Monday, December 22, 2008
Is it a hug or wrestling??
Sing Jack Sing!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Class Clown
Thursday, December 18, 2008
My baking buddies
Gingerbread Cookies anyone???
So, the recipe of the day is Gingerbread cookies. This recipe came from my parent's neighbor, Joanne Kapps. When we got married Joanne had given me this recipe at our wedding shower. Along with the Raspberry Pecan bars (which I will put out here tomorrow). These are the best Gingerbread cookies I have ever tasted. I dare you to try them.
Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup of Butter
2/3 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Light Corn Syrup
2/3 cup Honey
1 tsp. grated lemon rind (I don't always use this, just depends on if I have it on hand)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. clover
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
4 1/2 cup Sifted Flour
1) Cream butter and brown sugar together.
2) Add the rest of the ingredients except for the flour. Mix together
3) Gradually add the flour in. The dough should be soft.
4) Chill. Keep dough in refrigerator, remove 1/4 and roll to 1/8 inch thickness.
5) Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees
6) When they have cooled decorate with Royal Frosting.
7) In small mixing bowl put 1 1/2 cup Sifted Powder Sugar, 1 egg white, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. vanilla. Use electric mixer and mix until stiff. Use food coloring if desired.
8) Be sure to keep the frosting covered because it dries out fast.
ENJOY from our home to yours!!
Gingerbread Cookies
Ingredients
1 cup of Butter
2/3 cup Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Light Corn Syrup
2/3 cup Honey
1 tsp. grated lemon rind (I don't always use this, just depends on if I have it on hand)
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. clover
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
4 1/2 cup Sifted Flour
1) Cream butter and brown sugar together.
2) Add the rest of the ingredients except for the flour. Mix together
3) Gradually add the flour in. The dough should be soft.
4) Chill. Keep dough in refrigerator, remove 1/4 and roll to 1/8 inch thickness.
5) Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees
6) When they have cooled decorate with Royal Frosting.
7) In small mixing bowl put 1 1/2 cup Sifted Powder Sugar, 1 egg white, 1 tsp. lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. vanilla. Use electric mixer and mix until stiff. Use food coloring if desired.
8) Be sure to keep the frosting covered because it dries out fast.
ENJOY from our home to yours!!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
What's that green bread???
Here is the recipe for my mom's all time best Pistachio Bread. So, easy to make and it is absolutely scrumptious!!!!
Pistachio Bread
1 Package of Yellow Cake Mix (with pudding in it)
1 packet of Pistachio Pudding Mix
8 oz. Sour Cream
1/4 cup of Water
1/4 cup of Oil
4 Eggs (no one said it was healthy)
Mix ingredients together. Spray pan with Pam and sprinkle a little Cinnamon/Sugar mixture on bottom. Fill the pan 1/3 of the way up. Sprinkle more Cinnamon/Sugar mixture. Fill the pan up another 1/3 of the way. Sprinkle more Cinnamon/Sugar on the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.
EAT THE CAKE!!! You will love it and never want to go back!!
Pistachio Bread
1 Package of Yellow Cake Mix (with pudding in it)
1 packet of Pistachio Pudding Mix
8 oz. Sour Cream
1/4 cup of Water
1/4 cup of Oil
4 Eggs (no one said it was healthy)
Mix ingredients together. Spray pan with Pam and sprinkle a little Cinnamon/Sugar mixture on bottom. Fill the pan 1/3 of the way up. Sprinkle more Cinnamon/Sugar mixture. Fill the pan up another 1/3 of the way. Sprinkle more Cinnamon/Sugar on the top. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes.
EAT THE CAKE!!! You will love it and never want to go back!!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Cookies Cookies and more Cookies
I am not sure why I do this to myself every year at this time. In my family it was a tradition that I think my mom started and maybe my Grandma Alice started it before her. Not sure on that one. But, my mom would spends days and hours baking up every cookie you could imagine for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations. We would have Lemon Bars, Butter Cookies, Sugar Cookies, Crescents, Reese's Peanut Butter Bars, 7 Layer bars, Banana Bread, Pistachio Bread and the list goes on. At some point I don't even remember when it happened the torch got passed to me to be the "Cookie lady".
