Have a very Merry Christmas!! Janine is here safely and we are all enjoying having her around. We are also excited because it is Christmas break!! Have a great week.

Janine!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so excited because today is the day!! She will come home in 11 hours and is (hopefully) in a shuttle bus on her way to Atlanta!! We will pick her up this evening!!!! I can't wait!!

P.S. We did not (to the disappointment of all) get any snow. :(

SNOW!!

No, it hasn't arrived yet. But we are expecting it tomorrow! If we do get any, it will be at night:( This is from the last time it snowed in '99. I was 4 years old and I still remember it!!

It has been raining some, right now it is clear.

We are anxiously awaiting Janine's arrival this Friday evening!!!!!!!!!!!! Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!!

We have them up!! Each year we do something a little different and for the first time, we have a large Christmas tree!! It is fake, but that doesn't really matter, it just means we can enjoy it longer! We do not have the outside Christmas lights up; hopefully we will soon. We also have our little Christmas tree on top of the entertainment center and a little scene on the hutch (that Janine has to see before I post it).

Thanksgiving was at Uncle John and Tante Rita's; other blogs have pictures so I won't post them here. On Friday we got up and had breakfast together and Mom and Dad left to go shopping.(What?! they didn't get up early? *gasp*) we had to

1. finish dishes
2. get down decor boxes
3. take down thanksgiving decor (which includes taking squash out to feed the cow)
4. put up both trees (big and little)
5. decorate trees
6. set up all other stuff (like in the entryway)
7. put empty(ish) boxes away

we had 2 hours 4 min. 12 sec. (actually made up this time- somewhere around that time) when they came home, everything was done!

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Have a great Thanksgiving!

New blogs on my blog

As you may have noticed, I have divided my blogs into family and other. I would like to say a little bit about them:

• The Rebelution blog: This blog was started by the Harris twins. Their official definition of rebelution is "a teenage rebellion against the low expectations of an ungodly culture." They have really good, thought-provoking posts.
• Cooking in Cast Iron and Zanks Iron Skillet: We got our mom a cast iron skillet for Mothers Day '07 and find these two blogs interesting.
• Challies Dot Com: We found this blog on The Rebelution and really enjoyed it. It is also on Marie's blog.

Enjoy!!

New Planty!

This little plant has grown from peace flower (Spathiphyllum species). Other common names are White flag, white sails, and Spath flower. When the plant bloomed this summer we took the seeds and put them in this planter, not thinking that they would really grow! The plant beside it is what we call a prayer plant(Calathea amabilis/ Stromanthe amabilis).

This is the plant in the bathroom.

Thanks to PlantOasis.com for their scientific plant names.

In other news, it's supposed to get up to high of 65 degrees! It rained over the weekend; that's a lot different from the weather we are used to!

I also cannot wait for Janine to come home in 39 days! She will fly in on the 19th of December, and fly out on the 12th of January!!

Comments

It's so exciting to open your email in the morning and find that you have three new comments on your blog!! To answer your questions:
Here are the cookies!! The recipe was originally called Neiman Marcus cookies. Dad found it off the Internet and loved it! Later in the recipe book Janine made for our family, she named it Dad's favorite cookies!

Dad’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 sticks butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
6 Tbsp. sugar
2 eggs
4 tsp. vanilla
3 ½ cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
3 cups chocolate chips
3 tsp. instant espresso coffee powder (if your instant coffee is crumbs, crush in a bowl with the back of a spoon to powderize)

Preheat the oven to 300°. Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in your mixer’s bowl fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed for 30 seconds, until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds more, until well combined.
In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixture, while beating on slow speed. Beat for about 15 seconds, stir in the chocolate chips and espresso powder, and mix for 15 seconds longer.
Grease a cookie sheet. Place 2 tablespoon dollops of cookie dough 3 inches apart on the sheet. Gently press them down with a spoon into 2 inch circles. Bake for 20 minutes or until the cookies are nicely browned. Could make up to 4 dozen cookies!

Here are some of our decor; we don't really have that much. There will be more for Christmas!
The turkey above our hallway.
We have a cornucopia that we usually to put these flowers in, but we like to put everything in a different spot every year so now the are in a vase!

Cookies and Cold

This morning at about 6:40, the temperature was about 37.8° outside. BRRR! It was still cold at about 9:00 AM so I decided to make some of Dad's favorite cookies, just to turn the oven on!! These cookies are delicious-they even have instant coffee in them.

SHHHHHH!!

Our parents don't know that today Lorissa and I put up fall decorations. The tradition in our family is that when our parents are gone, the kids put up fall/Thanksgiving decor. After (or sometimes even before :) thanksgiving, Mom and Dad leave (to go shopping or something) and we put a Christmas CD in and put out Christmas decor!! Today Mom and Nate and Dad are at work so we decided to put the fall decor up. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Lemon Bars/Squares

Yesterday I had the urge to bake and so I got the lemon squares' reciepe! I really like the lemon flavor.

mixing it up
13 min. left to go
All done! I did sprinkle some powdered sugar on before we ate it though!

It's Raining

Believe it or not, it is raining as I type. At first it was thunder, then rain, then thunder, and again raining. Now it is sunny! and for those nonbelievers, who choose to not believe, here is a picture:There goes another clap of thunder -that scared me (because there was none for a while and it was loud!). That one was loud too! I was just talking to Janine-it's sunny and humid there.

Camping!!

My family and I are going camping!! Every year some members (it's open to our whole church) go camping in September from a Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. Our Paster does a devotion in the evenings and a sermon-type thing Sunday morning. We go to three rivers area to a park called Kaweah Park Resort. They have a beach along Kaweah river. We will hopefully remember the camera and to take pictures so I can post them!!

Happy Birthday Nate!!

Happy Birthday to my favorite brother, Nathan!! Congatulations on turning 18!!

New Blogger!!

Congratulations to Rebekah Koonce (my cousin) on her new blog, Metropolitan Meditations! This blog is about college life at Seattle Pacific.

Boston Cream Pie

It being her birthday, I made Lorissa her cake. Although it was supposed to be a round cake, (shown below) we modified the recipe and made it a Bundt cake!!

When I did the frosting, I swirled the top and it made it square-ish. This is the finished product!!

Happy Birthday, Lorissa!!

Today is Lorissa's 15th birthday!! She opened 3 of her presents during breakfast; She'll open more when everyone is here again!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LORI!!!

Baking Biscuits

These were made to go with spaghetti last night. They tasted good to me, but then I might be a little biased!! The reciepe is easy and makes enough to have some for lunch the next day!! I don't know where we got the reciepe originally, but know we have it in our family's reciepe book as Lorissa's Biscuits. They made about 20 for me.

Lorissa's Biscuits

4 cups flour

6 tsp. baking powder

4 tsp. suger

1 tsp.cream of tarter

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup shortening

1 1/3 cup milk

Stir together dry ingrediants. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Make a well in the center and add mild all at once. Stir just until dough clings together. Knead gently on a well floured surface for 10-12 strokes. Roll or pat into 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter or a sharp knife, dipping your cutter in flour between cuts. Transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet. bake at 450 degrees or until golden. Makes 20-24 biscuits.

NOTE: You can do it like lorissa does and spoon dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet instead of rolling it all out.

Biking

This Morning, Nathan, Lorissa and I all rode our bikes while our mom walked. Usually we would swim laps, but lately the pool has been quite cold. Instead we will go out in the 57 degree weather and bike!!

Thanks to my oldest sister, Janine, for letting me use her bike!!

First Post!!

This officially the first post on Renee's Ramblings!! I hope to post frequently, as things happen.