The girls' MONKEY birthday party!

Oh my goodness...so much fun! I had such a blast planning this party. I know I went a bit overboard (as Aunt Theresa pointed out!)...but that is okay, because it wasn't stressful, it was just fun! I was up until 2 am the night before cooking and decorating. Mackenzie had a friend over to spend the night, so they stayed up to help me cook, and they even put the little brown boxes together, stuffed them, and glued on all the decorations to them...they did a great job!

Alex was in the parade in downtown Green Bay in the morning...so he didn't get back for until about 11:30 am...but we watched him from the comfort of our home (it was about 25 degrees outside...BRRRRR!) and he did a great job playing "Winter Wonderland" on his trumpet!

I don't know how I would have done it without my mom there...she is such a big help each and every day to us! :) And thanks to Aunt Theresa, I have great pictures...and I didn't even get to turn my camera on!

Just for reference to the many people who asked:

The cake is from http://www.cakeanatomy.com/ Dawn is awesome to work with! And will create anything your heart desires! Every time we have an event, I always get her to do our cake. She must dread my calls and my follow up emails, because I always have something very specific in mind, and I just need her to implement it! She does a great job!

The girls' dresses are from http://www.elleshanklin.etsy.com/ Gorgeous, gorgeous! I can't wait to make another order from her!

The girls' hats are from http://www.handicandioriginals.etsy.com/ I have ordered another 4 hats from her that will be coming shortly!

****the best part of the party was that we requested no gifts for the girls because they have so much already...but we asked that if anyone really wanted to bring something, they bring some items off the wish list for the Childrens Hospital of Wisconsin - Fox Cities. We are happy to say that we have just under $500 in gas cards for patients families, about $100 in cash, and many pairs of pajamas for the Outreach center! Thanks everyone! :)

just some cute photos

I had a photo shoot today of three beautiful little girls...so I set up the studio. I was able to get a couple shots of TJ, Kennedy and Natalie, so I thought I would share (Alex was at his final play practice, and Mackenzie had a friend over)! :)

Alex's birthday luau!

Tonight was Alex's birthday party...and just being the outrageously creative kid that he is, he decided that he wanted it to be a birthday luau (see previous posting for invite). At first I was a bit skeptical...until everyone on the party list showed up - all decked out in hawaiian attire! :) It was GREAT! I made BBQ chicken pineapple pizza for dinner, and a homemade pineapple upside down cake. For drinks we had pineapple soda with orange sherbet. Yummy!

Alex sure has a great group of friends. We had a bon fire outside and roasted marshmallows (a bit cold, but we had to get the bunch of 6th graders out of the house for a while!). While I was sitting there looking at all the kids surrounding the pit, I wondered what it would be like in 6 years when they are all seniors in high school. How cool will it be to see that same group then??? He sure has picked out a great bunch of people to be surrounded by. He is such a leader, and we are so proud of him!

***we were all wearing hawaiian attire too...I even had on a grass skirt...notice there are no pictures of me??? HAH! :)

Alex turns 12 years old today! Sniff, sniff...

My "baby" isn't a baby anymore...I just can't believe it. My oldest is 12 years old...

It was such an amazing day though! Alex went to school and then I picked him up with 4 of his best friends. They came home with him and they hung out for about an hour. Then we took off at about 4:15 pm and drove to Appleton. We went to "Red Robin" for dinner. Alex loved "Rachel" our waitress!

Then we were off to the Peter Pan play...how cool is it that Alex was able to perform on his birthday! It was absolutely awesome! I saw the play for the third time, and was still "wowed" by his performance. He is such a talented kid! The play was performed by Kimberly high school, but he auditioned for the part of "John" with a whole bunch of other 5th-7th graders...at first I couldn't believe that he beat out his competition...but after seeing him perform tonight, I can understand why! He is just pure raw talent and loves acting!

We didn't get the boys home until after 10...but everyone agreed it was worth the late night out!

Pineapple Cheese Ball

I FINALLY got my gosh darned cheese ball right! :) The trick is that you need to open the can of pineapple, drain it as good as you can, and then put it in a bowl (open to the air) in the fridge for 2 days, so that it can dry out. I tried three times to make this recipe and all I ended up with was a bunch of soup...then, my house cleaner was over here, and she says "why not let it dry out in the fridge for a couple days?"...thanks Sue! It ended up being worth the wait, as it was very tasty!

Ingredients:

-- 2 (8 oz) packages of cream cheese, softened
-- 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained (and dried out in fridge)

-- 2 tbsp finely chopped green onions

-- 4 tbsp chopped green bell pepper

-- 1 tbsp seasoned salt

-- 1 cup chopped pecans

-- crackers

Mix cream cheese, pineapple, onions, bell pepper and salt. Shape into 2 (or 1 big) balls. Roll in chopped pecans. Cover and refrigerate until ready to eat. Serve with crackers.

