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Potato Poppets (Stuffed Potatoes)Since I haven't posted about cooking in a while, I've decided do a quick post with pictures and a recipe. :-) (let's see if we can get your mouth watering... or your stomach growling.)Last night I made "Potato Poppets" (if you want to know why they're called that, look up 'poppet valve'... they are a similar shape). Now they may sound a little strange, but believe me, they taste GREAT!!! (Even if I do say so myself.) I made them up, but I did get the idea from one recipe (stuffed potatoes) and the seasoning from another recipe (skillet chicken).  Ok, now I just kind of threw this together (of course it took about an hour, but you know what I mean), so I'm not sure as to the exact amounts, but here is the basic idea. 6 to 14 potatoes (I only stuffed 10 or so, but I ended up with a ton of stuffing left... so it kind of depends on what size potatoes you're using) 2 lbs of ground turkey/beef 1 head of broccoli 6 carrots (or 1 bag of baby carrots) 1 handful green beans 1 pkg frozen peas 1-1/4 cups of water 1/2 cup soy sauce 1/2 tsp dried oregano First make baked potatoes (wash the potatoes, stab them with a fork a couple of times, and bake them at 425* for 45 min-1hour) While the potatoes are baking, cook/brown the ground meat in a large frying pan. When the meat is cooking, cut up the broccoli, carrots, and green beans. When the meat is thoroughly cooked, mix the soy sauce, water, and oregano and pour into the pan over the meat and put the vegetables on top.  bring the liquid to a boil and then cover the pan and simmer until the veggies are cooked the way you like them (Amy likes her broccoli cooked till it's 'dead', and I like my broccoli steamed... just depends on what you like).By this time the potatoes should be ready, so you take them out of the oven and let them cool for a minute if you have time. (If you don't, just use a pot holder so you don't burn your hands) Now put the potatoes on a cookie sheet and cut a hole in the top of the potato with a sharp knife.  When you've got the hole in each of them, take a spoon and hollow out the potatoes, putting the extra potato in a separate bowl (Also scoop off the 'lid' so that it's more flat on the bottom). Next, take the bowl of potato 'filling', add a couple tbsp of butter and mash it all up.  When you're done it should look more like mashed potatoes than scooped out potato filling.By now the meat&veggies should be done, so pour on the peas and mix it all up.  Now turn off the pan and scoop the mixture into the hollow of each potato.  Put the mashed potato filling on top of that (don't feel like you have to use up the meat or the mashed up potatoes... you can eat the left over or for seconds) put on the cute little caps (optional, though this is what makes them a 'poppet' instead of just 'stuffed'), and stick them in the oven at 425* for 20 minutes.  While they're going, you can cut up, cook, steam, or whatever some fresh veggies and mix up some buscuits to go with the Potato Poppets.      And while you're waiting you might just want to take a picture of yourself. ;-)  Isn't that apron Amy made for me just great?! I LOVE it.Then, finally when the 20 min timer goes off it's time to eat. :-) Enjoy!  For a variation you could leave off the 'poppet' top and put cheese over it instead before putting it back in the oven, or you could make mashed potatoes instead of baked and serve the meat over top of them. :-) This is a good recipe for a cool day. :-) Hungry? Amy's Tea PartyYes, folks, Amy planned, organized, and hosted a tea party for the ladies of our church. Not everyone was able to come, and we ended up having it at our friends' house because they lost the brakes of their van (and let's face it, if 9 of the ladies/girls were missing, it wouldn't have been nearly as much fun), but it went great and it was lots of fun. :-)Here are a few pictures to make you all jealous. (Well, not really... but I hope that you enjoy the pictures anyways!) :-)  The table Again and again and again.  of course no tea party is complete without lemonaid... oh wait, we had tea too... Three lovely young ladies More young ladies. (No, Amy's not singing or ready, she's just waiting for the tea party to start so that she can start us right... with a chapter of the Bible) The boys quickly got their food before they fled the area (all but one -we thought of you, Ben-). Here is the happy little guy that remained. (That really is a smile he's got on his face... it's his 'camera smile'... have you ever seen little kids do that where they make the most awful face with their mouth when you tell them to smile for the camera?!) Lieren, Amy, Mom, Tessa, and Julie From one end of the table (That's my lovely grandma at the head of the table) From the other end. (Everyone was concentrating on doing the Bingo cards that Amy made so it was hard to get them to look at the camera... in case you're wondering, there was no prize for Bingo, just the fun of doing it.) Amy read a chapter of the Bible (I think this took place before the Bingo cards, but I'm not sure) My lovely sis Lieren and Amy Siobhan and me... we were trying out a technique of taking a self-portrait... we didn't succeed, but I liked the picture anyways... she's so sweet.  