And we have BUTTER!!! and some canned stuff

We've made butter twice now. Braden did the majority of the shaking for the first batch. Did you know real butter is white, not yellow? I've been using "real" butter for a while now instead of margerine and while that is quite a difference in and of itself, making your own REAL butter is even a bigger difference! I just put the skimmed cream that has sat in the fridge the longest into a larger jar and let it get to room temperature. Then, I hand it to whichever child is closest at hand and let them shake, shake, shake. Eventually, the cream clumps up together and then I stick it in a larger bowl and press out the buttermilk. Didn't know that's where that came from even though the name shoulda given it away. Then, I fill the bowl up with water and press the butter out several times until the water is pretty clear after pressing. Then, I salt it and stick it in a container in the fridge. Cool, huh? Google and me are tight, yo. I don't know what I would do without its mountainous bevy of information! I'd have to actually go to the library and that is not appealing to me. My mom is going to be on the lookout for an old skool butter mold for me. Oh, the things I get excited about! I have a pic of the end result, but not the process. This last time, Braden started out shaking, but got tired early on, so it made the rounds and Sam did the bulk of the shaking. I'll have to capture that on "film".

Why do they call it canning when its really jarring? Anyway, I did some canning. I made up a large batch of pasta sauce. I just reused the pasta jars that I used to get at the store. I also made up some mixed berry butter, spiced apple butter and blueberry topping. Did you know that you can make apple butter out of canned apple sauce? Yep. I had two cans sitting in my pantry forever. I kept intending to make an applesauce cake or something with it, but decided I needed some apple butter instead. I turned to my trusty Google and found out its super easy and basically, its the same way I make the filling for my cobblers. Its the same for the mixed berry butter, too. I just put it in the blender and pureed it and did the same with the apple butter and yummy was the outcome. This way, I don't have to use a sieve. I'm all about cutting out unnecessary steps. Oh, and butters don't need pectin or tons of sugar added to it. Two bonuses!

So, I decided I could can it while I was at it. I did sterilize all the jars and everything, but I just don't see the point of boiling them again after you fill them up. I consulted a few expert canners on this point and as far as I can tell its just to make extra sure the lids seal and you have the side point of more sterilization. My objection is that if your stuff is already piping hot and you get your lids decently tight and just turn the jars upside down, you will get the seal and the super-magma heat from inside the jar will kill whatever has decided to try and inhabit the jar. Anyway, I cheat can, apparently and am just fine with that!

Like my '70's-licious shelf paper?

Haircuts, oil change and a vacuum workout

The kids and I went today to get their hair cut. It was time. This was Ailey's first official cut. (I did trim her bangs a bit a month or two ago.) They all did a great job! Yay! No catastrophe this round. :)

Here are some captured moments:

After the haircuts, I decided to go ahead and go get the oil changed, too...since it was like, oh, 6000 miles overdue. Yeah. So, we went ahead with that. I must say that I really like the way the Valvoline place on Veteran's Memorial does it. We don't have to get out of our car at all. I even pay from the car. Nice.

Then, we came home and after lunch I couldn't stand the van being so gross anymore! I had already had the same issue with the kitchen carpet. So, my poor vacuum had quite a workout today. Ailey kept getting in the van with little pieces of leaves all over her socks (she just decides she doesn't want to wear her boots and she just takes them off wherever and I get to go on a scavenger hunt for them later...yay) and so when I was done wiping everything down, I had to vacuum AGAIN. Because the kids were out there "helping" me, I decided to go ahead and replace my windex and multi-purpose cleaners with vinegar and vinegar and water, respectively. I've been meaning to do that for a long while now, but just never got to it. Boy, that stuff works! I love vinegar, even though it makes my hands smell like old sweaty socks. :)

A boy and his allergies

Zekey, out of all of us has the worst time with his allergies. He gets asthmatic when they get really bad and they are really bad right now. We had to use the nebulizer for the first time in two years this morning, but I can't tell you how grateful we are to have that available! Braden was concerned that it might hurt, so he kept trying to reassure Zekey, but I just kept reassuring them both that it doesn't hurt, it just helps Zekes to breathe better. After Zekey had the mask on for a minute, Braden stated that he looked like an astronaut and well, that was very pleasing to mr. Zekey. :) Ailey thought the whole process was very interesting and kept making loud "Oooohh!" sounds. It was pretty funny. Anyway, I hope this helps get him cleared up quickly because his congestion is just giving him a run for his money!

