Birthday Party

My boys turned two last Saturday, but their party was today. We keep things low key around here with family. Which if everyone shows up is alot of people. This time it was a smaller party due to people working. It's not like the boys know any different. I thank God very much for the great weather. The sunshine felt nice and everyone loved being outside. On another note...I CAN'T believe I have two, two year olds!!! They are sure acking like it. It's a challenging time, but also great. Everything is so new and exciting to them. All the little things we forget about when we get older they love. I like that part.

I will FALL for you

The new journal class I'm in this called I Will FALL For You. (teacher is Janel) I'm a little behind with MOPS last week and the weekends are busy. But I spent most of the day working on some pages. Here they are. Each day gets a 2 page spread. I'm showing them together then each page close up.

Day 1 Welcome page

Day 2 Goals

Day 3 Fall is a time for...

Day 4 Transformation

Day 5 Tell about your day

Day 6 Color Collection

Day 7 Treasured Memory

Think Pink

MOPS was great this morning!! This is a picture post. Not the best pics but still it shows a good time. :)

MOPS Queen Shuanna

Andrea and Alisha

My arms are not long enough to get everyone in this shot. :)

Andrea's group +  Marla's group = one great group!

The great flier my mom made

Cookie Crazy

This past week has been getting ready for MOPS. In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month we are wearing pink to MOPS. To take it a little further cookies in the shape of ribbons were made and decorated. And fliers about breast cancer were made to go with them. They turned out very cute.

Pink cookie cutter Erica got me two years ago. I knew it would come in handy.

Before frosting.

After frosting. Very cute. :)

Sugar Cookies

2 cups butter

3 cups powdered sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

cream together

add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon cream of tartar

mix together

add 5 cups flour

knead then refrigerate for 2-3 hours

pull a little before baking, knead, roll out and use the coolest cookie cutters you have

I had the oven at 350* and baking time will be different depends on the cookie.

I would like to say a BIG Thank You to my mom for doing the amazing fliers, Kim for helping me with the dough, and Erica for the evenings of frosting and folding. Couldn't have done it with out you lovely ladies.

Pork with Apples and Sweet Potatoes

1 tea salt

1/2 tea ground cinnamon

1/2 tea ground cardamom

1/4 tea pepper

4-1/2 cups cubed peeled sweet potatoes

(about 1-1/2 lbs.)

4 tea olive oil, divided

2 pork tenderloins (3/4 lbs each)

4 large tart apples, peeled

preheat oven to 425*

In a small bowl, combine the salt, cinnamon, cardamom and pepper. Place sweet potatoes in a large bowl. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon spice mixture and 3 teaspoons oil; toss to coat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer in a 15-in x 10-in. x 1-in baking pan coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake, uncovered, at 425* for 10 minutes.

Rub the remaining oil over pork; rub with remaining spice mixture. Place over the sweet potatoes. Bake for 15 minutes.

Cut each apple into eight wedges. Turn pork; arrange apples around meat. Bake 15 minutes longer or until a meat thermometer reads 160*.

Yield: 6 servings

This is the dinner Reggie picked to make for our neighbor Larry who is fresh out of the hospital. Only I ended up making it. The pork I used was a little different, but it turned out really good. I should really cook more, I wish I enjoyed as much as baking.

Kid's Safety Fair

Happy October 1st!! We, Erica and I, thought a good way to spend it would be to go to Home Depot for the Kid's Safety Fair. The kids made helicopters, played games, ate candy, climbed on a fire truck, and got a billion color pages. And just for fun, bummed around the store. I have found that Home Depot is a great store to just bum around it. There's so much stuff to look at. The kids had fun. After we all walked over to Great Harvest to finally use a gift card Erica and I won over a year ago. Good way to spend the morning into the afternoon.

:)