Monday, November 30, 2009

Festival of Tree's


Today was the day that my sister & I decorated a tree for The Festival Of Tree's. It was so AWESOME!!!! My mom ended up sticking around too to help us which was great because we got it done pretty quick. It only took about an hour to do.




This is me at 8 am after a night of no sleep. Attractive? I think so!



Finished tree. It looked awesome.

Friday, November 27, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!


[kids table]

Well yesterday was Thanksgiving. I cant think of anything that is NOT good about thanksgiving. Besides the too full feeling often felt by everyone after dinner. I believe my husband is one of those people who feels it the worst. He eats WAYYY too fast and WAYYY too much. Its hilarious to watch him after he's done eating because he just lays down anywhere that is available. This year it was in front of the fire place, behind the kids table at Allyson's house (Allyson is Rich's sister for those of you who don't know)

[Amir & the Twins, Tess & Elli]

This year was especially awesome because Amir is two. Which means he can sit at the kids table and can play with the other kids. That is exactly what he did. Unfortunatly he was feeling sick so he wasn't his usual crazy self and by the time we were getting ready to leave he felt really icky and was so grumpy that either Richard or I had to hold him. Poor little guy, I'm pretty sure he was sick on thanksgiving last year too. :( I hope next year he will be feeling better so he can taste the YUMMY food.
[Mason, Rich & Caden]

[Ruthie jumping to get in outside]


[Critter, Jasper & Hank.... Molly was there too but she didn't hang around the other dogs too much]




Pumpkin Pie Recipe...

I've had a few people ask me for the recipe that I used to make pumpkin pie. So in the spirit of Thanksgiving I'm posting it. haha.
For the people that I haven't sent it to yet who have asked, here it is:

Ingredients:

a pie pumpkin - I use one 6 inch pumpkin or two 3 inch... you should end up with about 3 cups of pumpkin insides...
1 cup sugar (or 1 cup splenda, or 3/4 cup honey - honey makes a heavier pie.)
1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional)
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional, I don't use any)
4 large eggs
All of the Sieved cooked pumpkin (should be about 3 cups)
1.5 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk for best results.
If you can't get canned evaporated milk, make your own from nonfat dried milk and make it twice as concentrated as the directions on the box call for!
If you can't get nonfat dried milk, just use milk.


Note: if you do not have cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger, you can substitute 3 teaspoons of "pumpkin pie spice". It's not exactly the same, but it will do.


Prepare pumpkin for cooking:
Wash the exterior of the pumpkin in cool or warm water, no soap.
Cut the pumpkin in half. A serrated knife and a sawing motion works best.
Scoop out the seeds.


Cook the Pumpkins:
Steam the pumpkin in a steamer or double boiler for 15 minutes. (or until cooked)
You can also cook in the microwave, just put some water in the bottom of the bowl and cover it. It still takes about 15 min.

Scoop out the pumpkin, the skin almost always just falls off when its cooked all the way. Puree or mash the pumpkin. It should be smooth with little or no chunks. A blender or handblender works fine for this.
If the pumpkin is watery after you puree it let it sit for 30 min and pour off any free water.

Mix all of the ingredients together with the blender (or whatever you used to mash the pumpkin. For best results use the seperate spices rather than pumpkin pie spice.)

Pour the filling into the crust. If you feel that your filling is too runny, ITS NOT!

Bake at 425 F for 15 min then at 350 F for another 45-60 minutes, until when you stick a knife in the center it comes out clean.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Does This One Match?

Last year Amir got the game "Mickey Mouse Club House Letters & Numbers" He was too young to play it when I got it (3yr+) so I've been saving it for him. I got it out today because he does pretty good with numbers and letters.
When I got it out and all set up he was already at work trying to match the numbers. He holds a number up to another and says: "Does this one match?" if it doesn't he says "nooooooo" and holds it up to another and another asking the same thing every time until he finds a match. When he does he says "YES!" and claps his hands.
My baby is awesome. :)

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Getting Ready For Christmas!

This really makes me want to vomit. If you listen to it take my advice, its easier to listen to it in parts. So pause and take a break every 30 seconds or so. I'm still not all the way through the song... If this doesn't get you into the Christmas spirit early NOTHING WILL!

Funny side note: While playing this song my cat proceeded to pee on the Christmas Tree Skirt. Lovely. And the dogs ran around the house barking because they couldn't figure out what the awful sound was.