This is my bingo card... yeah, actually I did win with just five in a row (YAY), but by the end I had every single box filled with help from Siobhan who made sure that I heard every word that Amy said. Faith enjoyed the party as much as anyone. I think she was the last one to leave the table. There's her lovely smile! Tessa, Shivy, and Kay... I was lucky to get this picture because Tessa and Kay have now reached the age where they don't like having their picture taken. But it is amazing the cooperation you get when you just ask nicely. (well, sometimes you get cooperation... othertimes you just get a more polite refusal.) Dueling cameras Aislinn and Tamara cleaning up Someone was absolutely determined to get a picture of Kay and Tessa who ran outside when they saw the cameral she was holding. This was as good as it got. After a little while we all played "Do you like your Neighbor's seat better?" (as you can see, Kay is hiding her face... I don't know why people always hide their face when they don't want their picture taken... is it a remnant of the little kid saying "If I can't see you, you can't see me!"?)Anyways, this is how the game goes... everyone sits in a circle with one person in the middle without a chair. The person in the middle chooses someone and asks them if they like their neighbor's seat better. If they say no, just the two people on either side of them have to switch places (and the 'it' person tries to jump into one of their chairs, leaving someone else chairless), but if they say yes, then they have to make an exception. For example "Do you like your neighbor's seat better?" "Yes, except for all the people who have brown hair". Then all the people who have brown hair have to jump up and switch seats and -hopefully, the 'it' person finds a chair and leaves a new person in the middle. :-)  Everyone played Even the Moms (aren't they CUTE???) (Oh, and the boys too... even though only one is visible here, they all came back for this) Lieren and me. Lieren just turned 15 a few weeks ago... Happy (late) birthday Lieren!Thank you, Amy, for preparing the tea party! It was the nicest one I've ever attended. :-) RosesFor lack of something more interesting to post about, I am going to post a couple of pictures that I took of our roses early this summer.     (You can tell these were taken a while ago since our garden was just sprouting in this picture) Self Portrait   Amy under the roses... I really like this picture   I can't tell you how long I tried to get a nice picture of a rosebud. This was as close as I got! Self Portrait 2 That's all for now. :-) Make sure to go over to http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Godsgurl93/716846/ and check out her contest. Our Church HikeA couple of weeks ago our church went on a hike after church on Sunday. The F. family wasn't able to come because they were at home with their new baby girl, but everyone else was there and we had a lovely time. Here are some pictures from the day. (Sorry about the blurriness... there seems to be something wrong with our camera) Here are Zeb, Zach, and Josiah starting out on the hike. Some of the kids on the bridge Here come the adults!             Amy with a little cutie who kept asking if I was Mary Poppins  Aren't they both so cute???!!! Chatting near the end of the hike Church Picture church picture + me - Mom Mom and Mrs. S Heading back to the cars YarrowAnd then everyone waited around for a while...     Until the parents decided that we would go and play some games and have icecream. All of the dads went to get the icecream, and they were soon back lugging four icecream containers, a selection of icecream cones, water, an icecream scoop, ect. Of course everyone enjoyed the icecream very much.     And while we were there, guess what someone spotted?!  That, my friends, is a swarm of honeybees. You can't see the whole thing, but that unsightly brown spot on the building is a bunch of bees. Picking teams for Ultimate Frisbee "Let's see, do we choose the best people first, or the littlest people first..."   Of course, some people prefer to be part of the audience. (This young lady turned 15 yesterday! Happy Birthday Lieren!)      I spent the game visiting with this little guy (He just turned two) and  this little girl and this little guy. Together we had lots of fun.  And that was the end of a perfectly wonderful day. :-) My BirthdayYes, ladies and gents, I am now (drumroll please) 20 years old! :-) Here are a few pictures from my birthday. Here is Kay on my Birthday Hike Dad and I 'living on the edge'... ok, not really. Dad and I posing for a birthday picture Yes, I just calmly took a picture as my siblings fought to get back to the top of the cliff. Siblings...  ... Aren't they wonderful? Amy is *Ahem!* very observant... right here she is noticing a bird flying overhead... Dad and his Penny Whistle. The sound was great outside. ;-) Lest any of you have a conniption fit, I will clue you in... the 'edge' of the 'cliff' slopes gently down at a very easy grade to the level below. Kay is perfectly safe, and all of those 'falling off the cliff' pictures were staged. No children were hurt during the taking of these pictures.  The beautiful view... this is why I love CT! Isn't it lovely?! Our camera has focusing issues... here we are (minus Kay) Me on my birthday night being sung to... Mom made a special gluten and lactose free berry crumble. It was delicious!  Opening presents... I got some really great books, snacks, and other stuff. :-) Josiah and Grandpa
