Butterscotch-Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
1 C butter
3/4 C sugar
3/4 C firm packed brown sugar
1 tps vanilla
1/2 tps water
2 eggs
2 1/4 C flour
1 tps baking soda
1 tps salt
1 C chopped nuts (optional)-we didn't use
1 12 oz bag of butterscotch chips
2-3 handfuls of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cream butter, sugars, vanilla, water and eggs.
Mix together flour, baking soda and salt.
Add to creamed butter mixture.
Fold in chips and nuts.
Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove to cooling racks.

Bessie's note: Even with eating lots of the dough, this recipe made just under six dozen cookies.

A Few New Flowers

This is a new tulip in my garden. I bought these from the youth group at church and had no idea what they were going to look like. I think I like it. It looks very much like a small Peony blossom and it has a nice light fragrance.

While the kids and I were wandering in the woods looking for building materials for their fairy houses, I came across these Trout Lilies. I hadn't noticed them the other day. I'm not positive, but I'm assuming they got their common name from the spotted leaves that are similar to the spots on a trout.

Fairy Houses

Fairy Houses by Barry Kane

I found this book while browsing the "new" section at our library. It is full of pictures of "Fairy Houses". According to the book, Fairy Houses were started in a group of islands off the coast of Maine many years ago. Families would make these cute little dwellings for the fairies. I thought how fun to try this!

I sent the kids on the hunt for good natural material around the yard and woods, set them each up with a spot of their own and they made fairy houses. They put themselves into the task and seemed quite interested in the idea. It was a fun activity for all os us. I might try and build one myself in my garden.

I took the following photos as soon as the kids said they were done, but I noticed throughout the afternoon that they kept going back, adding, redoing and changing their designs. I will have to check again in a few days and see what they have come up with.

Bessie's creation

Gabe's Rachel's Hannah's Dan's

Another Lovely Spring Day

It was a bit cooler today, but still a lovely blue spring day.

We made a library run this morning. I love the library, so many possibilities for enjoyment and enrichment. We spent most of the rest of day outside. We are loving this long stretch of gorgeous weather. It didn't take Gabe and Dan long to find a patch of water and they were soaked. They always manage to get water from somewhere.

I love this red tulip

Isn't the inside just beautiful?
The Vinca is blossoming
And the Quince

What heavenly days we have been having...the gorgeous blue skies and so much green emerging and covering everything with this fuzzy bit of color. As were we driving home from VT yesterday it was very apparent as the color creeps up the side of the mountain. Each day brings the colors closer to the peaks. It will be a few weeks yet before it will make to the top, but it is on it's way now.

Miniature Daffodil

Well after some research today, I found out that the little daffodils are called "Minnow". Here is a link that shows a nice picture. I am trying much harder this year to keep better records of plants in my garden. So for anyone who liked the little darlings, that is what they are.

More Blooms in the Garden

The first of the Tulips opened up today. I took this later in the day, so it had closed up a bit, but it was beautiful.


Our Plum trees are loaded with blossoms this year. I hope that means a good crop of plums.

Fun Day at Glenn and Theresa's

Thursday we spent the day at Glenn and Theresa's. Their kids had spring break this week and it is a rarity that they had several hours without activities, so we jumped at the chance to spend the afternoon with them.


We had a great lunch and Theresa had made cupcakes to celebrate the spring birthdays. Dan was thrilled as it was his birthday this week. We did not have a celebration yet because Brian is out of town. We will have the full affair when he gets home.

It was so nice of Theresa to think of the kids and shower them with good things to eat and gifts.

Look at that grin

Opening gifts

The girls go next

Most of the kids headed down to the stream to do some exploring. They found frogs and minnows and of course, my crew all got soaked. I'm glad I have learned to always bring spare clothing. That water must have been cold!

Bubbles were one of the gifts the kids received and they were a big hit. I love watching Dan's face. He sure enjoys life to the fullest.

The big girls took time to chat and redo their nails.

All totalled, we had 12 kids there, all but one are cousins. We have the greatest fun when we get together with family.

Theresa and Glenn have a wonderful gift of hospitality and such generous hearts. Thanks guys for a great day.

Tiny Daffodils

Lisa, I took some more pictures of the tiny daffodil for you. I put my hand right up to it, for comparison. It really is very tiny and so lovely.

