I Usually Don't...

Start my Christmas thinking/planning/doing until Dec. 1, just to be sure to give Thanksgiving it's due. But I have come to realize that I really should do a little pre-December planning so that I am ready. Take for instance that I forget about the advent calendar until like the 10th, bad. And our St. Nicholas festivities are usually thrown together a bit as I have forgotten/not prepared in advance. SOOOO... lets get started a little earlier! I have started a nice link box over there on the right with Christmas ideas. Let me know what you like and reply with any other links you enjoy!

Riley

Last night when he asked me to trim his nails he brought me the big clippers not the baby clippers. And he now prefers to take a shower, it is weird not to bathe him. How can it go by so fast!

My Quiet Book

For mom!

This Week!

My baby boy turned 6! How can it be! Yesterday was Jake's birthday, he says 6 is pretty good. Before bed we got out the photo album that has his first few months pictures in it. I just can't believe it!

It was also Grandpa M.'s birthday we surprised him with a video happy birthday call on skype. We got a big smile! :) We love you Grandpa!
Here is Yoda as the kids have dubbed her. They all love giving her a light saber now that she is so grabby and they think it is hysterical that she tries to eat it! :)


I captures a great Leili smile while nursing the other day, photography while nursing is a little like juggling jello. Trust me! :)

Look at our two purple princesses! Beautiful girls who look so very different from each other!

Dad, Daughters, and Cupcakes!

Feliz Dia De Los Muertos!

In our family we take any opportunity to have an excuse to have yummy Mexican food, so of course we celebrate The Day of the Dead! We also usually make it into a family home evening, kind of a genealogy holiday!Here is Mama, and Leili making Great-grandma M.'s Mexican rice. And of course Mama is wearing her Day of the Dead apron! Festive, Festive!
This year money, patience, and sleep are all so short that our celebration was a bit muted compared to other years. But Jake and mama made agua de jamaica, and dad, Jake, &Fern made pan de muretos! YUMMM! We also made some refried beans and had burritos, it was all so good! If you want any of the recipes let me know!!
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Now for the yummy part of Halloween night!

We made Cherish's Potato soup using a pumpkin as the squash, mmmm!

Then we took the seeds from said pumpkin and made some roasted pumpkin seeds!

To go with our seeds, The Great Pumpkin, and Garfield facing scary pirates for Halloween candy, we made caramel corn! MMMMM!

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Happy November!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

The army man...

the bee...

with her flower...

and the wizard!

Hope yours is spooky!

More tomorrow... maybe!

Oh My! How Could It BE!?

My sweet Fern is 4!!!!

Here she is all dolled up for church in her birthday outfit!
And her dolly got one too!

Look at that serious wish making face! You have to pick the right one!

What a blessing our sweet Fern has been, and now she is a great big sister who loves Leili so much! What a wild and crazy 4 years it has been!

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Last Wednesday Dan and I took the kids on an "adventure"! :) They enjoyed most of it, just not the LONG car ride! We went to the Boston Temple, with it being so far it is an all day event. So we do not get to go often because finding a sitter to watch all the kids all day is not overly easy. But Dan and I both wanted to go and Fern had been asking to see the temple so we all went!

Look at those four cuties!

The kids really enjoyed walking around the temple, and we would go into the distribution center to warm up occasionally while looking at old Friend magazines!

I got a few shots with Leili propped up and then she started to lean, then eventually ended up all the way down examining the grass! Isn't she too cute!

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Back a little further, last Monday we went with some friends for some fall fun! We got to go on a hay ride, play on a hay fort, and disappear into a corn pit! The three mobile kids were a little fast for many pictures, but I thought I'd share a couple Leili pictures to appease the grandparents! :)

The End... for today!

Frugality!

Yes I have been slacking on the blogging, but there is just not too much (or enough) sleep happening around here! So I got a belated birthday gift from my love! And it is GREAT! All while reading it I kept thinking of the quote from Brigham Young "...use it up or do with out..." because it is all projects using "other"things to make new things!

Around the same time I got this we rented the movie Kitt Kittredge, which was a really fantastic movie. I highly recommend it, it takes place during the depression and I was so struck with their frugality and ingenuity! Why do we not do more of it? I was quite inspired! It was also interesting to try to find words to explain the Great Depression to my kids that did not sound exactly like what we are all living through now. Makes you think, maybe we should not be living like nothing is happening but maybe it would be wiser to change our habits and be prepared just in case.

All of this adds up to our own even stricter frugality here, and renewed need to "...use it up or do with out..." as Dan has unfortunately lost his job. Not good, but we know the Lord will bless us and He is everyday. It has caused the stress levels around here to go to red, which added to the very little sleep is a little tough, so extra prayers are always welcome!

