This is a new one for my family.  We’ve all grown up on snow cream:

But, I’ve never made Maple Snow Candy.  All I can say is boy have I been missing out!  This stuff is delicious!  And it was so simple!  I followed the directions from Quaker Hill Farm and had no trouble at all. 

It was very easy to identify the changes in stages as the maple syrup reached the candy stage.

  Here’s the final product:

And a couple of my family enjoying this sweet, delicious treat:

Since it has been requested by all members of the family, this will definitely be made again!  I can assure you that this one batch will not last long – maybe not even until tomorrow!  This is just another reason to enjoy having snow!

Wow!  I can’t believe that another year  has come and gone, and boy was it a crazy one!  It was full of many bumps in the road, but God saw us through each and every one of them.   We are homeschooling 2 of our 3 children again with Melia choosing to stay in the public high school.  Not only did Brian get a new job, but we were also able to finally sell our mobile home to the gentleman who had been renting it for 8 years, which enabled me to be able to quit my job and become a stay-at-home-mom!  My dream job!  Now, I’ll be able to focus on my family, farm, and cakes.  With the new oven and cookware that Brian got me for Christmas, I’m hoping to make lots of goodies this coming year.  I’m also hoping to find a little time every now and then to scrapbook again, which I haven’t been able to do in about 5 years.  I really miss that. 

We also had to deal with the sad 1 year anniversary of the passing of my mother-in-law.  It’s hard to believe that it’s been a year already.  Along with that, my father-in-law remarried this past December, which is bringing a lot of adjustments for our family. 

It’s so good to know that God is in control and knows what’s going to happen long before we do.  All we have to do is keep our focus on Him and let Him guide us. 

A little change of subject here.  I know a lot of people like to make New Year’s resolutions, but I never have.  It always feels like I’m making a bunch of empty promises, which I don’t like doing.  But, this year, I’m going to attempt one goal, and that is to declutter my home, one item at a time.  There are several boxes that we have yet to unpack (we’ve been here for 3 1/2 years now), and there’s a lot more stuff in the house that is not being used.  So, my new goal is to donate the items that we no longer love or love enough to keep so that they may be loved by others.  By getting rid of the clutter, we will be simplifying our lives and saving money in the process.  How, you ask?  Well, it’s simple.  By simplifying our lives, we will be able to see what we have a lot easier and what we need, thereby eliminating the need to buy something because we can’t find it, which leads to saving money! 

So, here’s to simplifying our lives in 2011!  I’ll try to keep you updated on how things are going since I’m also going to try to get back into a more regular routine of posting to my blog again.  I’ve missed that and really want to make that a regular part of my routine again.  Here’s hoping that I can!

I can’t believe that summer is about at an end!  Time has really flown by this year.   As most of my friends and family probably konw by now, through lots of prayer and discussion, we are now homeschooling Katie & Michael this year.  Melia is still in the local high school and doing well.  We started school the first full week in August and so far it is going very well.  We do have our co-op classes starting up this week as well as AWANA, so the school year is definitely under way!  It’s going to be an exciting year having one in public school and two in homeschool trying to juggle all the different schedules, but I know it will all work it’s way out. 

Well, our garden didn’t do hardly anything this year.  The corn stalks grew to be about 4-1/2 to 5 feet high but the ears grew from knee to waist high, so the chickens has a great time with it.  The okra plants grew, but did not produce any okra until the week I had a huge wedding cake to do, so I did not have the time to get out there.  The beans did absolutely nothing.  The yellow squash and zucchini did fairly well, but that’s really about it.  This year was definitely not a good year for gardening.  But, God has always taken care of us and I know that he will continue to do that as well.  We have yet to go hungry.  God has always provided the right sales, etc., just when we need them most. 

The cake business has been picking up and has kept me very busy.  God has really blessed me in that area.  If you want to see what cakes I’ve been making, just head on over Steph’s Sweet Treats and take a peak. 

Transcription work is going.  I’m trying really hard to remember to be thankful for the work.  It’s really hard sometime, but God has blessed me with work and I need to be grateful for it. 

On a side note, my father-in-law is doing fairly well.  He’s been having some issues with his blood pressure, but he’s been fairly healthy.  He has also found a very special lady that he has asked to be his wife.  They have a wedding date set for December 18th.  As odd as it feels at times, we are happy that he has found someone he cares very much for and wants to spend the rest of his life with.  She’s a very sweet lady and we are looking forward to having her as part of our family. 

I think that’s about it for my family.  Oh, wait!  We are now the proud (aka nervous) parents of a teenager with a driving permit!  Oh, my!  So, any prayers you would like to seen our way would be very much appreciated!  LOL