Not Yet!

This is what we woke up to today.

It's beautiful.

But I'm not ready - and neither are the trees!

Pumpkin Pancakes

This is our family's traditional Halloween morning breakfast. Plus we just have to enjoy these delicious pancakes on other days as well!

Pumpkin Pancakes
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups milk (add little more at the end if the batter is too thick)
1 1/4 cup pumpkin puree (cooked mashed pumpkin or canned pumpkin)
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour (or one cup white flour, one cup whole wheat flour)
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
(optional – add chopped walnuts or pecans)

Directions
1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, ginger and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot with maple syrup or apple butter.

Makes about 24 pancakes.

Scripture Challenge Week 13: It's OK to Tarry - and a GREAT video to watch with our daughters

I wasn't the best about scriptures this week. I was SO tired every night - recovery from a Retreat always seems to take at least a week as I try to catch up on family time and work while trying to catch up on sleep (mutually exclusive goals, it seems). But I did read a few verses every day except one. And here's what really stood out to me:

In Alma 8 it talks about how Alma was sent to teach the wicked people of Ammonihah and was met by Amulek who'd been prompted to take Alma in. Alma tarried with Amulek for "many days" and waited for the Lord to tell him it was time to get going on missionary work. This made me think about how it's really OK to tarry a while. It's OK to not be busy every minute doing some action related to driving thoughtful goals forward. It's good to spend time on personal development, on relationships, and even on relaxing and just having fun. It's important to move things forward and to do what we feel called to do and what is needed by our families. But it's also important to realize that there's a time and a place for tarrying, for waiting on the Lord, for preparing, for relaxing. I know this but I needed this reminder.

As Eliza and I sat down to watch a conference talk today (Eliza keeps reminding me that there are a couple of talks that we missed watching as a family we finally sat down to catch up), we saw this new video pop up on the lds.org site and we fell in love with it. Watching it gave me chills and made me so extra grateful for the knowledge that I am a daughter of God and that I'm part of a worldwide sisterhood of diverse and wonderful women who are making a huge impact in so many important ways. I was so glad I got to watch this with my daughter so she could feel the power of being a Mormon woman.

It was fun to see my sister Shawni in this video as well as my dear friend Deborah with some of the Bulgarian orphans (I was actually in Bulgaria with Deborah when that photo was taken!). Those little extra-personal connections made this all the more powerful for me and Eliza.

 

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last Monday we got a special little present in the mail - a new beater for our Kitchen Aid mixer (the mixer is 14 years old and the coating was peeling off the beater it came with - the kids were quite concerned as cookies are pretty important around here . . .). The kids insisted we celebrate the new beater by making cookies. And since they can pretty much make cookies on their own and I'm always up for a good cookie, I was happy to go along with the idea.

We have three favorite cookie recipes - all with some healthful qualities, all totally delicious. Mostly we make a lot of pumpkin cookies this time of year but the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies still happen quite a bit too. We hadn't made our other favorite cookies for a while and had some overripe bananas on hand so we went with these banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and re-realized how good they are.

Banana Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are great to make when you've got overripe bananas sitting around. And I think they make a pretty darn good breakfast if you're in a hurry (all that oatmeal and bananas plus not a lot of sugar - better than a lot of breakfast options out there!). You can even make them in muffin tins (they work great that way) if you want to make them into a more presentable-seeming breakfast food.

Sorry I don't have a photo. The cookies were gone before I remembered to take a photo!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (1/2 cube) softened butter
1/2 cup ground flax seed (or another 1/4 cup butter if you don't have the flax seed but better with flax)
1 egg
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2-3 overriped bananas - I just put them in the mixer w/o mashing first, works great)
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups white flour (or 1 cup white and 1/2 cup wheat)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves or allspice
2 cups quick oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
Mix together butter, flax seed, egg, bananas and sugar until somewhat smooth. Dump in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves and mix those in until incorporated. Then add the oatmeal one cup at a time while the mixer is going. Then mix in the nuts and chocolate chips. The batter will be somewhat shiny and stiff.

Put spoonfuls (or use a mini ice cream/cookie dough scoop - my favorite utensil) onto cookie sheets. They will spread a bit but stay sort of puffed up so they don't need to be really far apart on the sheet.

Cook at 350 F for 7-9 minutes (take out as soon as they get just slightly brown on the very edges).

Makes about 3 dozen (36) cookies.

Spokane Retreat

What a great Retreat we had!

SUCH an excellent group of women. I learned so much from everyone I had the privilege to talk with. And it was so much fun presenting with my dear cousin, Taunie Reynolds.

One thing I resolved to do at the Retreat was to come home and do the "Love Languages Test" with each of the kids. At the Retreat, we talked about how important it is to set up an environment in your home where your kids are more likely to WANT to behave. We talked about really listening to our kids more, giving them lots of praise for the good stuff they do, and minimizing the criticizing (I talked about this a bit in my post about the Idaho Falls Retreat here - and developed a new mantra). And one essential ingredient in helping our kids get the attention they need and really feel loved is understanding what their love language is. I've been meaning to do this forever, but with my Retreat resolve in hand, we talked about Love Languages last night at Family Home Evening and the kids got really excited about taking this little Love Languages Test. Being more in tune with the different ways we give and hope to receive love will really help the environment in our home I think.

Trip to Spokane, WA

What a weekend I had!

I took off Friday morning for Spokane to do a Retreat there with my cousin Taunie. We drove all day on Friday, slept that night at a very nice total stranger's home and presented a Retreat all day Saturday (love how friends-of-friends and even complete strangers are always so willing to step up and host trainers and invite us to hold Retreats in their lovely homes). The woman who originally volunteered her home for the Retreat had a last-minute emergency but a friend with a house nearby volunteered her home as a replacement and everything worked out perfectly. It always does. I always get stressed out but out of 17 Retreats, we've had 17 Retreats work out beautifully.

The 11-hour drive each way didn't seem all that long given that I had great company and we traded off driving. I went with my cousin Taunie (she lives quite near me and is one of our Power of Moms trainers) and her daughter and Taunie's sister, Carley. I loved the chance to talk so much with moms who are ahead of me in their mothering (Taunie has teenagers and Carley's two girls are in college). We shared great stories and ideas pretty much the whole way there and back. It was a perfect pre-Retreat and post-Retreat session.

Plus the scenery with all the changing colors of fall was truly spectacular (and my phone didn't really do the scenery justice as I snapped photos from the window of a car going 70 miles per hour).

It probably sounds weird to say "Taunie's sister" rather than my other cousin but Taunie's sister Carley isn't my cousin. Taunie was adopted and I only found out about Taunie a few years ago - my aunt had her and gave her up for adoption back when everything was very hush-hush with adoption. We all found out about Taunie a few years back and how grateful we are to have this amazing cousin added to our family! I loved the chance to get to know the sister Taunie grew up with during our long drive, get to know her cute daughter better, and meet a lot more of Taunie's adoptive family while we were in Spokane (where Taunie grew up). Her adoptive parents had ten children but felt strongly they were meant to have another child. So they adopted Taunie. They are wonderful people and it was great to see the house and farm where Taunie grew up, the schools she attended, and a little slice of her earlier life.

So it was all great but wow, I'm tired. 22 hours of driving in a 3-day period plus 8 hours of presenting plus not getting much sleep at all because that's just how it goes the night before each Retreat when my brain won't turn off. But i'll catch up on sleep here soon. Taunie did a fabulous job as my co-presenter. One of our new trainers, Daisy, did a wonderful job with the food. Another excellent trainer and Power of Moms Board member, Chantol, helped with food and did a great job leading discussions. And as always, we had a truly great group of women there and it was really a great day. The house where we held it worked out great. i love my kids more than ever after being gone for a few days (love that about coming home from each Retreat). My house is dirty and the fridge is pretty empty but I'm feeling re-energized about motherhood and so glad to have had the chance to share ideas and learn from so many wonderful moms at the Retreat. Life is good.

