We have had a lot of fun so far this week, but right now I am tired.  However, I really want to let you know what all we were up to, so here are some pictures and words to give you a peek, especially for those who couldn’t be there.

On Monday evening we went to my grandma Gardner’s.  Part of her New Year’s present from us was a fish supper at her house, fixed by us.  We planned to do it the 12th of Jan., but that afternoon Grandma called and said she didn’t feel good and was going to bed.  So, we had to reschedule.  It was this Monday.  I fixed everything except for frying the fish here.  We had cornbread (left from another meal and in our freezer), green salad, a few peas (I had fixed them for Hannah & Paul mainly), blueberry pie, and oysters (one of Grandma’s favorites) and catfish.  (Blueberry pie is also her favorite pie.)  Andrew was really pushed with his work, but he sacrificed and came along anyway.  Otherwise, I would have had to line up a babysitter to watch the kids while I was frying the fish.

We got the fish fried, and we had a delicious, wonderful, scrumptious meal.  There was about 1/2 the pie left after supper, and I asked Grandma if she wanted to keep some.  She asked if she could keep the whole thing.  I said “Sure!”  It had been a long time since Grandma had wanted that much food!  I think she really enjoyed it.  This evening she told me it was all gone already.  She also wanted to keep all the leftover cornbread, and of course she kept all the leftover fish.  After supper, Paul and Hannah played a while in her living room while I cleaned up.

Paul loves playing with Grandma’s plastic

fruit, which she keeps around just for her

great-grandchildren.

I think Paul & Hannah are in the rocking chair

that was originally Grandma’s parents’.  That means

they are sitting in their great-great grandparents’

rocking chair.

After all that, I trimmed Grandma’s toenails.  By the time we got that all finished and our stuff loaded in the van, it was 9:30.  I don’t know where all the time goes!  Paul and Hannah had a really good time, and Grandma really enjoyed it too.  I think she loves to see them happy and having fun.

Our next “party” was a snow party.  We got our first real snow of the winter on Tuesday morning and during the day Tuesday.  While Hannah was taking her morning nap, instead of doing “school” with Paul, we went outside and played in the snow.  Of course, as soon as Hannah woke up, we had to come inside.  But, we were outside a good half-hour or 45 min.  Paul really enjoyed it.  He spent most of his time eating snow.

I built 4 mini snowmen.  They represented

our family.  I made them on the deck so

Paul & Hannah could see them out the

window.

Here is an interlude (not a party).  Hannah really likes her big bear from her Aunt Wendy & Uncle Joe.  She has taken to crawling up onto it and snuggling down on it to go to sleep.  I want to get some good pictures of her sleeping on her bear, but this is the best I have so far.  Thanks for the bear, Aunt Wendy!

This evening, we went up to my parents’ to celebrate my dad’s birthday, which was actually yesterday.  Gail, Julia, & I did the food.  Gail made the marinated pork tenderloin (teryaki) and the German Sweet Cho. cake, Julia made scalloped potatoes and green beans, and I made a green salad and croissants.  I used the recipe we used at home when I was growing up.  I like it better than the one I found online, both the steps to make it, and how they turn out.  I made a double batch, which made 80 croissants, and even with that many I had to ration out the leftovers to a few per household.  They didn’t last long.  Originally, it was just going to be Gail’s and us, besides Mom & Dad and Katie, Luke, & Glen.  As time went on, more people were able to come, including Rachel & Ted.  Gail made some extra food, fruit salad and a bowl of pink reunion food (Reunion food is anything sweet, colored, light & floofy, gooey, sweet, usually has marshmallows and coconut in, sweet, found in abundant supply at any runion, and did I mention that it is sweet, as in really, really sweet?  It is usually in a bowl, but some pies also classify as reunion food.).  We had a good time and enjoyed really good food.  Well, those who could enjoyed the reunion food.  My family as a whole doesn’t touch reunion food.  However, James, Gail’s husband, loves reunion food, and I have found out that Andrew and his family are fans of reunion food.  Up until Gail got married and found out James liked reunion food, we thought nobody liked it and wondered why anyone ever made it!  Gail did turn out the best reunion food I have ever tasted.  It wasn’t over-poweringly sweet and it didn’t have the coconut and marshmallows in.  It was just cottage cheese, cool whip, and jello.  Paul called it “pink yogurt”.

