Sister Time, Cousin Time

We had a wonderful week with our Tia Karen and Cousin Avery. It was so nice of them to come for a visit. We loved every minute of our time with them. They came to our house for a few days and then we went to the Gulf for the rest of the week. The only thing that would have made the trip better is if we'd have been able to see Uncle Jon. Hopefully we will all be together again soon.

We did lots of fun things together. Here we are taking a walk on the farm. Avery got to see the goats.
She also got to see the horses. She liked being close to One Gun but she didn't want to pet his nose. Who can blame her? He is a big fellow.
Grancy came for part of the week. Here she is playing with Mazie.
Grancy and her four grandchildren (elma).
It is getting tougher and tougher to get a good shot of the kids.

We took lots of walks while we were together. Here we are taking corn shucks to the horses. Here we are walking at the beach. This is the closest we got to going to the beach.
We did get asked several times if they were quads. I think it might have been the matching strollers.

The babies taught one another new skills. For example, Mazie taught Avery to say "Uh Oh" and Avery taught Elliott to give kisses.

Here are Avery and Elliott exchanging affections.

We had lots of fun time together.

Here are the babies playing in the hall.

We had story time.
Mazie and her Tia Karen wore their red floral dresses on the same day.
Avery had a carpet picnic.


Tia Karen and Avery brought the babies some bubbles. Our babies had never seen bubbles so they were very enthralled with them. I think they thought they were magic.
Avery is accustomed to pointing at bubbles and even popping bubbles. She is a bubble pro.


Karen and I also like to do a bit of cooking and baking when we are together. This trip we tried a new chocolate sheet cake. I had also never made a pie (sad, I know) so Karen shared her recipe and skills with me. And I walked Karen through the mozzarella cheese I had made for the first time in June.


The chocolate sheet cake we made was from The Pioneer Woman. It was very good, and we liked it, though we felt the frosting was a little too sweet. Next time I would take a full cup away from the pound of powdered sugar (that will make sense if you read the recipe). Also, we doubled the pecans and were glad we did.




We also made this gorgeous apple pie. It was truly delicious, and so pretty. Rarely does anything I bake turn out pretty. Usually it is edible, but never pretty. I can't share this recipe with you as I don't have it, but it was a pretty standard apple pie recipe.

It is not super easy to make a pie, but it is easier than I thought. I'll definitely try again.


Here is our attempt to make mozzerella cheese. We used the 30-minute mozzarella recipe from Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. You can find it at their website. It does call for two ingredeints you have to order from a cheese maker, but the recipe is worth trying because it is really easy.

Here we are curdling the milk. The curds are just beginning to form at 88 degrees.

Here Karen is stirring the curds and whey. See how easy it is.
Now she is pressing the whey out of the curds. Avery has her pretty hands.
Here is the final product. Don't they look rustic and gorgeous? They were very tasty.

Bye Avery. We love you and are so glad you came to visit us.