Playing in the Snow

We took Drew out to play in the snow for about 5 minutes this morning. We probably took longer getting him bundled up than we spent playing outside. In spite of the careful bundling on my part, Drew kept taking off his mittens and getting snow all over his hands.

The snow was pretty deep, and Drew didn't seem to enjoy being in it.

I helped Drew make a snow angel.

Drew enjoyed tromping down the freshly plowed driveway, which was already piling back up with snow. Jim ended up going back out and plowing it again later in the afternoon. We are gearing up for more snow tomorrow night and then again on Christmas Eve. We are hoping to be able to make it out to our Sunday School Christmas party tomorrow night and the church contata on Sunday. We'll see!

Foccacia

I made this foccacia bread last night for dinner using a recipe from my mom. We all three enjoyed it. Drew was a little confused when he saw me pull it out of the oven. He called it "pia." He is into pizza these days. I served it with soup, but we will use the rest of it for sandwiches.

Foccacia

Dough:
1 cup water
1 1/2 T olive oil
3 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. dried oregano
1 1/2 tsp. yeast
Topping:
2 T olive oil
1 clove garlic
Can top with herbs and parmesan - fresh is best.) I used Italian Seasoning and Rosemary.
Use the dough cycle on your bread machine.
After the dough has risen, put it on a baking stone. Shape into a circle about 1 inch thick. Let rise until doubled.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Poke holes over the top of the dough. Combine oil and garlic and drizzle over the dough. Sprinkle with herbs and/or cheese. Bake for 25-30 minutes. One loaf serves 5 or 6 people.

We are in the midst of a big snow storm. Jim has the day off, and he blew all the snow off the driveway and sidewalk with his snow blower this morning. It might still need to happen again before the day is done. We are planning to take Drew out to play in the snow a little later today. I'll be sure to post pictures if we do it.

I plan to use my time of being "snowed-in" to finish up a few last Christmas gifts and some baking.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had to bake cookies today for the children's program at church tomorrow night. I made Jim's family recipe, which is quite popular around here. I made just enough for church, and Jim and Drew were pretty sad about that. Drew still tried to get some anyway.

Here's the recipe:

Hawkins Family Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups Crisco (I use butter flavored)

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1 T vanilla

1 tsp. water

4 eggs

4 1/2 cups flour

3 1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. salt

12 oz. chocolate chips

Cream sugars, Crisco, vanilla, water, and eggs. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips. Bake at 375 degrees for eight minutes.

Don't worry. I did give Drew a cookie. Jim, however, did not get any. Sadly, this afternoon, he came down with the stomach flu that Drew and I had last week. We are hoping that he will feel better soon.

School

School has changed our schedule quite a bit this week. Subbing has gone well, but it has been a busy week for me, and I have a new sense of gratitude for the opportunity that I have to stay home with Drew and not have to teach full-time while he is still so young. I have enjoyed this week, but I am looking forward to getting back to our normal routine next week.

Drew has been having fun with Jim and Grandma Esther this week, and one of his new favorite activities is playing in his school bus tent that I found for him at the thrift store. When open, it takes up most of our living room, but it folds up completely flat for storage. Drew loves to crawl through it, and he likes to take his toys and books inside it and then throw them out the windows.

Sick

Sickness hit our little house hard this week! It started with Drew's cold on Tuesday, and then it turned into a horrible stomach bug for me and then Drew on Thursday evening. I am finally feeling almost back to normal today, but Drew is still struggling a little. We were both able to eat a little bit more today, and we each got good sleep last night and naps this afternoon. We are still praying that Jim won't catch this bug and that we will all be well by Monday for my week at school.

Christmas decorating did not happen yet, due to the illness in our house, but maybe tomorrow. We got an inch or so of snow today, and everything looks very pretty outside. Jim has the weekend off because of the weather.

Christmas Card Pictures

I took Drew over to Kristen's house this afternoon to get his Christmas card pictures taken. They turned out great, and I wanted to share a few of them. Kristen always takes such good pictures of Drew!

I was also able to get a really great deal on my Christmas cards. I followed the instructions at http://moneysavingmethods.blogspot.com/2008/12/30-free-holiday-photo-cards-hurry.html, and it worked! I got 30 cards and envelopes for $5.30.

