madison's bike

Madison's "new wheels" :)  This was her birthday present this year. She was sooo excited, especially since it had more gears then her brother :) Now she is ready to ride!

pumpkin spice muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

Yesterday I was in the mood to bake something with pumpkin. I found this recipe off a blog of a friend of a friend. :) It wasn't a simple recipe but they turned out awesome and I know they were since they went fast...and they weren't eaten all my me...I have proof of the evidence of someone that left a trail :) So passing on the recipe for those that like pumpkin and cream cheese :)

Pumpkin Spice
Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling Yields: 20-24 muffins

Preheat oven to 350
grease muffin pans.

Muffinbatter:

1 Spice Cake
Mix 1tsp. Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Allspice

1/4 tsp. Cloves

1/4 tsp. Ground Nutmeg

A few dashes of Ginger

2 tbsp. Vegetable Oil
2eggs

1tsp. Vanilla extract
1 15oz. can of pumpkin
puree (not pumpkin pie mix)

1. Combine cake mix and
spices.2. Combine all wet
ingredients.3. Combine wet and dry
and mix very well.

Cream Cheese Filling:
-8oz. Package of cream cheese, softened

A few dashes of
allspice

¼ tsp. Vanilla
extract

1 tbsp. Sugar

1. Stir cream cheese
until smooth and creamy.2. Add vanilla, sugar and
allspice. 3. Mix
well.

Streusel topping
(optional):

½ c. flour

½ c. brown sugar

1 tsp.Cinnamon

dash of Salt

¼ c walnuts

1 stick of cold butter

1. Cut butter into
chunks.2. Combine butter and dry
ingredients in food processor and pulse until well combined and crumbs are about
pea-sized or smaller.3. Place in refrigerator
until ready to use.Assembling the
muffins:*Try to do this as
quickly as possible...the faster the better! You don't want flat muffins.
=)1.
Place enough batter in each muffin cup to cover the bottom. Do this
carefully...it's easy to go overboard and not have enough to cover the
filling.2. Make a little well in
the center of the batter with the back of a teaspoon.3. Put a rounded teaspoon
of cream cheese filling in each well.4. Cover each glob of
filling with more muffin batter.5. Lightly smooth the
tops of the batter to cover the cream cheese. 6. Sprinkle streusel
topping evenly over all of the muffins. If you like them really “streuselly”,
use it all, if not, you'll have some for another recipe!

7. Bake at 350 for about
18-20 minutes. (When you check these, just check around the edge since the
middle will obviously be gooey!)8. Remove from pan to a
wire rack after about 2-3 minutes of cooling

Today the kids wanted to dress up in our clothes since they were playing "mom" and "dad". The table and chairs were their "van" and they were taking a trip. So while they are playing, thought I would update my blog since its been forever :) I have lots of pictures so we shall see how many I can do today. Now that we have our fast internet back I hope to stay more current on our family's activities :)

For those who haven't seen our new van :) It is a 12 passenger but seats 11 since we have 2 captain seats behind the driver seat instead of a bench. We love the space though we seem to fill it pretty quickly :) Crazy to think that this spring we will only have 3 extra seats left :) But praising the Lord for blessing us with lots of children!

TN trip in July

These little boys had to copy what the older boys were doing :)

These boys had the best of time! They were inseparately the whole week!

sitting beside Granny's graveside(it was really humid that night so that is why the kids are so sweaty and Thaddaeus was shirtless :) ).

Papa had bought TONS of food for the grandkids...it looks like a lot of snack food but after just 5 days with 9 grandkids, most of it was gone! Spencer was a little piggy that week....that little guy likes to eat :)

they both stole their mommy's phone........

but look who has them now ? :)

I have been so behind in my postings due to my mornings sickness plus starting homeschooling again. But I have been told I need to put up the pictures from my TN trip so my daddy could see them...so daddy I spent some time today to try to get some up. Of course this is only half but you shall see the other half as soon as I can get around to them next.. :) These are my favorite and I thought you would think so too :)

Mommy's liken those curls! And like Aunt Ashley says "pretty boy" :)

always fighting over who is holding grammy's hand :)

This past Mother's Day Sandra was able to come visit. The kids always love when Grammy comes to town and so do I! Thanks Sandra for being with us for Mother's Day! Tho it was a short weekend it was a good weekend! We love you!

Andrew Keith was born June 8, 2006 This past month we celebrated his fifth birthday...wow 5 years! these are just a few of many pictures of the past 5 years.....

This was the last time Andrew was read to by his granny......

The Papa Andrew Keith is names after......

Yes, I know those balloons look like 2 big ears :) I didn't realize it until after pictures :) anyway, we celebrated Andrew's 5th birthday last month(yea,kinda behind on my blogging) . Things I love about my little Andrew: his' smile will brighten your day , he loves to cuddle and hug, he loves sports and is my little athlete . This year he will be starting school which he is so excited to be "in school" with his siblings. :) I am just so thankful Andrew is a part of our clan! :) Happy Birthday Andrew! and thanks to our friends and to Grammy who helped celebrate this special day with us!

Jackson trying to hit the pinata

Seth swinging

Brett thinks he is going to throw that balloon at me but he better think again :)

the mad dash to get water balloons!

This was our first time playing frisbee golf and it may be our last, although my daddy seemed to enjoy it :) We went up to Gaithersburg to a really nice state park. I believe it was a 21 hole course but we only had to complete 9 to get our book signed for our Park Quest we are involved in this summer. Grammy, this was what we had intended to play with you when you were up here but it was closed. But don't worry, you didn't miss out on much :) The "course" was nice and I guess this state park is famous for this frisbee golf and we actually even saw some guys that were "seriously" playing this sport but I think with alot of little kids plus adults like me who can't throw frisbees very far, it took FOREVER! Its like putting 4 kids on a par 3 golf course....you wouldn't want to be the people coming up behind us :)
And for some reason the gnats here were terrible! I think we ate gnats every time we talked and no telling how many gnats our noses sucked up :) Gross, I know but tis true! The good thing about it all was that we completed our quests and now we can say we have played frisee golf :) We did end the day with a nice boat ride and that was something that our family had not done before either. So Grammy, we may take you to play frisbee golf next time you come but we will definitely take you on the paddle boats :)