Fruitcake and Gingerbread

We opened up the Fruitcake Factory for another year and it was a good year for fruitcake if I do say so myself.  We did limit our production to a single batch and called it our private reserve since we only had one giant bowl filled full to the brim after all the mixing was done.  The reviews we got back were favorable and even cousin Kayla had her first one and enjoyed it.

This year we also changed things up by opening up the factory for tours during the baking day.  Aunt Kacey, Kayla and Ben joined us to mix in the dry ingredients and then bake up the cakes.  Then Aunt Renee had a special treat planned - gingerbread houses to decorate.  I am thinking that her dreams of how these houses would turn out didn't even begin to live up to reality. 

This is early on in the decorating before things really got crazy and I had to put the camera down to try to control the decorating / eating of candy.  Ben was definitely using the one for the house, two for him method of decorating.  

Kayla carefully making a design on her house.  She has realized that it was about quality not quantity.

McKenzie trying to get some more frosting to hold the third layer of candy onto her house.  It was a lesson in gravity only made possible by the candy stacked up on the side of the house.

Ben and Kayla enjoying their fruitcake after lunch.

O Christmas Tree

We are among a dying group who still tromps out into the elements in search of the perfect Christmas tree each year.  It seems every year more and more of our family and friends are buying the artificial tree which can be very beautiful but I love the whole experience of finding the tree, bringing it home, trying to make it straight and then the lingering smell of evergreen in the house.  It's also fun to see what the kids think will make a perfect Christmas tree.  Sometimes they want really big trees that would never fit in our house and sometimes they fall in love with tiny crooked ones but regardless of what ideas we start out with we usually come home with the perfect tree each year.

Here they are hamming it up between the trees, all I wanted was one nice picture of their smiling faces and this is what I get.  They were big helpers on getting the tree decorated this year and we didn't even break any ornaments which was a huge success in my book.

The tree and stockings ready for the season.  Our new family room arrangement worked just perfectly with where we like to put the tree.  We have a great view of the tree and fireplace from the couch.

We also went to another tree farm to help Grandma and Grandpa Z bring home their tree which also could have been next years Rockefeller Center tree it was so tall.  After a little trimming it fit just perfectly in their house.  Here's the family in front of the uncut tree.  McKenzie is blowing her tree farm whistle to signal that they found the perfect tree.

Ben, Grandma Z and McKenzie in front of the tree on its side.  It kind of reminds me of those old logging pictures where the people are sending on the giant cross sections of the tree.

Family Feasts

Another Thanksgiving season has come and gone with great meals, many laughs and memories shared with our family.  We are so lucky to have both our families live close to us so we can spend the holidays together.

We had our usual celebration with my side of the family at Aunt Kacey and Uncle Eric's house.  It was a packed house with all the family there.  We may have set a new record for how fast the meal was consumed, I think I'm going to time next years meal to see how fast we eat.  I would be amazed if all the dishes had made it around the table once before we were done.

Here's the view from the head of the table and you can see how involved everyone is in their food.

Ben got a special treat and didn't get put down for his nap but he may have closed his eyes for a bit while playing video games with Nathan.

We had second Thanksgiving a week later with Matt's family and it was another great meal.  Grandma Z always gets out all the nice dishes and does the table up so nice.  It's funny that of all the grandkids only Ben has ever commented to her about the table.  He really likes how shiny all of the silverware and dishes are.

The whole table, again lots of serving and eating going on.

Cousin Claire and McKenzie after being excused from the dinner table.  These two are going to be such trouble some day.

Thankful as ever for great family to build memories with year after year.

Double Trouble Is Coming Our Way

Before the year ends McKenzie and Ben will be welcoming two new cousins into their lives.  Aunt Jennifer is expecting twins due shortly after Christmas.  There has been a lot of excitement about their arrival especially at the baby shower we hosted for Aunt Jennifer.  It was a great afternoon filled with so much love, laughter and fun for all those who attended. We even learned the babies names - Ella and Conor.

All the ladies enjoying some refreshments and some great company.  Aunt Annie did an amazing job with the decorations and themed items for the party.

McKenzie and cousin Claire were enjoying the party and they decided to put balls in their dresses and pose for a picture with Aunt Jennifer.  Very excited to have some cute baby pictures to post before too long.

Finally Fall

We had a very late Spring this year which led to a late Summer and then to a late Fall so it took quite a while for our leaves to actually come down this year.  It was early November before we had enough to rake up and celebrate the season by jumping in a big pile in the front yard.  I was away on my annual scrapbooking weekend, otherwise known as heaven on earth, when the kids and Matt did the honors.  While I was peacefully enjoying the weekend cropping, cutting, gluing and creating scrapbook pages of our life while watching leaves gently float to the ground outside the window this scene was going on at home.  I'm not sad to say I missed it, especially since Matt was kind enough to capture it for me to enjoy when I got home.  There was also a few smudged faces that I got to wipe off just to make sure I didn't miss anything while I was away.

Goodnight Garden

This year I let the garden linger as long as possible, trying to ripen as many of my beautiful sun gold tomatoes as possible but finally at the end of October I had to wrap it up and instead of just letting all the green tomatoes go I harvested all the green ones and brought them inside to ripen.  I did let my larger varieties go into the compost since I didn't know what to do with them.  I've since learned there are ways to use them so maybe I will do one large variety next year again.

I picked a great day with a little sun shining down on me and just worked my way from one end to the other clearing away all the plants except for a few herbs which I will try to winter over.  Hard to believe these pictures were taken and hour apart.

Overall, it was another successful year in the garden, what I didn't gain in actual produce I gained in knowledge about how to improve for next year.

Costume Craziness!

We had so many opportunities to wear our Halloween costumes this year - it was very fun to feel like we really enjoyed them to the fullest.  Though it doesn't take that much since store bought costumes for kids can be found for pretty cheap.  When I was at McKenzie's school Halloween party I was talking with some of the parents about how few homemade costumes we saw and we all sadly agreed that making a costume ourselves would cost way more than just buying it.  I remember as a kid always having a homemade costume - it was such a fun activity to watch it being made.  Maybe next year we'll attempt the homemade costumes.

The kids had all sorts of ideas about what they were going to be but after much debate in the costume store they decided to be matching outfits - Bat Girl and Bat Boy, as Ben insisted on being called.  Here they are showing off their super powers at Ben's school party.  

McKenzie's class had a Halloween party that parents could come and help with.  It was a lot of fun, we set up stations in their class with treats and activities and they all got their costumes on and paraded around the school.  Here's Bat Girl and her friend Maddy.  

Here I am with some of the other Mom's manning the pumpkin toilet paper ghost bowling station.  The kids were across the room a ways and bowled small pumpkins in to knock over the ghosts.

 Ready to head out and trick or treat!  They both really got it this year but Ben did still like to stop and show me every piece of candy he acquired while Kenzie was already running for the next house.  Ben was also insistent on saying thank you at each house which was super cute and earned him some extra candy.