Family Friday

A few weeks ago my brother and sis were in town so we planned a fun get together in the park with the whole family. I am so annoyed that I didn't take the chance to get a group photo of all but one of the cousins together. I however was able to get a least one picture of each of them. It always makes me so happy to see the cousins all playing together. I have some amazing cousins and remember great memories with them over the years. I hope the kids continue to enjoy time together as they get older. I just love these kids so much!

Miss K I love your laughter and silliness.

Miss G I love your quiet gentle ways.

Mister E I love how you patiently teach the other kids new things, and your sense of adventure.

Little Mister I love your curious mind and kind heart.

Little Miss I love your determination and smile.

Brian I love how you are the "Big Kid" on the playground and always want to have fun with the kids. Plus I have heard you are the only one who can do an under dog on the swing the right way.

Cousin A I love your positive spirit and courageous heart.

Miss A I love your on the go spirit( almost every picture of you is blurry because you were on the go) You also have the greatest laugh that makes me smile.

Can't wait to see all of you soon!

wonder full wednesday

I wondering as this is the first day of fall how we made it a whole summer with out one family trip to the beach?

Guess it is time to plan a fall trip. Any trip you are planning this fall or things you ran out of time for this summer?

pumpkin muffins

Tomorrow is the first day of Fall!
Some of my favorite pictures from last year....


So for breakfast we are having yummy Pumpkin Muffins and apple cider. Then I hope to find the decorations in storage beaneth all the boxes that are still packed up and get the house looking festive.

Last year my friend Kim made some yummy muffins and I wanted to try making some too. So while at the store I called my sis Melissa and asked her to find one on line and tell me the ingredients. Can you tell this was before I had my own iphone :)

She found a recipe on allcooks. com and it was a hit. I was asked for the recipe many times from friends and family. I will be honest and say I think my friend Kim's are better but these are still pretty tasty. So here it is....

Yummy Pumpkin Muffins

3 1/3 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger

Mix dry ingredients and add:

1 c. oil
4 eggs
2/3 c. water
2 c. pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350F degrees.

Prepare muffin tins by greasing with vegetable oil or butter and sprinkling lightly with flour. Shake out excess.Fill muffin tins three-quarters full and bake at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

For an extra treat you can add some cream cheese frosting to the top and call it a cupcake :)

That is how my husband likes to eat them!!!

This recipe makes about 25 or more muffins so I usually cut it in half when making it for my family. However tonight I am going to make up the whole thing and freeze the extra for a later date.

What are some of your favorite ways to celebrate fall?

Make it Monday

I am hoping to start some fun sewing projects this week to share with over the next few weeks. Today however I am going to share with my little time of craftiness that came from necessity. I e-mailed my talent and super mom friend Lisa for advice on chores for the kids a few months ago. From our conversation back and forth and her post on her amazing blog Simply... This That and The Other. I came up with this for our family. Sorry the color is a bit off as it was late when I took these pictures. We Keep the same chores for one week then switch every Monday.I decided to make it from paper and slip it in a page protector so that we can change it when we want or need to .

We use these magnets to switch from each set of job list. I made them with scraps of paper, flat glass stones, and glue. It helps to have heavy duty magnets on the back.

Are you making fun anything this monday?

Sunday School

Each Sunday I will post what we have been learning this week in our at home preschool. I had hoped to do more this week with the letter A but to tell you the truth I am so glad we didn't. We are still trying to figure out our daily routine with Kindergarten starting and trying to find balance between keeping up the house, preschool, and enjoying the time we have together. We are going to continue in the letter of the week this school year but I want to make family time come first so some weeks there may be very little to share with you.

Letter A

While the sun was out at the beginning of the week. The kids enjoyed playing with play dough out on the deck. While it was raining we worked on some practicing of writing the letter A in our workbooks.

We did some apple tasting one night after dinner. The kids loved the "yellow" apples while mom and dad loved the Granny Smith green apples. Little miss loved the carmel sauce they got to try after tasting each apple.

Little Miss played for hours one morning with corn starch and water. I left it out and Brother played with it too when he got home. It has nothing to do with the letter A but it was hours of fun and great "science" experiment.

We read the book Apples To Oregon that Grandma bought the kids last year after meeting the Author at her work . This is a very cute book about bring apple trees and other fruit trees across the Oregon trail.

And what week would not be complete with out some sort of craft. I got the idea from the website Homeschool creations. First was a lower case a apple. Then the next day was a Upper case A alligator.

Lastly today we are making some warm red cinnamon applesauce. (warm applesauce with red hot candies in it) Something I remember having as a kid but have not made for my kids yet. Yummy!!!

What have you been doing at home this week?

Simple Saturday

Thanks Grammy for the Milkshake machine you let us borrow. The kids loved it this summer!

Family Fridays

Fridays are the days when I am planning on sharing what the family is up to for those of you who use this blog to keep up with what we are doing.
Little mister has started soccer and enjoys playing in the rain more then any other time. Last week was our first game and Nana, Aunt sissa, Aunt Beth and Cousin A came out to see him play.
Sorry no time to edit the picture the PC is acting up and not cooperating with the mac :)




Hope you have some fun family time this weekend!