Happy Birthday Jesus!

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=oar123wgUH4

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Candy Sleds

We made some cute little candy sleds to hand out to the kids lastnight at church after the Christmas program.


They are pretty simple. Just takes a fun-size candy bar and 2 miniature candy canes and a couple of gummy bears for each sled and melt some chocolate bark for the "glue"

I think the kids really liked them. And Jeremiah had fun passing them out! Randy and I were both kind of shocked that all 3 kids actually participated and did very well in the play this year!

Watching the Snow

It was kind of pretty lastnight looking out the window and seeing the reflection of lights from the tree, as well as the snow coming down outside. Kind of just a cozy, Christmas-y feeling. It's been nice having the family home and safe and warm and not having to go anywhere on the yucky roads. I've been busy making Christmas candy while Randy's been busy making deer sticks, jerky, etc. The kids have been enjoying watching holiday movies. Have to enjoy it while it lasts! And pray that the roads get better so we can make it to the Live Animal Christmas Play this weekend!

Putting up the Christmas tree

It was really fun this year kicking back and watching the kids do the tree. Usually I struggle to bring the tree up from the basement because Randy is usually hunting, but he was actually here to bring it up for me. YAY! Also, I usually assemble it myself, but I just sat on the couch and enjoyed watching Jeremiah do it this time. Then the kids had fun decorating it while Randy and I just kicked back and relaxed and talked about how they are growing up too fast!

The following picture is blurry as a result of Hannah running right in front of the camera just as I was taking this picture, but I posted it because we all thought it was rather interesting the way the lights look in it.

They had a lot of fun and did a pretty good job without our help!

The Finished Pies

Here is the picture of the finished pies..........now if I can just keep my husband out of them so we can get them to the Porter Thanksgiving!!

It's beginning to look a lot like............

THANKSGIVING!!! Sorry if I let anyone down who may have been looking for Christmas!! We don't do Christmas until after Thanksgiving here!

It is pie central around here today! Here is a pumpkin pie:


And a pecan pie:


And a blackberry pie (hubby's favorite):


This will be a French Silk Pie once I get the whipped cream and chocolate curls on it:

This will be a Reese's pie once I add the whipped cream and Reese's p.b. cups:

And this is a banana cream pie that needs whipped cream yet (my husband put in a plug for my father-in-law for this one!

So that's what I've been up to all day! I just need to whip up some whipping cream and put on all the finishing touches. I don't usually make this many pies, but I was showing Randy my list of possible pies I was willing to make and told him I was one pie pan short if I was going to make all the pies on the list. I asked, "Which ones should I make?" ......and what does he do?.......he wheels the shopping cart over to buy me another pie pan........so I got put on "pie patrol" for making all 6 I guess!! If I think of it, maybe I'll post pictures once the cream pies get their finishing touches. But for now I have to run!

1 Year Blogoversary!!

The kids and I decided to make a little cake to celebrate our blogs' 1 year anniversary (or as I've seen others call it "blogoversary") Our blog is one year old today!! And I was probably better at blogging back then when it was "fresh and new", than what I am lately! We have just been too busy around here. But we are looking forward to the upcoming holidays and hopefully I will find time somewhere to blog!

........gotta go.......the kids want some cake!!

Fall Candy Wreath

I was SO EXCITED when I got this fall candy wreath from my prayer pal on Sunday!! I have seen these kinds of things before and have thought about making one, but just have never taken the time out to do so!


This one has little cinnamon discs, butterscotch discs, and caramels on it:

I have seen different ones done with different kinds of candies and have thought they were the neatest things, so I was really excited to find this the other day with MY name on it!! Thanks S.P.P.!!!

Fun in the Sun!!

Okay, well it may have been more work than fun, BUT it was nice to get out in the sun the other day on like the only day we've had sun all week!! Hannah and I decided to go out and rake leaves together.

She decided she wanted to take some pictures of mommy......so......

in that one I am headless and then there were a few I had to delete because her finger was in front of the lens, but she was rather excited when she got this one:

She was having fun being a photographer nonetheless! We also had some fun throwing leaves at each other, but there is no way to take pictures of that! We had fun though and were glad we got out while the weather was nice!

Apple Crisp

After tantalizing so many people on facebook with my apple crisp, I thought I better share atleast the recipe!!

Peel, core, and cut up 6-8 Granny Smith apples into a 9x13 pan:



Then, in a bowl combine 1 1/2 C. flour, 1 1/2 C. brown sugar, 1 1/2 C. oatmeal, and 1 tsp. cinnamon. Stir this together:


Add 2 sticks of butter:


Cut in wth a pastry blender (or a fork):

Till it's all crumbly like this:

Pour over the apples in the pan:

Then pat the mixture down :

Bake in a 350* oven for 45 min. or until golden brown like this:

(make sure you have a piece while it's still warm!)

Anyone else doing this?

Raking leaves is an endless job here! But all the pretty leaves are enjoyable to look at....

What is your favorite thing about fall??

Field Trip Time!

Well, it's field trip time again! We had 2 field trips this week. One was to Super Target:

Which was rather fun and interesting learning how many sandwiches were made in the deli and how many cakes were made in the bakery. We also got to tour the "back rooms" where they store the meat and dairy, the extra stock of groceries, and the extra supply of other things they sell at Target. After the tour we all sat down to a complimentary cookie and an Icee.

The other field trip was on "Honeybees" and took place at Indian Creek Nature Center. Here Hannah is holding a stuffed animal one:


And here the kids are standing in front of real live ones that are behind glass:

(by the way, they are standing on a step.......yes, Jeremiah is tall, but not THAT tall!!

And here are the bees:

And to complete the trip, we bought some honey to take home!

It was a fun week with both field trips and we look forward to the ones to come!

If you sneak into your boys room.......

you might find this:

He loves to play army guys in the windowsill!

Where Oh Where Has My Summer Gone?

Oh where, oh where could it be? Could it really be September 1st already? Where did June, July, and August go? This was the craziest, busiest summer I think we have ever had!! I took pictures of different things throughout the summer, but never took the time or even HAD the time to do any blogging!! We started back up our school year here recently, so spare time probably won't get any better. However, I will try to get a few things on here as time allows! One bonus for our daughter has been that our neighbors have had their granddaughter over quite a lot, and she and Hannah have become pretty good buddies over the summer months! Here are a couple pictures of them having some fun:

It's so nice that she finally has someone else to play with other than those crazy brothers!!