December Happenings

Our month in pictures-

Our table centerpiece as we celebrated Advent each night...
Violet's 6 week check-up...
Decorating our porch tree...
Christmas shopping at Target...


Christmas card photoshoot (yes, the cards I never sent out)...




Violet's 6 week photoshoot...

Lilly's birthday party...
Church Christmas program...

Caroling with our Keepers at Home club...


Looking at Christmas lights...

Homeschool group Christmas party...





Another Violet photoshoot...
Christmas Eve with my family...
Christmas morning...
The girls just waking up and checking out the tree and stockings...
Happy Birthday Jesus!

Christmas day at Grandma Sue's...
We played a candy gift exchange game (baby not included)...


Our emergency water shut-off...
And new hot water tank...
A little car trouble too...
Snow!
Daddy dates!
Playing games New Year's Eve...
Family New Year's Eve party...

Happy New Year!!!

Westlake Center Date Night

Last night my parents watched the big girls so that Seth and I could go out. Violet and I met Seth in Seattle when he got off work. We parked the van and rode the train from his work to Westlake.

We walked around the mall for a bit. I got to browse one of my favorite shops- Fireworks (such a fun store). Then we had dinner at PF Changs. Violet was being so good. I joked with Seth that she would start to fuss as soon as the food came. She had been sound asleep in the wrap. Sure enough, I took one bite of my spring roll and she woke up! How do babies know? She was actually really good even after she woke up. I took her out of the wrap so she could look around. She liked to stare at the lights. Our server thought she was so sweet (which of course she is!). :) She even brought us 3 fortune cookies- one for Violet.

After dinner we took a walk outside to see the carousel and lights. Everything was so pretty. Then we saw a movie. This was the 2nd time we took Violet to the movies. She does great, she just nurses and sleeps. After the movie it was time to head home. Violet was a little fussy on the train ride back to the van. It was late and she was ready to be home in bed. :)

Baking and Freezer Meals

I have been busy in the kitchen the past few days. My friends were teasing me that it was more nesting, and maybe it is. I have just had the urge to cook and bake and stock up on freezer meals.



Here are the desserts I have made...


Apple Oatmeal Crisp. I doubled the recipe to get a few servings of dessert for the 6 of us. I add 1 tsp apple pie spice, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to the flour and use 1/4 C less sugar and 1 C more apples than the recipe calls for (regular size recipe, double this for the double recipe). I have tried many, many apple crisp recipes. This one is by far my family's favorite.


I also made a double portion of the crumble topping to put in the freezer. Next time I want to make an Apple Crisp it will save me a lot of time and dirty dishes.

On Saturday I got this recipe for Cherry Dump Cake from Aunt Sandy. It is very yummy and super simple with only 4 ingredients.

You just dump in a can of crushed pineapple, then a can of cherry pie filling, and then sprinkle on a box of dry yellow cake mix and add thin pats of butter (roughly 3/4 cube) to the top. Bake at 350 for about 45 min. Mmm

Today the girls and I made a batch of choc. chip cookies.

A great resourceful website I heard about from some homeschool friends is Hillbilly Housewife. I love their recipes and money saving tips. The next couple of recipes I got from them.

Buttery Parmesan Rice Mix. You can save money by making your own rice mixes instead of purchasing the box rice mixes at the store. Costco sells a big bag of Organic Short Grain Brown Rice. This makes it a lot cheaper than the organic boxed rice mixes.

Start with the rice and then dump each ingredient in a ziploc baggie. I made up 8 of these.

I wrote the directions on each bag so I wouldn't have to look up the recipe each time.

This rice recipe needs to be stored in the fridge or freezer because of the parm cheese. I stacked them in a loaf pan to save space.

Beans and Rice mix. I made this the same way.

These are the casseroles I've been working on...

Baked Spaghetti with Roasted Vegetables

Chicken Noodle Bake

SW Chicken Taco Bake. I made up 5 of these to have some in the freezer.

All assembled and ready to freeze.

Lasagna. I made 3 of these today.

So that's it for now. I'm planning on making some more soon. I will see if I can find the recipes for the casseroles online so I can post those too. I am not up for typing them all out right now. :)