A Bit of Baking for The Four Legged Grandchild...

The past few days, I have had the pleasure of hanging out and baby sitting my four legged grandchild. I ran out of milk bones and I am sure he was grateful. Especially, when I baked him up a batch of homemade treats. Milk bones are not his favorite treat.

I didn't take photos as I made the dough and I just kind winged it and used ingredients that I knew he would like. The recipe basically it is as follows.

3 cups of whole wheat flour

2 cups of rolled oats

3 eggs

1 ½ cups of peanut butter

1 cup applesauce

2 Tablespoons of molasses

First I blended the eggs, peanut butter and applesauce in the mixer on low speed. I then added the flour a cup at a time. Once the flour was incorporated, I then added the oats. I tossed an extra tablespoon or two of flour and oats into the mix because the dough was still a bit too damp. I then added the molasses and let the dough mix for a good minute or so. I then rolled the dough in balls.

Here you can see our fellow is a big guy so, I rolled them about ping pong ball size then flattened them a bit with a fork. I baked them in the oven for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. The recipe yield will vary to the size of treats you make. Making them as I did, it made about 2 dozen treats.

I sent some home with him, when it was time for him to go. When he came back to visit the next day, he went straight to his cookie jar on the counter. I do believe he really liked them and I enjoy baking them for him too. He is such a great dog!

Many Blessings!

Getting Into The Holiday Spirit

Our Christmas tree will be going up this weekend. Our outdoor lights will not be going up this year. Our decks and porches are being rebuilt and I don’t know if they will be done in time to make decorating worth it this year.

Most all of our Christmas shopping is done, yeah! I will not be out shopping on Black Friday, double yeah!!! I wish all of you that are going to be out there great success in finding what you are looking for. I also hope that folks remember to just be kind to one another. I think that would make shopping on Black Friday much more fun too. Remember, kindness spreads.

In the past few days, I have been glancing back at a few of our holiday photos from last year and thinking about how it would be possible to take different portrait photos of the family this year. It is pretty hard when I have no intention of changing anything about the tree this year. As you can see from some of the crazy photos, our family is a little nuts. I guess it doesn’t really matter what the set up is, just taking the photos with these clowns is memorable for me. Last year everyone was such a clown that it was almost hard to take the photos because I was laughing so hard. By far, these are in no way the funniest photos taken. These are just a few that I thought were cute and I would share. You can see more of the photos at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tnmamaw/sets/72157622992635261/ You will get a better idea of what I am up against when I break out the camera.








I love this photo. I took so many photos the kids were seeing spots. I think this was my clue to stop.


The photo below is my favorite photo from last year. It is just so Luke, always keeping an eye on what his sister is doing.





I am still thinking I should change up some of the decorations on the tree but I have a style that is a simple, country look and haven’t thought about changing it in years. The other day Joe and I were in the store and he found Christmas lights that he and Joey would love to put on the tree. They were shot gun shell lights. I giggled and almost considered it but it just doesn’t seem right. I think they should put up a Christmas tree in their man cave/barn and decorate it. There is no telling what it would turn out like. Wow, I just totally got of track there.

In looking at the photos though, I would love to come up with another angle setup or something different and special for the 2010 photos. If you have any suggestions, I am open to hearing them. If we don’t change it up, it will still be lots of fun to take the photos. We always have fun doing them.

We are looking forward to spending time with the family for Thanksgiving. It will be nice to have a long weekend. This will be one of the first weekends in a while that Joe has not been working late on Fridays and on call for Saturdays in such a long time. I hope he will be able to kick back, relax and get some rest. He is battling a cold and hasn’t been resting well. Hopefully this weekend will give him some well needed rest.

I am looking forward to hanging out with the grandkids. Doodlebug is planning a family baseball game. It is suppose to rain this afternoon and tomorrow but hopefully it will be nice weather by Thursday to get a game going. I discussed this with Granny last night and she is willing to play too, if we can get a runner for her. I told her that wouldn’t be any problem we would put Doodles on her team. I think Doodlebug runs faster than anyone in the family so, I want to be on her team too.

Well, that’s all I have for this blog entry. I hope everyone has a wonderful, blessed Thanksgiving day with all your loved ones.

Blessings and hugs to you all!