Little Wife On the Prairie





When you are everything to everyone, well, you had better act like you have it all together.



Monday, June 27, 2011

Shower me with...flour?

Locally milled, whole-wheat flour to be exact.  When a friend said, "My husband is driving to Dawn to get our 50-pound bag of flour."  I said, "Oooooh, I want some!"  So he was sweet enought to lug one home for me.  It cost me a whole 10 dollars!

True Texas Panhandle flour!


See.

It s beautifully milled. 

We don't have enough freezer space to store the entire bag.  I found some 2-gallon freezer bags that work perfectly.  Four of them were completely full and one was about 3/4 full.

We kinda had to stuff them in the freezer.  We have to have room for our beef that will be processed in a month and for our green chili and other veggies to preserve for the winter.

Tons of flour and squash means that we must search out recipes for zucchini breads of all kinds!


Thank you Abba for the blessing of having enough.  May we be good stewards of that blessing.

Sunday, June 26, 2011

My baby is 2?

How can it be?  My tiny little baby is 2?  This guy?















Oh my heart!  I've said it a million times.  I know babies are supposed to grow up and we feel blessed that we get to watch them do that.  But why must it be so painful?!  We party on..

Present time!  Thanks to the Emmitts!

The Emmitts are our forever birthday friends.  If family can't be there and others friends cancel, we are usually there for each other's celebrations.  It's a nice tradition.  This is Jacob with Levi.

My sister's boyfriend Elliot came to the party and brought a sweet shirt, a book and a toy truck. Awesome dude present.
 (He also ate a few hot dogs and maybe took home some leftovers.)

Boys gotta have wheels!  And apparently help from big sis.
If you haven't understood before now how awesome my husband is, then the fact that he decorated this cake should make you understand.  He surprises me everyday.

Elmo is big with Levi right now.  He LOVED his cake!  But I wasn't sure how he would like the singing.

Well, he LOVED that too!

See.

Happy birthday to me!!!

Now that we have adored you, you can get back to the business of being 2.  Mama loves you.  You little turkey.

Thursday, June 23, 2011

The good stuff

I love the time of year when stuff in the garden become useful in the kitchen.  They are no longer little plant babies in need of TLC.  Now it's time for us to eat them! 

The tomatoes are not from the garden.  Neither is the avocado.  But the peppers, onions and cilantro are and they were so flavorful!  You wanna see the end result?

It looks like a mess but it might just be my favorite thing ever.  It's a version of avocado salsa.  I have seen different recipes.   My friend and old neighbor Kate had one that called for a bit of white balsamic vinegar and purple onion.  It's a good one too.  This recipe is simple.  Just cut up the ingredients and throw them together with a little salt.  You can eat it with tortilla chips.  I am trying to stay away from chips right now so I just ate this with a spoon. 

In other news, Father's day was precious this year.  Matt had to work nights so we had a few minutes with him between the time he woke up and the time he had to head back to work.  His kids were so excited to see him open his presents and read his cards.

Jolie's card was sweet and funny.  This might be my favorite picture of them together.

Asher spent a good half-hour picking out a new tape measure for his daddy.  He got the one that was just right.  It was precious and thoughtful.  Just like him.

Zaddok helped to pick out the new drill bits.  He just knew that the case had to be yellow.

Levi was napping during present time so he gave Daddy his present after.  Kisses are the best present ever.

So are baby circus tricks.

We love our Daddy!  He is the best playmate, wrestling buddy, fix-it-all, tender Daddy.  His life is his family.  He would rather hang out with his kids than anyone.  He can make us all smile.  He can pester us to death.  He really cares about people.  He loves the Lord and prays for his family.  We are so blessed to have him in our lives!  Thank you God for the blessing of our Daddy.


Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The recipe :)

I started out my last post with the intention of sharing this recipe.  But the post took on a life of it's own.  So today, I bring you the photo recipe!

You start with 6 lemons.

You squeeze all of the juice out of  'em.

Then you do the same thing with 2 oranges.

You put the juices together and then put 2 cups of water and a cup and a half of sugar in a pan. 

While that is heating and melting together, you cut 8 sprigs of mint, wash them and put them in the jar you will use to store the syrup.

