Help Haiti

Haiti.
Total destruction.
Total devastation.
Please do what you can.
It is needed so badly.

One way to contribute is through the Red Cross.

I ♥ Faces... Best Face Photo

The blog I ♥ Faces is celebrating their 1st Birthday! This week's challenge is called Best Face Photo and I'm entering this shot of my dear O. Although I have several older pics of both of my girls that I would consider some of my personal Best Face(s) photos, this one was taken recently and also fits the bill.

Having fun splashing in the bath!

I ♥ Faces... Hilarious Outtakes

Way back in September I tried to get more serious about learning to use my camera. Part of that process was to enter the weekly contests on the I ♥ Faces blog. Unfortunately, that only lasted one week. Maybe I'll be better about it in 2010!

Here I was attempting a basic pic of the girls and something got into A when I asked her to smile. This shot just cracks everyone in our family up. I hope it makes you smile, too!

It has been a while

So sorry for the lack of posts lately. We've been trying to get out from under what seems like a never ending cloud of illness. Some long lasting colds turned into double ear infections for both girls, with a side of Pink Eye for O. Kevin and I have had the worst colds we can remember having and mine seems to be migrating to my sinuses. Ugh! At least the girls will hopefully be feeling healthy for Christmas.

If you have young kids and you haven't seen this already, I highly recommend that you check this out. My girls loved it and I think it helped my 'on the fence' niece become a believer again!

Cold Mornings

We're having the coldest mornings of the season so far and it really feels COLD! I'd love to gather the girls up and cuddle together in bed all day to keep them toasty warm, but that's not realistic. What I can do is start their day off with good old fashioned Steel Cut Oats (a favorite since it was introduced at their old Waldorf school as daily snack). No better way to warm a tummy, or two. Especially good with blueberries we picked last summer!

First Snow

The weather forecast was calling for snow very early Tuesday morning. This was a big deal around here because we were breaking all kinds of records for the latest first snow of the season. Putting some trust in the weatherman, I chose the book Dream Snow by Eric Carle for the girls' bedtime story on Monday night. I think every child in our area had a smile on his or her face when they looked out the window Tuesday morning and saw the very light blanket of snow covering the ground!

The snow had melted quite a bit by the time A&O got out of 'school' and into it, but they had fun just the same. I assured them there would be much more snow coming our way over the next couple of months!

Pumpkin Pie

Just had to document this: I made a pumpkin pie from scratch and the people who ate it thought it was really good!! Woo-hoo!!

If you ever choose to make a pumpkin pie from scratch, I suggest that you use this recipe for the crust (great for any pie!) and this recipe for the pie. I had significantly less real pumpkin puree and I did NOT use any canned pumpkin so I went with 1/3 of all ingredient measurements and I still had enough filling for a 9 inch pie! The idea of pressing ground pecans and gingersnaps into the pie crust (per the pie recipe) sounded good, so I did that. I was a little nervous about baking the pie on the oven floor (per the pie recipe) so I had it on the lowest rack, which worked really well.

Oh! As far as the pumpkin goes, use a pie pumpkin. Cut it in 1/2, scrape seeds and stringy stuff out and roast in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 minutes (til a knife can slice through easily). Scoop the pumpkin out of the shell and puree. I placed the puree in a strainer lined with a couple of coffee filters and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to drain out the excess water. It was ready to use in the morning!

I hope you and your loved ones had a very Happy Thanksgiving and you are enjoying a wonderful long weekend. We'll be heading out to my parents' house for Round Two tonight. I LOVE leftover thanksgiving food!