Happy New Year

Oh, goodness..what a month December was. It was so busy...as December usually is.
We started off the month with our 4 year anniversary...Dec. 3. I had told Will that we would not make a big deal out of it this year, you know, to save money, and apparently he forgot that deal because he came home from work with roses, and 4 different kinds of chocolate for me :)
He got a card from me...lol.
That I made.
Hey, in my defense, we made a deal...ha ha ha.
3 days later was our little Scottie's 3rd birthday. How is he 3 already??? He is getting so grown up...and is still such a joy in our lives.
He adores his little sister beyond belief. He talks so much...I understand almost everything he says, nobody else does :) He is constantly copying what we say, so it seems that almost every day he is saying new words.
At 3, he weighs about 33 lbs and I really should check his height...lol.
He is such a little brute. He is so solidly built...I still think he will make a great hockey player or football player.
He LOVES to run. Poor little Aerin is always trying to keep up with him and just can't.
Naturally, for breakfast, he got his cake...well, this year we did cupcakes :)
The next weekend, on the 12th, we had his birthday party. We just had family over and we did a pizza supper...so much fun.
I spent the day making the crusts and pre-baking them so we could just put the toppings on and bake them.
What a day it was.
Our house has a security gate around it with a call button on it. It is connected to our house phone. When it rains, for whatever reason, our phone doesn't work...it will stop working for days...as long as it is raining. Well, this was a particuarly rainy weekend, so that made it real interesting as family arrived...luckily, everyone has cell phones and just called us on cell phones and we just told them the code to get in so we didn't have to walk down with the gate opener to let them in...lol.
The party was a blast...I think a good time was had by all :)
A few days later (16th) was my birthday. 31. Dang, I am getting old...lol.
I didn't even get any cake for my breakfast cause we were out of mixes...ha ha ha.
And then on the 20th, was Will's family Christmas party. We almost didn't go, cause the night before, Scott got sick. He didn't eat supper, and then came to my room (where I was wrapping presents) saying he had a sore tummy. He was fevering, but as I kept checking him through the night, it kept dropping, and by morning, he was eating and playing like usual, so we went to the party.
It was really fun. Poor Will had worked the night before, so he fell sleep on the couch at Christine's house just before supper started...I just made him a plate and let him sleep.
Here they are with cousin Zachary.

We actually got invited out for Christmas Eve, which was really nice. My friend, Karil, from church just had a small get together. Will had to work, so the kids and I dropped him off at work and we went over to Kari's. When we got home, we put out cookies (mint chocolate chip) and egg nog for Santa, his reindeer and Mrs. Claus. We also wrote a letter.
Then, the kids went to bed.
Christmas morning, 3 am, there's Scottie, in the living room starting in awe, at the full stockings...lol. I brought him back to bed with me, cause I knew there was no way he would go back to bed in his room...lol.
We got up a couple hours later to go get Will from work. To avoid any drama over leaving the house after seeing all their toys, I changed their diapers, too them out the back door, and loaded them into the truck, pj's and all, and went and got Will. When they walked in the house, there were all their presents.
They had so much fun and Scott was unwrapping everything in sight...lol.



For New Years, Will was working, too, so we just made ourselves a fun supper of cheeseburgers, mini corn dogs, fish sticks and apple slices. Hey, don't judge me, all 4 food groups were in that meal (and I was really low on groceries, so we used what we had) :)
Then me and the kids went outside and lit sparklers. Oh, gosh...the kids loved that. They thought that was the coolest thing ever. I got some fun pics of them holding them.


I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year.
All the best to you and your families.

I have been looking for the perfect oatmeal raisin cookie recipe for a long time...I've even considered stealing Von's cookie recipe cause it was exactly what I have been trying to make. You know, the soft, chewy ones. Well, I am happy to say that I have found it...the one and only oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that I will use for the rest of my life.
So, I thought I would share it with you, my faithful blog followers...you know, just in case you are like me, trying to find that perfect recipe.

Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 lb. (2 sticks) butter
1 1/2 c. golden brown sugar, packed
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 c. quick oats cereal
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)
1 c. raisins

Place racks in upper third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl with electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Add oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
Mix on low speed until blended. Add nuts (optional) and raisins and mix on medium speed until incorporated. Drop batter by heaping tablespoons 1 1/2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake for 10-13 minutes or until golden brown.
Cookies will feel soft but will firm up as they cool. Let tand on bakng sheets 2 minutes before transferring to racks to cool.
Makes about 45 cookies.

