The making of a gingerbread house

I was so proud of Brayden, he did all of the candy decorations!

Here's our crazy bunch!

The finished product. Brayden keeps asking when we are going to eat it:)

Yesterday we got together with our HFG buddies and decorated gingerbread houses. It was pure chaos, but a lot of fun. The kids loved it, and they did such a good job! We bought a gingerbread house set from Costco, which I highly recommend if you aren't into making your own gingerbread. It came with the house, 5 trees to decorate, 2 different colors of frosting, a piping bag and tip, and a lot of candy. Not bad for $9.99. Thanks to Tiffany for hosting this crazy event. My only regret is that daddy wasn't here to help us. Maybe next year...

The perfect Christmas tree

Bryaden cutting down the Christmas tree

Peyton was here last year but in my tummy, weird...

On the tractor ride out to get the trees

Growing up we went Christmas tree hunting every year. It was a big deal and I have a lot of good memories from those experiences. Since then my parents and both of my sisters have gotten fake trees, and I'm sure we'll follow suit soon. Until then, we've really enjoyed passing this tradition on to our children. This year we went to Hunter's Tree farm with a whole bunch of friends. It was fun, we found our tree, visited Santa Claus, and went out to pizza for lunch. We decorated the tree the next day which was really fun, especially for Brayden. Our tree doesn't look like a department store tree, but most of the ornaments have special meaning to us. We all love our tree. Even Peyton who keeps wanting to check it out:)

Brayden putting on the star

Peyton putting on the star

He loved hanging up the unbreakable ornaments:)

The finished product

Finally some pictures

Here are some of our family pictures from the last few weeks. Enjoy...

Travis and Brayden were able to walk through Fantasy Lights. They had a blast! (Mommy wasn't feeling good:)
This is Thanksgiving at Travis' parents house. Peyton was obviously exhausted because she never falls asleep on anybody:) Grandpa didn't mind.

Peyton with Lita (my mom). She fell in love with this bear on Thanksgiving and kept laying her head on it. Since then my dad has got her her own bear and it's her lovey. She sees it and immediately puts her head down on it and rocks the bear. She will also pat it and give it kisses. So cute. She is ready for her baby doll which will be under the tree Christmas morning.

Thanksgiving Day

Brayden enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with his cousin Pedro

Cute!

Time to share

It's been awhile since I've blogged thanks to our computer crashing. Hopefully Travis can fix it, but while I'm waiting to upload some pictures to blog about I thought I would share a few of my favorite things:)

1. The Buttered Biscuit- It's a fairly new restaurant in Sumner, and OH MY GOODNESS!!! If you love home cooking, this is the place to go. We have been floored by the food there. The first time I went I had the "Bacon-Bacon", which is a huge waffle with four pieces of bacon cooked in the batter!! So yummy. They have awesome breakfast food, and it looks like dinner is so good too. We've been looking around for a good breakfast place, and finally we found one! Everything is made from scratch and fresh daily. If you go, you have to try a piece of cornbread (you'll see what I mean when you have a bite:)

2. The Megablocks and Roseart Warehouse clearance sale. Travis and I checked it out last weekend thanks to Sarabeth for the heads-up. I couldn't believe some of the prices. For example, remember those Lincoln Logs we used to have growing up? They had a new version of those, with magnets in them. A huge set for $8. A Curious George Puzzle for $1 (I've seen it in the stores for $10), ect... The sale is only for a few days and is done now, but I highly recommend keeping it on your list for shopping next year.

3. Oreo Truffles. My sister Desi introduced me to these and they are so yummy. I packaged them up and gave them as gifts to friends. They are easy, cheap, yummy, and freeze well.

1 package of oreo cookies (Try different variations for different flavors. I did the mint oreos)
1 8oz package of cream cheese
1 teaspoon of vanilla or mint extract (optional)
Melted chocolate to dip truffles in (I used almond bark)
Sprinkles or toppings (Optional)

Crush the whole package of oreo cookies in the food processor until a fine crumb.
In a mixer mix crumbs, cream cheese, and extract until mixed well.
Form small balls from mixture and put on a pan lined with a silpat or wax paper.
Freeze for 30 minutes or refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours or until balls harden.
Dip balls into melted chocolate to cover.
Sprinkle with whatever toppings you desire. (I used crushed peppermint sprinkles).
Enjoy!

