Oh the weather outside...

...is frightfully fun! On Friday afternoon, we began preparing for a weekend of fun and hoped to be snowed in. We all know that the weatherman is usually wrong about these things, but we decided to hold out hope!

We began by preparing a surprise for Daddy to find when he got home. He works hard all week to take care of our family, and he allows E and I to be home together, so from time to time, we like to do special little things for him. Reeses peanut butter cups are his favorite candy. This week we bought some special supplies while we were at Hobby Lobby, so we tried them out and made our very own homemade peanut butter cups. Then I decided to continue to foster E's creative side and introduce him to crayons which we used to  make this card for Daddy.

Next, we built a fire to keep us warm and cozy while we waited for the snow.

 

 We enjoyed a yummy pot of homemade soup for supper, then we came back downstairs and got set up for a slumber party in the family room. We inflated the air mattress and picked out a movie. E got very excited about this!

After a night of sleep and dreams of lots of snow, we woke up to discover that although the weatherman was a little overzealous with the forecast, there was still enough snow on the ground to make for a day of fun.

So we bundled up and prepared to head outside. E was not a fan of suiting up...

 

...but that quickly changed once we got outside! That snowsuit might be bulky, but it wasn't stopping him!

He crawled right out into the white stuff, leaving a cute little trail behind himself.

Daddy put him on the sled, and off he went. Much like his first sledding experience, as long as he was moving, he was happy, although this time, he also liked the speed to be quick!

 

  

We came back inside to warm up and take a nap. After a few hours, we headed back out into the snow. This time we took Maddie with us.

 

  

For the first little while, she stayed close to the house. She wasn't really sure about this wet white stuff. Once she came around, she played with us for a few minutes before running right past us for a visit to the neighbors behind us who were outside sledding. Daddy had to go chase her down. Needless to say, Maddie's time outside with us was short-lived. But once Maddie was back home and safe inside, the fun began! In the midst of falling snow, E sledded down the back hill.

 

Then Mommy and Daddy joined in the fun.

 

As you can see we had tons of fun but all of this play sure did wear us out! So we headed back inside to rest. We got cleaned up, and put on our pajamas. Then we gathered around the fireplace to make some smores!

Notice Maddie lurking close by waiting for E to drop something for her to enjoy. 

E loved the graham crackers...

But he is also quite fond of marshmallows we would learn.

 

We have certainly had a wonderful weekend together as a family!

Taking Advantage of a Warm January Afternoon

Since the mercury finally rose above freezing, and we finally had a day without rain, we decided to get outside and do something as a family. We have a membership to the Knoxville Zoo, and since it was a cool, sunny day, we thought the animals might be more active. We packed up the Smart Trike that Santa brought E for Christmas and made our way to the zoo.

As soon as we walked in we headed to the black bear exhibit, not knowing if they would be out since bears typically hibernate in winter. Much to our surprise there was a big bear pacing back and forth on the log. We got a great view of him.

We made our way on around toward the African plains. There was a huge elephant who was helping himself to some yummy food. E has lots of elephant toys at home, so we always visit the elephants at the zoo.

Next up were the zebras. These are by far one of E's most favorite animals. He has a Little People Noah's Ark which we play with a lot at home. The zebra is always the first animal he picks up and the one he goes back to most often.

The last two trips to the zoo, he has watched the zebras so intently. He would stay there for long periods of time if we would let him.

 Once Daddy pointed out the zebra to E...

he was locked in.

After a visit with the zebras, we moved across the path to Mommy's favorite animals, the giraffes.

On our way to the other side of the zoo, we passed a zoo keeper giving a talk about owls. He was holding a beautiful owl so people could get a closer look. Mommy and Daddy really enjoyed this, but E was more interested in watching the other children who had gathered to see this bird of prey.

 

We made our way on over to the River Otter exhibit. These little guys kept swimming back and forth in front of the glass just begging us to take their picture. E really enjoyed watching them swim. I think he would have liked to get in there and swim with them actually.

By the time we finished watching these little guys, it was getting close to time for the zoo to close. We wanted to make sure to get by the petting zoo before we returned home. We hadn't taken E in to the petting zoo on our previous zoo trips because he wasn't really ready. But this time we wanted to give it a try. We found a little tan goat who was standing all by himself. We chose him because 1)he was standing alone, and 2)he was similar in color to Maddie, our dog, whom E pets all the time. We hoped this would make his goat encounter go more smoothly. At first he wasn't really sure what to think. Then daddy took his hand and rubbed it over the little goat's fur so E would see what he was supposed to do.

The E reached out and started patting the goat on his own, much like he pets his dog and cat at home.