GoodbyesWell, as much as I have loved HSB, I think it's pretty much time to say goodbye to posting on here. However, I will still be keeping my account for comments, and PM's, and might post sometimes! :-)God bless! Happy Birthday Kay! Happy 12th Birthday Kay! I'm glad we're sisters! Happy Anniversary and the Rest of Our TripFirst of all, I'd like to wish my wonderful parents a Happy Anniversary (I am a little late, it was on the 2nd, but I do have an excuse which is that I have been really sick for the past two weeks or so).Happy 25th Anniversary Mom and Dad!!! Ok everyone, Amy gave me permission to use her post about our trip. The following is by Amy, so don't be surprised when a picture of Amy is entitled "Me". :-) (THANKS AMY!!!)  Me and Darby! :-)  Joy and Darby! :-)  The girls. :-) That night me and Joy got to sleep in Darby's room, so we had a fun "sleep over", and stayed up late chatting! :-) The next morning we hung around and got ready in the morning, and then headed off.  Visiting in the morning.  Mr. S. juggling!!! :-)  The two families. :-) After that we headed on to TN!!! :-) After we checked into our hotel there, we decided to take a walk down the road, and try to find some place to eat, but it was too far, so Dad and Josiah ran back for the car, and while us ladies were waiting for them, who should pull off the road to say Hi but the W. family (who we stayed with out in CA!).!! :-) They were staying in the same hotel as us, (right next door in fact), so when we got back to the hotel, Mr. W. and Dad had to go to a meeting, so Mrs. W. and the boys came over to play some games, and I think we went for a walk! It was a lot of fun, and SO nice to see them all again! :-)  Two wonderful Moms sitting chatting! :-)  Casey!!  Corey and Josiah!  Casey, Joy, and Josiah  Playing a game.  Is that a "Hey! You took my picture!" look, Casey? ;-) The next day the Dad's had more meetings, so the W.'s, us, and the D.'s (from the Church out in CA) headed up to Nashville to meet the H. family! :-) We went to Andrew Jackson's house.  The D. girls. :-)  Becca D.  Joy.  Mallory D.  Casey trying to get away from my camera! :-P And Mr. H. in the back round.  Josiah.  Ben H., Mrs. W. and Corey.  Some of the H. kids! :-) Looks like Sara, Becky, Laura, and Jonathan! :-) We didn't spend too much time there, and headed off the the TN capital with the D.'s. The W.'s met us there after a little while, and another family from the CA church was there as well. :-) (The H.'s didn't end up coming.).  My favorite room!!!    I want a library like this in MY house! :-P After that we headed "home", and then went over to the lodge (the W.'s came as well later), where the H.'s where staying, and had supper, and sang some songs in harmony! (SO much fun! I LOVE singing! Sadly I pretty much had no voice from my cold! :-( ).  Us singing. :-) Thursday Presbytery officially started, and we spend the day up and the camp, (the lodge and the main hall. :-)). Here are just some random pictures from Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. :-) Thursday night was the dance, which was a BLAST! I think it's the most fun dance I've been too yet!! :-)  Joy at the dance.  Josiah at the dance.  I THINK this is me at the dance! :-P (I mean, I KNOW it's me! ;-)). Friday night was the ordination service where some elders were ordained. Ok, now for some random pics. :-)  Mrs. H. and Mrs. B. :-)  Mrs. S. and Joe D.   People hanging around in the main hall. :-)  Me and Paige D. :-)  Dad. :-)  Mom. :-)  Me and Anna M. :-) (They were in the hotel room on the other side of us! :-)).  Ben. :-)  Joy. :-)  Jessica and Melissa.  Nic.  How about a picture Casey? :-P  Josiah, Casey, and Joe.  Kay.  Rachel and some little kids. :-) After the Friday night service we took these pics. :-)  Laura H. :-)  Good friends. :-) Then I believe it was Saturday when these pics were taken. :-)  I love these wonderful ladies!! :-)  Becky H. :-) A bunch of us played "Signs" at the lodge -    Jessica and Becca. :-)  Me.  Joy.  Kay.  Kevin.  Jonathan E. and Tiffany. I think these were taken a couple different days??? Or maybe just on Sunday! :-)  Eva!  Eva and Gabby - how sweet! :-)  Linds! :-)  Ben, Tiffany, Mr. S. and Lindsey. :-)  Mom and Dad sitting with Mr. H. :-) Since for Presbytery the meals are provided by many wonderful people, there were lots of dishes to do, and we had lots of fun helping to wash and dry several of the days! (I just helped dry! ;-)). This pic is on Sunday right before we have to leave.  