Thursday, December 17, 2009

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Greetings from Station H!

I want to thank you for all your comments, and I really appreciate it when I see some new ones! Please add yourself as a follower of my blog!

This week's 'recipe of the week' is called Cappuccino Drink Mix. It is so yummy! (I'm drinking some as I write!) But I'll get to that later!

This past Sunday Jared and I, plus several other kids sang in a kids' choir in our church's Christmas concert. We sang the song "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day". This is new arrangement by the Christian band Casting Crowns. And we also sang "Who Would Imagine a King" --this version here is by Whitney Houston.

This coming Sunday, another group of kids that Jared and I are involved with, is singing in a worship group at church during the 8:15 am and 11:15 am services for our church's annual Sunday School program. You all know where I mean, and I hope you can come and see us at church on Sunday morning!!

Jared and I attend a scouts-type group at our church. It's called Christian Service Brigade, and it is similar to Boy Scouts. It's a lot of fun! I'm in Battalion, and Jared's in Stockade. Last night we had our third annual Brigade Christmas Party, but this year is Jared's and my first time ever attending, since we just joined Brigade in September! This year has been so much fun for both of us!! Last night was fun, our Christmas party was pretty routine in a fun way. We had typical Christmas party food while Ranger Chevrette read us a story called "Stephens Feast" It's a really good book!


Here are a few pictures for you to enjoy
Finally a picture of those trains I was telling you about!
This is my youngest brother, Owen!
This is my oldest younger brother, Jared!
These are Caleb and Zeb!


I've gotta go now. I'll post again soon, I hope.

In the meantime please enjoy this week's "Nathan's Recipe of the Week". Bye



Nathan








Nathan's Recipe of the Week

Cappucino Drink Mix

This makes GREAT Christmas gifts! With marshmallows and a little bit of pumpkin pie spice this makes a great unwind, and relax hot drink!

2/3 c instant coffee

1 c powdered creamer (Creamora)

1c powdered chocolate drink mix

1/2 c white sugar

3/4 tsp ground cinnamon

3/8 tsp ground nutmeg


1. First crush coffee granules either in a food processor or in a storage bag, sealed and rolled over with a rolling pin. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl and store in air-tight containers.

2. When using, stir 3-4 tbls. to 8-10 oz. in hot water* (original recipe calls for 2 tbl per 6 oz water, but we don't own a 6 oz mug!) You can add mini marshmallows, 1/8 tsp pumpkin pie spice, OR a candy cane! Do what you like!

3. ENJOY!!

Note: We have given this as gifts for YEARS! *If you use this as a gift, make sure to include directions.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

FIRE CALL!! and lots more!

Greetings from Station H!



Let me preface this first story. We live so close to our town's fire department that if you threw a rock at it, it would probably land in the parking lot! (I wouldn't try that though!) For years Jared and I have raced to the front porch to watch the fire trucks go roaring by with screaming sirens and blinding lights, whenever the fire siren goes off. So when the fire siren rang last Thursday night, we went running to the front porch to watch! (Nowadays Owen tags along every once in a while. He's not nearly as enthusiastic about fire fighting as we are) Within a period of less than a minute, two tanker trucks and rescue truck left one right behind the other. It was quite a site to behold!!


We have a tradition of reading an advent story every year. Its called Jotham's Journey by Arnold Ytreeide. You can find it at Christian Book Distributors. It's an AWESOME book, and I highly recommend it! This is our FIFTH year of reading it, and each time I love it!


I like to collect cards as a minor hobby. Here are a few I've acquired over the last few months:


This one I purchased myself for 25 cents at a local thrift shop.




This one was given to me by my grandmother, Meema. She got it as a souvenir for me when she went to South Dakota! Thanks Meema!!!!

Again this one was given to me by Meema as a reminder that Christmas was coming near.

Tomorrow my OTHER grandmother is coming to stay the night. She flies out of our airport Wednesday morning to go to D.C. to visit my Uncle Jeff, her son. She lives three hours north of us. She'll fly in again next week and spend another night before heading home. Then about a week later we are going up there!!! (the first time in almost two years) Gotta go now, until next time enjoy this week's "Nathan's Recipe of the Week"

Nathan




Nathan's Recipe of the Week!!!



Pan Rolls


2 pkg active dry yeast
1 c warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 c scalded milk
1c butter
2/3 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
8 c sifted all-purpose flour


1. Sprinkle yeast into water. Let stand for a few minutes, then stir until dissolved.

2. Pour hot milk over butter, sugar, and salt. Cool to lukewarm; add yeast, eggs, and half of flour. Beat well.

3. Add enough more flour to make a dough that will not stick to the sides of the bowl. Turn out onto floured surface and knead lightly. Put in greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

4. Punch down and turn out on board. Shape into 50 balls and put close together in greased shallow pans.* Let double about 30 minutes.

5. Brush with melted butter and bake in preheated 425 degree oven for 20 minutes.

Yields 50

*I used one 9x13 glass baking dish and one 8x8 glass baking dish.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

SNOW!!!



Hi everyone. Greetings from Station H (home)

I'm so glad it's finally snowing around here. It looks like it might not be a brown Christmas after all! As of now (2:40 PM) We have about a half inch of snow on the ground. I will spend the rest of this post telling you about myself. My biggest goal in life is to be a trucker. This Thanksgiving Dad and I took a load of gasoline down to Millerton NY. We split the load between the station at Milllerton and Stanfordville. Millerton is about 2 hours down in southeastern New York. Stanfordville is 45 minutes west of Millerton. Both areas are somewhere between Poughkeepsie and Kingston. Truckin' is my absolute favorite thing in the world to do! This is not Dad's truck. This one belongs to to another driver for Dad's company. The two trucks are identical, so this is what Dad's truck looks like!




I have a Hobby of collecting model trains, and I have quite a collection going of o27 scale. I have pictures of the trains, but unfortunately the computer has been acting up, and I can't access them right now. Maybe some other time! I'll post again soon.

Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this week's "Nathan's Recipe of the Week"


Nathan



Nathan's Recipe of the Week

Snowball Cookies

2 c all purpose flour divided
1 c butter softened
2 tsp vanilla
2 c confectioners sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 c pecan pieces (optional)

1. Place pecans in food processor. Process using on/off pulsing action until pecans are ground, but not pasty.
2. Beat butter and 1/2 cup confectioners sugar in large bowl with electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Gradually add 1 cup of flour, vanilla and salt. Beat at low speed until well blended. Stir in remaining 1 cup of flour and ground nuts with a spoon.

3. Shape dough into a ball; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.

4. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Shape tablespoons of dough into 1 inch balls. Place 1 inch apart on un-greased cookie sheets.

5. Bake 12-15 minutes or until pale golden brown. Let cookies stand on cookie sheets for 2 minutes.

6. Meanwhile , place 1 cup of confectioners sugar in 13x9-inch glass dish. Transfer hot cookies to confectioners sugar. Roll cookies in confectioners sugar, coating well. Let cookies cool in sugar.

7. Sift remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar over sugar coated cookies before serving.

Makes about 48 cookies
(I did not use nuts)
(sorry about the recipe being half centered. When I put on pictures, they are centered, and then everything else is centered--sometimes I can change them. Sometimes I can't.)









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Friday, December 4, 2009

MY FIRST POST ON MY NEW BLOG!

Hi All!

I'm so excited to start my own blog! I'm not going to add anything more tonight because it's so late. My mom and I just finished creating and posting my playlist. I hope you enjoy it!

Hopefully, I will post in the next couple of days.

Nathan