Disney Service Project

Just wanted to post our 1st step in going to DisneyWorld in a few months...May 1 to be exact:) My cousin, Jennie and her family and our family decided we wanted to take advantage of the offer Disney is making...do service for different charities and you get free tickets to Disney!! What's not to love about that? So we went together to Garland and we were dropping off flyers to a neighborhood for the Garland Fire Department. We talked to a handful of people and let them know about some dangers to look for. We spent 2 hours going door to door putting flyers on peoples doors.

We loved that our boys had to work and earn their ticket to Disney. They are now working hard for the second day...Animal Kingdom. They are doing lots of chores and saving their money:) We can't wait!!

Ben and Caden at someones door.
Jennie and her boys taking their turn with the flyers.
Noah...showing them off.
The boys taking a little break...I don't know why...but Noah loves the Hook 'em Horns sign. Love that!!!
My sweet Connor...he was so good the whole time! Thankfully it wasn't too cold and didn't rain like it was supposed to!!
Of course we had to end the day with CiCi's...Yum:)

La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup

This is so amazing I can't even describe it! It tastes just like the real thing! If you have ever been to La Madeleine, you know what I'm talking about. I got the recipe off of the blog Skip To My Lou, and she got it from the Dallas Morning News several years ago. Love it! She posted the fat grams and calories...but why ruin it for you? Don't even look, just enjoy and savor every bite!

La Madeleine Tomato-Basil Soup

Ingredients

4 cups tomatoes, peeled, cored and chopped, or 4 cups canned whole tomatoes, crushed
4 cups tomato juice
12 - 14 washed fresh basil leaves, plus additional for garnish, chopped or 1 TBS dried (fresh is better though)
1 cup whipping cream or half and half (again, whipping cream is better)
1/2 cup sweet, unsalted butter, softened
Salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
Crusty bread (optional)

Directions

Combine tomatoes and juice in saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes over
medium-low heat. Cool slightly, then place in a blender or food
processor. Add basil and process to puree; this will have to be done in
batches.

Return mixture to saucepan. Add cream and butter. Stir over low heat
until butter and cream are incorporated. Stir in salt and pepper before
serving. Garnish with more fresh basil and serve with fresh, crusty
bread. Makes 8 servings.

Homemade Gummi Candy

Noah and I made some Gummi Candy today...so easy and so fun. It is something a 4 year old could do, no problem. Not to mention that they taste so yummy! I got the recipe from Skip to My Lou...she has so many fun ideas!!We used a medicine dropper to make it easier for Noah to get the mixture into the candy molds.

My little helper:)
The end result. We used Blue Raspberry flavored jello...not too shabby:) And yes...these candy molds are pumpkins and ghosts...thats all I had:) All that matters is the taste, right? Also, we had extra mixture so we turned them into suckers...these are Noah's favorites.

Homemade Gummi Candy

from: Skip to My Lou

All we needed was 1 -3 oz box of flavored gelatin and 2 - 1/4 oz packages of unflavored gelatin, water and candy molds. (we used two candy molds)

Place 1/3 cup water in a small sauce pan. Sprinkle the Jello and unflavored gelatin over the water. Let sit 5 - 10 minutes. (If you like chewier gummi candy add in another packet of unflavored gelatin.)

Place sauce pan over medium heat and stir until gelatin is dissolved, about 2-5 minutes. When mixture is liquid and all gelatin has dissolved, remove from heat. Let cool a minute and then pour into a container that is easy to pour from. I use a small ceramic creamer pitcher.

Fill molds.

Allow to cool completely, about 20 minutes. They may be placed in a refrigerator for about 10 minutes if the kids are eager.

Once cool, the backs can be lightly dusted with corn starch, if desired.

Peel the gummi candy out of the molds. Don't be shy, you won't hurt them when peeling them from the molds. No need to oil the molds!

Noah's Soccer Party

The long wait for the Trophy has FINALLY come to pass. This little guy has been waiting for awhile to get it! With the holidays and what not...the soccer party was just put on the back burner for a bit!! Noah's soccer team...the Screaming Fleas...had their soccer party at Spring Creek BBQ. Good food!! So...here he is, being all shy...don't know what that's all about!

Ok, there's the smile I love!! Congrats Noah! We are proud of you!!

Family Art Night

Every Friday Night we try and do some fun activity with the boys. On this Friday we had Family Art Night. The boys painted, Ben drew a picture of the Salt Lake Temple, I took pictures and Connor rolled all over the place:)

Here is Noah hard at work. Both boys were painting Volcanoes.
Caden with his Volcano.
Noah's final masterpiece.

Keep on Reading...

Just so you know...I have added tons of posts today;) Just keep scrolling down...I put the date that it actually happened so that it is in order. So if you have been looking at Christmas Crunch for awhile, don't leave just yet!!

(Insert a Holiday) Crunch

This stuff is so incredibly ADDICTING!! It is so simple to make...thank goodness because you will be making ALOT. I got the recipe from Bakerella...of course:) You can substitute any M&M color for all the various holidays. Or you could skip the M&M's and add Reeses Pieces, marshmallows would be yummy also.

