Skiing...first time for most...

 We went skiing today and it was a great day.  We met another family there and here are some of the girls.  Jordan, Lydia, Hannah and Emily.

 Rebekah is getting some lessons on the bunny hill.  It's great that they have instructors so patient because I really need a lot of coaching too.  One instructor even went on the lift with me and tried to go down the hill with me but I went so fast (didn't know how to slow myself down yet), I zipped past him and then fell.  He gave me some pointers so I headed back to the bunny hill to practice slowing and stopping.

 Here's Isaac coming down the hill.   It seemed when he first started that he wouldn't make it to going on anything but the bunny hill but once he got on the big hills he was surprisingly coordinated. 

 Emily on the ski lift.

 Jordan, Lydia and Hannah way up high.

 Emily and Lydia!

 Caleb and Isaac getting on the lift together!

 Ethan spent a bit of time on the ground.  He decided to just lay down and eat it! 

 Jordan coming down a run.

 Rebekah sure got the hang of skiing.  Here she is coming down one of the difficult hills. Em is on the right.

Emily Anna!  She loved her first time of skiing.  I think she went down the bunny hill once before she went on the more difficult runs.

Isaac is at the bottom and Caleb is at the top.  Again this is one of the difficult hills because it is steep.  Amazing that they did so well the very first time.

A Happy Day...

 My washer died 4 weeks ago and we've made do with Kevin's mom, my mom, the laundromat, the place where I clean to get by with getting our clothes clean each week.  We wear things a long time and there hasn't been a whole lot of laundry but it was getting to be a bit of an annoyance, especially for a laundry freak like I am.  Every night I like to go to bed with the laundry all caught up and dried and folded and almost empty baskets!!!  I walked into my laundry room every day and it was piling up and it smelled because of wet towels and cloths!!! :(    The old washer and dryer were sent packing!

 Here is my over 19 year old dryer.  We bought it used when we moved to Wyndmere so I don't know how old it really is.

 My washer wasn't that old but we must have used it up past it's time because it broke last month and it was costly to repair and then the repairs might not have worked.  We called different numbers on Craig's List and I was determined to buy a newer used set.  I was sure that was the way to go but then I cleaned house last week and used her machine to do a couple loads and got to thinking "I like this washer!" and I was thinking maybe for our family a used machine isn't the best idea plus it never worked out when we did call someone.  So I went shopping online.  I kept my choices to Maytag and it helped to narrow down the machine for us.  I found that if you bought 4 appliances you got 25 % off and called my sister-in-law cause she'd mentioned needing a new set and we checked it out, they went and looked at them in town and bought 4 appliances.  We got the same washer and dryer. 

 Here the children are having fun watching the washer clean a load of clothes with the glass top.  It holds a bit more laundry and can do large quilts, comforters and sleeping bags.   We'll sure do that.

 They were just so fascinated and wanted to stay and watch the whole 58 minute cycle at 11 p.m. 

Here they are side by side.  How wonderful to have a matched set!

Em did a quick clean-up of the laundry room and took this picture.  

The new set looks so nice in our newly remodeled laundry room.

Cracker Jack...

 Here we are playing a game I had when I was a little girl.  I can't remember where and why I got it.  It is called Cracker Jack.  It is a cute little game.

 There are "prizes" hidden under each box like the actual cracker jacks had a toy surprise in each box.

 You spin to get a card or a surprise.

 If you have the card and pick up a box and your surprise matches your card you get to keep it.

 Here Lena is matching her surprise to her card.

Everyone wanted a turn when they saw the game.  I have to be careful playing with the kids.  They are so rough with it and I have had it 30 some years and it is in mint condition.  It's only a game but I can't get over how there isn't any reason to be so obnoxious when you play a game.  I think it comes partly from being the only girl in a family of two kids.  I was able to keep my things neat and tidy.  My brother wasn't interested in my stuff usually.  I have many games that still have all the cards and pieces to them. 

Izzy boy...

 Caleb had a "cool" hairdo and thought he looked "cooler" with his eyes this way!  He just informed me he was a mad scientist and these are his glasses.

 My 14 year old boy, Isaac.

 Isaac picked Pizza Ranch for his meal out with mom and dad.

 Isaac stuffing his face with pizza.  This is his favorite food.

 Dad decided to have a friendly arm wrestle with Isaac.

 Isaac proved to have some muscle.

  We came home to another of Jordan's creations, a lego creation this time! 

 

Isaac took his own money and bought the game Risk tonight.  He played it with Caleb and another boy at our recent camp weekend and loved it and has wanted it ever since.  I'd rather they played a board game any day over being in front of a TV or computer!

Really Easy French Bread...

 Today, I made some bread and decided to try a french bread recipe I got offline.  It was so easy and it suggested making these 6 in. loaves which were great for the kids to eat with some soup today.  They were so excited when they saw they got their own loaf.  I'm also making some Maple Oat bread there in the background.

 Home canned tomato soup and parmesan cheese topped french bread.

The Recipe is:  Add 1 1/2 TBSP of yeast to 1 1/4 Cups warm water.  Let sit for 15 minutes.  Put 3 cups flour in mixer (I used half whole wheat) with 1 TBSP honey and 1 1/2 tsp salt.  Use bread hook and mix.  After yeast sits 15 minutes add to flour and use bread hook and mix until blended well.  Let rise until doubled.  Form into 6 in. loaves (makes 6 of them) .  I cut slits at this time and brushed with oil and parmesan cheese (you can do what you want)(I would have used egg and added sesame seeds but had no eggs)  Bake 375 degrees for about 15 minutes and they are done.  It was fast, easy and they tasted great with butter and garlic powder.

New products...

We made something new for the next farmer's market; marmalade and jelly.  Here I was cutting up the oranges for the orange marmalade.  It was a three day process of soaking the oranges and their rinds.

 Today, I canned up the marmalade.  It is wonderful.  The comments on the recipe said they loved it too and it is tasty and so pretty. 

 Rebekah made up some apple preserves that had lemon slices in it and nutmeg.  Again, it is pretty looking.

 Here are the jars Rebekah is filling.

 I had a lot of lemons to use up from a juice cleanse I decided to abandon so made lemon marmalade with ginger and it was also a very pretty and smelled and tasted wonderful. There are chunks of fresh ginger in it and it gives it a bit of a bite but with all the sugar it is still quite sweet.

Apple preserves, lemon/ginger marmalade and lemon jelly (the lemon jelly did not set yet so I am setting it my basement and hoping it will in a few days).  It has pectin in it so I sure hope it does something.  The lemon jelly was the most costly to make so I was hoping to sell it.  If it doesn't sell I bet it will taste great on plain yogurt or on ice cream.