Christmas Program

Dan Plays at U of M

First these guys played.
Waiting to get on the court.
Then these guys played.

He's 15!!!!

"I can't believe I'm going to be 15!"That's all we've heard for the last several weeks! I hope it lives up to his expectations!!

Happy Birthday Danny!!! His cake choice is Coffee Cake. We'll probably have that Sunday afternoon as he has basketball tonight. I'm also hoping all the boys will be here to finish my Christmas card picture. His birthday meal is "build your own pizza". I bought the small ready made pizza crusts and mushrooms, pepperoni, sausage, pineapple and ham. (click on the picture and you can see the guy has braces)

Ceramics

Guess which pieces of pottery are Gretchen's and which are Danny's.
Did you guess correct?!

The Fact Man

This is what Danny is doing if he's not playing wii, listening to his boombox (music or books) or on the computer. He's "writing facts". He has pages of "facts" around the house. He doesn't realize it but he's getting great practice on his writing (and reading).

My Nine Daughters

Sara's Shower Weekend

We spent four days traveling for one day in Minnesota for Sara's 7th baby shower. Me, Kaitlin, Molly and Jeanie left here Thursday after school and headed to Marquette to Heidi's. We spent the night there and left at 8:30 in the morning and got to Sara's at 5:15. We met Emily, Kirsten, Amanda, Kendall and Gretchen in Superior Wisconsin and traveled together the rest of the way. The shower was Friday night. We hung around at Sara's and Jennifer's on Saturday and then left back to Marquette on Sunday morning arriving back here Monday at about 5:00 pm. A lot of traveling but so much fun!

Happy 12th Birthday Jeanie

Today my baby turns 12. I'm not sure how THAT happened. We will celebrate her birthday Saturday with her nephew Paul. Happy Birthday Jeanie! I hope you have a wonderful day!

Halloween

As you can tell, Danny is C.S. Lewis, author of Narnia books. Jeanie and Laura are from the 70's or 80's. I can't remember. Dan is quite a character (literally). We had a Halloween party at work Friday night. Danny wasn't sure if he wanted to come because he's not too sure what to think of all those "Grumpas and Grandmas". But he decided to come after all. When it was time to find a costume he insisted that he wanted to be C.S. Lewis. He has an autobiography on him out of the library. As C.S. Lewis was just a sort of bald ordinary looking man with glasses he decided to wear a sports jacket and vest from the Halloween stuff. I found Grandpa H's old hat to finish the costume. (He didn't want to put on a dress shirt and tie.) It was funny at work, I told one of the residents friends "who" Danny was. When Danny walked by he says, "Hey Buddy, come here. Let me guess......Are you C.S. Lewis?" Danny looked quite surprised and hesitantly nodded. That was great!

The Birthday Men and Some Colors of Fall

We celebrated Matt and Wade's birthdays on Sunday. It was a beautiful day to enjoy outside.

Special Olylmpics Poinsettia & Coffee Sale

It's that time of year again. I have to say these poinsettias were some of the most beautiful ones I've ever seen. My friend Margie came up to me this summer exclaiming how beautiful her poinsettia still was, six months later! If anyone is interested in ordering this year, get your money to me by November 7th so I have time to get the money and orders in to Special Olympics.

Special Olympics Michigan

POINSETTIA & COFFEE SALE

Livingston County Area 27

Poinsettia Colors(do not come with bows):

• Red
• White
• Pink
  

Coffee Flavors: *Pre-Order Only* *Donations Welcome*

• Colombian (decaf)
• Dark Capital Blend Wreath Bow Colors
• French Vanilla Red or Burgundy
• Nutcracker Sweet
• (A Blend of Brown Sugar, Caramel and Nut)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Area 27 Special Olympics Fundraiser: Poinsettia Sale Order Form

Name: ________________________ Checks Payable To:

EMAIL _______________________ SOMI Area 27 Phone: (___) ___________________

Description	Cost	Quantity	Color of Flower/ Bow Color for wreath	Total
10 inch Poinsettia	$40.00
7.5 inch Poinsettia	$20.00
6 inch Poinsettia	$12.00
4 inch Poinsettia	$8.00
Wreath 24 inch	$26.00
Wreath 36 inch	$42.00
Wreath 60 inch	$100.00
Garland 25 ft	$30.00
Coffee 12 oz	$10.00

Danny Visiting with Gretchen

Danny getting his "Gretchen fix". He randomly asks, "Can I call Gretchen? I haven't talked to her for so long!" He really misses his big sister since she moved away. Actually we all do! Can't wait until she comes visit!

Baked Oatmeal

I'm hooked on this breakfast. It's from our family cookbook, Sara's recipe. I make a half of recipe for a 9 x 9 pan. Then I warm up a piece for breakfast every morning and add a couple handfuls of frozen wild blueberries. Yum!!

Baked Oatmeal

1 cup olive oil (can use melted butter or applesauce) (I use half olive oil and half melted butter.)
1 1/2 cup sugar (can reduce, I didn't)
4 eggs
6 cups oatmeal (I used Old Fashioned)
4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups milk

Combine all ingredients. Pour into greased 9 x 13-inch pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned. Serve with fresh fruit.

Can refrigerate overnight before baking. Recipe can be halved.

