Recipe--Patio Potato Salad

This recipe is excellent for summer picnics, especially when accompanied by burgers and hot dogs, watermelon, and cool lemonade!

 

It was interesting that I had planned to post this recipe today, as I found out yesterday that my friend Sarah (who introduced me to this recipe) is in the hospital. Please take a moment to pray for her!

 

Patio Potato Salad

 

 

1/3 Cup sugar (we use less)

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

1 to 1 ½ teaspoons ground mustard

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon celery seed

½ Cup milk

¼ Cup vinegar

1 egg, beaten

¼ Cup butter, cubed

¼ Cup chopped onion

¼ Cup mayonnaise

7 medium red potatoes, cubed and cooked

3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

 

In a saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, ground mustard, salt and celery seed. Stir in the milk, vinegar and egg until smooth. Add butter. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat; let cool. Stir in onion and mayonnaise. In a large bowl, combine potatoes and hard-cooked eggs. Add dressing and toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Yield: 8-10 servings.

Youth Group Fun

Over the past few weeks, we’ve had the opportunity to do a couple of activities with the youth group from church. We forgot the camera one week, so you’ll just have to use some more imagination on that one. J

 

Two weeks ago, we were supposed to pass out flyers advertising the free sports camp our church is hosting this month. We met at a local 50’s diner-style restaurant first where some folks bought dinner. Then we split into two groups and walked through the surrounding neighborhoods. It was extremely humid that day, so we were all quite hot and sweaty by the time we were done.

 

In the same area of town is a big park. There is a nice big field there, so that’s where we met up afterward. Then we played Ultimate Frisbee! I had never played before, but I had so much fun once I learned. It also helped that the team I was on won. J

 

The only unpleasant part of that evening were the fire ants. I was standing around after the game, and all of a sudden I felt sharp pains all over my foot. It turns out that while I was chatting with our youth/Family pastor, I was standing in a fire ant hill. Thankfully I didn’t have an allergic reaction, even though it stung for awhile.

 

Our family went back over to the restaurant to get milkshakes, now that we had worked up a good sweat. Our pastor and another youth leader joined us, and we enjoyed having extra time with them.

 

This week, the plan was to build a slip n’ slide! On Tuesday morning, Ben and I went to church to help set things up. Some of the other boys that helped also tested it a few times. J Afterward, we went out to Chick-fil-A for lunch, as our reward. J

 

Wednesday night was when everyone got to use the slip n’ slide. It turned out to be a big success!



Rubia going down the slip n’ slide.



My expression here is pretty comical. J I was trying to keep the soap out of my eyes and mouth.



The view from the bottom.

The slip n’ slide was definitely fun, but I think an unspoken philosophy of our family is “Play hard, Pay hard.” We went down that slide countless times, and we really paid for it the next day. Most of us felt like punching bags. When you think about it, you can only throw yourself down a rocky hill (with only a thin carpet and piece of vinyl between you and the ground) so many times before you start to hurt!



Some of the boys decided to take a dip in the fish pond. Considering the water snakes and snapping turtles that have been sighted there, I chose to stay OUT of the water and withheld my true opinion of the whole idea. J The boys actually got out pretty quickly once they started getting bit by something (probably just a fish.)

We are so grateful for the times we have with our church family! We have lots of fun. J 

Summer Job

At the beginning of the summer, a friend from church approached me and asked if I would be interested in babysitting/nannying her two little boys a couple of days a week over the summer. After talking it over with my parents, I happily accepted the job!

 

Just a day or two into it, another little girl joined us (the two moms work out together in the morning.) These three kiddos are so much fun! I’m grateful to have the twins assisting me with this job. They take turns and help me once a week.



L and T playing together. They are both the oldest kids in their families, so sometimes their personalities clash just a bit, but they actually get along quite well for their age!



T *adores* his guitar. Almost half the time we’re there, he has it slung around his neck and is making up songs about whatever is going on (i.e. babies sleeping, babies waking up, etc. J)



Roma helping the kids bounce just a bit higher on the trampoline. J

Playing outside with the kids. For the record, I don’t normally dress in such an interesting color combination. That’s actually my swim suit, because after work we had a youth group event, but more on that tomorrow.
Photo Credit: Roma.