One thing I resolved to do at the Retreat was to come home and do the "Love Languages Test" with each of the kids. At the Retreat, we talked about how important it is to set up an environment in your home where your kids are more likely to WANT to behave. We talked about really listening to our kids more, giving them lots of praise for the good stuff they do, and minimizing the criticizing (I talked about this a bit in my post about the Idaho Falls Retreat here - and developed a new mantra). And one essential ingredient in helping our kids get the attention they need and really feel loved is understanding what their love language is. I've been meaning to do this forever, but with my Retreat resolve in hand, we talked about Love Languages last night at Family Home Evening and the kids got really excited about taking this little Love Languages Test. Being more in tune with the different ways we give and hope to receive love will really help the environment in our home I think.

I'll post Retreat photos and more info when I gather photos from those who actually took them!

Scripture Challenge Week 12: Conference Thoughts

I didn't forget to do my scripture post on Sunday. I just didn't have an internet connection.

Last week I went over some General Conference talks and have resolved to watch and take notes on one talk a week as well as my regular nightly scripture reading. I loved conference. It offered me some important answers, some nice pats on the back and some good reminders of things I really need to focus on more fully.

The overall messages I heard again and again was that of discipleship and the importance of centering our faith and our lives on Jesus Christ. I loved that service and love were emphasized throughout (and felt like what I said in this post was underscored by what was said and was not said in conference).

Here are a few specific messages that stood out to me:

• Elder Ballard: Our doctrine is not obscure. If something has been said repeatedly/has been said by all of the apostles, the First Presidency and the Prophet, we can know that it is indeed doctrine. Some people find statements made by one church leader and get all worked-up about what they think is doctrine. They should focus on the overall messages that are repeatedly offered by church leaders instead.
• Elder Eyring: Sometimes we need to change what we're praying for. We may be praying for something very good and righteous and worthy but as we open up our hearts and our request to God's will, praying that the right divine errand will be presented to us and promising that we'll go where the Lord wants us to go and do what He wants us to do, things will unfold in beautiful and often surprising ways.
• Elder Perry: I loved hearing him talk about building a strong family culture and other things that we really emphasize at The Power of Moms through the articles and Retreats and programs we offer. His talk felt like a nice pat on the back for what I'm working so hard to do at The Power of Moms.
• I need to be a better friend and a better sister and a better neighbor. My life is too full of doing and not full enough the listening and waiting and watching required to nurture great relationships and serve as an instrument in the hands of the Lord. I do lots for 1000's of moms out there in cyberspace. But for my sake and theirs, I need to focus more on the people whose lives I can touch in a personal face-to-face way. 
• I was touched by the sad stories shared about the death of loved ones, the death of dreams, and so many heart-breaking trials endured by the speakers and those they know. I love what Elder Anderson said about trials - that they refine us and make us stronger, that they help us build a deeper relationship with the Lord, that they help us learn empathy for others. I love this new post by April that echoes and extends on some of these ideas: Light at the End of the Tunnel. 

There's plenty more but I'll leave it at that for now.

And I'll end with my Psalm 23. I memorized it as a little child. I've been learning to calm myself when I get anxious about all the stuff on my plate and all the worries I've got and I've found that when I'm feeling overwhelmed, if I close my eyes and recite this to myself,, it really really helps me. Here's the psalm along with my commentary:

• The Lord is my shepherd. (I don't have to know everything and do everything - Jesus is always right there to guide me - how nice it is to have a shepherd!) 
• I shall not want. (This seems like both a promise and a command: be content, be grateful.) 
• He makes me to lie down in green pastures. (I can choose whether to appreciate how green the grass around me is or think about how the grass is greener elsewhere.) 
• He leadeth me beside the still waters. (While waters might seem pretty rough sometimes, if I could see the big picture, I'd likely realize that He's leading me through relatively still waters and making my path much smoother than it would be without Him.) 
• He restoreth my soul. (He's there to lift me up when my heart is so heavy and life seems so hard.) 
• He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake. (He wants me to be happy so he does all He can, shy of infringing on my agency, to help me choose the right.) 
• Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. (Again, partly a promise and partly a command - have faith and hope, don't fear, all will be well.)
• Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. (A rod and staff can hurt sheep a little as it prods them to keep them safe and teach them. Hard stuff is often for our good. God wants to comfort us as we go through the hard stuff.)
• Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of my enemies. (Often my enemies are my own thoughts and my too-long to-do list. He can help me see my "enemies" more clearly and fight them off.)
• Thou annointest my head with oil. (He knows me. He has chosen and annointed me for certain things. I am very special to Him.)
• My cup runneth over. (I am SO blessed - even in the midst of trials, I have so very much.)
• Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (My life is full of goodness and mercy and blessings. It will all be OK in the end - it will always be OK - and there's way more good than bad.)

Curried Chicken and Apple Soup

This is a huge fall favorite around here - my husband and I and all my kids LOVE this. Maybe it sounds like a weird combination of things - apples, chicken, curry - but I've never had someone NOT love it.

Curried Chicken and Apple Soup

1 tsp. vegetable oil or olive oil
1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3 big breasts)
1 large onion, chopped
5 crushed/chopped garlic cloves (or 1-2 tsp bottled crushed garlic)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger (or bottled crushed ginger)
½ tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
5 cups chicken broth/stock (can use "Better than Bouillon" concentrate to make this)
2 15 oz. cans or one 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (the whole can with the juice) or one large can crushed tomatoes (if you don’t like tomato chunks)
1 medium green pepper and one yellow bell pepper, chopped (optional)
2 apples, chopped in small chunks (Granny Smith or Fuji work well – the crisper the better!)
1 cup rice
Garnish: sour cream or plain yogurt, cilantro

1. Saute everything on the ingredient list down to the broth/stock together in large soup pot until chicken isn’t pink anymore and onion is tender.
2. Add the chicken stock, rice and diced tomatoes.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 15 minutes (until rice is tender)
4. Add the apples and peppers and cook about 8 minutes or until apples and peppers are somewhat soft and rice is done.

If desired, serve with a garnish of chopped cilantro and a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream. Great with warm crusty bread

Makes 10 one-cup servings. I often double this and freeze half.

Little Updates on the Kids

Here are a few snapshots (in words and pictures) of the things the kids have been doing lately.

Isaac joined the school Cross Country team when school started and has become quite a runner. The team includes kids in grades 6-9 so Isaac is one of the very youngest but he sure holds his own! He's been placing pretty high in meets and has been in the top three when racing against his own team in practices. The team went to Regionals last week then Isaac was chosen to be one of only 8 runners on his team to go to State this week. The team didn't place but they all did a great job and we're excited about Isaac's new-found talent and love of running.

"do a running pose."

 

at Regionals

At the recent school carnival, when I couldn't help with set up because I had to set up for a church party at the same time, I dropped Isaac off to help in my stead. When I arrived the moms there said Isaac had been super helpful with carrying everything and they'd assigned him to run the big bouncy slide along with two of his best friends from school. These three cute kids took tickets at the slide all evening and did a wonderful job helping all the scared little kids navigate that steep slide. It was fun to meet these kids that he hangs out a lot with at school.

Ashton is doing touch football for the second year and now that he really knows what he's doing, he's enjoying it a lot more this year and really progressing. It's been great to see him really step up and take a leadership role on his team, getting them into a huddle or lined up when it's time and encouraging others. 

see him there in the center?

Ashton's also been practicing on his new electric guitar a lot (but somewhat sporatically - got to work on that and find him a teacher...). He prides himself on having ridden his bike or roller blades to school every single school day so far. Sadly, his bike was stollen a couple weeks ago (learned a lesson the hard way - he'd gotten a little slack about locking up his bike in public places...) so he's down to just the roller blades now and he's amazing (and pretty scary to watch) on those roller blades!

