He really likes dogs

It didn’t help Gibson’s obsession with dogs after spending a week with Samson at David and Carla’s house.  We were out doing a little Christmas shopping and Gibson saw this stuffed dog.  I had to pull him away from it crying when it was time to go.  We only made a small scene.

Shopping for our tree

After getting back from Alabama around 3:30am we slept for a few hours, unpacked and then went out to get our Christmas tree.  The place we normally go to get our tree wasn’t there because they are building a Whole Foods, yeah for Whole Foods, sad that we needed to find another place.   This year we tried to get a tree that was a little smaller than we’ve had in years past so it wouldn’t take up our entire living room.  Hey, we might even keep it up a few days after Christmas.

Memphis

After driving 4 hours from Huntsville to Memphis we were ready to get out of the car. The zoo was a perfect stop. We spent a few hours there, let the kids run around and then got back in the car to continue our journey back home. Here we are at the zoo.

While the zoo was fun I think one of the highlights for Hadley was crossing over the Mississippi River. He thought when we crossed into Arkansas over the Mississippi it looked just like it does in his Davy Crockett movie.

A full day

We had originally planned on leaving Friday night but decided to stay one more night and try and drive more through the day on Saturday.  We crammed as much fun as we could into our last day in Huntsville.  We bowled, went hiking and ended our night at Santa’s village.

I think this may be our only picture of all of us……

Thanksgiving

It’s hard to choose just one from Thanksgiving and being with friends and family.  I think I may need to show a couple.

I loved this one of Gibson and Nana, Carla’s mom.  Gibson decided they were best friends once Nana started giving him candy.

David’s dad Granddaddy Crafton drove to Huntsville to celebrate with all of us and we were so thankful to be able to see him.

This year Hadley really wanted the turkey leg for his part of the meal.  Everyone gladly passed it over to him. 

The birthday boy

We started the day out right with ice cream cake then went ice skating.  Finished the evening with free babysitting and a night out just the two of us.  Wait, was it my birthday too?  Nope, but we all had a good time. I’m so glad Stefan had a birthday so we could celebrate it!

S’more please

David and Carla have a screened in porch with a fireplace and a favorite thing to do out there is have s’mores.  We enjoy just being together and competing on who can cook the perfect marshmallow.

The Botanical Gardens

Monday night was bring your dog to the trail of lights at the botanical gardens in Huntsville, AL.  We walked through the entire gardens looking at lights and even got to see Santa.  It was a great night and the weather was PERFECT!  Not too cold, not too hot.  The kids thought it was great that Samson got to go.  You can see the lights behind everyone, they were beautiful.

The scarecrow that didn’t make it.

Carla always has great fun ideas and here’s the biggest part, she actually follows through on her ideas!  Amazing!  She had thought the kids would enjoy making a scarecrow, turns out I think the kids enjoyed jumping on the trampoline more and the scarecrow never got finished.  She and Linden got started on a scarecrow when Gibson snagged the hat they were going to use for it.  This was David’s grandmother’s hat that she used when she was gardening.  Gibson liked it.

In Alabama

At the last minute we planned to drive to Alabama over Thanksgiving break. We left around 3pm Friday and pulled into the driveway around 7am Saturday morning. We ate breakfast, played a little bit then Stefan and I went to crash.  While we slept Granddaddy and Lala took the kids on a hike.  I forgot Channing’s jacket so she’s wearing Linden’s pajama shirt. 

Yogurt face

This is what happens when I let Gibson feed yogurt to himself.

Thanksgiving parties and feasts

Well of course everyone’s thanksgiving parties fell on the same day, throw in a few parent/teacher conferences for good measure and you have a stressful day trying to coordinate 8 children’s schedules (we are working with the Jones’ kids as well.)  Sarah took the big boys to school Thursday morning while I took Gibson, Channing and Holden.  I rushed home for a session and Sarah hung out in Boerne so she could be there for the Summit Thanksgiving feast.  I picked up Holden and Channing early from their school party then rushed to Boerne where Sarah and I traded off watching all 8 children while the other had a conference with Kinder and then 1st grade teacher.  After getting through conferences we quickly left so we could pick up Gibson from school who gets out at 3.  Since he had already had a nap and we were celebrating Thanksgiving break coming up we went for yogurt.  It was a fun treat that we all enjoyed.

My love language

I think baking birthday cakes for my family or friends is really part of my love language so knowing that we’d be out of town on Stefan’s 35th birthday, where I wouldn’t be able to make him a cake I decided we could celebrate a little early.  It had been awhile since I’d made this labor of love and we enjoyed it.

