Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Perspective

Teresa brought this beautiful butterfly home from kindergarten last spring.  It was the centerpiece of our fridge art until today, when I decided to make room for new creations.  That's when I noticed it.


It has been backwards all of these months!  I can't believe Teresa never said anything!  It does make a lot more sense this way.  So now I'll enjoy the FRONT of the butterfly in my office for awhile. :) 


In other news pertaining to PERSPECTIVE, Nathan found his glasses tonight!  

(Photo from last fall.)


The glasses had been lost for MONTHS and all rescue missions had ceased LONG ago.  They weren't at school or in his book bag and I had been over (I thought, anyway), every inch of the house cleaning after our big remodel.  It turns out they were on a shelf in his room all along and none of us saw them.  (They do have several shelves with A LOT of books and stuff on them, but nothing has ever hidden that well on them before!)  It's a pre-Labor Day miracle!!!  
Every once in awhile, Nathan would start begging me to buy him a new pair, even though he disliked the way they felt when he had them and nearly always complained about them.  I refused because 1) They are the weakest prescription one can have and 2) You just don't go around losing your glasses!  You just don't.  
And guess what?  He can see SO much better now.  Just like when I give Landen Tylenol for a "headache" and he says he can feel it working as he walks out of the bathroom.  
Yes, it is a small miracle, I tell you.  I haven't seen that boy that happy in a very long time.

So, let today be a lesson for all of us.  Let's take a moment to turn things around if what we're looking at seems backward (and even if it doesn't at first).  You never know.  The other side might be even more beautiful.  Or, at the very least, it may have googly eyes to bring it all together.

And, always keep track of your glasses.  Life is so much clearer with them on.

Monday, August 25, 2014

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

I love having a son who both loves to farm AND bake cookies for our family.  
Tonight Landen wanted to make a new cookie recipe, so I sent him to the cookbook shelf to search for a winner.  He chose this one from the 2005 Eureka What's Kuchen? cookbook.  Irene Kusler, Class of '45, gets credit for this one.  
We all approved and it would make a good breakfast cookie, too.  (Although I also think chocolate cake is a perfectly acceptable breakfast, so keep that in mind.)

Banana Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup butter (or margarine)
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 cup mashed bananas (Landen used 2 bananas.)
3 T milk
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup oatmeal
1 1/2 cup flour
1-2 cups chocolate chips (Landen used 1 cup white chocolate and 1 cup chocolate.)

Mix first 5 ingredients until combined.  Add egg and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients and chocolate chips.  Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Don't over bake.  These can also be baked in a 9x13 pan and cut into bars.


Sunday, August 24, 2014

Weekend in Eureka

The boys had been wanting to go fishing in Lake Eureka with Papa Butter all summer and this was finally the weekend!  
Unfortunately, it rained on the first day, but we tried our luck anyway.  Some other guys not far from us caught a few big ones, but not us.  

Even so, I was still happy to sit on my rock in the rain with Teresa's fishing rod.  I think I might be a fisher woman when I grow up.

(Papa Butter)


This morning brought sun and another chance to fish, but in the end . . . still no fish!  The boys stuck it out for a few hours while the girls went to play at the park and playground.  Everyone was happy.


After lunch, we had a few scooter races.

And motorcycle rides. 

 And we visited Great Grandma Joachim at the nursing home, too.

It wasn't the successful fishing weekend we were expecting, but it was still a great one!
Perhaps future Uncle Vince can give us some pointers on how to catch the BIG one next time!


Thursday, August 21, 2014

Happy 1st Day of School!

It's the first day of school and everyone's excited to start the new year!

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Wheat Harvest 2014

Wheat Harvest 2014 is officially safely in the bins.  
It was a fun harvest this year with Uncle Dann coming up to help us with trucking.  Landen was the full-time grain cart operator, which he loved, of course.
The rest of us did our best to keep the harvest crew all fed.  Everything was done so quickly, I never had all four kids in the same field at the same time to take my annual wheat picture!  
So, a 2014 collage will have to do!