Soup Season

Fall is the perfect time for soup. I love to try new soup recipes during this time of year. The other day when I had some fresh pumpkin I tried Pumpkin soup. It was so delicious I want more. I'm not sure if it would be as good with canned pumpkin, but it probably would be. Here is the recipe. I added a few of my own spices and additions to a base recipe. This is the way I did it and my whole family liked it.

1/2 cup onion
2 Tbsp. butter
2 cups mashed cooked pumpkin
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. parsley to garnish
1/4 tsp. thyme
dash of garlic powder
1/4 tsp. ground pepper
3 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup half and half


Chop the onions and gently brown with butter in a pan. Put mashed pupkin with onions in pan. Add the salt, sugar, nutmeg, thyme, pepper and garlic. Slowly add chicken broth and heat thoroughly, but do not boil. Right before serving add the half and half. Garnish with parsley. I would have put pumpkin seeds on top if I had had any left over from Halloween. Yum!

Girl's Day

During Emma's and my "girl's day" on Saturday we discovered some new talents. We sent the boys to the last BYU home game for the season and us girls had five hours to hang out.

Emma decided she wanted to put together these wooden 3-D puzzles that Dave bought at a garage sale. She sorted through pieces while I put them together. In the middle of trying to get one particular piece to stay on the Lobster I asked Emma if I was going to have to make any more of these. She very cutely responded "Yes, it's one of your talents." I'm so glad to know that putting tiny pieces of wood onto a lopsided wooden lobster is one of my talents. Funny, but I became attached to the Lobster by the time it was done and made Emma promise not to touch it. This was after she dismantled the Brachiosaurus that I had painstakingly put together. About then it was lunch time and I asked Emma what she wanted to eat. She got this gleam in her eyes and said "I want to eat your lobster." Funny, isn't she?

After lunch we went swimming and discovered one of Emma's hidden little talents. She can completely seal her nostrils without using her fingers. She just sucks them in and closes the holes. It looks weird, but comes in very handy under water. Thank goodness for handy little talents!

Garage Sale Treasures

When I first married into Dave's family 10 years ago I must admit it took awhile for me to get used to the DI shopping and later the garage-sale shopping. I didn't see the point. I've learned though to be open minded. My mother-in-law has an amazing ability to find amazing things at garage sales. She goes to garage sales faithfully at least once a week. When we go to visit Dave's parents Dave goes to the Saturday garage sales with his mom. I prefer to stay safely tucked in the comfortable house. Sorting through what I see as other people's junk just isn't my thing. BUT, I sing a different tune now than I did years ago. I still don't like to go to garage sales, but I love to see what my mother-in-law and husband find. It's almost like Christmas when they bring home their treasures.

I can call my mother-in-law and ask her to look for something and she almost always finds what I want and it is usually in great condition and at a fraction of what it would cost new. I can walk around my house and see garage sale items in every room. From the bedroom dressers I refinished to the jogging stroller and bike trailer in the garage to Nathan's booster seat in the kitchen - I have reminders everywhere of how great a garage sale shopper my mother-in-law is. It is a talent to be able to find such great stuff. I'm not always enamored with the garage sale finds. One time Dave called while I was about half asleep at 7:00 AM and asked if I would like this wooden bedroom set he had found. I said sure as long as he liked it. My very kind Father-in-law hauled it to our house and after enduring this bedroom set for about a year I sold it for a profit. All in all I now believe in garage sales...as long as I don't have to be the one sorting through the stuff.

Loving the Snow!

Emma and Nathan were so excited yesterday morning when we woke up to beautiful, white, shimmery snow. Having been through winters before Emma knew exactly what she wanted to do - have a snow party. We were outside fully clothed in our winter gear by about 9:00 AM. It took us about a half hour to get dressed in gloves, hats, coats, snow pants and boots. Emma made snow angels and ate the snow. I loaded the kids up in the sled and dragged them around the neighborhood. They loved it and I loved it too. No one had shoveled their walks yet, so we sledded on the side walks. Nathan loved the snow until his mitten fell off and his little hand got cold. We topped our perfect winter morning off with some delicious hot chocolate. Yum!

The first thing Emma did when she woke up this morning (Thursday) was to see if we still had snow. She disappeared and came back down dressed for the morning. I laughed when she showed me her attire. She said the four layers of shirts were necessary to keep her warm.

I procrastinated what I really needed to do this morning (grocery shopping) to play outside in the fluffy white stuff. We played on the field across from our house. Nathan kept tripping as he trudged along in the 2-inch high snow. He patiently waited for me to pick him up each time and headed on his way. Emma fully loves the snow. She made lots of snow angels on the field. I made some too. There is something magical about the first snow of the year that sticks. The first snow angels, the first sledding, the first snowball, the bright red cheeks, the first cup of hot chocolate - magical!

"He Started It, She Started It"

It is really a toss-up sometimes who starts these things, but somehow my cutie pies end up serving time in the time out corner. This is how the most recent one went: Nathan took a sticker from Emma's huge sticker collection without asking permission, Emma pushed Nathan away, Nathan wacked Emma back, Emma pushed Nathan a little harder, Nathan prepared to hit a little harder and Emma sent him to the floor. Uh, oh! It's time-out time. Emma was on her way to time out before I even said it. I don't think Nathan is old enough to understand time-out and I didn't send him there, but he followed Emma to the time-out corner where they gave me their biggest smiles for this adorable picture.

What Comes Up Must Come Down

Whether it be balls or kids the theme at our house lately is sending things up into the air and watching them come down. Nathan is awesome at catching things that he throws. He can't seem to get his hands on enough balls so he uses other random things like baskets and toy binoculars...and food. They all work about the same. He throws the objects up and squeals in his attempt to catch them. Maybe he loves this game because we cheer so hard for him! Yay, Nathan!

Oh, and what is more fun than being the object that comes down?

My favorite was the day Emma jumped off the couch and her little shadow followed. With no fear at all Nathan leaped into the air into what would have been a belly flop onto the floor if his very quick mom hadn't caught him midair. He wanted to go again, of course!

Halloween Witch

My sister uses an idea that I wanted to try this year.

The HALLOWEEN WITCH came to our house after Halloween. The kids each got to choose ten pieces of candy which they can eat whenever they want. The rest of the candy went into a big bowl for the witch. Emma set it out by the front door. The HALLOWEEN WITCH came after the kids were in bed and exchanged the big bowl for a fun book for each kid. The kids got to choose if they wanted to participate. They loved their books.