It's Not The End.....

It's Just the Beginning......

Today was Alyssa's last day of student teaching. I can hardly believe it. It seems like just yesterday she was packing her bags to leave for college! This is Alyssa with her mentor teacher, Mrs. B. :)

Mrs. B. got her this gorgeous Vera Bradley laptop case. She must know that Alyssa has a preference for pink :)

She also made a cake for in the faculty room:

I got Alyssa and Sierra, her roommate, a gift card for The Cheesecake Factory to celebrate the end of teaching and living together. They used it this evening. This is the list of all the cheesecake flavors they have:

This was Sierra's entree:

And Alyssa's:

Alyssa and her chocolate mousse cheesecake for dessert:

Sierra's in love, I think :)

They went to the Duquesne Incline after dinner and took some pics with neat backgrounds:

While back home here, Kurt and Adam are ready to leave on their road trip tomorrow afternoon to bring Alyssa and her stuff home :)

It's My Birthday :)

Macy Moose says she got the bestest birthday present ever!! She is obsessed with palms and they go bye-bye when the Christmas decorations come out :( A brand new supply came home today from church :)

Spring Has Sprung :)

Cream of Potato Soup

Recipe compliments of Jamie :)

1 and 1/2 cups each of chopped onions and celery:

8 potatoes, diced:

Saute onions and celery in 6 Tbsp. butter:

Add potatoes and 4 cups water, cook potatoes til done:

Add 2 1/3 cups milk mixed with 4 Tbsp. flour and add to soup mixture:

Add 1 lb. velveeta cheese, cut into pieces:

Optional-add one bag frozen or one head, fresh broccoli florets:

Enjoy!!

The soup was delicious...we all enjoyed it! I did end up adding one small can of chicken broth just before I served it, as it had gotten very thick (there went the vegetarian soup...LOL!) This made enough for two meals for the three of us, plus I had a small container left over for my lunch tomorrow :)

Teaser :)

A very last minute decision was made to make a trip to State College yesterday to see Alyssa who happened to be visiting Penn State for the weekend. She and her math education major friends are attending an education career fair tomorrow sponsored by PSU, thus her need to make the trip from Pittsburgh. In addition to having the opportunity to visit with her, we brought some of her rubbermaid totes and a suitcase for her to take back to Pittsburgh, as she isalready in her last month of student teaching and will be home by Easter.

Adam and his buddy Doug came along and went off on their own visiting their friends. We picked up Sarah and the four of us went to lunch together, then took some special pictures, most of which will have to wait to be posted until after graduation, but here's a few we took that I can post :)

Alyssa, Sarah and JoePa:

My favorite site when entering State College:

A favorite Penn State football coach's modest house:

Please note Sarah and Alyssa's similar but contrasting colors. That was not done intentionally, but needs to be pointed out :)

Dumb Bird!

We have had this visitor outside our kitchen window for about six hours. Adam posted a video of it on YouTube:

Shepherd's Pie

I found this recipe for Shepherd's Pie on-line and thought I'd give it a try. It was very good, although a bit on the bland side. I don't generally add salt to my food, but needed to with this casserole. I think I'd make it again, but next time add a bit more salt to something...either the mashed potato topping or the meat mixture underneath. It was also good as a left over.

Onion Snow?

Psychedelic Man!

Bet Aunt Martha's brown sugar cookies never saw this kind of action :)

Boys....

Will be boys :)

Adam and Colin decided it would be great fun to frolic on the four wheeler in the rain and mud. This is the result of said frolicking:

Finally!

Easy Chicken & Dumplings

(And I do mean EASY....)

I found this recipe in my Taste of Home magazine. I've never made dumplings before, but I think they must have been the easiest in the world to make :) It says it costs $1.04 per serving.

I doubled the recipe, but since it ended up only being Kurt and I eating it, I could have just made a single batch. I have enough leftovers for me and Jamie for lunch tomorrow, plus one additional serving.

The dumplings part of the recipe calls for french fried onion rings and I'm not sure that I even really tasted them, so I'd almost be tempted to leave them out the next time. See the ingredients below:

This is just after I added the dumplings by heaping teaspoonful into the pot. I doubled the dumpling part of the recipe, but I think I probably should have just made a single batch. I had double of the batter but still only had the one size pot and could only fit the same amount of dumplings in the pot. Plus the dumplings grew as they cooked :) I ended up throwing some of the batter away.

Finished product! It was quite good and I'll probably make it again.

Recipe (Singled):

1- 1/2 cups milk (I used 1%, it calls for 2%)

1- 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed (a whole bag = 3 cups)

2- 1/2 cups shredded or cubed cooked chicken (I used 3 breasts for a double recipe)

1 can condensed cream of chicken soup, undiluted

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning

Dumplings:

1 cup Bisquick

1/3 cup french fried onions, coarsely chopped (Wegman's brand is actually in pieces)

7 tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. dried parsley flakes (oops, forgot 'em)

In a Dutch oven, combine the first six ingredients; bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the biscuit mix, onions, milk and parsley just until moistened. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto simmering stew. Cook, uncovered, for 10 minutes.

Cover and simmer 10-12 minutes longer or until a toothpick inserted in a dumpling comes out clean. Do not lift the cover while simmering.

Kitty Time

Giving Macy some treats:

Feeding Frodo a treat:

Ahhh...nice kitty :)

Trying to share some juice with Frodo:

Gorgeous!

Jealous!!

Alyssa is jealous that she doesn't have a shirt like her cousins do :)