Once Again

It's that time of year again.
The end of the year.
And time again to not make resolutions.
I've spent the last half hour or so re-reading my "New Year's posts" from the last two years and I think I was more shocked that I've actually been blogging for almost 3 years!
Yikes.
And I still have things to say, and people that actually read what I write.
So this year I'm making it simple.
I'm saying "Happy New Year".
May it be bright and merry and wonderful.
See you next year!
I'm going to go make peanut butter cookies.

Breakfast at Emily's

I'm reposting "Eggs In A Basket" over at Cowgirl Clippings today. I actually made it this time, so there's pictures. I like pictures. And this recipe intrigues me...you basically crack an egg into a pastry lined muffin tin, add more pastry and bake it. Oh but it's yummy and well worth the little bit of time and effort. And there's a cheese dill sauce for the top. It's good.

We've moved back in!

Okay, most of you know that but I've been remiss in posting pictures.

So here they are.

You're also in for a special treat, you get to see the house decorated for Christmas.

This is what it looked like with all our stuff in but not put away:Then we took a load to the dump and rented a u-haul trailer to take stuff to Goodwill.

And just a few days ago, it looked like this (it's a little messier now).

That's the living room and dining room. With the biggest Christmas tree we've ever had, it's a little over 8 feet tall.
We've always put the table in the breakfast nook but it was getting a little crowded. Here's the kitchen and the breakfast nook, which is now just that, a nook. It's my favorite place to sit and drink tea and crochet or quilt.



And here's the master bedroom:

And the master bath:

I seriously feel like I'm in a hotel bathroom or a spa or something.

Remember what it used to look like?

Yeah, we've definitely got improvement.

Anyone want to buy it?

Breakfast at Emily's

Today on Cowgirl Clippings I am sharing a breakfast recipe I have never tried. It's called Eggs in a Basket. I found it in one of these cookbooks.

I was desperately searching for a recipe that didn't call for sugar...I kind of overdid it on the sugar the last week or so and my body is saying "NO MORE!".

I'm hoping to make this in the next few days...it looks really interesting. But if you get to it before I do, please share what you think of it.

Happy Birthday Sir Ivan!

Sir Ivan the Clifford of Dante turned 5 years old on December 18th!
Though he's looking more like a cowboy than a knight. Can knights be cowboys and vice versa?
He's wanted a cowboy hat for awhile and Hannah and I found this one at an antique store a few months ago. He looks pretty handsome, if I do say so myself, and I do.
He got a nerf gun from Grandpa Cliff and Grandma Casey and a couple new Thomas the train engines from our friends the Hastings for his wooden tracks. He also got a remote control car from the Pences, though he and daddy haven't tried it out just yet.
He requested a chocolate cake with a red dinosaur, but I didn't have enough red food coloring so he would have ended up with a pink one. I convinced him that green was better and he was happy with the result.
I don't usually bake cakes in my cast iron skillet but while I was mixing up the cake batter the power went out. So because I can still use my propane cooktop while the power is out, I poured the batter into my largest cast iron skillet and cooked it on the stovetop. The bottom got a little tiny bit scorched because I had the heat up too high at the beginning. The power came back on when the cake was almost done so I stuck it in the oven for about 8 minutes. It was actually pretty good.

Sir Ivan is my shyest one, but he can be loud and silly too. He loves his school work and is reading well (and loving it) already.
He's gentle and kind and loves to play with both his sisters.
And he's got a pretty good aim with that nerf gun.

Sometimes he seems so old, he's always been big, but I can't hardly believe my little boy is 5!

The Dress

My mom made this dress.
I think...right mom?
And I wore it.
Yep, this is me:

And luckily for me, she saved it too...and passed it down to my girls.

Hannah wore it a few times.

This is when I was very pregnant with Ivan, Hannah is kindly blocking the huge belly.

Just the other Sunday I put it on Miss Moddy. And here you get a series of pictures, maybe it will help you understand the live wire I have here. She's a crazy tiny.
I tried to get a semi-normal pose from her one more time...
But now I'm obviously being told...I love this dress, and maybe someday I'll have another girl to wear it too, or maybe we can keep it nice for my future granddaughters; wouldn't that be cool?

Though, I don't want to think about that yet.

