Christmas Presents

We had such a great Christmas! Thank you to everyone for all your gifts, goodies and well wishes! Here are a few highlights:

Christmas Eve Pajamas


Robert brought back some Christmas items from Germany and we enjoy them each year around Christmas.  Our favorite is the pyramid.  When you light the candles the layers turn.  Each layer portrays a different scene from the birth of Christ.

Michael got a cool helicopter

James got a dump truck
Katelyn got a Noah's Ark
Robert got a new digital camera
Brandy got a new bike

We have had a great time spending time with family, eating good food and having lots of fun! Thanks to all!

Merry Christmas! 

For the Grandparents:

New Carpet!!

Our old carpet was well, old and didn't look very good any more. It also was pulling away from the tile and tack strips so the kids would get poked if they weren't careful and the tack strips caught a few pants too...

I am so excited that we finally bought new carpet!

Katelyn is One!

Wow how time flies! It seems like just last month I was calling my Sister-in-law to watch my kids so I could drive myself to the hospital so they could check to see if my water broke...fun times...That's how it all began with her and after many, many hours of antibiotics and pitocin with nothing happening finally I went into labor and 3 1/2 hours later, and 10 days after her original due date she quickly came into this world. She came so quickly in fact, that my doctor was still driving to the hospital and the random doctor that was hanging out at the nurse's station was still trying to get his gloves on to catch her while the nurses yelled, "Don't Push". Luckily the doctor got the gloves in place just in time to catch our 9lb 1oz beautiful baby girl. She has definitely kept us on our toes ever since her arrival. And really, I can't imagine life without her! Looking back at her first year of pictures it's amazing to see how she has changed and grown and I am so glad the bruising she had after birth went away...boy was she purple! See how she has grown:

Pictures anyone?

I'm not a pro, just someone who likes to take pictures. During the holiday season I love having new family pictures to hang on the wall and send out to friends and family. Here are a few pictures of others that I have taken.






The other thing about me is that I like free stuff. So this holiday season I would like to give of my time to others and share the joy of free pictures. If you or someone you know would like some pictures taken of their family, kids, pets...whatever... I would love to do it for you. Just let me know and we'll figure out when we can get together so you can have them in time for the holidays.

Where did our calm and sweet baby girl go?

Isn't she cute!!


We think she is. However, lately some of the things she has been doing aren't so cute! In the last 24 hours she has managed to get into lots of mischief! Last night I took out the garbage and came back in to see that she had emptied half the books off the bookshelf.

A few minutes later while I helped Michael put the last of the blocks away so we could eat dinner she pulled a plate off the table and it fell to the floor and broke.

Now today I got the boys down for a nap and I sat down for literally no more than one minute when I heard a crash. I found Katelyn in the laundry room standing on a chair that she pushed up to the washing machine. She had pulled the (cold) iron off the shelf which knocked some toys on the floor and landed in the box of train tracks and a bunch of water was emptying out of the iron and into the box...AAAAHHHHHH! What a mess!

Oh, and if you are wondering why the train tracks are in a box instead of on our train table, well she did that too...she kept climbing onto the train table and breaking the tracks so we finally took it off to salvage what we could of the set.

By the way, she isn't even walking yet! I can only imagine what mischief she will be able to get into when she can walk.

Oh little girl, it's a good thing we love you!

Pumpkin Pie Muffins Recipes

We love both versions of this muffin!!

*PUMPKIN PIE MUFFINS (WHEAT & DAIRY FREE)


These muffins are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner or in between. I created this recipe for Deanna…hope you like them as much as we do!

INGREDIENTS:
1/3 C. Rice Flour
½ tsp. Salt
2/3 C. Oatmeal Flour
1 C. Pumpkin, Sweet Potato or Yam Puree
3 tsp. Corn Starch
1 tsp. Cinnamon 1 Egg
¼ tsp. Ginger or ½ tsp. additional Cinnamon
2 Tbs. Oil
1/3 C. Honey or ½ C. Sugar & 3 Tbs. Apple Juice
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
2 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
¼ tsp. Baking Soda
1/3 C. Apple Juice

INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix wet ingredients together. Sift dry ingredients together. Fold dry ingredients into wet mixture. Mix just until it comes together and you can’t see any more flour. Spoon the batter into a grease muffin tin.

For the topping, mix together:
2 Tbs. Sugar 1 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Nutmeg

Sprinkle on top of muffins and bake in a 375˚ oven for 25 minutes or until the top springs back when gently pressed. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

*1 Cup whole wheat flour or your favorite gluten free flour can be used in place of the flours in this recipe. If you would like to use white flour decrease Baking Powder to 2 tsp.

Here is another one...
*PUMPKIN PIE MUFFINS (This one has dairy and wheat in it)

These are similar to the Dairy and Wheat free ones but they are lighter and fluffier due to the soured milk and butter.

INGREDIENTS:
1 C. Flour
¼ C. Cold Butter
½ tsp Salt
1 C. Pumpkin, Sweet Potato or Yam Puree
1 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Ginger or ½ tsp. additional Cinnamon
1 Egg
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
½ C. Sugar
2 ½ tsp. Baking Powder
1 Tbs. Vinegar added to 2/3 C. Milk
¼ tsp. Baking Soda

INSTRUCTIONS:
Mix wet ingredients together. Sift dry ingredients together. Cut in cold butter. Fold dry ingredients into wet mixture. Mix just until it comes together and you can’t see any more flour. Spoon the batter into a grease muffin tin.

For the topping, mix together:
2 Tbs. Sugar
1 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Nutmeg

Sprinkle on top of muffins and bake in a 375˚ oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the top springs back when gently pressed. Makes 12 regular sized muffins.

September Newsletter

A Trip To The Lake

Over the weekend we went Canoeing with Robert's Dad, Paul and sister, Deanna!



The area we went was just a quiet little cove only for swimming and non motorized boats.




For about half the time Katelyn and I just sat on the sidelines and watched.




Michael was excited that Grandpa loaned him a hat!


James wasn't sure about the canoe but got to go along for the ride anyway. He soon realized that he like to paddle.


While on the canoe all Katelyn wanted to do was play in the water. So we dipped her in and kept going while she floated next to us splashing and smiling. (Unfortunately we don't have pictures of this, we didn't want to risk ruining our new camera.) We had a great day playing in the water, mud and sunshine. We can't wait to go again, I think the only thing we'll do differently is buy the National Forest passes before we drive all the way to the lake so we don't have to go back to town for them.