Drew has a cold, so we will probably be spending the next few days at home. I am hoping that he will be better by next week since I will be subbing all week at Faith and Jim and his mom will be caring for him.

A Day at the Zoo

I made this layout last night with pictures taken the week of my birthday, when Nora was here visiting. We went to the zoo with Beth and Joseph Scally and Kristen and Nathan Johns. It was a very fun day!
We are hoping to get our Christmas decorations up this week. We think that they might be quite a temptation to Drew. It will be interesting!

My Husband, the Handyman

Over the past few days, Jim took on two big projects that he had never tried before - recaulking the bathtub and putting a new battery in my car. I am so proud to say that he was successful in both endeavors.

Our tub had needed to be recaulked SO badly, but we were not very confident about trying to do it ourselves. We had seen an infomercial about a caulking tool that smooths the caulk, so we decided to look for something similar at Home Depot. We found a little kit with a removing tool and a smoothing tool, and it worked very nicely. Our tub looks 100% better!

I left my car headlights on Thursday during Thanksgiving dinner, and when I went out to go home, my battery was dead. Jim and Drew had already left to go home (we had driven separately because Jim was coming from work, and Drew and I were coming from home), so a couple of the guys came out and tried to jump my car battery. After about half an hour of trying, we realized that it just wasn't going to work. Jim came back and picked me up. After checking on-line, Jim decided to try to put in the new battery himself. Friday after work, Jim bought a battery and went back to Sharon and Larry's house and installed it. It worked!

We are preparing for company tomorrow. Jim's college friend, Ben Wright, is coming tomorrow evening and staying overnight at our house. We will be getting together with the Johns and Scally families after church so that they can all visit with Ben too.

Drew's Banana

A week or two ago, Drew came out to the living room with a banana he had found in the kitchen. He had eaten bananas many times before, but I had always peeled and cut them up before giving them to him. This time he bit right into it, peel and all. I helped him get the peel open, and then he ate the entire banana all by himself. I took these pictures during the eating process and made this page this last week.
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner at Jim's sister, Sharon's house tomorrow. I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving!

Cinnamon Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie

The pie was a success, so here is the recipe. The piece in the picture was Jim's piece. I made him wait to eat it so I could get a picture to post with this recipe. You can see that he and Mark share the same motto for whipped topping - "the more the merrier."

Cinnamon Streusel-Topped Pumpkin Pie

Filling:

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. allspice

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

2 large eggs

1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Recipe for your favorite crust - you will only need 1 bottom crust.

Streusel:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup regular oats

1/4 cup chopped pecans

3/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ginger

2 T chilled butter, cut into small pieces

2 to 3 tsp. water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine filling ingredients, and whisk together.

Combine streusel dry ingredients, and cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle with water, tossing with a fork, just until lightly moistened.

Pour pumpkin mixture into crust; sprinkle with streusel. Place pie on a baking sheet. Bake pie at 375 for 50-60 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Jim found this recipe on the desertculinary.blogspot.com blog. We really liked it, and Paul Thieme, the father of one of my first graders from my first year of teaching, told me numerous times that it was "so good!" Enjoy!

Fruit Snacks

Drew's new favorite treat is fruit snacks. He loves them, and each little pack is just not quite big enough for him. Once he has eaten them all, he cries for more. I took these pictures this afternoon after Drew's nap.

We are supposed to get a snow/rain mix tomorrow, so Drew and I will be spending most of the day at home. We are having a Pie and Praise service at church tomorrow evening, and I am going to make a new pumpkin pie recipe that Jim found on a cooking blog. If we like it, I'll share the recipe later this week.

First Post

I've decided to start a blog as a way to share a little more of the Hawkins family happenings with family and friends (especially those that live far from us). I hope to share stories, recipes, pictures, craft projects, and (if Jim and I can figure out how to do it) video clips. Our 20 month-old son, Drew, will be featured prominently. I hope that this blog will be a fun source of ideas, entertainment, and encouragement. God has been good to our little family, and I am looking forward to the opportunity of sharing our blessings in this way.