Mom.

Awww.

Westley loves me all the way to God and back down again. *So* cute. I don't deserve that much love. It melted my heart.

Fall portraits

I was able to go out for a bit with Abi & Delaney for their fall portraits. I took Westley's back in October and never got around to taking the girls out. We had a nice (and warmer day) yesterday...so it was now or never. :-) West joined us for a bit as well. Enjoy! :-)

Painting craziness.

After I finish the two bathrooms tonight, I will be able to say that I have painted every single wall in my house since we moved. It has been crazy. And considering that I painted the old house top to bottom before we left...well...we can safely say I am sick of paint, brushes, rollers, tarps, and paint clothes. But...it all looks marvelous. So worth all the effort.

This past weekend, Jeff had some extra days off. We decided to polish off the upstairs living room, kitchen and all the hallways. Whew. What a job and half. While we were busy painting inside (photos to come when my furniture actually gets delivered)....we had the kids busy with paint on the deck. Enjoy the photos....

Santa's Magical Kingdom

After thanksgiving dinner, we loaded the dogs up and headed to Santa's Magical Kingdom with the kids. It pretty much looks the same as it has every year (with a heftier $18 per car price tag), but worth going through once this season all the same.

The kids loved it....and this being the dog's first time through was even better than the light show itself. You could tell they were gobsmacked. It was totally cute and funny. :-)

Abi's Thanksgiving Pumpkin Bread

Abi loves to cook. She doesn't get to do it very often (with school, music lessons, play practice, knitting club, etc). But she wanted to make sure she made her own dish for Thanksgiving. She made some wonderful Pumpkin bread and I thought I'd post the recipe as a few people asked for it!

1.5 cups sugar
1/2 cup cooking oil
2 eggs
1 2/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup water
7.5 oz. pumpkin

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of a loaf pan, set aside.
2. In large mixing bowl, beat sugar and oil
3. Add eggs and water, beat well, set aside.
4. In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
5. Slowly add flour mixture to sugar/egg mixture beating on low speed after each addition.
6. Beat in pumpkin.
7. Spoon batter into load pan.
8. Bake at 350 for 55-65 minutes (or until toothpick comes out clean)
9. Cool and wrap.


Yum. :-)

Christmas Time!

So, let me start by saying that I have been wanting a white tree forever. I decided this was the year to jump though...since the tree we had was seriously sad. We had it duct taped together last year just to keep it together. Pitiful.

I was blessed with an early Christmas gift from my mom this year...when she said she would get us a tree if we didn't mind not having anything to open on Christmas. I jumped on the offer because I seriously didn't know if our old one would even stand this year.

So last night, we put in It's A Wonderful Life and decorated our tree (family tradition). Although Delaney and Abi were much more interested in the movie than the tree trimming. It turned out amazing though and I am quite proud of it!!