No more training wheels!

We have been through the whole "take the training wheels off", "put the training wheels back on" mode for a while now, but this last weekend Hannah finally learned how to ride her bike!

(getting her knee pads on)


(getting her helmet on)


(make sure mom is watching!)

There she goes!

I'm so glad we live on the deadest street around, so my kids can practice riding their bike up and down the street without much worry of traffic.

I told her I wanted to cry because my baby girl is getting to be such a big girl these days! Where does the time go?

Happy 9th Birthday Micah!

It's amazing how each year the kids come up with a new idea that they want for their birthday cake! Even though Micah's birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, this is the first time he has asked for a shamrock cake! Last year he wanted a butterfly cake, and when he was younger and liked Thomas the Train, I made him a train cake. Without looking back, I can't remember the other ones, but someday I'd like to gather all the cake pictures together and scan them onto here or Facebook. I enjoy making my children's birthday cakes!

Anyway, Micah gets to go to the homeschool office today for his last Lego Machines class he has been taking. Then we'll probably go to Coldstone Creamery for his birthday ice cream. Happy Birthday Micah! We love you!

Homemade Granola

I love to make my own granola from time to time.


Mix together 2 C. old-fashioned oatmeal, 1 C. sliced almonds, & 1/2 C. sunflower seeds. (Sometimes I will toast the nuts and seeds for a few minutes in the oven first.)


In a small bowl, combine 1/4 C. oil and 1/2 C. honey.

Stir it into the oats, nuts and seeds. Mix well, then spread out in a large baking pan.

Bake at 300* for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Pour back into the bowl, then add dried fruits to it. I added 1/2 C. dried apricots (chopped), 1/3 C. craisins, and then threw in maybe 1/4 C. both light and dark raisins.

Mix the dried fruits in, let the granola cool, then store in a large ziploc bag or an airtight container.

We like to have a bowl of granola for cereal, or use it to top yogurt, or just snack on it right out of the bag.

Happy Valentine's Day!

We found the recipe for these cute cookies here: http://annies-eats.com/2010/02/12/conversation-heart-cookies/

My little cookie helper!

These were big hit at our house!

Cinnamon Rolls

Okay, so I've been thinking lately that cinnamon rolls sound good, so I cheated the other day and bought some frozen ones to bring home and bake. Did it work? Well, they did get ate, but they did not fill the bill for me. So, today I made some from scratch and they were so much better! I used this recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/cinnamon-rolls-recipe/index.html. I follow the recipe almost exactly, but I cut the filling ingredients in half and I don't use any nuts or raisins in mine. Now I just have to make sure there are some left when my husband gets home!

Our Little Fisherman

Or is it fisherwoman? Fisher-girl? We went ice fishing over the weekend and Hannah caught her first fish!


She was trying to hold it up for a picture, but it got away from her!



She was so excited to catch her first fish!

Gingerbread Houses

Last year we made some little "gingerbread houses" out of graham crackers. This year we bought some gingerbread kits that were on sale because we waited til after Christmas. Hannah was working on some gingerbread cookie pops:



Micah was working on decorating a gingerbread house that came pre-assembled:



Jeremiah got a gingerbread house that came un-assembled, so he got to assemble it first and then decorate it:


Here is Micah's decorated house:

Here are Hannah's gingerbread cookie pops:

And here are a couple shots of Jeremiah's gingerbread house:

We also got a mini gingerbread village, but we haven't worked on it yet. It is supposed to make 5 little houses or whatever, and we thought since we are a family of 5 that we each could do one. So we are waiting for an evening when daddy is able to participate! The kids have been just having a blast with these though!

Balance

.......that is what my goal is for the new year!! Learning how to balance everything : reading my Bible, praying, being a wife, being a mom, housekeeping, excercising, homeschooling, trying to find time to enjoy a few "fun" things. It all sounds overwhelming doesn't it? What are your goals for the New Year??

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.!!!