Pumpkin Pie

Okay, I know I am a little late for this year's holiday dinners but here is our favorite Pumpkin Pie recipe. It is a big hit in my extended family and a friend has asked for the recipe so here it is:

Pumpkin Walnut Pie

1 9-inch pastry shell
1/2-1 c. chopped walnuts(depeding on your taste for nuts)
1/4 c. firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1 (15oz) can pumpkin
1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
2 eggs
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground ginger

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In small bowl, combine nuts, sugar & 1/2 t. cinnamon; sprinkle evenly over bottom of pastry shell. In large bowl, combine pumpkin, sweet cond. milk, eggs, remaining 1 t. cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, & ginger; mix well. pour filling over nut mixture in pastry shell. Bake 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking 35 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from edge comes out clean. Cool. Enjoy. Refrigerate leftovers.

Merry Christmas!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

"Mommy, my finger is stuck!"

These are the words I heard this afternoon from my Megan after I had put her down for a nap. Without seeing why her finger was stuck and in what, many thoughts went through my head as I headed to her room. As many of us know, a child's finger can fit into many things and get stuck. A nose, a door, an electrical socket are just to name a few. So I open Megan's bedroom door to find her sitting up in bed crying because her finger has become stuck in her hair to the point that it was cutting off circulation. She has a bad habit of sucking her thumb with one hand and twirling her hair with the other. Sometimes like today, there is a little too much twirling and the hair gets wrapped so tight that I have to cut her hair to free her finger! I doubt she has learned her lesson today but she may run out of hair before she gives up the habit!

Good Times

Two dollars well spent at the after Halloween sales!

Holiday Favorites

I think we all have a favorite Christmas time treat. The kind of goodie that only comes out once a year. But because it only comes out once a year, that makes it all the more special and even more tastier because you can't get it anytime you crave it. So just in case you don't already know about these two, I will show you a picture and tell you where to get them.

The chocolate oranges are fun too. You whack them on a hard surface so that they break into individual slices inside the wrapper. I found them at Target but if you live near me, I may have bought the last of the milk chocolate flavor. My sweet husband found some more for me at the CVS Pharmacy because I am giving them out as gifts to Anna's teachers. "'Orange' I glad your my teacher."

The peanut brittle is the perfect consistency and has lots of peanuts. The brand is Old Dominion and I bought it at the Wonder bread Hostess outlet store, of all places. I like Peanut Brittle but it is one of those things I would rather buy than make from scratch.

So there you have it and if you haven't tried them yet, your time is running out!

Moods

Mood(noun)-"A state of mind, emotion. An inclination; disposition."

Oh yes, I have many moods and very seldom am I in the mood to clean. It is just not in my disposition to want to clean a lot. So today I actually had the inclination to clean my kitchen top to bottom. It may have something to do with the Pine-sol smell while I am pregnant or maybe just the fact that my husband has been gone all week and I need at least one room in the house presentable when he gets home. I started right after lunch, finished up and enjoyed the clutter-free countertops and clean sink for about an hour before I decided I was in the mood to make gingerbread dough. Not as clean but I can still smell the Pine-sol. Another moment, another mood.

I used the recipe from the Scovil Bakery in Nauvoo, Illinois for the first time. I love their cookies and I am not usually one to like a gingerbread cookie. Hopefully they are as good from my kitchen as they are from theirs. If not, I will know it is the extra bit of history and years of experience there in Nauvoo that make them the best. They must sit in the refrigerator for a little while so when the time is right they will begin new lives as little gingerbread girls and boys.

Here is the recipe if you are interested, the recipe makes a lot of dough:
1 cup sugar
1 cup sorghum or molasses
3/4 c oil or lard
1/2 cup hot water

Combine the above and then add:
2 eggs

Mix together the following:
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ginger
6 or 7 cups of white flour

Combine everything together and form dough.
Refrigerate dough overnight
Roll out and cut with cutters
Bake 350 degrees for 10 minutes

To roll out the dough we (the bakery) use Pam in place of flour

Cookies freeze well and are softer and more flavorful after freezing/

Fall jackets

I finally finished sewing Megan's fall jacket. I finished Anna's awhile back but wasn't able to get Megan's done until last week. I had bought the fleece fabric at the same time in different colors when it was on sale. So Megan knew that she was getting a jacket eventually in the green fleece. She even resorted to wearing the unsewn fabric around the house saying "my jacket, my jacket". It was a subtle hint to her Mommy to sew her a jacket too.

