Christmas Eve

Ok, I am a bit slow. It is almost New Years and I am just getting around to Christmas Eve. Well, I am sorry! But here are some pics of Christmas Eve at my In-Law's house. Every year they host an open house, and members of the HUGE family come from all around WNY and gather together and catch up with the happenings in their lives. We give gifts to our Godchildren and eat tons of good food!!! We love this tradition and will continue it forever!!!

Here are just a small hand full of the cousins enjoying each other's company


Meet Silas! He is my new favorite thing. Ok I know he is not a "Thing" but it's just one of those things...I need to have him. I asked Santa to deliver him under my tree, but he did not follow through. He is Cousin Brian and Sharon's little one, and I could seriously eat him up!!!! I mean look at those eyes!!!!


Well, this one is mine, and he was under my tree...and in it...and all around it! He was enjoying watching the train go around Upa's tree.


The only picture of Jeff and I in the same room together. We were way to busy eating and chatting with loved ones. What a great night!!!!


Meet Mackenzie. Melissa's little girl. She is my new BFF. She talks so good, and up a storm. Love her and her sweet little bows.


Me and Jeff's godson Landin. He might as well be mine because I can't stop hugging him and his freckles. What a difference a year makes. I swear he grew a foot, and lost a few teeth while he was at it. All he wanted for Christmas was his two front teeth, Oh, his two front teeth. Ok, I'll stop. Not funny.



Last years pic of me and Lando-Comando


All that was missing was my family from VA. I missed them terribly!!!
I promise I will start on the Christmas Day blog tomorrow!!!!!

Hustle and Bustle

Lots of getting ready around the Morris household. Christmas is fast approaching and we have lots to do. We are busy decorating and wrapping. Presents rocked this year. I would just like to take a minute to thank Amazon Prime for their fast and easy (and free) shipping even though the weather didn't cooperate. All but 2 items have arrived on time. The kids are having so much fun with the tree and the train running around it's base.

We also have a new addition to our little family. Meet Charlie. Charlie is a Chinese Dwarf Hampster has taken our dearly departed Bobo's place on the hampster wheel.
Charlie is awesome. He lets us hold him and he will just snuggle up in your hand or sleeve and go right to sleep. Bobo was cute, but way to fast and skiddish for the kids to interact with. Charlie is perfect for them. He even lets Carter hold him. Here he is in Tucker's sleeve.

Here is our house a lit up in it's Christmas glory. We decided to ban LED lights (sorry if you have them, but I just like the old ones better). We went way-old-school, with the great big bulbs. And we LOOOOVE it!








Riley decided she would rather nap instead of decorate!


This year Jeff was on call all during decoration week. So this year I was left to do the lights on the tree all by myself. It was a first, and I would rather not repeat that task. But, it did turn out ok if I do say so myself.


This is Tucker's favorite ornament. It is the Polar Express.



This is one of my ultimate favorites. Who doesn't have a sock monkey on their tree. Let me know and I'll find one for you. It is a must!!!


Here is my handy work



And our Christmas Mantle and Stockings


Stay tuned for after Christmas photos and our very special announcement!

A Whole Lot Change Going On

We have been very busy lately. We have been slowly but surely finishing our living room. The house is looking great with all of our "projects" finally getting finished.

Jeff and Bob working hard to finish the bookshelves.


The almost finished product. All we need now is some cupboard doors.


Now for the wall above the couch. What on earth do you put on a huge empty space?


Well, here's pieces of it...





Even amidst the hard work Jeff finds time to goof off


I even got in on the action


Here is a taste of the finished product, but I will post a finished pic later...


Can you even imagine what is going on here?


You will wish you didn't! Meet Ang the Avatar: The Last Airbender


He can't wait to go to school tomorrow and show all of his friends. I did this against my better judgement. But...you gotta let kids be kids sometimes!!!


And one of my sleeping angel, because there cannot be a post without my C-Man in it!

Happy Halloween

This is the first time I have gone trick or treating with the kids in 2 years. The last time I went, I was preggers with C-Man. This year was so much fun. Both of the boys had a blast and really raked in the candy. 2 grocery bags filled to the brim!!! Oh yeh baby, I'm in heaven!!!

I was so in the spirit this year, that I got all dressed up with Carter. We were Milli and Geo from Umizoomi. If you are not hip to Umizoomi, check it out on Nick Jr.. Tucker was a ninja, who couldn't breath with his mask on so he was just a kid with a cool outfit on.

All of the kids had the cutest costumes on. My SIL and BIL had everyone over for homemade soup and subs before trick or treating. I tried to snap a pic of every little creature, but they were everywhere!!!

Goofing off before we headed out



Umizoomi Umizoomi Umizoomi



C-Man aka Geo isn't having it



My Nephew Louis stole the show as Dr. Sues' Lorax



And equally as adorable are my niece and nephew Poppy and Sammy as Snow White and her favorite little dwarf



Most Creative has to go to Henry and Sidney as Chesire Cat's from Alice and Wonderland. They thought of those costumes all on their own. What imaginations!



