She not only wrote out all her Valentines for school, she volunteered to take care of Audrey’s as well!

This Mom was off the hook for Valentine’s Day.

My kids are off the wall from being in the house so much lately. The blizzard left us with a ridiculous amount of snow and it has just been so darn cold!

Monkey “jamas” were finally thrown away tonight. Audrey has worn them so much since Nana and Papa gave them to her last Christmas that she actually wore holes in the feet. I bought her a new pair of monkey “jamas” with the feet but she is not happy that they don’t have bananas on them.

But I didn’t just sit and watch.  I climbed too!

It felt so good to participate in life instead of just watching it pass me by.  We can’t wait to go back!

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I was thankful to be too busy to even think about eating any of the non-compliant food.  Like her cake with my mom’s frosting recipe that I could eat straight with a spoon and be giddy for hours.

My baby is four and that is a bit unbelievable to me.  It was the first year she opened all her presents by herself.   No more babies in this house.

]]> http://www.thesemomentsofmine.com/2013/01/14/audreys-party-whole30-days-7-8/feed/ 0 http://www.thesemomentsofmine.com/2013/01/06/our-christmas-2012/ http://www.thesemomentsofmine.com/2013/01/06/our-christmas-2012/#comments Sun, 06 Jan 2013 20:18:53 +0000 Shirley http://www.thesemomentsofmine.com/?p=2790 Better late than never right?

We had an amazing Christmas season this year.

Daniel performed in his school’s winter concert.

All three kids participated in our church’s Christmas Pageant.  Jillian and Audrey were angels and Daniel played one of the three kings and the Voice of God.

We celebrated with family and friends during several holiday parties.

We enjoyed giving and receiving on Christmas morning (in matching pajamas of course).

Jillian was so excited for Christmas this year, as soon as we put up our tree she went around the house collecting items to gift to each of us.  She wrapped these gifts in any kind of gift bag she could find and even in an empty tissue box.   On Christmas morning she couldn’t wait for us all to open them.

Even Daniel went shopping with some money he had saved and bought thoughtful gifts for everyone.

As always it was over too soon but we have lots of great memories!

Theme:  Sweet Relief

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Who’s comment 11?

Congratulations Joleen!  Please email me at shirley (@) thesemomentsofmine.com to claim your prize!

Being outdoors, together as a family, is one of my children’s favorite things to do.

I love just seeing them smile.

There’s a new pie in town. Four actually and I was lucky enough to be selected recently for the opportunity to sample all of them. Mrs. Smith has a new line of Mrs. Smith’s Signature Deep Dish pies. Since my plan was to bake all four pies at once, I invited our neighbors over for a pie tasting party. Why not spread the love right?

The instructions for baking were very clear, even for a non-baker like myself. So I pre-heated the oven and then baked all four pies. When my neighbors walked in the door they were immediately taken by aroma of the baking pies. Once they were done baking each pie had to cool for a while and then they were ready to eat!

My friend Kimberly and I were most eager to taste the cherry pie. It came with a butter fudge sauce to drizzle over the top. Both of us were extremely pleased with the cherry pie. The crust was flaky, buttery, and delicious. The cherry filling was tasty with just enough sweetness and lots of plump cherries. My neighbor who is a baker thought it was just as good as a home baked pie!

My husband and neighbor Steve enjoyed the Dutch Apple pie with caramel sauce. For a store bought pie this one was very good. Again the crust was delicious and there was good amount of the crumb topping. The apple filling flavor was very good, both guys really enjoyed it. You couldn’t pass this pie up a home baked but it does come in a close second.

The adults and the kids all tasted the pumpkin pie that came with a cream cheese icing. What can I say, I’ve never tasted a pumpkin pie I didn’t like and this was no exception. It was a thumb’s up all around for this pie that not only tasted like it could have been home baked but looked like it too.

The final pie, Peach with a cream cheese icing was not as popular as the others. The crust was great but the peach filling was too sweet for our taste. No one ate more than a bite or two of the peach pie.

My favorite pie by far was the cherry with the butter fudge sauce! It really was delicious and I’m scared I’ll be tempted to pop one into my grocery cart on one too many shopping trips.

So would you like to try one of these pies out for yourself?! Mrs. Smith wants you to try your first signature deep dish pie for free! They also want to give you a $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card to add some new gifts to your kitchen! What a great giveaway package right before the holidays!

Here’s how you can win!!!!

1 entry – leave a comment telling me which of the four new pies you want to try.

1 entry – leave another comment telling me what you would buy with the Williams-Sonoma gift card.

1 entry – like Mrs. Smith’s on Facebook and leave me comment letting me know you like them.

1 entry – Follow Mrs. Smith on Pinterest and leave me a comment letting me know you follow them.

That is four possible entries!

Giveaway open to U.S. residents 18 years or older only. Mrs. Smith’s provided my with four free pies for which to review and are providing the winner of this giveaway with one coupon for a free pie and a $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card. Contest will run from December 3, 2012 until December 10 2012 11:59 p.m. The winner will be selected by the author of These Moments of Mine, announced on this blog and notified by email. If the email does not respond to my email within 48 hours an alternate winner will be selected. Entries will be verified for validity by the author of These Moments of Mine.