NAPTIME

It's raining it's pouring and I bet I was snoring...actually, no, I don't snore...;) Anyway, even if I wasn't snoring, I WAS cuddled up in my covers in our king size bed all to myself for 3 hours this afternoon while Noah was napping!! :) It's been raining all day here (I LOVE it!) and the weather, mixed with my droopy eyes made for the perfect afternoon to nap.
When Noah and I got home from our MOPs group at church it was just about time for his afternoon nap. After having some lunch I put Noah down and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to lay down myself...3 hours later we woke up! WOW!! **I did take one phone call during that time. And, after remembering where I was and what I was doing, I was able to make some sense out of our conversation; sorry, Amy. It took no time at all to fall back into the wonderful world of dreamland.** I can't tell you how refreshed I feel!!
Now, I'm making some homemade corn chowder for dinner; the perfect rainy day meal! With our Christmas tree lit and glowing in the front window, and its wonderful smell lingering in the air, I'm in wintertime bliss (at least for now). What a great way to usher in December!

What a week!

Last Sunday we took off for a week of fun with friends and family. We started off our week visiting some good friends in Ventura, CA. We always have so much fun with Steve and Colleen (and Zach and Josh too) so it's no surprise that we stayed up laughing well into the night both nights!! It was so great visiting them and just relaxing. On Tuesday afternoon we headed to Santa Clarita to visit my parents and had a great time. We got to spend some extra time with Bella and Lily when Amy and Alex went to see Wicked on Wednesday night (a great show). I know my parents were thrilled to have their 3 grandchildren there all together. Grandma and Grandpa loved on Noah the whole time (of course!) and the girls couldn't get enough of him. We took some cute pics of all three of them, but with my moms camera. On Thursday afternoon we headed south to spend 2 nights with Hylke's family. 4 grandchildren and 2 on the way...it's slowly becoming the Hylkema zoo. :) We enjoyed a WONDERFUL traditional turkey dinner (even though it was lunch time) at my parents house and a delicious tri-tip dinner at Hylke's mom and dad's. I LOVE the way my mom prepares Thanksgiving, everything was sooo delicious...my dad even worked on it too...thanks for the yummy mashed potatoes, dad! Can you believe that after a week of fun with friends and family (say that 10x fast!) I have hardly any great pics. I have some, of course, but not as many as I should. I know my mom has some on her camera, but I wish I had snapped more than I did. Here are some fun ones:

Noah giving mommy some lovin':
Spending some time with Grandma and "Baca" (it was hard to get him to sit still :))

Grandma loves her little grandson, and Bella loves her little cousin:

Noah when he first woke up:

Here's what happens when daddy is in charge of changing:
Lots of laughs...

but pants end up....

on Noah's head!

Silly daddy! My two favorite boys have SO much fun together. I am blessed.

Look at those sweet brown eyes and rosey cheeks.

And that sweet smile!

Well, I just looked at the clock and realized that I should probably turn in. Goodnight!

Rolley Polley

It's official. We have a roller! Noah is making his way all over. It's not too out of control yet, but if I have him on the playgym go to another room and come back a minute later, he has rolled somewhere different! Here's a pic I snapped the other day:

He started out on the playgym mat, and in no time at all he was by the couch (playing with his toes of course)

If you read my other post about Noah playing with his toes, you'll appreciate this. I love watching him sleep; occasionally I'll just peek in to see my sweet boy in dreamland. The other day I went into his room and this is how he was sleeping:
I love the story that this picture tells....Noah was playing with his favorite, built in toys (toes) and finally after a long struggle got the one sock off...trying so hard to remove the second sock (notice the stretched out toes) he realized that he was just too tired to keep trying...satisfied with the one, he called it a day.

Two nights ago we gave Noah his first veggies...peas! :) He actually really liked them at first (and still does like them), but after the first few bites, he started making the funniest faces.





But really, he likes them...haha.

Survey Says....

Ok, I need your help. I'm trying to figure out what stocking to get for Noah...I know it may seem silly, but I just can't decide. Here's my predicament:

Hylke and I have these stockings, which I love:

Of course they have our names...:)

So I was thinking I would just get Noah one too...but here's the problem...what if the colors are off, just enough to look tacky. We got ours 3 years ago...chances are the colors won't be a perfect match...and could be just enough different to look really bad. The other problem I had was, what if they stop making this one and when our family grows it will look really odd when mom, dad and baby #1 have the same stocking, but baby #2 has a different one....I like order.

So then I thought about getting one like this for Noah:

Colors are in the same family, but it's a little different...order, yet it doesn't have to be perfect. Or how about this one:

I like the stripped ones...or maybe even one like this:

Again, the stripped one. The colors are still in the same family, but it's not the same stocking...I'm ok with that.

Let me know which ones you like. I know several of you don't have a blogger account, and don't leave comments, but e-mail me or let me know! :) I want to take advantage of the free shipping...which ends TODAY! :)

Waiting to hear.....

Recipes

'Tis the season to be baking! I always love when the weather cools down, the night begins sooner, and you can smell the fireplaces burn...this is the time of the year when we turn off the outside grill (for the most part) and turn on the oven. Although we've only had a few really cool nights, I'm hoping that Fall will truly show it's face soon....no more 80 degree days. I thought it'd be fun to share some recipes on here...and PLEASE, if you have a favorite...share it too. I always love getting recipes that are tried and true. As I plan my meals, it's nice to have a good variety. Although this one isn't a dinner recipe, it's one of my favorites for the fall!

Buttermilk Spice Muffins:

Muffin Batter:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk


Nut Topping:
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Grease the baking tins with butter or margarine

Preheat oven to 375°.
In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer.
When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.
Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.
Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.

Make the nut topping:
Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.

Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine or use paper baking cups.
Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin. Bake at 375° for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry.
You may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time according to your home oven.

Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.

This is the perfect fall treat with a nice cup of coffee! Enjoy!

Toes

Noah LOVES to play with his toes (and try to eat them). I've taken several photos of him grabbing his feet and some with his feet in his mouth.

You get the idea. Well, today it went to a whole new level...I peeked in while he was napping and this is what I found:

socks off, sound asleep, holding onto his feet. My silly little boy. :)

Haiti

Well, my mom leaves tonight for her 3rd medical missions trip to Haiti! We are all so proud of her and can't wait to hear all about her trip. Noah wanted to send her a note...

incase you couldn't read it, it says...
We are all so proud of you, mom! We'll be praying for a great trip! Can't wait to see you in 2 weeks!!

Halloween 2007

Even though Noah's not quite at the Trick-or-Treating age, we had fun putting him in a little costume. Our church has a big Halloween event, Halloween Happenin', we have about 4,000 people from the community come trick-or-treating to the different booths we have set up. The JH group ran about 8-10 booths and had a really fun time. I thought I'd post a couple pics of us dressed up for Halloween:


Our adorable Hotdog:

Mommy and her hotdog:

Sidenote: our friend Evan dressed up as "Waldo" from Where's Waldo...in this picture you can only see a portion of him and it reminds me of a real Where's Waldo picture. :)

Daddy and his Hotdog:

Our tired little hotdog:

We do have a family picture, but it is on a friends camera. I can't wait until our little man is walking around and saying, "trick-or-treat"....too fun!