Best looking Bee in the Hive

These are Carter's pictures from his Busy Bee preschool.

Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?

This is Buddy. (Carter started calling him Pip yesterday.) He was delivered to our front door the day after Thanksgiving in a white package with a big red bow. Santa delivered him to watch over the kids to make sure nobody's being naughty. Then, on Christmas Eve, Santa will come and receive a report from Buddy, take Buddy home with him and leave gifts if the report is good. Every night Buddy has a good time after everyone is in bed and ends up in a different spot when we get up in the morning. The kids have a great time finding Buddy when they get up. It's been a fun new tradition and we can't wait for Buddy to make an appearance every year.

(PS... if you want a Buddy delivered to your door still, ours is from Marshall's and you can find an accompanying letter online if you just google search "elf letter" or something of the sort)

Game Night

We spent an evening at Josh & Jenn's last weekend playing games and mostly just sitting around talking. It was fun to have grown up conversation without all the kids interrupting. I did feel a little bad for Alli's boyfriend Will... he's been around all of us in the family, but just not all together and I think it was a little like baptism by fire. We were a little rowdy; well, mostly just the boys.

You would not believe how many pictures I took of the guys before I got this one. They were being highly inappropriate, minus Will.

Snow Day

We had a ginormous storm blow through here last Tuesday night. We woke up to inches upon inches of fresh snow. The kids were so excited and it helped ease the disappointment that both their schools had been canceled. So, first thing after breakfast I bundled them up and let them all play out in the snow. Taytum was only out there for about a half hour, but Carter and Andi lasted almost a couple of hours. Then they retired to the couch with a hot cup of cocoa, a movie, and a fire to warm up. It was a delightful morning.(This picture is actually from a different snow day, but it was the only one I have of both of them all bundled up)
Taytum was just longing to go out there with them.

(again, these are from a different snow day)

Tay @ 10 months...

Did I say 10 months? I meant 16. It's easy to get confused because she still is not walking or talking!! We are so close on both accounts. She’ll take up to 10 steps between furniture or between me and Jefferson, and can stand up on her own in the middle of the room, but just hasn’t quite got it down yet. The speaking thing is such an enigma to me. We talk to her all day long, read every day, ask for her to repeat things back to us, but she just won’t. She doesn’t babble a lot either. She giggles a lot though! This girl is one happy girl. She LOVES having her arms, legs, back, tummy, you name it, scratched. She will stop mid whatever she is doing if you scratch. She loves playing with Carter and Andi. One of her favorite pastimes is emptying out our basket of shoes by the door. If, however, you tell her to put them back, she will. She loves putting objects into containers; trying to stuff things into shoes, putting blocks back, etc. If you ask Taytum, “What does a cow say? Moooo!” She will start to cry almost every time. The sound “moo” just scares her or something. It is too funny, and kind of sad and really strange. She sleeps great; at least 12 hours at night and at least a two hour nap during the day. She will put her binky back into her crib after you get her up because she knows it’s for sleepy times only (and occasionally at church). She does not like getting her diaper changed. She loves baths and if I’m ever in my bathroom she’ll crawl in and go over to the bathtub and just stand there or turn the water on. She loves brushing her teeth, or at least sucking on her toothbrush. She remains a really good, non picky eater (knock on wood). Taytum is so good at just rolling with the punches. She is so flexible and kind of just goes along with the flow of whatever we’re doing. She also makes some amazingly funny faces. She can do fish lips and does all sorts of other funny faces upon request. Her favorite times of day are any meal times, nap time (she will crawl to her crib and put her leg up like she’s trying to climb in when she’s tired), and when Jefferson gets home. When she hears Jefferson pull into the garage or hear the kids shout that “Daddy’s home!” she will bounce on her knees and yell and clap her hands. But don’t let that fool you, she’s a mama’s girl. If I’m in the vicinity of her when Jefferson, or someone else is holding her, she’ll usually just lean out of their arms to try to get to me. She doesn’t have stranger anxiety though… yet. She’s pretty good at going to most people and we have some ladies in our ward that would gladly take her home with them if we would let them. Recently in the evenings she will just crawl up into my lap and rest her head on my shoulder and lay there for tens of minutes. It is divine. She may sense the impending birth of her sister? She is a funny girl and we love her to pieces.Don't mind her lazy eyes in this one... it was the only good one of her fish lips that I have.