And the winner is.....

Baby Stella in Beige. I'm thinking that she will definitely have to be renamed because all I can think when I see Stella is Rocky in the ring calling out to his wife. Yeah. Anyway, this one just had more appeal to Ailey, though I will say that she is very attracted to the big sister one as well. Maybe for her birthday. :)

Homemade raw milk ice cream! and a sour cream debacle...

Braden and I made raw milk ice cream last night. I was a little hesitant that it would turn out, but wanted to try it anyway. After looking up several recipes on-line and seeing that you were supposed to have double the amount of heavy cream for every cup of milk used, I had to cheat a wee bit and I bought some heavy cream at the store for filler. I just now have a decent way of skimming the milk, and it takes a bit to build up a good supply of cream, so yeah. Anyway, got it all mixed up and put it in the ice cream maker. I had been saving up ice for the last week so I had a few bags in the deep freeze. I really didn't need as much because the garage was already pretty cold, which helped immensely. Braden helped pour the ice and rock salt in and then sat watch for a while after he plugged it in. This was around 4:15-4:20 in the afternoon/evening. I was planning on it taking about 45 minutes. Well, at 4:45 I realized that Sam wasn't going to be home 'til later and I had a mid-wife appt. Oops! So, I got everyone packed up and away we went. The appt only lasted about 45 mins and we came home right as Sam arrived. I hurried inside to check on the ice cream and the maker had stopped, don't know for how long. Oops, again. :) So, I brought it inside to see what kind of ice cream we had. Sam did the honors of opening the lid and this is what met our eyes:

Isn't it pretty? The thickness of it is like the kind you by at the store and not typical of the more soupy consistency of our usual homemade ice cream. Oh, and we all had to taste test it and we all agreed that it is VERY gooooooood! Yummy! So, that was a success and I'm sure we will be keeping stocked up on ice cream from here on out.

Now, for the attempt at making my own sour cream. Yeah. It didn't quite work. I think I left it out too long. I left it out for 2 days instead of just one. I need to research it a bit more. The consistency was like it should have been, but the taste was NOT. I also read a blog that said that I could let the milk and cream sour together. So I did because you are supposed to be able to use clabbered milk interchangeably with buttermilk. Yeah, not going to do that again, either. Because the cream was off, I'm not going to use the milk, either. So, what a waste! I will skim the cream and experiment with just it the next time.

I still haven't tried to make butter, yet, but I felt that the ice cream was more important. I'm sure you can understand.:)

Look at this giveaway!!!

Okay, I haven't seen something this cute in a long time, so I just had to alert you all. I came across this giveaway on Blog Giveaways.

Look at this:

That is the cutest bow holder I have EVER seen!!! I love it. I totally want one for Ailey. She may not appreciate a cute bow in her hair just yet, but I'm working on her and she's starting to fold! ;) WHEN I finally get her room done, this would go perfectly in there! Okay, I know I'm gushing, but its CUTE!

Maybe you want it to be a little more minimal? Something like this?

or maybe this?

Well, let me give you the skinny on this giveaway. Head on over to Houghton Happenings here to get all the rules on the entry for the Bubbles and Company.com giveaway. Maybe one of you will be blessed to receive such a fun and cute bow holder for a little girl close to your heart!

