Christmas Day

Our Christmas morning started out with filled Stockings,

you know full of girly things like warm socks, headbands, eyeshadow, candy, bath and body works soap....all those things that Santa knows girls need!

Deann got one really fun thing put in her stocking from the youth pastor.
It is a snow globe that one of the youth made and was passed around at the youth Christmas party and then decided that Deann needed because she wasn't there.
On one side it says "Jesus loves you and is watching over you and so am I" the other side as you can see is a picture of the youth pastor.
Deann loved it.

The girls also got the annual Christmas Gift from their Aunt Joyce in California.
Matching Joy bags filled with candy and santa ears.
(Joyce has always bought all 9 grand daughters the same thing ever since they were born. It use to be really cute matching outfits,(( they are a bit too old for that now though)) shirts, scarfs, purses, nail polish or something, she is really sweet and the girls look forward to opening her gift)

The best gift of all was the matching I-pod touches
they got from Dusty and I and my mom!
They love them.

I borrowed a couple of blog recipes this year for Christmas.
The first a German Pancake
(and from whom I don't know)

Melt 5 tbsp of butter in a 9 x 13, in a 450 degree oven.
then add 6 eggs, 1 cup milk, 1 cup flour and 1/2 tsp salt all mixed together.
bake until fluffy,about 15 minutes.
Add whatever toppings you would like, the possibilities are endless.
We added cinnamon and powdered sugar and covered with pan cake syrup, it was really good.
That is also a small side of bacon too.:)

Then I made a delicious pie from my Friend Christy at Between Here and Home.
Cranberry Bog Pie!
It was a hit and will make it again.

We had a relaxing day and even took a walk outside in the snow.
This has been our lawn for a month.
Lots of snow.
A real white Christmas!

Hope your Christmas was blessed.

Merry Christmas

We are stopping by to wish you a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas

This evening we will spend time at church at the candle light christmas service.
My kids love this and look forward to it every year.
I love it because it is the climax to a very busy month.
A time to stop and remember the real reason for this season
the birth of our dear Savior Jesus!
May your Holidays be Blessed

Confession

I have a confession.....I love my Girls.
And I can't stand to see them treated badly. I'm sure your not surprised.
This week, I got so angry at a basketball game that I almost had to be escorted out of the gym. Yes, I am a Pastors wife and a child of God.
Did I act like it , no! Have there been consequences, yes!
Woo! That was hard to admit.
My daughter has been playing basketball since she was in 2nd grade.
She has never had a coach that was belittling or an out and out screamer.
I had my fill and let it fester, rather than going to her and talking about the problem, I sat and stewed and then she did the thing that broke the camels back and called her stupid.
Now there is lots of mending to do.
Will this hurt my daughter, I don't know. But I do know that she is going to see her mother apologize and try to encourage a young lady that I would rather spank. Yes, she is probably old enough to be my daughter.
A christian is not perfect!
A christian is real, they admit faults and they apologize.
They pray, they search the scriptures and
they try to walk so closely to the Lord that others see Him and not us!
Christ continues to be the Lord of my Life
and I want others to know that and
not about my bad attitude.
Is there a lesson in this?
Go to someone and In love , talk about your issue, try not to let it fester.
Our words have the power to heal or destroy.
May my words heal and build!

Updated:
I talked with the coach , well all three of them and it went well.
I even gave that young lady a hug and she was very sweet.
I am praying that we can build a relationship
maybe this will be a beginning.

Snow

I wanted to share these darling pictures of my daughter, Denae.
Her sisters are both taking a photography class and are really learning to take some adorable pictures.She loves to be there model :)
This picture was taken by DeAnn about two weeks ago with the first snow!

And these pictures were taken by Darci a couple of days ago.

I am wondering where her shoes and coat are but glad that she is a kid and loves to try something new. They had a lot of fun taking these, of course , I wasn't home.

Christmas

This is our foyer. I used the Mr and Mrs Claus that we got the first two years we were married and added a fresh small evergreen arrangement. Notice the darling hanging evergreen on the mirror. My father-in-law made that for me for my birthday this year.

Our mantel

This year when putting up the tree we decided to go red and white, so If it wasn't red or white we didn't use it. I think it is prettier than the pictures show. It is not a very big tree but perfect for this spot.

Have I told you how much I hate the TV above the fireplace....but I am making it work.

We are also enjoying the fireplace. It has a gas log and is easy to light.
The girls light it while doing homework and it is so peaceful.

Last year we had no tree, as we we moved on December 22.
We are glad to be somewhat settled and ready to have Christmas in our own home this year.
Hope yours is blessed.

New Driver

Darci got her license , officially this week.
No more permit, no more mom and dad setting next to her....all grown up and driving to school by herself!
In Kansas she was driving 2 years ago and had just finished drivers ed when we moved here but in Indiana you have to wait until you are 16 years old and 1 month to get a permit and then 6 months of driving to get a license.
At first I was ticked but now I am glad that she had to wait
because she is a much better driver now.
Say a prayer for this mom ...I can't believe I have a driver in my home!

