McYummy

I did it! For breakfast I decided to try something I've been thinking about for a long time. (I think about weird things) :) I successfully recreated the only thing I eat from McD's: the Sausage, Egg and Cheese McGriddle. Mine isn't very pretty, but boy it tasted good! It was much better than the original seeing as I used fresh ingredients and homemade pancakes. It turns out getting the syrup into the pancakes isn't such a mystery after all... just squeeze some onto the doughy side before turning. Easy. The kids didn't like the idea of the sandwich - they preferred all the components separate. :) Silly kids. For this one I used a canning jar ring to make it the proper size, but it was too much trouble and I quickly dispensed with that. Plus, making them regular pancake size makes your sandwich bigger! :)
Getting everything done at the same time to be able to have everything still warm when they were assembled was a bit chaotic and now my kitchen looks like a breakfast bomb went off in it. hehe Good times.

Loving on the baby

This is Brayden's favorite thing to do lately - he comes to me and says, I need to sniggle the baby, Mommy. My shirt has to go up so he can kiss my belly. :) Such a sweet big brother already.

My four kids together already! :)

Decorating the Christmas tree

Wednesday evening we decorated our tree! I wasn't ready with the snacks and eggnog that we normally have, but tradition isn't a big deal to the kids like it is to me. :) They outvoted me! - it was enough for them to get the ornaments on the tree, kids are satisfied so easily. :) We did have cocoa with cool whip afterwards so my tradition wasn't blown totally out of the water. :)

The next second he tumbled into the tree.... hehe.. j/k I was afraid he would though. :)

Brayden had two branches that he hung all of his ornaments on :) - he was frustrated at first because it was hard for him to get them to stay on alone, but he got the hang of it. Every time he'd get one on, he would do a little dance and say excitedly, "Mommy, I did it, I did it!"

Happy with the finished tree


Brayden's lips are very pale because he found my concealer that looks like lipstick and decided to apply it to his lips like it seems you should. :)

Daddy always does the last step - the angel on top.

End of the semester

Wednesday was the last day of ELO for the fall semester. Taylor had a special project for her History class - they've been learning about indians, so they had to pick a tribe and come up with something special to do to present to the class. She wanted to dress up and bake cornbread. She was from the Cherokee tribe. :) The teachers had brought pinto beans, so the cornbread was a big hit. Laura said she did great talking about the Cherokee indians. She made such a pretty indian princess. :)


Brayden making a cottonball snowman.

Bring on the cheese! I love the look Amara is giving him. She looks so much like Stephanie!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

...a few days late. :) I have so many things that I'm thankful for this year. God has blessed us so much. --- Our new baby and that fact that he's still safe inside my belly!, my wonderful family, church family and other friends for the tremendous support during my bedrest and time in the hospital, new friends made this year, a new van!, Tom's new job with benefits, and of course all the "regular" things, things we take for granted so often - my wonderful, loving husband, our beautiful children, a warm safe home, total provision for the food and clothes we need.... oh and thank you Lord for football! :)

I didn't get a whole lot of pictures but here are a few of the day. We loaded up our contributions to the meal about 12 and went to Tom's parent's house for dinner. Pam had made everything else, two turkeys, stuffing, deviled eggs, watergate salad, brussel sprouts, pumpkin pies and apple pie! Everything was so delicious! We gave thanks for the meal and had a wonderful afternoon and evening talking, watching football and just relaxing. It felt good to be off my feet. I'd been cooking all day on Wednesday and in the morning Thursday, so I was pretty tired. :)

The kids table, with their cousin, Draven.


Tom, his Grandpa Walker and his mom, Pam.

Family picture -- Brayden was even smiling in this one! He was being difficult for pictures. :)

Pregnancy related clumsiness???

