Gingerbread (Graham Cracker) Houses and Fudge

On Wednesday we Shaelyn had some friends over and we decorated Graham Cracker houses. They all pretty much ended up a pile of candy on top, but the kids enjoyed it! These are Shaelyn's friends, and we are so glad they could join us!

Shaelyn and her house. Nice mop :)

Winston with his house. He did a great job with his roof and walkway.

William with his house, okay mommy's house, but he did help eat the candy when I was trying to put it on. What a big helper.

This is Walters house on skis and a massive chimney. I am glad I got this picture because the chimney got a little bigger and then the roof collapsed :( Oh well.

Then on to Walter's annual Fudge making challenge. Every year he is determined to make fudge from scratch and not with the marshmallow creme (the kind I like to make, because it works every time). He likes a challenge, I just like it to taste good. I just have to say that this year it was a big success, very creamy and smooth. Good Job Babe!

Christmas Goodies

Shaelyn and I have been busy making some cookies for the holidays. We thought we would try some new recipes this year. Both recipes have turned out pretty good. We took the recipes from the Taste of Home Magazine, Love it! The first recipe we tried was Candy Cane Cookies. We had a lot of fun with these ones.

William wanted to see what was going on.

Candy Cane Cookies

1 C Butter, softened

1 C Confectioners' Sugar

1 egg

1-1/2 tsp. Almond extract (I didn't have this so I substituted 1 tsp. butter extract, turned out great!)

2-1/2 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

Red Food Coloring

1/2 C crushed peppermint candy canes (I didn't have these but I did have the pinwheel mints)

1/2 C Sugar

Cream butter and confectioners' sugar til light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and extract. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Divide dough in half; add 6-7 drops of coloring to one half. Shape tablespoonfuls of each color of dough into 4-in, ropes. Place each side by side and lightly pinch ends together and twist. Place on ungreased baking sheet: curve to form canes.

Bake 375 for 9-12 min or till lightly browned. Combined crushed candy canes and sugar; immediately sprinkle over warm cookies. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool.

These are a lot of fun for kids to make and they turn out pretty cute.

The second recipe we tried was:

Pecan Meltaways

1 C Butter; Softened

1/2 C Confectioners' Sugar

1 tsp Vanilla

2-1/4 C all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp Salt

3/4 C chopped pecans

Additional Confectioners' sugar

Cream butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla till light and fluffy. Combine flour and salt: gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Refrigerate until chilled.

Roll into 1-in balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 350 for 10-12 min or till set. Roll warm cookies in confectioners' sugar;cool completely on wire racks. Foll cooled cookies again in confectioners' sugar.

Yumm!

I guess it is time for another update . . . with some big announcements!

Sorry for the lack of posts, life has been a whirl wind lately. Anyway, these pictures are from Thanksgiving. We took lots of pictures with the whole family too, I am just waiting for the rest to come in the mail, these ones were sent to me via email. The kids seemed to be quite agreeable this time around. We couldn't get William to crack a smile but at least he was happy.

So just recently we Walter has been having a lot of contact and interviews with the company Clorox, located in Pleasanton CA, and they have offered him a Post Doc position, and we are Seriously considering taking the job, I think it is a 99.99% chance that we will accept, unless something else happens. Who knows. We are REALLY excited to be closer to family!

Also while we went back to CA for Thanksgiving we had a big announcement for the family. Yes we are expecting baby #4. We had been keeping this a secret for quite some time. So surprise! I am about 20 weeks along, yep halfway there! Oh yeah, and we are having a little girl!

So funny story about the gender. The day I was to find out what we were having I was talking to Shaelyn and I asked her what she wanted me to have.

"I want a little sister" she says

"But what if it is a boy?" I say

"But mom, I already have 2 brothers"

I tried not to bust up laughing because she was so serious.

When I picked up Shaelyn from school I decided to play a little trick on her.

"Shaelyn, I know what the baby is going to be"

"What is it mom?"

"We are having another boy!" I say excitedly.

Tears well up in her eyes and she says "But I wanted a little sister"

I couldn't stand the tears "I am just kidding we are having a girl"

"Oh I knew you were joking mom" turning to me with the biggest smile on her face!

I can't believe that we will be a family of 6 around the beginning of May. So fun!