"Nap Time" Fun

This is how I found Annabelle after her nap the other day.
Apparently she doesn't need clothes when she's sleeping

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things

Let me just start by saying, I never knew I would be SO BUSY, having 4 children, ages 5 and under! I barely have time to catch my breath during the day! Most days I never even look in the mirror until 5 or 10 minutes before Jason gets home from work, so I can look somewhat presentable. I don't want to completely let myself go, although it would be much easier.

I find that the only peace and quiet I get is at 2 or 3 in the morning while I'm feeding the baby.

So needless to say, we don't really have that much time to do blog postings.

I even contemplated, quitting the blog altogether, but then realized I could probably manage to do one post a month.

So here it is: our post for the month of December.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Reflecting on the real meaning of Christmas.

Christ, the hope of mankind, coming as a little, baby to earth.

Christmas babies!

Baking and decorating Christmas cookies.

Decorating the tree.

Rearranging the ornaments that the kids put on.

You know, the branches that are weighed down with 3 or 4 ornaments.

Kids who are so bundled that they can barely move or bend.

Spending "quality time" with family.

Jason and 2 of our brothers-in-law, on their iPods.

Making the kids shovel all the snow!

(Actually Isaac loves shoveling snow. He isn't just posing for the camera)

Have a Wonderful Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!!

Our Newest Arrival

Well, it's been a while since we posted anything new, but we've been a little busy!


Here she is! Madeline Mae Nichols.

7lbs. 12oz.

20" long.

Born November 6th at 11:11 am.

Madeline is such a peaceful, sweet baby.
For our 4th child, we couldn't have asked for a better baby.

Her brothers and sister just adore her.

Tomorrow she will be 2 weeks old already.
It seems like just yesterday, I was still pregnant and impatient to get her out and meet her.

Cute as a button.

The First Snowfall

Yesterday we had the first snow of the year. The kids were elated. I wasn't.When the snow starts in October and ends in April, it just makes for way too long of a winter.
Here are a few photos. Sorry they are so blurry. Our camera isn't doing too well these days.

Interesting

The other day we had some tangerines, and they has so many seeds in them!

All of the seeds in the picture below came from 1 tangerine, 52 to be exact!

Fall From Our Perspective

Fall is one of the most beautiful times of the year. 

It is so pretty around our house in the fall, because we are surrounded by trees.

Fall is ushered in with a craving for all things pumpkin.

Here is my favorite pumpkin recipe. I haven't made one yet this year.

It's been hard to do much cooking this fall, because I have been forced to stay off

of my feet for the most part due to this pregnancy. So I don't have any photos of it to make you drool over.

Pumpkin Roll

Cake ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup pumpkin

1 tsp. lemon juice

3/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. ginger

2 tsp. cinnamon

powdered sugar ( needed for a towel, to keep the cake from sticking)

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar

1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese, softened

4 Tbs. butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

powdered sugar for topping

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, pumpkin, and lemon juice.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder, and spices.

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well blended.

Spray a 10 1/2" X 15" non stick cookie sheet with cooking spray. Pour the batter onto cookie sheet, spread evenly. Bake 12-15 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Prepare a clean kitchen towel by sprinkling heavily with powdered sugar.

After baking, turn the cookie sheet onto the towel, the cake should slide out onto the towel. Starting at one end, roll the cake into the towel. Cool 30-40 minutes.

For the filling, stir together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and butter. Mix well.

After the roll has cooled unroll it and spread the filling evenly. Roll back up without the towel. Wrap in foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour, or until filling is firm.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar just before serving.

Enjoy!

The Nichols Wildlife Reserve

One of the great things about living in the country is that you don't have to seek out the wildlife. It comes straight to you! We see deer, turkeys, squirrels, chipmunks, rabbits, turtles and so much more. 

Here are some pictures of creatures we have seen in just the past 2 weeks.

Seth is the bravest of all the kids. He will hold

a frog or a caterpillar for the longest time.

This beautiful, young, doe caught Isaac's eye outside our living room window.

She stayed for a while just looking at us and letting us admire her.

The other other day, I walked out the front door and these 2 birds ( I thought they were pheasants, but I'm not sure now.) were right there!

I slowly crept inside for my camera and when I got back outside, the more beautiful of the two flew away, so I was only able to photograph this one.

This salamander was so cute, but we let him go shortly after we caught him.