Memory Lane Monday: Mommy's Helpers

Kyla -7 years old and Colter - 5 years old stirring at the stove.

Maya - 4 years old and Colter - 6 years old peeling eggs for deviled eggs.

So I had to go back and post these picture of my kitchen helpers back in October of 2007 and May of 2009 after doing the last post this morning about my kitchen helpers of now!

Ahhh, I love these little walks down memory lane...

What's around the next corner on Memory Lane?
See you next Monday!

IT'S A NEW YEAR!!! JOIN US FOR MEMORY LANE MONDAY AND SHARE YOUR PAST MEMORIES AND PICTURES WITH US. 1 YEAR AGO OR 100 YEARS AGO?! LETS WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE TOGETHER!!!

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Mommy's Helpers

This is something I really want to remember about this time in my life...

Yesterday I had to get out the camera and take a picture of my three little helpers in the kitchen. They are by my side more and more often these days. All to often in the past, I have shooed them out of the kitchen so I can move about more easily but as they get older, I have found there is more and more they can do to help and I've been surprised that more hands make lighter, and faster, meal preparation!

Kyla has been helping me for quite a long time now. Her favorite thing to do for lunch on sunday is mash the potatoes and whip the cream. I often have her make salad which isn't her favorite thing to do. Yesterday she got to help set the table.

Colter helps peel potatoes and usually helps set the table. Yesterday he wanted to help with whipping the cream too. He also had Kyla teach him how to mash the potatoes.

Maya said she wanted to make the salad yesterday since Kyla wasn't so crazy about doing it. Here she is washing the grapes for the fruit salad. Later she cut up the rest of the fruit.

This may seem like a bit of a bragging post but my true motive it only to remember my children at this stage in life and to encourage others to get their kids in the kitchen no matter what age they are!

I seek not to impress but to inspire. -author unknown

Have a BIG day wherever you are,

An Evening with Grandpa

I mentioned in the last post that Grandpa came through for a quick visit. He spent one night here and we really enjoyed having that time with him even though it was fast. I love this picture of the kids gathered around him while us adults are visiting.

Memory Lane Monday: Grandma Jean's Bosch!

I couldn't let this day go by without posting a memory post about Grandma Jean's Bosch Mixer. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had been wanting to get a Bosch mixer so that I could make bigger batches of bread than just the 2 loaves I normally make from my bread machine. After I posted about this, Randy's Dad asked us if we would like to have the Bosch that they bought years ago for Randy's Mom to make bread with. We said sure, we'd love to have it. On a recent quick visit, Dad brought it with him.

So today, I got it out and made 6 pounds of bread dough. I couldn't believe the capacity of the bowl! (It can hold up to 8 pounds!) And it mixed it up so quickly! Then I transferred it to my bread bowl to raise it. After about an hour it was completely poofed up and spilling over the edge. I punched it down and divided it into the 4 bread pans (2 large and 2 medium) that I had and still had some left over to make buns for supper. Here is a picture of Colter checking out the finished products after he got home from school...


I am still in the experimenting stage. I'm looking for more medium size bread pans because I think I like that size best. I'm also not sure how long to mix the dough in the mixer. The bread was so moist and delicious but had a few bubbles in it. It's a work in progress that I don't mind working on one bit.

Although my Mom never had a Bosch, I do remember her making bread when we where younger. Randy remembers very well the excitement of his Mom when they bought this amazing mixing machine and I can totally understand why she felt this way! He remembers her weekly bread making and the smell and taste. He commented on it even today.

I posted about this on facebook today and received some fun comments about peoples memories of making bread for their families or remembering their Mothers making bread when they were growing up. Do you have special memories that the smell and taste of bread bring back to you?

What's around the next corner on Memory Lane?
See you next Monday!

IT'S A NEW YEAR!!! JOIN US FOR MEMORY LANE MONDAY AND SHARE YOUR PAST MEMORIES AND PICTURES WITH US. 1 YEAR AGO OR 100 YEARS AGO?! LETS WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE TOGETHER!!!

Grab my button and take your own walk down memory lane every Monday!
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A Brand New Year

Finally tonight, I organized and put these collages together of the rest of our New Years weekend. I combined our pictures along with shared pictures from other family.

The pictures above show the kids (and some adults) having fun at Jumping Jacks!

Below are some pictures taken at our house on January 1st. Lots of fun was had outside that day...

In the evening we did puzzles and played with toys and games...

