Baking and Thanking

We are hosting Thanksgiving at our house this year and the preparations have begun.  Today was spent doing some baking for breakfast for our out of town guests.  I found a great recipe online for pumpkin muffins...

and one for apple quick bread with an oatmeal brown sugar topping from this month's Martha Stewart... 

I let both cool completely and then put them in the freezer.  I will just pull them out and let them thaw next week when I need them.  Hannah and I actually did a test run of the apple bread a couple of weeks ago and it is yummy.  If you do make the apple bread I can tell you that there is no need to measure the cinnamon exactly.  I know this because I turned my back for one second and a certain 3 year old poured half of the bottle of cinnamon into the mixing bowl.  We stirred it in, baked it and it came out tasting fine.  Sooooo...pour in as much cinnamon as you want it will still be good.

Also, our Thanksgiving turkey has come early this year....

Obviously it is not the eating kind of turkey but one we created to display all of the wonderful blessings in our lives.  He hangs on the wall in our dining room and each night at dinner we talk about something that we are thankful for in our lives.  That blessing is then written on a feather and placed on our turkey.  We will continue to add a blessing each day until Thanksgiving which, can you believe, is only 1 week from tomorrow!

Muddin'

My little one is sick...

She spent most of today in her pajamas on a sheet on the couch, juice in hand, watching her favorite movie Curious George.  After a not so fun visit to the doctor and being poked and proded it was determined that she has a run of the mill infection and that an antibiotic was the cure.  Luckily her fever broke early this morning and she is on the mend, but she will probably be spending tomorrow at home with me.

Before this little infection made itself known Hannah and her daddy got to spend Saturday together muddin' with friends.  Matt would probably prefer that I refer to his hobby as off roading, unfortunately for him a name that originally started as a little joke has stuck.   Last year when he and Hannah went for their first father/daughter ride I teased him and told Hannah they were going muddin'.  Well I have since learned that my then 2 year old has the memory of an elephant and she doesn't forget nor does she know the meaning of "just kidding".  Hannah has ever since referred to Matt's off road adventures as muddin' and proudly tells anyone who will listen that that is what she and her dad do together.  Technically there is a lot of mud and his car comes home really dirty covered in mud...I'm just sayin'...

Ok, without further adieu here is Hannah and Matt's 2009 Muddin' Adventure...

Hannah did a little of this...

And a lot more of this...

Hannah was a bit more timid this time around and spent more time outside the car watching rather than riding over the rough terrain.  I think she had much more fun picnicking...

playing...

and observing from up above...

I know Matt did not get to do as much driving this time around but he did get lots of quality time with Hannah and I think they both enjoyed just being together.  

Time Together

Hurricane Ida finally passed us by and, after a day of drenching rain, we were able to head outside for some fresh air. Matt had the day off for Veteran's Day so we decided to visit the neighborhood park for a picnic and play time. When we arrived we found a nice dry spot for our blanket and had lunch...

After lunch Hannah wanted to go on a bike ride...

So while she and Matt biked, Lily and I sat on a park bench and played with leaves...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Hannah and Lily had had enough of the bike and the leaves we headed over to the playground for some swinging, sliding and climbing...

  

 

Afternoons spent together are always fun!  We are so thankful on this Veteran's Day for all of the wonderful members of the military - past and present - who help to protect our freedoms so that days like this are possible.

One

Today my baby turns one...

I can't believe that a year has come and gone already. Today was, for me, a day of reminiscing and reflecting about this little life that has blessed our family. We have had quite a year that is for sure. I spent the past few days thinking about the weeks leading up to Lily's birth...the two weeks of bed rest spent on my left side...family here helping with chores and caring for Hannah...Matt working day and night to complete our home renovation.  With bags packed we left the house at 5 am on November 10 anxious and ready for our baby girl to arrive.  Lily was born at 8:30 in the morning weighing a whopping 5 lbs 3 oz. She was a tiny thing but healthy and thankfully was able to come home with us from the hospital.

