Cal bear, self-proclaimed artist.
He made crayon art on the walls of his parent's house this week.
We are so proud.

Miss Rose

Me and Little Louisa

Very cheap ice cream.

Kris creating Mt. Popson

You need exercise?  Take a child sledding.

Minnie Mouse about to descend Mt. Popson.

"Again, again!"



Enjoying the small things,
being thankful,
chugging along,
waiting on the Robin's arrival.

Add to the beauty,
Love,
Sarah

Happy Heart Day!

Annie and Easy Jack on their first ride at sunset.  Scout is trailing behind, but you can't see her.  ;)

 Welcome to the farm, Easy Jack!

 "Happiness is a warm puppy."

~Charles M. Schulz

Meet Rose, our chocolate lab.

"Meow" means "woof" in cat."

~George Carlin

Love,

Sarah xo

The Goings Ons

 Hello!  It's been pretty quiet here lately.  We've been staying home and not venturing out too far.  Sophia has been drawing and painting pictures.  We've been cookin', of course!

 This is the first time I've made biscuits from scratch.  I was being resourceful with the food I had on hand.  Little Miss was eager to help.

 Did ya'll do anything for the Super Bowl?  We celebrated at la casa de Popson's.  We made some fixins' to go with the game (and the commercials which is my favorite).  

Mr. Kris Popson decided to whip up some chicken wontons.  Basically, it's wontons, thinly sliced chicken breasts, coleslaw with a quick dressing, some lime, cilantro and hot sauce.  Oh, and we added some brown sugar in there.  Everything's better with a little shugga!

We hung the wontons over a roasting rack and baked them.  That's a perfect way to get the correct shape for your little itty bitty taco.  There is the deliciously seasoned chicken.  If ya want the recipe say so in the comments and I'll get it to you. ;)

I made homemade rosemary focaccia bread.
Garsh darn it was good.  Right along with some store-bought marinara.

Here is the finished itty bitty chicken wontons coming at you on the Dixie Plate Express.  I like that they're small so when a  person eats a bunch of 'em that said person doesn't feel like a pig.  I'm all about portion control.  It's a good thing I don't have that problem.  Ahem.

****************************************

I finally let Sophia go outside to play in the snow today.  Here she is making a snow angel.  It really was a decent day outside if you didn't stand out in the open and had something to block the wind.  

 Fly is so bossy. He wanted his picture taken.

 "Mom, I'm gonna throw a snowball at you!"  Hey, at least she gave me a warning.

 I lasted a good half hour outside.  I went in the house and watched her from the window.  She proceeded to throw snowballs at the door and ring the doorbell.  

Here's Fancy Nancy cheesin' for the camera.  Fancy Nancy and I went to the Oskaloosa Public Library this afternoon.  Fancy Nancy was very thirsty.  She only had to make 145 trips to the water fountain (on both floors).  One bathroom trip.  12 books.  2 movies.  She got her own library card and checked all her items out by herself.  Fancy Nancy thinks she's pretty fancy.

That's about all the goings ons around here.  We are one month closer to spring now!!!  Yippee!  I'm so excited for spring!  I'm starting to think about flowers, gardening, listening to the birds sing, riding horses, warm air.  Are you excited, too?

Love, 

Sarah

Farm Fresh

I love farm fresh eggs. They are a beautiful brown color, all different sizes, and I think they whip up better than the white store-bought version. I pulled out one of the farm fresh eggs and there was a feather in the carton...then I proceeded to wash the egg under hot water before I cracked it.

I used the eggs in my famous whole wheat banana oat flax chocolate chip muffins. I freeze bananas when they are too ripe to eat, I freeze them suckers whole. They thaw on the counter in no time, then I cut the end off and squeeze the perfect consistency thawed banana into the bowl. Mix it with some greek yogurt, eggs, oil, and a little sugar. Then I add the dry whole wheat flour, oats, flax, soda, powder, cinnamon, and whatever my heart desires. I don't measure anything.

When thats all mixed up I add some vanilla and a handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Since I only put about 2 T of sugar in the mix, the chocolate makes it taste a little sweeter.

This particular batch made seven muffins. I never know how many muffins I'll get, I like the anticipation. Obviously I had to add another liner to the pan. And there's my hot tea. And don't be jealous of my Jadeite.

And here they are! They are guilt-free little satisfying morsels of health. Chickens all over the world are glad to have their eggs included in these muffins, and I'm glad my husband brings home the eggs from some guy he works with. Try them!
Have a great weekend everyone,
Katie

50 Shades of Pink

Someone turned the big 5-0 yesterday!  Guess who?  Miss Annie Gardner!  So, of course, I decided to throw a last minute party for her.  

