My name is Joy, I'm the oldest of four Pastor's kids, I am a homeschool graduate, and am doing college at home. Have fun reading my blog, feel free to comment but please identify yourself. (Everything on my blogs is copyrighted.) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:44:00 -0500 Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:44:00 -0500  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? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/723300/ Wed, 2 Sep 2009 12:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/723300/  Yes, 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. :-) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/720115/ Mon, 24 Aug 2009 06:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/720115/  For 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. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/718081/ Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:32:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/718081/  A 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 Yarrow And 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. :-) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/711710/ Mon, 27 Jul 2009 05:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/711710/  Yes, 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 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/708760/ Fri, 17 Jul 2009 05:09:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Liveforeternity/708760/