Stuff we eat: BBQ Meatballs

We don't make these very often, but when we do, we always ask ourselves, "Why don't we make these more often?"

They are really delicious and go well with herb potatoes.


Kaira's BBQ Meatballs

1 lb ground beef
1 can evaporated milk
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup crushed cracker crumbs
2 eggs
1/2 c finely chopped onion (1/4 c minced dry onion)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tsp chili powder

This mixture will be pretty wet, but just let it sit for about 5 minutes and let the oats soak in some of the moisture.  Then form meatballs and place them side by side in a greased 9x13.

Mix up the sauce:

2 cups ketchup
1 c brown sugar
1/4 c finely chopped onion (1/8 cup dry)

**I halve this sauce and find it is plenty for us.

Pour the sauce over the uncooked meatballs and back uncovered at 350 for 45-60 minutes.

Tasty!

Nurturing curiosity or letting things get out of hand?

Remember the fatty?

For several days he ate copious amounts of tomato leaves and started to turn brown. One morning we looked in on him and he appeared to be sick...or possibly dead. We don't know anything about the metamorphic process of the tomato hornworm, so we decided to do some research and see if he was dying or coming close to a chrysalis stage. 

We discovered that hornworms need dirt in order to move into the chrysalis stage!

We promptly added dirt to the bottom of the jar and in a few seconds he had dug down in and was happily moving on with his life.

About a week later, we noticed that he had wiggled his way up and is sticking halfway out of the dirt. We're hoping that we'll see a sphinx moth soon!

While we are waiting to meet The Sphinx, we have enjoying watching this monarch caterpillar go through his life cycle.

Ethan found him on some milkweed on the way home from school.

He shed his skin, just like the Swallowtails, but attached himself to the papertowel we were using for a lid.

He was kind of hard to see way up there and definitely difficult to photograph. Luckily, Everly ripped off the papertowel lid while I wasn't watching and I was able to get a quick photo before replacing it and moving the jar to an Everly-free zone.

I am amazed by the beauty of the chrysalis. The gold trim!

Megan happened to be watching when he emerged from his chrysalis. It happens fast, so we were lucky to see it.

He was a beauty.

Now we wait for the rest of the swallowtails to emerge and we will consider ourselves finished with our caterpillar observations for the year. 

I kinda want my jars and countertops back!

The Fairy Village faces the great flood

We (I) installed the fairy village!

It is fun and I love it and I'm not positive that the kids really care that much, but I love it so much.

And since the day I put it in the window well, the heavens opened and the rains haven't stopped for even a minute. Not even to give me a chance to get my groceries to the car.

But the houses seem to be holding up pretty well.

Birdseye view:

A water-logged house and swing set next to the pond:

The clock tower with white picket fence (I think we may have foundation problems):

I'm still working on a dock for the pond and a few seed-pod kayaks. Next project is gardens and outdoor table and chairs.

On the up-side, rain is really really good for moss. Which we love.

A few observations

1. Tonight during prayers with Anna and Laney I completely enjoyed their individual prayer styles. Laney starts off pretty "by the book" as far as childhood prayers are concerned but soon took a long and winding path down a path of hopeful wishes and desires for the Halloween costumes of herself and all those in her immediate circle. She has major concerns over whether or not her costume will be cute and and those around her will be nice about it. She is, however, perfectly willing to reciprocate and let all those around her that she feels their costumes are also very nice.

Fair is fair.

And now Heavenly Father knows it.

2. Anna, on the other hand had the current and future state of the raspberries on her mind. She let Heavenly Father know that it would be unacceptable to eat the white raspberries, but her mom said that the dark red ones are okay and hopefully there would be more of those soon. Just when I thought she was about to wrap it up, she went back over the whole thing just to be sure He was clear on the matter.

3. Everly has developed an intense need for her bedtime snack. I often give her one to make sure that she has enough energy to help her get through the night, but on the days that we have a late dinner or I know she has just had sipper of milk, I try to get her to go to bed without it, because I know she will be fine.

She does not share my opinion on this issue.

She is getting her bedtime snack, dangit!  She will yell "NUM NUM! NUM NUM!"  until I rectify the mistake and fetch her a cup of peaches or a rice pudding.

We may have created a bit of a problem here.

And I have absolutely no idea how to fix it because I am a terrified mother and I am worried about my daughter running out of fuel in the middle of the night.

That's not a combination that bodes well for the future.

4. Also, I should jot down here that it is absolutely, completely unacceptable to leave a yogurt/pudding lid pealed halfway back when feeding Everly. It drives her absolutely bonkers.

It must come off.

I am praying this is not a foreshadowing of OCD.

5. Mathew forgets something for school almost every single day. At first I figured it was just the transition to middle school and having so many things/teachers/responsibilities.

Now I think he's trying to break me....or possibly see how much I actually love him.

Either way, we are having a heart to heart tonight. Because office ladies and I are becoming very close.

I Co-op...do you?

This is Anna with her Preschool Co-op group. 

They are a cute little bunch. 

And they really really like to build train tracks. 

This is one of 3 co op groups I belong to.

I am currently co-oping preschool, Crossfit childcare and babysitting services from Monday thru Thursday.

I'm a believer.

Scenes from General Conference

I have never...not EVER....been a prepared, crafty, inspired type mother when it comes to General Conference.

Many LDS households across the nation are playing Apostle Bingo and we are playing, "Be QUIET! I can't hear a single thing he's saying!"

It's not a very fun game.

But something struck my fancy this time around and I decided I ought to tap into the powers of modern technology (pinterest) and use them for the good of mankind.

I printed out Conference Squares from lds.org (Bingo)....

I purchased Everly-approved bingo candies...

Which quickly turned into snacks and they started coloring in the squares...

Everly always opts for a pen. It does the most damage to furniture and walls.

The Bingo game lost its luster after one session, but the Tie pages hung in there till the end.

Next conference I will modify them a bit so that they can color in the tie (according to what the apostle is wearing during his talk, of course) and then write key words from the talk in the circles.

This one I liked because it helped the kids keep track of who the apostles are, when they had spoken and who was still to come.

We also did a "Conference Train" and I really loved it. Each child would write (or draw) something that they heard or that was meaningful to them and the connect it to the train. It got long fast and it was cool to read through them and see that they had listened! I think this activity is a keeper too. 

But as you might expect, 10 hours of Conference can be overwhelming for kids.

Eventually it was just Everly and me with a bowl of soup and a drawer of abandoned crayons.

The girls found someone to shower their attention on. 

It seems Tootsie was in need of a spa day.

Yellowbeard singeth

The day has finally come and Megan is all atwitter with pirate energy. She's prepared. She's memorized. She's rehearsed. She's committed to the role.

She's Yellowbeard.

I'm pretty sure only 4th grade pirates are this cute.

And I had to snap a photo of Mrs. Knox because she is the best elementary music teacher on the planet.

She is really something.  And I'm hoping she and the Principal, Mr. Kearney will hang in there long enough for Everly to get through fifth grade.

Then they can go ahead and retire.

Never let it be said that Huffords are beneath commandeering other children's electronics.

And with that....we officially get to sleep in and head to school at a reasonable hour!