As I said, we had a good time.  I wish sometime we could relax and join the post-supper chatting and fun, but my little ones are ready for bed by 8:00.  It was at least 8:00 when the meal was finished, so I just had to get some left-overs figured out, and get our little munchkins bundled up and brought home to their cozy beds.  That’s o.k.  One day they will be older and we’ll be able to visit in adult style again.

Here are some pictures from the evening.

Rachel, Ted & Bobby

James & Gail

Hannah, Andrew & Paul

Luke & Dad

Dad & Grandma

Julia, Linden, Luke & Glen

Grandma, Julia & Hannah

Ted, Andrew & James

Whew!  That’s a lot of pictures just to get everyone at least once.  I think I missed a few people, like my mom & Katie.  I’ll have to do better next time.  There were 17 people in all.

Here is one more cutie pie picture before I sign off and take my tired being to bed.  This is our beautiful Hannah.  (I took this picture yesterday.)

Oh, here’s a funny thing from today.  This afternoon, about 2:00, right before nap time, Paul was industriously pushing a chair over to the counter in a very determined manner.  I didn’t know what he was after; I was busy working on the croissant dough.  He wanted to call somebody on the telephone!  We tried Aunt Lucy, but we had to leave a message.  Next, we tried Aunt Mini, but then I remembered she was probably still out doing her weekly grocery shopping.  Well, Uncle Daniel answered the phone, and he was kind and agreed to talk to Paul.  I gave Paul the phone, and encouraged him to talk.  He listened about a minute, then slowly moved the phone away from his ear and handed it to me.  I talked to Daniel briefly, then gave the phone back to Paul.  He just listened and didn’t talk, even though I was encouraging him to.  After that time, I thanked Daniel and then hung up the phone.  I then turned to Paul and asked, “Did you talk to Uncle Daniel on the phone?”
Paul answered, “Paul didn’t say anything”.

Well, he was entirely honest.  He hadn’t said anything!

This picture doesn’t do justice to the beautiful moon & star scene in the western sky up at my parents house this evening.  But, it’s the best my camera did to capture it.  It was wondrously beautiful to see with the bare eyes.

It’s our own Happy Hannah!  She doesn’t keep a barrett in her hair–she just pulls it out and loses them–but I pulled her hair out of her eyes, put in her barrett, and got this nice picture to share with you all.  She’s a real cutie, especially when her hair is out of her eyes.

I wanted to do more blogging tonight, but I worked at putting together a photo order and ordered some family photos (taken way back in Nov.!) so I can get them out to folks one of these days.  So, in lieu of blogging this evening, our families will get pictures in several weeks, Lord willing.

One of my friends that I keep up with through her blog does a post every Sunday called “Simple Sunday”.  I don’t think I can honestly do a “Simple Sunday” post because our Sundays are anything but simple.  They are congested, somewhat stressful, scheduled, and involve trying to keep people still and quiet and needs met in church.  For hours.  Anyway, we manage our Sundays.  So this is called “Our Sunday”.

After church in the evenings, we come home and just let things go.  The kids eat supper during the evening service because it is right over supper time (6:00).  We pack their food and they eat in the chairs while we listen to the lesson.  So, when we get home, they are finally done being penned up and still and quiet, and they like to be active for a little bit before they go to bed.  Andrew is really good at helping them unwind and have fun.

Andrew giving bumpy rides.

Andrew helping Hannah clap.  She just started

clapping this week.  If she hears music or singing

often she will just spontaneously start clapping!

She’s really cute!  I’ll have to capture it on video

and maybe even post a blog video!

And likely mostly eaten by now.  That’s the wedding cake.  I delivered it this evening, set it up, and put the fresh white roses on it.  Almost all 56 of them.  Two of them were broken, so they didn’t go on the cake, and it really didn’t need any more roses.

Now, in my bird-brained state of rushing, having just woken up from a nap, I completely forgot to take the camera, and I forgot my wallet!  I was about to Dale Enterprise when I remembered them, and there wasn’t time to turn around and go get them.  As it was, I got done and out of the reception area right at 6:30, which was about the time guests could start arriving (none arrived while I was there, thankfully!  I wasn’t dressed up–just in home clothes that are anything but showy).

So, I plan to beg and beg to get a picture from Donna (the bride’s mother, the one who asked me to do the cake).  Here is the picture of the cake I was to follow.  The only change was different initials on top, and white roses instead of red.

