Are you ready to roll lefse?

Just call us the Lefse Ladies. Yes, I learned the Norwegian art of rolling lefse. Lefse is a type of tortilla. There's potato lefse and flour lefse. I had asked Aunt Virginia to teach me about lefse. Shari opened up her kitchen and we rolled away. It's tricky, rolling such a small amount of dough into a large, round, flat circle. Aunt Virginia could roll about 3 or 4 in the time that it took me to roll one. I had a hard time using enough flour each time I flipped. I am excited to roll again so I can remember everything that I learned.

Aunt Virginia's Norwegian Flour Lefse

3 cups whole milk

2 cups water

3/4 cup lard or shortening

6 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1.Bring all ingredients except flour to a boil.

2. Pour into large bowl of flour.

3. Knead/mix thoroughly.

4. Form approx. 24 balls of dough.

5. Roll with lefse rolling pin and pastry cloth. Cook on lefse grill.

When done, wrap stack with moist towel. Cut lefse into 4 sections with knife or pizza roller. Divide into stacks of 10-15 and wrap well in Saran Wrap. Freeze. Pull out only portions to be eaten that day. Will keep well in freezer for several months.

Aunt Virginia kneading dough

Rolling

Me, attempting to roll

Aunt Virginia had to repair several of mine!

Kevin even gave it a try! Notice the small amount of dough. That has to be rolled out to near the edge of the pastry cloth. Pretty thin-my friends.

Oops, another tear. Not enough flour, again!

Finally, one that isn't ripping or tearing.

Cousin Emily, flipping the lefse on the grill! She is an expert.

Big Truck Day

Our local library put on a free community event called Big Truck Day. They offered truck story times and solicited local business with big trucks to come and make their trucks available to the children. Our family went and enjoyed climbing in and out of all of the big trucks, sitting in the drivers seat, honking the horns, etc. It was really a fun idea and I think the girls had fun.

Gymnastics

When we started, our classes met on Wednesdays. No one else signed up for that time slot so we had to pick another time slot on another day. Now we meet on Tuesdays. McKenna's teacher stayed the same. Ella's teacher, however, was different. She went from a college aged girl to a college graduated man! It was a bit strange for me, too. When he walked out to collect his students, she immediately yelled in disgust. (I don't mean whined and cried.) She balled. Everyone heard her. She said, "I don't want a boy teacher. Boys aren't good. I want only girl teachers." I felt bad for him. Surely, it isn't the first time he has encountered this though. I made her go in. I told her that she would have fun and if she wanted gymnastics this was going to be how she got it. She cried a bit after I sent her in. The first thing they do is sit in a circle and stretch. She chose not to participate in any stretches. By the way, the stretches are fun songs and dances and the kids don't even realize they are stretching. Once they got started on the circuit and using the equipment she totally engaged herself and had a grand time. By the end she was giving teacher Ron hugs. He is actually very good with the kids. I was impressed.

Waiting for class to start

Ella had to pull little toys out of the bucket and set them on the balance beam without falling. She was successful!

Here, the goal was to pick up the stuffed animal with your feet and toss it in the bucket. All the while, holding your self up on the bars. Ella liked this.

McKenna is determined to conquer the hand stand.

Yeah, ok! I should look into getting her a leotard that covers all her under clothes!

She climbs this rope well. While on the rope, the kids are supposed to figure out how to swing themselves. While swinging they practice pike and straddle positions.

I am not happy about these photos....but it's worth posting so the girls can see it years from now. We have signed up for gymnastics (one year, 3 sessions) and they love it. One session was an early Christmas present. Most of the pictures are through a glass window. I really couldn't figure out the right setting. For more on the girls and their gymnastics, click here. I couldn't get many of McKenna. On this particular day the teacher had the kids doing drills on the trampoline and in the foam pit. There was just way to much movement for photos.

Ladies and Gentlemen

We now have a composer in our family. McKenna's kindergarten class goes to music once a week. She sings songs about peanut butter on her head and pizza on the floor. She also writes music. You'll notice the musical notes at the bottom.

Adventures in Babysitting

We were able to help some friends out by watching their almost 2 year old, Levi. The girls had a fun time doing it. Ella was especially eager to show Levi some toys. She picked out a few specific ones that she thought he might like.