Logan's birthday party

Well, Logan doesn't turn 10 until the 11th, but today was his birthday party. It was very "wet" as we went to the "Tundra Lodge" in Green Bay. It has an indoor waterpark, so the kids had a blast! I got a great little baby ring for TJ, and he loved that too! That, and the lazy river! :)

Pumpkin Soup!

oh my- this recipe is SOOOOO yummy! I am definitely on a fall festive recipe kick!

Curry Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients
4 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 medium yellow onions, chopped
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)
3 (15 oz) cans 100 percent pumpkin or 6 cups of chopped roasted pumpkin*
5 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable broth for vegetarian option)
2 cups of milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Directions
1) Melt butter in a 4-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 4 minutes. Add spices and stir for a minute more.
2) Add pumpkin and 5 cups of chicken broth; blend well. Bring to a boil and reduce heat, simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
3) Transfer soup, in batches, to a blender or food processor. Cover tightly and blend until smooth. Return soup to saucepan.
4) With the soup on low heat, add brown sugar and mix. Slowly add milk while stirring to incorporate. Add cream. Adjust seasonings to taste. If a little too spicy, add more cream to cool it down. You might want to add a teaspoon of salt.
Serve in individual bowls. Sprinkle the top of each with toasted pumpkin seeds.
Serves 8

*To make pumpkin purée, cut a sugar pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a tin-foil lined baking pan. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use.

Alex is turning 12 and having a Luau party!

Only Alex could get away with being a boy, turning 12 years old, and throwing a Luau themed birthday party in the middle of November! :) He is such an awesome kid...and when he wants to do something, he doesn't care what anyone else thinks. He wants to do the limbo, have a hula-hoop contest, and dance to the Beach Boys...whatever floats your boat! And, you know what? The kids in 6th grade love him for it! Even his teachers say they just have to smile when Alex walks in a room. His motto? "Life is good when you are Alex!"...if we could all only be that optomistic! Just thought I would share what his invite looked like!

recipe of the week...

I like to bake and cook for my family...I thought maybe some of you out there do too! :) I am constantly being asked for recipes, so I thought I would just add a couple to my blog every now and then. I will also add a label called "recipes" to the bottom of every recipe entry, so if anyone wants all the recipes, they can just click on the label.

Today I made a couple pumpkin cheescake rolls (this recipe was catagorized as "advanced" when I found it...which scared me a little...but I found it quite easy to do):

****as a disclaimer, the roll on the right was made "lower fat"...meaning I substituted Neufchâtel cheese. Also, the roll on the right is covered in slivered almonds (because that is what I had in the cupboard- I was fresh out of chopped walnuts!)

Ingredients:

CAKE
1/4 cup powdered sugar (to sprinkle on towel)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup pumpkin
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)
FILLING
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Powdered sugar (optional for decoration)

Directions:

FOR CAKE:

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan; line with wax paper. Grease and flour paper. Sprinkle a thin, cotton kitchen towel with powdered sugar. COMBINE flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and salt in small bowl.

Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick. Beat in pumpkin. Stir in flour mixture. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Sprinkle with nuts. BAKE for 13 to 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched. (If using a dark-colored pan, begin checking for doneness at 11 minutes.)

Immediately loosen and turn cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake and towel together, starting with narrow end. Cool on wire rack.

FOR FILLING:

BEAT cream cheese, 1 cup powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth. Carefully unroll cake. Spread cream cheese mixture over cake. Reroll cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving, if desired. COOKING TIP:Be sure to put enough powdered sugar on the towel when rolling up the cake so it will not stick.

food storage

So, being LDS, we have been told (for as long as I can remember) to have a year supply of food for your family at all times. In recent years, the prophet has even been so bold as to tell us to up that supply to three years. I would like to say that we are an obedient family, but geez...three years is A LOT of food! Anyway, we are very proud of the fact that we have a complete year supply of food for the seven of us now. The only thing we need to work on is storing water. Because we are on a well, if our electricity ever goes out, we would be without water as well. That brings me to the next item we are working on...it would probably be wise for us to get a generator! :) We have also started filling up empty laundry soap containers with water and storing them. That way we will have soapy water! Smart, eh?

Because I need to know HOW to cook all this food, I also purchased a cookbook that really takes you "back to basics"...we will rotate the food accordingly, and restock whatever is needed so that we continue to maintain a year supply. We have many grains, beans, flour, sugar, oats, spices, honey, etc...

If anyone is interested, here is a link to more about food storage:

http://lds.about.com/od/preparednessfoodstorage/p/foodstorage.htm

...can't live in Green Bay and *NOT* be a fan!

- and I also took some photos of the girls as they were dressed for church...we decided to really dress for the season! :) BOO!

Our halloween baby!