Cox Happenings

Emma asked me to do a post about what is happening in the Cox family so to please her and give myself a photography challenge, I decided to keep my camera with me all day and take pictures of the happenings of today (now yesterday since this post has taken me longer than expected). I chose a good day to do it because today(yesterday)  was very busy with conference preparations and my aunt and her kids came. I am also going to use this opportunity to catch up on my 313 pictures.

Day 155

I started my morning with devotions. I am reading through the Bible in a year chronologically so I am in the four gospels right now.

After family morning devotions we had breakfast. Have you ever heard of having rice for breakfast? I hadn't until I heard the thrifty couple mention that they like having that for breakfast so I tried it. I simply fried freshly cooked rice in coconut oil then added brown sugar, crasins and cinnamon. My siblings really liked it with maple syrup drizzled over it. rice is kind of like oatmeal in that it is very versitle so you could add anything to it. In the other pan is a zucchini fritter which you, Emma might be interested in. To make it simply add two eggs to one cup shredded zucchini and whisk well. Season with salt, pepper and cayenne pepper. Fry in melted coconut oil or butter until firm enough to flip and then fry on the other side. I eat it with a little bit of olive oil drizzled over it and nutritional yeast.

Do you think we have enough large kitchen cooking devices???

Breakfast time. You can see who likes the camera and who doesn't ;):)

Day 156

Day 157

This is what you get when you are trying to feed over 200 people 3 meals. This isn't even all the food!!! Elianna sure is having fun with all this new stuff within her reach ;)

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Morning Preparations. The first picture is before she noticed me then when she saw the camera she decided to pose :)

Hannah and i are in charge of doing the kitchen. With all the cooking that has been going on the dishes have been piling up. HELP!!!!!!

We are helping cook 30 pounds of beans. Our crock pot is going to need a holiday after this weekend. So is our roaster. It is getting tired after cooking 100's of pieces of chicken and Hannah is getting a little frustrated cleaning the roaster so much.

Day 158

The past couple weeks Brendan has suddenly started reading alot more. Today he came up to mom and said "You know how I have been reading a lot recently?"

 mom: "Yes" 

Brendan"Well I think God wants me to be a cowboy."

 mom: "What does that have to do with reading?"

 Brendan: "Well, I need to stop reading so many books otherwise I might become a philosopher."

Where did he get that idea???

 Organizing and detailing are what we are filling our week with.  Since we are hosting the conference at another church we have to make sure all the stuff we are bringing is clearly labeled otherwise one of our coffee pot cords might go missing, again.

Lunch time!!! Elianna's favorite time of day.

For lunch I reheated the breakfast rice and served it wrapped in tortillas.

Day 159

And a smoothie. I love looking at the layers in the blender. By the way here is a recipe for a easy and yummy fruit and veggie smoothie that my siblings are big fans of.

Basic Fruit and Veggie Smoothie

In a blender chop up 1 large carrot, 1\2 zucchini or 1\4 head of cabbage, 1 banana, 1 heaped cup frozen strawberries and 1 heaped cup frozen pineapple and if you want a sweeter smoothie add a couple handfuls of dried dates. Add enough liquid to cover all the fruit. I use a can of coconut water and some regular water. Blend until smooth.

In preparation for my aunt's arrival we had to clean the bathrooms. Hannah and Sean are in charge of cleaning the boy's bathroom; while Scott and I are in charge of the girl's bathroom.

I came in to find Hannah and Sean dancing to some music. I guess whatever it takes to make a no fun chore fun, works. I got a great video of them but for some reason my blog wouldn't let me upload it.

 Nathan's contribution for the day was to go shovel hay. He is a big worker man :)

Day 160

The day's work left Nathan exhausted. Don't you wish you could just lie down and take a nap in the middle of the afternoon? I do.

One of the meals we are serving is baked potatoes. How many potatoes does it require to feed a conference full of people? 480 potatoes and there they all are waiting to be washed and poked.

Hannah and I have started walking some of our neighbor's dogs. This particular dog is our favorite. She is a very well behaved black lab and we love walking for her (even if she does have to stop to go to the bathroom every 10 yards)

Day 161

There were some awesome storm clouds that never stormed but they made for a spectacular scenery and a gorgeous sunset.

Day 162

My aunt and her kids arrived in the afternoon while mom was in town. I would like to say that we were totally ready and cleaned up when they arrived but actually it was quite the opposite; they took us quite by surprise in the midst of our clean up. Oh well, we are glad they are here.

Day 163

A house full of 15 people, 8 of whom are 10 and under is constantly full of activity and noise until all the littles go to bed. Then you get enough of a break and quiet to finish a blog post like I am doing :):)

Day 164

Family mealtime is our favorite time of the day. It is a time to debrief the events of the day even though for some of us (myself included) the day is far from over!!

Day 165

If Hannah or I summarized the past couple days' acctivities in one word we would probably say "brownies" We are making brownies to serve for one of the desserts. We first thought we would have to make 14 boxes of brownie mix but now we are discovering we need something between 18 and 20. So if any of you come to the conference and enjoy a brownie, please know that the brownie you are enjoying was lovingly handcrafted by Hannah and me, just for you :):P

Day 166

Daddy has been busily studying and preparing for his message he is going to give this weekend.

Day 167

Hannah, the crazy stirer (is that a word?) She also made her famously delicious pancakes for today's breakfast. She did want me to mention that this picture was taken at 9:30 at night and she was getting tired.

Oh yes, and what is a conference without oranges?

Day 168

This is what your freezer looks like when you are preparing food for over 200 people. We will see how empty it looks at the end of the day!!

Day 169

So, Emma and all the rest of you forbearing folks. That is what is happening in our family right now. I am excited for the conference and hopefully I will be able to take lots of pictures to show you.

Good night and God bless y'all!!