Dalton and Maggie were just fighting over a bracelet that he had made at school. Boyd was explaining to him that he should share with her because she is his sister and he loves her.

As Dalton left our room, he said, "Well, I DO love her, but I don't want to share with her!"

Some of My favorite pieces of Dalton's art that have come home at the end of the school year.

The girls and I are playing outside on the lovely Memorial Day morning. Jessie pointed to the green van and said, "Daddy's car!" I pointed to the grey van and asked whose car that is. "Mine!" If it makes tk that long, she's probably more right than she knows.

Maggie Anne was helping me make a pudding cake last night and one of the ingredients was brown sugar. After asking what it was and hearing my answer, Maggie asked if it was ok if she just calls it tasty sand.

Microwave Roux

Over the long weekend, I'm working on some meals that I can freeze to make things easier on me making dinner during the week. One of the things I'm making this weekend is chicken & sausage gumbo. I've made this most of my life and make roux the traditional way most often, but think I'm going to go back to a microwave roux this time.

Don't roll your eyes. It really does taste the same. Seriously. Takes about the same amount of time too, but the microwave variety takes slightly less babysitting because I can walk away from it from a minute or two at a time. Thought I would share the recipe.


Microwave Roux

1 cup flour
1 cup oil

Mix ingredients into a creamy paste in a glass 2-quart measuring bowl (or whatever glass bowl you have, but the handle is especially helpful in this process).

Microwave on high for about 4 minutes. Stir. Cook for an additional 2 minutes. Stir again. At this point, the mixture should be bubbly and start to turn a darker color.

Watch closely from this point forward. Continue to cook for 30-45 seconds, then stir again. Continue these small 30-45 second cooking times until you get your desired roux darkness.

Copper penny color is what I shoot for.

Throw in your diced green onions when you are done and it will stop the cooking and make less splatter when you add to your gumbo.

New Jessie Anne Selfies

She just can't resist a selfie!

In going through some old boxes, we found a tube of film from an old camera. My kids were fascinated by this and didn't have a clue what we were talking about. I guess I'm fascinated that they don't know what this is.

Oh wait, no that's not fascination, that old. I feel old that I've shown my kids something that is almost obsolete.

Now . . . to find out what's on this film.