Family Book Club

I have been anticipating this day for a couple of weeks now. Today was the first meeting for my family book club. Lately the book club I have been attending has been not as fun as it use to be. I think the members were growing weary and some were frustrated that we changed the meeting date so many times. Therefore some decided that they would not attend anymore. It was really sad for me. It felt as if we were completely going to put the kabosh on it.

I knew that I would have to solve this problem immediately. I knew I didn't have a whole lot of control as to how the members felt...but I could control my family (:

Luckily my family members went along with it family book club was created and the date was set. We read "Drowning Ruth". It was a great book and a good starter book for our club. It was so nice to just have us girls together. We don't often get together without the men and it was so enjoyable. My brother ended up having to work so Varinia brought the kids with. I am so glad they got to come. Alexa is growing up so fast and I feel so sad that we don't get to see her every day. Jaden is always a riot, but he must have known that we needed some bonding time because he sat quietly in the front room while we had our discussion and brunch. He is such a good kid! I am so glad that everyone had a good time and that we are all excited to continue.

In regards to my friends book club, a miracle happened. We lost 2 members but gained two more. We now have 8 members. I am overjoyed that we will continue and meet new people. 1 book club is a delight, 2 is going to be sheer joy. I love my life (:

P.s If you want to join my friends book club, let me know....new members are always welcomed (:

These are adorable. I do not know where the idea came from originally. I saw the photo on pinterest but it directed me to google, and not the actual owner. The original pancakes had orange marmalade. I did not like the idea as much so I decided to do lemon poppy seed pancakes with lemon curd on top. The lemon was so refreshing and not overly sweet. Even without the curd on top the pancakes were really yummy. All I did was buy bisquick and add poppyseeds and a tablespoon of lemon curd. After the pancakes were done I put a toothpick in and placed them in the oven to keep warm while I finished other food items. I then heated up the remaining curd with some more poppy seeds. I topped them with a blueberry and drizzled some hot lemon curd on top. They were so good and cute to look at.

With the pancakes we enjoyed fruit parfaits. Have you tried the soft and chewy granola from Great Harvest? It is the only granola I buy. It is soft and delightful. If I don't have time to make my own chewy granola, I go there. Fresh fruit, chewy granola, and vanilla yogurt....delightful.

I also made hash browns from scratch. I can't eat frozen hash browns anymore. My step dad in law made me some fresh hash browns and I was an instant believer. The girls agreed, it is the only way to go. 

For the drink I did orange/vanilla water. I heard if you put vanilla bean and orange together and let it sit for awhile it will taste just like creamcicle. I don't think I let it sit long enough. I am hoping by tomorrow it will be delightful. We drank it. It just seemed like it was lacking, although it was refreshing. I am going to have to try this again. I wonder if I didn't have sweet enough oranges. If you try this, make sure to split the vanilla and scrap out the innards in the water.

Jaden was in the front room. Just us girls in the kitchen. I love them! Have I mentioned how much I love book club?

After book club we wrote down some books that we would like to read. We then compiled them and picked one at random. Next month we will be reading, "The Mill River Recluse".

It was a great day and I can't wait to see them again. Thanks girls for a wonderful day! Love ya!

P.s. If you want to do a regular size pancake: I followed the instructions on the box. I added 1/2 tbsp of poppy seeds and 1/2 tbsp of lemon curd. Mix and cook pancakes. I heated a heaping spoonful of lemon curd and added some more poppy seeds. When pancakes are finished spread a thin layer on each pancake and stackem up! I add a little powdered sugar to make it look pretty.