Now, I did substitute the eggs for flaxseed. To do this, mix 1 tbsp. ground flaxseed with 3 tbp. water.
This mixture can be used immediately, but is best is done about an hour beforehand and left in the fridge. (I did it at the very beginning and just let it sit in the fridge for about 5 mins until I needed the eggs.)

Two big things

First off...
I have created a new blog. The purpose of this blog is to combine my kid's blogs into one...making it easier for you and me. Now, I only have 1 blog to update for all of them, and you only have 1 blog to read for all of them.
See, I am thoughful.
I don't know a way that I can move their blog posts to this new one, so their old blogs still can be viewed, but I will no longer update them...I will just update the new one. (I will provide a link on my sidebar with the other links). The link will be called "The Kahle Kids".
The new blog address is: http://thekahlekids.blogspot.com
Please feel free to link it on your blog to make it easier for you to visit.

And secondly...
my baby boy is now 3!!!
What the heck...where did the time go??? Was I not just in the hospital giving birth to my first born child??? Was he not just wearing his little red and white striped hat that they gave him when he was born??? Was it really 3 years ago that I stood in the kitchen stomping my feet with frustration at being so tired from not sleeping for 3 days??? lol.
It was 3 years ago. It really was.
I have got the world's sweetest boy...I really don't know how Liam is gonna compete with that title...ha ha ha.
He's just gonna have to be the world's sweetest something else :)
Scott is so tender hearted and gentle. He loves his sister and he loves taking care of her. He will find a really cool toy in a catalogue that he wants, and then he will find another one that he thinks Aerin wants...and will tell me. Over and over. He wants to make sure I know what he and his sister wants.
He is such a good helper. He loves helping me with anything...those two will fight over who gets to hold the dustpan when I sweep the floor...I can't say that I ever did that :)
Everyday he says something new. He copies everything we say and actually said the real word 'bird' today. He always had his own word for bird, but today actually said the real word...YAH!!!
He has 2 nicknames for Aerin..."beeta beeba" and "bicky butt" (turkey butt). I called Aerin a turkey butt once, and Scott hooked onto that one and hasn't stopped calling her that since...lol. Silly boy.
He loves so many things right now.
He is just such a joy in our lives. I was going through scrapbook pages and I found one with a pic of him with the silliest look on his face and in the journaling I wrote about how he would always make us laugh...and he has held true to that. He is always doing and saying stuff that makes us laugh.
Yesterday, he was standing by the garage door, and wanted Aerin to come to him...she was down the hallway. He stood there yelling, "Come here, Bicky Butt!"
His current favourite movies are Cars (which he calls Cars Vroom Vroom) and Shrek. Oh, gosh, how he loves Shrek. He wanted to watch it yesterday morning, but didn't want to watch it in the living room...he wanted to watch in with me, on the laptop, snuggled in my bed with me.
Oh, how that boy knows how to tug on my heartstrings.
I love the look on his face whenever I bring him his birthday cake. This year I just did cupcakes in the shape of a '3' but he thought it was cool. He could hardly wait for Daddy to get home from work so he could eat cake and open presents which were sitting on the table and taunting him...lol.
We bought him a military airplane set (which he has yet to stop playing or sleeping with). Auntie Kari-Lynn got him a veggie tales movie (which he took to church in his church bag in hopes that he could read it...lol) and he even let Aerin open his present from Mum Mum (Grandma) so she wouldn't feel left it. It was a book (and he also packed that in his church bag).
He wanted to take his aiplane to church, but because it makes noise, I told him he couldn't, but to keep it safe on his bed and he could play with it as soon as he got him...which is exactly what he did.
He came racing into the house, got his airplane, then asked me where his church bag was so he could get his movie out to watch.
That kid has a memory like an elephant.
He is still asking about a present that we bought him at Bass Pro Shops a couple weeks ago...dang, kid. Forget about it already...lol.
Dang, this post has ended up way longer than originally planned.
Anyways, onto the second thing. You know what, maybe I will make the Scott turning 3 thing as the second thing and the other thing as the first thing so as to make sure you all get to know what the first thing is by putting it at the top of the post.
Yep, me thinks I will do that.
Cause I really have no idea how many of you will actually read this far down...
Did you???

