Perfect Pumpkin Muffins

My kids are always asking to make these!

Muffin Mix:

1 1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp allspice

3 1/2 cups flour (I use half white whole wheat)

Add:

4 eggs

1 stick of butter

1 lg can of pumpkin

1/2 cup milk

optional:

These taste soooo good by themselves, but they are also great with chocolate chips, dried cranberries, raisins, or apples!

Mix well.

Heat oven to 350.

Pour into Muffin tins(I use cupcake holders)

Bake for 25-30min.

Makes 24 delicious Muffins!

Serve by themselves, with butter, or cream cheese.

Christmas Shopping

One of the things we love to do every year before Christmas is order from the World Vision Christmas catalog. It's kind of fun to go shopping for anything from sheep, goats, and chickens to garden tools or medical supplies for a needy family. World Vision sends you a gift card with a picture and description of your "purchase" which makes this a great "stuff free" Christmas gift for the person who has everything!

When my son K was two years old, he said he really wanted to buy the little girl on the cover of the catalog holding a goat! He was so disappointed when I told him only the goat was for sale!

The kids have been having lots of fun poring over the catalog deciding what they want to buy this year. K (age 4) would like to get musical instruments for school children, and also clean water. J (age 2) really has her heart set on buying a hippopotamus for someone, but she just can't find it in the catalog! :)

If you would like a free World Vision Christmas catalog, or to view it online, go to:
http://donate.wvus.org/OA_HTML/ibeCCtpBuyRoute.jsp

Playing in the leaves

We had soooo much fun playing in the leaves! K got a little upset when I started raking them to the curb because he didn't want the town "vacuum truck" to come and vaccuum them!

Happy Fall!

Pooh Bear And Lady Bug...

Winnie the Pooh got to go to a special costume party at his AWANA club meeting this year, while our little lady bug girl stayed home and passed out candy with her daddy. She thought this was great fun giving "treats" to all the neighbor friends!! We had so many children show up at our door this year that we ran out of treat bags! Jeff told her that the candy was all gone, so we had to turn the light off. J ran and got her own little bag of treats that she got from the neighbors and begged Jeff to turn the light back on! She then passed out the rest of her candy to the kids that came to the door!


K came home from his party with a bag of treats that he happily shared with his sister.

In The Garden...

flower girls

and boys..

day dreaming

and dancing in the green grass..

and hanging out with Mom Bee and Grampy
Our happy little family

What a perfect day!

Crane Beach

A beautiful day to visit the beach...

Burying Auntie Heather

J loving the sunshine and the sand.

K loves the water! J and Mama..

K and Daddy...

A Visit From A Special Friend

A year or so after moving into our house, a couple of our neighbors commented on how "Virginia" always asked about us. Virginia?!

We found out that she lived in our house for almost 40 years, then sold her house to the woman who sold it to us less than 2 years later. I then found out that she was now living at the same assisted living apartment building that my grandmother lived in! A short time later, we decided to stop in after visiting grandma. She was so happy to see us, and had all kinds of stories and pictures to show us! We've been friends ever since!

I was so surprised to get a call from her today! She called and said that her cousin was in town and asked if they could come visit the backyard! She loved strolling around the yard and checking out all the old trees and flowers that she had planted years ago.
It's hard to believe that this sweet lady is almost 95 years old!