Happenings...

Beeeeeautiful bird! We found this bird under the porch wounded by our cat, wild flower. All of us kids are soft hearted about little wounded birds so we took it in and placed it in a little basket in front of the window, with some of my parakeets food. Caitlin also gave it water in a straw which, surprisingly, it drank. A few minutes later it gained strength and flew out of the window, but fell on the ground again. So we placed it back into the basket and let it rest. Although the chances of this beautiful creature living are VERY slim, we always like to give it a shot...not literally. :)Awww, poor thing! This is right after we found it under the porch.
A new DOG!!!! .....just kidding! This is our neighbors dog that visits us all of the time. She loves playing with the kiddos and does cool tricks for us...like standing on her hind legs, etc. She is a nice dog, and she reminds us all of our old dog, Tally.

I like this picture, just as much as I like the dog!I am not going to be posting pictures of the cows being slaughtered, but here is their best friend...Caitlin who takes care of them every morning of every day. She was very sad to see her cows go, but knew that she would enjoy the steaks later. :-)
Kind of funny...For all of this time that we have lived in our house, this light above the door has never worked, and we have never seen it on before. So, last night Papa finally fixed it! It looks very weird to us, but very nice as well. :)
Alainna and Levi in the bucket taking the trash up to the top. That is really fun!!
Bunches and bunches of people...our pleasure. :-)
(Sorry about the lights. I don't know what they were doing...)
This is the first time we fit this many people in our Dinning room. 3 TABLES!!
Oh, so cute!!! <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU_dZ-K289_ZkU9kBzmQJrwQprKrA0kMmt3thntYufyDBV6ezIVe_-AoNhJdzBbhxhL93rl869-AkGVZr9DGmSgrOt7byvof2VD5rhLoIsBOphLcITzitQpQKIAXdedmIjA9MhWcs_alY/s1600-h/Grandma+is+in+094.JPG">Levi...4 now.
Shy Caitlin...16 now.

Food...Crafts...life

Now, all of you who have seen Heidi Sturtecant's cards will think this one is 100% PATHETIC! I don't mind if you do, I just tried something fun. I individually cut out each sandwich and bannana, and plate, and bag of chips, etc. Tiny work, but very fun!
(notice the salad sticking out of the sandwich. :)
This is the inside of the card~On the top.
Now, I am making a Chinese dish for dinner tonight. The ingredients in THIS particular bowl will be unknown to my readers, for one reason. If you want to try the recipe then I will tell you. ;-p
It is a mix of spices, sugar, soy sauce, water, etc. I mixed it up and put it aside.
Sloppy, slimy, slippery meat. Gross, until you see what it makes! ;-p
Peanuts jumping into the pan.
I know, the hands belong to Papa, (he was getting hungry) so he decided to help, and make things go faster. :-p
We are cutting green onions..
Green Onions in with the browned pork loin...
next, I poured the sauce in that i made from the begining, and let it thicken for about a minute. Mmmmmm! Smell'in good there! ;-p
The rice...And sorry, it MUST be white for this recipe to taste absolutely delicious. :)
A close up on the meat, nice thick/thin sauce with the pork and onions make this a wonderful Chinese meal! Just as long as you don't make me use chop sticks.
The whole 9 yards of it. Yummmm!
Now, of all of the plates of food who's would I choose? *Guess again* *nope, try again* Papa's of course! He piles it high enough to make a miniature Mt. Saint Helen's! Now, you may think that he would dump the rest of the salad and other sides on the same plate....well you are wrong! Papa, and his family following him, do NOT mix food. If the main dish takes up all of the room, we either get another plate, or have the sides after the good stuff. :-p
Hope all was fun, enjoyable, and interesting!
I have a fun saying from an Amish cookbook, which reads~
"The best place to find a helping hand, is at the end of your arm."
Another one reads~
"When a man does the dishes it is called helping; when a woman does the dishes it is called life."
~Jessica

Cooking...cleaning...FUN!

I took a whole bunch of pictures of me making the cookie dough, but I did not like it, it was too sweet, but here is one of my creations I made with it. :-)
SURPRISE! WE RE-ARRANGED YOUR HOUSE!!
Papa and Mama always work out in the morning, and we usually clean and do school work untill they get back. Well, this time, I was cleaning the living room and saw a whole lot of toys under the couch. "Well," I thought, "I might as well now, so it does not get worse." (And to be thorough) So I move the couch over to the ledge, and clean it out. Well, I looked at the couch there and thought it looked really nice, so I moved the coffe tables and rug, and the whole 9 yards...with the help of Caitlin, who just got up from feeding the animals. Then this whole thing turned into candles, dimmer lights, music, kids sitting at the table doing school QUIETLY, and everything spotless. Here are some pictures-
Kitchen, sorry about the blurry lights.
What is missing?
There it is! (don't ask me, because i have NO idea what those bubbles are doing there!)
Spic and span!

