Cream of wild rice soup

My version of a traditional Minnesota soup.

I don't have a recipe for this I just put it together with some basic ingredients and it more or less turns out the same every time. So, any measurements I give here will be a guess as to how much I put in. Have fun.

Cook 1 cup Wild rice with 4 cups water.
Fry around 6 strips of bacon, set aside.
In some of the bacon grease, saute an onion and 4 stalks of celery, minced.
In a small sauce pan make a white sauce with 3T butter, 2T flour, 1/2 c milk, salt and pepper and a few diced mushrooms. Or use a can of cream of mushroom soup.
Combine the cooked rice, onion and celery, 8 oz of sliced mushrooms, white sauce, and a quart of chicken broth, 3T sage, 3T soy sauce, and cooked julienned carrots.
Let simmer.
Just before serving add about a cup of heavy cream, the bacon (minced), and slivered almonds if you like.

I think that is all. Modify it as much as you please.

barbie clothes

this dress was made by Denisa. she is a real artist with the needle.She has some really nice patterns that you can print. I have done several and they are turning out nice, nothing as fancy as hers but I think my girls will like them.

Thankful today

fun project

growing up

I am so bad. I forgot to blog about Heidi's birthday!
 She had a lovely day. I love how my kids enjoy birthdays. Molly and Lars went out of their way to make it special for Heidi and she appreciated all they did. My kids are their own best friends on a normal day but they really enjoy each other more on special days like birthdays.
 

make a joyful noise

Remember to sing today!

Mmm, refreshing

I have started making a lemonade slushy for when we are working outside on a hot day. Maybe you would like to try making it. :)

 lemon ice

4 Tablespoons lemon juice

4 Tablespoons sugar

1/2 cup water

14 ice cubes

blend together in a blender until smooth. enjoy.

:)

We have been sewing again. Our theme this time has been the renaissance period. I also made a vest/ doublet  for Lars but have not taken a picture of him. I want to finish his Robin Hood costume. Derek made Heidi's first and then we all needed to have a costume too.

Happy Independence Day!

Summer days

 

This summer has been busy already. It has been HOT. We have been having fun. I bought the kids a little wading pool and they have spent many hours playing in it. The girls also got new swimsuits last week. that was exciting.

 

One Very hot (100*F+) Sunday afternoon we went for a walk at a state park not to far from our home. It was really pretty. We went down quite a long large hill and across a creek. then met a sign explaining that whatever way we went it would be up hill and several miles. We opted to go only a little farther along the creek and then go back.

  

We had to climb the very big hill in the very warm weather. some of our group were afraid they were going to have to just live at the bottom of the hill it seemed to hard to get to the top.

 

We all made it, but as you can see it was exhausting. :)

  Today the kids had a bike wash going on in the garage. I did some spray painting touch ups on a couple of the bikes. It made it seem like they had new bikes. Oh, we aired the tires too. Molly also took the broken hand brake off of hers.

We are here

I feel bad that I don't blog more often. But I'm really not a writer so I find this hard. I love reading all of your blogs. So here is an attempt at a post about us here. :) A lot of things have happened and these pictures show some of the highlights.
 I really have trouble making the layout of this the way I want it so I guess I wont be able to do captions by the pictures.

Boys toys

This week a lot of things have been made. We've enjoyed fixing things we already had and creating things as well.

  Derek made some body armor and a helmet cover for Lars' bike helmet for Lars. He also made two guns that are m4's or something. He made two guns because Lars' cousin is coming to play with him next week. 

Now we are friends

Lars and Lemon have found each other to be fun playmates. Lars laughs and laughs while she enjoys playing with him.

dish duty

At last I have someone who is more than happy to help with dishes! She is so excited when it is time to clean dishes.

Family

We are a whole family again.

Prince Phillip

Prince charming stopped at our house the other day. I think he is one of the most handsome gentlemen I have ever seen! I really liked his choice of helmet.

AAaaah!!!

She lost a tooth! Oh my. She can't be old enough to lose a tooth. Where has the time gone. She looks pretty cute though. :)

The story of Lemon

I have told you about one Lemon before. But we have had other Lemons in our life. Molly had a friend Lemon who also lived down the road and we would hear about the wonderful things she could do as well. Most recently Lars has had a friend Lemon come play with him.
 His friend is a boy and has spent many nights at our house sleeping on the chair in Lars' room. There have also been times that I stepped on him because I did not see him in the hallway. He and Lars often play with swards and take turns being the bad guy. He eats meals with us a lot. He always brings his own dishes and his own food though he eats the same thing we are having, unless it is something Lars does not like and then Lemon will have what Lars wishes he was having.
 Well, now we have a puppy and we feel that since we have always had  a Lemon around anyway now we can see her. Heidi wasn't sure it was a romantic enough name for her but the rest of us are very comfortable with it.
 This Lemon has been very sweet all except at 3:30 this morning she felt the need to cry loudly about her lonely little bed.
 I'm really finding it hard to believe I have invited a dog to live IN my house, shedding hair and all that comes with being a puppy. I have never been found of animal hair in a house.
 I probably will survive and even enjoy her company. My kids are loving her so much which is one big reason we wanted a dog. I hope she can open the door to animals for them. I really pitied their fear.  

Spring?

Heidi found this flower blooming in the corner of our front yard. Do you think it means spring is almost here? I hope so.

We love to read

Asterix books are enjoyed by everyone in my family. We borrow them from the library and look at them for hours.

Sleep

So, one of my hobbies this week was taking pictures of my son during nap time. Children amaze me as to how they can sleep anyway anywhere, If they want to.

140

One hundred forty skittles later.... We are doing well. But we miss you a lot.
 so yeah, one skittle a day and we are counting down. the jar is not nearly so full. do you realize this means we have only around 40 left!? 40 long days-short days-crazy days- hopeful days-lonely days- fun days.... They will all be all of those. because the last 140 were as well.

Beautiful Days

Last week end we went for a walk by a pond. When we came to a stream with a bridge we thought we probably should play a game of Pooh sticks.
Whenever we happened to find a nice stick we would get it and take it back to the bridge to throw into the water. I thought some of the kids' choices of stick were a little large. especially when we had so far to walk before we got back to the bridge. Molly's did make the biggest splash...

See, we were all there. :)
Who's stick is going to win the race?

Naps

Napping in a tent is way better than napping in ones bed. My baby is so sweet.

For you

Oh yes

Do you know this girl? don't you think she is sweet?