bit startled because we are headed to my dad's/sister's this weekend so she'll be seeing her Uncle Chris, but Miriam doesn't know this. So, with my attention caught I asked what she needed to tell her Uncle Chris. The response caught me a little off guard, "That grandpa Garden's church is so much fun!" (I must insert here that Miriam goes to the nursery whenever we attend Grandpa Garden's church. A room with all sorts of cool toys and kids to play with. Pure bliss for my socially starved and toy depraved child...or so she seems to think!) She continued, "I need to tell Uncle Chris that Grandpa Garden's church is so fun, so that he'll go there again too!" I must say this amused me because I am a bit concerned about my brother giving up his "church life". So I encouraged her to continue talking this out with me...wanting to see exactly how she viewed his not going to church. I asked her if she thought that would work. Well...the kicker was this comment...which I totally love and think is just priceless.

"My daddy and I are going to save the world!!!! Then Uncle Chris will go back to Grandpa Garden's church and he'll see that it is fun and he'll stay there!"

Oh how wonderful the innocence of a child. If only it were that easy. In her eyes it is...with her daddy's help she can do anything, even save the world. And you never know...maybe someday her and her daddy will help save the world!

cooking/baking

I am a weird phenomenon it seems. What do I mean by this? Well...in my generation it seems that there are a precious few that really cook from scratch. We are a generation of convenience; i.e. eating out and/or cooking from a box or similar prepackaged prepared food. Until college I had rarely made anything instant (only minute rice which always ended up watery) or anything from a box . In fact my college roommate had to teach me how to make instant mashed potatoes! (I, in return, taught her how to cook a roast, roast a chicken, and do other "martha stewart stuff" as she called it.). Over and over again through the years I have tried making various "boxed" foods and some I have mastered sufficiently and some continue to be failures. Yes, it perplexes me that I cannot cook very well from a "box". It would stand to reason that if one can make something entirely from scratch that "cooking from a box" would be a breeze, but for me that does not seem to be the case. Brownies usually turn out just okay, cakes form this crazy mound in the middle while being super thin around the edges (yes I spread the batter out, even tried putting more to the outsides then the middle!), instant potatoes taste like anything but potatoes (more like paste!), and well...hamburger helpers I actually can do. So what brought upon this post? It was my complete, total, and utter failure in making valentine sugar cookies from a tube of pre-made dough! The grocery store I work at had Pillsbury sugar cookie dough in the mega tubes for 99cents! I had been planning on making roll out sugar cookies with Miriam for Valentines Day in the shape of hearts. I thought...why go through the trouble of making dough when I can buy it for 99cents. Heck...the ingredients I would use would cost more then that! So...we followed the directions on the tube for roll out cookies, cut out our hearts and put them in the oven. What came out of the oven was NOT hearts! I'm used to sugar cookies being fairly think, slightly chewy, and "normal sized". These cookies were thin, extremely chewy (to the point of drooping when held), and a HUGE lop-sided circle thingy (they more then doubled in size outward)! I had followed the directions to the letter, except I cooked them about 3-5 minutes longer then they said (so they shouldn't have been undercooked!) because they just didn't look done to me in the time frame they gave. So why did they turn out so not right?!?!?! Well...being the cook I am I tried to mess with the dough, adding more flour since it seemed like if they were that flat, overly soft, and didn't hold a shape then that is what they needed. Guess I was wrong because what I ended up with was no better then before...might even say it was worse. The cookies were still flat, huge and not heart-shaped, and this time they cooked in half the time (thus I really overcooked the first sheet) and were crispy!!! So...I am still cursed when it comes to baked goods from a box...err tube. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately for my pride) I didn't take any pictures of the foray, so I can't share them with you. You will just have to take my word on this misadventure. I am off now to make some perfectly shaped sugar cookies from scratch. Ones that will be worth putting frosting on and making look all pretty, maybe even too pretty to eat...but that won't stop us! Of course now I don't know what shape to cut out since Valentines Day is past...hmmmm....

Thank you for your prayers!

I should have posted an update on Dani before now, but it has been a crazy couple of days in our house! I am VERY excited to tell you that she went home from the hospital today!!!!!! I'm not sure the drs are exactly positive on a reason for her issues. I know at one point they thought appendix, then Krohns disease, and in the end the decided it was just a severe GI tract infection. Guess it really doesn't matter so much as long as she is getting better and will recover fully. Looks like that is the case, so Praise The Lord!!!!

Please Pray!!!

While we were stationed at Ft. Bragg the Lane family became our mom and dad and siblings. They took a "cherry" soldier and his wife under wing and helped us find our way in the ARMY world. They also helped us transition from being a couple to being parents. LaDona, the mom, was even in the delivery room with us for Miriam. Well their 18 year old daughter, Danielle (that's her in the pic), is in the hospital and VERY sick. She's in severe pain that even morphine really isn't helping. She's been running a high fever and her heart rate and blood pressure are all over the place. I'm really scared for her. She keeps getting worse with more issues and the Dr's have NO IDEA what is wrong. (I wish there was a real Dr. House, so he could work his crazy "magic" and find what is wrong with her.) At this point it is all in God's hands, so PLEASE pray for her...that God will either work a miracle, or help the Dr's discover what is wrong so they can treat it. Dani is like a little sister to me. She's my Dani girl, my horse lovin buddy. I don't want to lose her...we've lost too many friends already. PLEASE PRAY!!!!

A little fun time at our house

COOKIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So a week ago Miriam and I finally baked the gingerbread cookies I had mixed up right after Christmas. Don't worry it is a refrigerated dough, so it was still safe to use! I know it sat in the fridge for a month, which maybe why they turned out so soft and not crisp like I'm used to. Anyway...I had wanted to decorate them when we made them, but never got around to it. Brad hadn't really been eating them and I discovered why when he commented that they really needed some icing or something. (guess they just weren't sweet enough for him...though personally I agreed with him, but I was willing to eat them anyway) So yesterday I decided was icing day, and for once what I decided to do actually happened! I did most of them myself, but left the teddy bears and stars for Miriam to help with. Believe it or not...when she decorated them I just steadied the bag and squeezed it...she is the one that directed where the icing went. I think I might just have a cake decorator on my hand. If not that then an artist of some sort...she has such a steady hand and an eye for design! Well here are some close up pics of our delicious designs!


My "word art" hearts

My butterflies (M helped sprinkle on the colored sugar!)

My "lacy" hearts

Misc heart designs

Miriam's creations...like I said a steady hand!
Oh...and she ate more M&M's and chocolate chips then went on the cookies!