Miss Moo

Andi… Miss Andi. Still wants so badly to be just like her mommy. She wants to go everywhere I go. Recently she went out shopping with me and Jefferson’s aunt and she was in heaven. She was all smiles and uncharacteristically quiet. I think she was just taking in what it is we ladies do when we are out and about. She just listened to us talk and drank her “special drink.” She frequently says, “Mom/Dad?” And we’ll say, “Yes?” And she’ll just say, “I love you.” We have people smile at us all the time when we are out when she does that. This girl is a chatter box. She talks nonstop all day. She wants to know what I’m doing, what so and so said, what we’re going to do later. She narrates their play for me. If they are watching a movie she’ll narrate the movie for me. She reads out loud, she asks questions, she talks, talks, talks. By the end of the day sometimes, it’s all I can do to listen to another word from her. If I’m in the kitchen Andi will be seconds behind dragging a chair in to “help.” Her favorite thing to play right now is babies or with her pretend food, or both. She continues to insist on skirts or dresses every day and I find myself negotiating a lot in the morning. She requests mac and cheese for lunch every day still, though she’s not a picky eater. She is not a sweets eater either, she prefers fruits and such to sweets and will usually only eat a couple of bites of her dessert. She loves to read and play dress up. Most of the time she likes to do the reading or read back a story to me after I read it to her. She has quite the sassy mouth on her, and we're working on that, but is so good for the most part. She and Carter play really well together. Now we're just working on including Tay instead of just seeing her as a nuisance.

Cmac

Carter is just such a smart, athletic, funny kid. He continues to love preschool and I love hearing him spout off things that he’s learned at random times. He’s great at counting, recognizing numbers and letters, and he’s starting to show interest in spelling. For example, he likes writing everybody’s names in our family and telling me how to spell them. He still jumps and runs everywhere he goes and is constantly on his toes. The only time he is not moving is when the tv is on, and then that boy can zone out. He is loving Toy Story 3 right now, and whenever we watch it he will grab his Buzz, Woody, and Mr Potato head. I just love it. He is also awesome at sharing! He will share whatever he has, toys, treats, drinks, etc, without even being asked. I love having conversations with him because he is getting so grown up in the way he speaks. He's very inquisitive and wants to know what certain words mean in books or why something is one way and not the other. We are entering the question stage. He is an excellent little drawer (in my unbiased opinion). He loves drawing people and houses and flowers, and recently just started drawing cars. It's fun to see him add little details to his drawings as he progresses. He LOVES playing the Wii. I never thought I would let him start playing at such a young age, but we are very restrictive on how much he gets to play. Let me rephrase that, I am very restrictive... Jefferson, not so much. But he loves Mario Cart and Mario Brothers and hops and jumps and runs and sweats the entire time, so at least he's active, right? He also really enjoys books and reading. He is at such a fun age!

This is how I found Woody and Buzz when I came downstairs from putting the kids down:

Tis the Season

I love baking at this time of year and have chanced upon a couple of the most delicious recipes. Try them out!

Pumpkin pie is really the only type of pie that I like, and I really like it. Unfortunately, there was no pumpkin pie at our Thanksgiving, so I had to whip this up a couple of days later to satisfy my craving. It was divine and truly easy.
Pumpkin Pie surprise

Ingredients

• 1 package(15 ounces) ready-to-roll piecrust or homemade piecrust for double-crust pie
• Cream cheese layer:
• 1 package(8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• Pumpkin layer:
• 1 cup pumpkin puree (not pie filling)
• 3/4 cup evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 F. Fit 1 pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate and crimp edges. Refrigerate until ready to fill. Unroll second crust. Using a 1-inch star cookie cutter, cut out 50 stars; place on baking sheet and refrigerate until ready to use.

2. Cream cheese layer: In a medium-size bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg until smooth. Spread evenly into bottom of pie crust.

3. Pumpkin layer: In a large bowl, beat pumpkin puree, milk, brown sugar, eggs, pie spice and salt until smooth. Using a ladle, gently spoon pumpkin mixture over cream cheese mixture.

4. Brush edge of pie with egg-water wash. Overlap pastry stars around edge. Brush stars lightly with egg-water mix. Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Cover edges with foil, reduce heat to 350 F and bake for an additional 45 minutes.