A few changes....

I found this cute saying while checking out blogs and I love it.
I found one at Hobby Lobby and knew immediately where i wanted to put it.
The place where we eat the most!

This is the entry to our house it has been blank for months, 6 to be exact.

Last week my husband and i were at Homegoods and found this table and lamp.
I would love to get a couple of unique chairs to put on each side of it
but for now it will store all my gift wrapping supplies.

I took this picture before Thanksgiving.
This was my fall table, filled with pinecones I got from my moms house this summer
and acorns I got while hiking with my husband and girls at Turkey Run State Park.
And the candle holder was from my Mother-in-law for Christmas last year,
picked up while on some vacationing adventure.

Fun Memories!

Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie-SMS

Today is the day that I get to host the Sweet Melissa Sunday recipe!

The recipe I chose was Ginger Custard Pumpkin Pie

doesn't that just scream fall!

The first thing you do is take one 6 x 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled and thinly slice and coarsely chop

and 2 cinnamon sticks, crushed

I have never used these before so it was an experience

crushing cinnamon was not easy

but the ginger gave the pie and extra boost!

I would make this again it was very good and a perfect fall dessert.

Ginger custard Pumpkin Pie
1 prebaked 10-inch pie shell
One 6 x 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, unpeeled, sliced thinly and coarsely chopped
2 cinnamon sticks, crushed
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups of fresh or canned pumpkin puree

Before you start
position a rack in the bottom third of your over. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the ginger, crushed cinnamon sticks, heavy cream, and milk to scalding. Remove from the heat, cover, and let steep for 10 minutes. Return the saucepan to medium heat and bring back to scalding.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks,sugar, and salt until pale yellow. Whisk the hot ginger cream, little by little, until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, briefly whisk the pumpkin puree until smooth. Slowly whisk in the ginger custard until incorporated.
4. pour the pumpkin custard in the prebaked pie shell. Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until set.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.
This pie keeps tightly wrapped in plastic at room temperature overnight. For longer storage, it keeps tightly wrapped in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Enjoy!

Happy Halloween

This was my crew at Trunk or treat!

Darci and I were the only ones that dressed up , she was really excited about decorating her car and decided to be a nerd, which she had a lot of fun with.

Dusty only gave out candy to the dad's , said he had the Man candy, he was a hit.

It was a fun night and fairly warm! Hope your Halloween was fun!

Comfort Gray... Sherwin Williams

This has been my bedroom color for 5 months.

It looked so elegant when we looked at the home.

Her furniture was huge and darling but this color has really worn on all our nerves.

It was really dark , olive green color.

And this was in the middle of the day before we painted it.

It took 2 coats of primer to cover it, I felt so tall with that long paint brush

This is just a peak at my new room.

Dusty says its green, Denae says its blue and I love it.

It is Comfort Gray by Sherwin Williams

I think it will be an easy color to match things with because it really is a soft neutral.


I know I have been reading too many blogs.

I told the guy that he should check out some blogs because it is all over.

So if The Nester, Susie Harris at Bienvenue
or Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Been gets a phone call from Sherwin Williams

tell them I sent You :)

SMS Fluffy Coconut Cake with Passion Fruit Filling

This weeks Sweet Melissa recipe was this delicious coconut cake with Passion fruit filling and was chosen by Karen of Karen's Cookies, Cakes and More.

Have I told you how much I love coconut!!!

I really liked this recipe and will make it again.I did half the recipe for the cake and it was still perfect.It was a yellow cake mix with no coconut and had egg whites folded in to the batter.The fruit filling was made of a passion fruit and the frosting was to die for. It had 1/2 cup of sweetened cream of coconut, cream cheese, confectioners sugar, butter and vanilla. The coconut flakes were then sprinkled on to the sides and because I knew my kids didn't like coconut, I only sprinkled coconut on half and they all loved it.

There was leftover icing and so I kept it and used it for bagels , good idea my oldest daughter thought.

I was really busy this weekend and couldn't post my cake that I made last Wednesday

because of this

band....

and my daughter had her first cheer competetion.




Then my other daughter hurt her foot and took up a good deal of Sunday.
Anyway, I really wanted to post how much I loved this.

Yard work

Today was one of my favorite days.

My husband and I have been wanting to put in a flower bed to the very

 back of our property all summer but knew the best time would be fall

then we could put in trees and shrubs.

This is the 70ft x 15 ft area that we worked on today






   

There were the overgrown tree and shrubs that we moved to the back yard
There were two sets of shrubs in this space but you couldn't see what was behind.

Both of us worked the tiller but my husband did most of the work , it was hard.

  







Awe so much better you can actually see our house.

    


And you can see the others in the back corner on the left.





I can say that I am so tired I can't move but shhhh don't tell my husband.
He will say this was your idea.



Pictures are getting bigger

I am playing with the settings on my blog and thought I would show some pictures of my girls!

                                                                Darci plays the flute



                                                               DeAnn plays the Clarinette





Denae is a cheerleader 

However they are wearing shorts because there are 48 of them for Jr. High Cheer