Levi enjoyed drawing on the chalk board. A few times he explored chalk on the wall or table. McKenna was very gentle in telling him, "No, no, Levi." You'll notice her mothering hand keeping tabs on him.

Ella was so excited to show him her fishing game. She is quite good at catching those little magnetic critters. Levi? Well....he really liked using his hands to stop the wheel and catch one. He also enjoyed carrying them around for a bit.

An afternoon walk

Ella and I enjoyed God's beauty on our walk!

If you want to...

..follow my Uncle Dave and cousin Harrison on their mission trip to Costa Rica, click here!

RugDoctors Rock!

What did you do this weekend?

Animal Rescuer!

You know of an animal rescuer already... Diego, right? Well, you are looking at (Wait, you are looking at a computer screen. Quick, look at a picture of me. There's one in the top right corner of the blog. Take a look.) one animal rescuing mommy. That's right, my father in law and I saved a few baby turtles. Well, he saved lots.

Let me explain:

Earlier this Summer, my father in law was preparing to have a large patio put in his back yard. He noticed a turtle laying eggs precisely where tons of cement and flagstone would be put. Once she was done, he dug up the eggs and reburied them down by the lake. If he had not done this they would have hatched underground and never made it through the flagstone.

Today, while working on framing, he noticed some little things crawling around on his patio and making their way into his big fountain--which is chlorinated. Upon closer examination....he apparently missed a few of the eggs. About 10 baby turtles had somehow made their way up and found the nearest water. Unfortunately, it was chemically treated water. We scooped out all of the babies and brought them down to the lake. The picture you see is of the babies sitting in a bowl about the size of a large mixing bowl. Not sure if all of them will make it, but we tried.

They were so tiny! Each one was about the size of a half dollar. A few weeks earlier he had watched some other eggs hatch and saw about 75-100 baby turtles crawl up out of the ground and slowly make their way to the lake. I got onto him for not taking pictures or calling me to come see it. Amazing. God is amazing.

By the way, here's the beautiful fountain we scooped them out of.

Cinderella's Magical Ball

This past Friday the girls and I, and grandma, went to a princess party. Cinderella's Magical Ball was put on by Once Upon Star--through the local parks and recreation department.

I decided to join the girls by dressing the part. I expected to be (and was) the only adult who dressed up. That is, other than the woman getting paid. Joann was able to borrow this particular princess dress from a coworker. It was NOT flattering. I thought princess dresses would be more flattering. Thanks to McKenna for taking this photo.

Meet Cinderella...

The party started off with some music and instruments.and then some felt stories. The girls were able to participate by guessing when their particular picture needed to be put on the board. Ella clung to me for the first 15 minutes. She likes to take in her surroundings before participating. But, eventually she joined in with the group.

This is Ella--taking in her surroundings first.

Cinderella, shaking her sparkle shaker on her toes (with the girls mimicking her).

Creating a glass slipper with sparkles. All princesses like things to sparkle.

There was face painting and posture practice. Just kidding, it was a game where you balanced a bean bag on your head, shoulder, back, etc...

It keeps on giving

Going to the orchard provided us with many activities throughout the week. First, we painted our gourds with grownup paint (a.k.a acrylic) out side. Then we made apple pie followed by homemade applesauce.

I didn't really think to take pictures of my applesauce, sorry. I had never made applesauce before. I looked through a few recipes and found a slow cooker recipe that intrigued me. So, I gave it a whirl. I will probably always use this recipe. I loved it. The house smelled so wonderful while it was cooking. The aromas of nutmeg, sugar, cinnamon, brown sugar and apple filled the house. I was in Christmas heaven. (Those smells all remind me of Christmas.) Seriously, I wanted to take out the Christmas tree and play Christmas music (Although, I am game for that activity anytime after June!) on the radio. By the way, I plan on posting the recipe later this week.

Spring time fresh

Yes, that's right. My toilet bowls are springtime fresh. Thanks to my mother in law and father in law. They came over tonight and helped me accomplish lots of taxing tasks around the house! We cleaned my kitchen floor, pantry (cleaned and reorganized), oven, dishes, a couple of bathrooms, etc...

It feels great to have these things done. I am thankful that my family is so generous with time and abilities! The Lord has truly blessed me through my family.