I can blame this on being pregnant, right?? This was the scene late Wednesday night as I was transferring my eggnog from the freezer to a pitcher. I just totally tripped over my own feet and plunged head first to the ground. Thankfully, the bowl didn't tip over, it just hit the floor with an enormous eggnog explosion, so I only lost about half. It splattered everywhere, many places that you can't even see in the picture.....the ceiling, the stove, all over the fridge.... pretty much every surface of the kitchen had some sort of eggnog splatter. lol. What fun to clean up.... hehe

Making rolls

.....for Thanksgiving dinner. Wednesday the kids helped me make rolls to take to Tom's parents house. I made rolls, broccoli rice casserole, mashed potatoes, puppy chow and eggnog. More on the eggnog later..... :)

Thanksgiving feast and crafts with friends

Last Tuesday my friend Aimee had a Thanksgiving feast/craft day with several families from our homeschool group. The kids made placemats and napkin holders. I made some yummy rolls and pumpkin pie. It was great. The mom hang out time was especially good. :)


Brayden found the costume collection that Aimee's kids have. So cute. :)

Happy Early Birthday!!

We gave the kids their collective birthday present early a few weeks ago so they could enjoy it while the weather was still nice. They were thrilled with it. :) It was great timing - they got 2 good weeks of playing, though they still go out and jump in this freezing weather. Crazy kids. :)

We started putting it together after Taylor left for Nikki's house so it would be a surprise - we mistakenly thought we could keep the boys out of the backyard so that they would all be surprised together when she got home, but we were wrong. They peeked and saw it, so they got to do a trial run before it was all the way level - Tom got it all done right as Taylor was getting home, so it was good timing.

These are the only pictures I've gotten of them on it - the first day and night -- I need to take some more. :)

Soccer tournament

I came across some forgotten pictures of Taylor's soccer tournament. It was several weeks ago now, while Mom and Angel were still here. We had a great time, hanging out most of the day with her team, eating and playing games and then watching the team's three games that they had. They won 2 and tied 1. They won second in their age division! Taylor has 4 trophies for soccer now. Her shelf is quickly filling up! :)

Thanksgiving art project

Not too original, but the kids enjoyed it. :)

Our kiddos

I forgot to tell about how Brayden has quit sucking his thumb! About 6 weeks ago now (boy, how time flies!) about the time I got put on bed rest, I bought some nail biting breaker stuff - you know, the nasty tasting stuff - I got it for me, actually. I got it into my head that since I'd be on bed rest, I could grow out my nails for the first time in forever since I wouldn't be on the go, biting my nails without thinking about it. Anywho, it worked for a little while, I quite a bit of growth, but I couldn't stop picking at them and they'd peel off, so I gave up. :-P

But back to Brayden - I noticed on the bottle it said it was safe to use for toddler's thumbs! Brilliant! I painted the stuff on and after one dreadful evening of him crying about the bad taste in his mouth, he realised that to not get that bad taste, he had to stop sucking his thumb and from that second day on, he's been cured! I repainted it every few days for about a week and a half, but when they went to Oklahoma with my mom, I forgot to pack it for her. I figure he must have already gotten used to going without it because he never tried there - totally surprising since he was away from home - and he hasn't touched it since coming back either. Even at night! I'm so proud of my boy. I'm really surprised it was that easy. I thought we'd be fighting it for months or years even. He was really attached to it. Here he is going to bed, thumb-free! :)

Picnic with Poppy

I've messed up my camera - the mini usb port is all bent out of whack so now I can't get to my pictures! After days of wondering how long my camera's going to be out of commission, Tom's solving my dilemma by getting a $5 flash reader tonight..... he's so smart. :)

Here's some pictures I found from when my dad was here. My dad doesn't seem like a grandpa to me - he's so young, he and my mom. People can't believe that not only do they have 13 kids, they also have 3 grandchildren! :)

Always hamming it up for the camera --- wonder where he gets that from???


Racing back -- Poppy needs to train with Ness! (my sister has been running 5 and 10k's and her next goal is a half marathon :) )