Peanut Butter Cups

I found a new creamy, rich, chocolately, peanut buttery, yummy goodness of a recipe this year...Homemade Peanut Butter Cups!!! These are delicious and the kids had a blast making them!! Check out the pics and see the recipe that follows:

Peanut Butter Cups

(as found in Rachel Ray magazine)

8 oz milk chocolate, chopped (I used dark chocolate)

4 T. unsalted butter at room temp.

3/4 c. natural peanut butter (I used Jiff creamy but next time I will try with homemade peanut butter)

1/2 c. honey

1. Place 12- 2 1/2 in baking liners on a baking sheet (I used silicone cupcake holders). In a double boiler, melt the chocolate. Reserve the pot of hot water to keep the chocolate liquid , as necessary.

2. Place about 2 t. of the melted chocolate in a baking cup, swirling to coat about halfway up the side of the cup. Repeat with the remaining cups. Refrigerate until set.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until fluffy, about 2 min. Beat in the peanut butter and honey. Transfer the mixture to a resealable plastic bag and snip off one corner.

4. Fill the chocolate cups about 3/4 full with the peanut butter mixture, smoothing the surface. Refrigerate for 15 min.

5. Top each peanut butter cup with melted chocolate to enclose, smoothing the surface. refrigerate until hardened. To serve, remove the candies from the baking liners.

Christmas 2010....posted a little late.

We had a nice Christmas this year but definitely missed Frank. He was able to skype with us Christmas eve and Christmas day though so that was great! We spent Christmas day with my brother, Andrew, then later for dinner we went to a friend's house and had a great time with friends! We tried to do most of our traditions while Frank was home for R and R in November and hope to enjoy a nice Christmas this year with him.

So every year we buy something new to add to our lawn outside for the Christmas season. While Frank was home in November, he bought the presents down below. Josiah really liked the penguins we saw, so we bought them since they were 50% off. Aren't they cute?!

Here is Malachi helping Judah with his new Christmas present. He loves the music and enjoys dancing while standing!

And the older boys with some more Knex. We are still working on getting these suckers together! It would go quicker if daddy was home to help them!

And all the princess dolls for our little princess :) Princess Tianna from the Princess and the Frog movie has become her favorite Princess now that Aliyah knows that her sister will have brown skin like Princess Tianna. How sweet!

So I started a new Christmas tradition in our family. For the past 3 years now, I have stayed up late a few nights before Christmas, sewing the kids pajama bottoms. Then I wrap them up and they get to open them Christmas eve. This year I found guitar material for boys and girls so I had to get it since it was matching!! I think they all look adorable in their matching pj's :)

Pasta time!

Have you ever made pasta? Well I love my pasta roller that attaches to my kitchen aid. It makes pasta thinner than I can roll it out by hand. I love to use this for homemade lasagna noodles but you can also use it for ravioli or pirogies. Here is Josiah helping me out in the kitchen making pasta for some lasagna!

Judah 10 1/2 months old!

I just had to add some of these pictures of Judah. He surely is growing so fast!!! He loves his bananas and will try to shove half of one in his mouth at once! It is crazy! Isn't he just adorable?!

We decided to Adopt!!!!

I am so thrilled and beyond excited to announce that we have decided to move forward through the long process of an international adoption. I know it is December now, but we will make the offical step paperwork wise about the time Frank returns home from this deployment (March/April). This gives us more time to pay off our dept completely and save a little money. However, in our hearts the process begins now! We had discussed requesting a little girl between the age of 2-4 yrs to bridge the age gap between Aliyah and Judah. This would give Aliyah a sister to play with and also young enough and close in age to Judah to also be his playmate. As of now, we are looking into a Latin America country, possibly Africa as well. We will see where the Lord leads us and the doors He opens in the end. I personally have a heart for these areas because of the poverty and overcrowded orphanages. I also think about the fact that the Latin countries are relatively easier and cheaper to travel to, thus opening doors for our whole family to revisit and do missionary work with the orphanage that we adopt our daughter from. There is so much to think about and this will be a long process as well with much anticipation. The kids are so very excited and have mentioned they think it is so cool that we will adopt from another country and love the child as their own natural sibling. It is cute though because Josiah said that he won't tease his adopted sister at first like he teases Aliyah (a nice tease) because he knows she will come from a hard life. He says he will love her and teach her English first and then he will teaser her lovingly when she understands him! Malachi said that he knows the little sister will love coming to a new family that loves her. And Aliyah said that she will help take care of her sister at night if she wakes up and cries. They are such loving children and I"m truly blessed!! As we officially begin the process I'll be posting updates along the way.

R & R pictures

So Frank has left and returned to Afghanistan. He is currently sitting in Kuwait and will be back in Afghanistan in a few more days. We had a great time with him and was sad to see him leave once again. He will return again sometime in either March or April. I'm hoping it will be in March :) We also celebrated Christmas while he was home by decorating the house and opening up gifts that we bought the kids. Santa will still bring the kids presents but we wanted to have some Christmas time with Frank before he left. We also went outside to a pretty park and took some new pictures. Here are a few of my favorites:

We sure had a great R & R with Frank!! We are counting down until he comes back home. For now, we will get back into our routine of school, soccer, and cubscouts!

R & R= Rest and Relaxation

So it has been awhile once again since I have posted. Maybe one day I will find time to post more frequently about my blessed life. For now, Frank has returned home from Afghanistan for his mid tour break, known as R & R (rest and relaxation). I'm not so sure how much rest he will get during this time as we are still constantly busy daily with something involving activities with the kids. However, we are enjoying our time with him for sure! He has been home for a week now and has one more week until he leaves for the rest of his tour (4-5 more months). We had a great time spending Frank's first 2 days home at a bed and breakfast without the kids! It was so great to have time alone before being bombarded by the kids. We were home during the day and spent time with the kids though. We also managed to surprise the kids with Frank's visit since they were planning on his visit a week later. It was such a great moment to see the surprise on their faces!

Yesterday we had a great day! The older boys ran their first 5k race (3.1miles). Josiah finished in 33 minutes while Malachi finished in 38 minutes! Not bad for being 7 and 9 yrs old! We also ended up winning a turkey, a $20 giftcard to subway, a $25 giftcard for Olive Garden, and many tshirts! It was such a great feeling to run beside my son as he participated in his first race! Frank ran with Josiah while I ran with Malachi. I'm so very proud of my boys! Maybe one day in the near future they will be prepared to train and run a half marathon with me :) I'm not pressuring them at all into running just because I love to run. However, if parents are active and exercise, then chances are that the children will imitate that lifestyle as well. I am glad that my children are not lazy individuals who sit inside all day playing video games or watching tv. They have wild imaginations, are very active, and love to read! I actually despise tv and video games for the most part because I believe it encourages people to be lazy and most times leads to poor communication skills. I think such things are ok in moderation but not ok for hours on end every day. I don't allow the kids to watch tv during the week and rarely do they watch on the weekends besides the occasional movie. Well, enough of my soap box!

We have also recently celebrated 2 birthdays this month as well! Frank turned 33 yrs on the 6th and Josiah turned 9 yrs on the 19th! I just love them both so much!

Well the baby is crying now since his older brothers woke him up. Goodnight blog!