Cookie Exchange

I'm participating in the cookie exchange over on the Farm Chicks Blog and here is the recipe I shared...

Holiday Spritz Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups Gold Medal® all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon rum extract or vanilla
Food color, if desired

1. Heat oven to 400ºF. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, salt, egg, rum extract and a few drops of food color.
2. Place dough in cookie press. Form desired shapes on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 5 to 8 minutes or until set but not brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. To decorate cookies after baking, use a drop of corn syrup to attach decorations to cookies.

Glaze w/ butter rum glaze
 
1/4 cup butter melted over med heat, remove from heat and stir in 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp rum extract. Stir in 1-2 tbsp hot water until spreadable.
 
Do you have a recipe to share?

First Snow!

The lake is alway beautiful in the morning...But, I think evenmore so when there is snow everywhere!

The houses are all covered

Looking across to Blodell

Looking out over the church to the lake...So beautiful!

All I want for Christmas is....

...my two front teeth! Why is so much more fun to report the loss of teeth, when you get to use that little song? I love it! Gabriel has had little wiggly teeth for a while now and they have finally fallen out! What a handsome little man!

Movin' On Up...

We've begun the process of moving into our new house! Our church has a rental house that they have graciously decided to let us live in. I'm so excited to finally live in a house! We will be offline for a bit, so sorry if you don't hear from me for a while. We will do most of our moving over the weekend and will begin staying there next week. It's an older home (built 1910), with lots of character and just enough space for our family. More photo's to come of the house, but to wet your pallet a little here is a photo I stole off google maps taken from in front of our church...


Not a bad view to get up to every morning, huh? The only difference from the picture will be our beautiful church in between us and the lake. Ahh, God is good!

Still no job yet, will keep everyone posted. I hope everyone has a blessed Thanksgiving and holiday season!

Answer to my question....

A friend of mine pointed out to me that I forgot to blog the answer to my little trivia question...

Q: What/Where is this picture....

A: That is the Washington Public Power Supply System (WPPSS pronounced woops LOL) and it is located outside a town call Satsop, WA in Grays Harbor County. We passed it on the highway out to Ocean Shores. I've seen this place many times in my travels of the state and I just laugh at the wastefulness of it. WPPSS built this and the Hanford Nuclear site, went over budget, took too long and ended up not even using this facility due to the fact that hydro power was much more efficient and better enviromentally for our area. For more about this place you can go to the link below.

http://www.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5482

It's good to be home

Josh and I just returned home last night from our little vacation. It was so nice to get away and relax, but it's even better to come back home to the kids.

For those that don't know...I won a contest through the local tv station and my prize was dinner at Anthony's Restaurant and a gift certificate to stay at Shilo Inns. We chose the Ocean Shores location for our getaway and I think you can see why in the above photo!

We had fun just walking the beach, collecting shells for the boys and checking out the wildlife. Lots of seagulls, pelicans and other sea birds. Seals could be seen bobbing out in the surf and the scenery was so beautiful. The weather was really great, too. Especially since it is October!

What a beautiful place! Beaches on the ocean are sooo different than the ones we're used to on the Puget Sound. We will definitely be returning with the kids as soon as we have a vehicle large enough to get us all there. :o)

On the way back we stopped off to have lunch with my sister in Olympia. She works right down the road from the capitol building so we decided to play tourist for a little bit and check it out. It was lots of fun, too! I think everyone should visit their government buildings and learn what really goes on in them. Be an informed citizen!

All in all it was great to get away for a bit. But, I missed my kids terribly. First time I was ever away from Elizabeth over night. She was so cute when I showed up at my mom and dad's to pick her up. She had a look that can only be described as utter shock when my mom opened the front door and Elizabeth saw me. It was so cute!

To see more photos go to my facebook album....
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=116829&id=827237009&l=41e52a4d4b

Homeschooler/ Trivia Question:

What and where is this place....

Toddler + Computer + Coffee =

...disaster, well not really, since the computer wasn't damaged in the process. It's kinda a morning routine here for Elizabeth to sit w/ me while I sip my coffee and check my emails. Well, that routine is ending from here on out. This morning she kicked my key board w/ such force it bumped my coffee cup and sent it flying off onto the floor of my bedroom. Huge splatter of hot coffee all over me, my chair, the floor and all three of my clean pants I had folded at the end of my bed. Isn't life w/ a toddler so exciting? Off to do laundry and get the apt back in order after being sick for two days. :o)

I've been meaning to blog...