I started my baking the week after Thanksgiving. And it seems like it has been non-stop since then. I have made: Lemon Bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Bars, 7 Layer Bars, Banana Bread, Pistachio Bread, Puppy Chow Chex Mix, Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls, Butter Cookies, Peanut Brittle, White Chocolate Peppermint Bark, Fudge and Caramel Corn. Making it all is pretty time consuming. But, what makes doing it so satisfying is watching my family and friends enjoy what I have made. So, I figured I would start posting some of the recipes out here. This Christmas season start a new tradition with your family. Bake goodies for someone you know will enjoy them!
Mom's Banana Bread
Ingredients
2/3 c. Margarine
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. Brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 c. buttermilk
1) Stir margarine to soften. Mix in dry ingredients except brown sugar.
2) Add brown sugar, bananas, 1/2 buttermilk. Mix until ingredients are moist.
3) Beat for 2 minutes. Add rest of buttermilk and eggs. Beat for another 2 minutes
4) Bake at 350 in greased/floured pans.
30-35 minutes for mini loaves or 55-60 minutes for larger loaves.
NOTE: You don't have to use Buttermilk. You can use Skim Milk and add a tablespoon or 2 of Lemon Juice to it. Then let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. It tastes the same as the original recipe.
I started my baking the week after Thanksgiving. And it seems like it has been non-stop since then. I have made: Lemon Bars, Reese's Peanut Butter Bars, 7 Layer Bars, Banana Bread, Pistachio Bread, Puppy Chow Chex Mix, Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Balls, Butter Cookies, Peanut Brittle, White Chocolate Peppermint Bark, Fudge and Caramel Corn. Making it all is pretty time consuming. But, what makes doing it so satisfying is watching my family and friends enjoy what I have made. So, I figured I would start posting some of the recipes out here. This Christmas season start a new tradition with your family. Bake goodies for someone you know will enjoy them!
Mom's Banana Bread
Ingredients
2/3 c. Margarine
2 1/2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
3/4 c. Brown sugar
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. mashed bananas
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2/3 c. buttermilk
1) Stir margarine to soften. Mix in dry ingredients except brown sugar.
2) Add brown sugar, bananas, 1/2 buttermilk. Mix until ingredients are moist.
3) Beat for 2 minutes. Add rest of buttermilk and eggs. Beat for another 2 minutes
4) Bake at 350 in greased/floured pans.
30-35 minutes for mini loaves or 55-60 minutes for larger loaves.
NOTE: You don't have to use Buttermilk. You can use Skim Milk and add a tablespoon or 2 of Lemon Juice to it. Then let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. It tastes the same as the original recipe.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Super Girl!
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Shoe Queen
It seems that dear little Ally has taken after her Nama, Great Aunt Denny, Great Aunt Eileen, Great Aunt Kathleen and Great Grandma Alice with an addiction to shoes. How is it that a little girl not even 2 could love shoes soooo much!!
Anyway, she also will take and put on all of our shoes and wear them around the house. She doesn't care if they are big. She knows it is funny! Just one of the many reason we love her!!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Give Just 1 Day

Please check out this website for info on the Give Just 1 Day project. I thought this was something great and positive that we should all do!
Happy Birthday Aunt Meggan!

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Jingle Bells!
