Edited this morning: There was a LOT of other stuff that went on and a LOT of other pictures sent to me. I got these pictures ready earlier in the week and just haven't had time to edit and crop the rest. More stories will be coming, but I'm enjoying family time for now.
Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week, I got these from Evan. Their new house has a LOT of trees on it and they have been industriously raking, and raking, and raking, and....we'll you get the idea.
It was Edward's job to get the leaves out of the culvert there.
This is a pretty darn cute picture of Roger and Quincy.
Just last weekend's work...something like 18 huge bags of leaves, which Evan is going to compost into his garden spot.
The hands have been fairly busy, trying to keep up with various online series, and preparing for the holidays.
Various Christmas cards have been in the works. This is my take on a card from Kristina Werner's current holiday card series. It used some metallic watercolors I'm really loving right now...so shiny and pretty.
This was actually a tag I made, then turned into a card.
Trying desperately to get ahead of the game. I wanted to do something some little gift things for a few people for Christmas...something that would come together easily and could be frozen until I needed it. I came across this recipe that looked like it would be exactly what I was looking for, so I'm passing it along in case anyone wants to take advantage of the situation. This is a quick bread rather than a yeast bread, and I baked it in small foil loaf pans. You can see that I probably should have swirled the filling in a little more. I'll brush that dry cinnamon-sugar off. Also, believe the instructions when it says not to over-fill the pan. I have a few drips on the oven floor that attest to the necessity of not over-filling.
2cupssugar
4cupsflour
2tablespoonsbaking powder
1teaspoonsalt
2eggs
2cupsmilk
2/3cup cooking oil
Filling:
1Tbspcinnamon+ 1 tsp
2/3cupsugar
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Beat eggs, milk and oil.
Gradually add dry mixture to wet until just moist.
Grease baking dishes and pour mixture an inch below to the top to compensate for rise.
Combine topping, spoon on each loaf and swirl in with a knife, leaving some on top.
Bake 40 minutes.
You can also make this in 2 - 1 pound loaf pans or cut the recipe in half for just 1 loaf pan and bake 50-60 minutes.
Do not overfill.
Let the bread cool to room temperature before wrapping or serving.
I left you with the cliff hanger about my husband getting home for The Day. Well, he didn't get here when he planned, but arrived in time for us to have a nice dinner together.
We celebrated Gwen's birthday at family Sunday dinner.
This happened....just so my kids can wish they'd been here. Actually, if my husband had come home on time, he could have had some. Hot honey bread is a rare commodity. I can usually get it into the freezer before I lose most of a loaf.
There was some happy mail that arrived. So fun....not that I'm going to have a lot of time for stitching with the holidays arriving, but there's definitely fun stuff in here.
Sent to me from the kids and grandkids this week....Gwen and Caroline painted some ceramic dragon eggs with their mama.
Looks like they had a lot of fun.
This is Emmett's art project.
And Ephraim and his stuffed elephant helped gather the eggs.
From Marc's family, Isaac and Levi's mama sent me their letters to Santa.
Makes me very nostalgic for when my kiddos were little.
From my daughter there was a picture of her tree. They wanted Christmas all set up when they got back from the Thanksgiving holiday.
And she sent this one of some pie-baking this weekend.
This is one of those "holy cow, how easy is this?" recipes that I happen on every once in a while. You just stir some things together in a bowl, then keep it in your fridge to use on garlic bread, breadsticks and in my case, over bread cubes I turned into croutons and floated in tomato soup. The recipe comes from this website. I imagine it would work really well if you had one of those shaker top bottles, but I don't have one for this. Sprinkling on with a spoon and spreading it around works just as well.
Combine ingredients in a jar (preferably one with one of those shaker tops) and shake. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until the expiration date on the cheese.
I spent some quality time here a couple of days this week. Love the feeling here.
My feet were in my back yard wrangling the dogs a lot. I found another pile of pretty leaves to kick though. Most of these are from my ornamental pear tree. Fall is just the best...
I dug the last holes and planted the last of the bulbs I ordered earlier this fall. I ran into some already-planted bulbs on this last group. I shoved them back into the ground with the new ones. Man, I hope the ones I planted all over the yard grow. I have visions of amazing blooms next spring, and I look out over the beauty of it all and think, "Yep, I did that with my own, two little piano playing hands." If it doesn't happen, I'm going to be pretty disappointed.
I used those piano playing hands quite a bit this past weekend, playing for the Primary program at church, then practicing with youth at church for a number they're singing next week, then regular Primary time, then ward choir practice, then for a song at the stake Thanksgiving program. It was a full Sunday. It's a blessing for me to be able to do it. Music just opens the heart in a way nothing else can.