Really I have :o) We've been up to a whole lot of nuttin' around here. Josh is applying for or talking to someone about a job just about every day. Just when we're about to give up and send him off to work at McD's we hear of another job somewhere that just sounds fantastic, but no one has hired him yet. He had talked w/ the job down in TX, but they could only promise him work through the end of the year w/ no benefits and no relocation, so we turned that one down. Then the job in Moscow, ID called and had him come in for an interview and they really liked him, but they have to wait until they get the funding to hire him. In addition to these we've had lots of "not a this time" or "not interested" answers as well as no answers at all. But, we know God has a place for us out there somewhere and we're ready and eager to go where ever He wants us.

We've spent the last month enjoying the last bits of summer. When Josh went to ID, the kids and I went to his brother's house to spend time w/ my SIL and her girls and Josh met up w/ us there. We took in a couple $2 movies, went to Ikea and the Puyallup Fair. The movies were great, we saw Up w/ the whole family and then Trish and I went out to see Star Trek w/ the babies during nap time, it was wonderful :o) Ikea was great of course and we got Eli some new bedding, as her tiny crib blankie was not sufficing anymore. The Puyallup Fair was not so great. Word to the wise...Free admission day is not that great of a deal when you can't do anything because of the masses of people in your way! Here is a pic of the highlight of our experience

$3 for an ear of corn...not pictured is the $5 soda!
Coming up this next month Josh and I will be taking in our first ever vacation alone. We are pretty excited and as a bonus the hotel stay is FREE! I won the KVOS "find Deb at the fair" contest back in August during the Lynden Fair and I won gift certificates to Shilo Inns and dinner at Anthony's. Since Shilo Inns and Anthony's aren't in the same locations we went out to dinner last week and I really enjoyed it since I have recently weaned Elizabeth and was able to eat whatever I wanted w/o having to worry about her allergies. I was fantastic!

My Design Style...

I've always wondered if there was a definition for my decorating style...you know like "shabby shic" or colonial or whatever... Well, sproost.com has a little quiz to help you figure out your style and I think they hit me spot on. Here's my results...

86% Rustic Revival

14% Nantucket Style

Rustic Revival You can take kid out of the country but you can't take the country out of the kid... or is your theme "you can take the kid out of the city, but you can't take the city out of the kid?" Either way you play it, you are one of the unique individuals who loves a mix of modern and country. The clean lines of the modern softened by rustic /vintage elements is the perfect mix in your mind. And can we blame you? You've taken the best aspects of two popular designs and mixed them in a manner that appeals young and old alike. A subtle background of white or light colors provides a nice canvas for all the wonderful flea market, eBay or garage sale finds as well as the classic modern pieces that you love.

Materials: The material palette for urban country runs the gamut because of the two extremes being mixed. On the countryside you see a lot of wood, woven rope, canvas and linen, rustic metals and wrought iron, cowhide and vintage leather. On the more modern side, you see acrylic, satin and polished nickel and chrome, glass, faux fur, refined leather, fiberglass and sleek woods. It's the mixing of these elements that makes the style work so well. Seagrass and other natural woven materials are often used for floor coverings. Concrete and natural wood floors are very popular, and work really well together.
Colors: When it comes to color, think light, casual and airy. White, pale gray or beige, khaki and sage; all of these colors make nice, subtle backdrops for Urban Country style. Think of the colors of natural linen, concrete, and if you'd like to go dark, use the dark brownish-black of iron or the deep burnt orange of rust. The key is to keep the spaces feeling open (go modern!) and yet warm (yay for rustic!), and by going light on the walls and major pieces and more color on the accents and accessories you can achieve this mix really well.

Nantucket Style Oh how you love the beach! Who doesn't, right? And so your dream home is either perched in your favorite beach town, or you've brought that favorite beach town into your house

If you are into decorating too you should check out the quiz at http://www.sproost.com/

Lazy Summer Days...

We've been keeping really busy around here doing nothing lately. Spent almost a week down in Auburn visiting Ben and Trish. Discovered my newest obsession...which may or may not require some intervention soon....but anyhoo, I'm speaking of IKEA!!! I have never ever been there and on a whim Trish and I decided to go check it out. Hoping to find curtains. Well, we didn't find anything for here, but my "wish list" for after we move is about a mile long. What we did find is a screaming deal on these little dish sets...

They were 99 cents!!! For the whole set...everything in that pic 99 cents! So naturally I bought four. :o) Tried to justify more to myself, but four was enough. Trish got four as well. My "one that got away" was this supper cute lamp that I thought would have been perfect if Gabe had his own little knight room, but he doesn't so I had to let it go. It was only $2.99 and oh so cute!

Thats enough about that...

