Gracie Singing

Christmas Program

Fun in the snow!

We have the best backyard for sledding. We don't really have a yard in the back, it's just a hill. It is a pain to mow in the summer, but it is great in the winter! Grace loves getting out in the snow. She had a blast sledding and "painting" the snow. You just put a little bit of food coloring and water in a squirt bottle, and then spray the snow. She chose red for the color. By the time we went in it looked like a few small animals had been slaughtered in our backyard. Maybe we will go for a different color next time. The second picture is Gracie trying to sled while the neighbors dog was running around. We love Sasha, unfortunately Kingsley doesn't so he had to go inside while we played. The last picture is me showing off my unique wintertime style. I didn't have any boots, and I wanted to keep the snow out of my shoes. Scottie laughed at me and I think he was a little bit embarassed to be seen with me, but I don't care my feet didn't get cold. I may be wrong, but wasn't it in style in the 80's to tuck your jeans into your socks? I'm just trying to bring sexy back! :)

Cookie Time

Gracie and I made sour cream cookies with homemade frosting the other night. At first I was kicking myself for suggesting to make these, I usually HATE rolling out dough for cookie cutters. In fact I was having a mini breakdown while I was talking to mom on the phone because the dough kept sticking to the counter. I finally worked in enough flour and we were able cut out the cookies. We had a blast decorating them. Scottie even got in on the action and made a really good Patrick the starfish cookie. (That's a Spongebob character in case you didn't know) Grace did a great job frosting the cookies, although she had a pretty heavy hand with the sprinkles. :) I thought it would be cute to take some pictures of her in front of the tree. About 30 seconds after the last picture she stood up and all the cookies slid off the white plate. We would have used the 5 second rule ( I had just swept the floors) but Kingsley sheds so bad that the cookies were already covered in dog hair! I was so upset. Not only did we work hard to make them, now we only had half of them to eat. Let me tell you, they were GOOD!! These are so much better than regular sugar cookies. But the best part was making cookies and listening to Christmas music with Grace. I can't wait to do it again next year!

Fall Friends

This is a shout out to my twin Carrie who loves fall as much as I do. I know we don't look like twins, but trust me everything else about us is pretty much the same. We have a habit of saying the same thing at the exact same time, and of course using the same tone of voice. Maybe it came from the many hours we spent in her car driving to our education method classes, or driving to bible study every Wednesday night, or hanging out at the CASA coffee house. Here is a perfect example of our sameness (is that even a word?): for our social studies method class we had a homework assignment to draw our vision of what a s.s teacher would look like. We went to our separate apartments to do the assignment, and yes we came to class with the exact same drawing. I'm sure I have a hundred more examples, but you get the picture. We had a lot of good times in college!
*Anyway, Carrie and I both have a love for all things fall, but especially anything to do with pumpkins! So I wanted to post my favorite pumpkin food for her and anyone else who loves fall like us. I really miss you Carrie!!! Love ya!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
Ingredients:
3 1/3 cups flour
3 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup oil
4 eggs
1/2 cup water
2 cups pumpkin pie filling
12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the ingredients in the order listed. Bake in 3 ungreased loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour & 15 minutes (although I usually check at about 1 hour) Let stand for 25 minutes. Turn onto cooling rack to cool.

*You can also use this for muffins. Make one or two loaves and use the rest for muffins.

Happy Halloween!

I know this picture is a blurry, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of the creepiest store window in Kirksville. (maybe the entire country) It's a medical supply store here in town. Every month they decorate their "models." It is hysterical! They are advertising some kind of nighttime breathing aid. It's only natural that Darth Vader would be helping someone with a breathing mask. It's so creepy. I feel like it's a cross between Star Wars and Silence of the Lambs. I will post a picture each month because everyone needs a laugh every once in a while! :)
Scottie wanted me to blog about his creepy experience this morning. After their test this morning he was standing in the hallway with his classmate Cory. He said a lady (stranger) who appeared to be in her early to mid 50's came walking up to them. She was wearing a completely white outfit with a big yellow cardboard circle on her stomach. She also had a pair of devil horns and a tail. She walked up and said "Guess what I am?" Cory said a goddess, he really had no idea. She gave them a hint " I'm food." Finally they got it, she was a deviled egg. Isn't that strange? But the strangeness doesn't stop there my friends. She came back a few minutes later to give them... a deviled egg. Scottie lied and said he doesn't eat them. I don't think I blame him. I'm pretty sure every parent has given their child the classic Halloween warning : Don't take deviled eggs from strangers! She said she felt stupid for dressing up and handing them out. My question is: who made you? and why deviled eggs?! If she felt the need to dress up and pass out treats she could have put on a silly hat and gave out normal candy. There are some days that make me enjoy living in Kirksville. Today would be one of those days.

Drumroll please.....

We found out yesterday that we will be moving to Bloominton Normal, IL in July. We knew Dayton was too far out of reach so we made some changes to our six choices. Bloomington Normal was our second choice. Our first choice was Wyandotte,MI. Scottie really liked the hospital there, and it looked like a really neat place to live. But we didn't get it. We were both a little sad when we found out. Then we remembered that we had prayed the night before the match and asked God to send us wherever He wanted us. So we have to believe that Illinois is the right place for us to be next year. After the initial shock wore off I started looking at all the positives of moving to Bloomington Normal. Of course the number one positive is that we will be so much closer to family. Gracie is really excited about that!! She keeps asking us when we are moving. I don't think she really understands the whole concept just yet. The second plus is that we found out our friends Nate and Debbie are moving there as well. I am really excited! They are originally from Fort Wayne,IN. Debbie is the only real friend I have here. As most of you know I hate to talk on the phone and I am weird about calling people. For some reason I have no problem calling her, which is a great friendship for me to have! We all go to church together and we try to meet for lunch at Debbies every Monday. They have a boy who will be three soon, and a one year old boy. Grace and Addison play together all the time. We've watched the boys for them when they've wanted to go out or have something to do, and they are the first people we would call if we needed someone to watch Gracie. So moving there with them will really make this a great experience. It will be nice to already have a friend in a new town.

Here are a few of the things that have me most excited about Bloomington Normal: