Visiting

it's been raining every day all day while we've had our family here. We've still had a lot of fun. This is us eating crab.

We put together a huge Maryland puzzle.

and played with Tatum.

baby sitting

Tonight D& G are going on a date and we are baby sitting. They are going to Ledo's and then to the ghost walk at Sotterly Plantation. We are fighting over who gets to hold our sweet babe!

Arlington/Smithsonian

Yesterday Dani & Greg and baby Tatum came to visit!! Yeah!!! We were so excited. Last night we all took turns holding Tate and we played games and stayed up too late talking!

Today we went to DC.

We started with a trip to Arlington Cemetery.

Then D&G went to the Lincoln Memorial while we drove in circles because we couldn't find a place to park.

Finally we found a place and went to the Natural History Museum. It is my favorite Smithsonian so far! It was really cool and we had a fun time.

Here's Tatum on a dinosaur bone :)

homecoming picture

Canadian Thanksgiving

The kids didn't have school today, but it wasn't actually in honor of our neighbor to the North's thanksgiving feast, it was parent teacher conference day. Beloved and I both went and met with the teachers and heard good things about the kids. Which was fun. Then we went to 'something' cliff state park. It was so fun. Their playground is awesome.

Then we hiked two miles to the beach. The water was cold, the kids didn't care. We found shells and crab remains and had a fun time.

We picnicked then hiked back and played a little more.

After the park we split kids, the girls all came to costco with us then back to our house to paint nails and run around. The boys went to Colleen's and built legos, had a bon fire and ran around.

the end :)

TX visitors

We had a fun weekend. Friday night Beloved and I went on a date. Saturday we cleaned and in the evening we had our good friends from TX over for dinner. Quinn and Sandy stayed the night and it was so fun to see them. They moved to Utah a couple years ago but before that we were in the same ward for a long time. Also Bruce Carson is in town for training so we invited him as well and we loved catching up with everyone. This is the dessert I made.

After everyone finally settled down for the night S, J and I started on our talks for today. It was a late night, but the talks went fine so that was good. Also J had her homecoming weekend so she went to the football game on Friday night and the dance on Saturday. She had fun. (pictures later)

Today our whole family spoke in church. The kids all did a great job and Rob and I spoke too and it went fine. It was fun to have Q&S and B there.

After church we drove around a little and showed them the river and Solomon's island. Then we came home and had lunch and played ping pong and wii. Can you see who the top bowlers were? The women!

It was really great to visit and spend the weekend together.

After they left we had dinner, went on a couple of walks and now we're going to watch "The Amazing Race". good weekend.

catcher of all things creepy and crawly

sweet potatoes and apples

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 large cooking apples - peeled, cored and cut into 1/4 inch rings

1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS
Place sweet potatoes in a large saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook 25 minutes, or until tender but firm. Drain, cool and cut into 1/4 inch slices.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 7x11 inch baking dish.
In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
Layer sweet potatoes, brown sugar mixture and apples in the prepared baking dish.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, butter and pecans. Sprinkle over the sweet potatoes.
Bake in the preheated oven 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.

When we went to the orchard the other day I bought sweet potatoes and apples. Last night I made them into this delicious casserole. Everyone LOVED it! It's sweet and crisp and delish!

In other news H made the honor choir at school! She is so excited!!

Brother loves to watch all the construction in our neighborhood. He asked the other day if he could be a "house builder" first and then go to college. I personally don't love all the construction and living in a work zone but he is fascinated with the big machines and is enjoying watching it all.

H switched from flute to clarinet.

Brother has been having some trouble with a bully on the bus. This morning I talked to the bus driver and got his seat changed. The bus is a pain in the neck.

I have been having some "girl trouble", which has lead to several trips to the doctor, what a pain (although better than the dentist:) ) and on the 26th I am having a little surgery and hopefully that will be that.

Three day weekend coming up! Yeah. Then next week the family arrives! Yeah ! Yeah!

a day with a friend

58 miles, two hours, makes me want to scream...but after I got there it was a wonderful day. My dear friend Joy was waiting for me and we hugged and laughed and all was right in the world.

We got to enjoy a lovely day at the temple, a yummy lunch, a lot of giggles, some pictures, girl talk and each other's company.

...then I got to drive two hours home, but the leaves were falling in the wind, I stopped to buy some beautiful mums and I was greeted by my darling children. It's all good:)

pumpkin patch

Colleen and I took our little kids to a super cute pumpkin patch today. It was so fun!

They had a store that smelled so delicious when you walked in. It was all these apples, the aroma was crisp and clean and appley.

They had a corn maze, hay ride, corn box, things to play on and a petting zoo.

The kids had a great time, and so did I. It was a relaxing afternoon.

After that we had soccer, friends to play with, I volunteered at the book fair, the kids bought books, it was Ledo's fund raising night and there was homework to do and clothes to fold :) All play and no work would be dull though, right ;)

morning mystery

when do you keep a little one home from school? this little one, sporting the cute new shoes, woke up "with a tummy ache". then she ran around, took a shower, ate a banana, fruit snacks and two servings of german pancakes, played the computer, took the dog out to do her business and chased Cole around the bus stop. Umm, sick...not so much.

mystery #2. i took my boy to the store and tried jeans on him. we then bought a couple pair, that he said fit. this morning while he was in the shower i got the new pair of jeans and put them on the bed with his clothes. a short time later he came downstairs in old, ripped, too short jeans. Why??? he said the others were too big.

lastly, how is it that i wash an article of clothing, fold it and put it away, never seen it worn, and then find it in the hamper again??