We also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on the 14th by having a picnic at Hovander Park (where we were married), had a little birthday celebration for Zaccheaus' fourth bday and went to a little shindig for Ocean Card's fourth birthday the next day. We've really been enjoying our time with Josh home with us, but are eagerly awaiting him finding a new job. He's got a couple prospects on the horizon and is still looking for others. Please pray with us that he can find something by September. Our lease is up then and we will have to move anyways, so we're really hoping he'll have his new job by then. If you want more info on his job offers you'll have to contact me. Until then... Here's some pics of us having fun :o)

Downtown Seattle:

Hovander Park

He Graduated!!!!

Josh's school career is finally all finished!!! On June 13, 2009 Josh graduated from Western Washington University with a bachelors of science degree in Industrial Technologies-Vehicle Design. Thanks to all who made it to the graduation and the dinner afterwards and an even bigger thank you to all of you who have helped us an prayed for us through this journey. Please continue to pray for us as we try to figure out where God wants us to be and where He wants Josh to work. :o) Thanks! Here's a few pics from the day...

The Countdown Has Begun: Two weeks to go!!

Hola all! We're down to two weeks left until Josh's graduation! He has one week left of school full of presentations and finishing up projects then finals week. He actually doesn't have any finals this quarter but will be working full time at his work study until he earns the remainder of his allotted monies. Yay for earning money! Our trip to Seattle went well. I got a dress down there, but it was the same one I had already found up here. Josh couldn't find a suit anywhere that fit, so we went into Men's Warehouse on memorial day and he got fitted and got two complete suits with shirts, ties, shoes and a belt for $700. Everything was buy one get one half off, except the shoes. We went over to Target the day after Gabriel's birthday party and I found polo shirts for the boys on clearance for $1.98 each! I also found the cutest little romper for Eli to wear and it matches my outfit perfectly. Oh, speaking of Gabriel's birthday...we had lots of fun and I will be posting pics over on the boys' blog shortly. We would love continued prayer from everyone and if you're going to be in the area, you are invited to Josh' graduation June 13 at 4pm. Let me know if you'd like to come :o) Here is a sneak peek of mine and Elizabeth's outfits...

The Countdown Has Begun

24 days and counting until Josh's graduation!!! We are all so excited for this season of life to come to an end. Josh graduates from Western Washington University on June 13 with a bachelors degree in Industrial Technologies-Vehicle Design. It will be aired on the local comcast channel if anyone wants to watch or you can come and watch it in one of the lecture rooms at WWU. All of our four tickets to the ceremony are already accounted for, sorry. :-(
He is staying very busy finishing up his projects, presentations and all the other things of life. He has been polishing up his resume and we have found a few companies worth applying to (and no none of them are in Detroit) and are researching the housing markets in several towns. It's so weird to not know what will be happening in your own life two months down the road. We would greatly appreciate any prayers for direction and to just help us get through this last bit of school.
This weekend we are planing on doing some shopping for this big event... Josh hoping to get a suit for his future interviews and to wear to the ceremony. It'll be his first suit ever. LOL He doesn't even know how to tie a tie, so this will be interesting. Plus, he said that since he'll be all spiffy at graduation I can get a new dress to wear, so I can be all fancy, too. We're going to go visit his brother in Auburn, so we can shop down there and have more of a selection than here in Bham. OOOHHH...this is getting so exciting!!! You have no idea!

WWYD

The time has come in our season of life where we need a larger vehicle and I really am not excited about this change. I love my Jetta. So, the next step up in vehicles is a 7 seater mini van or SUV...but all I can think about is when the boys are older we're just going to need an even bigger vehicle and what if we want someone to ride with us, we'd only have one extra seat. Oh, the predicament! Here is what most of my friends end up buying in this situation....

Now I don't want to upset anyone who has one of these, but I hate them and yes I have driven one. They are just too bulky and too long. And really we don't need 15 seats. Plus for the millage it gets we could drive around two Jettas and still average 10mpg better, at least, than one of these. Anyhoo... here is Josh's solution to this here quandary.....

The Dodge Sprinter 12 passenger conversion van. It gets an average of 22mpg and is a lot smaller and better designed than the average American conversion van. Anyone have any input on this? Know of an even better vehicle out there for a family of 6?

So....What Would You Drive?

It's been a while...

No I haven't dropped off the face of the earth... More

posts to come soon...Until then...Here is a pic of Elizabeth. TOO CUTE!!!

Ooohhh....Pretty Fabric LOL

I was just reading the Farm Chicks' blog (http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com) and they are doing a fabric give away. Not just any fabric, mind you. The prettiest fabric and it's made in the good ol' us of a. :o) The fabric company is called pixie dust and you can check them out at http://pixiedustdecor.com/ Too Cute!