Sunday afternoon while I was nice and relaxed on the couch watching t.v. I decided to bake Annie a birthday cake.  Sophie loves to bake so I knew she'd be happy with the idea, too.

Here is Sophia eating the flour, baking powder, salt mixture.  Really, Soph?  It's that good?

I promise she washed her hands before we started!

Now we are greasing the pans and cutting the parchment paper to fit.  She may or may not have licked the butter....

 The cakes turned out really flat....I think that is a good thing.  :)

I used the Classic White Cake Layers recipe out of the Perfect Cakes book, by Nick Malgieri.  It called for unsalted butter, but I used regular.  I am not driving 14 miles round-trip to get unsalted butter.  So, therefore, I just decreased the amount of salt it called for.  I also added in some almond extract.  I am a lover of almond extract.

Now it was time to make the buttercream frosting.  Do you say frosting or icing?  I used the Vanilla Buttercream Frosting recipe out of Southern Living's Our Best-Ever Cakes & Pies magazine.  The shade of pink is called Dusty Rose.  I use the soft gel paste food color by AmeriColor.  It is the best.

Here is the finished product.  Yes, that's glitter!  Edible glitter.  

The following picture should have been ahead of the one above.  Anyway, I thought the cake needed to have a filling.  This is called Creme Anglaise.  It is a custard cream.  Think about creme brulee. I thought that it'd be thick enough for a filling of a cake.  Well, it's more of a sauce.  A very, very good sauce.  So to thicken it I just added in some vanilla instant pudding mix!  Tada!  It worked.  This recipe is out of the Perfect Cakes book.  

Creme Anglaise can be used as a sauce poured over fruit, cakes, pancakes, bread pudding.  So, so good.

After all of that hard work slaving away in the kitchen I thought the cake deserved to have a party.  :)  So, you know me, Miss Last-Minute Planner, I threw a birthday party for Annie last night.  The birthday girl, Grandma Carol, Emily, Travis, Cal, Katie, Chris, Tim, Jody, Grandpa Ray and Patty all were present.

Tim and Jody got this card for Annie.  This fits Annie PERFECTLY.  hahaha

 Sophia has a talking and dancing Mickey Mouse.  Cal loved it!

Happy Birthday, Annie!!  Make a wish!!!  She told me her wish, but it is not appropriate enough to tell you on here.  

Just kidding!  I don't know what she wished for.  

The party was fun!  It is always nice when family can spend time together, especially in the middle of January.

A little extra effort and some last minute planning was all it took to make some more happy memories.

Love,

Sarah

P.S.  I changed the settings on the comment section.  If you'd like to leave a comment choose Anonymous under the Profile  and then say your name at the end of the comment.

Thanks!

A day in the Life...

"Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary."  Galations 6:9
I am clinging to this verse right now.  Why?  Because sometimes life gets pretty mundane.  The day-in-day-out chores and raising a little girl can get the best of me.  Not to mention keeping a marriage strong and healthy.
Don't get me wrong, I am very happy and thankful for everything God has given me.  Sometimes though a person just needs to take a step back and look at their life.  How can I improve?  One of my words for 2013 is contentment.  I want to be content.
I want to turn off the damn t.v., computer, or ipad and live life.  When God let me bring my precious baby girl into this world I don't think he said to me, "Now, Sarah, I want you to make sure that Sophia watches t.v. as much as she can."  Um..no!  :)  It's easy to get caught up in the daily chores.  It's easy to get lost on Facebook, blogs, Pinterest, etc.  Then, before you know it, half of your day is gone.  I want my life to be more than that.  Now listen here, I don't ignore Sophia!  I just think she deserves more of my attention.  Even in the mundane...I need to be content and grateful.  All of the crafts, books, music, outdoor time, little life lessons will not go unnoticed in the eyes of God.  Sophia will carry all of these wonderful moments with her for the rest of her life.  So, from here on out I will try my best to not grow weary for in due time I will reap!
So here is a story in pictures of our life today!

 This is called the Green Monster Smoothie.

 Puzzle time!  

 Mmmm...pancakes!  She ate it all!  Woohoo!

 Did the dishes while she worked on her puzzles.

 Letter tracing.

 Yep, we read all of them!

 Enjoying the sunny day outside!

 First bike wreck!

 Saying hello to Honeybee and Fly.

 Feeling the warmth of the bricks.

Love, 

Sarah and Sophia