Breakfast burritos are easy to make and a favorite around here. Usually I add bacon instead of sausage. Joe and I like a variety of things added such as jalapenos, green peppers, mushrooms, and onions. Since our children don’t care for the extras I make them simple with just eggs, meat, and cheese.

7:30 a.m. Joe and Benjamin head for the lake. The rest of the children are still sleeping. I thought I would let them sleep until Joe and Benjamin were on their way. I made enough breakfast burritos for everyone.

8 a.m. The rest are awake now and we are eating breakfast. I was happy to see Verena is doing okay this morning.

9 a.m. The girls wash the dishes. I help Loretta, 10, get ready for her school presentation that she has to do on Monday. She is going to show the class how to make the “basic brownies” that are in my Amish Cook’s Baking Book. She will double the batch so she will have enough for the class to sample after they are baked. To make it easier for her and save time at school we measure all the ingredients out that she will need.

10 a.m. Loretta and I go down to the basement to do laundry. The other girls do the weekly cleaning.

1 p.m. The laundry fills the lines in the basement. The girls are done with the cleaning. Everything looks nice now. Our school had a fund-raiser selling submarine sandwiches. We ordered some and they were delivered here this morning. We have those for lunch along with Loretta’s brownies. The brownies she made turned out great.

2 p.m. Joe and Benjamin are back from fishing. They caught some fish but not as many as sometimes. They are happy to see the subs and brownies waiting for them.

2:30 p.m. The children are outside enjoying the snow. It has been snowing off and on today. We appreciated that our neighbor, Ed, opened our driveway after the big snow we received on Tuesday evening. The local newspaper says that in 18 hours we had 1 foot of snow. It looked and sounded like a blizzard. The children have been sledding down the piles of snow made from clearing our driveway. I had a few of the children to the eye doctor Tuesday evening and stopped to pick up a few groceries. The store was really crowded with people preparing for the storm. I was glad we didn’t get the 20 inches they had predicted. School was only cancelled for one day. I was happy to hear Lovina, 6, and Kevin, 5, have good vision and do not need glasses. I wear glasses and so do the six oldest children. We have 7 pairs of glasses in the house already. Seems one or the other always needs repaired or replaced.

6 p.m. The outside chores are done. We have chicken noodle soup and subs for supper.

7:15 p.m. Dishes are washed and put away. Everyone is getting cleaned up. The rest of the night will be spent playing games, reading, or working on Verena’s 1000 piece puzzle. The puzzle is almost completed. Our friend Ruth gave Verena a puzzle called a “quizzle.” It is part quiz and part puzzle about dogs. It has 850 pieces and you have to place the correct breed beneath each dog. Joe, Verena, and Lovina were working on that.

I will share the brownie recipe, it is also in our Amish Cook Baking Book.

Basic Brownies

1-1/2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9 X 13 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla and optional nuts. Stir vigorously for about 3 minutes until the batter is well blended and creamy. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.