AMAZING Art!Christ Painting!

Nate (josh's bro) shared this with us...It's amazing... Can you see it before the end?

Busy...Busy...Busy

We've been sooo busy lately...Soccer, Home School, Church, College, ETC...



Just wanted to say we're all doing good and show some pictures off...



Gabriel and this other boy both wanted to be goalie and everytime the other team got the ball they both ran towards the goal and left the other boy to play defense all alone....LOL

The other day I got bored and made this cake. We had a chocolate cake mix, but no frosting and me being the sugar adict that I am... got adventurous and made my own. It has choc. fudge on top and buttercream in the middle. It ended up tasting like a giant hostess cupcake....yummy!!! Lets just say it did not look this pretty for very long. We all had a slice after our dinner and then after the kids went to bed, Josh and I just dug in w/ a fork. I think I had some for breakfast the next day....Man I should not make cakes....

The last few days the weather has been sooo nice. A scourching 60+ degrees and I couldn't stand staying inside all day any longer. So, my friend Tara invited us over to run and play at her house. We all enjoyed it so much. They had a huge play structure, a sand box and lots of room to run. The boys even flew their kites, as the wind was starting to pick up. All the moms hung out, chatted and sipped coffee. Such a wonderful time. I can't wait until I have my own yard to do that in...Someday, right?

Oh and check out the kiddos' pages for more pics and other happenings around here :o)

Spring Has Sprung

At our house we don't do the typical Easter celebration. We want to spend the time really reflecting on the death and resurrection of Christ rather than bunnies and baskets. So I stole this idea from a church friend who's blog I've been lurking on :o)
Last Friday, being the first day of Spring, we had a Spring Celebration! We had "spring" decorated donuts and fruit smoothies for breakfast. Then I had an appointment that morning. Came back home and had a little egg and candy scavenger hunt.
<-Gabe The boys thought this was so much fun. We had to have it inside due to the weather. In WA even when it's spring it is too cold outside sometimes.

<-Joshua Joshua got the golden egg! We buy the wonka candies since none of them have peanuts.

<-Zaccheaus Counting and trading their loot! :o)

I had to go to the church and set up for Titus Two and when I came home we were going to set up all the bird feeders and humming bird feeders (we've seen some already this year!), but again the wind was too blustery and the rains were heavy, so we put that off for another day.

For dinner I made salmon, baked red potatoes and corn...oh and snail dinner rolls. Look you roll them up and they look like this...

Sorry the pics fuzzy. I got a glare off my stone. The antenna (sp?) are carrots. The boys really enjoyed these too!
Just so I don't seem all martha stewarty here's what the rest looked like....

Happy Spring Everyone...Enjoy the weather...(when you can LOL)

New Posts

Just to let my readers know there are new posts and kid pics over on the kids' blogs. Click the link to the left that says their names. :o)

I want to go here...

Every year I try to plan a field trip for the spring that is incorporated into our lessons at home. We have learned about animals and their habitats and gone to the zoo, the oceans and gone to the aquarium and of course some smaller trips around the county too. I've been thinking about what to do this spring and I've decided to find something that you can only do in the PNW, since we may be moving to Texas this summer. I remember when I was in first or second grade going here... It is Historic Fort Langley in Langley, BC. It's where the actual fur trading post was a long time ago and you learn about fur trading, Native Americans (first nations in BC) and can even pan for gold. The have a blacksmith and copper smiths. I think this is the place for our "hands on" type of family. So...has anyone been here recently? Would you like to come along with us? I've just started collecting books from the library on these subjects and will probably plan the field trip some time in March. Here's the link to their site...

http://www.pc.gc.ca/lhn-nhs/bc/langley/index_E.asp

Update

Hola all! I'm back home from spending 5 hours at the dentist office this morning. Never got to see the dentist either, but over their lunch break they had two cancelations for tomorrow, so I will get my tooth looked at at 8:45 am tomorrow. Yay! How do you think you would do in a waiting room for 5 hours with a 6 month old? Eli was actually really good today and took a nap for almost two of the hours we were there. Such a wonderful baby :0) Well...I'm tired and can barely put two thoughts together, SO...ttyl
*New update...had dentist appt again today. My appt was at 8:45 but the dentist doesn't get there until 9, isn't that weird. Anyhoo...they are going to try and just fill in the tooth. So, I'm going back on monday to have it all fixed up. If that doesn't work I have to get a crown which we would have to pay for ourselves (yikes), because our insurance doesn't cover them.

