Staying in touch

I think I have mentioned in the past that technology is a wonderful thing.  In particular, technology helps me to be able to keep up with my 4 married children and their little ones on a regular basis and see how they are all growing both physically and spiritually.  I love checking in on Facebook and seeing new posts they submit to their blogs.  As we all know blogging comes on a regular basis at times and sometimes it takes a back seat.  Either way, the updated posts they each make are a joy to see when you live 100's of miles away.  So as you may have guessed, this post is about thanking technology and on sharing the blogs of my kiddos.  JULI is a photographer and I love seeing the latest posts and updates of her darling kids.  HEATHER (daughter in law) is also a photographer and I love seeing her precious kiddos as well and keeping current with their lives.  Christie hasn't come around to the world of blogging yet but at least I get to see her and her little on Facebook!!  ROBYN is the newest of our family to enter the blogging world and she does well updating too.  (unlike her mother)  She loves to write and share all about her life with husband Luke and beautiful new baby daughter Charlotte.  

As I have said, this is a post about sharing and loving technology.  That said, (again) I invite you to share in the musings, sighs, events, photos, ups, downs, and all the simple and complicated things that motherhood can bring to us all, including now, the lives of my girls.   Click the names below the pics to check out their latest blog post!!!

Robyn and Luke

Juli and Kelly

Vance and Heather

Oh, and speaking of technology AGAIN......

We got these little gems on Amazon (did I ever say how much I love amazon?) for Christmas.  We use them all the time.  Who would have thought?  Trips to the Y, when the girls take the dog on a walk, when running around the park, or wherever or whenever we need to stay somewhat connected. They are way cheaper to run than cell phones and have up to a 30 mile radius.  They were so worth buying.  We've decided that we need to at least purchase on more pair and by putting them all on the same frequency keeping up with the locations of our kids will be even easier.  Like next week we plan to spend a week at Wisconsin Dells and I am sure these will come in handy more than ever!!

Click the pic to read more about these awesome little "toys"

Nothing better than pizza two nights in a row!

My twins have been having so much fun in the kitchen lately. They've gathered up all my cookbooks, recipe magazines, and misc. recipes and have been building their own little cookbook of their favorite dishes. Not only have they been copying down recipes but inventing them too!! This week they made pizza twice. Chicken barbeque and ranch chicken broccoli. Both were very good. The recipes are below.

For one pizza that fits on cookie sheet (we doubled this)

Barbeque Chicken

2 T. yeast dissolved in 1 cup water

2 teas. olive oil

1/2 teas. salt

3 1/2 cups flour

MIx together the dough well and add 1 more cup flour to mixture as mixing. Let rise for 1 hour.

Punch dough down and knead for 2 minutes and press into greased baking sheet.

2 chicken breast, cooked and chopped

1-2 cups barbeque sauce

1/2 cup finely chopped onions (we used dried onions)

2 cups shredded cheese (parmesan and mozzarella are our favorites)

Spread some sauce on the dough, mix the rest with the chicken and onions and spread over dough. Sprinkle with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Bake in 450 oven for 15 minutes.

Ranch Chicken and Broccoli

Same dough as listed above.

Chop in chopper about 2-3 cups fresh broccoli

2 cups chopped chicken

Ranch dressing or, in our case tonight we used random bottles we had in the fridge. We had 2 partial containers of Ranch and a partial container of Parmesan Caesar dressing. (It turned out to be a great combination)

2 cups shredded cheese

Make dough and set to rise. Then mix the chicken and broccoli in a bowl and add enough dressing just to coat and moisten the mixture. Spread dressing on dough then add toppings and cheese last. Bake as directed above. This was an extremely easy and fast pizza to make and it was a huge hit!! I think they preferred it over the barbeque.

Enjoy

What's for dinner?

I love that my kids know how to find their way around the kitchen. My twins are first rate when it comes to planning AND cooking an entire meal with dessert included. Here is one of our fall/winter favorites they made for us this week. And the cake was to die for. I highly recommend you try this recipe. They found it in one of my Taste of Home magazines.

Kielbasa sausage links

Potato Pancakes

Sliced tomatoes

Chocolate Buttermilk Cake

Cake Recipe

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 cup water

1/2 cup butter, cubed

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 teas. baking soda

2 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup buttermilk

Icing

1/4 cup cocoa

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 teas vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional

Combine cake ingredients until smooth and bake in 350 oven for 35 minutes. Ice and enjoy.

Wordless Wednesday~sisters and swimming

Wordless Wednesday~an unexpected visitor

A football, basketball, bow, & three determined guys!

All for their little sister and daughter....

Thanks guys!!!

Wonderful Wednesday

At least us kids think its wonderful. Thanks mom!

Melt 1 & 1/4 C peanut butter with

1 C. honey or kayo syrup and

1 C. brown, white, or all natural sugar

8 C. dry cereal-we combined both chex and cheerios because we didn't have enough of either!

When mixture is all melted together add cereal and stir to coat. Press into pan and cool.

PS. If you don't have any dry cereal on hand use popcorn. That's yummy too.

After a long Wisconsin winter......

We get to live outside again. Yeah!!

Weekends are for blueberries!!!

A fun Saturday morning reading Blueberries for Sal and topping that off with some delicious tasting blueberry muffins smeared with butter. If you don't have the book on hand you can go HERE and listen to it. Have fun!!!

Wordless Wednesday~Every family has a drama queen!!

Wonderful Wednesday~A seek and find photo

Four girls are very much front and center, but there is a fifth one hiding herself well. Look closely and you shall see!! (hint-right behind and to the left a bit of the pink dressed girl. She is wearing a green, flowered dress that blends perfectly)