5. Cool pie completely on rack. Refrigerate until completely chilled. Before slicing, leave out for 30 minutes.Chocolate Mint Sandwich Cookies
I love mint and chocolate combined. These were a easier than I thought they were going to be and they turned out not only tasting great, but they looked just like the picture in the magazine!

Ingredients:
4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
Peppermint cream filling (see below)
(the recipe also called for 2 tsp espresso powder, but we don't consume that, so I omitted it and they still tasted great... do what you'd like)

1. In a large bowl stir flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a very large mixing bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until combined. Beat in eggs until combined. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour mixture. Divide dough in half. If necessary, cover and chill for 1 to 2 hours or until dough is easy to handle. (I did refrigerate mine for an hour or so, but probably didn't need to.)
3. Preheat oven to 350. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time until 1/4 inch thick. (dough is really crumbly) Using a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter, cut out dough (or use a glass with an opening 2 1/2 inches). Place 1 inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes (I did 8 minutes and wouldn't do a second longer) or until the edges are firm. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Fill cookies with Pepperming cream filling. Chill for at least 1 hour before serving. Makes 24 sandwich cookies (and it really did make 2 dozen finished sandwiches)

Peppermint Cream Filling:
In a large bowl beat 1 cup softened butter on medium/high speed until fluffy. Add 2 tsp vanilla and 2 teaspoons peppermint extract. Bet in 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar. Beat in 2 tablespoons milk. Beat in another 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar until smooth. Tint with green food coloring. Beat in additional milk as needed to make a spreading consistency.

Turkey Day 2010

We made a quick trip down to Twin Falls and back on Thanksgiving to spend it with the Longs and some of the other extended family on Jefferson's side. It was a fun, fast day with lots of good food and good company. We forgot to pull our camera out until the end, so we didn't get any pics of the festivities. Everybody pitched in with the food and we feasted. Afterward the menfolk watched some football while all the ladies crafted some bracelets. Then we feasted again on desserts. It was all rather delicious, and I'm wishing we had some leftovers right about now to make some turkey sandwiches!
The five, almost to be six of us. (We're almost down to double digits people!)

These were most of the ladies who were in attendance. Andi and Tay were already buckled up in the car, a few had already left, and there were a few stragglers still inside.
We have so much to be thankful for this year (like every year), but it truly has been a blessed year in the Harmon household.

A very merry birthday to me!

I can't even begin to explain how wonderful my birthday was this year. It all started when I found out I didn't have to work that weekend! What a great birthday present from the family I work for. Then, my husband, being the super excited over surprises man that he is, could not wait to give me my birthday present until Sunday (my birthday), so he surprised me at lunch on Friday and came home and gave me a new digital camera. A Canon Rebel. It is so nice and fancy and fun to play with. I was so surprised.
That night some of my girlfriends took me out to dinner. I wish I had a picture of all of us! (remember how I just got that nice, new camera? Where was it?!) We sat in the restaurant from 7-11, literally, just chatting. It wasn't super busy or else we would never be that inconsiderate to waiting customers. It was so fun just to catch up kidless.
Saturday I went out Christmas shopping with Andi and Jefferson's Aunt Di. We hit up a number of stores and then she treated us to lunch. Again, it was so fun to shop without kids. Andi doesn't count because she was just so thrilled to be out with the ladies that she behaved perfectly and we didn't even know she was there half the time. She was just taking it all in. After lunch I went to a home decor boutique that Jefferson's cousin was throwing. I may have bought a few things for the girls room. The whole day Jefferson just took care of the house and kids. It was so nice!
That night Jefferson took me out to Tacano's with our friends Casey and Kacey. It was DIVINE. Yum and yum. Here we are at the restaurant:
And the joyous birthday singing. They make you stand up and shake a tambourine. I made the most of it...
After dinner, a movie. We went and saw "Morning Glory." It was cute and predictable. There was a little bit of language, definitely a rent it if you're going to see it. But it was still super fun and it made me laugh out loud a number of times.
It was a grand evening out. Then, finally, it was my actual birthday! It was a pretty typical Sunday. I was sung to in primary and we just had a relaxing day at home. Jefferson cooked me a most delicious tri-tip and the kids helped me make a cake.
Isn't it lovely?
Then with the help of the kiddos, I blew out the candles and it was the end of a very perfect birthday weekend.