Ordinary Life

Betty Crocker Marzipan Cookie Recipe  Once upon a time, in the far away Land of Kentucky, under the floor beams of a Wesleyan church, in a magical place called the Night Kitchen (of Fellowship Hall),   Brother Ben  and I worked long into the wee hours making miniature marzipan vegetables.  Sir Chandler was turning 3 and had requested a "LarryBoy" cake... I'll leave the remaining dots for you to connect :)  Marzipan VeggieTales & Larry Boy Cake Marzipan candies call for Almond Paste, but Barren County, KY was barren of this ingredient...amongst many other things.  So we bought almonds and made a rustic paste of our own.  In a blender . Hours of buzzing and blending and mulching and molding later... we had crafted several marzipan VeggieTales.  It was a LOT of work for little vegetables.  Sometimes, the experience of making an item is as much the reason for undertaking an endeavor as the anticipated joy of using or eating the it...

February 10th, 2013 issues in the Year of The Snake Last night, FLVirtual S chool held a special Collaboration session in recognition of the upcoming Chinese New Year . To get in the spirit of things, we decided to have Chinese food for dinner. I had casually mentioned this plan to Clay before he went to a meeting. When he called on his way home,  to see if we needed anything while he was out, he was surprised to find that we had decided to COOK Chinese dishes instead of ordering it from the experts. I blamed homeschooling... He indulged me by trying to find chop sticks (a negligent oversight on my part!) then, swung by Beef O'Brady's for some 'real food' just to be safe. So, we 'made' Chinese to the best of our ability~thankful for the Ethnic Foods aisle and the International Foods freezer at the grocery store. Without it, we may have had to call Lucky Wok . It's About the Sauces: Sriacha, Sesame Garlic, Pot Sticker. Soy & Duck I must preface the descr...

Happy Birthday Benjamin! (a.k.a. MeMe) ~Check Out This Day In History: November 15 ~ My first memory of Benjamin is the phone call we got from the hospital to announce that we were the proud new owners of a baby brother.  I had been praying for a sister for a long time but God always knows what's best. I think there was some expectation that I would be disappointed, but I really wasn't. When you are a 7 year old girl and a real live baby comes to live at your house... how can you be disappointed? Besides, my baby doll Moses was the happy recipient of all Baby Benjamin's hand-me-down clothes and... ironically, his Moses Basket.  All it meant to be told we had been given a brother was that I must continue praying. Which I did. Until it worked. Which it did.  ...my Prayed For Sister would be delivered by the next stork two years later. But, how lucky am I?  I got more than I asked for in a good way...doubly blessed, you could say. :)  I also remember helping d...

The kids all enjoy Toca Boca apps... this particular 'snapshot' was the result of one child playing stylist on the  Christmas Hair Salon app...  (not sure which kid, but it definitely wasn't Rye- she gives everyone pink hair) I say "Is it just me or does he kind of favor someone we know...?" Fisher says "...Uncle Ben, kind of..." Logan says "...maybe just a little...from a distance..."  Chan says "...yeah, maybe a little, Big Time!..." You Be The Judge:  See Also: Aunt Barbie ~ * ~ ~ * ~ On another, slightly related note- The new Toca Boca Band app looks like fun.