YUM!

I love trying new recipes. I especially love making things from scratch. I am not sure Alan understands this compulsion!

Here are a few recipes we had this week.

Biscuits and Gravy:
One 12-ounce tube bulk pork sausage
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Baking Powder Biscuits, recipe follows

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, break it up with a wooden spoon, and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned and cooked through, about 7 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a bowl, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet. Whisk the flour into the fat and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. While whisking, pour the milk into the skillet and bring the gravy to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Stir in the sausage and season with pepper. Split the biscuits in half and divide them among plates. Top each biscuit with some of the gravy and serve immediately.

Baking Powder Biscuits
Biscuits:
2 cups all-purpose flour (about 8 ounces), plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon fine salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, sliced
3/4 cup milk
Glaze:
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

To make the biscuits: Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with two layers of parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt. Rub 2 tablespoons of the butter into the flour with your fingertips until completely absorbed. Work the remaining butter into the flour until it is in even pieces about the size of a pea. Gently stir the milk into the flour mixture to make a loose dough.
Lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and turn the dough out onto it. Pat the dough into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Fold the dough in thirds like a business letter. (For a flakier biscuit repeat the folding a second time.) Pat the dough into a 5 by 8-inch rectangle about 3/4-inch thick. Use a 2- to 3-inch round cutter to make 6 biscuits, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheet. Press together the scraps of dough and cut 2 more biscuits.
To make the glaze: Mix the cream and melted butter together in a small bowl. Lightly brush the tops of the biscuits with the glaze. Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Cool on a rack for 5 minutes before serving.
Yield: 8 biscuits

Bread sticks:
1 1/2 cups warm (105-115 degrees) water
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3-4 1/2 cups flour
1 Tbsp. Yeast (one packet)

Place water, sugar and yeast into mixing bowl and let sit about 10 minutes or until bubbly.
Add 1/2 cup of flour at a time mixing well after each addition until dough pulls away from sides.
Grease metal or glass bowl and place dough into it to rise for 45 minutes, cover with a clean towel.
Pour dough out onto floured surface and roll into rectangle, cut 12 even strips of dough with pizza cutter.
Pull dough, bring together ends, twist and repeat. So you will have a braided style bread stick.
Place on greased baking sheet cover and rise for 30 min.
Brush with melted butter and bake at 425 for 10-15 minutes.
Remove from oven, brush with butter again and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and garlic salt.

Time Flies!

Man, I really need to be better about updating this thing.

This week:

Gracie had her 4 month checkup and was cleared to start rice cereal. She is Ok at eating it, but must think it tastes much better with a little bit of her hand mixed in.
She is so close to rolling over, she has actually rolled over once several times, but until I can get her to do it more than once in a sitting, I am not sure it qualifies.
She also has sat up on her own once or twice for a few seconds.

Preston is able to point out colors and can say most of his ABC's in order. He gets confused with k-q.
He learns so many new words a day, and can sing most songs note wise after hearing it once or twice. His favorite show is Diego and he loves to sing the DeDo (what he calls it) theme song and the click take a pic song.
He is very much into mimiking almost everything he sees, both with us, his sister and things we see on TV.

Here are some pics form the past week:


I know they are both just in diapers, but it was HOT today.


This is what happens when you play king of the mountain with the Laundry pie and it wins!


Thier first bath together


She loves these things called feet!


So peaceful!

New Hair

I have a cycle that I do with my hair. I will cut it short and then let it grow out, get tired of it, then cut it short again. Well I have gotten tired of my hair so yesterday I got it short again:



Grace is developing more each day. Over the past few days she has become extremely vocal. Here is a recent picture of her:


She has come very close to rolling over as well.

A few congrats for our friends and family:

James and Jane: Congrats on finding out the babe is a boy. I am sure the girls are excited.

Chris and Liz: Congrats on the successful birth of Beautiful Emma Jean. She is adorable.

And last but certainly not least:

CONGRATS Jen and Kaleb on finding out you will be having not one but TWO babies!

Yum!

Alan and I were watching the show No Reservations with Anthony Bordain the other night and he was in Tuscany. He made a dish that Alan mentioned was one of his favorite things his mom used to make him, Spaghetti Carbanara. SO I decided I would make it for Alan.So of course I couldn't just go to the store and buy pasta, I had to make it myself! It turned out pretty well, I might have cooked it a little long but other than that it was good.



I forgot to take a picture of it before we ate!

We put up some new family pictures in the house last week. Not a big deal but, I thought they turned out nice


Preston is being a big helper like always!


