.

.

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Goldendale Country Bumpkins

I am so very excited to announce the opening of our (me and Sammy's) shop on FB! I kept it quiet for a while and didn't blog about it at all, so its ok that you're surprised. :)

Our shop is called Goldendale Country Bumpkins and we can be found here......https://www.facebook.com/GoldendaleCountryBumpkins

We are selling hand crafted tic-tac-toe boards and playing pieces! Sammy makes the game boards and I paint the playing pieces. It's been fun so far and is definitely a labor of love. Obviously we're busy with work, projects, and the kiddos....so we're only able to do this in our spare time. I've been painting rocks pretty much every day trying to provide a large selection to choose form for over month now. And I just got done doing two different custom orders! We're excited to see where this new adventure takes us and hopefully make some Christmas and project money in the process.

Please stop on in and check us out! Like us on FB and show your support! I'd TRULY appreciate it!! :)


With love,
Mama Hauck

Thursday, September 19, 2013

Go For It!

I feel like I am always thinking to myself, "Slow down, baby! You're growing too fast!" And then I sit there and dwell on how quickly my children grow and change and how I wish I could stop time and I get all sad and mopey.  

I hate that......being all sad and mopey. 

It's not that I don't celebrate every new discovery and my children's growth, because I most certainly do. I am always on the sidelines cheering them on, encouraging, and celebrating. I am always so proud with each new skill they learn and delight in watching them grow in every way. It's just that I always have this bittersweet feeling as well and it's hard for me to not get wrapped up in it. The fact that there is no going back in time and no keeping my children little makes me so sad and gets me all choked up. 

Being able to catch these fun growing and changing moments on video helps quiet that bittersweet feeling. I'm able to go back and relive a special moment again and again. This helps me be more present and focus much more on the cheering, encouraging, and celebrating. 

I still want my children to slow down and stop growing so fast......time passes far to quickly.....but knowing I have captured a special moment on camera via photo or video helps me to say, "Go for it" much more frequently. I like that.





You are amazing, little Timothy! Look at you mastering kicking a ball and figuring out the slide! 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Saturday, September 14, 2013

First Soccer Games of the Season!

The kiddos had their first soccer games of the season! Both did wonderfully and had a fun time playing. We have a great group of kids on each team and we're really looking forward to watching the kids play and have a great time! Games will be every Saturday morning through the end of October. Hopefully future game days wont be as dang hot as it was today! Looking forward to the weather cooling off around here. 

Good games, Anth and Mols!! Proud of you two. 






With love,
Mama Hauck

Friday, September 13, 2013

Homemade Blueberry Muffins and Lemon Blueberry Loaf

I've made this blueberry muffin recipe many, many times now. They are just sooooo delicious. And the topping is to die for. I don't recall if I've ever posted the recipe, so here it is for you now. You're welcome.  Below that is a lemon blueberry loaf recipe. It was so moist and divine! 



Homemade Blueberry Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup white sugar
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. 
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture.
3: Fold in blueberries. 
4: Make crumb topping by mixing together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon with a fork.
5: Fill muffin cups right to the top. Sprinkle crumb topping over muffins
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

***I would highly recommend using muffin pan liners. I would also suggest using more blueberries then the recipe calls for. I always do and I am never sorry for it. :) And just like the recipe says, fill the cups right to the top. There is nothing better than a huge muffin top with all that yummy topping on top. Mmmm. 



Lemon Blueberry Bread Recipe:


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 
1 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilaextract
1/2 cup milk
Lemon Glaze:   
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Butter (or spray with a non stick vegetable spray) the bottom and sides of a loaf pan (9 x 5 x 3 inch) (23 x 13 x 8 cm). 
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. 
3. Remove 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture. Place the blueberries in a separate bowl and toss the berries with the 1 tablespoon flour (this will help prevent the blueberries from sinking to the bottom of the pan during baking.)
4. In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until softened (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). 
5. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla extract. 
6. With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture (in three additions) and milk (in two additions) alternately, starting and ending with the flour. Mix only until combined. Gently fold in the blueberries.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 55 to 65 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Lemon Glaze: 
1. In a small microwaveable bowl, stir the sugar with the lemon juice. Place in the microwave for about 20 seconds or just until sugar has dissolved.
2. When the bread is done, remove from oven and place on a wire rack. Pierce the top of the hot loaf with a wooden skewer or toothpick and then brush with the hot lemon glaze. 
3. Cool the loaf in the pan for about 30 minutes then remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire rack. This bread is best served on the day it is made, but it can be stored several days or frozen.


With love,
Mama Hauck

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Pinterest Win - Pallet Flag

We have a bunch of pallets (different ones than what is shown in the Pinterest photo) just stacked up on the side of our home. We use this wood for building and doing random projects. I saw on Pinterest a photo of a pallet painted to look like the American flag and knew that was one project I wanted to do. 

The pin: 


Our creation: 


Super easy to do. First I bought some paint from Home Depot in the shades I wanted, as well as some paintbrushes. I primed the whole thing with primer (we had some leftover from painting the house....you could just use your white paint) to get a clean base and then got to painting! You can see that the wider pieces of wood I did a red AND white stripe on and the thinner pieces I did just one stripe color. Sammy made a star stencil for me using a piece of cardboard and I used a pencil to trace the stars on and then paint them white. It did take a few coats, so be patient. After all my stars were done, I used a little paintbrush and went back with blue and touched up any mishaps I had with the white. 

My plan was to just lean it up against our porch, but it looks great hanging up on our new shop addition (which I still need to blog about!!). I love it. I'm going to make another one, a bit different, for Sammy to hang up inside the shop. 

With love,
Mama Hauck


Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Whats Being Canned: Blueberry Pie Filling

Yum. I can't wait to make a delicious blueberry pie! 

Water
7 cups blueberries
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup ClearJel
1 tsp grated lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
2. Fill a large stainless steel saucepan halfway with water and bring to a full rolling boil over high heat. Add blueberries and blanch for 1 minute. Drain well and return to pot. Cover and keep warm.
3. In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine sugar and Clearjel. Whisk in 2 cups water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring constantly until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Stir in lemon zest and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from hear. Fold in heated blueberries.
4. Ladle hot pie filling into hot jars, leaving slightly more than 1 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rim and screw on lid.
5. Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process for 30 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool, and store.

.

One tip about pie filling....it is hard to find Clearjel (the thickening agent needed to make your pie fillings) in store. At least it was for me. I went to a few different stores and could not find it, not even in the canning section. Going on the hunt for Clearjel with three kids in tow was awful. I wound up going to our town's very small health food store and bought what they had left...exactly enough for this recipe, so I wasn't able to make a double batch like I had hoped to do. I would recommend buying your Clearjel online. It's cheap and you don't have to drag your kids all over timbuktwo. 

With love,
Mama Hauck

Monday, September 9, 2013

Hello Preschool!

Today Molly started her second year of preschool! Last year she went Tuesdays and Thursdays, this year she will go Monday, Wednesday, Friday. She's pretty stoked about seeing all of her old preschool friends, as well as making new preschool friends as there are a lot of new kiddos attending this year.

Papa surprised Molly by taking the day off from work and making her eggs, bacon, and sausage for breakfast. After seeing Anthony off to the bus stop, we took Molly's first day of school photos. This year was special, as last year Papa was gone on a work trip and missed her first day. After photos we all loaded up in the car and took her to school! She wasted no time finding her cubby, hanging her items, then finding her name tag. A kiss goodbye and she was off. Simple as that. She is a pro at this preschool stuff.


With love,
Mama Hauck