Snow!

Today as we got ready to leave for our Junior Bible quiz meet in Muskegon it began to snow. Huge snowflakes that looked more like the soap bubbles at the Terra Bella mall in Huntington Beach than the snow I imagined I would see. Last year, OCMA played at Terra Bella and we were treated to a snowfall that looked a whole lot like what we saw this morning.

The kids were so excited and all ran out to play in it. It didn't last, only about 15 minutes and of course it was followed by a drenching rain so there is nothing to see of it now. It is supposed to snow again tomorrow.

Aaron getting soaked before the meet! Frozen Sam!

Frank was unimpressed!

The mornings are very cool as you can imagine and cold cereal just doesn't cut it so I take advantage of our oven a lot. Today I made Baked Oatmeal. It is heavy enough to stick but tastes a million times better than hot cereal. Could be all the sugar hmmm......

Thomas looks a lot like James in this picture!

Baked Oatmeal

1 stick of butter

2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3 cups oats

1 and 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 cup milk (I use buttermilk- the kids won't drink it so it is safe in the fridge!)

Mix the butter, sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Add the dry ingredients and follow with the milk

pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake for 35-40 minutes
That's the basic recipe, I usually double it and add 2 chopped apples. Today I increased the flour to 3 cups and instead of apple added a large can of pumpkin, a tsp of ginger and a tsp of nutmeg. I also added a tsp of baking soda.

It turned out well and instead of bringing our usual granola bars to quiz for snacks the kids opted to bring the leftover squares of baked oatmeal. Needless to say we will be using this variation again. I may add raisins and nuts next time.

The best part is that house gets warmed up and it's cheaper than packaged cereal. I am looking for a good source of oats around here. I may check out Costco while the kids are at band on Wednesday.

David, Faith and Aaron did well at the quiz meet winning all of their games in the round robin. I quiz mastered in the Novice division which was fun. We have our teen quiz and our JBQ on different Saturdays so now Ron and I can both help at the meets. The big kids are helping with our novice team and they also official at the meets. Mary and James were at Youth Convention for this meet and they just got home. Mary hasn't stopped talking about it yet, I think it was a success!

Keep praying for our country and President - elect Obama, it wasn't the outcome I hoped for but God is in control.