Christmas Performance

We had a really fun event this weekend.  Mary performed with her ballet class at the Festival of Trees here in town.  It is a fund raiser for a local hospital and is very well attended.  The Christmas trees are just so beautiful.  There were about 500 people watching the kids dance.  It was such a great experience for her and as you will see in the video she does not have any stage fright.  LOL  She is a real ham!

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Here is the link to the video: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=fd8281f3d88096ac583533&skin_id=1603&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Christmas Joy

Cutting the Christmas Tree

December 1st is here and I am loving every minute of it.  Christmas time is one of my most favorite times of year!  We went and cut our Christmas tree this time.  The last couple of years we have had a fake tree and we both had a hankering for that fresh evergreen scent in our home.  So we did a little research and found out that the Grand Fir tree is the most fragrant.  So, that is what we got.  We went out to a U-cut Christmas tree farm that is owned by Mary's ballet teacher.  She was so surprised to see her teacher out there.  We took a little while to find just the right one but it was all worth it.  When Rich was going to get the van to put the tree in, Mary and I took pictures of each other to pass the time.  Mary is turning out to be a pretty good little photographer.  When we got the tree in the van and paid for it, we stayed in the parking lot and had hot chocolate and listened to Christmas music on the radio.  It was such a beautiful day.  We sipped our hot chocolate and stirred it with candy canes.  We set the tree up and put it in water right away.  We waited to decorate it until the next day.  We just enjoyed the scent and beauty of the tree that evening in all of it's natural glory! 

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a very blessed and busy Thanksgiving weekend.  We had such a lovely visit with family on Thursday and Friday.  On Saturday we went and cut our Christmas tree and decorated it on Sunday.  So now we are in the Christmas season full force!  Here is a slide show I made this morning of our Thanksgiving.

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Here is the link to the video:  http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=fce1e521a6dfaa917f5039&skin_id=1603&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Thanksgiving Wishes

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A Sunday Afternoon in the Fall

We had busy day yesterday. We went to church and taught the 4 year old Sunday School class and had a blast then came home and had homemade pizza then Rich headed out to the garage and made the walls to our greenhouse and put it up. We have had such a mild fall that we have not needed to put it up until now. We knew we had to get it up this weekend or our avocado tree would suffer from the cold. Rich did such a great job on the greenhouse. It looks great and I can't wait to get the rest of my cold tender plants in there.  Here is a shot of our neighbors tree from our yard.  The trees around here are just so beautiful.  So much red, gold and orange splendor.

Mackie and Mary had so much fun playing outside for a little while.  Here is our lovable little teddy bear dog (that is what Rich calls him).  He is handful at times but we couldn't imagine life without him. He has the run of the house now and has not had any accidents or got into anything.  We even leave him for several hours at a time and he does just great.  He is a very smart little guy.  We all love him a lot.

He and Mary are such good pals.  After their romp outside, I put Mary in the tub.  He loves watching everything she does.

Then I made 2 pumpkin pies.  I used the pumpkin we grew in the garden this year.  It had a double purpose.  We used it for Mary's Halloween pumpkin.  Then when I brought it in, it was in such beautiful shape I didn't have the heart to throw it away.  We used a battery operated light inside, so the inside was clean and fresh.  So, I washed it up good and boiled the meat, cut off the rind and found a great recipe on the internet for homemade pumpkin pie filling from scratch.  It turned out really yummy.  Rich is not much of a fan of store bought pumpkin pie but he really liked this pie.  I thought I would post the recipe if any are interested in making one.  I plan on making a couple for Thanksgiving.

Pumpkin Pie from Scratch

1 cup sugar - or 1 cup Splenda, or 3/4 cup honey (honey may make a heavier pie, though)

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon ground allspice

one half teaspoon ground ginger

one half teaspoon salt (optional, I don't use any)

4 large eggs

3 cups pumpkin glop (ok... "sieved, cooked pumpkin")

1 1/2 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk (I use the nonfat version) (note for those in France: evaporated milk in France is called "lait concentre'"; "lait evapore'" is powder)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract (optional) (metric: 20 grams)

Mix well using a hand blender or mixer.

Note: You may substitute 4 teaspoons of "pumpkin pie spice" instead of the cinnamon, cloves, allspice and ginger. But I think you get better results with the separate spices.

Note: The vast majority of people tell me this is the best pumpkin pie they've ever had. It's light and fluffy - however... if you want a heavy, more dense pie, use 3 eggs instead of 4 and 1 can of evaporated milk instead of 1.5)

Step 2 - Pour into the pie crust

I like a deep, full pie, so I fill it right up to about one quarter to one half inch from the very top.

Don't be surprised if the mixture is very runny! It may start as a soupy liquid, but it will firm up nicely in the oven! Note: the pie crust is brown because I used whole wheat flour! Tastes the same, but is healthier.

TIP: If you put the empty pie crust on your oven rack, with the rack slid partially out, you can fill it there and avoid making a mess while carrying the pie to the oven!

TIP: What do you do if you end up with more filling than will fit in your pie crust(s)? Easy! Of course, you can make another, smaller pie crust and fill a small pie pan... or just grease any baking dish, of a size that the extra filling will fill to a depth of about 2 inches (see the photo at right), and pour the extra filling in.. then bake it. It will be a crustless pumpkin pie that kids especially love! You can also use it in making pumpkin muffins or pumpkin bread!

TIP: You may want to cover the exposed edges of the crust with strips of aluminum foil to prevent them from burning! Some people make their own crust cover by cutting the rim off of a disposable aluminum pie pan!

Step 3 - Bake the pie

Bake at 425 F (210 C ) for the first 15 minutes, then turn the temperature down to 350 F ( 175 C ) and bake another 45 to 60 minutes, until a clean knife inserted into the center comes out clean.  I use a blunt table knife to test the pie.

Step 4 - Cool the pie

And enjoy! Warm or chilled, with whipped cream , ice cream or nothing at all - it's great!

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We ended our day with going to our home fellowship.  I brought one of the pumpkin pies to share.  Most of it was gone at the end of the evening so that was great!  We had a wonderful time of eating, sharing and Bible study.  We just love our group and our time spent with them!

Play Time

Mary got a scooter for her birthday. She was so excited to get it as she had been asking us for one for about a year now. I found just the perfect one for her at Walmart. It is called, "My First" Scooter. It has 2 wheels up front for better balance. That made my mother's heart happy. I had been looking at razor scooters but they just looked too scary for her to start out on. So I was so happy to get her this one for her birthday. Her grandpa and grandma gave her some money and we used that to get her a helmet, knee pads, elbow pads and wrist guards. Here are some pictures and a video I took of her yesterday when we had some nice weather for her to try out everything.

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Here is the link to the video of Mary Scootering: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=fa51d36acfbace1aa8864a&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

I am also including a video of our puppy Mac.  He loves to play with his big felt ball.  He will play with it all by himself, throwing it and then going and getting it.  We have a lot of fun watching him.  Here is a short video that we  did of him the other day.

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Here is the link to the video of Mac: http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?p=fa4fd8bcec748d0156e7ec&skin_id=601&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Big Boy Bed

We bought Mackie a new bed, a bigger one because he outgrew his puppy bed.  He still loves to play with and drag his old bed around but he loves sleeping in his new bed.  He can really stretch out now.  My sister put it so cute, that he has graduated to a big boy bed  :)  He's not spoiled or anything is he?

Halloween

Mary had a really fun Halloween.  Here is a scrapbook of her pumpkin and costume.

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Mary's 5th Birthday

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