Awwww...

This is the Valentine I received from Trent...isn't it sweet?

It won't be long and some other women will be getting these Valentines from him. Some other women will move into his heart...where mom used to be #1!

Someday....I'll have to share my little Trent with some other lovely lady...but for now he's all mine!

Love you little Trentster!

HFG....

A Great Night with our Home Fellowship Group!

For Valentines Day Night we all went out for dinner at Smuggler's Cove. The Wilson's live close so all the kids stayed at their house under Kelsey's watch.

Here is the group! We had a great time visiting...and always so much laughter!!

They are a great group of friends and we have grown very fond of their friendship!

Here is 'smiling' Joe and his lovely wife Kathy!

After we had dinner, we went back to Daren & Kelly's (to rescue Kelsey) to have dessert and participate in a Valentine Activity!

We had to bring our wedding pictures and the 'story of our dating'.

The activity went like this....Daren read each story and we were to guess (as a couple) which couple it belonged too!

They were very funny! A few were written from the husbands perspective, some from the wives and one was a joint effort!

We enjoyed the stories very much!

We then passed around our wedding pictures. It was obvious who they belonged too.....no guessing there!

We did notice a few themes from our albums...big hair, big glasses, we were all MUCH skinnier, had more hair and paneling (in the church background)!

A Special thanks to Daren & Kelly for using your time & talent to bring us together! We so appreciate you both!

Hang With Me....

Okay, Just one more recipe! Hang with me. I was talking to a friend and we were talking about this recipe..so I thought I would post it.

It's great & simple because it can be made ahead of time. I like to assemble it on Saturday night for our dinner on Sunday after church. The noodles don't need to be cooked and I have assembled it numerous times on the day before baking and it always works out beautifully!

Lasagna

1 can (26oz.) or jar spaghetti sauce

1 15 oz tomato sauce

1/8c sugar

1t. garlic powder

1T. minced onion

1 lb cooked ground beef

Mix above items together

~~~~

small cottage cheese

1 egg

1- 8oz. mozzarella cheese

Mix above items together

~~~~

1 box of regular Lasagna noodles (larger box)

1-8 oz. mozzarella cheese

Layer items in 9x13 starting with sauce(3/4 cup). Then layer of noodles (I put three length wise of pan then break one and put across the end). Then 1/3 of cheese. Then another layer of sauce.....and so on. I end with a sauce layer and then add one more layer of noodles and then remaining sauce and then top with Mozzarella cheese.

Cover with sprayed tin foil. Bake 350 covered for 45 min. Uncover and bake 10-15 minutes longer till brown.

Hints....

**On each layer, I spread cheese around best I can and same with the sauce. This is not a picky recipe. So, if you put a little more cheese mix in one layer than another, that is fine.

**I spray tinfoil with PAM so It doesn't stick to cheese.

**To test for doneness...I stick a sharp knife in a noodle to check to see if it is cooked.

**Take it out of the oven and let 'set-up' on counter while preparing other foods.

**Great to take to a new mom or post-hospital meal..they can bake just before ready to eat.

An 8 Year Olds Dream!....

The festivities started at, none other than, McDonalds. We were feeding two kids that can't have wheat, hence no Pizza. Happy Meals for all and I brought Gluten Free cupcakes for the treat.












Onward to Chuck E Cheese!! Well. I thought that it was a good idea. We arrived and realized everyone in GR was there. We tried to think up another alternative...nothing! So we waited..for 20 minutes till we were able to get in.





We got a booth and opened the presents and then off to spend 422 tokens! Sounds like a lot..but not for 4--8 year olds, a 9 year old, a 14 year old, a 16 year old, a 17 year old and a 41 year old!



Trent and his friend Abel






Presents!










Even the big kids are looking at the prizes!


Tyler & Alisha








Steve, Alisha, Tyler and Troy.






Oh, Chuck E..someday we are going to miss you!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


After were home for an hour.....we headed to Boston's...




We were joined by G-pa Neil & G-ma Bonnie and G-pa Bill & G-ma Linda.

Boston's serves Gluten Free Pizza, so we hit there on Birthdays.


