Christmas 2010-Part 2

Christmas morning…

Homemade Waffles

We kind of like waffles around the Smith house.  Who am I kidding?  We LOVE waffles!  We have been known to eat them for breakfast, lunch and/or dinner!  We do buy EGGO’s to have around the house in case of an emergency.  But, we like to make homemade waffles.  We have pretty much just used Bisquick (somewhat homemade I guess) in the past.  With Bisquick I didn’t ever feel like they got crispy enough.  Just kind of doughy.  Recently, I found the BEST waffle recipe on the Tasty Kitchen website (Pioneer Woman’s recipe site).  It is really quick and easy and so delicious!  Light, fluffy, and crispy!  YUM!  So, if you like waffles and have a waffle iron, you should definitely give this recipe a try.

The boys in my house like theirs with peanut butter and syrup. I like mine with bananas, pecans, and warm syrup!  Oh yeah…and a little whipped cream too!

 

Ingredients

• 2 whole Eggs (separated)
• 2 cups Milk Or Buttermilk
• 2 cups Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Baking Powder
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• ⅓ cups Canola Oil

Preparation Instructions

Beat egg whites until stiff. In a separate large bowl, put remaining ingredients and beat on low with a hand mixer until moistened. Increase speed to medium and mix until smooth. By hand, gently fold in beaten egg whites. Pour 1/2 cup of batter onto hot waffle iron. Cook until lightly browned. Serve with your favorite toppings. Enjoy!

UPDATE**I realized that I never used the egg yolks when we made our waffles. I guess I never read the recipe correctly, but went back and looked and the recipe author said to use them.  We did try putting the egg yolks in the batter.  We did not like them near as much.  They weren’t near as light and crispy.  We also tried it with buttermilk.  Again, they weren’t as light and crispy.  So, we like them with no egg yolks and with regular milk.  :-)

Christmas 2010-Part 1

I think we have finally recovered from a Christmas marathon!  Oh, but what a fun Christmas it was!  We had great food, were blessed with so many great gifts, and had a fabulous time with friends and family!  I am going to break down our Christmas Marathon into a few posts so stay tuned! 

On Christmas Eve, we spent the afternoon/evening with my side of the family at my Mom and Dad’s.  We opened gifts first then enjoyed a fabulous traditional Christmas dinner!

The twins decided to wear their new pj’s.   I’m telling you, those boys would wear their pj’s all day every day if they could! 

Gift time!  The twins opened up first.  Hayden loved their new boots!

  This boy loves his new leap frog laptop!  It is so cute and a great learning tool too!  It even says, “You have a new blog entry.”  I might die if it said do you want to check your Facebook?  Ha!   It is the perfect size for him to take in the car.

 

Hayden also got a new ride!  The police cozy coupe.  He got so excited when he saw it!  He got right in and shut the door.  It was too cute!

Mom and Dad opening their presents from each other.  Dad got a new camera and Mom got a new Kindle.  Granddaddy doing  a little opening too!

Dad was quite excited about his new skillet from Robin!

 

Present exchange with Landree and Hudson. 

  A little pre-dinner fun!

These boys love each other so much!

Their Momma’s think they are pretty special too!

Merry Christmas

One year ago, our lives were quite different at Christmas time.  If you remember, Momma was really sick but thankfully she did get out of the hospital a couple of days before Christmas so she could spend Christmas with her family!  I am so thankful she is doing so much better and is actually doing most of the cooking for our Christmas gathering tonight.

Tomorrow afternoon we will spend with Jeff’s side of the family and Sunday we will have Christmas at my cousin Carla's home for my Daddy’s side of the family. 

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your friends and family. 

We are feeling quite blessed this Holiday season! 

I am happy to report…

I am so excited to tell you that we finally (almost four months after ordering it) have living room furniture just in time for Christmas! 

Before…

Now…

I am very happy with the way it turned out.  Only seeing a small fabric swatch when picking the fabrics out, I was so nervous about how it would look.  Although it took forever, I am actually happy I had to go back and pick a new fabric.  I first had picked out a khaki cotton twill, but I am so happy with this tweed that we ended up with!  The pictures don’t do it justice, but trust me…it looks good!  ;-)

Our entry cabinet/locker that we ordered a few months ago should be here next weekend to fill that blank wall.  I can’t wait to see it!

Now all we need is something for our tv to sit on.  Doesn’t this look lovely?

I didn’t want to commit to anything until I saw how our furniture would be arranged in our living room.  And, I really haven’t found anything that would work.  So, the hunt begins continues for another piece of furniture. 

Peas…finger lickin’ good.

Peas.  I can’t stand green peas.  Luckily, this little boy loves him.

This is the only vegetable I can get Hayden to eat.

Finding nutritious things he will eat is a challenge, but peas are  always a hit!

Right now anyway. 

More Christmas Fun with Friends

Today we headed to Wylie to meet up with our friends Amy and Barrett.  Sadly to say we had not seen them since the summer so we were so excited to see them! 

The boys played a bit and then exchanged presents.

Barrett with his new power tools!  Love them safety goggles!

Playing a little more.  Barrett kind of liked Hayden’s new tractor!

Then, we headed to Firewheel Shopping Center for a little shopping, playtime, and lunch.  I was able to pick Hayden up a new pair of shoes.  I thought that his shoes might be getting a little snug, but what I didn’t realize was he was wearing a pair of shoes that were 1 1/2 sizes too small.  That certainly won’t get you the Mom of the Year award!  I went to the Stride Rite store and found these…

I really don’t particularly care for spending a lot of money on shoes for him, but he is so hard to fit!  That boy has some thick and wide feet! 

After our short lived shopping adventure, we headed over to the play area.  It was a great day to be outside and we took advantage! 

 

Don’t let that serious face fool you.  Hayden loved the play area!   He threw ONE.BIG.FIT. when it was time to leave to go eat lunch.  We went to lunch at Gloria’s.  Fabulous food as always.  But, a little boy named Hayden didn’t act too fabulous.  He threw a few more fits and just acted awful!  I was so embarrassed!  He was asleep within about 2 minutes after we got in the car headed home.  This fit throwing thing is new to us.  I am praying it is short-lived but am bracing myself for the worst.

After we got home, Hayden decided to play with his new tractor and start the engine about 457 times.  He was in love with it!  This boy is all about some tractors! 

We also enjoyed a little more outside time this afternoon. 

We did lots of exploring. 

Not much makes this boy happier than just walking running around outside.