Oh What Fun It Is To...Take Family Christmas Photos!

For the first time ever, in the history of our little family, we were unable to take our Christmas photo with every family member. Our oldest is in another county going to college and this year we just couldn't manage to get everyone in the same place long enough. So instead we took everyone's photo separately and just put them all on the same card. What a genius idea! Apparently people do this all the time. Ha ha!
Of course, we had to take many, many photos so everyone would be happy. Some were cute.

Some were funny.

Some were downright goofy!

And my husband and I couldn't be left out of the fun.

Our oldest? The one away at college? Well, hers turned out just fine! So it went directly on the card.

She may not have been able to come home for the Christmas card, but she IS coming home for Christmas! And Christmas Eve! I am so thankful that all my sweet babies will be under the same roof on these very special days. And I hope yours are as well! Hugs, Taniya

Baking For Christmas!

Hi Everyone! This week, and actually most of this month, has been spent baking. Which I love! I look so forward to this time of year because I love baking, love shopping for that special gift for those I love, and decorating the house and Christmas tree with my family is an amazing time as well! But today I'm going to write about all this yummy-ness going on around here. First I made
PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES
These are just such a simple recipe and everyone loves them so I like to include them on the plates I give away.

Next I made a batch of fruit bars. This time I made APRICOT FRUIT BARS. Usually I have to make many more batches of these lovely things because everyone eats them before I can plate enough of them to give them away! Ha ha!

And who doesn't love SNICKERDOODLES?

We also made two pans of fudge, one regular and one PEPPERMINT CHOCOLATE FUDGE.

But the regular got eaten so fast I only got a photo of the peppermint! Lastly, we made PEPPERMINT BARK.

I still have more baking to do and will continue until Christmas Day with the grand finale being Christmas dinner with ham and all the lovely side dishes that go so well together. If anyone is interested, I'll be posting recipes of these fun Christmas cookies and desserts soon! Until then may your days be merry and bright...and full of good food! And may your stove look like this.

Kisses, Taniya

Independence Day 2013!

This year my little family and I had not only one Independence Day celebration, but two! I must say, this doesn't happen very often, so this year was a lot of fun. Even though Clark Kent worked both days for twelve hours each, it didn't matter because the festivities were at night so he didn't miss out.
Here is my Clark and I at the fireworks show at a park nearby taken the weekend before.

We got a giant bag of popcorn, sprawled out on a big blanket, and watched the fireworks.

My little man Luke, The Popcorn Hoarder.

He had on a more festive shirt but got too hot and ditched it. Ha ha! Now for our 2nd 4th of July celebration, that was actually on the 4th, we had barbequed chicken with all the yummy extras and then headed down to the lake.

This is what Luke wore for America's Birthday.

And Alani and I. Then at night...

Our Alani being a little too affectionate for Luke's taste. They sat on the trunk for the fireworks show which was an awesome one!

These all look very far away because they were taken with my phone. But it was a great time, and the night cooled off so nicely, and as I was watching the show I was thinking about how very grateful I am to be living in this country. The free-est on the planet! And how good it made me feel to see my neighborhood with more flags flying outside homes, and so many people at the grocery store with their U.S.A. t-shirts on. It really warmed my heart, and I needed that very much. So God bless our troops, our veterans, and may God continue to bless our very special nation, everyday!

Here's a silly parting shot just for fun! I hope your Independence day was full of happiness and sparklers! Taniya

A Sugar Cookie Kind of Day!

From time to time my children like to head over to their "Hannah's" house (my first born couldn't pronounce Grandma, so it came out as Hannah, so it's been Hannah ever since) for some good old sugar cookie making. And decorating! I think that's their favorite part!

Luke wanted lots of bears, but there are lots of others as well...

like donkeys, and sheep and elephants waiting to be fancied up with these.

Luke wanted to be sure to have some black too!

Alani hard at work. Of course she painting her favorite...an elephant!

At first Luke and Hannah were going to do this together,

then Alani joined in, and pretty soon I was painting them too! Who can resist?!

They all got spots and stripes and eyeballs.

And we ended up with so many, my mom packed some in a box to ship them up north to MY grandmother! This is something that is so fun and so easy peasy, anyone can do this with the kids in a snap! And it's lots of fun!! Here's my basic

 SUGAR COOKIE RECIPE:
2 3/4 cups flour (I mix white and wheat half and half)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar ( I always use less)
1 egg
1teaspoon vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
1. Heat oven to 375. In small bowl mix flour, baking soda, & baking powder. Set aside.
2. In large bowl cream sugar and butter until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Slowly stir in dry ingredients. Now you can roll them into balls and place on cookie sheet if you just want round one. Or you can roll them out on a well floured surface till about 1/8 inch thick but ours were about 1/4 inch thick! Ha ha! Keep your rolling pin well floured as well or the dough will stick. Then cut out any shapes you want!
3. Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden.
4. Cool and decorate.
EASY ICING:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 tbsp. milk or if you want it orange flavored use orange juice instead!
Stir together adding milk a little at a time until you get the consistency you want. Makes only about half a cup so you may need to make more. It depends on how artistic you want to be! Some little paint brushes are very helpful for making all the details on your cookies but if you don't have them, just use toothpicks! Or whatever you have available.
Now get up and go have some fun in the kitchen!