Now, I want everyone to know that cakes you see in pictures are all styrofoam!  That’s how they are perfectly sqaure, no bulging, no sweating from being in the refrigerator, etc.  So, the pictures of real cakes never look quite as perfect.

Let’s see, where were we in the cake saga….

Last week, the week of my birthday, I got all the white cake baked and put in the freezer.  The largest one, the 16″ square, I actually iced and put the rolled fondant on it.  The others had to wait for the cheesecake layer, which I wasn’t planning to make ahead and freeze.  I had a breather from cake stuff, except for the shopping for supplies, until Friday.  On Tuesday, I think it was, Paul and Hannah and I went “towning”.  We did a grandiose long towning session and made 4 stops.  One was at the Craft House where we got some glycerine to make more rolled fondant, and some separator plates and pillars.  One snafoo was that they didn’t have any 8″ square separator plates!  Yikes!  When I came home I got on the computer and ordered some from online and had to pay through the nose for 3-day shipping.  It is my fault for not figuring out what all I needed and shopping in town for it back in October, or sometime around there, so the store could order stuff for me.

I arranged for my mom to babysit my kids all day Friday until I was done with the cakes.  She came and picked them up after breakfast and took them to their house.  Then, I made cheesecake like you wouldn’t believe!  A giant bowl full of it.  I started with my KitchenAid bowl and for some reason I thought 2 1/2 batches of cheesecake would fit in that bowl.  Well, as soon as I had the 10 pkgs. of cream cheese in the bowl, I realized it wasn’t going to fit.  So, I got out my next bigger bowl and the hand beaters.  Well, the hand beaters were too wimpy to mix the stuff up.  I labored at it a long time.  Eventually, I got out my huge, 13 qt. (I think that’s the size, it’s my bread dough dishpan) bowl and put it all in there so it wouldn’t be very deep.  The beaters eventually got it down to a good mixture with some small lumps in.  It was the best I could do.  And boy did the mixer smell hot!  I let it rest a few times and was hoping it wouldn’t burn up completely on me.  It is from a second hand store (I got it soon after we got married), so it’s not some brand-new bursting-with-power piece.  It was at least 11:00 before I go the two cheesecakes (an 8″ sq. and a 12″ sq.) in the oven.  Then, and only then, did I take a shower and get dressed for the day.  I had been operating in my excercise clothes.

After Andrew and I ate some leftovers for lunch, I launched into the cooked part of the rolled fondant.  While that was cooling, I washed all my huge bowls and started making 6 batches of butter cream icing, three batches at a time in the KitchenAid.  That worked really well.  By the time that was all mixed up, the cooked part of the rolled fondant was cooled to the right temp. for me to start kneading in the 4 lbs. of confectioners sugar.  By the time I was done with that, it was nearly 3:00 p.m.  The cheesecakes were cool enough to turn out of their pans.  Here’s how I got them out:  before I put the batter in, I greased and floured the bottom of the pans, then put down a piece of wax paper cut to fit the bottom of the pan exactly.  After they were done baking, I turned them out when the were room temp.  To turn them out, I put a piece of wax paper on the cooling rack so the cheese cake wouldn’t ooze through the cracks, and also so it woudn’t stick to the rungs of the rack.  It worked out beautifully!  I couldn’t have asked for any better.  I put them on their respective separator plates and put them in the refrigerator to cool down even more and get more firm so they would be suitable for stacking.  Then, I took a nap for an hour.

When I woke up, I got right to the cakes.  I piped a berm of butter cream around the edges

and put Blueberry pie filling inside the berm.

The blueberry pie filling was the only thing that wasn’t made from scratch.  I just didn’t feel the need to go buy blueberries and cook them up into a pie filling.  I just bought some blueberry pie filling.  Cheating, maybe, but definitely easier!

Next, I pulled out the frozen layers of white cake and put them on top.  I covered them completely with the buttercream icing, but since it was getting a layer of rolled fondant on top of it, I didn’t have to be too particular to get it perfectly smooth and beautiful.