This baby melts my heart. <3

So that is occupying quite a bit of my time this summer! It’s my first real “job” and I’m enjoying every minute of it! J If something involves kids, I will be there!

 

New Barn

When we moved down here in December, one thing that became quite clear was the need for a barn of some sort. In Michigan, we had a shed the size of a one-car garage, a full basement with lots of storage, and a 2 ½ car garage. Here we have no basement, no shed, and a slightly smaller garage. Needless to say, our garage has been full and unusable for its intended purpose (sheltering cars) since we moved here.

 

A couple of months ago, Dad started getting quotes to build a pole barn. I have met several people who asked, “what’s a pole barn?” So allow me to try and clarify. The main difference between just any barn and a pole barn is two-faceted:

 

1.) Pole barns are built with specially treated metal poles which are anchored to cement.

2.) Pole barns are typically used for storage of farm equipment and garage-type objects rather than animals.

 

It took about a month to build the barn. The company we hired could have finished a lot sooner, but the weather just didn’t cooperate. Half the time, we had really bad storms rolling through, or the wind was too wild to work safely. But we were in no big rush, thankfully!



The site of the new barn! This photo was taken the day they started.
Photo Credit: Betsy.



They first dug everything up.
Photo Credit: Josiah

A couple of days later, they leveled everything with sand, and poured the concrete slab.
Photo Credit: Roma.

Once the slab was dry, they began putting up the poles and doing a lot of welding.
Photo Credit: Roma.

Once the framing was finished, the siding and insulation went up quickly!

There was a pretty big delay between the time they finished putting the walls, doors, and windows in and the time they put the roof on. We had several days when it was too wet to safely work up there, and then several days when it was too windy. Working with big pieces of sheet metal is a great way to slip or get blown away, so it’s important that conditions are good!

Finally finished! Ok, not exactly. We still need an electrician to come out and hook up the electricity out there. Next week we have the concrete guys coming back out to connect our driveway to the barn. But we already started moving things in there! With the type of heat we’ve been having, I can’t wait to get our cars inside. J
Photo Credit: Betsy.

 

Blogger Challenge Day 20: Nicknames

Nicknames are usually something we either take pride in, or don’t like at all. J I’ve acquired several nicknames over the years; some I like, and others . . . well . . . not so much. But I will still post them:

 

“Bonk”—This nickname was given to me by a childhood friend who couldn’t say “Bianca.”

 

“Gawk-y”—Josiah coined this term somehow.

 

“Gonk”—Ben’s combination of the above two nicknames. J

 

“Scotland Yard”—In 8^th grade, I became obsessed with Scotland Yard. I’ve also always had a knack for knowing just about everything there is to know about someone. I’m still a sponge; I don’t forget a conversation, family connection, or a name!

 

“Bi-AN-ca!”—Not a nickname, but a unique way of saying my name. The little kids in Haiti came up with this one, after I carefully enunciated my name to them. J

 

*Now it’s your turn! What is one of your nicknames? Please share in the comments; I can’t be the only one with such strange nicknames! J*

Graduate!

That’s right folks! This past Friday was my LAST day of high school! I am DONE!



The first photo was the “nice” one; this one is really how I felt. J

 

Blossom

“The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.” Isaiah 25:1

Recipe--Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

I think everyone in our family loves peanut butter (and thankfully, we have no allergies!) We all love a good peanut butter cookie. This recipe is incredibly simple and fast, and the cookies have a melt-in-your-mouth quality to them.

 

These cookies are great to make with kids! I made them a couple of weeks ago when we babysat over Memorial Day weekend. Kids are always amusing to have in the kitchen. J At one point, I turned around to catch the 3-year-old stuffing her face with the dough. Just as I got her to stop, her older brother sneezed right into his bowl of dough. :-P I took a deep breath, and kept going. It’s going to get baked anyway! J

 

Healthy Peanut Butter Cookies

 

 

½ Cup peanut butter

¼ cup honey

2 Tablespoons oil

½ teaspoon vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

1 Cup whole wheat flour*

 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix ingredients. Roll into balls and flatten with fork on greased baking sheet. Bake for 8 minutes. Yield: 18 small cookies, or 10 medium cookies (medium cookies pictured above.)

 

* You can also use white flour, or half white and half wheat. And we mix these by hand--no mixer needed.