Trent enjoying his GF pizza



(still sporting his Chuck E Cheese medallion!)





the other half the table.












We had a great time celebrating and enjoying family.

Happy Birthday Trent!

I can't believe you are 8 years old today! What a fun 8 years it's been!

I can still remember bring you home from the hospital to join our family!
You bring us so much joy and make our hearts smile.

You loved to sleep as a baby...I remember think you must have narcolepsy! At six weeks old you would sleep 12 hours at night...amazing! Then you would get up for an hour and then go back to bed. Then take 2-3 more naps during the day. It's a no wonder you moved at 150 mph when you were up!!

You would also talk to everyone you were around. When I would take you grocery shopping you would say...Hi! Hi! Hi!..until they answered you back. You had a ability to strike up a conversation with complete strangers....all the time! One particular time I recall..I had taken you to the Med-Center for an ear infection. You set your sights on this 50 year old man sitting by himself. You slowly moved in on him, with a book in your hand. It took you awhile to get over to him, stopping at each chair and checking back to see what I was thinking. You finally got to him and held out your book..he said 'no thanks!' I'm pretty sure you would have climbed up on his lap and listened to him read you the story!

You have a zest for life and unlimited energy! It's not very often we see you sitting down quiet! You have given us some definite scares in life! When you were only 14 months old you spent 4 days in the hospital while they ran tests on you. It was then, that they discovered you had Celiac Disease. How grateful we were to find out you didn't have Cystic Fibrosis or a bowel obstruction or worse...Cancer!! You have been a trooper...that doesn't eat Wheat (or Rye, Oats or Barley)! Thank you God for keeping our little Trent under your care! He means the world to us!

Oh and then there was the broken leg this summer! What a day that was! You were so brave! We were so happy to see you when you came out of surgery! We almost can't think about how serious it could have been. You could have rolled that quad right on you! God has great things planned for your life....He needs your vibrant and bold voice!

Well Trent, we don't know where life will bring you! We pray God's protection on you. May you grow to be a Man that seeks after God with all your heart! We love you little Trenster!

(This picture is going to be invaluable someday!)

On a Roll.....

Oops, I did it again!

I know, I have to quit writing about cooking and recipes...boring! But anyway, I had another success!

We had spaghetti tonight and I was looking for a GF bread recipe...here is what I found....Brazilian Cheese Bread!

After reading the reviews at allrecipies.com I decided I would attempt it. They turned out pretty yummy....kinda cheesy & chewy inside. The recipe already called Parmesan cheese and I added mozzarella cheese too. This is one of the bigger biscuits I made, I also made 11 mini biscuits in my mini muffin tin.

The predominant ingredient was Tapioca Flour...I know you all have that on your pantry shelf. Believe it or not, they do sell it and I have a 5 lb bag of it!


I won't bore you with the recipe. I do like allrecipies.com though! If you have not gone there....please do! It is a great resource! They have a plethora of recipes. I like to read the comments before I decide what to bake. It helps me decide if it will be worth my time.

I guess by the smile on Trent's face and the double thumbs up...I will keep this recipe!

Epic Success!!....

Another Success Story. I hate to keep bragging like this...but I guess I will =)!!

I wanted to 'practice' making a GF cake for Trent's Birthday. I had a huge success for the Gluten Free Community! Lets' hear it...Hip Hip Hooray!

You would think I climbed Mt. Everest..believe me it feels like it! Like I have said before GF cooking or baking is not that easy!

So, when I was mixing these up, I was commenting to Steve how I hate it when my GF efforts are punished with Epic fails. I was saying to Steve how discouraging it is to work so hard at making something only to see it collapse when you pull it out of the bread maker or it tastes like sawdust!

We even successfully made 1/2 the batch Chocolate! Wow...usually it's hard to mess with a GF recipe! We've already eaten 22 of the 30 cupcakes! They never even got frosted!

Well, today God saw fit to reward my efforts! We had a success story....they turned out! Thank You Lord!

Someday, when you run across a GF friend of find yourself eating GF...remember there ARE successes along the way.

Recipe was from allrecipes.com Gluten Free Yellow Cake