Hanover Ontario's 110th Homecoming Parade

Hanover's 110th Birthday

Celebration

August 2, 2014

Enjoy this video of the parade

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2014 twosnydergirls

Gluten Free Pork and Sauerkraut Casserole

Cleaning out the freezer sometimes results in a new family favourite like GF Pork & Sauerkraut Casserole. 

Growing up Friday night was leftover casserole which always included noodles and cream of mushroom soup.  Leftover meats and vegetables from the previous week were added creating the dreaded Friday Night Surprise. 

We went through a similar process when we decided that our small below the fridge freezer just had to be cleaned out.   I was not very hopeful when the ingredients we had to work with were, frozen homemade uncooked sauerkraut, two pork chops, and leftover sliced ham.  

The result, well we are now planning to make more sauerkraut this fall and GF Pork and sauerkraut casserole is now a family favourite.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked GF noodles, we used spiral noodles
• 2 cups sauerkraut
• 2 cups cooked pork
• 1 ½ cups GF condensed cream of mushroom soup I recommend the recipe from Salad in a Jar 
• 1 cup milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

• Cut the pork into bite size pieces and brown in a large frying pan
• Once meat is browned add the sauerkraut and cook for another 10 minutes
• Cook your noodles as per package
• Prepare your condensed cream of mushroom soup and add milk
• Mix all of the ingredients together and place in a casserole dish
• Preheat the oven to 350° cook covered for 45 minutes.

Enjoy this delightfully moist and tasteful casserole

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2014 twosnydergirls

To use And or But?

Conjunctions make a difference!

To ‘and’ or ‘but’ that is the question

whether it benefits your argument to battle

your audience with ‘ but’

or use ‘and’ and join your ideas with theirs?

What I am referring to is psycholinguistics, how words impact our brains and thus our emotional reaction to what is being said.

“Yes but…”

How often have we heard this used and more importantly used it to get our point of view across.  ‘But’ is always heard as a call to battle, active listening goes out the window, the conversation quickly reduces to a series of ‘yes but’ statements, and no one is open to being influenced by the other.

“Yes and…”

Can you feel the difference in just reading those two words?  ‘And’ as a conjunction joins two positions, it infers one idea building on another and is experienced emotionally in a positive way.  We focus our attention on what is being said, ‘and’ increases our listening and keeps us actively in the conversation in a collaborative way.

As (grand)parents it is our job to influence our children to engage them in a collaborative process where they learn from us and through their own experiences.  They will take the information they have received from us and put it into action and they will make errors - mistakes will be made.  To keep our children engaged and feeling good about themselves it is important that we use ‘and’ instead of ‘but’.

Example:  A mother tells her daughter that she is old enough to pick out her own cloths for school.  Her daughter comes out wearing cloths that are inappropriate consider the following two responses.

1. Emily I told you, you could pick out your own clothing but that is not appropriate please go back and but on …
2. Emily I told you, you could pick out your own clothing and that is not appropriate please go back and but on …

In the first example Emily is alone in having made the error and in the second her mother has joined with her in the error they remain together in the learning experience.

Test this yourself the next time you are about to say ‘but’ use ‘and’ instead and see if it changes the conversation, if it strengthens your position.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2014 twosnydergirls

Wordless Wednesday

Ontario Trout Lily

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2014 twosnydergirls

Shell Crafts Planters

Shell Planters

Children love searching the beach for treasures also known as shells.  This activity alone creates memories that last a lift time.  I remember traveling with my Grandparents to the beach and being so proud of shells that I found.  My Grandpa John would make such a fuss that he had me convinced that this was the first shell he had ever seen.

Our granddaughters love the beach and spend hours with their buckets walking up and down .  This year we were looking for conch shells because we were going to make planter souvenirs to remind us of our time at the beach.

Supplies:

1. Conch shells that you and your children have found on the beach together
2. Hen-and-Chicks succulent plants
3. Small amount of organic planter lining
4. Small amount of soil

Directions:

  

Step 1:  gather all you materials together in one place and spend some time talking about the shells relive the memories with your children or if they have gathered the shells with their parents let them tell you all about their treasures

Step 2: explain to the children that succulent plants do not need a great deal of water and that the best way to care for their plants is to mist them once a week.

Step 3:  help the children break apart the plants and have them pay attention to small new plants that appear as tiny balls save these for later.

Step 4: if the shell has only one opening have them put just a small amount of soil in the shell.  Where there is more than one opening cover all the opening that will not be used with the organic planter lining  and add the soil to the other.

Step 5:  Now have the children force, yes really push the plants into the conch shell opening and crowd the plants adding the small seedling you saved earlier. 








Step 6: Step back and enjoy your souvenirs from the beach.  One of the girls decided that she would plant two of the openings in her shell the result was wonderful.  This planter sits proudly on my office windowsill and brings a smile every time I look at it.

The total cost of this craft if you do not count the vacation was $6.00 CA for six planters.  
$1.99 for a small bag of soil (we only used about 2 cups in total)
$3.00 for the two succulent plants
$1.50 for organic plant lining

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosnydergirls

Mother Teresa Quote ~ That I Might Be Holy

That I always may be Holy 

Breathe in me, O Holy Spirit, that my thoughts may all be Holy.

Act in me, Or Holy Spirit, that my work, too, may be Holy.

Draw my heart, O Holy Spirit, that I love but what is Holy.

Strengthen me, O Holy Spirit, to defend all that is Holy.

Guard me then, O Holy Spirit, that I always may be Holy.

Amen ~Mother Teresa

This has become the prayer that I greet each new day with, beseeching the Holy Spirit to walk with me. 

In this way I have come to understand the path of Mother Teresa and so many Mennonite volunteer service workers before me. 

That to be Holy is to know my place is in service of our Lord, in caring for, bearing witness to and standing in support of, as Isaiah says in 

chapter 1 verse 17 Learn[ing] to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.

This is my task as a parent and now as a grandparent both to learn to be Holy in service and through my actions model for my (grand)children the need to see oppression in our world and to empower  the oppressed to define and seek their own peaceful liberation.

Grandma Snyder

©2013-2015 twosndyergirls