I will never forget the look of amazement in Hannah's eyes when she first met her sister. She couldn't speak. She just stared at her tiny sister mesmerized. Lily has graced our lives in so many ways since her arrival...she is loving, happy, independent and now mesmerized by Hannah. You can already tell that she wants to be just like her big sister and that there is so much love in her heart.

The past year has been full of many challenges and even more accomplishments in our world of parenting.  We now have two girls who are learning how great it is to be sisters and what it means to love.  We have learned and grown so much as a family and I thank God for the gift of Lily in our lives.

We celebrated Lily's first year this past weekend with family and friends...

I chose this invitation because I thought it was cute and it ended up becoming the inspiration for the party.  Our "theme" as you will see became cupcakes and our colors brown and pink.

Here is the food table before the eating commenced...

The kids made cupcakes out of play doh...

And other fun stuff too...

Ann Monroe took a break from play doh fun to swing...

 We loved spending time with our out of town family...

Here is more family...

After everyone finished their lunch...

It was time to head inside for the good stuff...

A local bakery created these for us and they did not disappoint...

Our birthday girl got what they called a "Texas size" cupcake...

(Thanks to Aunt Bekah and Aunt Rachel for the cute birthday hat and bib!)

Lily is not big on "people" food yet but she did taste the cupcake (though she did not like it) and managed to completely demolish it...

Then it was on to presents...

where she was able to sit back and enjoy watching her older sister open all her gifts :)...

With nap time quickly approaching Lily thanked her guests for all the fun and gave each family a jar of their very own apple butter and each friend a brown and pink wrapped bottle of bubbles...

We had a wonderful time and I am looking forward to seeing the amazing things that Lily accomplishes in this new year of life.

 
Happy Birthday Lily!  I love you!

Apple Butter and Holiday Cheer

My house has smelled absolutely wonderful the past two days thanks to this cooking in the kitchen.  Don't you just love recipes that cook themselves?  This apple butter recipe cooks all day in the crock pot and is super easy and yummy to boot.

All you need are about 15 of these...

Peel, core and chop them and place them in your crock pot...

Add some sugar (1 1/2 cups), light brown sugar (1 cup), cinnamon (2 Tbsp), ground cloves (1/2 tsp), nutmeg (1/2 tsp), salt (1/2 tsp)...

Cook for 8-10 hours and then, if you would like, pulse a couple of times in the blender until you reach your desired consistency.  I chose to can mine afterwards but you can skip this step if you are going to use it right away.  Easy breezy!

We also stayed up late last night to attend Homewood's downtown holiday open house.  We have done this the past several years and it is so fun.  We grab a hot chocolate, peruse the stores for holiday goodies and visit with friends we see along the way.  Here are the girls bundled up ready for the stroll..

Hannah enjoying her hot chocolate...

I think I have mentioned that you can never start the holidays too early for me.  It was so festive and certainly put me in the holiday spirit!

Alright, that is all for now.  We are busy little bees around here so it is back to work for me.  We are in the throws of getting ready for a houseful of friends and family this weekend.  Happy Friday to you all!!!

Halloween Fun!

We could not have asked for a better Halloween...games + food + friends = lots and lots of fun.  We had about 40 kids and adults squeeze in to our little house for some Halloween fun.  Matt made his delicious chili, Hannah and I made the desserts, and we added some well loved Halloween party games...think bean bag toss, bobbing for apples (only we went fishing for them)...to the mix for the little ones to enjoy. Hope you enjoy these...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We hope to make this an annual event so I can't wait until next year!

**I have lots of photos of before the party and right before it ended but my hostessing duties took over once the guests arrived and so I don't have many of the really good part - the in between.  Our wonderful designated photographer for the evening was delayed getting to the party because of unexpected family obligations.  I know I saw some moms with cameras floating around the party.  If you have pics I would love for you to email them to me so I can add them to this post.**

Next up:  party #2 - Lily's 1st birthday party this upcoming Saturday!