Snow much fun!

It's official! We are covered in a layer of snow and it is sticking around ... and snowing each night and some days. So, even if it warms up and melts off in the day, it comes back in the night and we wake up to a good covering of the white fluffy stuff. It finally feels like it is really winter around here. The girls LOVE the snow. If the snow is melting away when we are heading out, Allyson will find any little patch of it and eat it. So cute. It is quite an adjustment planning enough time in the morning before we go anywhere to warm up the car, and get hats, gloves, boots, and coats on. Coats don't go on easy when the little ones have thick long sleeves on. It's hard to keep the shirt sleeves from bunching up in the coat sleeves. Ah, the problems of the snow! We have snow tires with studs and snow scrapers in the car. This is such a contrast to Houston. I do believe we have gone from one extreme to the other.

Little Lambs

We have a family at church that keeps a flock of sheep. While the mama sheep usually have their babies in the spring, one of the little boy sheep got "too big for his britches" (as they tell us!) and 3 sheep had lambs last week. So the family is busy trying to keep these little babies warm and fed in the cold December weather. Thinking that Allyson and Lauren would really enjoy seeing the lambs they invited the girls and I to come out last week and look at them. The girls did love it. Allyson kept telling me that she was a good mom and Lauren had a little one following her around. Allyson held one and fed one - good mom! Lauren was just curious about the whole affair and went from sheep to sheep to check it all out. Lauren has no fear of any animal. She charges right in. They have a dog that lives with the sheep and it is half St. Bernard and half something else - anyway this dog is the size of a small horse with long, thick, and stinky fur (lives with the sheep) and Lauren was hugging and kissing him. This really was a treat for the girls and a treat for me to watch them enjoy themselves so much.

Recipe to Share

These are a little on the sugary side, but who can fault a cookie for being too sweet? I got some coupons in the mail the other day and there were a couple of recipes included. The girls and I tried this one today! I think they taste delicious. They are sweet and crispy. They don't taste like Vanilla Wafers, but they taste yummy anyway. This was a quick and easy recipe to make and it made two cookie sheets - so quick batch to whip up if you need something sweet to take to someone.

Vanilla Wafer Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

DIRECTIONS:
In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ..

I can't believe we are already into the month of December. We have been busy doing fun and festive things. Putting up the tree and seeing Santa being at the top of Allyson's list! Allyson has a look that she gives Santa (the same one she has reserved for my dad) and it is of pure love and admiration. Lauren was not too big of a fan of Santa. She's kind of in a mommy phase right now and handing her off to some strange man at the mall was not her idea of a good time! They both love the tree and Lauren gives it hugs and kisses quite often.

Here's a couple of pictures...

Quick and Easy

I am totally behind on blogging lately and I know it! So... I will catch you all up soon on our family and the fun times we've been having just being a family and enjoying our new home...but I've got some pictures to go through to get loaded so for now I will just post a recipe that I tried the other day.

Sour Cream Muffins

2 cups "Self-Rising" flour
2 sticks of butter, melted
1 cup of sour cream

Mix all three ingredients together until a batter forms. Drop spoonfuls into ungreased muffin tins. I fit all the batter into one muffin tin (12 muffins). Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes.

I think that these taste so good and are quick and easy for dinner. They end up really tasting a lot like really good biscuits. Justin said he likes my yeast rolls better because he was expecting rolls and these pretty much are just more along the lines of biscuits. They would be great with soup or stew. I got the recipe from Paula Dean - gotta love the food network!

Enjoy :)

6th picture

So I was reading everyone's blog yesterday and Lindsay had posted her "6th picture." She had been challenged to post her 6th picture from her 6th album on her computer. Then she challenged others to do the same so here goes... this computer only has pictures dating back to september of 2007 ... the other computer is in the closet and we haven't moved the pics yet. So here is my picture:

My little two year old! She is almost 3 now ... I can't believe it!
So....anyone who reads this that hasn't already done the 6th picture thing - go for it! If you don't have a blog, email it out.

Our first snow!

We woke up this morning to a light dusting of snow on the ground. By the time Allyson was up the snow was falling pretty heavily... it is not going to be cold enough to stick around all day, but Allyson was sure excited about it. So, we went outside and caught snowflakes in our PJs! Then we came in and had hot chocolate (and coffee!) She was shivering! But, she loved it.

Watching Daddy scrap the snow off his car: