I am Verena, age 12. I am Lovina’s third oldest child. I love to write and when I heard Mom say she doesn’t hardly have time to write the column this week, I decided to surprise her.
We have been butchering hogs and beef and that is why Mom is so much more busy right now. It is cold outside and the wind is very cold.
Mom is baking bread and it smells so good. Tonight, we are going to have homemade pizza for supper. That sounds good, too. Pizza is one of my favorite foods. I like to eat at school on Friday because they always have pizza for lunch. I love when we have potato soup, too.
I am hungry for that good bread Mom makes. We like to spread butter on it when it is still a little warm. That makes it so good.
It is starting to get dark outside. Sister Elizabeth is making peanut butter cookies. The cookies and bread are for a bake sale our church is having. The money will go to help a family in our church with hospital bills.
ADVERTISEMENT
I have four teachers at school. We change classes every hour. I have six classes and my favorite is English. Just about every school night, I get clothes ready for my brothers and sisters, Benjamin, Loretta, Joseph and Lovina. I bring the clothes down and hang them close to the bathroom. It makes it easier for them to get dressed when they are tired in the morning.
I have 20 classmates in my grade. They are all friendly to me. School is fun and I like having a small school so I know almost everyone. Our school from grades K-12 has only around 300 students. Our principal is nice and won’t let anything bad happen in our school.
I like when it snows so we can make Stormy, our pony, pull our sleds. Sister Susan drives the pony while we children get on the three sleds. She goes fast and turns short to try to flip us off the sleds; it is so fun.
When we go to church, I wear a dress with long sleeves, white cape and apron. When we turn 10, we can sit with the girls instead of with Mom. Same with the boys. The men and boys sit on one side and the women and girls sit on the other.
I just got to taste one of Elizabeth’s cookies and they are delicious.
In English class, we made a book and had in published. We all wrote some wonderful stories. It is interesting how we do our worksheets in English class. The teacher has four groups and he divides us into groups. Every 12 minutes we switch to another group. I think it makes time go faster that way.
Monster cookies are my favorite so I will share the recipe.
Monster cookies
ADVERTISEMENT
2 sticks butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 cup peanut butter
ADVERTISEMENT
4-1/2 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups M&Ms, plain
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars (white and brown); add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla, corn syrup, baking soda and peanut butter — mix well until smooth. Add oatmeal, mix well, scrape side of bowl, add chocolate chips, mix, add M&Ms, mix. Drop batter on ungreased cookie sheets by the tablespoon. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes — edges should be golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheets about 3 minutes before removing to cooling racks. Makes 4 1 /2 dozen.