After our visit with the goat, we washed our hands and headed back to the car. What a wonderfully fun afternoon as a family!

Out to Lunch with Daddy

While J usually comes home to eat lunch with us, occasionally we meet him somewhere and go out to eat. After several weeks of pretty much staying inside because the weather has been so cold, the sunshine and 50 degree temps made getting out of the house a must! So today we met Daddy at Gatti's pizza.

Within the last week, E has decided that he no longer wants to eat his pureed foods. Even though Mommy made him some special homemade foods, it doesn't matter. He insists on eating whatever it is that Mommy and Daddy have to eat. He has eaten cheese quesadillas, mexican casserole, pasta lasagna, sloppy joes, and turkey tetrazzini among other things. We can already see that he has a taste for Mexican and Italian foods, so he will certainly fit in well in this family!

E loves pizza, so he enjoys going to Gatti's. He was a very friendly fellow this afternoon, talking to everyone eating in the dining room with us. He has become very efficient at feeding himself and doesn't like much help. He hasn't developed skills to eat with utensils, but he has started to become more interested in helping Mommy and Daddy when we use them to feed him. But eating with his hands is definitely his first choice, and he enjoyed feeding himself cheese pizza today!
 

He got to try out his new tiny diner place mat for the first time. We highly recommend it to anyone with an older infant/toddler! It provided a clean surface for eating and since it has suction cups on the bottom, it didn't just end up in the floor! And the handy little trough on the edge catches food before it ends up in his lap.

  

Feeding myself is so much fun!

Candy Mints

My (N's) aunt and uncle will be celebrating their 50th Wedding Anniversary this coming weekend. Their daughter-in-law was looking for someone who could make mints for the reception. This is something that I learned from Grandmother, and today I made around 200 mints for the party using my Grandmother's molds. Those molds are one of the special things that I received after she passed away last year.

The mints are very easy to make. I wanted to share the recipe here so you could try them, too. They would be fun to make with kids!

Candy Mints

 To begin, there are a few supplies you need to gather.

Wilton vanilla candy melts, a double boiler (don't worry if you don't have one you can make one using a sauce pan and a glass bowl), candy molds, wilton dyes, peppermint oil, toothpicks, bowls for mixing colors, and icing bags with tips (don't worry if you don't have those either, simply use a ziploc bag with the corner cut away).

Bring the water to a simmer, then place the candy melts in the top pan.

Stir continuously until the candies are smooth and melted. Once melted, pour about 1/2 cap full of peppermint oil. Stir well to incorporate flavor throughout. The oil is very strong, so it only takes a little. If you want white mints, you can simply transfer the melted candies to the icing bag and pipe the mints into the molds. If you want your mints to have a different color, take out a small amount of the desired color of dye using a knife. Mix it into the melted candies.

I suggest starting with a small amount of coloring and adding more a bit at a time until you reach the desired color. Now you are ready to transfer the melted candies to the icing bag and pipe into the molds.

Fill the molds completely then use a toothpick to smooth out the candy and remove any air bubbles. You can also gently drop the molds on the counter top to help remove any bubbles. Once filled, cover and refrigerate to harder. Once they are harden, pop the mints out of the molds and enjoy!

I made white bells, pink hearts, pink roses, and green leaves for the party.

I also decided to get fancy and make these two-toned mints since I had a little green left over when I finished the leaves. I think the green stems and leaves are a nice added touch.

A New Place to Grow

After the birth of our son last year we quickly realized that the home we purchased when we moved back to East Tennessee was not big enough for our growing family. After I (N) resigned from my position at the church, we no longer had a need to live in Oak Ridge. We took the opportunity to look for a new home with more space and one that would be closer to J's work so that he could have more time with us at home. After readying our home for the market, we began to look casually for a new home in Knoxville. We knew that in such a bad economy it could take a while for the house to sell, so we didn't want to look to soon, fall in love with a house, and have it sold right from under us. After getting quite a bit of interest in our Oak Ridge house, we decided to begin looking more seriously. We found a house that we loved. Not only did it have almost twice the space of our last home, it also had an additional 2 car detached garage/workshop which made J drool. We still had no offer on our house when we learned that someone else was planning to make an offer on the house we wanted. Through much prayer and against all odds, our offer was accepted and within a few days an offer came through on our house in Oak Ridge. Although there were some road blocks along the way, the Lord provided for us at each turn, and on Tuesday, October 21 we moved into our new home.

Now almost three months later we are close to finishing phase one of making this house our home. We have painted most of the upstairs and purchased curtains for all of the rooms. Here are some pictures of the new place where our family is planted for now. There is still a lot of work to do, especially in the kitchen, but it will come soon enough.