Yeah, so what...

I'm gonna brag on my kids...AGAIN! Aubrie is so sweet and lovely, I can hardly stand it:) She is such a good girl at home and at school. Last week she got a special award for being Responsible. Her teacher told Mitch that they were working on a way to try and clone her! Mitch took the duty of attending the assembly and I told him to take a picture of her alone with her award smiling away and of course, he forgot and he lost her award paper. Aubrie got a great report card. She is learning so well and helping other students who struggle. She loves music, art and recess and she likes to take hot lunch to get salads to eat. Aubrie loves the routine of school and looks forward to each activity or class she gets to participate in. Picking out her school clothes each day is something she likes to do and let me tell you this girl's got some taste. I didnt say it was good taste either. I took her shopping the other day and she picked out boots that are silver! I dont think they are the cutest but I want her to feel comfortable in choosing her own clothes and just making decisions for herself that she likes. Yesterday when I was driving Bryn to school she said " I want to be a big sister Mom." And I replied "Well you will get to be when the baby comes" Brynley said quickly " No mom, a BIG sister like Aubrie." Brynley adores her and Aubrie has much patience with her on most days, which I truly admire and a thankful for:)

Caleb got his report card today and got all A's. His teacher wrote me an email and said this "Caleb worked so hard on his Nonfiction Story and (of course) his work was exemplary. When he finished, he helped another student who was really struggling. I was incredibly pleased and impressed with his kindness, patience, and his teaching ability. Your little guy is going to be the most AMAZING man when he grows up. He is already spewing with integrity and…I could go on and on and on. He’s amazing! I really enjoy having him in class. He really contributes to the goodness of the class! WOW!"
He got the Golden Pen award at school last week for Outstanding Writing. His teacher said he has such talent for writing!

Nothing makes me more pleased in life than to get these kinds of comments about our kids. Caleb is such a good kid that I find myself hoping and praying that it continues for the years to come. Only time will tell but for now I am going to praise them for being good and being leaders when it matters most. I am asked what we do different in our home. I cannot answer this question. Mitch and I are simply blessed to have such amazing examples in our life-Caleb, Aubrie and Brynley. I just told him the other day that we need to take life lessons from our kids more often. I feel that they teach us more than we teach them. Their love and forgiveness inspires me. The goodness and innocence that fills their hearts, feeds my spirit each day. Sure they are kids and they can drive me crazy but more often than not, they impress me to no end. I am feeling very grateful and hope that I can be the best mom to them...because they deserve it.

I guess we all have bad days...

Today Brynley was well, to say the least...very naughty. She was cranky and mean and just didnt like anyone or anything today. When I came to pick her up from preschool today she said "I dont want to go with you." Obviously she didnt have a choice and between me and Aubrie we dragged her to the car. But we stopped at ehr cubby on our way out and she handed me this picture. She said "I made this for you". Nice. Its a mean, sad looking pumpkin. Made me feel like Mother of the Year! Not really. But I really dont have any idea what I did today to make her day so bad. She was even sticking her tongue out at me and Aubrie at the dinner table tonight. So I snapped this shot of her. She really was this mean today. Its just safe to say that she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. I am counting down until bedtime...

Pumpkin Patch

Brynley had her first field trip for preschool to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday and boy did she LOVE it! She was so cute to watch. I am always so amazed how different each of our kids are. Brynley is not as social as Aubrie and Caleb are. She listens intently to what her teacher and other classmates say. Maybe she is just so much littlier than the other kids she goes to school with and thats why she really hasnt found her place. She prefers to do things by herself and even plays alone. Which doesnt seem to bother her one bit. She just likes everyone elses energy and I see her wheels turning as she watches the world around her, just taking it in. Her favorite thing there was the train ride. She was just laughing so hard and waving away as she rode that train!

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice...

Thats what our girls are made of! And so I am completely thrilled to announce we are expecting another beautiful Lybrook baby girl! How could we not want another girl when we have such beautiful girls now and Caleb seems to be so happy that he will hold the title of only boy in our house. So everyone is happy! She looks "lovely" is what the ultrasound tech said. Everything looks good so far and we feel EXTREMELY BLESSED to hear that:)) Next challenge...a name for our little bug

Alright here it is...

Pumpkin Roll
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice- add these ingrediants together and set aside.

4 egg yolks (save the whites)
1/2 tsp. vanilla-add to a mixer and mix in 1/3 cup. sugar. Blend until lemon colored. Put in another bowl, add 1/2 cup canned pumpkin, mix well and set aside.
Clean mixing bowl and beater and then add the 4 egg whites. Mix on medium speed until soft peaks form. Slowly add 1/2 cup sugar. Beat until stiff peaks form.

Now gently fold in the pumpkin mixture to the egg whites. After mixed, slowly add the flour mixture. Fold gently. Pour onto a greased, (I use a spray that contains flour in it) 15x10x1 in. jelly roll pan.
Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. (Mine turns out perfect at 13 min.)

Let cool for 1 hour. Gently take a spatula and run it around the sides of the pan to loosen the roll and then add your filling on top. Roll it up and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Filling- I prefer a mixture of real whipping cream and cream cheese together. First blend your cream cheese 3oz., make sure its at room temp before you do this, with 1/2 c. powdered sugar and a tiny bit of milk. After blended, transfer to another bowl. Whip whipping cream (1 cup) with 1/4 c. sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla. Once whipped to desired consistency, blend in the cream cheese mixture and then spread over roll. Then roll up the pumpkin roll. Refrigerate for at least 3 hrs.

If any of you have any questions, just ask me. It takes some practice making these but once you get it, its easy and Oh so yummy!

Something I am great at...

How often do we get to say we are good at something? For me, not often. So here it is... I rock at making pumpkin rolls. Yum. They are always perfect and moist, and just plain delish. I will gladly share the recipe with those who want it. I am not a believer in keeping recipes a secret. In fact its one of my pet peeves, when someone wont share a recipe. I mean, how rude is that. You are giving such a compliment to someone by asking for the recipe and if they turn you down, I find it to be very rude. Almost a slap in the face. So, if you want it I will gladly share the love. It is really my family's fav dessert that I make. What says fall more than pumpkin?

My Boo..

Miss Brynley Boo. Oh how I love you.
She got her first "school" pictures today at her preschool. She insisted on wearing her new dress for this occasion and I couldnt help but snap a few shots of her beauty. What a beautiful little gal she is! I think she looks alot like Mitch in these. Her sweet profile and creamy skin, I could just snuggle her all day.

Boy or Girl?

Mitch and I have been talking about if we will find out the gender of our baby next week. I will be 22 weeks and so we should be able to get a clear shot of the "area" to see what the new Lybrook will be. BUT...we are leaning towards waiting to find out until he or she is born. This will be our last and so we thought it would be a nice surprise to wait. I mean really how many REAL surprises does a person get in life?
Did you wait to find out or did the anticipation get the best of you? Should we wait??

Eyeballs anyone?

During the month of October, I like to get pretty festive with the Halloween holiday. I love Halloween! I love thats its fun to get all dressed up once a year and be goofy and its all about the kids. Trick or treating, candy, caramel apples, changing of the leaves, the smell of fall officially in the air. I love it all.
So when it comes to even cooking our dinner, I like to make it fun. I have a few books with some great recipes in it, that I use to make our dinners. Tonight we had Bloody Eyeballs. Aubrie said "We should pretend to be monsters tonight since we are eating eyeballs."
Do you think your family would like some eyeballs for dinner? Here is the recipe-
1 can of sliced water chestnuts
1 egg
3 tbs. soy sauce
1/2 c. sliced green onions
1/4 c. dry bread crumbs
2 tbs. minced fresh cilantro
1 garlic glove minced
1 pound ground turkey
canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
Finely chop the water chestnuts, add all ingrediants but canola oil. Roll into meatballs. Cook until done. Serve with sweet and sour sauce. Enjoy!

Why, Oh Why?

Can't I make good crust for my pie?
I would like to consider myself to be a good cook but unfortunately I have two things I cannot make...pie crust and bread. Bread of any kind. I have even messed up the NEVER fail recipes for rolls and homemade bread! I come from a line of women who are known for their pie crusts and wonderful breads. It must have skipped me and all the talent went to my sister.
Yesterday my mom and I made homemade applesauce and I have apple slices dehydrating for some yummy apple chips. So with some of the leftover apples I had I made an attempt to make an Apple pie for my lovies. Well.
Here is my creation. My crusts have to be pieced together and I never can get the crust to make a pretty presentation. Hopefully it will taste better than it looks.