Then, next comes the rolled fondant, which can be a bear, or go wonderfully.  The bigger the cake, the more the chances of it being a bear!  It took two tries to get it onto the 16″ square last week when I covered that one.  It took no less than 4 tries to get it onto the 12″ square cake yesterday!  I think I had less sugar kneaded into the icing, and it tore too easily.  Andrew and I would be lifting it up onto the cake, or unfolding it on the cake, and it would tear.  Once, it stuck together and I couldn’t get it unfolded once it was on the cake.  There was nothing to do but knead it all back into a ball and roll it out again.  After that time, I rubbed the surface with confectioner’s sugar so it wouldn’t have that problem again.  It only took one try to get the 8″ square covered with the rolled fondant.

After I got that done, I set the cakes out on the porch to keep cool.  Then, Andrew and I went up to my parent’s to pick up our kids.  After they were in bed for the night, I got the 16″ square one out of the freezer to thaw. I put the ribbon around the base of the cakes.

Well, that’s about the end of the cake saga.  I am so sorry I didn’t take my camera along this evening and take pictures of the assembled and completed project.  I really hope Donna can e-mail me some pictures and then I will post them for you to see.  It really looked pretty good, with all the flowers on it.

Now, for a little humor, here’s Paul all decked out on Friday morning.  I was feeding Hannah breakfast, and Andrew and Paul were back in our bedroom.  Paul kept coming out to see me, and each time he had a new accouterment.

Here he is decked with the final and complete trimmings.  He positively loved it!  My husband is great for thinking of things kids will enjoy, and he is always right.  Paul is wearing a belt, Andrew’s watch, socks on his hands, headphones around his neck, and my sweatband complete with a “chicken” (as Paul calls that bird-critter) in it.

Here’s another interesting thing Andrew found Paul doing at a random time this week.  I was doing something else and completely unaware of what he was doing.  Paul was lining up all his magnetic letters and numbers on the keys of the piano.

That’s all for tonight folks.  I hope to do an up-date on Paul, and one on Hannah before too long.  However, by the time I get letters written to our relatives in the Marines, a few notes on Facebook, and the rest of my stuff done, blogging doesn’t happen as much as I want it to!

I wish some of you could be a fly on the wall and hear some of the wonderful things our children say.  The highlight of today was one time when I was going to get Paul off the potty, he was singing.  I paused outside the bathroom door to hear what he was singing.  This is what I heard, with all the right intervals and on key,

“This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long,

This is my story, this is my song,

Praising my Savior all the day long.”

Boy, did that ever do my heart good.  I had sung just that chorus, once, about an hour earlier.  I don’t know that he had ever heard it before that.  Not for a months and months, if ever.  Paul has really impressed us with his ability to sing, and sing on key.  He sings spontaneously a lot.  He sings “Tinkle, tinkle, (he doesn’t pronounce the w) little star”, “Happy Birthday”, “Jingle Bells”, “Old McDonald”, and of course, “Jesus Loves Me”.  He even once did a rap version on Jesus Loves Me  (I don’t know where he got that idea, except sometimes I will sing songs in a goofy way.  I guess he decided to try it.)

Paul and Hannah played together very well this afternoon until it was time for naps.  They were laughing and carrying on in the living room.  I finally sneaked over there (I was making and frying meatballs) and looked.  They were tussling together on the floor!  And Hannah was loving it!  She loves for Paul to pay attention to her and play with her.

Well, that is about all I have to say right now.  We had our neighbors over for supper this evening.  They have three children, and we had a good time.

Good night!

Thanks to all of you who visited my blog and wished me a happy birthday.  That was really special!  For a long time I had no idea Andrew had put up that post.  He was sneaky!  That was one surprise on my birthday.

The day of my birthday, I mostly worked on the wedding cake.  I worked on it in the middle of the day after Paul and I were done with his “school” because I wanted to have the evening free if Andrew had any plans.  Working on the cake was pretty involved.  We were at the step of putting icing on the big 16″ square bottom tier.  I had put the butter cream icing on earlier and stuck it back in the freezer.  Four batches was just barely enough butter cream to cover it.  That was all that just barely fit in the mixing bowl of my KitchenAid too!

Sally putting on the butter cream icing.

Now, I made the rolled fondant, and covered it.  That was a bit of an ordeal, since I was doing it over lunch time.  The cooked part of the icing cooled too much until I had lunch over with, so I had to reheat it on the stove a little bit.  It worked out just fine.  Then, I was stretching my kids to wait to start their naps until I was done with the rolled fondant so we could all take naps together.  Ho, ho, there was lots of crying while I was doing this icing.  It’s a good thing photos don’t have sound!

