Spring Break week

Hello everyone.  We are just finishing up Spring Break,  meaning all the grands that are in school and our daughter and son in law that work for schools,  were all off for a week. 
So,  that meant my husband and I didn't have our regular childcare schedule this week. 
We stayed busy all week and also had some fun. 

We worked in our yard and raised beds.  This giant clover was growing in one of our raised beds.  It was very pretty but its been dug up and the bed has been tilled. 
We are in such a string of warm weather,  we decided to live dangerously and planted several tomato and pepper plants outside.  If we do end up having freezing weather,  we will cover them up but we are hoping that by planting early,  we will harvest early.
We will see.......

The very first night of spring break was a 5 cousin sleepover at our home.  I didn't intend on bathing all 3 of these little guys in this little tub at the same time but I started with the youngest and he didn't want to get out once he was clean.  So his brother got in and then he didn't want to get out once he was clean either.  So their cousin joined them. 

3 little guys in 1 little tub- having so much fun! 

My husband and I will celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary this month.  We took a short trip during spring break as it was easier to go now than to try to rearrange schedules when school is in session. 

We went to south western  Oklahoma- not a long drive. 

Medicine Park is just the most unique little town.  It is on the edge of the Wichita Mountains and is very rocky.  They are blessed with an abundance of naturally occurring round granite rocks.  They call them "cobblestones"  and the early settlers used cobblestones to build their homes and businesses. 

Many of the homes are still lived in and some have been renovated and are turned into guest cottages that tourists can rent. 

This beautiful stream and waterfall run right through the middle of Medicine Park. 

I've heard of settlers building with logs and sod but I never knew about cobblestones. 

We were just fascinated with all the cobblestone buildings and cobblestones everywhere you look.  We wanted  our own cobblestone but it is illegal to remove them from Medicine Park punishable with a $500 fine.  So we will just be content with our photos of cobblestones. 

We drove to the top of Mount Scott,  the tallest peak in Oklahoma. 

We toured the Holy City of the Wichitas. 

It was built in the 1930s as a WPA work project and is supposed to be like Jerusalem during Bible times.  We enjoyed it very much. 

No shortage of rocks! 


On the drive back home,  we stopped to see these 3 grands that live about an hour away. 
Andie just turned 5, Charlie is 20 months and baby RJ is 8 months. 
I think the professional photographer did a great job and her backdrop is really cute too- just lengths of tulle netting to make the rainbow. 

At our daughter's home- this is their dining room before.  My husband built the 2 bar height benches I showed in a previous post. 

Before

After- my husband did some more ........

The chairs and table legs got a coat of white paint and distressing, and the table got a new, bigger top.  I think its about 5 feet by 6 feet now. 

their family should have lots of happy meals and games and craft projects at this huge table with lots of seating now. 

Their front door is really cute too-

Their bunny wreath is from Hobby Lobby.  She said she bought it on sale and got it for about $10.  To hang it on the metal door,  she used a Command Hook. 

I don't have any Easter decorations up yet but I plan to do that next week.  I've also been doing some warmer weather changes inside our home like switching out the heavy drapes for lighter curtains.  I'll show photos soon! 

and if you're still reading (this turned into a loooong post)
Thank You All for the sweet compliments on my last post.
  I was not online much during the week and just never got around to replies. 

Kitchen prep, supper, sewing and my husband's DIY

Hello everyone,  I had some questions on how I make our sandwich box.
Since I made another one today,  I took photos of just the divider dishes I use.

The clear glass bowl holds 1 cup and works fine for the tomatoes in the salad box. 

The Apple green double dish is something I got from my daughter when she decluttered her home

And the dark green oval bowls are old Tupperware.  

I think this shows the dishes aren't anything special.  They are shallow enough to fit inside the bigger boxes but other containers would work fine.  

Today's sandwich box and salad for tomorrow night. 

For supper, I made Dutch Farmers Supper with baked carrots and blackberry crisp.  

I prepped the vegetables by peeling and cutting them when I made the salad and sandwich box. 

The main dish is potatoes and onion,  simmered in water or broth until almost done. Then add green beans and diced sausage until heated through.  Season with salt and plenty of black pepper as desired. 

I used turkey sausage.  We think it tastes great and is much lower in fat than traditional sausage.  Turkey sausage does not seem to hold up to long cooking though, so I just simmer it until it's heated. 

dessert was Blackberry Crisp.  My daughter bought the locally grown berries in the summer and we still have several containers in the freezer.  I better use them soon as the new crop will be ready before we know it. 

I used a recipe from AllRecipes.com but I adjusted it a bit.  I did use 4 cups of berries as specified, 

but I cut the crisp part in half.  The 1 cup of sugar sounded way too sweet.  We like desserts like 

cherry pie to have some tartness. After we ate it,  I'm really glad I did cut half the topping,  the blackberries were really the star of this dessert. 

Blackberry Crisp

A little sewing project was patching knees on jeans that belong to our 3 year old grandson.  

My husband has been working on bar height benches for our daughter's home.  I found the plans for them on a blog called Simply Keirste