B's First Communion....

B made her First Communion on Sunday.  She was excited, but did NOT want to wear a dress.  We compromised on the shoes.  She did NOT want to wear "dressy" shoes so we found a pair of tennis shoes with silver sequins.  She also wore lime green shorts under her dress.  Whatever works!  It took a little coaxing, but she did let me curl her hair.

 My favorite picture from the day!  Frame worthy;)

 Here is a close-up of the shoes.  She did agree to wear the ruffled socks...after some coaxing.  You can see here that the ruffles are still showing...

 After mass was over and they were taking the group photo, I realized she had rolled the ruffles under so no one could see them!

She didn't smile in this photo, but I decided to see how it would look in black and white.  Love!

Sisters...

 She was given the task of carrying up the hosts for communion.  She was a little nervous...

 Ready for communion...

 Receiving her Scapular (a scapular is a religious pendant of cloth worn under the clothing, which are usually adorned with the picture of a saint as a part of Roman Catholic devotion.)

 B and Aunt Lauren (her Godmother)...

 B with Andy...

 I wanted one family picture and this is what I got...

 B with Uncle "Skip" (her Godfather)...

 B with Papaw Tom and Grandma Colleen (Brad's parents)...

 B with Papaw Dave...

 B with Grandma Spaeth and Papaw Dave (My parents)...

 All the grandkids on my side of the family...

 One of the few pictures I have of Jo and me...

It was a great day and B is looking forward to having her second Communion tomorrow!  We are so thankful for all the family and friends who spent the day with us celebrating B!

Cookbook Giveaway From Gooseberry Patch!!!!!...

 This giveaway is now closed.  The winner was Tanya who commented:

AnonymousApril 16, 2014 at 11:12 AM

I work in town and I like to have Mississippi Roast in the crock pot waiting on me when I get home.

Tanya @ stpribb@ptsi.net

Thank you to everyone who participated!

If you've been following my blog the last few weeks, you have probably noticed that I have been sharing several recipes from Gooseberry Patch's 101 Super Easy Slow Cooker Recipes- ...

The title definitely doesn't lie.  Most of these recipes are very easy to make and they call for basic ingredients that you may already have stocked in your pantry.  I love cooking in my crock pot and there are so many other recipes that I haven't made from this cookbook yet, that we could eat out of our crock pot for weeks!
There is a picture for every recipe in the book.  I don't know about you, but I'm a visual person and I like to see something before I make it!  Gooseberry Patch has also divided the cookbook into different "chapters" based on the length of time needed to cook, such as 1 to 6 hours, 6 to 8 hours, 8 to 10 hours and make-ahead meals.

 The index is also separated by the type of dish it is, such as appetizers, desserts, and mains separated specifically by the type of meat in the dish...pork, poultry, veggie and seafood.  I also like how the cook book is spiral bound which makes the book lay flat when you are cooking.

If you have several crock pots, you could easily make a whole meal just out of this one cookbook!

Here are some of the recipes that I made from the cook book...

Sweet and Savory Beef Sandwiches...

Tex-Mex Taco Joes (a family favorite!)...

Smokey Hobo Dinner...

Susan's Slow-Cookin' Ribs...

Roasted Cajun Pecans...

Now let's get to the good stuff!  How would you like to win a copy of Gooseberry Patch's 101 Super-Easy Slow-Cooker Recipes?  Well, I have one to giveaway to one lucky reader!

Here are the details:

1) Leave a comment below telling me what your favorite thing to cook is in your crock pot.  Make sure to include your email address because that is the only way I have to contact you if you win!  

2) The giveaway ends on April 28th at midnight EDT.

3) A winner will be chosen at random.  I will notify the winner via email and the winner will have 4 days to reply.  If the winner doesn't reply in that time frame, I will draw another winner at random.

Gooseberry Patch did provide me with a cookbook, but all photos, reviews, and opinions are my own!

Craft Time {Easter Cross Paper Plate}...

While I love having my girls create Easter crafts that reflect the commercial side, I still like to incorporate crafts that reflect the true meaning of Easter.  This craft was easy and involved painting, which my girls loved, and it helped cure that crafting "itch" they've been having since I haven't felt real motivated to do the whole craft gig lately.  Luckily, their Aunt Lauren gave them a gift from Kiwi Crate for Christmas so a craft shows up in our mailbox every month and all the supplies are included!  So, even if I don't plan one, the girls get to make at least one craft every month!

 The first step is to paint a paper plate.  You can paint it using whatever design you choose!

 This was the first craft that I let Jo participate in.  Usually craft time is during nap time!  She started out painting bright beautiful colors...

 and then it turned to brown!:)

 Of course you always have to feel the paint with your fingers...

 and then wipe it on your shirt!

Once the paint is dry, cut the crosses from black construction paper and glue or staple them to the plate.

Jo's is on the bottom, B's in the middle, and Mel's on the top.

Girls Can Farm Too {Part 3}...

 This is the last post in a series.  You can find part one here and part two here.

I have a feeling that there are some people in the world that still picture farming like this...

Whereas on most farms it actually looks like this...

I mentioned in my first post that we went to a dinner and Dr. Jay Lehr was the guest speaker.  One of the things he said was, "Farming is the most technologically advanced profession in the world."  Now to some people this may come as a shock and, I'll be honest, I didn't realize this either.  Farming has evolved so much over the last 10-20 years.  The technology on our farm has advanced drastically just in the last 5 years.  The technology that we use allows us to be more productive and cost efficient.

We add additional tile to our fields or repair broken tile all to improved the drainage in our fields because if a field is too wet, it affects the crop yield.  On this tractor is a GPS device that allows us to map exactly where we have placed tile.  

All of this data is loaded onto a flash drive in the tractor cab that we then plug in to our computer and download it.  First it looks like this, which just looks like a bunch of lines so really it doesn't look like much at this moment...

 but you then download it to Google Earth and it is automatically mapped to the exact field it was installed in the exact location...

 All of this can be done from the comfort of our living room...

We have monitors in our planting tractor that monitors each seed box to make sure it is working properly because even if just one row quits working and you don't realize it until you are at the other end of the field, your profit decreases substantially.

This year we have added something new through Precision Planting called Fieldview and I don't quite have it all figured out yet..nor do I think I will EVER have it all figured out.  Luckily that is Brad's job!

This is an app on the iPad which is connected to the planter.  The iPad sets in the tractor cab and allows you to see a constant picture of the planters performance.  The above picture is just an example,  but the green strip is what has been planted and the white line with the arrow is supposed to be the tractor and planter. As you plant it moves.  "Every planter pass, every row, every foot of seed information is plotted on an Apple map."  It also tells you what the current spacing and population is because, again this effects the yield.

I've seen some predictions on the internet that explain the future of technology on the farm and it is unbelievable.  I don't know if it's from a trusted source, so I won't quote any of them,  but we are definitely moving forward.  And let it be know that my farmer husband got an iPad before I did;)  He's becoming quite the techy!  I am confidant all these advances will allow my girls to farm, if they so choose!