Happy decorating, Taniya

An East Coast Style Throwback!

A few years ago we went to New York and it was such a great place to visit, we ended up staying longer! So this is one of our throwback pictures of the week.

After New York we drove through the Holland Tunnel over to New Jersey and found the street named after my Grandpa's family.

Pretty cool, huh? Look how small the kidlets are. Time is flying by! Here's to family trips and family names! Happy Thursday to all! Taniya

Super Mother's Day Happiness!

Mother's Day was a beautiful day here in So. Cal. and my sweetie-pie kidlets and husband made it a special day! They made blueberry pancakes (my favorite!) and had this lovely bouquet right next to my plate.

Luke plays with his food quite often and did this to his plate.

Alani got these pretty green stone earrings at a booth during the Vineyard Run we were in a couple Saturdays ago, that I still need to blog about. The lady told Alani the stones were from some river in Indonesia. Kinda neat-o!

Both of the earrings were on my dresser last night and this morning I could only find this one. But I WILL find the other one! This is who I'm certain is responsible!

She regularly steals things and hides them.
The rest of my day was relaxing because I didn't have to do dishes or laundry or any of that other boring stuff that all mama's need to do. Then later that evening Alani and Luke made these.

Cookie dough on the bottom, with Oreos on top, then with brownie batter on top of that! Oh my goodness, they are very rich and yummy and they did such a good job! So that was my Mama's Day! I didn't get to see our oldest because she had to work, and we sure did miss her, but I will see her soon :)

Oh! I can't leave this out...my husband gave me these

because they say "Mother's" on them and he thought they were appropriate! Such a crack up! Happy Mother's Day (a bit late) to each and every one of you!! Taniya

Orange Juicing Kind of Day!

Hi everybody! Today I spent a whole lot of time outside in my garden, and all over my back yard and noticed just how many oranges are loaded down on my trees. What am I to do with them all? I thought,  "Why not pick a bunch and squeeze some orange juice?" So that's what I set out to do. Here is the bowl I always use to collect the oranges.

  After squeezing everything I picked I made about 6 cups, or 48 oz. of juice. Which looked like this.

Even though I picked two bowls full, it didn't seem to make a dent on the tree. And I have three trees!! It would be a shame to waste them. Maybe I'll make orange marmalade! Anyone have a good recipe?

Here's hoping all of you have a sun-shiny day...even if it's snowing! Now "orange" you glad you stopped by my blog today? Hee hee! Your cheesy joke telling friend, Taniya

An April Weekend

What do we do around here over the weekend? We usually try to kick our feet up as much as possible. But some weekends are full of work because it's the only time Clark Kent has to do some major stuff...like fix fences.

Luke got some muscle building time mowing the lawn,

and Alani washed the car!

 

 

Later in the evening, I got into my pj's kind of early to get comfy and we drove to pick up our daughter at a friend's house who had a bonfire. So I wore my new bunny slippers! Ha ha!

My sister brought them over the last time I was sick and I think they're so cute. But don't worry, my husband went to the door to get her! Sunday morning I got up early, like I do almost every Sunday morning, to make a funner-than-usual breakfast. Like multi-grain blueberry pancakes! Mmmm!

(My pancakes never turn out perfectly round) And how about some bacon?

Can't forget the oatmeal with walnuts and cranberries.

I squeezed some orange juice and made coffee too but didn't take photos of that. Hee hee! We got nice and full before heading to church. I think we ran some boring errands after that and then just relaxed the rest of the day at home. I hope your weekend was great and that your work week isn't too stressful! If it is, you can always head on over here to my little blog for some funny pictures and uplifting words! Blessings to you, Taniya

It's Thursday

And what do we do on Thursday? We throw it back, that's what. Way back!

Oh my goodness, it's an 80's style selfie! And yes, that's me. I believe those white sunglasses were very in at the time. I remember my mom made those curtains, and, of course those are framed photos of surfers on my wall!

Now that I've embarrassed myself I'll sign off for today. Happy Throwback Thursday and feel free to share YOUR old photos (so I won't feel so alone in my embarrassment. Ha ha). By guys!! Taniya