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.