Hi Amy, It's Jamie.... again.

This is a tart shaper Amy.  

Anyone know where to buy them besides Pampered Chef?  (That's where I got mine...)

For Karla: Lemon tarts=happiness

Tart shells:

1 C butter 1/2 C powdered sugar 2 C flour

Cream butter and sugar, add flour and mix well.  Shape into 1 inch balls and place in mini muffin tins.  Use tart shaper, dipped in flour each time, to press ball into shell shape.  I dip the tart shaper in flour, press down and wiggle from side to side to try to get the dough to come evenly up the sides.  It will stick if you don't use the flour.  Bake at 350 degrees for 17-20 minutes.  Cool for 20 minutes and carefully remove from pans.  Makes approx. 3 dozen shells.

Lemon filling:

#1.  Beat 3 egg yolks.  Set aside

#2. Combine in heavy pan:  1 C sugar, 1/4 C cornstarch, 1/2 tsp salt & 2/3 C cold water:  Mix til smooth.

#3. Add 2/3 C boiling water to #2 mixture.  Turn heat onto high and cook, stirring constantly, til clear and thick.  Cook 3 more min.

#4. Add egg yolks and stir continually

#5. Add 1 T butter, 1/4 C lemon juice (that is usually the juice from one good sized lemon), 1 tsp lemon extract:  Cook and stir one minute.  

Pour immediately into tart shells.  

For best results: You will want to make these pretty close to the time you'll be serving them.  They need to be refrigerated if you're keeping them longer than a couple hours out.  The tart shells get a little soft but they're still good.

I make these every Thanksgiving for my family and often at Christmas time too.  My mom and my sister, Christy use this filling to make Lemon Meringue pie which is my Dad's favorite.  I don't really like the meringue and I don't really like pie crust so I never did... that is until I found this shortbread tart recipe.  It really, really, REALLY makes me happy.  

Note to self: catch a leprechaun

Saint Patricks day has come and gone. Anyone out there have any special St. Paddy's day traditions other than "wearin' the green"?

We're pretty low key here but I do usually try to turn some sort of food green without the kids seeing and claim complete and utter ignorance as to how it has occurred. This year it was the scrambled eggs. I put the green food coloring in the pan when nobody was around. I made sure they were all nearby while I scrambled the eggs in my handy magic bullet. I just LOVE a good infomercial gadget. :)

They were regular ol' yellow. Then I poured them in the pan and gasped and jumped back from the pan so they'd come running right then and see they'd magically turned green before our very eyes. It was good stuff. Good stuff.

Later those pesky leprechauns turned our toilet water green. It even flushed green.... That stumped 'em. I even got Jake a little flustered over that one.

Mason was my big believer this year. He was so cute in his earnest belief of the little green men. On the way home from school he said emphatically "my teacher says if you CATCH a leprechaun they HAVE to give you 3 wishes!!!!" That's so cool."

Later he was quizzing me about trampolines. It went something like this...

Mason: How much does a trampoline cost?
me: oh.. I don't know... maybe $200 to $300.....
Mason: Can we get one?
me: No, Dad and I don't' want a trampoline.
Mason: but if I had 30 thousand million bucks I could get one right!!
Me: sure... (feeling pretty confident he's not going to GET 30 thousand million bucks anytime soon)
It's quiet for a while... Mason is thinking some serious thoughts..... He starts talking again but not to me... It was more that kind of "to self muttering" when one thinks out loud because they have hit upon an idea so stupendous they can not contain it within any longer. you've all had those moments right? Your chin drops as you realize the answer is so simple! and it was right in front of you the whole time....

Mason: okay... first I got to catch a leprechaun....
Then I wish for 30 thousand million bucks
then I go buy a trampoline.


Now why didn't I think of that? Eureka!

note to self:
okay... first I got to catch a leprechaun...
Then I wish for 30 thousand million bucks
Then I go buy a new car, pay off the house, hire a personal trainer, send out for some Jenny Craig and hit Nordstroms.

oh.. wait... there's a snag... Always a snag... I have to wait a whole year until NEXT March 17th to put my plan into action but then.... THEN... we're gonna be just fine.

These Girls Want YOU

To come see them dance and sing their hearts out in Fiddler on The Roof!

For those of you interested in going to see the junior high play, here is the info.

It starts tomorrow night, Friday the 27th and runs Saturday night and Monday night.

The play begins at 7:3o each night and lasts til about 9pm.

tickets are $3 per person. There is a $15 family pass available as well.

Monday night is usually the busiest night so Monday... come early. Saturday is typically the least attended night so if you want to avoid the crowds... that's your night!

Hope to see you there!!!!!

Carly is Golde (the mom)

Rachel is Bielke (youngest daughter of Tevye and Golde)

p.s. If you go.....
check out the beard on Tevye. It's real. All his own. He started growing his beard soon after he was cast. I saw him a couple of weeks ago and was fairly impressed. The kid is in 9th grade. I remember a kid I went to high school with in calli... he could grow a full beard in a few days when we were sophomores. He was always the one the partiers sent to 7-11 to buy beer. never got carded. I wonder if they'd let Tevye buy Nyquil at K-mart without any hassle... hmmm. Maybe I'll ask Carly to slip him a fiver and send HIM next time she's sick.

