Family Pictures

                                                                                                                                                                                                     












These are a few pictures of my family.  I use a Nikon D40 X camera.  But of course it is the subject matter that counts!

Check out the curls on Abby.

Davy and Sebby are best of buddies.

Sebbie is very cool on his bike!

God's Garden

                                                                                                                                                                                    








I love having my granddaughters with me.  I love taking them to Sabbath School. They look so pretty in their dresses and Abby's hair all braided cute. It is so fun to see your kids participate and also learn to pray. They are so innocent and willing to do things with you.  I am going to cherish every moment of it.  I mean look at these precious little flowers.  God has a wonderful garden!

Home Made

Sebby and I decided to try our hand at making crackers.  So many crackers in the store have milk products of some sort in them.  Whew! I didn't realize that going to the grocery store for "vegan" food would be like going to the library.  I really have to read labels. I also need to carry my laptop so I can look up all the funny looking words in the ingredient list like "casein".   It is a protein found in cheese and milk. Now I have to plan my trips instead of just running to the store for a quick shop.

I looked on line for a cracker recipe. The one we did was really simple but I think I need to tweak it before sharing it with you.  I think the key is making sure the dough is rolled thin enough and the crackers are baked long enough but not too long.  I am at high altitude and so I am going to have to mess around with the recipe till I get something good.  Sebby like them when we tasted them.

Davy wasn't so sure about the crackers. He does like graham crackers though.  He also doesn't have to be on the vegan diet, but since Sebby is why not let them both be on it.  Then I don't have to cook so many different things at meal time!

If any of you have ever made crackers before I would love to hear your experiences with them.  Would love the recipes too!

Asthma, Colds, and Making The Most Of It

Poor kids.  Davy has a bad cold and Sebby has a cold that launched his asthma.  Fortunately we know how to deal with the asthma attacks now so that we don't have to take Sebastian to the hospital.  I am really glad because it saves us sooooo much money!  Maybe that is why God never sold my Oxygen and Medical business.  Now it is providing for my family.  The Dr. gave an RX for Sebby and I had immediate delivery of Oxygen.  Casey still has medicine from the last time and the Dr. upped his dosage for the first two days.  We have been giving regular nebulizer treatments and he seems to be doing better.

Unfortunately because they are both sick we can't go outside.  It can get cabin feverish.  The boys decided to play hide and seek.  Sebby got to be off his oxygen for awhile so we played.  They are creative.  Funny how they have to call me when they are hiding so in can find them.  Sebby asked me to put Davy in the hamper with him so they could "hide" together.  Very cute.

A friend suggested we try a vegan diet for awhile and see if that works to reduce the asthma for Seb.  So Casey went out and bought a few things and made a couple of really good recipes.  My first thought about going vegan is, no flavor diet.  But the recipes we tried are really good. We found them online by typing key word Vegan Recipes. I will share them in a future blog.

Hunkering Down and Chocolate Chip Cookies

It's getting colder by the minute.  I think it's going to snow again.  Sigh.  I really am tired of the snow and cold, but the nice thing about it is that I can snuggle with the boys.  Davy came this morning with this darling and very warm hat on.  He looks so cute in it.

Both of the boys have colds. So what's new.  They decided to get on Grammy's fluffy bed and wrap up in blankets to watch cartoons.  Sebby said, "Can I watch cartoons Grammy? That would cheer me up."  How can I refuse. 

We did make cookies today. They came out really good. 


Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Cream together:
1 pound butter softened, (four sticks or two cups)
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar firmly packed

Add to creamed butter and sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 Tablespoon vanilla
and beat till fluffy.

Separately  put
4 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
in a bowl and stir dry ingredients together. Add spoonful at at time to mixture and beat on low till well blended

Add
1 cup of coarsely chopped walnuts
1 12 oz pkg chocolate chips

Stir till blended.

You don't have to grease the cookie sheet, but I either spray it a little bit or use parchment paper liner. I actually use a small ice cream scoop (about 1.5 inch) to shape the cookies.  They all come out the same size that way. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown.
This recipe is good for high altitude cookies.  I live at 7600 feet.

First Well Baby Visit

Today was Cate's first "Well Baby" check up.  What trama.  Just think....you have to lay naked on a cold plastic covered table with a piece of paper draped over it. I don't call that very hospitable or comfortable for a naked baby. Then you wait, and wait, and wait.  I wonder if the Doctor is balancing her checkbook or something.  She could be finalizing her summer vacation plans.  Whatever she is doing waiting is getting cold. 

She finally comes in the exam room and poor Cate gets poked, prodded, bent, tapped, and listened to from every angle.  She is weighed, measured, and documented before finally being declared perfect.  We knew she was perfect.  All you had to do was ask.  Would have been so much easier and cheaper.

The Doctor is nice.  She explains things well and has a good way with babies.  But still I think Cate describes her ordeal best in her pictures.  Wow....that was a humiliating and  COLD experience!

Posing with Abby

I set the time on the Nikon D40X and we took pictures for about 45 minutes.  We had a ball.  She kept saying, "Take it again."  I kept taking pictures until she got tired.  It was fun!

Cate Update #2

Cate is 10 days old. She is changing so fast.  It's funny to watch Cate make faces.  She is dealing with all sorts of stuff from hunger, to temperature, to touch.  She doesn't like sitting in a full diaper, as if anyone would.  She makes faces for all of it.

I get to give her baths.  She likes part of it, like getting her head washed.  The rest of it, like washing her neck folds and behind her ears she can do without.  She smells wonderful after her bath.  Her umbilacl cord stump is almost ready to fall off.

She is alert and can track with her eyes a little bit.  She seems to focus in on close things.  She will stare at my face for a long time.  Hope she doesn't have nightmares over it.  She is getting her days and nights straightened out better, but Callie was up a lot last night with her and was very, very tired!!!

I am fighting the urge to go out and buy another outfit so I can take more pictures.  But then I really don't need cute clothes.  She is cute enough! BTW.  Her congestion seems to be clearing up. 

Cate Update #1

Susanne Catherine, "Cate", is doing great.  She is nursing well.  She does have some congestion and I hope it doesn't develop into a full blown cold.  We have kept her at home except for church and that is were she may have picked up a bug, but I doubt it as Callie held her most of the time.

Abby is still enthralled with her new baby sister.  She isn't calling her "baby cakes" any more, but "baby sister."  She corrected me when I called her Susanna Banana Danna. She told me that wasn't right.  This was her baby sister. 

Callie is trying her best to give time to Abby.  She does miss her special play time when it was just the two of them.  Callie is funny because she says that she "isn't doing anything because Mom is doing it all." That would be house cleaning, laundry, and cooking plus helping out when needed with the girls.  Yet she feels that she is always busy, nursing the baby, changing the baby, bathing the baby, and rocking the baby.  So not much time with Abby.  She will figure it out soon, especially when I go back home.

Abby is taking it all in stride.  She loves holding Cate. Andy and Callie even let Abby feed Cate a bottle for a minute or so.  They watched over that very carefully.  It went well.

Cate is 9 days old now.  She is starting to round out a bit.  Her cord stump was bloody this morning when I gave her a sponge bath.  I cleaned it up with a Q-tip.  It should come off in the next week or so.  The doctor will check it next week anyway at her first Well Baby check-up.

She is perfect and beautiful. 

Having A Ball

Okay, so maybe I can take too many pictures of my grandchildren.  NOT!  They are the perfect subject to photograph.  I am having a ball !