The Playset, Oh that much work!

Pops, Noel's dad, asked us about three months ago if he could buy the "safari" a play set for Christmas. I stated that was fine. Well when Noel and I were on vacation Pops and us went and looked at play sets. We looked at Sam's, Lowe's, Toys r Us, and other department stores. Pops looked at Rainbow which wanted him to pay over $6000 for a play set. The ones that we saw did not have the support structure that Pops wanted, and Rainbow was smoking crack for what they wanted to charge.

I got onto the Internet and started looking for play sets. We found one at Gorilla that was what we wanted in support and there was no cement needed. So we picked out a play set and this is the one that we picked.



It is beautiful. Noel and I were excited. The delivery of the play set was the beginning of the fun. The play set was delivered by a freight liner. There were 8 boxes and the total weight of the boxes were over 1,300 lbs. So after the delivery we looked at the instructions and called Pops to let him know that it was delivered.

Pops came over on December 16 to cut the grass where the play set was going. Then he came back on Friday the 18th to get all the grass up. Well it did not come up as easily as we had hoped. So there was not much work done on Friday. Noel and Pops found a machine at Home Depot that would help with the digging of the ground.

On Saturday, Noel went and rented the machine that we needed. He dug the ground until about 11:30 when I asked him when the dump closed. We found out that the dump closed at noon on Saturday, so he left to dump the grass that he had dug up. I fed the "safari" and then went outside to play with the machine and did the rest of the digging. Also during nap time the Kiddie Mulch was delivered. We had 18 cubic yards of mulch dumped in our driveway. The "safari" thought that was pretty cool. We put some of the mulch in the backyard on Saturday and we got up the the first support beam up on Saturday. My brother Ben and Noel's brother Sean came over on Saturday to help and realized that they would need to come back on Sunday as well.

Sunday was the day that the play set got put up. The webpage stated that it can be put up in 8-12 hours, but the reviews stated anywhere from 2-3 full days. We are happy to state that the play set was put together in 12-15 hours, which is not too bad. The play set was the easy thing to put together. The hard thing was the digging the ground, laying the top soil and moving the mulch.

Monday, my dad and Noel worked on the slides. On Tuesday night Noel and I did the top soil on the the support cement blocks. On Wednesday night Noel and I did the mulch, and Thursday night we made sure the mulch was raked so that we could show the "safari" their present. You see the "safari" had not seen the backyard since the ground was dug up, the blinds had been lowered all week and they have been kept inside all week.

All the nanna's and pappa's and Pops came over on Christmas day around 3 pm for the big reveal. We caught it on tape. Here is the video.



We would like to thank Pops and Nanna and Papa Hensley for contributing to the play set for the "safari" this Christmas. The "safari" is thrilled and still excited about playing on it when they get a chance. Even though it was a lot of work and Noel and I were exhausted every night it was worth it when they saw their present.

Here is slideshow of the progression of our backyard for the play set. Thank you for all that helped with this endeavour and for being willing to help and be away from your wives during the Christmas season. We appreciate the time and the "safari" love you very much.

Happy Birthday Pam

It is my little sisters birthday today. Since she never answers her phone and you have to leave a message every time I thought that we would send her a video message instead. I hope that you have a wonderful birthday and that your day was stress-free. I know that is not possible with three small children but one can wish that for you anyway.

Jesse Tree!

Noel and I have been looking for what we could do to make Christmas more about Christ and not so much about Santa and presents. Last year our friends the Carrell's started to do a Jesse Tree tradition, so I looked into that and thought that would be a great tradition to start.

What is a Jesse Tree?

Advent is a time of waiting, a time of anticipation and preparation for the coming of Jesus. There are many ways to get ready for Christmas. One way is through a Jesse Tree.

What is a Jesse Tree? It is a tree branch decorated with symbols representing the stories of people in Jesus’ family tree. In Isaiah 11:1 we read, “A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.” Jesse was the father of David, Israel’s greatest king. And it was from David’s lineage that Jesus came. That’s where the idea of using a Jesse Tree to celebrate Advent came from. Before a symbol is hung on the branch, a Bible passage or a story from a story Bible is read.

“The Jesse Tree is a unique Advent tree that can be very useful and fun for teaching children about the Bible at Christmas time. The Jesse Tree represents the family tree, or genealogy of Jesus Christ. It tells the story of God’s salvation plan from creation and throughout the Old Testament, to the coming of the Messiah. The name comes from Isaiah 11:1, “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit.” (NASB)

Each day of Advent an ornament is added to the Jesse Tree, any small tree will work fine, and a correlating scripture passage is read. These symbolic ornaments each represent a prophecy foretelling of Christ, ancestors in the lineage of Christ, and various symbols of Christianity. “

*Adapted from About.com

Cheryl's mother, Colleen, decided that she was going to make ornaments for the Jesse tree and that we could buy them. Noel and I thought that this was a great idea since we wanted to make it a tradition and we could use the ornaments year after year. Here is the webpage where you can order the Jesse Tree ornaments or get more information.


We used this devotional and then added some of the other ornament options into the mix. This year we did 25 ornaments, but we will get the other 11 ornaments next year and do the entire lineage from creation to the birth of Jesus.

We made it through our 25 days and the "safari" looked forward to doing the ornament and the prayer that went at the end of each lesson. He is picture of our Jesse Tree, thank you to Colleen and the Carrell's for getting this tradition started in our family.

Quiet Books are Done!

When I made the decision that I was going to make the "safari" quiet books I was very ambitious and thought that I could get 12 pages done before Christmas. That was before I decided to make Halloween Costumes. So the quiet books did get done but they only have 7 pages in each of them, that means I did 35 pages and 5 covers. I plan on finishing the rest of the pages this next year and at the end there will be 12 or 13 pages in them.

I have to say that I am proud of them and that I made my "safari" their Christmas gift and that all my love was involved in the project. I learned a lot about my ability to use my sewing machine and I learned several things that I had never done before. I had never done a button hole, sewing buttons on with my sewing machine, and had never quilted before either. I am impressed with what I have learned in the sewing department in one years time. This time last year I was the proud recipient of my first sewing machine and in this last year I have made, personalized pillows, alphabet blocks, quiet books, shirts, Halloween costumes and my first quilt. Who knows what the next year holds. Maybe I will learn how to knit.

Here is a picture of the covers of the quiet books that the "Safari" got for Christmas.

Thank you Aunt Kim

We wanted to say thank you for the wonderful gift that you sent us. This is what Aunt Kim sent us. It is a tile that has a family tree with a poem about what families are and what they mean.




We thought that the best part of the gift was that is was wrapped in the bubble wrap. So we took a video of the "safari" saying thank you and then trying to pop the bubble wrap, but the bubble wrap was too small for them to pop.



Thank you Aunt Kim for thinking of us. We miss you and hope to see you sooner than later. We hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and that everything is going well.

Baking weekend.

For Christmas each year I make Noel's office goodies as our way of saying Merry Christmas. This year here is most of what I made for the office. Noel always tells me that I give his office a small piece of what he gets through out the year. Noel had a hard job this weekend; he had to taste all the items when they were done.

Merry Christmas Everyone at Capital Appraisal.


Bisquick Sausage Balls

1 lb. sausage
1 lb. grated sharp Cheddar cheese
2 1/2 c. Bisquick (biscuit mix)

Allow cheese to come to room temperature. Combine all ingredients (easier done by hand). Shape into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes. Serve immediately or may be frozen for future use.

Makes 40-50 balls.


SWEET AND SALTY ALMOND BARK

16 OUNCES BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE, COARSELY CHOPPED (DON'T USE BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS OR WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS. THEY WON'T MELT AND WILL RUIN THE ENTIRE BATCH)

16 OUNCES WHITE CHOCOLATE, COARSELY CHOPPED.

2 CUPS WHOLE ALMONDS
2 TEASPOONS COARSE SEA SALT

HEAT OVEN TO 250. LINE LARGE RIMMED BAKING SHEET WITH PARCHMENT PAPER. SPRINKLE BITTERSWEET CHOCOLATE EVENLY OVER PARCHMENT; SPRINKLE WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE. BAKE 5 TO 7 MINUTES OR UNTIL CHOCOLATE IS JUST SOFT.

LET STAND 2 TO 5 MINUTES OR UNTIL CHOCOLATE IS COMPLETELY MELTED. SWIRL CHOCOLATES with BUTTER KNIFE OR SMALL ICING SPATULA. SPRINKLE WITH ALMONDS AND SALT, PRESSING ALMONDS LIGHTLY INTO CHOCOLATE. COOL TO COOL ROOM TEMPERATURE. REFRIGERATE UNTIL FIRM. CUT INTO IRREGULAR PIECES. (THE BARK CAN BE MADE UP TO 10 DAYS AHEAD. REFRIGERATE IN AN AIRTIGHT CONTAINER).


GINGERSNAPS

¾ CUP SHORTENING
1 CUP PACKED BROWN SUGAR
1 EGG
¼ CUP MOLASSES
2 ¼ CUP FLOUR
2 TEASPOONS SODA
1 TEASPOON CINNAMON
1 TEASPOON GINGER
½ TEASPOON CLOVES
¼ TEASPOON SALT
GRANULATED SUGAR

MIX THOROUGHLY SHORTENING, BROWN SUGAR, EGG AND MOLASSES. BLEND IN REMAINING INGREDIENTS EXCEPT GRANULATED SUGAR. COVER AND CHILL ONE HOUR

HEAT OVEN TO 375 DIP TOPS IN GRANULATED SUGAR. PLACE BALLS SUGARED SIDE UP AND PLACE 3 INCHES APART ON LIGHTLY GREASED COOKIE SHEET. BAKE FOR 10 MINUTES.


PEPPERMINT COOKIES

½ CUP PACKED BROWN SUGAR
¼ CUP SOFTENED BUTTER
1 EGG
1 CUP ALL PURPOSE FLOUR
½ TEASPOON BAKING SODA
¼ TEASPOON SALT
½ CUP HERSHEY'S CANDY CAN KISSES, CHOPPED
24 WHOLE HERSHEY'S CANDY CANE KISSES

HEAT OVEN TO 375. BEAT BROWN SUGAR AND BUTTER IN MEDIUM BOWL AT MEDIUM SPEED FOR 1 MINUTE OR UNTIL CREAMY. ADD EGG AND VANILLA; BEAT UNTIL SMOOTH

COMBINE FLOUR, BAKING SODA AND SALT IN SMALL BOWL; BEAT INTO BUTTER MIXTURE AT LOW SPEED UNTIL COMBINED. STIR IN CHOPPED KISSES. (You can use food coloring to change the dough color or leave it as a white dough.)

DROP SCANT 1 TABLESPOON DOUGH PER COOKIE ON PARCHMENT PAPER-LINED BAKING SHEETS 2 INCHES APART. BAKE 6 TO 7 MINUTES OR UNTIL LIGHTLY BROWNED. REMOVE FROM OVEN; PLACE 1 WHOLE KISS IN CENTER OF EACH COOKIE. COOL ON BAKING SHEETS ON WIRE RACK 3 MINUTES. REMOVE FORM BAKING SHEETS, COOL COMPLETELY.


SUGAR COOKIES


1 CUP MARGARINE SOFTENED
1 ½ CUP POWDERED SUGAR
1 EGG
1 TEASPOON VANILLA
½ TEASPOON ALMOND
3 CUPS FLOUR
1 TEASPOON SODA AND CREAM OF TARTER
¼ TEASPOON SALT


CREAM MARGARINE AND POWDERED SUGAR; ADD EGG AND FLAVORINGS; BEAT WELL. ADD THE DRY INGREDIENTS. REFRIG. 45 MINUTES TO 1 HOUR


ROLL OUT AND BAKE AT 375 FOR 10 MINUTES. Make sure you do not overcook these. The dough does not get really stiff. I roll my in powdered sugar instead of flour but both ways work.


COOL AND FROST WITH

1/3 CUP SOFT MARGARINE
3 CUPS POWDERED SUGAR
1 ½ TEASPOON VANILLA
1 TEASPOON ALMOND
3-4 TABLESPOONS MILK


Cream Wafers (This recipe you must use butter or it won't be the same).


1 cup soft butter
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups all purpose flour
granulated sugar

Mix thoroughly butter, cream, and flour. Cover and chill.

Heat oven 375. Roll about 1/3 of dough at a time, 1/8 inch thick on floured board. Cut into 1 1/2 circles. (keep other dough cool)

Transfer rounds to piece of wax paper covered with granulated sugar; turn each round so that both sides are coated with sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheet. Prick rounds with fork 4 times.

Bake 7 to 9 minutes or just until set but not brown; cool.


Creamy Filling


Cream 1/4 soft butter, 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla until smooth and fluffy. Tint with a few drops of food color. Add a few drops of water if necessary for proper spreading consistency.


Dried Fruit Cookies

* 1/2 pound dried figs
* 1/4 pound raisins
* 2 ounces candied cherries, coarsely chopped
* 2 ounces dried apricots, coarsely chopped
* 1 tablespoon honey
* 2 tablespoons dry sherry
* 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 6 ounces chopped pecans
* Kosher salt
* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* 1/2 cup superfine sugar
* 1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
* 1 extra-large egg
* 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

Snip off the hard stems of the figs with scissors or a small knife and coarsely chop the figs. In a medium bowl, combine the figs, raisins, cherries, apricots, honey, sherry, lemon juice, pecans, and a pinch of salt. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit overnight at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, cloves, superfine sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and mix until incorporated. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the flour and 1/4 teaspoon salt just until combined. Don't overmix! Add the fruits and nuts, including any liquid in the bowl. Divide the dough in half and place each half on the long edge of a 12 by 18-inch piece of parchment or waxed paper. Roll each half into a log, 1 1/2 to 1 3/4-inch thick, making an 18-inch-long roll. Refrigerate the dough for several hours, or until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

With a small, sharp knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place the slices 1/2-inch apart on ungreased sheet pans and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden.

Fantasy Fudge

3 cups sugar
3/4 cup margarine
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 12-oz. (340 g) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 7-oz. (198 g) jar Kraft Marshmallow creme
1 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Traditional method:
Combine sugar, margarine and milk in heavy 2-1/2 quart saucepan; bring to full rolling bail, stirring constantly. Continue boiling 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring. Remove from heat, stir in chocolate till melted. Add marshmallow creme, nuts & vanilla beat till blended. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Let cool and cut into 1-inch squares.

Microwave method:
Microwave margarine in 4-quart microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) 1 minute or until melted. Add sugar and milk; mix well. Microwave on HIGH 5 minutes or until mixture begins to boil, stirring after 3 minutes. Mix well; scrape bowl. Continue microwaving on HIGH 5-1/2 minutes; stir after 3 minutes. Stir in chips until melted. Add remaining ingredients; mix well. Pour into greased 13 x 9-inch baking pan. Cool at room temperature; cut into squares. Makes 3 pounds.


Cheese Ball

1 (8oz) package of Cream cheese
1 container of blue cheese
8 oz of Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 small onion chopped (optional)
Tabasco sauce to taste
1-3 tsp garlic powder
1 cup chopped nuts

mix all ingredients together and shape into a ball. Roll in the nuts, cover and refrigerate.

Apple Cider

1 Large jug of Apple Cider
Orange Juice
Lemon Juice
Pineapple Juice
Honey
Brown Sugar
Cinnamon Stick
Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Ground cloves
Allspice

Pour the jug of apple cider into a large pan. Then I start to add the citrus juices to the pan and add some honey and brown sugar. Put in my cinnamon stick and sprinkle in the other spices. I let it get warm and then I have Noel taste it to see if there is anything missing and then I add what I need to get it right. Every time it is different by a slight variation.

Blood and your Kids

A mother can remember the very first time her child gets hurt. Now in my situation I can remember the first time that Elijah got hurt, but that is the only one of my "safari" that I can distinctively remember their first injury.

I was a typical mother when Elijah got hurt for the first time. Elijah fell on the bench in our entrance and cut himself above the eye. I screamed and cried more than Elijah did. Here is a picture of the first injury that Elijah got.



Now today the site of blood and someone crying because they got hurt does not affect me as much. For an example Joshua has busted his lip countless times. This morning he was trying to get down from the table and did not judge the distance from the table correctly and busted his lip. He came to me in the other room with blood on his hands, his face and him crying. My reaction was great another injury. I took him to the sink rinsed him off and made sure that he was okay and that he got some hugs. I did not cry, freak out or even call for Noel.

I have come to the realization that I will be wiping blood off a lot in my "safari's" childhood and that I will have to be the strong one or my "safari" is going to send me to the mental hospital. I mean they are not even all 3 yet and they are jumping, climbing, wrestling, pushing, tackling and just being kids, but the odds of injury goes up because I have 5 of them.

