Cold Weather, Warm(full) Belly

This afternoon was a cooking and baking kind of afternoon.  I was in the mood for some serious comfort food and Tim has been requesting his favorite childhood Christmas cookie, so I put on my apron {literally, my Grandma has made me a few} and got started!

Both of these recipes were easy to make, but had a bit of prep...I was chopping nuts for the Hershey Snowball Cookies and getting the crust ready for Chicken Pot Pie

I have eaten this chicken pot pie on many occasions at the Skoog's house.  I was always excited when I would go to their house to nanny and D would have this little treasure in the fridge.  This was my first time making it.  It was easy and perfect for a cold night.

 I got the filling all ready.....sauteed chicken, veggies and the best part, flaky pie crust soaking in a delicious gravy! 

 

It was picture perfect and tasted even better!  Tim and I {and Baby Love} finished over half of it in one sitting.  I could have kept going, but I wanted to wake up and have something to look forward to at lunch.

While the pot pie was baking I started on the cookies. 

With a little help of course :)

 

Again, these were a first for me.  They remind me of a buttery shortbread cookie.  If it was filled with almonds and a dark chocolate kiss and then rolled in powdered sugar :) 

 

Honestly, I wasn't super impressed with them, but Tim said they were just like when he was little.  So I'd say mission accomplished!

Thanksgiving

Our thanksgiving was wonderful!  The week was filled with friends and family and all the things to be thankful for. 

It started the weekend before when one of my nearest and dearest, Skippy, came for a visit.  Tim took over on full-time baby duty so we could kick it like old times {aka: eating late at Applebee's and going to see Twilight....you know the super fancy kind of outings}.  It was the kind of weekend that is good for the soul.  I am so geeked that we now live "close" to each other. 

I had just enough time to change sheets, wash towels and get the final groceries bought before "Poppop" {aka Tim's dad} arrived.  Although T.J. has only seen Popop twice he warmed right up!  I really don't think there is anything sweeter than seeing grandparents {long past the time their body wants to cooperate} crawling around on the floor with grand babies.  Having Poppop with us was such a help!  I was able to get things ready for Thanksgiving and not have to worry about what T.J. put in his mouth or what he was getting into when the house suddenly went quiet.

 

Tim's sister Kim also came for Thanksgiving.  She was in charge of dessert...and did not disappoint!  Kim brought 3 pies for the 4 of us!  Let's just say I am still munching on pie :) 

 

 

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of Kim with T.J. except for this one...gotta love and Auntie who takes over on diaper duty.

 

The meal turned out great, I realize I am bragging by saying that, but I was really pleased with everything!  I choose a turkey breast instead of a full turkey since there was only the 4 of us.  I used a Barefoot Contessa recipe, best turkey I have ever had!  I grew up always having a large extended family Holidays, so it was a nice change of pace to have a small intimate meal. 

Places got set

 

Bibs where on

 

 

 

Dinner was served

 

 

 

Plates were full

 

All in all, there was a lot to be thankful for!

Halloween Now and Then

When I see my fat little elephant I am filled with love, contentment and thanks.  It's funny to look back and think about life a year ago, or even 2-3 years ago.  I could have never imagined all that God had in store for me and now our family.

  One year ago, Tim and I went to a Halloween party as Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife.  It looked a little something like this :)

We were crazy excited to meet that little basketball in my belly, nervous about all things first time parents get nervous about, but most of all I think we were both in a bit of shock and awe.  Due to "not so great" news from doctors, we had prepared ourselves to never have biological children and begin to pursue the idea of adoption in the future.  So here we are, 5+ months along and finally showing......this was more real than we could believe!

Two years ago, Tim and I were just settling into married life.  I was adjusting to life in Hawaii and he was adjusting to a woman in his home who kept organizing and moving things around.  Life seemed like a bit of a dream, we had only KNOWN each other less than a year.  Yes, known.  Not dated, not married, but actually met less than a year prior and here we were happily married. 

Three years ago Tim and I didn't exist in each others worlds.  It was about this time that I got a call from Betsy saying she had "met my husband" at a Halloween party. *Insert my eye roll.  Betsy had on many occasions tried to find a proper suitor for me.  She, like any happily married friend wanted to help me.  I will say over the years, her attempts got closer and closer.  However, when she called I was sort of seeing someone and I couldn't imagine that this stranger living across the world could really be "the one".....Well, well, well was I wrong!  After Betsy's persistence and Tim's pursuit of me, a stranger.  I thought, well, I guess I can agree to this date.  After all, he's paying to fly me to visit Betsy and take me on a date....umm, ok!?  Needless to say,  three months later we were engaged and 4 months later we were married.

I am continually in a state of shock in awe when I look at my life.  God has always been faithful. He has been faithful in the little things and in the big things.  Even when I am undeserving of it.  In my best efforts, I  could not have planned my life as perfectly as He has put it together.

Our First Fall

This fall has been absolutely wonderful!  My heart is full of all the things I long for during this time of year.  It has been filled with apple orchards, pumpkin patches, train rides, old friends, new friends, long drives, Amish furniture, quaint small towns, wood burning fires places and lots of baking!  After every adventure I mean to blog, but alas life gets away from me. And if I'm being totally honest, sometimes the addition of T.V. into our lives for the first time in our marriage gets a bit addicting....I'm hoping the novelty wears off really soon or I may be putting my self on restriction.  Anyway, here is the overview in pictures........