Breakfast at Emily's

We've missed the 13th of December to make these Saffron Buns for St. Lucia's feast day. But they're good any time of the year. So check out the recipe on Cowgirl Clippings today.

Happy Birthday Erik!

On December 13th my wonderful husband Erik turned 28.
I'm sure glad he was born.
He's an amazing husband and father and I love him a lot.
So, Happy Birthday!
(Even though you don't read my blog.)

It was on Monday, so he still had to work, but his boss' wife brought him a muffin and a cup of coffee. The kids pulled together some of their "monies" and wrapped up 39 cents for him. I found him him the Pocket Ref, which is perfect for him. He's been totally into trigonometry lately, with angles and how all the numbers of hip roofs work out...he tries to explain it to me but I still don't get it. I'll stick with my simple math required for balancing the checkbook and quilting and be amazed by his intellect. I made a turkey dinner and applesauce cake with butterscotch meringue for desert. The only birthday candles we had where the number ones we've used for the kids but luckily we had a 2 and two fours so I made a plus sign out of toothpicks and we had 24+4 emblazoned across his cake.


I'm so glad I get to spend my life with this wonderful man. He does an amazing job leading and providing for our family.
I like him.
A lot.

My Big, Little Girl

I'm a proud mother.
And I'm blogger...
So I'm blogging about potty.
Miss Moddy, who is not even two, is 1. wearing underwear today and 2. telling me when she needs to go potty and 3. actually going potty on the toilet.

My dear, 3 year old Clayton doesn't want to even step foot in the bathroom.

Oh well, we'll get there eventually.


My dad has nothing to do with this post, I just like this picture. : )

Breakfast at Emily's

This week's installment (that word sounds so formal, I'm not sure I like it) over at Cowgirl Clippings is Bread Pudding.
It's a new find for me and my family and we all absolutely love it. So if it's old hat for you, I'm sorry and if it's something you've heard of but never tried? Get cooking! It's a.maz.ing.

Out of the Mouth...

Last night Erik and Hannah stayed up and watched "The Sing Off". I was sorry to have missed it but I was at bible study so Erik filled me in.
During one song, he couldn't remember much except it was a guy singing about making good girls bad or other such nonsense, one of the girls in the performing group took off her glasses, shook down her hair and did some sort of chest/shoulder shimmy and shake.
My darling Hannah looked her daddy in the eyes and calmly stated, "Well, that was stupid."

I hope she always thinks it's stupid.

Blogging Woes

I've wanted to blog so many things lately.
Sometimes I think in terms of blog posts.
And yet, sitting here tonight waiting for dinner to finish cooking I can't think of a thing.
I actually came up with something for dinner, which I'm quite excited about considering at 4:45pm I had nothing.
I've made it through 6 days of Jillian Micheal's 30 Day Shred exercise dvd and I haven't died yet. I think I'll wait one more day before bumping it up to level 2.
Oops.
Now dinner is ready.
Maybe I'll put blogging on my to-do list tomorrow.
If I remember what I wanted to say.

Breakfast at Emily's

This lovely pile of spices and flour is all part of the Jenny's Gingerbread I made for breakfast the other morning. It's light and fluffy and melt in your mouth delectable.


Check out Cowgirl Clippings for the recipe.
And with all this Christmas baking going on you could also join us in the The 31 Day Challenge. While I don't get out and run in the mornings during the winter months because of these guys roaming the neighborhood:

I have pulled out the Jillian Micheals 30 Day Shred workout video I borrowed from a friend ages ago and never used. Hannah did the whole video with me yesterday, we'll see if she makes it through again today, or if I do.

Breakfast at Emily's

I'm a little early this week; yes it is only Wednesday.
But this week I'm sharing a make ahead breakfast casserole called "Country Brunch" over on Cowgirl Clippings.
There's also a few pictures of my new, finished, kitchen.

Wedding Dress Photo Shoot

Yesterday was a grumpy day.

For me and the kids.

So I put us all in time out.

Trying to also be productive, I started to put more things away in my bedroom (still unpacking) and found the box with my old prom dresses and my wedding dress.

So I called to Hannah, let everyone out of timeout, except Miss Moddy (she fell asleep) and let Hannah try on my wedding dress and a few prom dresses.

The day went a little better after that.
But please don't grow up too fast Hannah-Hannah!