Earthquake Cake

Hold those diets......This cake is to die for. I got this recipe via face book from my Dad's sister Ellen Y. I've made it twice at work. I have yet to make it at home. Danny says he wants Earthquake Cake for his birthday. He's never had it but he's heard me talk about it.

EARTHQUAKE CAKE RECIPE (auntie Ellen Y)

1 chocolate (fudge) cake mix

1 cup nuts, chopped

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

½ cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

¾ cups chocolate chips, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla

Put nuts in bottom of greased 9 x 13 pan. Mix cake mix according to box directions and pour over nuts. Mix cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and vanilla. Drop by spoonfuls all over cake. Drizzle the chocolate chips over cream cheese layer. Bake at 350˚ for 45 minutes.

FROSTING:

1 small box of instant chocolate pudding

1 cup milk

1 8-ounce cool whip

Beat with spoon the pudding and milk until thickened. Fold in cool whip. Spread on cooled cake. Store in refrigerator.

The High Schooler

See Amanda, I'm blogging every day right? Almost.

Tuesday night I went to Danny's open house. I have been a little apprehensive about him entering high school. All the other ninth graders attend the freshman campus but his CI (cognitive impaired) classes are at the high school. Well, most of my fears have been put to rest. I was rather impressed with all of his teachers and I feel like he'll have a great year. His computer and Life Skills teacher is also his case worker who will be involved in his IEP's. So he has her for three hours as Life Skills is a two hour block. I really like her and felt like she really enjoys Danny. She said, "Danny loves to visit and I love visiting with Danny. He has so many interesting things to talk about." I feel pretty confident that his education will continue to be as positive as it has been in the past. I'm very thankful for that!

Chicken Parmigiana (Pioneer Woman)

I've been thinking I really have to start eating healthier and maybe shed a few pounds so what do I do? I go on Pioneer Woman's site and just printed some "low fat" recipes like, "Muffins That Taste Like Donuts" and "Creme Brulee". I did make the following recipe from her site last week. It was very good and the leftovers even better. I think next time I will cut the chicken in bite size pieces before I flour and brown them.

Chicken Parmigiana

Ingredients

• 4 whole (up To 6) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat
• ½ cups All-purpose Flour
• Salt And Pepper, to taste
• ½ cups Olive Oil
• 2 Tablespoons Butter
• 1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
• 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ¾ cups Wine (white Or Red Is Fine)(I used chicken broth)
  
• 3 cans (14.5 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• ¼ cubes Chopped Fresh Parsley
• 1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
• 1 pound Thin Linguine

Preparation Instructions

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.

At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.

Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.

Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.
Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.

Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.

Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Raspberry Jam and Nisu

Whew, got step one done on my bedroom. Still need to go through and organize my knitting bins, wash windows and go through the drawers but that will be step two another day.

I did get Nisu made yesterday. Trying to find something the kids will eat before heading out to school. They did eat Nisu today so at least they got their sugar and carbs for the morning! Every time I make Nisu I think of Pam. She was the BEST nisu maker ever. And because of her, I now make the cinnamon swirl loaves instead of braids. She also passed on the tip to leave the dough a little sticky so you don't have dry bread. That, along with my Mom's tip of raising and punching the dough down in the bowl twice, makes the softest nisu! (that is, let the dough raise, punch it down and then let it rise again, punch it down then form into loaves and of course, let it raise again.)

I made raspberry jam this morning. Nobody much likes it in this house except Fred and I so I only made one batch. I love Ritz crackers with homemade raspberry jam. Yum!

Okay, Amanda, I'm trying to post every day too. Hopefully boring is better than nothing.

September

I never did get pictures for August. The raspberries are doing great and the pears are exceptionally sweet this year. Even though I never did get the jugs hanging to kill the worms last spring, they have very few worm holes.

The Zoo

Went to the Zoo Sunday after church. Made a stop at Star Deli for the world's best corned beef sandwiches. It was a beautiful day and the place was packed.

First Day of School

Today was Jeanie's first day of middle school and Dan's first day of high school. Jean was up well before she needed to be. Danny had a hard time getting up. He said he was too tired and wanted to stay home. Oh boy, I hope that's not going to be a problem. He's been so excited and nervous about high school. He was pretty sober this morning, even for the pictures. I finally got him to show how he's been acting the last few days. Hopefully his high school experience will be as good as the middle and elementary was. I have yet to meet any of his teachers. Hard to believe Molly Jane is a junior already! It feels pretty good to have all the kids out to school by 7:00, now I'm off for my walk.

Need Spices?

I've either been having the UP girls pick me up spices from their local co-ops or stocking up myself when I'm up there. When you buy them in bulk, they cost pennies compared to the store. I decided to check out a local spot that had "Bulk Spices" on their sign. (Thanks to Laura K. for her heads-up on this place.) You can't pick your amount of spices like the co-op but they have different size bags for very low prices! For example you can buy a bag of basil that is equivalent to about 2-3 bottles from the grocery store for less than $3.00. They have ground cardamon and cardamon in the pod. I told him that I like to buy just the seeds and grind them myself. He said they could order them but I'm set on cardamon right now. I also bought some homemade Bratwurst from there. Now, I'm not a Brat's fan but those were excellent! They make all their own sausages and have a lot of interesting seasoning mixes, sauces, etc. So check them out! It's called Great Lakes, Butcher Supply. It's on M-59 right next to where the Country Store use to be. (I noticed on their website, greatlakesbutchersupply.com that they even make Potato Sausage! I will have to try it.)