Jacked-Up My Grill LOL

No I am not talking about getting car work done. I busted off part of my tooth last night. All weekend long it felt like my filling in one of my molars was detaching, but I found out while eating M & M's last night it was in fact my tooth detaching from the filling and the rest of the tooth. So...now I am missing half a tooth. To quote Trish "at least it's a molar and all my vanity is still in tact" LOL. I called my dentist this morning and ask if I can get in and they said now that I'm just a regular adult patient (as apposed to a pregnant one) I will have to come in and be on stand by to have it looked at. Ya...a women with four kids, one of whom is nursing, has time to sit around the dentist office all day. Or I could try to find a different dentist. So...that's what I tired to do. Josh's dentist in Sedro Wooley isn't accepting new patients until summer and told me to call someone else who takes state insurance. To make a long story short no one else in all of whatcom/skagit counties does. Looks like I'll be doing the stand by thing. If anyone wants to keep me company I will be at interfaith dental at 7:45 am on Friday and hopefully will be having this fixed soon.

4 x 4 Challenge

I've Been Tagged!

With the 4x4 challenge you go to your picture place and find the fourth folder. Open it up and choose the fourth picture and blog about that picture. Then tag 4 other people to blog about it.

So here it is....

This is Joshua (in red), Gabriel (green) and Zaccheaus at the Awanas carnival this last year. They really wanted to be the mario brothers, but there are only two mario brothers... So, Joshua and Gabriel were mario and luigi and Zaccheaus was a train conductor (or inductor as he would say LOL) Finding denim overalls in big kid sizes turned out to be quite a difficult task. I ended up finding a carhart pair for Joshua at a consignment shop and Gabe's were found on our third trip to value village. Umm...lets see...I tag Shandi, Jenn, Jessica and Monica

Hallelujah!!!!

NO SURGERY (for now anyways). We had our consultation with the surgeon today and he was unable to find the hernia. Which means that the hole is still there, but the piece of intestine that was slipping through it went back where it's suppose to be. So that means NO SURGERY. Hooray! Joshua is very relieved.

So to celebrate we got drinks and a cookie at Starbucks...yummy!

Isn't he cute with his tumbler he got from Auntie Trish for his birthday?

And here's a pic of Eli on the way to church on Sunday. Nice hat, huh?

Lastly, I want to thank all of you who have prayed for Joshua over the week. We really felt your prayers comforting us. We thank you so much!

Just An Update

Everyone has been asking how Joshua is doing, so I thought I'd add a little post on here. Joshua is doing good. He says he's not in pain anymore, but I think he's lying to get out of surgery. He is very scared and nervous about meeting with the surgeon and the whole idea of "being cut open". Thanks for all your prayers and I'll let you know whats new after the consultation with the surgeon tomorrow.

Yay!

Just got a call back from Dr Caesar's office and they can get him in Thursday at 11 am. Yay!

Thankful but frustrated

we won't be seeing a surgeon today. i am very thankful they called me this morning to tell me that they do not take our insurance, so any visits with them would be paid out of our pockets. i called around and got the name of who would be covered. got two doctors names, both at peace health medical where primary doctors are, but they can't get Joshua in until February 3rd. I took that appt, but they will call if anything opens up sooner. I'll keep you all posted.

Appointment

We meet with the surgeon tomorrow (Jan 27) at 1:30pm to schedule surgery and discuss what will be happening. His surgeon's name is Dr. Pietro :o)

Night at the ER

Here's our little trooper Joshua at the ER last night. I'm tired so I'm not going into all the details, but he was rolling on the floor last night complaining of pain and after a nice long trip to the ER we have learned that he has a Ingenial (sp?) Hernia or hernia of the groin, to be specific. So our Little Man is going to need surgery! AHH! Should make for a good homeschool biology lesson. LOL I'll keep everyone posted on the details as they come. Oh and please excuse my foot in this pic I was holding Elizabeth.

Queen of Deals...

That's going to be one of my titles from now on. Check out my latest acquisition...

Victoria Secrets PJ Pants...
34.50 Regular Price marked down to...
18.99 Clearance Price and half off all sleepwear this week is...
9.50 minus the $10 birthday giftcard for being a vs cardholder
FREE That's right I paid nothing for my new comfy pj's!!! Not even tax or anything! I love getting deals like that! :o)

My Next Project

So here is my next project I am attempting to make. I want to make Elizabeth the shopping cart cover and the highchair cover w/ bib, bag and that cute litte carrot. I haven't sewn that many things, so wish me luck. Maybe if this doesn't turn out to be too difficult I could make some for other people, too. Anyone need a cart/highchair cover?