I'm back!

I haven't posted in awhile because i thought i didn't have anything blog worthy to share...boy was i wrong! look what i found when i uploaded pictures from my camera...

A trip to San Diego...the kids and I stopped at the beach to take a stroll...

 I was a COMPLETE doofus (spelling?) and decided to take the kids pictures as we rushed out the door for church... they came out OK for Braden just waking up and Riley hateing the camera...but did i think to take them infront of our tree that was about 20ft behind me? NO. dumb dumb dumb...we will be re-doing these infront of the TREE

If you know Riley, then you know she is into anything that she associates with being a princess. Whether it's the color pink, long hair, a dress that "spins", or a dress that touches the ground when you walk. Well we can add curly hair the list, she will sit patiently and let me curl her hair into ringlets, so fun!

 I watched the meteor shower that we won't be blessed with again until 2014 from atop josh's truck

And today, i let the kids play in the never ending rain. There was nothing left to do but play in the rain that has decided it's here to stay.

 

 Braden took it like a man...he was in his sister's rain jacket and rain boots (pink soles with polka dots)

 Not to mention the boots are a few sizes too big and he kept falling...he made the most of those falls and splashed in the puddles with his hands until i helped him up.

 I tried desparetly to get a picture of riley in the air facing me...wasn't meant to be i guess!

 Riley found a "nice snake" and she even held it...that's my girl!

Hope you are all enjoying the rain the best you can.  Santa is coming soon!

Our family wishes you a very merry Christmas. We hope you are blessed with loads of family time and safe travels.



one nap...so nice!

I've been wondering when Braden (if ever) will go down to just one nap a day...he is tired by about 9:15am i can barely hold him to 10am most days before he goes down for his first nap...I feel like i never can get things done outside of the house. It's always either meal time, nap time or time where i feel my kids need to be playing not sitting in the car (somedays they just have to)...So, today i decided to go back to "Library Time". We haven't been there since Braden was about 4months old i think! I figured this way he would be distracted and wouldn't need that first nap... Riley was SO excited to go back and frankly, so was i, i love lirbrary time. Ms. Nancy is the lady who runs it and she is the best there could ever be for the job. She is so organized, thoughtful and so silly! She dances and sings and reads books with tons of emotion.

This was our tiral day and it went great!

The kids had breakfast, got dressed and off we were to run errand number one by 9:30 in the morning! We dropped some stuff off at the D.I. and then headed to Library. It ended about 11:30 (i got to get a couple good books-i'm SO excited to dive into them today!) and then home for lunch!  Braden was a little too tired to do a great job on his lunch but he is down for his one and only (keep your fingers crossed) nap of the day!

Wish us luck :)

A Mouse in the House!

Cruel or HILARIOUS-you be the judge!

Josh would vote more for the cruel side and i'm team captain for HILARIOUS...

A friend made these cookies that looked like mice and the minute i saw them i knew i had to trick someone...poor riley!

Happy Thanksgiving (and things)

Thanksgiving was a perfect day! I started off the morning by making chocolate waffles with my sister in-law Lisa(our new Thanksgiving morn. tradition while the guys were playing football) and my friend Emily and all of our kids (6total).  It was quite delicious, complete with whip cream on top (we did have some fruit too to balance things out, hehe)

Then off to Josh's mom and dad's for a Thanksgiving feast!

We had a lot of fun, the kids ran wild while the adults prepared the food. We did take a few moments to play this:

You get four people inside this stretchy material...

 you pulllllll back....two people(across frome eachother, run and exchange places, pullllling back again...

 sling shotting the other two across...fun fun fun...we even took riley and braden in-holding them-and went a little slower of course, they had blast!

The funny part is usually when someone gets tripped up on their own feet from running so fast and spinning around, they fall, taking the rest of the people down with them...hehe i promise it's funny...happy to report no blood or broken bones!

This is the dutch oven KING....seriously. Josh's dad has countless dutch ovens and the knowledge to use them. He cooked the turkey in this one and it was D.LICIOUS

A little photo op before we left home

This is where the "and things" comes in on my title of this post:

I found a new hair blog and have been doing riley's hair all sorts of crazy lately...not saying they are that cute, mostly like "woah" but some cute...im stretching my french braiding fingers so to speak...

Braden's first icecream cone of his very own

Our little man before church on sunday

Riley working on her work book...she has been SO into writing her letters, she can do a capital A,R,H,lowercase i and j, T,L,C,O,P,E,andY im so proud of her!

And braden using a fork...i have a video clip but it was lost in a drastic memory card download fiasco.

He speared the hotdog with his fork then took it off with his other hand and ate it...he's gettin' there!

Hope everyone was able to find a good deal or two on black friday!