It is a good thing I was so inspired! I am getting to put it to good use!

Mom & Daddy, (aka:Grandma J. & Grandpa M.) worked super hard and sent us this great "we're so sorry you lost your job" package! It is all dehydrated food from mom's garden and a few surrounding gardens near her! Potatoes, carrots, squashes, tomatoes, green beans, apples, oranges, cabbage, corn, peppers,peaches... it is amazing! And such a blessing!

So here is a dinner with all the veggies used are the dehydrated ones, Veggies and dumplings. It came out great and you could not tell the veggies where dehydrated! I have used a few here and there to supplement the meager amount of fresh we have from our garden, and the even higher intake of beans we are now eating! Boy are we thankful for even the small amount of food storage we were able to put away! We are truly blessed!
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And in the frugal spirit, I was fortunate enough to get a sweet potholder from our good friend Karen and the only requirement was to make something for 3 other people, who in turn have to make something for 3 other people! (So I guess you also have to have a blog, get to it Lisa ;) !) So the first three people to respond and who send me their mailing address will get a little something from me. And the fun part, it will be something out of my new book, made with some recycled material. Just remember if you get something you have to give something!

Shan na na Cool!!

Yep Riley has become Shan na na cool!

What is that exactly you may ask?

Well when I was a kid I LOVED the Shan na na show and I wore Shan na na shoes (aka: high top converse)! Well we found these great fake converse over at payless and Riley chose them!In action! The nice thing about these is he can not flip them off without untieing them and there for maybe they will not get ruined as quickly!
Mr. Cool!
And HERE is a little Shan na na for you too!

New Finds!

Just a couple of good finds to share! Two for me and one for you! Our recent Goodwill excursion produced not only a few needed things (new snow boots for the boys), but also two GREAT finds! First real Ugg boots in PURPLE! They will not be the right size for a couple more years and they need some cleaning, but Fern thinks I am so cool for buying them! (And I am stoked I got them for $6! :))

Then Second is this old Fisher Price barn, you know the one where the door moos! The bottom is wood and the top plastic with just a minor crack, and I got it for a $1!!!!
And the second is YUMMY!
I found this recipe and had to try it, I love cactus! It was great, we had it in warm corn tortillas with cumin rice on the side. On a side note, I got cactus with a chili in the bottom, this made it a bit too spicy for the 4 gringos in my house so next time I will get cactus without the chili. But it was great!! :)
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Ensalada de Nopales

Recipe Ingredients:

1 jar Embasa Nopalitos (Cactus)
1 small onion
2 tomatoes, peeled and diced
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup cup olive oil
1 lemon juice
3 Tbsp vinegar
2 tsp oregano
1/2 cup crushed Feta Cheese


Recipe Instructions:

Rinse and drain the cactus. Combine the cactus with the onion, tomato, cilantro, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, oregano, salt, pepper, and cheese. Pour ingredients into a large salad bowl. Garnish with tomato and cilantro and serve. Add hot peppers if desired. This salad makes an excellent taco filling, too.

Enjoy this delicious nopalitos salad Mexican recipe!

Preparation Time (min): 15

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For the cumin rice, just throw some whole cumin seed and cut up carrots in with the rice at the beginning of cooking!

Back Yard Cuties!

And the summer finally! Camping in the backyard with Dad!

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I am putting pictures up of our turtle adventure on our nature blog! Hop over and see our excitement!

Happenings!

Backwards!Tuesday evening we braved crazy NY drivers and headed into the city to see Mary and Ryan who were in town for fashion week!! Aunt Mary enjoyed loving up to Leili FINALLY!!
And Ryan enjoyed her too! It was good practice for February, right you two?!

Monday was our first day of school, what cute 3rd, 1st, & kindergardener we have!!

The girls and I enjoying the last of the summer sun!

Leili enjoying her "mobile" aka the tree canopy!

Can you see the trees? The whole world?

Leili's Blessing!

In our Church we bless babies, so today Dan was able to bless Leili at church! Here is our family picture from today!

Here are the men who stood in the circle with Dan (minus the bishop, he is too hard to chase down!)!! Grandpa H., Dan and Leili, Chris K., & Chris E.! The blessing Dan gave her was beautiful, I was able to record it with a friends tape recorder so that I can write it all down for Leili to have when she grows up.

Grandma and Grandpa H. were able to come out for the weekend!

And then the photo shoot began! :) Sorry she was just too cute to stop!

This is a dress my mom made to sell in a boutique when I was in high school, but I loved it and it left with me! :) It was perfect for Leili!

Have have QUITE a few more! :) But I'll leave it at that!

Fern also got a new dress, Grandma J. made her this fancy dress to wear when Leili wore hers! Fern did her hair this morning. :)