More of the Hyacinths are blossoming. The scent is so strong. You just walk by this side of the garden and you get that wonderful aroma. I have not grown Hyacinths in the garden before. I bought these from the kids in the youth group at church last fall. I have grown them indoors in forcing jars, but I am really enjoying them in the garden.

My drift of daffodils behind the garden pond.

Clowning Around in Petco

Wednesday after Bessie's piano lesson, we made a quick stop at Petco. We needed to pick up dog food and the kids always enjoy browsing around and looking at all the fish, birds and animals.

Hmm...here is a very strange looking animal, pretty cute though, I guess I'll take him home.

In the Garden

Spring continues to advance...signs are everywhere.

The male Goldfinches are bright yellow again. We get nice size flocks that stay all year round.

This lovely Hyacinth opened up today. The scent is very strong and lovely.

I need to get some mulch this week and start laying it down. We have had a few weeks with no rain and even though there is plenty of moisture around from the snow melt, the garden seems dry already.

Co-op End of the Year Field Day

Today we had our end of the year get together for our co-op group. We called it a Field Day as we had all sorts of games and things planned, but we all had such a good time relaxing and hanging out, that we didn't get all of the games in.

We had this affair at our house. This is a huge step for me in the hospitality department. Having six extra moms and 17 extra kids ranging from 1 to 15 was a real stretch for me. I've had larger gatherings, but that was family. I managed to not get hyper about it all. Bess and I did a quick run through of the main areas of the house and we called it good. I am learning to let go of needing the house to look just right before people can come over.

We had a picnic lunch, some games...sack races, three-legged races and a relay, lots of jumping on the tramp and some wonderful fellowship. The weather was gorgeous and everything went very well. We started at 10:30am and the last folks left at 3pm.

Here are a few pictures which aren't very good, but I was concentrating on enjoying myself not on taking pictures.

After everyone left, the kids helped me pick up the yard and then we had some nice quiet down time. Everyone picked their spot to unwind and relax.

The Littles played in the toy room

Bessie checked email

Gabe watched a movie (doesn't he look tired?)

Later in the evening, I had Gabe in the shower, Dan waiting in the wings and the girls picking up in their room when we got a call from a friend...Bess was suppose to babysit for them tonight...whoops, forgot that one. I quickly toweled Gabe off and we jumped in the van and off we went. Thankfully, they only live about five minutes away.

Back home we finished cycling everyone through the shower. A very full day.

Tiny Flowers and Frogs in the Garden Pond

Another beautiful day here in the northeast. It was a bit cooler today, but still very nice.

We were pretty busy for most of the day so I didn't get out in the garden at all except to walk around and enjoy the new growth.

This little beauty is only about the size of my thumb nail. I don't know what miniature daffodil it is, but there are quite a few of them coming up around the pond. I'll have to do some research and try and figure it out.

I don't usually let the kids play in the garden pond. There are plenty of other little streams and puddles around, but Gabe was trying to catch one of the resident frogs to see how big he was. The frog was caught and his size exclaimed over and released back to the pond.

The kids are building some type of fort out in the woods. I'll have to try and get some photos of that tomorrow.

I called the pool guy today. He will be coming in the next few days to take measurements for ordering the new pool liner.

Bessie did some work for a woman from church who has a chronic debilitating illness. She worked for five hours. They did a bit of everything, cleaning, sorting and hoeing. Bess had a good time and Liz was very pleased with Bessie's work. This will probably be a weekly thing.

We are having our last co-op meeting here tomorrow for a field day. We have all sorts of games planned and there will be a picnic lunch. The weather is suppose to be good, so I hope we have a good turnout.

New Water Features

We made a run to Lowe's after church and lunch. The objective, elements for a new water feature. I had seen a potted fountain in one of my garden books and thought it would go great in the new fenced garden.

While there, we saw this little froggie fellow and thought he would be a great addition to the lily pond. The effect is even better than I had hoped and he fits in perfectly. The spouting water adds a new dimension to the waterfall. The plants behind the pond will grow up soon and hide the hose.

This is the new fountain. We did a quick set up to see how it would look. I am very pleased with the result.

The paving stone will have to be set in properly and we will run the cord for the pump out the bottom of the pot and bury the cable, but this is basically how it will look. I will make a small garden around the base to soften the lines of the pot.

We are having a lot of fun with this new garden.