Easy, pretty quick and YUMMY dinner

Spanish Rice Dinner

Ingredients:

• 1 box spanish "rice a roni"
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1.5 cups hot water
• 1 can (16 oz) tomatoes cut up
• 1lb ground beef made with taco seasoning or you can use chilli
• 1 can corn (12oz)
• 1 can olives (3.25oz)
• 3 cups (12oz) cheddar cheese
• 3 cups corn chips (fritos, etc)

Directions:

-Saute rice with butter until golden brown

-Add hot water, flavor packet and tomatoes, cover and simmer about 15min

-brown beef, drain add taco seasoning (see instructions on seasoning packet)

-combine rice, beef, corn, olives, dash of pepper

-stir in 2 cups cheese and 2 cups corn chips

-pu in 9x13 pan top with remaining cheese and chips

-bake at 400 for 15min

YUM! Enjoy

A Good Day

     The day started off "early" with Braden waking up at about 6:30 but luckily he laid in bed with us for a little mostly hitting just Josh in the face...
    Then door stairs for breakfast  The kids ate as they listened to church music (Book of Mormon Stories is one of Riley's favorite songs right now) and i started cleaning...
    We all played and cleaned until Braden's first nap...they were being so good i was able to "deep clean upstairs and down in about 2hours! They even both got a bath before Braden's first nap! 
    Riley and I bonded a little over some ABC games online while we waited for B.man to wake up...
    Lunch, play time...Riley's nap...I let Braden have a few M&M's after lunch and he screamed when they were all gone...that kid loves his sweets!  Braden and I just played until his second nap. He is so funny these days. He is understanding a lot-doesn't mean he'll do what you want him to. We have a bin in the kithen for coke cans/water bottles and he loves to get them out. When we tell him to put them back he walks towards it then screeches (another FAVE... lately) and shakes his head no and walks the opposit way.
    Braden finally says "up" on his own, not just when we remind him, and that is SO helpful!  He is also saying down and help when we tell him to...not very clear-one of those times when only the parents can understand it i think.
   A little side note. Braden shakes his head "no" when we tell him to sign "more" but i got him to sign "candy" today...haha that tells you something!
   Both took pretty good naps so i got that lovely "quiet time" and got a few things done and was refreshed when they woke up..
   Overall just a happy day. Some days i feel like we struggle all day long just to be happy and today it came so easy. Love it.

Fall Recipes

With Thanksgiving right around the corner I thought I'd post 4 delicious mouth watering recipes...

I've tasted them all and have made two of them myself. You will not be sorry you made and ate these until you step on the scale (just a little warning)!

Yummy Pumpkin Bread

(this one is actually from allrecipes.com (Pumpkin Bread IV) with one little adjustment)

Original Recipe Yield 3 - 9x5 inch loaves

Ingredients:
3 cups canned pumpkin puree
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
4 cups white sugar
6 eggs
4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour    (the bread i tasted subbed 1/2 of flour for oat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
*mini chocolate chips(add as many of these in if you'd like...i'd highly recommend it)
Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 9x5 inch loaf pans.
2.In a large bowl, mix together the pumpkin, oil, sugar, and eggs. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves; stir into the pumpkin mixture until well blended. Divide the batter evenly between the prepared pans.
3.Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. The top of the loaf should spring back when lightly pressed.

Pumpkin Spice Bread with Brown Butter Frosting

Yields 2, 8in. loaves

Ingredients:

1 spice cake mix

1 large package instant vanilla pudding (5.1ounce)

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup oil
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup pumpkin (100% pure pumpkin)
3 eggs
Directions:
   1.Mix all ingredients together.
   2.Pour into 2 -8in loaf pans (9in also works or 4 mini loafs) *be sure to spray pans before!
   3.Bake at 350 for 40min or until toothpick comes out clean.
   4. Frost when cool
Brown Butter Frosting: (a must do-wont be the same w/o it)
   1/2 cup butter browned: in a sauce pan, let butter cook on LOW heat, stirring constantly until butter BARELY turns brown. Take off heat IMMEDIATLY.
   Then add to butter:
  2 cups powdered sugar
  2 table spoons water
  1/2 tsp. vanilla
   Mix well and pour over the tops of the bread.

"Charlyn's French Bread"

This is SO easy to make, tastes great and makes a lot!

Dissolve in small bowl:

2 tablespoons yeast(i always use 3-5 tablespoons)

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp. sugar

***if you've never dealt with yeast before, ask someone or google it so you don't kill your yeast. (my "secret" trick is to measure out the yeast and set aside, run tap water until it's how you'd like your bath,- realllllllyyy warm but not "hot"-this is the trickiest part- i test on the inside of my wrist. Take 1/2cup of that realllllyy warm water put in the small bowl and immediatly add yeast that you set aside. i'd do about 1tablespoon of sugar and wait 5-10 min) if the yeast was killed nothing will grow in the bowl and you have to start over, but if you did the water temp. just right you will see the yeast start to grow and you can continue on with the recipe!

In Large bowl combine:

2 cups hot water

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 cup oil

-mix well

Add to the mixture:

-3 cups flour and mix well.

-yeast mixture from the small bowl

-Add 2-3 cups more flour (i always need 3) and mix well.

-Leave in bowl and let rise for 1hour mixing a few strokes every now and then.