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a good Thanksgiving all on our own this year. We did miss being with extended family, but it was good with just us nonetheless. We had homemade cranberry sauce (I actually canned it in a round about way and made extra for Christmas, yummy!), green bean casserole (Its the same recipe on the french fried onions package. That is some good stuff right there! Love french fried onions and apparently so do the kiddos; Sam is odd man out - totally not a fan.....), Granny's dressing (I was very proud of myself because it actually tasted pretty close to my granny's! Yay! I'm sad I didn't get a picture..maybe at Christmas?), sweet potato patties doctored with butter, brown sugar, allspice and cinnamon (Who needs sweet potato pie?!;), rolls and cranberry bars (need to rethink my melding of two recipes...could've been better.) We also thought this would be a good day to rearrange some furniture in our house. Good way to work off some of that food! Then we went and had dessert with our friends. I made this pecan pie, too.
It is a recipe I hadn't tried before and we didn't get to it on Thursday and when I went to cut into it Friday, it was not set. Don't know why, I followed the baking directions, but I don't know what the hitch is. It was pretty on the outside, though. Might still try to eat it. :)

Update: I put it back in the oven for another 30 mins. after it sat on the counter for 2 days and then I did cut into it and it was just fine and dandy. I guess next time I just need to bake it a while longer in the first place. It turned out GREAT! Actually, I can honestly say this is one of the best pecan pies I've ever eaten. I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman here.

Friday, we set up the Christmas tree and decorated it.

This tree was in storage for about 5 years. 'Bout time it saw the light of day, don't you think?

She's been giving looks like this lately.

That's a right sexy man there in his pjs and slippers!

Sam and I switched halfway through putting the lights on. We now have the lights on so that we can just leave them on each section. Yay!

She kept trying to put this necklace down her clothes.

Progress....
Lots of helpers!

The finished product!

The shelf got some greenery treatment, too and that is where our main Nativity set is. (Its not done yet, so no pic yet.) That was a very LONG involved process and after about an hour of trying to keep the grabby hands at bay and working in an orderly fashion to put the ornaments on the tree, I decided to finish during the youngers' nap time. I gave Braden the mini tree to decorate all by himself and this is the end result.

He really did a very good job. Notice the ornament hangers. I noticed about halfway through his decorating job that he had the hangers upsidedown. :) He was very proud of himself.

My mom got these stockings for the kids a couple of years ago.

I had to add Sam's stocking in here. His mom made that for him when he was little. Isn't that amazing?! I love it!

They didn't have any decorations on them and I decided to spruce them up a bit. I added the white edging around the neck, arms and legs and added the first initial to each of them. I also put little jingle bells right above their feet cuz jingle bells are fun! Because I wanted Ailey's to look a bit more girly, I blinged hers out a bit around the neck, put some sparkly ribbon around the wrists and added a hair bow. :)

I also managed to get this wreath that I have had fo'eva decorated and hung on our front door.

Its not great, but its enough.

This was a plain red stocking and since I really didn't have one, I decided to repurpose it as mine. I wanted one that would "hang" with the rest of the gang's, so I gave it some bling.
Love me some bling! I'm so not good with handwriting and spatial awareness and I got the writing a little much to one side. I might have to put a star in the big space there or something. Then again, I might not get to that this year. I would also like to say a special thank you to George Schultz for inventing the glue gun!

I want to put up some lights on our porch, but that will just have to wait until I feel like it.

Saturday, we went to Homestead Heritage. Its such a neat place to go and visit. It had been about 12 years since I last went. We got to see some blacksmithing and see some baby chicks and eat some home grown food. I got the most ginormous funnel cake ever. It was topped with homemade icecream, blueberry sauce and powdered sugar. I saw them bringing it out and started laughing. It was huge!!! The funniest part was I got it right before we left so I was walking out with it sharing it with the kids and pretty much everyone I passed was "oohing" and "aaahing" at it. I even had someone stop me and ask me where I got it. That is advertisement in action, right there. Really should've thought to get a picture of it. Maybe next year. :)

They have some very neat make-your-own activities and the boys got to make their own brass spoons.


I figured the spoons would last the longest out of all the things they could've made. :)

They had real hayrides pulled by horses. They had all kinds of displays and demonstrations and it was just a very fun time. This is a pic I took as we left the food court.
LOTS of people come to the Thanksgiving Fair each year. This was the boat building tent.
This was on the side of the gristmill.

The kids were mesmerized by the water wheel. This was the barn raising demonstration.

These are the rest of the pics from the day: