baking

One of my favorite things to do with Noah is to bake goodies.

He loves it!

These were our valentine cookies from February of this year.

he's very careful

Decorating is serious business....

...until he gets distracted and starts eating them instead.

I think Noah's favorite part is eating off the beater.

Deeee-licious!

Unfortunately, baking is not something I can do very well while trying to lose 25 pounds of baby weight.  No fun!

my favorite time of year

Like so many of you, this is my favorite time of year!  The cool and crisp fall air, the colors, wearing sweaters, endless craft ideas, warm fireplaces, pumpkins, silly Halloween fun, wonderful togetherness of Thanksgiving, and the excitement and joy and peace and love of Christmas time! 
Such a beautiful season that holds so many fond memories, both recent and distant.  I love it so!

One of my favorite things to make any time of year, but is an especially yummy treat in the fall is my grandma's apple pie!  Pie making is truly an artform that needs practice and nurturing (thanks again for the lessons, Mom!).  Each time I make it, it gets a little easier and a little prettier.

A while ago I made two pies, both of which were gobbled up by family (and mostly me) before I even thought to get a picture.

So... I'm left with this photo, which is almost as satisfying as a beautiful pie picture, because at least I know it was delicious too!

As for our house, Noah helped me put up the Halloween decorations in September.  He loves the "scaries" as he calls anything Halloween related.  I truly love my ghoulish decor so hopefully I can get some pictures up soon.

Outside, I used my fall wreath I made from last year because I still love it so much!

Here is our house as of today.

And just so you all know, I planted the exact same flowers in the front flower bed as I did in the side bed on the left.

Just goes to show you what a little sunshine will do.  I guess I need some serious shade-loving plants next spring for the front bed since our house faces north.

I've said it before and I'll say it again... I love my beautiful home.  If you'd like, click HERE to see a small history of our 100 year old farmhouse.  The upstairs is still completely stripped to the studs as we haven't figured out the funding to finish it yet.  But not much makes me happier than pulling into our gravel driveway to this beautiful home and knowing that it's ours.  We love it so very much!

another boutique!

So I mentioned in my previous post that I'd give you more info about the

And it's not just "Pickled" stuff, there's LOTS of amazing vendors selling there!

You can go to Sassy's blog HERE to see a small sampling.

Here are the details:

click HERE for directions

(house is actually about 1,000 feet west of the point on the map)

So come by and do some shopping! 

(Only 4 1/2 months until Christmas!  Eeek!)

Should be super fun, I can't wait to do some shopping myself!

And some cupcake eating...  that's reason enough!

Hope to see you there!

new things

Last Christmas my mother-in-law, Eve, gave me this beautiful Bosch mixer:

She gave it with the intent that I could make bread since I've been saying I want to learn.  I was so excited about it, but.... terrified.  It sat there staring at me for MONTHS without so much as cookiedough ingredients breaking it in!  I just felt like it was too much machine for me.  So Eve was kind enough to take a Saturday afternoon to give me bread making lessons (on top of those my mom has already given me) and it finally stuck!  I went home and made some of my own while the instructions were still fresh in my brain.

Here's me with mine:

I know they are all random sizes.  Apparently I'm terrible at eyeballing the size of the loaves.  Eve uses a scale... she's smart.  But the convection oven helped them bake beautifully and evenly and the bread tastes delicious! 
I used freshly ground whole wheat, thanks to Eve's wheat grinder. (and her wheat)

new art

I finally finished this little trio:

They are tiny.  The canvas size for each is 2.5x2.5 inches and the tiny easels measure approximately  4.5 inches tall and 2.75 inches wide.  I've decided to sell them as a set.  You almost can't have one without the other two, so there you go!

You can purchase them in the shop now.

Thanks for the pie making lessons, Mama!

We had Thanksgiving at my inlaw's this year, so I voluteered to make some apple pies.  My mom has been giving me lessons periodically over the past few years and I think I've finally got it down.  I made them with no help this time and they turned out beautiful and delicious!  Pie making is an ART not to be taken for granted.  Next time you eat a piece of beautiful and delicious homemade pie, know that it came from lots and lots of practice!  Here's mine:

Now just the top crust...

Into the oven....

Hooray for pie!

My mom's (or really my grandma Maxwell's) apple pie recipe is the only kind of fruit pie I like.... besides pumpkin.  But that doesn't count, does it?

Anyway, Thanksgiving dinner was wonderful this year!  Thanks Dan & Eve for all your hard work!

I'm having a Martha Moment...

Can you even believe how cute these gingerbread men turned out??!! I can't! And delicious too! I will admit, they were a LOT of work. I've never done it before. You have to make the dough, refridgerate it, roll it, freeze it, cookie-cutter it, freeze it, bake them, shake them halfway through, bake them some more and then you can finally decorate!! What a pain!!!

But... look at the end result! So worth it. :) Then I put them on spice cake and cream cheese frosting cupcakes and off to grandma's house we went!