-Divide dough into 2-3 pieces (depeneds how long you want your french bread roll)

-Roll out each onto a floured surface into the length desired, then roll of lenthwise like a jelly roll.

-Put on greased cookie sheet, sealed side down.

-Slash top of dough diagonally with knife.

-Brust with egg white.

-Let rise 30min. more

-Bake at 400 for 25min

Last but certainly not least-as you will need this to have something to dip that french bread into:

Mimi's Santa Fe Soup

Ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef

1 lb. valveeta cheese

1/2 onion *i of course would chop this SUPER fine so there is no chance of feeling an onion in my mouth.but that's just me!

1 can diced tomatoes with chilis

1 can pinto beans with jalepenos (these make the soup pretty spicy, so be sure to sub out if you or the kids don't want that)

1 can corn ***i was not told what size cans to use, i would guess a 15 oz can.

Directions:

-Saute onions

-Brown mean, drain

-Mix all together, warm and enjoy!

***a crock pot works really well for this! Remember the cheese needs to melt, so allow enough time for the "warming" part.

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and that these recipes help to kick off the season...Let me know if you tried any and what you think! Feel free to drop some off at my house too! (wink wink, but really you can if you want, ha)

Happy Halloween!!!

Our cousin Katie had the great idea to be from the 50's this halloween with all 3 of our families (Me, Josh and the kids. Katie, Russel and their 3 kids, and Lisa, Ben and their son-group picture coming soon)

The guys were "greasers" and the girls all wore poodle skirts (katie made the 3 little girls' ones, and they are ADORABLE!)

Our ward did a "trunk or treat" the night before halloween and i had the idea of decorating our trunk like a 50's diner and serving rootbeer floats instead of passing out candy...

Family pictures in front of our Juke Box

The little girls...morgan was striking some great poses!

My little greaser! Check out the high top converse...(maybe my best garage sale find?)

Riley won't take pictures lately so this is the best one i got of her...

Getting set up for the trunk or treat...we had 50's music playing as well

Serving our rootbeer floats...Katie(in yellow) and I scooped, Lisa (in maroon) filled with rootbeer and stuck a straw in...The line was never ending, i hardly got a chance to look up at who i was serving! It was so fun and crazy, we all did what we could during the crazy moments, Katie and I ended up pooring rootbeer and scooping while Lisa pleased the customers, cleaned up our messes, fetched more cups etc.

We had 3 gallon buckets of icecream and 21 liters of rootbeer! The icecream ran out after about 200 people so we turned it into a "soda bar" and served rootbeer...We had a BLAST!

Our cherished Juke Box...we worked on this bad boy for over 4 hours!

It took a LOT of glitter, some glue, 3brains and a lot of LAUGHS!

Lisa had such a good idea to play with the titles of the song choices on the juke box to go with our kids' names...

• Nathan Angel
• Wake up Little Mady
• Morgan Sue
• Luke Potion #9
• Rockin' Riley
• Braden B. Goode

i LOVE these girls

 



I Live For Them

My family that is.

Celebrating my Dad's birthday

Helping me bake french bread (thanks Charlyn again for that recipe...SO good, i'll repost it for the rest of you soon!)

Riley, Braden and I went to the pumpkin patch with Riley's preschool co-op. We had a great time...Braden was the only one wanting to pose for pictures. He was SO excited and kept saying "ball!  ball!" pointing at all the pumpkins.

Riley finally was posing for me because she got to sit on the bail of hay and of course Braden reached up to pinch her throat off...

I bribed her somehow to take this super cheese picture

Can you belive the size of this pumpkin, i'm so growing them in my back yard next year...i would love to grow a freakishly large one

Riley's class: (from the left: Madylin, Morgan, Riley, Case and Caiden) Yes that is the best picture i got!

A couple more "firsts for Braden"

His leg fell asleep and he was "laugh-crying" we could not get him to stand up to brush him off after dinner and josh finally figured out his leg was asleep, SO FUNNY.

Peanut Butter! His dr (who is great) was fine with him having it at a year...he didn't LOVE it but didn't hate it, it was what it was...nice to have something else to feed him now though.

I saw on my friend's blog how she did puppets with her daughter one day just for fun so i decided to try, riley and i had a blast...we cut out construction paper eyes,eye lashes even, nose, ears tongue and lips oh and teeth-riley's favorite part-then we curled ribbon for the hair and glued it on, the dress is HIDEOUS but that is my fault...after 45min of being creative my juices ran out.

I almost forgot, the reason for her face. I wanted her to hold the puppet up and smile at the camera. She is still working on coordinating all that i think, but it results in a hilarious picture for me!

I got out our Nintendo, Riley played her first game of Duck Hunt and actually beat me...what the heck?

Riley turned 3!

We invited all of senior primary to come and the kids that showed had a blast.

They played in her bounce house, tents/tunnels, took turns beating up an impossible pinata and ate a "horse" cake (riley's request) I can't believe my baby girl is 3...

Braden being a boy...

And he FINALLY learned to clap...really don't most kids come out of the womb clapping? well my little goob figured it out just around 12months

Can't you see why i Live for them?