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.