I also tried my hands at making bagels while my husband was gone this week, and apparently I should stick to piano playing. Sad little hockey pucks of despair. I've tried bagels before with similar results, but optimistically I thought maybe is was just the recipe I was using. It was not. It was me, and now I'm nervous about trying a recipe for English muffins. I mean, I've been cooking consistently for 40 years, and I do make bread and rolls on a regular basis. I guess bagels are not bread or rolls.
Speaking of 40 years, today marks that wedding anniversary for my husband and I. I'm typing this earlier in the week, and I did mention that my husband has been gone in the hills....again. Before he left, he assured me he would be back for the day, and we do know that The Day is important, right? I'll have to let you know next time how this all shakes out.
These arrived this week, though, so I'm cautiously optimistic. Or maybe he's just hedging his bets.
Sent to me from my kids and grandkids this week, I have this collection of family pictures from Collin's family. He took them himself and says there was a lot of running back and forth to set the timer on his camera.
While this one wasn't necessarily the one where all the kiddos are cooperating, that's just so David.
My boy and his boys.
They were at the National Arboretum.
James and David in the leaves.
And John, who continues to pull himself up on things.
He's also found the best toy ever.
And lastly from Marc's family, here's Jude's new trick....sort of a push up/flop scoot to get what he wants. Marc says he gets frustrated when he knocks something he's after further away and has to start the process all over again.
Because my husband has been in the hills again this week, my hands have been very busy. It's a bit of a double edged sword when he's gone. On the one hand, I'm alone. On the other hand, I'm alone and that means I can do whatever I want. Since we are looking at his retirement next year, I'm not sure if that means he'll be here more....or less, given his proclivities. Therefore, I'm not sure what that means for me. I have anxiety about it, and I hear that I'm not the only woman whose had these misgivings about her husband being around/not around all the time. Maybe I'll take up yoga to help with my stress.
Maybe I'll make more Christmas cards. This is my take on Day 2 of Kristina Werner's holiday card series. In recent years she has been doing more cards that require actual artistic talent, of which I have none, so I'm glad when she does a simpler card I can try out. I'm still trying to master ink blending, but I'm happy with this result.
It's also the time of year for Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas tags series. The idea is that a different stamp company provides examples of tags each day, and you pick the one that gives you some kind of inspiration, make your take on it, then link it up to her site.
Sometimes what I come up with is pretty close to the original.
Sometimes it's not.
But I do have fun participating. The tags are a small enough project, that I can usually stay fairly caught up,
...and it can be fun to give some as gifts.
...so I'll just keep plugging away.
Just keep scrolling until you get to the end of the tags.
There are only a couple more.
There...we made it.
Here are the most recent Project Life pages, done with the app.
What I loved about this particular week, was getting pictures of faces I don't often get to put into these pages.
In my quest to broaden my tomato soup horizons, so far I've tried this one with good results, and now have another I can add to the mix. Now I know that a couple of my children are now plugging their ears and "la-la-la-ing" their way past this post as I commit the mother crime of not sticking to the the tried and true recipe from their childhood, but every once in a while a foray into the unknown is just required. It's how you know you're an adult...and in charge. I found this particular recipe here, and with the addition of bacon, I'm willing to go out on a limb and say they just might be able to gag it down. I cut the recipe in half for my husband and I, and we still have plenty of leftovers for lunches.
Creamy Tomato Bacon Soup
8tablespoonsbutter
2onionschopped
6slicesbaconsliced into 1/2" pieces
8clovesgarlicminced
2/3cupflour
8cupschicken broth
2 28-ouncecans diced tomatoesundrained (I used home-bottled)
1teaspoondried thyme
2bay leaves
2teaspoonssalt
1/2teaspoonpepper
2cupsheavy cream
In a large dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion and cook until it begins to soften, about five minutes. Add bacon and garlic and cook for two minutes.
Add flour and stir until there is no dry flour remaining and mixture begins to darken.
Stirring constantly, add chicken broth and diced tomatoes until completely combined.
Stir in thyme, bay leaves, salt and pepper and turn heat to low. Allow soup to simmer for 30 minutes. Remove bay leaves.
Using an immersion blender, puree soup until no large pieces remain. (You can use a blender if you don't have one of these handy tools. Just do it in small batches so it doesn't explode all over you.)
Stir in heavy cream and season with additional salt and pepper, if necessary.
Makes somewhere around 2 quarts.
I took the insides of the bread bowls, tore them up and sprinkled them with a little olive oil and garlic bread seasoning. I baked them at 375° for 12-15 minutes, until they were like croutons, and then I floated them in the soup.
It's just amazing to me how fast that's happened. I mean, one day she's dancing in my living room in fairy wings and underpants...and nothing else, and then next day she's halfway grown.
This girl loves to read. She's also working hard at learning to play the piano from the same teacher who taught her daddy.
And this summer she did some running with her mama.
She is beautiful inside and out, and we love her. Happy birthday, Gwen!!