A good game of Skipbo for the adults...
We also enjoyed a little ice skating at the indoor ice den...
All to soon our weekend was over. So glad for this special time with my Sister, Brother, Parents and all our family. And so great to see other family and friends over the holidays! Makes these dreary winter days full of good memories!

Another year is done, another year begun,

Loving Longfellow

A Day of Sunshine

O gift of God! O perfect day:
Whereon shall no man work, but play;
Whereon it is enough for me,
Not to be doing, but to be!

Through every fibre of my brain,
Through every nerve, through every vein,
I feel the electric thrill, the touch
Of life, that seems almost too much.

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.

And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where though a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon,

Towards yonder cloud-land in the West,
Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,
Whose steep sierra far uplifts
Its craggy summits white with drifts.

Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms
The snow-flakes of the cherry-blooms!
Blow, winds! and bend within my reach
The fiery blossoms of the peach!

O Life and Love! O happy throng
Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!
O heart of man! canst thou not be
Blithe as the air is, and as free?

~Henry Waldsworth Longfellow

For more great Longfellow, click here!

Enjoying this "day of sunshine"!

Memory Lane Monday: Colter's Piano Recital

These pictures were taken back in January of 2009 during a brief period of time when I was not blogging. Colter was in a music class called "Harmony Road" and this was his recital.

He really loved his class and learning how to play songs on the keyboard.

I love these sweet pictures of my little man who was so excited about his recital that day. *smile*

Here he is with his teacher Michelle. She was also my piano teacher when I was in elementary school and later when I was in high-school! Another reason that this is a Memory Lane Monday post!

We didn't continue the music lessons over the past 2 years but have recently started Colter in piano lessons with Kyla's teacher. He is, again, very excited about it and it doesn't take much to get him to go practice so far. Sure hope he keeps his enthusiasm. ;)

One thing we've noticed with our kids is... when we go and sit down and play (even though neither Randy or I are very good pianists) it seems to motivate them and make them more excited about playing too. It also helped to get our piano tuned recently. It really did make a HUGE difference we all noticed!

What's around the next corner on Memory Lane?
See you next Monday!

IT'S A NEW YEAR!!! JOIN US FOR MEMORY LANE MONDAY AND SHARE YOUR PAST MEMORIES AND PICTURES WITH US. 1 YEAR AGO OR 100 YEARS AGO?! LETS WALK DOWN MEMORY LANE TOGETHER!!!

Grab my button and take your own walk down memory lane every Monday!
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New Years Eve 2010

Absolutely the BEST way to spend the last hours of 2010!
Love my family,

Sub-Zero Fishing Fun

On Thursday, December 29th, Randy, Kyla and Colter headed out to go ice fishing in the sub-zero temperatures. Sounds crazy huh? But as you can see they are fishing in their shirts. Apparently the heater inside the Ice House kept them all toasty warm. :)

And did they get any fish? No pictures to prove it but, they caught quite a few. They threw most of them back because of the tiny size but brought home 10 little ones, mostly perch. Randy cleaned them and I fried them for supper. I think all three had a fun day fishing!

The plan is to go again soon. And this time Maya really really wants to go! Next time I'll insist that they take some fish pictures! Hope that doesn't jinx them. :)

Friends-Old and New

It was super fun to get together with an "old friend" and her family from up north over the holidays. Mary-Louise (far right) and her husband and kids, her parents and her brother came over one evening and we really enjoyed visiting and reliving old times along with Jolene (middle) and family. Us three girls have known each other for forever! It was great to get together again after all these years!
And here is a picture of our three daughters who are all very close to the same age. Where should I find them but hidden away downstairs in the guest room, talking and giggling away. I think these three have a lot in common with their mother's of a long time ago!
...or maybe not so long ago!

Thanks so much for coming to visit! We look forward to seeing you all again!
and family

Christmas 2010

Here is a slideshow of pictures of Chrismas Eve at Mom and Dad's with MaryAnn and Christmas morning at our house with just us. We spent Christmas Day at Dale and Bonnies and enjoyed good food and good company but we didn't take any pictures. Just enjoyed it all.

Glitter Works!

This year we kept it really simple and the kids just had fun making holiday cards for teachers, friends, etc. It's fun to just let them go and do whatever they want. The glitter part can be kind of interesting... good thing it's easy to vacuum up! :)

Looking back on these pictures from before the holiday vacation, it does seem like a long time ago. I guess it WAS last year...

Now we're onto a new year and I'm already WAY behind with my blog but hopefully I can get caught up over the next few weeks.

Hope all are settling in to the new year!
Hugsfromus!