Not my best idea!

Well, Christmas is right around the corner and we all have family traditions that we like to keep. Since my family is fairly new and the kids are getting big enough to participate in things like decorating I figured we could start some traditions of our own. I had the idea to bake and decorate gingerbread cookies with the kids. In hindsight, it was not by best idea....but it was fun!

The kids went a little overboard with the icing....they have yet to grasp the concept of "less is more"!

I realized at one point that Cameron thought he cookie was not fully decorated until the icing was flowing over the sides and onto the table.

And, after this little project I am asking myself again what possessed me to put a white rug under my kitchen table.

They sure did have a lot of fun and we have enjoyed eating our Christmas treats. They were all so cute (the kids, not so much the cookies). Each time they finished one cookie they would inform me who that particular cookie was for. We had cookies for Nana, Nannie, Poppie, Daddy, Mommy, Uncle Donnie, Christopher, Gracie and the other "Gurls". They didn't seem to make any for themselves.....although, they took the pleasure of eating them. Guess, they figured that was more practical than shipping them.

Despite the mess, I am sure we will be doing it again next year.

Now, last night we had our Christmas Play at church. Mom wrote and directed the entire play while the little kids and a few of the older kids did all thew acting. They all did a most wonderful job. After the play, a special visitor showed up to wish the kids a Merry Christmas!

Moma thought that Santa looked A LOT like her first born son! Would that make her Grandmother Christmas? Shhhh....don't tell her I said that!

This year's experience with Santa went much better than previous years.....there were no tears.

Haley and Santa Bo.....I mean Claus!

Here's Santa and Grandmother Christmas again!

Gabby and Annabelle with Santa Claus!

Bo, I mean Santa Claus I don't Gabby fell for the suit.

Santa Claus handed out gifts to the kids and posed for pictures....he did a really great job! His belly even jiggled like a bowl full of jelly!

Pumpkin Pain...oh I mean Pie! Pumpkin Pie!

I grabbed these pumpkins for Halloween decoration. The sticker said they were "pie pumpkins" but they didn't have to because as soon as Kojak saw them he said "You're gonna make me a pie right"?

For some reason James and Cameron thought they should have candy in them and they were sorely disappointed when I told them otherwise.
So anyway, I decided to take a tip from Pioneer Woman and make some pumpkin puree....to use in Pumpkin Pie, of course.
Only one problem, Pioneer Woman didn't seem to have to hack into her pumpkins.

That's the best knife I have. A 7-inch Santoku, might as well have had a butter knife.

I wasn't aware that some pumpkins came with a very hard, very thick outer shell. Luckily, Kojak had pity on me....or maybe he just really wanted some pie! Either way, we eventually hacked our way into the little suckers.

Pretty huh?

So I baked the first batch on a pan. Then I realized my mistake and corrected.

The next batch I placed in a casserole with some water in the bottom. These came out tender and juicy (except for the shell, of course). Plus they retained that beautiful orange color!

Ahhhh...pumpkin puree!! Looks yummy? Yes?
I used some in the pies below and the rest I put in the freezer. There's enough in there to make roughly 6 pies.

And this is what happens in less than 20 minutes after they came out of the oven. Cameron dug into the one on the right with a spoon.

Lesson learned: Although the pumpkins were a pain I will never make pumpkin pie from a can again. This is THE BEST PUMPKIN PIE EVER!!!!!


Perfect Puree Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin (6-8" diameter)
• 2 & 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (from above pumpkin)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 tsp. allspice
• 1/2 tsp. cloves
  
• 1 & 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 3 regular unbaked pie crusts or 2 deep-dish unbaked pie crusts
  

For Pumpkin: Remove stem and cut into quarters. Bake in dish (shell side down) with a little water (water should not touch meat of pumpkin) @350 until tender. Peel off shell or scrape out the pumpkin. Now you can use a hand mixer, stand mixer or food processor to make the puree. Once it's smooth and puree-ish (hahaha), dish out 2 & 1/2 cups for the pumpkin pies. Put the rest in freezer safe container with as little air as possible for future use. No, it won't last forever but it will still be good when pumpkins are out-of-season and you get a hankering for pumpkin pie. Moving on!
For the pie:Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix your puree and the remaining ingredients with the exception of the pie crusts. (Sorry, but I must be very clear here....there are some folks out there that just can't understand recipe-nese). Mix until smooth, may be a little watery. Pour into pie crusts, bake for 15 minutes @ 450. At this point I take mine out, wrap the edges with aluminum foil to prevent the crusts from getting burned, reduce heat to 325 and bake for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Or you could skip the aluminum foil by using a pie crust shield that I need and don't have! Either way, don't burn the pie!
ENJOY!!!!

Girl time!

It has been totally crazy around here for a few weeks. Kojak finally got started working which relieved a little stress. But then I started the Fall semester and Haley started Kindergarten which added some stress. Mom was losing her job and struggling with what to do.....MAJOR Stress. Well, Haley and I are both getting into the groove of things and Mom's situation has resolved itself for the good. So, to celebrate our stress, de-stress, stress and lessened stress Mom and I decided to do something together this past Saturday. We settled on doing some "bead therapy". We have a place here in the county that hold classes on how to make certain pieces of jewelery. Saturday they had a class on a bird's nest ring that I had seen in there before. So, here's what we made.

One with turquoise beads and the other with an amber color.

Mom's two....one with a pretty stone bead and the other with green glass beads.

Tina took me to class a coulpe weeks ago and we learned how to make a really awesome beaded bead bracelet (picture below). These are the rings that I made at home to go with them.

Bird nest again.

Okay, these are the bracelets that I learned a couple weeks ago and then I taught Mom.

This is the set that she made. Very pretty reds and purples.

NOTE: My nail polish is purple Not black......I only wear black on Tuesdays......JK!!!!!

Memory Lane....

Does anyone remember this? I do....and I did, this morning (bright and early)......*sniff*

(a few months before Haley arrived)

How about this one?

*sniff, sniff*

Lord help me!

Now don't laugh!

Where did the years go?

On the way to kindergarten.

Walking in.

Putting her things in her cubby. (Ignoring Mom and Dad)

Got her name tag and getting ready. (Ignoring Mom and Dad)

Following directions from the teacher. (Ignoring Mom and Dad)

Posing for pics!

Posing!

Playing....ignoring Mom and Dad.

Ignoring...well, you know!

She was all smiles as we were leaving.

Stay tuned for more pics from this afternoon.

Through the tears......

Through the tears, I......

finished Haley's backpack.....

(inside print),

wrote her a note that will be read to her on the first day of class....,

took pictures of her place at the table.....,

her cubby....,

the story rug....,

and this is where I had to suck it up and stop pouting. She only looks unhappy because she was too excited to want to pose for this picture.

She wanted to check out the kitchen.

And the playground that is RIGHT outside the classroom.

It's killing me...REALLY!!!!
Although, I think I will live through it.

She starts tomorrow at 7:30AM......wish us luck!