These turned out so pretty and package well. I just made some more tonight for presents for my neighbors. Let me know if you try them!

That's all for now. Hopefully we'll get our computer fixed and I'll be back with more pictures soon.

2 down, 1 to go...

Thanksgiving is what I'm talking about. We have already had 2 Thanksgiving dinners and still have one coming on the actually day:) We celebrated Thanksgiving with our HFG (Bible Study) this last week and we put together a pretty good spread! I made homemade bread and pumpkin pie for that one. On Saturday, we had Thanksgiving with Travis' family. I made bread again and pumpkin cheesecake. We've enjoyed our dinners so far and can't wait for another one. On Thanksgiving day we will be going to my mom's house and bringing pumpkin cheesecake again and some sweet potatoes. This year will be an interesting one because it's the first turkey day without my grandma. I know she's not worrying about us down here, so I should try not to worry about her up there:) She's happy and I can be thankful for that!
With Thanksgiving comes of course the Christmas holidays, which I LOVE! I love everything about Christmas (except the shopping:). The music, the cookies, the beautiful tree, the lights, the Christmas story, the snow, the food, and the decorations. This year I am behind:( Usually by now I have all my presents bought, wrapped, and waiting to go under the tree. I do have my Christmas cards ready to go and my cookies all done in the freezer, but not all my shopping is done (thanks to a car repair that cost us almost $2000). And you know what, it's OK... I'll get my shopping and wrapping done eventually and this is helping me take a step back and think about what's really important. We are so enormously well blessed and most of us don't even know it. We have a house to live in, 2 cars to drive, heat, food, clean water, healthy children, clothes to wear, ect. The list can go on. So this year I'm taking a deep breath and remembering what the holidays are all about... It's not about the presents, the decorations, or even the Christmas parties, it's about Jesus. That's it. So I encourage you to take a deep breath too. Don't get all stressed out, or be one of those crazy shoppers at the mall. It will be Ok:)

Braided Bread

Since I was a little girl, I've been watching my mom make homemade bread. That is probably my one favorite thing to eat: fresh homemade bread with butter on it. I do love to bake, but bread in my mind is in a league of it's own. It's very temperamental. My mom has always made this beautiful braided bread, and I finally thought I could tackle it. I wanted to bring it Thanksgiving with Travis' family and had to practice making it yesterday. It was time consuming, but really fun and so good! I thought I would share a picture because I'm proud of it! Although it doesn't look as good as my moms, it was a good first try:)
Since we are talking about food, how about a good crockpot recipe?

Sour Cream Crockpot Chicken
4 frozen chicken breast
1 package of taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups salsa (not pace picante, but real salsa)
Sour cream

Put the frozen chicken breast on the bottom of the crockpot. Add taco seasoning. Cover with salsa. Put on low and cook for 7-8 hours. That's it!!! When it's time to eat the chicken is so tender it just shreds on it's own. You can serve it on rice with sour cream on top. Or, serve it as tacos in tortillas with all the trimmings. So good and so easy! Let me know if you give it a try.

Halloween Pictures

Ok, one of these pictures is of Brayden in 2006, and one is of Peyton this year. Who's who?
Brayden was an astronaut (even though he doesn't know what that is, but hey it was free:) and Peyton was a recycled lion.
We went to go visit daddy at work...
And Papi at work (just across the street)...
We went to Lita and Papi's for dinner and some treats with the hulk (Pedro) and the chicken (Roman)...

And then to Ranierview for Nite Lite with cousin Tanner and Cooper. Brayden had a blast this year. I think he's finally understanding that he gets candy for no reason and likes that.
Peyton didn't seem to mind her lion suit. She was a little concerned it looked boyish so mommy fixed that with some bows. Cute! As we wrapped up the night at church, she fell asleep on daddy in the backpack. It was a long day for the lion. But we had a fun time with the kids:) Happy Harvest!