Perfect Pancakes

Jacob has been looking for something to cook for a while that can be "his thing". Carly makes "Carly's famous chocolate chip cookies". Rachel makes "RFP" a.k.a. Rachel's famous popcorn. We finally hit on something productive that can be his own....

"Jacob's perfect pancakes"

I made a master mix from my old, hand-me-down "Make-a-mix" cookbooks. (Thanks mom)

and he helped me do it. Then we tried out the pancakes. They are really good. Mark was ever skeptical but was won over after the first bite. Whew....

We found that our family requires a triple batch! We are 7. We are hungry.

He's very good at mixing, measuring and pouring.

But.....

He's

even

better

at

flipping.

Now Samantha's jealous... She wants to learn to make pancakes but I need to let it be Jacob's thing for a while.... I've got to find her something to cook but for now she's got her Sunday stations. It will have to sustain her til I find the perfect Samantha specialty. By the time Mason's ready for a specialty, Carly will be off to College and we'll teach him how to make her chocolate chip cookies. Oh man.. Now I made myself cry. I don't want to think about her going off to college....

Pancake Mix:
10 C flour (I used 1/2 White and 1/2 Whole wheat)
2 1/2 C instant dry milk powder
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C baking powder
2 T salt

Perfect Pancakes:
1 1/2 C pancake mix
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 C water
3 T veg. oil

Whisk all ingredients together. Add more water if a thinner pancake is desired. Let batter stand for 5 minutes. Cook on a hot, oiled griddle until browned on both sides. Makes 10 4 inch pancakes.

The master mix:

Sunday to Sabbath (with a little help from Samantha Grace....)

We attend our Sunday church meetings from 1-4pm.  That leaves a lot of morning time for the kids to get cRaZy.  I don't want them to sit still all day and recite scripture but I would like them to refrain from running around the house screaming like banshees.   

Lately I have been frustrated about our Sunday mornings but haven't gotten organized enough to ACTUALLY make a plan for changing the "banshee" behavior.  

It started again this morning with my youngest 3 slamming doors upstairs, screaming, giggling as they played together.  At least they were having fun and not fighting you say??? oh, that always comes shortly after the wild play.    I hollered upstairs  "You guys need to settle down.  It's Sunday".   I'm sure my hollering really promotes Sunday reverence....

I was cleaning up from our pancake breakfast and pretty soon I noticed it was quiet and they actually HAD listened.  They were being reverent.  I went to investigate. 

On Sunday evenings our bedtime stories usually come from a church magazine called "The children's Friend".  A couple of weeks ago we read this story.  It was based on a real family in the same circumstances  and gave their solution.  I remember at the time the kids got excited about it and we all agreed we should try it......  I forgot.

My sweet, earnest, "I've got an idea" Samantha remembered.  When I went to investigate, I found that she had set up 4 stations and her brothers actually LISTENED to her and were going along with it. 

Station #1: Reading Sunday books

Station #2: Reverence practice.  you sit on the couch and practice being in church.

Station #3: Singing Primary songs

Station #4: Resting 

She had a timer and switched them every 5 minutes.  It was so cute.  It got me through my shower and getting ready and lasted until Dad came home from his meetings and wanted his chair which was the "singing station".  Mark agreed to sing but wouldn't switch when the 5 minutes were up.  That really irritated Samantha.  I wasn't around but I think it kind of disintegrated at that point. It was pretty cool however that it got started at all and it really set the tone for the rest of the morning.  Even though they drifted off to other activities, they remained somewhat reverent activities.  There was no more screaming.  No door slamming.

Maybe I'll just put Samantha in charge of Sunday morning from now on.  She handles it way better than I do.....

...and I'm all right with that!

So yesterday at recess I noticed that Jacob left his friends again and was wandering a bit with a thoughtful look on his face. He didn't look sad really, but not happy either. I asked him if he was okay. He gave me a hug and said "yeah" but didn't offer up any more info. As hard as it was (and it was...) I didn't pry and walked away.

This morning at breakfast he asked me "remember when I was by myself at recess yesterday?" well another girl likes me and the guys were teasing me again. I was getting mad so I just walked away to cool off. They tease me about Jessica AND Julie now. They say stuff like "Jacob, Jessica and Julie, sitting it a tree... It just makes me SO MAD when they tease me and I don't want to lose my temper so I just get away."

"Who's Julie?" I asked. I have done some parties in his class so I know the kids pretty well. I asked a few questions.. "Does she have brown hair?" yes. Does she hang out with Sydney?" yes.

"oh, she's a cute girl."

"yeah. She's nice. She's my friend. Yesterday when she was leaving school she yelled that I was cute. 

And I'm all right with that. 

I just don't' like the boys teasing me."

(Auntie Em... Jacob made this look-out tower and crossbow from his art kit.  Thanks again and tell whichever cousin was responsible.. Bethany? he all right with it too...)