Easy Rolls

     Growing up I remember my mom being a good cook. I still make some of her dishes. She was not a baker, however. She was big fan of the mix.  And so that is how I initially learned how to bake. As a young wife I remember eating Thanksgiving dinner with my husband's family. My mother-in-law, Mama Ann, was a baker. She seemed to make everything from scratch. Gradually I collected many of her recipes. One of the first recipes of hers that I mastered was Easy Rolls. As I am wont to do my first effort in making these easy rolls was a failure. I did't thoroughly read the instructions first and I killed my yeast by putting it into the hot milk. Now a days I can whip these up very easily but for some unknown reason I usually only make them at Thanksgiving. They are a family favorite.

              My copy of the recipe is about as old as the number of years I've been married.

Autumn

Growing up in south Texas I never really experienced fall. It always seemed to me that there were just two seasons; hot and less hot. I realize that is an exaggeration but it was how I perceived it. When we moved to the midwest over 25 years ago one of the things I looked forward was autumn.  It has not disappointed me. Twenty years ago we planted a maple tree in our front yard. I look forward to its color very year. 

Sleepovers With Ira

Mark and I love when Ira sleeps over. He is so much fun. It does take a lot of energy, however. He has tendency to wake up super early when he sleeps over. We always make a special breakfast which must include Papa's baked apples. Sometimes it is homemade pancakes or waffles or even special oatmeal.

Natalie and Scott spent their anniversary weekend in Omaha to celebrate 7 years of wedded bliss. After they dropped off Ira we asked him if he wanted to go to the museum or the zoo. Initially he said museum. As we were getting ready to leave he said he wanted to feed giraffes. I explained the giraffes were at the zoo so we changed our destination. Up until this day Ira had been afraid to ride the train and the pony and was a little leery of feeding animals, too. So when he announced he wanted to ride the train I bought the train tickets right away along with lettuce for the giraffes. First we saw the red panda and then we headed to feed the giraffes. He was so excited. Since he was so excited about the train we went to do that next. He was such a big boy. He sat on Papa's lap and took it all in. I was holding his hat and accidentally dropped it while we were riding. Afterwards Papa stayed back to wait for the zoo employee to walk the track and retrieve it. While Papa was doing that Ira and I headed into the main part of the zoo. Right away he said he wanted to feed the goats. While we were feeding the goats he announced that he wanted to ride a pony. So after Papa caught up with us we got a pony ride ticket. He rode Samson the smallest pony. Papa held his hand the whole way. He conquered his fears that day and we had so much fun in the process.

                     We made homemade pizza for supper and Ira helped!