Conference Weekend

What a tremendous blessing it is to have conference in our very own home. We were able to watch yesterday and today. This morning I was also able to watch the priesthood session, which was a first for me, and which I enjoyed very much.

We printed our conference packets and got m&m's. The kids enjoyed them but soon ended up on the floor watching:)

I tried a new fall recipe to eat today.

Pumpkin BlondiesSource: Martha Stewart via Cate’s World Kitchen
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)

1 tablespoon pumpkin-pie spice

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup canned pumpkin puree

1 package (12 ounces) white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin puree (mixture may appear curdled). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into squares.

Our photographer was a little wobbly but this is our "in the kitchen night" at my house.

In our ward we have a monthly night where we go to one sister's home and cook with her. For my turn I decided to make pelmeni because a) I love them, b) they are much more fun to make in a crowd :) My plan was to send everyone upstairs with Beloved and have the kitchen to ourselves, however 6:30 rolled around and no one was there and then 6:45 still no one so I decided to go ahead and let the little girls help me (and they were thrilled) We had just started rolling out dough and making our little meatballs when Colleen came! then Michelle! yeah! a party!!

(for the record I would have been totally fine if it was just me and the girls)

So we rolled and made our little dumplings and made our soup and ate, the whole family came to join us for that part:) I also made a dessert that Val gave me the recipe for that was so delish! and then everyone disappeared and we had the kitchen to ourselves to chat some more while we cleaned up the mess.

It was a fun night!

Thanks for coming girls!

Peach Dessert

1 box vanilla wafers crushed

1 cube butter melted

1 cup sugar

mix together

peel and slice 12 peaches

beat 1 pint heavy cream, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 t vanilla, whip again. Fold in peaches

put 3/4 of the cookie mix into a 13x9 pan, pour the peach mixture on top, top with remaining cookies. Refrigerate until time to serve.

Pelmeni

dough:

2 cups flour

2 eggs

3/4 t salt

1/2 cup water

mix, then refrigerate until cool

meatballs:

1lb ground beef

1/2 lb ground pork

1 onion diced

soy sauce

salt and pepper

roll out dough and cut in little rounds. Form meatballs with your hands. Place one meat ball in the middle of each dumpling, fold and pinch into a crescent then fold the corners up.

when you have a tray of them you can freeze them and make into soup later OR drop them into boiling broth, cook until they float and then serve with dill, soy sauce and sour cream.

stuff

Today was a half day of school. This is a lucky day for me. On half day the am pre-Kers get to go all day and eat lunch at school. The pm class doesn't get to go. After school Layla and Cole came over to play. The girls made cookies, the boys played Wii and climbed the dirt pile.

Lu had gymnastics today! She loves it.

S cut H's hair. It looks uber cute!

like mother, like daughter

This morning I saw Dani's blog and cracked up. Little Tate looked so adorable and so just like her mom. The top picture is Dani dressed as a little pink bear for her first Halloween 1987~ crying.

Tatum in her little witch tutu 2009~ crying.

random Sunday morning 1987, Dani crying

wearing her cute little shoes that Nicole made~ crying!

Can't wait to see them both in a couple of weeks!

Sidewalk side dining was a fun afternoon date for Beloved and I this weekend. Our downtown square is quite charming and we had a yummy lunch together. That day we also went to Brother's soccer game (they won~ and he scored!) and I went to the women's broadcast and dinner. It was wonderful. I very much enjoyed driving with some of the sisters in my ward and talking with them and sharing a meal and spiritual message. It was pouring rain but there was sunshine in our hearts :)

My list of things to do while Lu is at school hasn't been going quite like I planned. I decided to learn how to make jam and made these yummy grape jams the other day. It was really fun and I was happy to share some with the sisters I visit teach. I've been cooking and cleaning and the time just flies by! I do have a book idea...maybe, and I am planning on exercising more. I've been walking, I have also had a stuffy head and cough for a week or so and that makes it harder.

Snapped this picture this morning, it's getting cool in the morning and evening now.

Last weekend we took a lovely walk in the woods behind our house. The kids LOVED exploring.

I saw this cute square wreath on a blog and decided to make one. It was fun to do and came out nicely. Yeah for fall!

some fav rides

Fair report

The fair was sooo super fun. Maybe the best fair I have ever been too. The kids had so much fun! We meet Colleen and crew and watched the lambs being judged then headed off to the rides.

We split the kids and she took Jeffrey and Lu and I took the big kids and we headed off to ride. Later we switched. It was perfect because everyone could ride what they wanted. Brother's favorite was the bobsled, Lu loved everything, H loved hanging out with Chelsea.

Shortly after we got there J found some friends to go off with.

We bought drinks, Jeffrey shared with Lu. We ate popcorn and funnel cakes. A great dinner!

After all the rides H left with Chelsea's family and the rest of us went to look at the displays. The vegetables and the poultry were my favorites. The ice sculpture really caught the kids attention. E and L also played a couple of fairway games and won treasures.

Funny, J eating chicken on a stick tauntingly in front of the chickens.

then at three am Brother came stumbling into our room, threw-up on Beloved, then made a throw-up trail on the carpet to the bathroom, and all over the bathroom. Nice.

cotton candy, tractor pulls and other fair fun!

school is closed today. Why? Well, it's time for the country fair! Can you believe it?! I think it's a splendid idea and off we go to meet some friends, look at some pigs and ride the ferris wheel!

Lucy's only experience with a fair is watching "charlotte's web", which she loves. I am not sure what she expects but she is excited. H and E tell me they've never ridden a ferris wheel (what kind of mother do they have?)

So, we're off!

she works so hard :)