Paula Deen’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup strong brewed coffee
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs

dreamy chocolate mousse mix ( Makes about 4 1/2 cups)

• 1 (1/4 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
• 3 tablespoons cold water
• 1/4 cup boiling water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 cups heavy whipping cream

chocolate fudge frosting ( Makes about 3 cups)

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 5 (1 ounce) unsweetened chocolate squares
• 10 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar

Garnish

• grated chocolate, chocolate curls

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) square or round cake pans. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add milk, coffee, oil, and eggs. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth.
2. Pour evenly into prepared pans and bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool in pans for 10 minutes, Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire racks.
3. Using a serrated knife, cut cake layers in half horizontally to make 6 layers. Place 1 layer, cut side up, on a cake plate, spread with one-fifth of Dreamy Chocolate Mousse. Repeat procedure with remaining cake layers and mousse. Freeze cake for 1 hour. Spread Chocolate Fudge Frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. Garnish sides of cake with grated chocolate. Garnish top of cake with chocolate curls if desired.

Mousse:.

1. In a small bowl, soften gelatin in 3 tablespoons cold water. Let stand for 2 minutes. Add boiling water, stirring until gelatin dissolves; set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine sugar and cocoa powder.
3. In a medium bowl, beat cream at medium speed with an electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add sugar mixture, beating until stiff peaks form. Stir in gelatin mixture. Cover and chill for 4 hours.

Chocolate Fudge Frosting

1. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and cream. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; reduce heat, and simmer for 6 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; add chocolate and butter, stirring until melted and smooth. Let cool for 10 minutes. Whisk in confectioner's sugar. Let mixture cool until it reaches a spreadable consistency.

Veteran’s Day

The boys practiced for several weeks for the school’s veteran’s day program.  Each class had a separate branch of the military.  Kinder had the navy and 1st grade had the Army.  We practiced their songs for weeks but Hadley only got a day to practice a speaking part he got at the last minute.  He did great and I was so happy to be there to see it!  

The gift that keeps giving

We bought a fingerprint/drawing book a couple of Christmases ago and the boys decided to pull it out and play with it.  It was fun to see them enjoying something that we’d already bought.  Bonus, it kept them busy for a long time!

He’s big

 

As much as I hate Hadley getting bigger, I love that he can get breakfast all by himself.  Big steps.

We found her!

We had lost Channing’s baby for several weeks and if you know Channing you know her big baby is her favorite.  It’s the one she sleeps with and asks for most of the time.  It was driving me crazy because I had looked EVERYWHERE!  I hadn’t seen it since the marathon and I was worried that we’d seen the last of big baby.  I had to go somewhere and begged Stefan to look around with the mission to find her baby.  He did find it in the corner, under the train table, upstairs.  Channing wasn’t the only happy one.

A quick craft after a long weekend

I saw a cute, easy craft on pinterest that I wanted to try and after camping and Channing’s one on one time with Gramma Gicki and Pa, we put together little acorns with hershey kisses and nutter butters.  I think eating the treat was the best part.  We made a few for everyone including Stefan.

Camping

Stefan and Greg took the day off on Friday to take the boys camping.  It was a park hopping excursion this time.  They started at Perdanales Falls, camped in Llano, headed to Enchanted Rock, camped that night somewhere, I’m not sure but I don’t think it really mattered.  All the boys were excited and again we were thankful that we have the suburban so everyone could fit and they could pack everything they needed.  Stefan promises a post about his trip.  We’ll see…

His favorite thing

These days Gibson is happy to be in the bath but not happy when I turn off the water.  He loves filling up one cup and dumping the water in another.

An hour and a half

That’s how long it took me to put away the enormous pile of laundry I’d been putting off doing.  How is it that it takes so long to do laundry and then once you do it and feel relieved that it’s done and are burned out on it that you still have more to do?  Remember in a family of 6 all it takes is the entire family wearing clothes one day to make a load of laundry.  {Sigh} This wasn’t even all of it.  It makes me depressed just looking at it because my pile is growing again.

A new schedule

Gibson is now going to school on Thursday which means that Sarah I needed to switch days and times for taking the big boys to school.  Taking on Tuesday mornings is fine except I’ve got a little time to kill before heading to Ladies Bible Class.  This Tuesday we stopped at Target for a few things and it was cooler outside and I’d been up half the night with a girl who had trouble sleeping due to the wind howling so I decided to get a cup of coffee at Starbucks.  A friend had told me that you can get a kids cup of warm milk for $1 so I did that for the girl.  She was pretty proud of her “coffee” and Stefan might be thrilled that he has someone share a cup of coffee in the mornings with since I’m not normally a coffee drinker.