I have also stopped taking pictures of the "safari's" injuries because I do not have time to do it every time they decide to get a bruise. I am just glad that it is cold season and that my "safari" is wearing pants because they play hard and their legs prove that.

My advice is that your kid(s) are going to bleed and the first time is going to be hard, but you have to remember that your children react to how you react to the situation. I just make sure that I pray a lot for the safety of my children from themselves and their siblings.

Holiday Tea

This week has been crazy busy.... Well this Christmas season has been busy and it is not over yet.

Last year I went to a Holiday Tea with our church and fell in love with the concept. So I was excited to find out that they were going to do it again. I asked Noel if I could buy a table. Noel told me that I could. You see our Holiday Tea is a time for the creative person to come out. You can decorate a table for 10 people with whatever theme you have and you put the place settings out and have a small gift for the person who comes. I bought the table and immediately called my mother to help me. Our theme for our table was snowmen because my mother's collection is great.

So a month and a half ago we decided on the theme and started to collect the items that we needed. 10 place settings (plate, silverware, water glass, tea cups/coffee cups, napkins, tablecloth), creamer, and three dishes for tea and sugar. Kerri also wanted to help and so she contributed her snowmen plates/mugs to help with the 10 place settings.

A week before the tea we decided on what gift we were going to do for our guests. We decided that we would make champagne truffles, and then also have sugared almonds on the table. We went to Wal-mart to get a great tablecloth we saw in their flyer to find out that they did not have what we needed. So we had to go to Hobby Lobby and pick out fabric. We made the tablecloth and the napkins for the table.

A couple of days before the tea we made the final adjustments and made sure that we had everything. The day before Noel had volunteered to help with the setup of the church. He was there from 4pm until 2am the next morning. The day before my mother and I made the gifts for the table. The sugar almonds turned out fabulous and the champagne truffles turned out after we adapted the instructions.

The day of the tea mom and I went to the church and decorated our table in the afternoon. We figured out that we needed to bring lemons, honey, I forgot one place card, and we decided that we would bring sugar instead of having the single packets.

Here is what our table looked liked after we finished decorating it.



We were proud of our table. That night the place looked amazing. Each table with a different theme and with different ideas about what they wanted for their table. It was great to see people's china and the Mad Hatter's Table as well. The people that I invited to the tea thought it was great and I think that everyone had a great time. All the work was worth it and I hope to be able to have this opportunity next year. I have a feeling that I might need 2 tables next year instead of just one. We will see.

Enjoy the slide show, I took some pictures of other tables so that you would get the idea of the work that went into the table. Also the food was great.

This post would not be complete if I did not put a picture of Phil Coffman doing a great job with a flashlight after the tea. He worked really hard along with Ryan Carrell and Daryl Tripp.

Happy Birthday Ben

It has been another year and my brother is getting closer and closer to 30! My brother turned 28 today but it is not another year for him, because this year he found out that he and his wife are expecting a baby next year.

The "safari" wanted to say happy birthday. They have been practicing almost all week and I think they did a great job. Of course there has to be someone that decides not to participate and that was Joshua. The good thing is that next year he will have his own child to wish him a happy birthday, maybe with a hug and a kiss and not words.



Happy birthday and I hope that you have a wonderful day.

Lets Decorate our Tree!

It is so neat to see our "safari" grow up. This is the first year that they helped put the Christmas tree together.

Noel took the Christmas tree out of the attic and we brought it downstairs. The next morning the "safari" saw the boxes and were automatically excited about whatever was in the boxes. We told them that we were going to put that tree up later.

While the "safari" was eating lunch Noel and I put the tree together. After lunch we started to decorate the tree. At first they did not understand that the ornaments were for the tree and not for them to play with. They enjoyed putting the ornaments on the tree. We will see how it will be for the next month with getting them to stay away from the tree and not to touch the ornaments.

Nana was excited to help because she is not putting her tree up this year. My mom and dad are going on a cruise in December and will not be in their house for very long before Christmas. So this was a nice opportunity for Nana to help decorate a tree since they are not putting one up.

Here are a few pictures of the "safari" putting their first ornaments on the our Christmas tree. We are also excited about our Jesse tree as well.