Willow's Birthday Party

We celebrated Willow's 5th birthday on Friday with a cake and presents, but her birthday party wasn't until today. After much nailbiting on my part, 11 kids with their parents showed up today at 2:30pm. Kids played with play dough, floam, wiki sticks and more. They climbed trees and swung from branches.... I hope all had a good time.

I managed to grab a few snap shots and created this nifty slideshow with iPhoto. oh how I adore my macbook and it's super cool software.

Enjoy and thank you to all of our friends for making this day special for Willow.

The baby turns 5....

Today, the day after thanksgiving, Willow turns 5. I still remember giving birth to her - at home sometime between 1 and 3 am on the day after thanksgiving in 2004. I am a horrible example for moms, I can NEVER remember birth times. Hard to believe that 5 years have gone by. She is a pretty cool 5 year old. Jim and I are happy to be celebrating the end of the baby years of our lives and looking forward to the cool kid/preteen/teen years.... we hope!

This morning, Jim had to go to work so Kyla and I took Willow out for breakfast. Good times were had by all, especially since I allowed them to sit at the counter instead of a table.

From Willow's Birthday Breakfast

Pumpkin Spice Waffles

If you start these and realize you are out of pumpkin (like me) you can substitute applesauce and they are just as yummy!

Ingredients:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons brown sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cinnamon
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/2 cups milk
* 1/2 cup canned pumpkin
* 2 tablespoons melted butter
* 1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Heat waffle maker. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir to combine completely with a whisk.

2. Separate eggs. Place egg whites in a medium mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, set aside.

3. In a medium mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, milk, canned pumpkin, melted butter and vanilla. Stir with a whisk until mixture is smooth. Pour pumpkin mixture into dry ingredients and stir with a spoon just until ingredients are combined. Mixture will be thick and lumpy; do not overmix.

4. Beat egg whites with a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer until medium peaks form. Fold egg whites gently into batter.

5. Spray the cooking surface of a hot waffle maker with cooking spray. Cook waffles according to manufacturer's directions. Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup or the toppings of your choice.

You must watch this movie....

I made Jim watch this and we are completely overhauling what we eat. I am planning the garden again, we signed back up with Winder Farms. It is going to take some serious planning to make natural/organic fit in the budget, but we are going to try!