Happy Thanksgiving!

And we are off! I love Holidays!

We are spending our Holiday weekend with Josh's family, and then on Sunday we have our godson Leon's baptism. What a fun weekend! Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Great Homemade Yogurt!

I found this recipe from links on Money Saving Mom, and was eager to try it out! (Homemade yogurt?! In a crockpot? Easy!)It was wonderful! Note that it is not as thick as regular yogurt, but it is great for smoothies! Plus, knowing it is homemade is worth it! (It tastes amazing too!)

Here is the recipe:

1 Half Gallon Milk (8 cups) Whole is best, but others work well too
1/2 Cup Plain Yogurt (store-bought, to start the batch off)

Make your yogurt on a weekend day when you are home to monitor. ( I start mine at 4pm)Plug in your crockpot (at least 4 qt or bigger) and turn to low. Add milk. Cover and cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.Unplug your crockpot. Leave the cover on, and let it sit for 3 hours.

When 3 hours have passed, scoop out 2 cups of the warmish milk and put it in a bowl. Whisk in plain yogurt. Then dump the bowl contents back into the crockpot. Stir to combine. Put the lid back on your crockpot. Keep it unplugged, and wrap a heavy bath towel all the way around the crock for insulation. Go to bed, or let it sit for 8 hours.In the morning, the yogurt will have thickened---it's not as thick as store-bought yogurt, but has the consistency of low-fat plain yogurt.

If you plan on making more soon, save 1/2 cup of your plain yogurt and add it in place of the store-bought yogurt when you make your next batch. This way you can continually "roll" your batches!

I added some of my homemade jelly and jams to sweeten it and add fruit flavor. You could also add vanilla, or any other sweeteners you want. It is delicious!!!! I love it in the morning as a drinkable smoothie.. Mmmm!

Enjoy!

Busy days!

It seems like the weeks are flying by faster and faster as it draws closer to the Holiday season!

I have beat the Holiday rush this year with our Christmas card/picture! I finished it this week, and have it all ready to send out after Thanksgiving! I am so proud of myself, as usually I procrastinate until right before Christmas. (as happened last year) But it's nice to know I can get back on track!

Our holiday plans are being made, Christmas presents being bought.. it hardly seems possible that it is almost that time of year! Where did the time go?

We are pleased to attend our new godson's baptism next weekend also, and are anxiously awaiting meeting him! (Our goddaughter Bekka's new little brother Leon) That will be a fun weekend!

On our family news, Bekah has cut another tooth making a grand total of two bottom teeth! It has been a lot of rough nights because of that as well. Not too great for me! Today was a particularly bad one.. but naptime is close at hand!! :) She also sits up well and plays with toys, especially with Leah. They love to play together! She also can go up on all fours and rock back and forth! Yes, crawling is in the distant future! Very fun!

Leah loves watching all of the happenings over at my parents new house. They just got the well put in this week and will be putting septic in soon! Very exciting!

Hope your week is going well..

Playing so nice together!

Here are some pics from our morning!

They really play together so well!! Nice!

I love the taste of Duplos..

Yay! Picture time!

8 Months Old!

8 Months Old already!!! What a big girl! So hard to believe!

Life goes on..

Well, it is deer hunting season this week (rifle anyway) Josh, talented as always, has gotten 2 so far! I am very excited about the fresh meat! He shot another one tonight, but the blood trail was long, so he is still looking for it. Hopefully we will have #3 in the freezer soon!

The girls and I have been busy with life as usual. The snow cover (and cold temps) make it hard to get outside, but we are having fun inside for now. I am working on getting our Christmas letter/picture done early this year, which will be GREAT!

In other news, my parents have set the basement of their new house nextdoor! The house set will be in the middle of December, which will hopefully mean it will be ready by late Jan/Feb!!! I am very excited to see the progress (finally!) and Leah loves watching all the big trucks come and go. It is a great lesson in truck-ology, something I think my girls lack(trucks/bulldozers/bobcats, they are all the same to them!) Very funny!

Bekah, enjoying her newly-found toy!

Fall swinging.. I LOVE her hoodie!!!

My precious girlies

Slipping though my fingers....

I just borrowed the soundtrack to a movie I saw a few months ago, Mamma Mia! and this was a song I loved and immediately took to heart! Anyone with girls (or sons) can identify how fast they grow and change... then eventually leave. I love this simple reminder to enjoy every minute of being a mom.. even with toddlers!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Schoolbag in hand she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile

Sleep in our eyes, her and me at the breakfast table
Barely awake, I let precious time go by

Sometimes I wish I could freeze the picture
and save it from the funny tricks of time

Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
the feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time

Do I really see whats in her mind?
Each time I think I'm close to knowing she keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

from the song "Slipping through my fingers" from the movie, Mamma Mia!

Busy weeks

Our weeks have been filled with getting our home/yard winterized, and spending last-minute time playing outside! (When our colds permit!) The girls and I have been struggling with colds for a long time now, and we have been staying inside to help the healing process, but finally this week after we still have the annoying cough/runny nose, I said enough was enough and shoved all of us outside! (I am bored of being inside!) It was a fun week of nice weather and being outside. Now, if I can only figure out what I am going to do when winter comes!!!!

On more of the fun side, Bekah has been growing developmentally by leaps and bounds these past weeks! She can now sit up by herself and play with toys! She loves this, and it is soooo much nicer than carrying her! She also has one tooth, and is probably getting more soon! She also loves to eat "Rice Rusks", a new teething biscuit I found for her. I love these as they save time occupying her as I make dinner! Very nice!

I am hoping to get more pictures posted very soon, it just seems I haven't been taking any recently.. bad me! More posts soon!