This week...

We've been busy playing outside in the leaves,





Playing dress up,
Emptying all the toy bins and playing in them instead,Taking naps (this is usually how Leah starts out every nap, with all her babies, animals, and blankies!)
Visiting the pumpkin patch,

Carving pumpkins,
Dancing like a ballerina,

Going trick-or-treating at our church party,
And eating all the candy afterward!

We love fall and Halloween!

Harvest Time!

I finally got around to picking all the rest of the vegetables from our garden before the frost hits and here's our bounty! I had picked a lot of tomatoes over the last month or so and made salsa with them but these ones never turned red so I thought I would just have to throw them away. But then I found out from my SIL that if you wrap them in newspaper, they will ripen indoors. So I did that and already, a week later, I've got 4 red ones and 2 more yellowish red ones that are almost ready to eat. Anyone up for more salsa?

As for the carrots, they tasted marvelous, so much better than store bought ones. I made a beef stew last weekend with half of them and we could totally taste the difference. Then yesterday I made this delicious carrot cake with the other half and oh my gosh, it was the best carrot cake ever! Try this recipe if you have carrots you're trying to use up, even if they are store bought.

Carrot Cake
4 eggs
3/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Cream Cheese frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 3 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in chopped pecans. Frost the cooled cake.


Because this was our first year of having a successful garden and actually getting something out of it, I thought I'd show it's progress from start to finish. We did a row of corn and carrots and then sections of tomatoes, green beans, and lettuce. This is planting day, May 31st, 2008.


1 month later, July 3rd

2 months later, Aug. 3rd

2 1/2 months later, Aug. 22nd

3 months later, Sep. 4th

4 1/2 months later, Oct. 18th

It's sad to see our little plot all barren and dead but we're excited for the spring when our tulips will come up and we can start it all over again!

Pucker up!

About a month ago Leah started always wanting me to kiss her and would pucker her lips up "like diss" several times a day and say "Mmmm, mmmm" until I gave her one. Ever since, I've been trying to get a good picture of it to show you all. Well, we finally got one! Now, who wouldn't want to kiss those adorable smackeroos?

Just a few more to show how cute and persistent she is!

I'm back!

We just got back from a trip to Washington State to visit Jared's sister and family and had the best time. Here's some pictures of the kids playing together and some places we went. Overall the flight was fine, we had a few meltdowns but made it back in one piece and now we're glad to be home!

We don't have a piano so the kids had a lot of fun with this new toy!

Playing with their cousin Hailey
Visiting a corn maze and pumpkin patch

Sitting on the "cowch"
How the kids spent a lot of their time
Visiting the Space Needle...

And Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle

All of us before a night out on the town!

Thanks, Josh and Susan, for a wonderful time. We can't wait to see you again!

Abbie's photo shoot

I took Abbie to Sears to get professional pictures a few weeks ago and here are the results. Isn't she adorable? I think she looks so grown up in some of these, can you believe my baby is 4 years old already? It seems like just yesterday I couldn't wait for her to learn to crawl or start eating solids and now I'm wishing the clock would slow down just a little bit so I could enjoy this last year or two with her at home before she starts kindergarten. I'm just not ready for her to grow up yet!

We drove all night...

to see Celine Dion in concert on Friday! My sister came to visit this past weekend and we had so much fun! I had bought tickets to Celine a while ago and was going to make Jared go with me but about a month ago my sister, Liesl, said she wanted to come visit and could come this weekend and since she's a Celine fan also, it was perfect timing.

Here we are before the show with shirts I got a few years ago when I saw Celine's show in Vegas. Here we are in the car on the way there. We barely made it to the Palace of Auburn Hills on time! We left at 5:30, the show was scheduled to start at 8:00, and Mapquest said it would only take an hour so we thought we'd be fine. Well, after getting lost a few times and having to ask for directions four times plus being stuck in traffic for the last hour with just 1/2 mile to go (we could see the Palace up ahead, we were that close!) we finally made it there!

We walked in at 7:59 pm, the opening act person (some impersonator singer guy) didn't start until 8:30 and Celine Dion didn't even come out until 9:00 pm. It was totally worth all the driving and stress getting there, though, her voice is even better live than recorded and it was an amazing show with all the dancers and visual effects. The show lasted until about 11:00 and then we hurried out of there trying to beat the parking lot traffic and made it home in just under two hours. By the end we felt like we really had driven all night!

We also had fun showing my sister around Ann Arbor for the next few days. We took her out to eat at some of our favorite places, showed her UM campus and the hospital, took a tour of Jared's work, and went on a walk through Gallup Park.

We also drove up the beautiful Huron River Drive to the Dexter Cider Mill for fresh apple cider and donuts and showed her what fall is really supposed to look like! (She's from out west where fall lasts about 1 week!)

Most importantly, we spent a lot of time hanging out at home with the girls. Abbie and Leah loved showing off for their Aunt Liesl and it was fun for her to see them and how they've changed in the past year since we last saw her.

Thank you so much, Liesl, for coming and taking the time to make this happen. Also, thanks to those in the family who watched her kids so she could come. You guys are awesome!