So, what did we have for dinner? well, I had planned Hot and sweet chicken thighs, and papa said, "Umm, I don't think I like that so much." So we both dug around in the kitchen to find what to make thighs with, (since they were already thawed) so Papa finds this slow cooker packet, Butter, and Blackened grill pepper. (not sure if I said the pepper right) We sprinkled the packet on the chicken and then poured the melted butter around it. When that was done we sprinkled the special pepper on top, and put it in the oven for an hour and a half, then broiled it for 5 minutes. it came out SO good! the skin was nice and crispy, FULL of flavor, and the inside was cooked with butter. Oh, SO good! Papa has a special skill for cooking, no doubt!

~Jessica

Funny...

now, I would NOT recomend the cartoon site, some of the cartoons are theologically incorrect, and a lot are really dumb. None of them are BAD, that I saw, just not worth your time. I just saw this one and it made me chuckle.

Today...

Alainna on her horse, I really like the lighting in this photo. It is called a pin point, on my camera. With the lighting and the carousel, it looks old fashioned...kinda. ;)
Marcus on his stallion~

I did a little effect on this photo. I thought it looked cute. With his little lips...too adorable! <3
Alainna and Papa. With her arm around his neck, and them smiling, it is a special moment. Oh, and don't forget the shades. :-p
We were waiting in the Dr. office, area, and the sun came in the big window on this tree, I thought I'd catch it.
Cool John Deere man!
Little 'Mama'.
Today we went shopping for Caitlin and to drop off my computer to get more memory, (Because I take too many pictures and make to many movies.) and to give the kids a ride. On the way back home..."where is the diaper bag!" calls mom.
"Not here."
"Not here."
"Not here."
Not back there."
Not up here."
"O.K. then does anyone KNOW where it is?"
"I don't."
"I don't."
"I don't."
I don't either."
"Me neither."
"O.K. who carried it into the store?"
Not me."
"Not me."
"Not me."
"Not me."
"Not me."
"I DID!" Yells the little boy in the back.
"O.K.," says mom, "where did you put it?"
"I don't know."
"O.K. Jessica, go back into the store and try to find it and ask the guy at the front desk."
"O.K."
She comes back into the van empty handed.
"Great!" yells mom, "We just lost our Diaper bag and a weeks worth of diapers!"

* * *
O.K. I did make this joke up, mostly because it just happened today! i like the little, "Not me!" "Not me." Parts. I think you mom's could relate. :-)
What a day!
~Jessica

Hello handsome!

Although I did not want to cut J.Q.'s hair, it was a must. I loved it long! A comforting thought is that we will grow it out again, so, for that I am happy. "Long hair J.Q.!"
I like the look!

~Jessica

A little Humor~

FEELING BETTER?
My wife was not feeling well, so I went with her to see what the Doctor had to say.
"How tall are you?" Asked the Nurse.
"I'm 5 feet 8 inches." My wife replied.
The Nurse measured her and said, "No, you are 5 feet 5."
"How much do you weigh?" Asked the Nurse.
"I weigh 150 pounds," replied my wife.
The nurse weighed her and said, "No. You are 180."
Then the Nurse took her blood pressure and remarked that it was quite high.
"Oh course it's high!" My wife screamed. "I came in her tall and thin, and you made me short and fat!"

MY SON~
When my young son asked, "Mother, what can I be when I grow up?" I was thrilled at the opportunity to install a positive attitude in him.
"Son," I replied, "You can be anything you want to be."
"Good," he said, "I want to be a bear."

Hear any good jokes?
~Jessica

Y'all seen my home-made Chicken strips?

Spice...
Seasoning. I also put some of our SECRET BBQ rub in the flour as well. Not in the recipe, but I like to experiment with spices. Pepper...
I like this picture. The way the milk is flowing down into the bowl. artistic.
See the milk?
Soaking in a Buttermilk bath.
Sizzle...Fry...Bubble...cry.
Looks gross, I know, raw chicken does not look good to me, epically when you cake it with flour and spices. But the end result is what makes it all worth it!
Let the sizzling begin!
Sweet color! A nice and juicy fruit salad gives you a fresh feeling after supper. And tastes great!
Baked beans also set off something like, "Chicken strips." Very good, just as long as they do not mix with any other food on your plate! That is a MUST.
My lovely chicken. It looks better than this when you see it with your own eyes. ;-) Trust me.
Thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you find it enjoyable and humerus to read. ;-p
~Jessica