I found the pattern on Ebay (Butterick 4908), unfortunately it has been discontinued. My mother-in-law, Dianne, helped me scale down the pattern for Megan's size. Overall a good sewing project and easier the second time. It has a good-sized hood and fun pockets for little hands. So cute or maybe it is just the cute girls!

Leaves Update

I am adding to my last post but it requires a post all its own. I was complaining about the leaves in my last post and how my yard was a magnet for all things falling from any tree. Anyway, we came home yesterday from church and all of the leaves were gone! My mouth dropped open because I hadn't seen the grass in my front yard for a while. It was such a big contrast compared to how we had left it three hours earlier. I know my neighbor doesn't read my blog but maybe he felt sorry for the pregnant mommy next door whose husband is out of town way too much for this time of year. Our neighbor owns a landscaping business so I think he had the equipment to do it quickly but very thoughtful nonetheless. We are gone for over three hours to church as well. What a nice gift to us and it wasn't even his tree that had given us all the leaves in the first place. I haven't had a random act of kindness done like this for me for a while and just reminds me I should be on the lookout for more opportunities myself to do unto others.

Thank you neighbor!

Too many leaves, So little time

Last weekend we made a small dent in the huge amount of leaves in our front yard. Anna and Megan have become expert leaf jumpers thanks to the huge oak tree across the street that continues to lose its leaves. I agree that it is important to be neighborly but sharing leaves is a little extreme! If I could somehow get our one tree to send its leaves across the street, then it would be even. Anna loves it when we make big piles and gets mad when we try to bag them up. The girls had a good time hiding in the huge pile.

It's a Boy!

We are happy to say baby boy Shaw will be here around March 14! The ultrasound was done this morning and without a doubt we are not having another girl. We love our girls but there is nothing wrong with mixing it up a bit. He looks healthy so, God willing, bring on the trucks and the dinosaurs! Anna is very happy and Megan is still a little perplexed at the whole idea.

November, really?

Okay, I can accept the fact that the year will be over in about two months. But with temperatures reaching up to 75 degrees today it is hard to feel like it is actually November 2nd. The trees are beautiful here in Missouri as they change into their fall colors and apparently I put away the short sleeves and sandals a little prematurely.

We saw Grandma and Grandpa Shaw off at the airport this afternoon. We had a great time with them and toured a couple cider mills that are not too far away. Unfortunately neither one of the mills gave a presentation of how the cider is actually made so I was a little disappointed.

Halloween

I can't say that I enjoy Halloween a lot. I definitely avoid the spooky, scary side of it as much as possible. I have noticed some houses in the neighborhood go all out and there yards are filled with as much as they can fit in every square inch. There is a house not too far down the road that has a lot skulls and dummies hanging from the trees. Definitely a morbid sense of humor and I say to each his own.

I enjoy watching my girls in their costumes and there wide-eyed discovery that yes, strangers really do put candy in my bag if I ring their doorbell. Last night, Anna was the experienced one as she raced ahead. We had a hard time reigning her in and had to ask her many times to just wait for Megan before she rang the doorbell. Both of the girls were on there best behavior for the most part and said thank you to almost everyone. Gordon and I walked with the girls and we all stayed out about 45 minutes. The weather was perfect and no jackets were needed here in Missouri. Megan was pretty funny to watch. As soon as she was finished at one door and before it was even closed she would yell out "Let's go to the next one!". The stars were out in the sky and every time she looked up she would sing out the song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star". She was the most excited when someone gave her a sucker and she was sure to let me know about it.

Here are the girls in their costumes. Anna was a bunny and Megan really liked being a flower. The costumes were really easy to put together with stuff we had on hand with a few things we bought at the craft store. Grandma Shaw helped sew a fleece tummy on Anna's pink top and pants. Martha Stewart helped out with Megan's flower collar. Felt squares cut into petal shapes, backed with craft-fuse and glued into bias tape to tie around her neck. I used RIT dye to change the color of her white shirt to 'Sunshine Yellow'. Anna has already told me she wants to be a banana for Halloween next year so I better get started on that one because I have no ideas!

How can it be?

My Anna turned five years old today. How can it be? Five years has gone by way too fast but fun nonetheless. We have made it this far with only one broken arm and one tooth knocked out after a short dancing career. We love our Anna. She has always been so compassionate and is always ready with a hug when I am having a bad day.

Anna wanted a princess castle cake and she was very specific about the design details. (Future architect?) Purple icing with pink windows of course! I did my best and must say it passed her inspection. Definitely the best princess castle cake I have ever made. Okay, okay, the only princess castle cake I have ever made. Happy Birthday my sweet Anna!