Apple Orchard:  On my last post I showed pics of our family outing to an apple orchard, but T.J. and I went a second time with my new friend Marisa and her little one Evie.  This time we went to Larriland Farms.  It was perfect.  A big red barn, petting zoo and orchards on rolling hills as far as the eye could see.  My only disappointment is that I didn't get more of the Mitsu (the apple T.J. is holding) apples.

Fall Festival and Pumpkin Patch:  The Coans joined us which meant T.J. got to hangout with his best buddy Oliver!  It is so fun to watch these two together.  They are so delightfully different and it's fun to watch them interact with each other.

 It was so fun to set the boys up for pictures.  I was able to catch one of Oliver when he kept tasting the pumpkin over and over!

Trains and the Amish:  I have decided that driving to Lancaster is my favorite thing to do.  There is something so simple and beautiful about driving through 'Amish country' not to mention totally intriguing (AND the Pottery Barn Outlet is a nice incentive)!!  On this trip we went to the Strasburg Train Museum.  We didn't go to the actual museum, but we did buy tickets for the real train.  It was a really lovely ride with lots of beautiful farm land to look at.



T.J. was completely memorized by the train!





Not sure if you can read this, but the 'General Conditions' were pretty funny; no spitting tabacco, check your pistol and men shoveling and pushing snow :)



This is the Amish treasure we came home with.  I was so excited!  Highchairs are so unsightly and when you only have 4 chairs, you can't give one up for booster, so this was PERFECT!



Cold Weather Alert:  With winter at our door step it was time to start preparing.  How better than a cute knit owl hat and mittens....I mean come on, could this get any better?

Our New Home

Many of you have asked to see pictures of our new home, so here they are!  Come on in (imagine my hand waving you in)........

The front....which I love!  I have always wanted a brick 2 story

Main Level 

Front entry way

Front living room....yeah we will be painting this room

Dining room...*note: all window treatments must go!

Eat-in kitchen :) *needs to be painted!

Deck off the kitchen

awkward pic...powder room off the kitchen....also needs to be painted!

Main level family room...*ugly window treatments...again

BASEMENT

Full bath in the basement

2nd Floor (bedrooms)

When you are at the top of the stairs to the right is TJ's room, his bathroom and our room

T.J.'s room...needs to be painted AND the window treatment needs to be removed.

Main upstairs bathroom...I love the double sinks!

Master bedroom

Another awkward pic....this is taken form the master bath looking into the bedroom, what I was trying to capture was the 2 walk-in closets!!

Master Bath...double sinks!! *paint

Ok, back to the top of the stairs, to the left we have 2 bedrooms and laundry room

*paint

*paint

So that's the grand tour!  We are so excited about this house.  For those of you who don't know, there are 2 important details that make this move so exciting for our family....First of all, our home in Hawaii was a 2 bedroom 800 sq ft condo.  I now feel like I am living in a mansion!!!  Secondly, we bought this house without EVER seeing it in person!  So it was such a relief to walk in and love it!! 

 We have a ton of space and would love some visitors!  Plan a trip to the east coast and stay with us!  I will post some more pics once we actually get some painting done and our furniture/stuff arrives from Hawaii!!

Starting .HERE.

Life has been in a constant state of change for us over the last few months.  I finally feel like I am settling in to our new life and couldn’t be happier!  I have started multiple blogs over the last few weeks, but I find myself constantly trying to “catch up” on things I should have written about months ago.  SO, I am going to start HERE and maybe do some "catch up" later……

Fall + Friends/Family + Apple Orchard = A Happy Girl!

Now that we are living in a place of "seasons" my heart is tickled just thinking about all of the activities the next few months will bring.  I searched high and low for the best apple orchard around, I called ahead to reserve my cider donuts and confirm the picking schedule for Saturday.  Let's just say I was a bit excited :) 

Tim had been out of town for the week and would be returning late Friday night....just in time to wake up Saturday morning and escort me on my adventure!  My wonderful sister-in-law was staying with me for a few days to visit (and make sure the boogie man didn't get me while I was sleeping alone in our new big house), so it was a perfect time for some family fun! 

While going over the plans with Tim on Friday night we realized I choose the farthest possible apple orchard to go to.  After some pouting looking, we decide to go to Rockhill Orchard, a bit smaller, but only about 30 min away.  The bonus was that the orchard was close to some of our friends, and they were able to join!  It was not quite the extravaganza I had imagined, but it was a quaint little orchard with some delicious apples!   

Our friends Mike and Angie

Auntie Kim with T.J.

What does one do with 15lb+ of apples??  Why, make apple crisp of course!!  I looked up multiple recipes and came up with this make-shift recipe:

• 4 cups (about) peeled/chopped apples
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup oats
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• Dash of nutmeg
• 1/2 cup of melted butter

Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add the butter to the dry ingredients.  When mixed well, add the apples (I just used my hands to do the mixing for this part).  It's that simple.  Bake at 350.  This mix will fill an 8x8 pan.  I decided to try it in a muffin pan and there was enough to fill exactly 12 muffins.  Using the muffin pan I baked it for about 25 min (or until golden brown).  When I make them again, I may sprinkle the tops of each muffin with brown sugar and cinnamon to give it a little something extra.  They were delicious and gone by the next day!

All in all, it was a great start to the fall!!!