Hannah & Paul entertain themselves by

digging out “their” cupboard while I am

working on the rolled fondant icing.

Rolling out the rolled fondant.

Trimming off the excess after it is on the cake.

It is quite a feat to get it onto the cake without

it breaking and tearing, especially that big of a

piece.

Paul works on some of the leftover rolled fondant

with his little rolling pin from Aunt Rachel

& Uncle Ted (a New Year’s present).

In the evening, Andrew did have a special event on the schedule–going out for supper!  I chose Chili’s, because I was hungry for Mexican food and we had never been there.  It was really good!  I got a steak and portobello mushroom fajita and Andrew got a combo platter with grilled chicken breast and grilled shrimp.  It had mashed potatoes and broccoli with it.  Boy, was the food ever good!  We each ate half our food, then swapped plates.  That way we could enjoy  more variety.  Paul ate pizza, and he loved it.  Hannah ate bits of pizza too (she had eaten her supper before we left home).  She likes pizza, even though she doesn’t have any teeth yet!

Friday Andrew’s family came in the evening and brought supper to celebrate my birthday.  We had chicken fajitas, fresh vegetables, baked apples, and angel food cake with ice cream.  It was all so, so very delicious!  I should back up and say that Lynn brought her wonderful children over in the afternoon so they could play here while she practiced the organ (for the same wedding I’m making the cake for) and run a couple errands.  It was so fun having 6 little children in our house!  The kids were all very well behaved.  Her children were happy because they had new toys to play with.  Our kids were happy because they had new people to watch!  And, the youngest one slept the whole time Lynn was gone, so that was no trouble either.

Emily, Paul & Steven

Emily & Hannah enjoyed playing under the table.

After supper on Friday evening, we watched a movie called “Gus”.  It was really funny and I enjoyed it a lot.  Don Knotts was one of the actors.  If you have never seen it, I recommend it.  It is a Disney movie made a while back (so you won’t see TV ads for it).

On Saturday morning, after the late night Friday night, the kids slept in until almost 9:00.  Then, Andrew and Paul took his mom out for breakfast as part of a birthday gift to her (Her birthday was the 9th).  Hannah and I had a low-key morning and just enjoyed being at home.  I actually picked up the toys and had the floors visible.  That all changed when Paul came home and Hannah woke up from her morning nap.  In the afternoon, my sister Julia came for a short visit and brought a meal for my birthday present.  We really enjoyed seeing her.  Paul was really happy, and once he made a mistake and called her “Aunt Lucy”.  When Julia was ready to leave, she asked Paul to give her a kiss.  Well, instead of laying his head over on her cheek (like he always does–and still does–for me), he gave her an honest-to-goodness smack-with-the-lips kiss on her cheek!!  I am jealous!  So, all you aunts vying for favorite aunt status with Paul, Aunt Julia got his first kiss ever.  Sorry to say, the rest of you lost on that one!

Today we had a normal church day.  I put Julia’s lasagna in the oven on timed oven before we left for church.  We invited our pastor and his family home with us for lunch.  We all really enjoyed the lasagna, cheesy bread, and apple pie that Julia brought!  (They said to give you their compliments, Jul.)  Many, many thanks, Julia, for a meal I didn’t have to cook!  It was wonderful!  I even had some left-overs for supper, along with a broiled zucchini.

Yes, folks, I got tired of mincing along on high-carb food, and I broke down and bought vegetables, including some zucchinis.  I found a recipe for broiled zucchini, and I made one this evening.   It was very good.  Now, sure, next to, say, a baked potato, or pie, or something, it wouldn’t stand too tall.  But, next to being hungry, or munching same ol’ same ol’ fresh celery or something like that, this was wonderful.  I just brushed them with olive oil, broiled until tender, then sprinkled them with mozzarella cheese, and broiled them until the cheese was melted.  It was really good!  You should try it this summer.

In closing, here is a picture Andrew took recently.  Paul sleeping with his little cars all in a nice row!  He is so wonderful and orderly!

Here’s Sally in Summer 1992 mixing up some cake batter. Some things haven’t changed too much. (Today she has been working on a wedding cake for a friend’s daughter.)

We hope with God’s blessing that this next year will be a great one for you.

Love,
from Andrew, Paul, and Hannah…

… and whoever else wants to post a comment. Bonus points if you post before Sally finds this! :^)