You've Got a Friend in Me

To infinity...and beyond!

Starting Seeds

 The boys and I just couldn't wait!

We saw these cute little packets of seeds for 20 cents yesterday and picked out our favorites.

The seeds are currently taking warm baths and being stirred around by cute little fingers.

Freezer Crockpot Meal Exchange

Last Saturday morning at 9, I headed to the store to buy ingredients for The Great Freezer Meal Exchange.

The completed meals were due at a friend's house at 11 a.m.

No use leaving these things until the last minute.

 Josiah and I whipped up eight batches of chicken noodle soup in no time flat.

He was in such a hurry that he had to toss each bouillon cube wrapper on the floor, apparently.

All 32 of them.

Here he is just getting started.

I came home from the exchange with freezer bags of Taco Soup, Italian Sausage Soup, Ham & Lentil Stew, Ranch Chicken with Bacon & Cheese, and Creamy Chicken Sausage Rice Pilaf. 

It has been so much fun to eat these puppies!

Here is my recipe for Crockpot Chicken Noodle Soup, modified to freeze first without a lot of liquid.

1 lb. bone-in chicken breast 

4 chicken bouillon cubes

2 tsp. seasoned salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp. basil

1 bay leaf

6 ounces egg noodles

Place all ingredients except bouillon cubes and egg noodles in freezer bag.  Dissolve bouillon cubes in 1 cup boiling water.  Let cool, then add to bag.  Freeze.  Keep your noodles out of the freezer.

When you are ready to eat, thaw, if you are on the ball like that, then put in crockpot along with 8 cups of water.  Cook on low for 5-6 hours.  Remove chicken and bay leaf from pot.  (Unless you are having Heather over to dinner.   Then say that the person who gets the bay leaf in their soup wins.  Make sure she doesn't eat the leaf.)  Take meat from bones, dice, and return to broth.  (Be super careful about getting all the bones.  Husbands have been known to get a little dramatic when they choke on a bone.)  Cook another hour or until noodles are done (about 1/2 hour on high).

And there you have it.  Enjoy!

Fall Creek Falls

 Sorry about the missed days of posting, folks.

I'm sure with my the upset in my usually scheduled postings made you all quite worried about me.

Well, worry no more!  I am back.  

We had feared for the computer's life, but Chris has brought it back from the brink.

 And so, I bring you, Fall Creek Falls, in pictures.

Jennifer decided to act like a responsible a-dult and help out a bit with kitchenly duties this year.

 We saw the falls in a foggy state that we had never seen before.

 Josiah and Caleb had been looking forward to a good hike at Fall Creek, and this trail from the falls to the Nature Center was just the ticket.

 Josiah said that this 'museum' was a highlight for him.

 Anyone need a sweet ride?

Chris was a little angry at the Sweetpea last week, and threatening to sell.

I think he has since calmed down and come back to his senses.

 And that guy didn't actually go missing in the mist after all.  There he is. 

And that concludes your pictorial tour of FCF.

And now I am off to continue my joyful task of getting four children to nap, or at least remain reading in their beds, at the same time.

1st Annual Cousinly Photo Shoot

 Jenny and Lydia came over for a first first-cousin photo shoot.

Shannon and I took Jonathan and Josiah to do a cousin photo shoot Josiah's second Christmas.

I need to find those pictures for you. 

So, on this day, there were no matching OshKosh overalls.

 Just two sweet boys and one pretty girl.

 These boys love Lydia so much, they don't know what to do with themselves.

Fun Gifts

Aunt Terry gave the boy cousins Very Hungry Caterpillar sleeping bags.

Grandma Corkie knitted Sweet Pea hats.

 And brought a dinosaur kit that turned Josiah into a mad paleontologist on his first dino dig.

 Caleb has learned the joy of Playdough pizza.

Josiah is still caught sneaking bites.

Our Christmas Day

Our little family of four spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at our house for the first time.

Here are the boys singing 'Away in a Manger.'

'Christmas is Coming' is their other specialty.

Caleb was excited about the oranges in the bottom of his stockings.

'Tuties' are his favorite.

In the above video, Josiah tells his dad that instead of chocolate tools, he was really needing some real tools, but thanks.

He opened some real tools a little later.

 The favorite toy of the morning was definitely a marble track from Dweat-Dwanmudda.

More Christmases!

We know how to spread Christmas cheer out for weeks in this family.

 We celebrated at my parents' house with an early Christmas eve sleepover followed by Christmas morning presents and waffles - all a few days early.

 Josiah (and Chris!) loved this first set of big kid Legos.

Caleb got a fabulous new pair of hooded monkey p.j.s.

 We followed this with a much bigger Honeycutt family Christmas hosted here at camp.

 There was great food and music.

 See my lovely Aunt Faye above with Heather?  

It is rumored that she might be the man in the red suit below.

But don't tell anyone under the age of 12.

 Santa brought all the kids these cool animal skins.

 The boys especially loved running and playing with all the cousins!

The Great Hand-made Gift Exchange Craft Night Party of 2012

On Thursday, the 20th, the Craft Night girls gathered for the first official party at our new house!

Jennifer, our fearless craft-night leader, instructed us to each bring 7 hand-made gifts to exchange.

 The gifts.

 The food.

 I made a couple of cake stands and some Christmas tea towels.

 Ashley brought an assortment of goodies, including spices for mulled cider.

 Heather brought nail polish for our "mistle-toes."  

Good one, Bean.

 Heather is demonstrating Amanda's Lavender Chamomile Brown Sugar Oatmeal Body Scrub.

It is fun stuff.

 Brooke dipped the stems of glasses into chalkboard paint and wrote our names on them.

 Stephanie hand-stitched darling pairs of owl ornaments for everyone.

 Jenny made lovely canvases.

 Everyone had to have theirs signed by the artist.

 As we were opening these, Bing came on Pandora singing 'O Come Let Us Adore Him.'

 We all had the best time.

This just might have to become a yearly tradition.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Hello, again!

 

We had a wonderful December!  After church on Sunday, December 2, Chris decided we had had enough painting, so we decorated the new house for Christmas instead...before anything else had been moved.  

 The boys helped with a few decorations of their own.  Josiah was really the chief tree decorator of the family this year.  All the ornaments were concentrated on the lower half of the tree when he was done, but he was quite helpful.

 We moved the next Saturday, on the 8th.  This is Caleb in his old room and rocker and toddler bed on our last morning at the Nook.

 I couldn't keep the boys inside on moving day!

 They kept sneaking out with loads to carry onto the truck.

 We still had lots of cleaning to do at the new house.

 See how the grout on the left is cleaner than on the right, thanks to Caleb and his trusty screwdriver?

 A most lovely picture of my family at our first supper in the new house, heh heh.

 And on the 17th, Chris and I celebrated our seventh anniversary. 

Jennifer and Joel (and Lydia) came and watched our boys at our house while we dined at 'the fanciest restaurant in town.'  The power went out over and over, and we couldn't tell Jennifer where to find a lighter for a candle because we hadn't finished moving.  She and the boys spent lots of time reading Christmas books by crank-flashlight.  We were being entertained at our restaurant by some friends who were singing and playing the electric keyboard, so the power outages affected our dinner as well, which turned out to be mostly by candlelight.  It will be a memorable anniversary for the whole family.

 

 We continued our Altoid-giving tradition and made fifty bags of candy to pass out to friends and family.

Tune in next time for more Christmas fun, including the 

Great Hand-made Gift Exchange Craft Night Party of 2012!