One of the best parts of the night is trying to get all of the kids together for a photo. I haven't gotten a perfect one yet in all these years of trying.


And another...



C-Man in action



Ok so after we all come down from our sugar high we are going to pass out. Dreaming of frozen party size Snickers!!!

Straight out of camera shots

The heavens must've been smiling down on Tonawanda, NY this morning. The sky was crazy! In every direction you looked the sky was a different color and texture. One side of the sky was black as night, and the other the sun was blaring over the tops of the trees. The effect on the trees was amazing. The leaves looked like they were on fire. The wind was whipping and it threatened of rain...somewhere. But not over our tiny town. The pictures and colors were so gorgeous that I didn't edit a single one. Check out these shots. All of them were taken with in 5 minutes of each other. Look at the difference in color of the sky in each one.












This is a picture of a bird. I was standing outside taking pictures and this little guy was flying all by himself. He looked like a flying fireball with the sun beating on his wings. I wish I had my other lens on so I could've gotten a closer look.


The clouds were gorgeous in the front of the house

GLUTEN FREE OREOS

Now, I know what you're thinking...they can't be that good. You are wrong my friend, very wrong. They are not only great, they are WONDERFUL!!!! I happened upon a recipe on one of my favorite Gluten Free Blogs: Gluten Free Girl and Chef. I love these people, but love these cookies even more. And they are super easy. I changed up the flour that I used, so I didn't follow her recipe exactly. If you do not carry 50 different kinds of GF Flour and want to use All Purpose Gluten Free Flour, or you want to use Wheat Flour (I shudder), they will turn out just fine.

Here is your list of ingredients: Recipe to follow

For all of you who just don't "get" Celiacs and think "How hard can it be to go Gluten Free?" This is a mixture of different flours that I use for just one recipe. Next time you get out your All Purpose Flour from the grocery store to make a cake, think of us digging out all of our Gladware containers of Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour, Teff Flour, Almond Flour, need I go on?



Uggggghhhhh! Crisco? OMG YUCK!!! I have never even used Crisco out of fear. Crisco scares me. But now, it is my best friend. A fattening one, but a good one.



Mix together all of your dry ingredients



Add your globs of butter, mix well, then add your egg


I was looking at this mixer bowl thinking that this was never going to work. It was so dry. Just give it a few minutes, it will work. It works really well. And just when you are about to give up on your mixer and add more butter. DONT!!! It will mix into a wonderful dough ball. Then you use a heaping tsp. and form dough balls to flatten out on your baking sheet.



Put 'em in the oven to bake and start on your filling:

This grosses me out! Crisco and butter? Why oh Why?


After adding confectioner's sugar...I now know why. HEAVEN!!!


And the finished product puts smiles on everyones faces!



Here's The Recipe: Thanks to Gluten Free Girl and Chef-and notes by me

For the cookies:
3/4c sweet rice flour (I did not have Sweet Rice Flour, so I used 3/4c All Purpose GF Flour)
1/2c white rice flour
1/4c teff flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the creamy filling:
1/2 stick room-temperature, unsalted butter (After tasting the finished product I decided to
4 tablespoons vegetable shortening add 1 more Tbs of shortening and 1/2 c more of
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar confectioner's sugar, but you can do it to taste)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparing to bake. Preheat the oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Making the cookie dough. Put the sweet rice flour, white rice flour, and teff flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using a whisk, stir the flours together to combine and aerate them. Add the xanthan gum, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Turn the mixer on and let everything combine in motion. While the mixer is running on low speed, add large pieces of the butter until they are all incorporated. Add the egg and mix well. (At this point, you might think the dough will be too dry. Trust. Keep mixing. It will come together.)

Baking the cookies. Scoop a rounded teaspoon of batter (literally. scoop just more than a teaspoon's worth) and form a ball. Gently, flatten the dough in the palm of your hand. After you have flattened, smooth the edges of the cookie dough disk to make it evenly rounded. Place the dough disks onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. (These will not spread, but you do not want them to touch each other.)

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 5 minutes, then turn the baking sheet 180 degrees. Bake until the cookies are crisp on the edges with just a touch of softness in the center, about 5 more minutes. Take the cookies out of the oven. After a few moments, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely.

Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Making the creamy filling. Put the butter and vegetable shortening into the bowl of the stand mixer. (Clean the cookie dough out first!) Whip them up together, then add the sugar and vanilla extract. Beat the filling on high until it is fluffy frosting, about 5 minutes. (Be sure to turn off the stand mixer and scrape down the sides occasionally.)

Assembling the cookies. If you have a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch round tip, you can pipe tiny dots of filling onto a cookie. We couldn't find ours, so we used a teaspoon measure and our fingers to spread the blob of creamy filling toward the edges but not entirely there. Gently, press the second cookie down onto the filling and watch the filling reach the edges.

Continue until all the cookies are little chocolate sandwiches with a creamy filling. Oreos.

Makes 25 to 30 Oreos. (or 12 if you are like me and want an oreo the size of my hand)