New Handleset!

These are the new Handlesets that we ordered for the front door...

Personally, I think that it looks MUCH better with the new ones!

Sweet Potato Pancakes

I made these over the weekend (sorry no picture), everyone loved them!

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp pumpkin-pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 (16 ounce) can sweet potatoes or yams, drained and mashed (about 3/4 cup)

1. Combine the flour, baking powder, pumpkin-pie spice and salt in a large bowl. Combine the milk, brown sugar, veg oil, vanilla and eggs; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth. Stir in sweet potatoes.
2. Spoon about 1/4 cup batter per pancake onto a hot griddle or skillet. Flip when covered with bubbles.

You could also add 2 Tbsp of toasted chopped pecans to the batter.

Vanilla-Maple Syrup
(Be sure to use PURE MAPLE SYRUP, NOT pancake syrup with imitation maple flavor, it won't work if you do!)

1 1/2 cups maple syrup
1 (3in) piece vanilla bean, spilt lengthwise or 1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. Pour the maple syrup into a med saucepan. Scrape seeds from vanilla bean; add seeds and bean to syrup. Bring to a simmer over med heat, and cook 5 minutes. Remove from heat; discard bean.

The School Bus Accident

This morning Reese's school bus got into a minor accident, nothing bad. This is the letter that I recieved from the Principal:

" This morning bus #37 was involved in, what I was told, a minor accident. Students were transferred to a different bus and brought to school. I greeted all the students in the office, asked them if they were ok and then sent them to class. No students reported any injuries."

This is Reese's description of the accident:

"The Bus Driver slammed on her brakes and everyone fell down out of their seat and got in the aisle. And then a bad guy in a yellow car with black stripes on the front hit the back of the bus and the glass almost came out of the back of the bus and then the yellow car was leaking and the the bad guy was bleeding from his eye and then the car blew up and the guy died. And then we had to get onto another bus for school and we were really late!"

Master Bedroom Update

This is what our Master Bedroom looks like now...


Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) has been gutted and taken down to the studs.


This is what came out of the room. That's about 80 50 gallon trash bags full of crap!

Ashlee's Pre-School Picture

Doesn't she look cute!!!

Little Girls

So now I am starting to get super excited about having another little girl. Look at all of this CUTE little girl stuff that I still get to play with!!! I love dressing my girls up when they are babies. I am so glad that we're not having a boy, boy stuff just isn't that cute...

The hospital sells these also, so as soon as she comes out she is wearing one!





I love these!

1st Day of Fall!!!

"Autumn is the eternal corrective. It is ripeness and color and a time of maturity; but it is also breadth, and depth, and distance. What man can stand with autumn on a hilltop and fail to see the span of his world and the meaning of the rolling hills that reach to the far horizon?
- Hal Borland

I Love the Fall, it really is my favorite season. I am so excited for Halloween, pumpkin patches, cool weather, and for the leaves to start to change. To celebrate the 1st day of Fall, the little girls and I are making donuts!

Here are some pictures of Michigan in the Fall.

The UP


The UP


The UP


Ann Arbor MI

What have we done...

This is our Master Bedroom. It is one of our MANY projects that need to be done before the baby comes. Brian has been tearing out all of the plaster in the room for the past 3 days. This is a HUGE mess!! Hopefully everything will get cleaned up by next week so he can start with the electrical for the room.

Don't you just LOVE old houses?!

The Blustery Day

So, after today's "Wind Fest" here is the damage to our house: Power lines are down and the our back chimney fell over.

It's not as bad as it seems!

1. We still have power (not really sure what those power lines are connected too).
2. Our neighbors tree knocked down the back chimney so we don't have to pay for it!!! Isn't that wonderful?!

It's Only One Day!!!

Early this morning Brian left for a meeting in Louisville and won't be back until tomorrow evening. Reese has been SO upset about him leaving. She has been crying since last night, it's sad but kind of funny at the same time. I keep telling her that it's only one day and she just breaks down again. The reason why she breaks down when Brian goes trips, is because she was seperated from him for about 3 months about 2 years ago. Brian came down to Evansville to work and we stayed up in MI. I'm really surprised that it still bothers her. So tonight to keep her happy, we are going to make homemade bread and soup and rent a movie (that's what she wants to do).



This is Brian's Office in Louisville KY.