He has also semi learned his ABC's, on a good day he can say most of them, here he is attempting them:


We also finally got Gracie on camera laughing:

Potty

I have been contemplating if Preston is ready to use the potty or not. He plays with his diaper when it is on and makes noticable sounds/faces when he is needing to poop. This morning he was making what we lovingly call his poop face and I asked him if he needed to go potty. He said yes and we went and sat him on the potty. He had already pooped a bit in his diaper so once we got him on the potty I asked him to poop and he did! I am not holding out to much hope that this will be a regular occurance but I am seeing it as the first step. Sorry if poop stories gross you out!

In other news, the kids are doing well. Preston says more and more each day. Alan and I got to go on a date last night- thanks Jen. We went and saw Leatherheads and ate at a vietnamiese resturant in town, it was actually really good.

My Parents are taking all of us on a cruise this November so Alan and I have made the commitment to get in to shape before the cruise. Alan is already in pretty good shape, I still need to lose the 20 pounds I gained when we got married! So we have gone to the gym 2 days in a row and I am sore! Hopefully we can keep it up!

That's all for now.

Blessings

For some reason today I have been very reflective in my mind of how blessed I am and have had a prayer of such gratitude in my heart. I am gong to write these things down so when I am in a bad mood I can look back on these things.

My husband, he puts his life in danger to provide for our family and make sure I can stay home. He is the most wonderful man I know and I am so thankful to be the lucky one to marry him!

My children, they make my day bright and fun.

Preston's personality, he can be so loving and sweet, he can also make me laugh. He loves his sister even though he doesn't always know the right way to show it. I love to come home to him saying Hi Mama even before he sees me or when he says it first thing in the morning or after a nap.

Gracie's personality, she is such a happy baby and it makes my heart melt when she smile whenever she sees me. She loves Preston and will just laugh at him without him even doing anything.

My home, it keeps us warm protected.

Our parents and siblings, we are so very lucky to have so much family that loves and cares for us. I am glad my children will grow up feeling this love.

My friends both the new and old. I am grateful to have people in my life that know me and I can share my experiences with even if they are far away.

The gospel and church, I am glad that I have a knowledge of the things that are important and the comfort it brings.

I am done with the semester!

Books, even though Alan says I am addicted to Reading.

Talents that I have and ones that I am trying to gain.

there is so much more but that is it for now.

Thank you to all you that make our days bright

Counting

Here is Preston showing his new skills:

Daredevil

We fully expect a trip to the ER soon!

Zoo

One good thing about Garden City is the free zoo. It is nice and Preston enjoys going. We went today since it was a nice day.




WARNING: EXPLICIT CONTENT BELOW:

Preston also got a lesson from the Lions in the birds and the bees:




It felt dirty taking pictures! Later on we saw some Camels in questionable positions, there must be something on the air.

Hi!

I am posting in out of order!

When my parents came in for Gracies blessing I had them come downstairs and surprise Preston:





My grandfather also came in for the blessing and brought the most beutiful bassinet he made for Gracie:

Counting

This week Preston has been impressing us with his new skills. He can sing the notes and some of the letters of the ABC's. While at the doctors office the other day I discovered he also knew his numbers, we knew he could count to three but I was counting to him and he filled in the numbers from 4-10 on his own. We will try and get it on camera tomorrow. He also has been saying more and more words each day. His new favorite is oww, he says it when he is hurt and when he is mad he didn't get something!

This evening we discovered he also is quite the teacher. We have been teaching him sign since he was about three months old so he has a large vocab of sign and we use them on a very regular basis. He has a favorite book called 100 first words filled with pictures of common things and he loves to point them out if we ask where one is or he will point to them and sign or say the word. We were sitting on the couch with his book and I had Gracie on my lap, when we would ask him something he was pointing to it using Gracies hand or using her hands to sign it! It was So cute!!

Still Here!

I have been so neglectful of my blog. We have been so busy these last few weeks. If any of you are as nosy as I am you would have already checked my family members blogs and been kept up to date!

We blessed Gracie on Sunday and we had our wonderful families here with us. I was so busy I didn't even take pictures, you can check Brianne's blog (The Williams) for pictures of us at the awesome free zoo we have in town, it was chilly that day but it was still fun. As soon as some members of my family send pics to me I will post.

We also took the kids to Sears to get pictures with their cousin Kayden, it was tiring and like nailing jello to the wall.

Preston had his first what we think was a stomach bug, I guess we should be thankful that he got to 19 months with out ever throwing up. Although I am not sure having him throw up in the car in the parking lot of Target was worth the wait! Thankfully Brianne was in the car with me and able to run into Target to get a change of clothes for him and Mom was able to bring the second carseat we have for him. Also, I will ever again own a car without Leather Seats. It was a quick wipe up no stink!

This week I have been busy with studying for finals.

We also had playgroup here at the house Wednesday. I am so thankful to have such a great group of women around here that I can create friendships with!

Here are some of the Sears pictures: