Pretty clothes...

After having a not so fun time at Festival of Trees, I feel I was very brave to get up Saturday morning to take the kids in to get their pictures taken. I had decided that since Nathan hasn't had professional pictures done since he was 18 months old and Audrey hasn't had any since her hospital pictures, that it was about time.

We did both pictures in their holiday clothes and also in everyday clothes.

Audrey wasn't sure what to think about any of it. I don't think we got any pictures of her smiling (I just looked  back and there were 1 or 2 smiling). And Nathan was of course his restless self and wanted to get into and see everything he could without listening to either Chris or myself.

They actually both did pretty well until it was time to pick out what pictures we wanted, but we are glad that it's over for this trip. Hopefully when we go back after the first of the year to do family pictures they will both be better.

Here are some of our favorite pictures...

The picture of them kissing is the last one we took. I asked the lady if we could do one more picture and this is what we got. I love it!

Not doing that again...

On Friday Dec 4th we decided to take the kids and visit the Festival of Trees. We thought they would have great fun checking out all the Christmas decorations, seeing Santa, etc.

When we got there Audrey started not feeling well. She wanted to be held and was seeming to run a little fever. We got in line to see Santa and while there snuggled her until she went to sleep. Nathan on the other hand spent the whole time trying to climb on things, pull on things etc. We did finally get up to see Santa and Nathan was able to tell him that he wanted 'Star Wars' for Christmas. 

And Audrey asleep.

Nathan was not happy that Audrey was asleep in the stroller in his spot and kept trying to wake her up. (This was probably when we should have strapped him into the front seat of the stroller instead of letting him walk).We finally started to look at some of the tree and wreaths. He kept trying to get at the animals and toys in the displays and just wasn't getting the fact that he wasn't suppose to touch them.

We saw a whole row and a half and decided to try and check something else out to distract him when he saw a cute little log cabin all set up with a TV and such inside and he crossed under the chain that was supposed to keep him out and inside before we could stop him. The nice lady that was watching over the booth went in and grabbed him out. Well that was the last straw and we decided it was time to leave.

It was really a waste of time and money for us with how it ended up and really made me upset that I wasn't able to enjoy the evening. It's been 10 years since the last time I was able to go to Festival of Trees and I had been really excited to attend. And also at the time we left Audrey was feeling better and seeming to want to check things out too.

Here are a few pics of some of what we liked of what we were able to see.

 

I will not be taking my kids back for a few years yet. Hopefully I will have a much more enjoyable experience the next time I'm able to go.

Yay! Another year has come...

 It's time again for TSO's concert! This will be year 3 for us and we are so excited.
And it's such a great way to start off the holiday season! We only have 3 more days to wait.

Take a listen , I think you'll like it!

1st attempt...

Last year I had bought some small pie pumpkins for us to decorate. My thought had been that after Halloween was over I would scrub off the paint and cook it to make my own pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving. Well...that didn't happen. So I bought some more pumpkins this year. They didn't get painted, but I did make my first attempt at a pumpkin pie today.

Here's the pumpkin pieces after they were baked in the oven. 

There was a sticker on the bottom of the pumpkin with pie directions, so I followed those.

It was pretty easy too.

The pie sure looks good. It baked really well and making it was a lot easier then anticipated. I did use a ready made pie crust. I've mentioned before that I haven't mastered pastry making and wanted to make this easy. (Maybe next time I'll try making my crust too?)

I have tried a piece of the pie and it's not bad...but needs a little more seasoning with my next attempt for Thanksgiving I think.

 I'll let you know how that one turns out.

Here's another of my easy recipes, just in time for Thanksgiving...another recipe from my childhood.

Easy Stuffing 

3 tbsp chopped onion

1/4 c. butter

4 c. cubed bread

1/2 tsp ground sage

2 to 4 tbsp or chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp poultry seasoning

1 1/2 c. celery

Cook onion in butter until soft. Combine with bread and seasonings. Toss with enough broth to moisten.  Bake at 350 degrees.

***

How I like to make this recipe: We like onion around here, so I actually use more onion, usually about a 1/2 cup and I don't use as much celery. When cooking the onions in butter I add the celery to cook it a little bit too. For the bread, I usually used a combination of both white and wheat breads. I have never cooked this inside of a turkey so I'm not sure how it would work. I like my stuffing a little toasty/crunchy but not too dried out, so I put it in a casserole to bake. Oh...and I'm not sure about the baking time. The recipe I've written down doesn't have a time. I just keep an eye on it and when it looks done to me I pull it out, about 20-30 minutes if I remember right from the last time I made it.

So if you need an easy stuffing recipe for this year. Maybe you'll give it a try! If you have any questions, let me know!

Hungry??

Here's another easy recipe for you. This is also another recipe that I grew up with and is now a favorite of the Hepworth's.

Spanish Rice

1/2 lb hamburger

1/4 c. chopped onion

1/4 c. chopped green pepper

1 can tomato soup

1 c. uncooked rice

2-3 cups tomato juice

dash chili sauce

dash worchester sauce

salt and pepper

Brown hamburger and onion. Add pepper, soup, juice and spices (I don't use the chili sauce, I just shake in a little chili powder). Add rice. Stir all together. Bring to a boil cover and simmer until done. (I stir occasionally throughout cooking and add more juices if you notice it needs it. I usually start with the 2 cups and add from there.) Done in about 45 minutes.

Great served with tortillas and grated cheese. Enjoy!!

Here are some pics of the kids enjoying theirs...