(A couple people asked how I made the cake. I used a 9x13 pan for the bottom and then a circle pan for the top layer with a cupcake on the very top. The sugar ice cream cones are easy to find at the grocery store and then I used wooden skewer through the tops to hold the cake together. I microwaved Starburst candy for 11 seconds so I could flatten them easily and cut them into pennant shapes or used a small heart cookie cutter for shape. Not hard to make at all.)

Mommy's Time-Out

Last Friday I went to Omaha with three friends to a Time-Out for Women. For those of you who aren't familiar with Time-out for Women, it is a two day event with several speakers and music. Topics range from relationships with your spouse to your own relationship with Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I learned some new things but also remembered a few things I had forgotten. Nothing wrong with a refresher course once and awhile, especially while my children are absent so I can concentrate! Thanks to my loving husband I enjoyed myself thoroughly without my children there. Gordon stayed home with the girls and I missed them all by the time I returned late in the evening on Saturday.

Anja, Mandy, Carrie, and I had a great girls' out weekend. I highly recommend the hotel we stayed at in Omaha. The Magnolia Hotel is an older building renovated into a hotel. The rooms were right out of a travel magazine with blues and chocolate brown, very modern and I never saw one child the whole time! After we returned Friday night from Time-Out they had milk and cookies in the lobby. We lounged next to the fireplace and could of fallen asleep there but the hotel didn't offer any kind of shuttle service to our room. We made it back to our room to enjoy the chocolate stash we had all brought to share. There was definitely no shortage of chocolate but after the milk and cookies downstairs, we only made a small dent in our pile of chocolate. We had a great time laughing and just enjoyed each other's company. So nice to enjoy adult conversation without a little one demanding something at the same time. Good times!

One of the speakers on Saturday was Elie Gourgouris. I think he had a Ph.D in family relations or something like that. Anyway, he talked about the language of love. Everyone has a love language or how they like love expressed the best. He explained them as being in the form of:
~gifts
~words of encouragement or appreciation
~physical touch
~quality time
~or acts of service
Especially in a marriage, one person may prefer one over the other. He first asked, "What is your love language?" and then he asked, "What about those you love?" I thought these were great questions that I am still finding the answer to. Good questions to ask about any relationship in our lives, no?

F.H.E.

The other night for Family Home Evening we made a special treat with apples. It could have turned out a little better but with a few changes they would be great. The girls had a great time dipping them none the less.

You will need a melon baller/scooper, apples, caramel wrap, toothpicks, and wax paper. Use the melon baller to scoop out bite-size balls of apple. Then stick a toothpick into each apple ball. We melted caramel squares and dipped the apples into the caramel but the caramel would not stick to the wet side of the apple. I think the caramel wrap that you can buy already flat would be better to wrap around each piece. I have seen them in the produce section of our grocery store. Just follow the directions on the package but you will need to cut the big piece into smaller pieces for each ball of apple. Have fun!

What would you do with an extra $100?

Hi, my name is Melissa and I am addicted to fabric.
Okay not really so much addicted, but I if I had an extra $100 for just myself, I would probably buy fabric. I know many of us don't know what having an extra $100 is like, including myself, but what would you do with it? Don't think about your unpaid bills or the clothes your child is outgrowing. Think about what you would buy just for yourself.

My husband and I were out enjoying a dinner alone the other night thanks to my mom and dad visiting. Gordon mentioned how a co-worker had some money problems due to his wife's fancy taste in purses. I couldn't really relate to a collection of expensive purses or shoes but then we talked about what we would buy a lot of if we had the money to do so. I was really surprised by my husband's answer but good to know none the less. He doesn't like to shop at all so when he said he would buy really good shoes, I was shocked!

Some of you may even share my love for fabric. There are some really neat, unique fabrics out there that I can't find at my local fabric store. Amy Butler and Michael Miller are just a few of my favorites. So until my boat comes in I will just take my coupon for 40% off up the street to Jo-Ann's.

At the beginning

At the beginning, a very good place to start.

I have enjoyed reading the blogs of so many friends and family so it was only a matter of time before I would join them. I have even read blogs of total strangers offering helpful tidbits. It is a great way to share the things that I love and enjoy. Don't expect any a-ha moments or profound inspiration, not on purpose anyway. I am not out to change the world. I don't know quite what to expect yet from this new adventure but I hope you enjoy the this and that of my life and that of my family's.

This past weekend, I witnessed another beginning. My baby brother, Josh, was married and sealed to Jessica in Nauvoo. I am not a great photographer but here is a picture of them. The pretty little girls in green our mine. Congratulations Josh and Jessica. We love you. What a great beginning.