What a good month this has been.
Not a whole lot that is new and exciting, to be honest.
I am crazy excited for Christmas.
Probably 2 or 3 weeks ago I got a Christmas Craving. I wanted to do everything Christmas related. I wanted to start sewing stockings, put up garland and bows on the columns out front of the house, put up the Christmas tree, bake, make and eat chocolates...everything Christmas.
Well, I didn't have fabric for the stockings, garland or bows for the columns, no freezer space for baking and no chocolate making stuff...so, I put up the tree and what few gel tree and snowflake decorations that we had on the window (which I then moved to the door window).
I did eventually end up making a couple stockings...I decided to just try it out, and figure out exactly how to do them and I just used the same fabric as I used to make their jammies, so they have matching stockings and jammies.
Scottie and Aerin, of course, were more than willing to help. They are too funny.
You see, they love wearing their bike helmets...and this particular day was no different. The only pics I have of them helping set up Christmas decorations is wearing their helmets...so special :)


Mum gave us a train to set up around the Christmas tree...my dream. I have always wanted a train around the Christms tree...soooooooooooooo love it. The kids love it, too...they love watching it go round and round.

I got super cute pics of Scott and Aerin looking at the Cabela's and Bass Pro Shops Christmas catalogues...they both loved looking at the trucks. Scott would point to the truks and say "Please" over and over...and then he would point to the pink one and say, "Please, Babyta". So, to say the least, when we went to Bass Pro Shops, we bought them each a truck set...

One day Will had training for work, so instead of staying at home, we went into town with him. We dropped him off downtown and then we went to the dollar store in hopes of finding plain garland and bows. Well, we found the bows...and I'm too cheap to go somewhere else and pay $10 for 6' of garland...I mean, I'd need at least 2 per column. I like the dollar store price...$1 for 15'. But the bows do look pretty...exactly how I pictured them looking outside.
Anyways, we went to the dollar store and then we still had a bunch of time to kill, so we went to the park...yes, in November...and it was a beautiful day.
The kids had such a good time...living out in the country, we have the yard to play in, but no parks real close...well, I guess that's not entirely true...there is a school behind us, but I don't really want to take them to a school park while school is in session. So, we don't get to the park much, to say the least.


Oh my gosh...Scottie is such a boy and just loves copying Will. Let me explain. We have a huge ground squirrel problem here. They eat so much of the fruit off the trees and food from the gardens...they are terrible. So, we have a pellet gun and we shoot them. Anyways, Scott has a water gun and whenever Will goes to go shoot a squirrel, Scott is hot on his heels with his water gun to copy Daddy. I think Scott will end up being a really good hunting buddy. He will really enjoy it, I think.

They love playing outside and drawing with sidewalk chalk...it really is a good way to start the day. We don't do it nearly often enough.


Last week we went to Bass Pro Shops. It is always an exhausting experience for the kids...lol. It's not a 1hr shopping trip for us, it's usually several hours...this time I think we were there from about 12:30-6. In our defense, we were waiting for Santa at 5, but the kids fell asleep and we didn't know if they would be happy enough when they woke up to see Santa, so we just ended up finishing our trip and leaving. They did wake up right around 5, but the line was long enough that we didn't feel like waiting in it. We'll just go to Santa in Fresno sometime.





Last night was Thanksgiving. We went to Will's cousin's house. Will wasn't able to make it since he had to work, so Christine and Chris came over and took us there. They had the world's softest throw cushions and the kids loved them. Scott and Uncle Michael were throwing them at each other. Scott has a love/hate relationship with Uncle Michael...lol. Scott is always scared of him...but once he is hanging around in the same room as him for a while (an hour of two) he finally warms up to him and will play with him and sit with him...but don't dare try to get Scott anywhere near him before he is ready...lol.


And this last pic I just love. Scott had been looking through Black Friday ads at Melissa's house and found this one from Wal Mart. Well, there is a remote control car in here that he wants...and he asked me over and over if he could please have this car. I finally told him to ask Aunt Shelly cause she was going to Wal Mart...so, he did...lol. Anyways, he brought the ad home, carried it to bed and went to sleep with it.