With a Smile and a Song

This summer I stopped at a garage sale.

It was at the home of an older couple that goes to our church.

For the life of me I could not think of their names, still can't.

The man mentioned to another gentleman browsing the garage sale wares that he loved to hear me sing.

Then he turned to me and told me that if I saw anything I wanted I could literally have it for a song.

I started to get nervous.

What would I sing?

Really?

Was there anything I couldn't live without?

I politely declined the offer.

And now as I sit here contemplating the cutting up of 40 lbs. of apples to lay out in my dehydrator I'm mentally kicking myself.

I'm pretty sure there was a barely used apple peeler/corer/slicer sitting on one of the tables.

I remember pausing at it.

But that was before I had a dehydrator; I didn't know my need.

And I could have had it for a song!

Breakfast at Emily's

This is my 350th post on my blog and I'm using it to say, "I've got nothin'." With moving and unpacking I just didn't get around to writing Breakfast at Emily's this week. But tune in next week on Wednesday for an early post. All that said, you should still check out Cowgirl Clippings, there's lots of fun stuff over there.

Christmas Chandelier

I'm getting ready for Christmas.

I'm trying to be more creative this year.

I know, some of you are probably thinking, "more creative?! Yikes, how do you get more creative?!"

I'm branching out.

I'm playing electrician.

Okay, maybe not electrician but I've started playing with wiring lamps and lights and chandeliers.

I found this great chandelier a month ago or so at Cart'm for $8.
The plan was to take it apart and use my old light bar from my bathroom and make a new light bar with the pieces from both.
I succeeded to the point of taking them apart and putting them together into a funky looking light bar that I really liked. (sorry no picture)

The problem was that I couldn't figure out how to hang it on the wall. The old light bar used the fixtures on the front of the light bar to hold it with pressure against the back piece that was attached to the wall. That wasn't going to work this time.

So I gave up and bought a $40 light bar at Fred Meyer for my bathroom.

Not wanting to give up my $8 chandelier I decided yesterday to put it back together, decorate it will some beads from old jewelry and hang it in Hannah's bedroom for Christmas.

(You were wondering when I'd get back to Christmas weren't you?)

I saw a darling sparkly chandelier at Ikea a bit ago and immediately knew that Hannah would love it but didn't have the extra cash for it. She loves to watch Home Decorating shows with me and then designs her own bedroom, always with a sparkly, jewel be-draped chandelier.

Perfect.

So I put it all back together, and it works!
I'm really excited about that part.

I have yet to decorate it and hang it, but that's the plan.

Don't worry I will share pictures when I get to that part.

Please just don't mention it to Hannah, it's a surprise.

Breakfast at Emily's

Raw Fries
Cowgirl Clippings
Oh, I'm tired today.

And Now For Something Totally New...

I finished my first ever felted project yesterday.


It's based off a felted diaper bag pattern I saw online.

It'll probably become my new project bag.


And I think I might make more.


Only a tad smaller, perhaps.

House Update

Well, the carpet is in.

But we are not.

Some of our stuff is.

But we are not.

And Erik won't let me touch anything in the "work area" part of the house. So I think it's best I just stay away until I can.

It's a mess, and I want to clean.

It's close. Really close. But my husband being a both perfectionist and a finish carpenter, took a look around our "almost finished" house and wrote out a bullet list of things that were not done correctly or needed to be fixed. he wrote small and filled two sheets of college-ruled notebook paper. Only one side of each paper though, lest you worry.

I'm trying to be patient.

It's hard to be patient when it's so close to ready. All of our stuff that was in the trailer parked in our driveway has been moved into the back bedrooms and the living room (which are finished) and I've started to go through a few boxes already.

A few friends and I are attempting a garage sale on the 19th and 20th of November. Eh, why not? I have four boxes of stuff pulled out for it already and I haven't even begun to completely unpack.

It has been wonderful living comfortably with 4 children in 800 square feet and other than furniture (and not even all of it) there is tons of stuff out of the trailer that I've realized I can live without.

Oh, wait.

You probably want to see our carpeting...


It's beige-ish, with flecks of browns in it. Still very neutral and yet will not show every speck of dirt.
Apparently the contractor's plan was to finish up yesterday. That didn't happen, and there's more guys, or a guy coming out Saturday to work on it....

Someday. Someday we'll move back in.