Casey, Anna, Corey, me, and Rachel. :-) After attending the Heritage church (who hosted us all ) (which they had at the main hall because of all the people) on Sunday, we had lunch and then said our goodbyes. :-( Happily, however, we didn't have to say goodbye to the W.'s quite yet, and headed with them up to a hotel in KY, where we had a nice evening, playing tag, and visiting. :-) The next morning (which would now be Monday morning the 18th), we all (including the W.'s), headed up to the Creation Museum!!! It was SOOO neat!!! I really liked it!!! :-) It was so cool to be able to go to a museum that was Biblically based!! And we got to go to the Planetarium there!!! Oh my goodness! I LOVED that!!! I love stars, and everything, and it was so amazing to see how TINY the earth, and even the Sun is compared with what else is out there!!! And so neat how they talked about how God made it!!! :-) And it was extra fun that we got to go with the W.'s!! :-) Here are some pics from the day (5/18) -  Haha! This was on the back of a big white van!! I want one!!! :OD  Hide! It's Amy and the camera! :-P  Kay waiting for the Dad's to get the tickets all set. :-)  Casey and Joy. :-)  Corey. :-)  Josiah. :-)  Me and Kay walking towards the museum. :-)  The adventure begins!!!  Joy and a Dinosaur!!! Yes, Dinosaurs DID go on the Arc and DIDN'T die millions of years ago! How do we know? Death only came AFTER Adam sinned! Therefore, Dinosaurs couldn't have died off BEFORE everything else happened. :-)  \Josiah in a tent.  Two fake men digging for bones!! They looked pretty real, which was a little freaky! Some of the fake people in the museum moved and talked! O_O :-P  Kevin chatting with Paul. ;-)  Kay chats with Paul. ;-)  Dad and Corey looking at a display.  I don't remember who that was supposed to me... But the REAL person is Dad! ;-)  Marin Luther!!! :-)  The oldest man who ever lived! (Look it up in the Bible!! :-)). He died shortly before the flood. They had the coolest display for Noah's Arc!!! :-) They had a big version and a small version - here are some of the small. :-)  Hehe! I thought this display was so cute! :-P  Another of the small display I think! :-)  Creation begins! :-)    Amazing displays or what?? After Creation, you go through sin O_O and then into the next part of life - when sin has entered the world, and killings begin.  This dino was "eating" a lamb or something! It was pretty gross looking!  "To Adam He (God) said; "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."". - Genesis 317-19 --- It was really neat how they showed how it went from before the fall, to after it, when sin entered the world. We had to run through part of the museum to get to the planetarium on time, (and then had to leave after that), so we missed a bunch, but it was really cool!!! :-) After saying goodbyes to the W.'s ( :-( ), we went for a little walk around the grounds, which were beautiful!!!  (Yes, there is a fake sea creature in that water! :-P ).   A dino. :-P  The museum!    A nice girl took our picture for us. :-) After that we headed off for a lot of driving. Spent that night in another hotel, and then on Tuesday drove all day and got home! :-) We had a nice supper with Grandma and Grampa, and my Aunt and Uncle, and now we are home! :-) Ooh, and here's some pictures of a house I saw! I totally want it! :-P   (The dog that was in the yard).   Isn't that BEAUTIFUL?? :-) Trip to TN Part OneAs many of you know, we recently joined Dad for his trip to Presbytery in Tennessee. We left on Sunday May 10th after church.We drove and drove and drove   And stopped to stretch our legs a few hours into the trip. ;-)  and then stopped for the night at a little Motel 6. We had to get two rooms because of the fire code.  Here is a lovely blurry photo of me and Amy outside of the motel room used by us kids.Boredom is the mother of silliness... er... invention, so Amy and Kay decided to pose with a coffee cup.    (just for the record, we don't drink coffee... except on vacation when Grandpa and Uncle Mark give us sips of it) Josiah was not impressed with the commercial, and solemnly read his book while Amy and Kay were having fun with the coffee cup.The next day saw us up bright and early and on the road before 6:00... Or not. I think we left before 8:00 though...  Of course Kay and I had to pose with the "West Virginia" sign... we'd never been to West Virginia before. Late afternoon we arrived at the S.'s house (no, not the same S.s as in CA). It was so great to meet them all! Of course, we'd met Pastor S. before, but even though I had e-mailed Darby before, we had never met. We all had supper and then the Dads left for a session meeting, Mrs. S. and Campbell left for a baseball game, Mom read a book and talked to someone who was visiting (I'm sorry, I can't remember his name), and the rest of us played kidnapped and....  Duck Duck Goose! (This is getting to be a tradition...)And I'll post more about our visit with the S. family next time. We've got a big day planned for today... not only are we getting ready for the E. family to come and stay with us for a few days, but 'our' cow at the neighbor's farm is about to give birth. 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