Hello to all! We have dug ourselves out of the snow finally and are now wondering when the next snowfall will come. They say we will get hit with some snow tomorrow. So, we will see how that plays out. Today I was babysitting my neighbor and friend, Christie's, son John. We decided to put on a concert for Christie when she came home.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Storm Watch 2008
Here I sit looking out the window to an all white picture. Yeah everything is white. It has been snowing thru the night. It did seem like around 5ish that it was not snowing, but it started up again. All the schools are closed because they take this stuff seriously. Which is very nice! BUT, the downside my kids are not in the mood to play in the snow. Somehow I need to get them out there so they can work off their energy. Otherwise they will be bouncing off the walls! Here are some pics from last night and then this morning of the difference. I will continue to keep you posted on our storm watch 2008. LOL
I have a feeling this is not the last storm watch we will be seeing. Everyone tells me that this year they have already gotten record snowfall. LUCKY ME!
Let's see if the presents under the tree in our front yard will be under snow by the end of this storm. What do you think??
Monday, December 8, 2008
The Elf Families
So, every year Office Max does this thing where they let you upload pics and turn it into an Elf dance. I think that this is one of the funniest things ever. So, I created ours this morning. Click here to enjoy and get a great laugh!
Stacy and Dan also did one that I thought was quite funny too. Click here to view theirs.
Aaron just sent me his family one too which I thought was great. His is to the Charleston music. Click here to view it.
Stacy and Dan also did one that I thought was quite funny too. Click here to view theirs.
Aaron just sent me his family one too which I thought was great. His is to the Charleston music. Click here to view it.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
The eye of the tiger...
Well Jack's eye is all better. Or at least the stitches are off. He was quite the trooper did not even flinch when they removed the stitches. We went bright and early this morning to get them taken out. And there was no wait. Jack commented on why this time was so much faster to the nurse. She said because she was here. She showed him each of the stitches when she took them out. He was very interested in them. I am surprised he did not ask to take them home. HA He said they looked like spiders. Very cute how he always brings it back to some sort of boy thing. :)
Thanks for all the well wishes for him! He really appreciated every one's thoughts and prayers.
Thanks for all the well wishes for him! He really appreciated every one's thoughts and prayers.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Am I going to lose my eyeball???


Jack had 2 concerns: 1) "Are they going to remove my eyeball?" and 2) "Don't let Meggan touch my other eye because I don't want her to hurt that one."
Monday, December 1, 2008
What has Papa taught you?
Ally is definitely taking the role of class clown in the family. No matter how mad you are at her she does something that makes you laugh right away. Chad says he will break her of this silliness. We will see who will win!
O Gingerbread Tree!
We used green frosting since it was trees we were decorating. They did a great job. They even put some puppy droppings (made out of raisins) by the tree to symbolize Maverick's potty training. Ahh yes... How funny! I think they covered every possible square inch on the cardboard. They even put frosting on the cardboard and then sprinkled coconut on that for the grass with snow on it. So, cute!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
Our 1st Parade
It was a great nighttime parade. Lots of Christmas lights and music. They had marching bands from all of the local towns, fire engines, floats, horses, Alpaca's and even Snow Plows covered in Christmas lights. There was really nice fire that warmed the whole crowd. That came from the equipment that is used in Hot Air Balloons. This was the by far the kids favorite part. Of course aside from Santa finishing off the parade. It was a really neat parade that got us pumped up for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
That's a fantastic scarf!!!
Uncle Jim got Meggan this great scarf when he was in Australia. Meggan LOVES this scarf and wears it whenever it is cold outside. I can see it is going to be a staple in her wardrobe this winter.
THANKS UNCLE JIM!!!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Where did it come from??
Ally was not so sure. She never really played in the snow last year because she couldn't walk so it was hard to have to put her out in it. She kind of reminded me of the kid bundled up in the snowsuit of A Christmas Story. You all know the kid I am talking about. Don't you think she looks like that? I did see her picking up snow and eating it, so she gets that part of it. Now we just have to teach her to stay away from the yellow snow. YUCK!!
Now Maverick oh boy did he love it. He was crazy outside. So, I guess my folks have that to look forward to. He did not want to come inside either. So, that will be fun for them. LOL
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