Merry Christmas!

From Our Family to Yours

Christmas Choir

Well it's that time again, unfortanately my camara (or is it just me:) didn't take that good of pictures. I didn't realize until the end that I should of had my flash off...so here you go. All three girls sang in the Christmas special this year. And it was Jordan's first having a trio part, although, I think it was actually a duet...Not sure how it all worked, but she had fun and no nerves to be had:) Unlike her mother who didn't breathe the whole time.

A Night of Fun

Saturday evening, our friends dropped their kiddos off at our house so they could go to a company Christmas party. We had fun ourselves...Pizza, decorating cookies and a movie. They are great kids to have around and they decorate a mean cookie:)

A Very Full Weekend

Saturday started out with the girls going to choir practice for the Christmas special. Then off to home for lunch and then to see Santa at the train depot in a near by town. They had at least 12 different train sets up and running. Hot cocoa, cookies, crafts and a ride in a caboose...to see Santa.

More pictures

Hubby had a great idea of pulling the kids in the sled...by tractor:) The kids had a blast! The snow was so deep that it was coming over the sled. All in all I think we got about a foot of snow during the week. But now it is melting...in fact it is almost gone:( Jaelyn had fun until it tipped over then she wanted to drive. So she hopped up with daddy and drove. Sorry the pictures are so dark, even with the flash this was as good as it got.

Snow Time Activities

We played hookie from school today so we could play in the snow. After my youngest went down for a nap the other kids and I set up the tree.( For you Thanksgiving visitors...yes the table is still in the living room, seems my hubby has grown quite fond of it GRRRR) The kids did a great job and it went up and was decorated in less than 2 hrs. We also put up our stockings and decorated the rest of the house.

The kids came out of the cold to hot cocoa with marshmellows, and how buttered popcorn. And then for dessert I made pumpkin bread and topped it with Cool Whip. What a fun day...I think we might do the same for tomorrow:)

Here hubby was holding our youngest trying to get her to put the angel on top...she didn't quite get the hang of it...

So we tried #3 and she couldn't get it on either..Hubby just ended up doing it. Made for some laughs and giggles

Thursday Snow

Last nights forcast was up to 2 inches....

At this picture there was almost seven.

Son and kitten building a snow fort.

view of son in pasture and the road.

Chicken coop buried in snow. We have very wimpy chickens they won't leave the coop.

New forcast: upto 9 inches and more on Saturday and Sunday:) Bring it on. More pictures to come

Invisible Boy

OK, Ok, OK

So here it is...so people will stop hounding me!!!:) Sorry it took me so long, I was laying on the couch moaning from stuffing myself:)

The Thanksgiving post or post Thanksgiving post not sure what it is. Anyway, we had a great time having Thanksgiving at our house this year. It was so relaxing...yes, I said relaxing. Including us there were 21 in our house. The food was good but the company was great. Would love to do it again next year.

Taco soup

Today I made my favorite crock pot meals, Taco soup. It is so easy and if you are lucky enough, you might get leftovers the next day:)

brown until no longer pink:

• 1-21/2 lbs ground beef or chicken
• 1 onion

Throw in crock pot with a

• couple of cans diced tomatoes(add more if needed)
• couple cans of kidney bean
• 1 1/2 cans of tomatoe sauce
• 1/2-1 cup taco seasoning to taste
• small bag of frozen corn
• whatever other veg's you like
• add water to desired consistency.

turn on high until bubbly then to low until dinner. Enjoy with a dolup of sour cream, grated cheese and crushed tortilla chips.

Fall Photos

For family and friends who want some picture of the kiddos.

Update

Well we finally got some chickens. Our good friend was nice enough to give us some of theirs. We have already gotten some eggs. We Plan on painting the house in the next couple of weeks as long as the weather stays warm enough.

In school news we have been touching on Egyptians, so we mummified the kids using toilet paper.

Today while #3 was sick in bed with a stomach bug, #2 and I spent the day in the kitchen. We made ginger bread cookies, which didn't turn out that well, good but not pretty:) And then #2 wanted to make something by herself. Pink and white merringes sandwiched together with cream in the middle. They turned out so cute and yummy to boot.

Here is the recipe:

To make about 15 white and 15 pink mini meringues, you will need:

2 lg eggs whites

1/2 c ultra-fine sugar(I used regular)

red food coloring

1/2 c heavy cream

2 cookie sheets sprayed with non-stick spray or lined with baking parchment

Preheat oven to 225

whisk egg whites with wisk or egg beater until they are really thick, they should form stiff points when you whisk them up. Add a heaped teaspoon of sugar at a time into the egg whites, and whisk it well. Repeat this until you have added all the sugar.

Scoop up a teaspoon of the meringue mixture. then use another teaspoon to push it off onto the cookie sheet. Make 15 meringues leaving gaps between them.

Then add 2 drops of the food coloring to the rest of the mixture. Gently fold in the food coloring until mixture is pink. Then make 15 more meringues.

Put them in the oven for 30-40 minutes. then turn off the oven, leaving the meringues inside for 15 minutes.
Take out of the oven and let cool on the baking sheets.

Meanwhile whisk the cream until quite thick. When cool, add a dolup to one of the meringues and top with the other color. needs to be eaten the same day:)enjoy. This recipe came out of Usborne's Fairy Cooking.

SNOW???...in September

We went up to Chinook pass today and discovered some fun snow on the ground. Here are the pictures.

On the way back we stopped at a campground that was right next to a river so the kids could throw rocks.

The drive was beautiful with the changing leaves. It was cloudy at the top so we weren't able to see Mt. Rainer. We have decided to start camping next spring, so we will definetely be back. Next we were playing with the camaras pictured taking abilities. These are kinda creepy, I thought.