When the sugar has fully incorporated into the water and the mixture is heated, add the juice to the sugar water.  Then you boil it a few minutes.  Take it off of the heat and pour it over your mint sprigs.

You must let it cool down. Then put it in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.  When it is ready you pour the mixture over ice, filling 1/4 of the glass.  Then you fill the rest of the glass with ginger ale.  Garnish with orange or lemon slices and bit of mint.

Your 2nd son will love it.

Your only girl will chug it.

Your baby boy will use it to make everything sticky.

Your eldest son will look at you with his big blue eyes and you will try to kiss him and he will pull away spilling the delicious drink.  He will blame you.  Oh well.  Here's to summer!

PS:  The glasses my kiddos are drinking out of belonged to my Great-Grandmother Gilger.  She was the sweetest woman I ever knew.  Her glasses are the perfect way to hold this drink.  So pick a special glass and make it a moment!

Monday, June 20, 2011

Mint punch memories.

Last night I called my Grandma.  See, Grandma has all of the good recipes.  I call her for the Thanksgiving dressing, for Wanda's pound cake, for Grandmother Butler's rolls, and last night for mint punch.  I had big plans to make some with the kids.

Mint punch is liquid memories.  It's the stuff I would beg Grandma to make as soon as I ran through her door in the summer.  The combination of citrus, mint and ginger ale makes me feel 10 years old again.  Grandma would let me use her electric juicer to squeeze every last drop out of the fruit.  When the sugar and water were on the stove, we would head to the backyard and the oppressive heat to cut some mint.  I remember thinking that it was pure heaven to be able to get real food from a flowerbed.

 The smell of that mint combined with honeysuckle still reminds me of sticky afternoons playing in the yard or lounging in the creaky swing on the porch.  My sisters, cousins and I would read a thousand books or play games or catch grasshoppers.  Then we would decide it was time for a snack.  We would run from the Texas sun to the cool of Grandma's kitchen.  With our bare feet slapping the smooth floor we would hunt out a\the drawer full of candy, the push-pops in the freezer or honey buns that Grandma would warm in the microwave.  But our thirst would be quenched by mint punch.  She always made it special.  It was an event.  There was a pretty glass, a few cubes of ice, bubbly ginger ale and then the golden and minty syrup.  Liquid memories...

The kids all played together. We laughed until our stomachs hurt.  There was Aunt Pam to talk to, I could tell her anything and she thought it was important.  There was a Papa to sit with.  I can, right now, see him coming down the hall in the evenings, freshly showered.  He smelled of Irish Spring and his face was always soft and red from shaving.  He would grab a handful of pretzels and sit at the table with us to talk, his laughter like tonic.  Sometimes we would chat about the weather or the small town gossip.  But most times, the stories would flow.  We remembered things and people from the past.  Some still with us and some long since departed.  There was always a Grandmother Butler story and probably a Jordan story or two!  There were snacks, crackers and Grandma's cheese ball, if Aaron and I hadn't already devoured them.  And when it got late, nobody wanted to go to bed because that would mean breaking off the closeness that we all felt in that moment.  The moment where you soak in the idea that these people know you and love you.  You belong there.         

Now the cousins have grown and there are new cousins and baby cousins and jobs and far-away places.  We don't get to be together much at all anymore.  But those years were the sweet years.  Sweet as mint punch. 

Now my oldest is headed to her grandma's.  Nana time.  Now it's her turn.  I wonder, what smells and tastes and sounds will bring her back to these years?  What will her memories hold?  Frosted Flakes and the swimming pool?  Rides on Papa Joe's motorcycle and time with Aunter?  The hot New Mexico sun and walking down to see Grandma and Pa?  Whatever they are, I pray that they cling in her heart, just like mine.

(I will post the Mint Punch recipe soon.)

Thursday, June 16, 2011

The simple things...

Brothers syncronized-sleeping.

The older teaching the younger.

A boy who can't resist peeking at his mama when she's trying to take pictures of a moment.

See.

The beauty in my baby girl's smile.
The serious way my middle child views the world.

Lantana!

A moment with my camera.

And the sweetness of the things all around me.  Thank you Father.