Eliza LOVES her dance class and it brought tears to my eyes to see her dance her heart out at her recent performance. She just dances with all her heart and soul and at least to me, it's breathtaking. Sorry, I guess I was too busy enjoying to take any photos at her performance but here she is putting on her own little show in the back yard:

Here's Liza performing a Spanish dance with her school class at the school carnival:


She also loves coming up with plays with her dear friend Savannah. When Savannah comes over, they always come up with a very thoughtful and lovely play to present to me and anyone else who cares to watch.


The twins are super sad that our neighbors just gave away their dog who was Oliver and Silas's best buddy. But they're making new dog friends in the neighborhood and all is well. They have to pet every dog they see and they know the breed of just about any dog. Here they are saying goodbye to best-buddy Hobbs. The used to keep an eye out the window as they did their homework and when they'd see Hobbs heading out for a walk, they'd go flying out the back door yelling "Hobbs!" with glee and the three of them would have a lovely little reunion sometimes followed by the twins helping to take Hobbs on a walk. The neighbors were very patient with the twins' infatuation.

Ollie and Si have been loosing teeth like crazy. And our darn tooth fairy is really really slow. Oliver had one tooth under his pillow for like 2 months. Then he lost it. Then he lost another tooth and put that one under his pillow with a cute note that explained the loss of the previous tooth and requested that the tooth fairy see if she could use her "tooth powers" to find that other tooth and perhaps pay him for both teeth. The tooth fairy finally did show up (some excuse about being on the other side of the world and having an extra large number of kids loose teeth while there...) and gave him TWO $2 bills AND a 50 cent piece. He was pretty excited. Silas is right behind Oliver with the tooth loss and the tooth fairy has been slightly less negligent with Silas. They're so sweet and understanding with our silly tooth fairy.


Isaac has just started loosing his molars so maybe one of these days he'll have enough permanent molars to anchor some braces to so we can start working on his bunny teeth (he calls them "my buckers" with a big buck-toothed grin). All Eyre cousins who have permanent teeth have remarkably similar big big teeth as a special problem/bonding trait they share.

So handsome - buckers and all

As far as extracurriculars, Oliver and Silas are perfectly happy just hanging out with this cute little "gang" of neighborhood boys who are always coming up with imaginative games (that USUALLY don't involve anyone getting hurt), building forts, and working on the hole in the backyard where we've promised to put an in-ground trampoline when it's done (they've got a long ways to go but they seem to really enjoy the digging!). Here's what I saw as I drove into the driveway the other day:



And they were very excited about their recent performance with their class at the school carnival.

See Silas on the front row, second from the right?

See Oliver?
He's the guy in the middle with the way-too-big hat over his whole head. Oops.

On another note, we (mostly Jared) finally finished the huge back yard fence project. All our kids plus some great neighbor kids had a good time helping with the fence (some pickets aren't exactly straight but there's a lot of love and hard work in that fence).  Then w got a truckload of gravel to finish off the parking area by the fence and the neighborhood buddies pitched in again. It's looking good now (and we did finish staining the fence in case you're wondering about that two-tone look...)

Cowboy Caviar

* This recipe is great as a topping for simple grilled chicken or fish or it's wonderful just with chips.

Cowboy Caviar

12 oz. can of black beans (or 2 cups if you've made them from dry beans)
4 chopped tomatoes (can use canned diced tomatoes if that's all you've got)
chopped cilantro (a lot - I like to use 1/2 a bunch to a whole bunch bunch, chopped)
about 4 chopped green onions (more if you really like green onions like I do) OR 1/2 a chopped sweet onion
1-2 avocados, cubed
1/2 tsp. garlic powder or 1 tsp crushed fresh garlic
1/4 tsp. cumin
juice from 1-2 limes (depending on how much you like limes)
1 c. corn (frozen is my favorite but canned is OK)
1 c. finely chopped orange or yellow peppers (optional)
1 pkg. good seasons Italian dressing mix (or I skip this - don't like the MSG and some of the other stuff in the mix. I just put in 2 tsp chili powder and 1/2 tsp oregano, works great that way)

Mix everything together. Makes enough to serve 10-15 (depending on how hungry people are!)