Well, I guess I will go back through here and add pictures, then I will go to Scott and Aerin's blogs and do a quick update on their blogs...cause I specially saved some stuff for their blogs that I am not writing here.

I did it.
I updated Scott's and Aerin's blogs...crud, it had been forever since Scottie's was udpated...oops, my bad.
Hmmmmmmmmm...I gotta admit. I got nothing. Now that I have updated their blogs, I got nothing to post here...LAME!!!
Think. Think. Think. Maybe I should try to do this when I am not on the phone, then I could really think about anything I may have to say.
Oh, I do have something to blog here. Kari-Lynn asked me awhile back to post pics of our house, so I did take pics of the inside of the house...still haven't taken a pic of the outside, so I will add that one later, but I will post the inside pics.

Kitchen.


Dining Room.


Aerin is in the bottom bed, and the top is the spare.


Scottie's bed.


Living Room.


Master bedroom.


Master bath area.


We also have a third bedroom (Solomon's) and I have no idea why I don't have a pic of it, but I don't...and right now it's a totaly disaster, so I won't be taking a pic of it tonight...lol. When Collin (our nephew) was over around Halloween time, he broke Solomon's bed. So, Chris, my bro-in-law tried to fix it, but that didn't work, so we have to do some moving around of beds. We have to take Scott's bed and put it into Solomon's roo, then take the top bunk and bring it down for Scott...so, really, by this weekend, these pics will not REALLY reflect what the bedrooms look like, but if I were to be completely honest, these pics show clean bedrooms, and, well, they aren't so clean right now...sooooooooooooo, not really a true reflection of our house right now...lol.
So, there you go. This is home...and we love it here.

HALLOWEEN at the Kahle House.

Oh, gosh. I LOVE Halloween.
I love choosing costumes, getting the kids dressed up and I LOVE the act of Trick-or-Treating.
I must admit that I loved all the candy a little too much this year...it doesn't help that Baby Liam wants chocolate.
This year we had a littler pirat, a witch and, unofficially, a pumpkin :)
My SIL, Rebecca, has a pic of my belly with a pumpkin sticker and a sticker that said "Trick or Treat"...that was, obviously, Liam's costume...as soon as she posts the pic on facebook, I will thief it and post it here.
And here is a pic of my pirate and my witch.



We also had a Halloween BBQ/Party that day. It was basically a party to have family over to see our house we moved into back at the end of summer.
It was so much fun. I LOVED baking for it. My favourite baking blog is www.bakerella.com You must go see this blog...she rocks. I used a couple of her ideas for the party.
I made spiderweb cupcakes (spider cookies on her blog) and pumpkin tarts (pumpkin bites on her blog).
I as up til 1am Halloween morning doing all the food prep and I loved every minute of it :)




I hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween.

So, I went to make breakfast this morning...pancakes...and discovered that I did not have enough baking powder. LAME-O, right???
Poor Scottie was already all pumped up for pancakes.
Well, I remembered a recipe by an old school friend for something called breakfast cookies.
So, 6 dozen cookies later...


And the ever so yummy ingredients:

Breakfast Cookies (yield: 3 doz. cookies)

2/3 cup sifted whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup maple sugar, maple flakes, or packed brown sugar
1/2 cup softened butter
2 eggs
1 cup grated apples (I don't peel)
2 and 1/3 cups large flake rolled oats
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup sliced almonds

Whisk flours, baking powder, soda, salt and cinnamon. In large bowl beat sugar with butter, beat in eggs, then mix in apples. Stir in flour mixture, then oats, fold in raisins, almonds, and cranberries. Place in 1/4 cup balls about 3 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten to about 1/2 an inch. Bake one sheet at a time at 350 degrees for about 17 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

FYI: I have found that 11-12 minutes was the perfect amount of time. I think 17-20 would be too long. I should also mention that I didn't do them in 1/4cup balls, I just did large soup spoon balls.

I have also found that adding some coconut is REALLY yummy, too, if you like coconut. (I added 1/3 cup)

Now, the recipe does not originally call for the whole wheat flour to be sifted, but I have found they are too heavy if it is not sifted...just something I have found. I like them better with the ww flour being sifted.