No More Fruit Flies

I have been having a problem with fruit flies lately. I put all of our fruit in the refrigerator or in Ziploc bags and I thought I had gotten rid of them.

Then I went to make Amish Friendship Bread. To make it you have to leave a bread starter out on your counter top for 10 days. Well the fermenting bread starter attracted fruit flies again. I had read somewhere on the Internet of a solution to get rid of them, but I could not remember where.

I remembered the ingredients, but I could not remember the amounts. The ingredients were white vinegar, dishwashing soap, and water. So I poured a little vinegar in a bowl and added a little dishwashing soap, and some water.

Guess what??!! It worked!! No more fruit flies!! Can you see the little bugs in the bottom of the bowl?

Camping

We went camping this weekend in a cabin! It was a lot of fun. Several families that we are friends with went. It was at MarVal. I had never been there before, but they have camp site and cabins. Several families have campers and they brought those. One family camped in a tent, but with a baby I think the cabin was the best way to go for us.

MarVal was a really neat campground. It was a private campground with a big playground in the middle. They also have a swimming pool and a miniature golf course. For fall they had a hayride. On the hayride you got to plant your magic pumpkin seed and then come back and pick your pumpkin. After you picked your pumpkin you then get to paint it. My kids thought that was great. They do not get to paint very often. While we were waiting to go on the hayride we got two icees to share. Can you tell what color the kids icees were?

Saturday night they go Trick or Treating to all the camp sites. My kids were excited to go Trick or Treating early. Number 1 kept running ahead. He was so excited to get candy. He even left his friend behind.

They also have these tricycles that are very low to the ground and have hand brakes and steering. Number 1 son loved those. Princesses legs were not quite long enough for them.

On Sunday morning we had a mini church service. One of the older boys played his guitar while we sang and then one of the dads gave a short devotional.

It was a great time. My kids did not want to leave!

Russell (Chris's brother) dog sat and house sat for us. I think our dogs probably want us to go out of town more often. Russell fed them a steak!

Where have I Been?

I have been so busy lately that I forgot to blog. What have I been doing?

1. I have been helping to get things ready for a Women's Conference at my church. Angela Thomas is coming to our church to speak. I have not done one of her Bible Studies, but I have heard good things about her.

2. We went camping this weekend. Camping in a cabin! I will blog about that later.

3. I have been trying to implement FlyLady. If you do not know about FlyLady go to her website here. www.FlyLady.net She helps you get rid of CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome). So far I am keeping my sink clean and making my bed. Yesterday I tried to do the weekly home blessing hour, but I can not figure out how to vacuum my whole house in 10 min. Then baby got up from his nap and it was all over.

Well that is what I have been doing in addition to keeping up with 3 kids and homeschooling 2!

Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars

With the start of fall today, I thought I would share one of my favorite pumpkin recipes. This is from my husband's family's cookbook.

1 (16 oz.) pkg. pound cake mix
3 eggs
2 Tbs butter, melted
4 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 (8oz.) pkg. cream cheese
1 (14oz.) can condensed milk (Eagle Brand)
1 (16 oz.) can pumpkin
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixer bowl, on low speed, combine cake mix, 1 egg, butter, and 2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, until crumbly. Press into bottom of 15 x 10 - inch jellyroll pan. Set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually add sweetened condensed milk, then eggs, pumpkin, remaining pumpkin pie spice and salt. Mix well. Pour over crust. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake 30 minutes or until set. Cool, then cut in bars. Store in fridge.

You can leave the nuts off if you are allergic or do not like nuts.

Be Careful With Your Pronunciation

I use to be a children's leader at Bible Study Fellowship. One week when we were planning our lesson about the woman at the well, the leader's manual said to be careful and say well not whale. Make sure the children understand it is a well.

I thought that is silly. The children would not confuse well and whale, but I made sure and explain that it was a well were they would get their drinking water in biblical times. That they did not have water faucets like we do.

Well, the very next Sunday when we were leaving church I asked my son what his bible story was this week. He said it was about Jesus and a Dolphin. My husband and I looked at each other very confused and wondered what they were teaching our children. Well, we went through a list of things that we thought the story could be about and he kept insisting it was about Jesus and a Dolphin. Then I remembered my Bible Study Fellowship lesson. I then proceeded to ask him if it was about Jesus and a whale. He said yes that was it! Well my husband and I had to reteach the story to him and make sure he understood what a well was not a whale.

So the lesson I learned, so well from my son, was to watch the way you pronounce things. You never know who might think you are talking about Jesus and a Dolphin.

Another great giveaway

Thrifty and Chic Mom has done it again!! She has a great giveaway over at her blog for some FuzziBunz. I really hope I win!! I have been wanting to try cloth diapers, but afraid to spend the money on them. So go check out her blog if you would like to win some too!!
http://www.thriftyandchicmom.com/2008/09/fuzzibunzonlinecom-giveaway.html

Fruit Smoothies

Last night I had a bad night with baby. I do not know how many times I got up to put his pacifier in his mouth and pat his back. When he got up at his normal wake up time of 7:00 I nursed him and put him back to bed. He was so tired from his night that he went back to sleep.

My wonderful husband got up with the other two kids and they had planned to go pick up Chick-fil-A breakfast. Well, they got sidetracked and when baby and I got up at 9:00 they were still home. I suggested we put some biscuits in the oven and make fruit smoothies. I have never made fruit smoothies, but I figured it could not be hard and I was right.

So here is what I did:
1 small container of frozen sweetened strawberries
1 banana
1/2 lg container of plain yogurt
a little milk

I put 1/2 of the strawberries in the blender and pureed them. I then added a banana and mixed them together well. Then I added the yogurt and a splash of milk and mixed well. I wanted a more strawberry flavor so I added the rest of the strawberries at this point. Then we poured it into glasses and enjoyed!!

It was much cheaper than Chick-fil-A and probably healthier. Of course the canned biscuits with butter are not that healthy, but they were good.