On Wednesday, all five of my daughters spent the day here. It had been a while since we were all together for a day. Elizabeth has three children in school, and Susan has five. That fills up their schedules with dentist and doctor appointments. I remember those days very well.

Susan brought a casserole, so lunch was easy. Elizabeth baked Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese bars for me after she was here. Those were warm and great for a snack after everyone came. It was a different recipe I had wanted to try from a cookbook I received from my friend Lucille. She lives in the Mennonite community in Virginia. They drive horses and have buggies, which is similar to the Amish. We met Ray and Lucille many years ago when our daughters were pen pals. Lucille, if you are reading this, thank you for your friendship through the years.

When the eight grandchildren are in school, we still have Andrea, 4, Denzel, 3, Byron, 2, Ervin Jr., 2, Kylie, 1, Sharlene, 7 months, and Brooklyn, 6 months here when they come home on a weekday. Elizabeth and Susan left earlier so they could be home before their children came home from school. Lovina had an appointment in town in the afternoon, so she left Brooklyn here with us. She did really well and was easy to take care of. Such little sweeties!

I fried chicken for our supper and made steamed potatoes. Along with that, we had cheese, lettuce and homemade sour cream (which we put on our steamed potatoes). Also, ice cream and the bars were on the menu. Everyone was hungry for fried chicken again. Dustin, Loretta, and children, Daniel, Lovina, and Brooklyn; Daniel Ray and Verena; and son Benjamin’s special friend, Joanna, were here for supper.

On Thursday, I baked over a hundred chocolate chip cookies. I took some to church on Sunday and made the extra to have on hand here. Friday, I washed laundry, and with it being such a nice day, I hung it outside to dry. The temperature was in the upper 50s, and everything was dry to put away. After I was done, I helped my daughter Verena with her laundry and hung it out as well.

Friday night, we had supper at Dustin’s. He made supper in the deep fryer outside. On the menu were broasted chicken, fish and potato wedges. They told the family that whoever wanted to come could, so Tim’s, Ervin’s and Daniel Ray’s went. Joe came home from work feeling sick, so he decided to stay home and rest. He didn’t feel like eating but told me to go over and have supper with the family. I baked five loaves of bread that day, so I took some warm bread over to have with our supper.

Sunday morning, Ervin, Susan and their seven children picked me up to go to church at our neighbors, Joas and Susan. Joe was still sick, so he stayed home. (He was home Monday, yet from work. He went back on Tuesday.) It was nice to have Ervin’s family visit our church district again. When we divided our church district, they were in the other district. Ervin’s brought me home afterward, and they stayed here for supper.

Dustin’s and Daniel Ray’s also came here after church. Dustin and Daniel Ray grilled the chicken for supper and also made potatoes and carrots on the grill. That made supper easy on me. For dessert, we had ice cream and chocolate chip cookies.

They played games in the afternoon and visited. The children wanted to color, but I was short on coloring books, so I said they could tear sheets out of the books so everyone could color. They like it when I hang their colored sheets on my refrigerator. I remember how fun it was to color with my sisters when we were young. We would always tell each other that theirs was nicer (although we probably thought our own was). Haha! We would always write our name and age on the page we colored. Looking through some older coloring books is interesting to see that we were the ages my grandchildren are now. Time sure does not stand still.

I’ll share the recipe for the Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese bars now. God’s blessings!

Chocolate Chip Cream Cheese Bars

1 chocolate cake mix

1 egg

1/3 cup vegetable oil

8 ounces softened cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix the first three ingredients until crumbly. Pat all but 1 cup of crumbs into a 9x13-inch cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Mix remaining ingredients until light and smooth. Stir in 1 cup of chocolate chips. Spread over the baked layer. Sprinkle the remaining 1 cup of crumbs on top. Bake for 15 more minutes. Cool and cut.

• Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, “The Cherished Table,” “The Essential Amish Cookbook” and “Amish Family Recipes,” are available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, P.O. Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply), or email questionsforlovina@gmail.com and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.