Happy Birthday sweet baby

We celebrated Anna's first birthday this week. She is our little delight. "I just love this little one", said her big sister Ruby. Yes, we all agree. Children are a blessing from the Lord. This little surprise of our lives is ALL blessing!Anna got socks and sleepers and a cozy coat - things we needed. And a silly little pink musical princess "car" and a funny little bang-it popper toy and the most delightful, loving homemade treasures from the big kids.

Isaac made her a banner (out of my old business cards) and a card with a bare tree and leaves on the ground that said "as the last leav falls, there's nothin better than cudling (sic) a little girl!"

Ruby made a coloring book for her with pictures of a butterfly, ladybug, bird with worm, log with fungus and flower on it, tree, mushroom. Brilliant (can you tell we studied botany last year and flying creatures this year?). And a rainbow-striped marker-ed picture that Anna loved. And her card said "If you have a little girl, there is nothing better than her having a birthday!"

I made a cake out of the Covered Bridge Cookbook (Roann, IN - my Mom's hometown). And we all loved it and Anna demolished her whole piece and then played peek with her plate!

Chopped Apple Cake

325 degrees, 45 minutes (or a little more)

2 C Sugar

2 C Flour (I used 1/2 WW)

1/2 C oil (I skipped this -by accident)

1 t soda

1 t cinnamon

1/2 t bak powder

1/2 t salt

2 eggs

4 C chopped apples (I used the fugi's that we picked a few weeks ago)

If you skip the oil like I accidentally did, you mix all the ingred except eggs and apples. Beat eggs and stir in apples to coat, then add to dry mix. Pour into prepared 9x13 and bake 45 minutes (or until done in middle - mine wasn't quite). Delicious (with or without Cool Whip) - would be yummy with vanilla ice cream. We ate the rest for breakfast!

Tuesday Teaparty

OK, well it wasn't really tea. They voted for hot chocolate. And then complained that it didn't have much "flavor". Hmm, maybe because I always skimp on the chocolate.

Isaac told me that at Grandma Sharon's, the chocolate milk is much chocolatey-er, much better. I told him, that's probably right - most things are better at Grandma's!


We ate Grandma Mills no-bake cookies and sipped our cocoa. You can see the perfectly set table, by our hostess Ruby. She also got to do the pouring - needed a new shirt when we were done - but she was delighted with her job. Need to assign someone the job of handwashing all the tea-party dishes next time.

We listened to Peter read from his Poetry book. He recited The Vulture by Hilaire Belloc - a hoot. He re-wrote Ewey-Gooey was a Worm with a new main character - giggles. I read Singing Time by Robert Louis Stevenson - we all giggled more because they know I don't really do what the poem says, even though I claim to (poke my head straight from my morning covers and sing and sing and sing!). And The Wind by Christina Rosetti - perfect illustration - lots of evidence of the unseen wind out our snowy windows.

Tea party rules:
1 Pray before we start - this is something to be so thankful for!
2 Pick something good to recite or read - anybody can pick
3 Have yummy something to eat and tea (or something that's a drink) to drink
4 Use polite rules like "please pass the cookies" and "may I have more to drink" and "that is a nice poem" and "excuse me, I spilled the tea, please pass a napkin"
5 Invite guests to tea (Jim was invited but evidently the deer hunting was too taxing, so he napped through our tea party)
6 Have tea parties on Tuesday because they both start with T.

Pomegranate by Peter, Isaac, Ruby and Mommy

Did you ever peel a pomegranate
and taste the pretty seeds?
"juicy, you mean" -Ruby
Did you ever wonder how God made it
and how much ingredients He needs?
"just to be silly, because He doesn't need any" - Pete
"do I have a purple nose?" -Isaac
Did you ever crunch a seed
and wonder, should you chew it?
If you try it at my house,
Mommy says, "Just do it!"
"Do you think this poem will be a classic?" -Pete

Written February 2008, found in a pile today!