Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! From our little Kangaroo.

Praise The Lard Biscuits - Southern Biscuits for Sunday Morning

The key to making great southern biscuits is to start with the right kind of flour. The south's own, white lily flour, is the best but likely won't be found by yankees on the sheelves of stores located in the north. White lily flour is made with southern winter wheat which has a lower protein count. Because of this biscuits turn out fluffy; which it why biscuits down here taste so darn good.

The second trick is the buttermilk. Stores in the Carolinas carry an old-timey type of buttermilk that has real butter flakes in it. If you look in the picture to the right you'll actually see the yellow flakes floating in the buttermilk. This helps to make the biscuits flakey. 

Lastly, you need the right kind of sausage. Neese's southern style country sausage is the best. The sausage is a local favorite and is produced just 30 minutes north of our house; so you can't get meat more fresh then this. It still comes wrapped in a wax paper package just like it did 100 years ago.



Since Karen's friends came to visit us in North Carolina I decided it would be a good idea to treat them to a traditional southern breakfast. So for Sunday morning I poured them orange juice and fixed bacon, buttermilk pancakes, and my very own, made from scratch, "Praise the Lard" Biscuits. Biscuits so good they are reserved for the Sabbath.

Patterson Farm

September

September has flown by. Tyson and I have been busy with work. Both of us have been working extra hours. Tyson has been involved in some projects and I have been working on accreditation. Tyson still hasn’t gotten his new phone but there has finally been a release date, October 12th. He is so excited he can hardly wait.

Lilly has changed so much in the last month. She is getting bigger, starting to look different, getting more social and is getting more mischievous. She has started climbing up Herbie’s stairs by the bed and doing trapeze moves off the couch.

She started dragging around stuffed animals. Her favorite is very big hippo that the Mike Ballard family gave her, which is twice her size. She drags it by its ears and insists that I hold it when she is not. She also likes to drag around blankets and wants to cuddle. I greatly enjoy the time spent with her on my lap sitting still.


Lilly only eats when she wants to and only sleeps when she thinks she should. Nap times are no longer easy. I wonder where she gets her stubbornness…neither Tyson nor I are stubborn at all.

Seeing how much she grows and changes month to month makes me sad you all can’t be here to see it.

Trip to Utah

Lilly and I recently went to Utah for a little vacation. We had a lot of fun seeing family and friends. We were able to go to the Dinosaur Park with Emilee, Vaughn, Marshall, Jennifer, and Ashton, go to lunch with Lucy at her school, have a very CRAZY craft day with the cousins, go shopping with Jake and Gretchen, go to the Murdock Family Reunion (Tyson’s mom’s side of the family), attend Jake’s baptism, have a birthday dinner for Jennifer, and a luncheon with the Harris girls.

We got to stay at my Mom and Dad’s house with the Dave Ballard family. It was good for Lilly to be around someone other than me all day long and ever since we got home Lilly has been more outgoing and sociable.

Here are some pictures of our trip.

The Dinosaur Park

Lilly, Tessa and Mckenzie

The Murdock Family Reunion (all the Harris cousins that came). Yes, Lilly is losing it. We left shortly after.

Jake's Baptism (all of the Ballard cousins that came).

Grandma Gloria giving Lilly a Fat Boy. We have this same picture with Gracie when she was this age.

Lilly with Grandma and Grandpa Ballard

Lilly with Grandma Harris

Patiently Waiting

DIE iPhone, DIE! 

Bar of Soap

Every time I give Lilly a bath she is extremely interested in the various shower products that sit on the side of the tub. One day I decided that I would stand Lilly up on the side of the tub so she could see everything. This was the first time she seemed interested to stand up so I thought I would help encourage it a little bit. Now I have to help Lilly stand up and play with the product during every bath. I know this is extremely dangerous…..but, she is my first baby and I am kind of a pushover. She is always supervised while standing.

Recently she discovered the soap dish that hangs on the wall and the pretty blue soap that sits there. She plays with it under the water. It slips out of her hands and she goes chasing after it. Eventually, during every bath, she tries to put the soap in her mouth. Because soap is gross tasting and according to The Christmas Carol, eating soap will cause blindness, I don’t let her do this. Then she starts crying and crying and crying. She cries like I am the meanest Mommy in the world. This signals the end of bath time.

I have tried hiding the soap but she always seems to find it. My plan is to take it out of the bath all together but I always seem to forget until after she finds it.