Smiles

Sending smiles and a happy Memorial Day from Morgan!!

(with a fuzzy picture because we need a new camera)

Morgan's Baptism

We had Morgan's baptism almost two weeks ago.  I've been pretty slow about posting, though!!  Pappa (Carl) baptized her and her godparents, Grandpa & Grandma Rhoades and Grandma Kulla were also here.  We had her baptism about 4:30ish Sunday afternoon and then had an easy but delicious supper afterwards . . . sub sandwiches, chips, pudding salad, veggies & dip, with fruit cup, cookies and bars for dessert.

Morgan wore the dress I made for Rachel's baptism, which all of the girls have worn.

Her godparents are Jay and Christina . . .

. . . and Sam and Grace.

Blessings on the little children,

Sweet and fresh from Heaven above,

May their days be filled with beauty,

May they grow in truth and love.

Lord, bless this tiny infant

Who will make the world so fair -

Keep this precious little life

Forever in Your care.

(author unknown)

 



Hot Hamburger Sandwiches

Friday was Clint's birthday . . . and my kids normally choose what they want to eat for supper on their birthday.  Clint is a person VERY big on food . . . has been from day one!!!  He'd been planning what he was going to eat on his birthday for several months.  Since there was a new baby in the house and he knew I had to do the cooking, he was worried about if I'd be up to making the meal.  We told him she'd be plenty old enough for me to be cooking.

So . . . his choice was hot hamburger sandwiches.  This is a meal that's very healthy (NOT) that I grew up with.  Most people have probably never had them.  They are very delicious.  We always serve deep-fried french fries with them, too.

To get started, you make some white bread dough and raise it.  When it has risen, you roll out and cut into retangles/squares/whatever they come out as:)

I lightly flour pans and place the bread on them to raise - then cover with saran wrap.  These ones are risen and  ready for deep-frying.

Start warming your oil in the deep-fryer.  Then take hamburger, onions, salt and pepper and start to cook them together in a frying pan.

When the oil is hot, start deep-frying.

When golden brown, flip over and deep-fry other side.

I have 2 deep-fryers, so at the same time I deep-fry the fries.

When they're done I dump onto a pan covered with paper towel.

I salt the fries when they're hot and use a serrated knife to slice open the sandwich buns.  This gets them ready for the hamburger and also helps them cool off a little faster.

My camera cooperates when it wants to, and it didn't want to when I wanted a picture of the finished product!  Therefore, the next few pictures are blurry.  You can kind of see what to do.  Just take a spoonful of the hamburger and dump into the bun.  Pour on some ketchup and you're ready for some nummy-ness!!

If you want lots of leftovers, because the kids are going to want "donuts" for bed snack, you make plenty of dough.  I HAD a whole panful leftover (they're long gone).  Usually we just shake them in a bag of granulated sugar, but Clint wanted maple bars so Tara made maple frosting.  They're best eaten fresh, but are still good the next day.

I usually end up doing all the deep-frying in the garage or outside (depending on the weather) while the girls fix everything up for the younger kids.  David came out to finish up all the deep-frying so I could eat while the food was still hot.

And to add a little bit of cuteness to this post . . . here are my two little girls:)

Let me know if you give these a try!  Have a wonderful week:)

Spring

The spring leaves were so pretty today.  As I went outside this morning I noticed it looked very nice.  I realized it was because the trees were budding:)

Just a few more pictures.  We have the clothes hanging out today.  We have 4 various hanging baskets on our porch.  Some of our flowers from last year are growing . . . without our help!  The trees again:)



The same picture, just edited different plus writing.   Here it is:  "Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh:"  Matthew 24:32



Yesterday, May 13th, was Clint's birthday.  He turned 10.  I asked him if he would mind me taking a few pictures . . . I only put one on here, though:)

Thanks for looking,

Love and God's Peace,

Tara



Wishing YOU a Happy Mother's Day!



Photo from here and changed by me at picnik



Happy Mother's Day to all you Mothers out there.  Hope you enjoy Mother's Day!

God's Peace and Love,

Tara

P.S.  You gotta love picnik!:)

Is it Really . . . Cheaper by the Dozen???

Well, I guess we'll find out!!  If you follow our blog, you will have noticed we had our 12th child 2 weeks ago, yesterday.  We were blessed with little Morgan Elaine on Sunday, April 17th.  She has been a little angel for us . . . Daddy thinks we've never had one quite so good, but Mom's not sure if she's so different from several of the others.  I do know that her nighttime sleeping is better than any of the others at this age.  She has slept up to 5 hours at a time, and I have not had to resort to a swing or bouncy chair at night.  She is put to bed in her own crib, which is very nice.  In fact, I'm still short a battery, so she hasn't even tried out her swing yet!

Daddy & Morgan on Easter Sunday - 1 week old.

Saturday night - all sacked out in her bouncy chair - and scrunched up, looking all chubby!  What a little beauty:)

Sound asleep - and a picture of her beautiful hair!  None of our children have had so much.  She's gotten a lot of comments about it at the dr's, hospital and pharmacy.  Everyone says it's not normal to have so much blonde hair.  We love it:)

Yesterday - 2 weeks old!  I happened to be able to snap a picture right when she smiled:)  Although her skin is starting to get her newborn rash, pictures just seem to make it look worse than it is.  She definitely has the pink mark on her cheek, but I don't see anything on her chin like this pictures shows - maybe it was her pacifier.

A little more serious!

And last, a picture of Morgan with Mommy.  I have hardly any pictures with my children because I hate asking others to take them, but I had Rachel do it last night.  It's probably the only one I have besides the hospital picture!

Oh, yeah - I guess that wasn't last!!  Here is a picture of Morgan's quilt that I made 3 years ago, when I was waiting for Hunter.  Finally able to put it to use!!  I hadn't bought backing for it when I bought the quilt front fabric.  I'd decided to use minky if I happened to have some that would work.  Looking through my stuff, I found the exact amount of lavender and yellow to fit the back.  I think this was the first quilt I used minky on.

Today Morgan goes to the doctor for her 2 week check up.  I'm just assuming she has plenty to eat and is gaining since she is so happy!

Hope you have a wonderful week.  Love, Elva