Christmas Crunch
1 24 oz. pkg. white bark coating (we use Kroger candy coating, but you can also use white chocolate)
1 box of corn chex
1 large bag of mini pretzels
1 large jar of salted dry roasted peanuts
1 package of plain M&Ms (you can use holiday varieties at any time of year
to make it holiday themed – Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.)

You can really use any size packages you want. It depends on how much of each you want in your mix.
Just have fun!

Cover a fairly large area of your counter space with wax paper and tape down.

In a very large bowl, combine the chex, pretzels, peanuts and M&Ms. You might have to work in smaller batches if you can’t fit everything in one bowl with room to mix. Dump the peanuts and M&Ms in last so they don’t all sink to the bottom.

In a smaller bowl, melt your bark coating in the microwave in 30 second intervals and stir in between. Don’t let it go for too long at once or it will scald and you will have to toss it out and start over.

When the bark coating is melted, gently pour into the larger bowl and toss with the dry ingredients. You can adjust the amount of coating you use based on your preference. I usually stir a little bit in, toss, stir some more in, toss again, etc. to make sure everything gets a little bark coating on it so it will stick together.

Working quickly, dump the mixture out on your wax paper and spread out in a thin layer to dry. Once it’s dry, break it apart into pieces and store in an airtight container or divide into decorative cello bags to give away.

Note: If you half your mix ingredients and bark coating, it will be a little easier to work with in two batches. Otherwise you will need a really large bowl and workspace to spread out on the counter.

Apothacary Jars

This is a really bad picture and you probably can't really tell what they are...but they are Apothacary Jars that I made for my mom and Ben's mom for Christmas. These were so fun and easy to do. All I have to say is that Gorilla Glue is your friend. That stuff is A-MAZING! Anyway, this idea came from the girls at Shanty 2 Chic. Click on them to get the how to and what you need.

Connor...6 months

This little guy is already 6 mo. old! Time is going by WAY too fast! He had his 6 mo. check up on Dec. 31 and it was filled with lots of bad news that made me worry way too much. 1. He is in the 10% in weight and we need to fatten the boy up. 2. He has an ear infection. 3. He has dry skin so we have to get all this special lotion and soap 4. The Dr. said she thinks that his soft spot has closed up and if it has, there is no where for his brain to grow...they had to give him an X-ray. Thankfully with all the fasting and prayers he turned out to be ok. What a relief!! Now we just have to try and fatten him up!

Connor with his proud older brothers...always wanting to pose with his brother.
This little boy always has his thumb in his mouth!!

6 mo. stats:

weight: 15 lbs. 4 oz...10-12%

length: 25 3/4"...50-55%

head: 16 3/4"...10-25%

Connor is a very serious baby, but he will smile and laugh all the time!

He loves to:

*suck his thumb

*sleep in his car seat and not in his crib

*He sleeps through the night:)

*is sitting by himself very well!

*to be entertained by his brothers

*playing with his toys

*bounce in his jolly jumper

*stare at you and reach for your nose and mouth and then smile...totally melts my heart.

Gillis Family Pictures---2009

While we were in Houston for Christmas we had some family pictures made since EVERYONE was together...its been over 2 years. So here they are! This is my favorite family pic...love that Texas flag!

My whole family...all 3 brothers, families and my parents.
My parents and all the grandkids
Taylor, Caden, Noah and Brent
Me and my brother: Eric, Brandon and Curt
Mom, Me, Eric, Brandon, Curt and Dad
The whole family

Christmas Morning

We celebrated Christmas the Gillis side this year. The whole family was together...its been awhile since Brandon was on his mission in Russia for 2 years! The kids woke up at a decent hour this time...which was nice:)

Here are the kids waiting at the top of the stairs...This is a picture that I grew up with. Had to get the picture and wait there for FOREVER while my Dad set up the camera and my Mom got breakfast ready. It was torture...now I do it for my kids!!
Here they come RUNNING down the stairs to check out the loot...
I think I can honestly say that Santa did come this year!
Here is my sweet little one during his first Christmas...all cute sitting in his Bumbo chair.
This was Whitney's Christmas present...a cute little long haired Chihuahua, Bentley...so cute. Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve...it is so much fun, especially with kids. Our good family friends, the Baileys (for as long as I can remember), came over to celebrate with us. We have had this tradition for several years. We have shrimp...thanks Diane (surprisingly enough, Noah LOVED it...but he hates cheese...go figure), we eat homemade pizza with whatever toppings you can dream up, a delicious dessert and then we have the Nativity story. Since the kids are a bit older, we decided to take it a step further this year...we acted it out!

Eric and Ben were the Narrators for our story, I played the piano (I know...gasp! me play the piano?? It was level 1 music...and it was pretty bad), Katie was the Director, Whitney was the photographer...here are the other participants:

Noah and Brent were Shepherds, Caden was Joseph
Dana was Angel Gabriel, Taylor: Mary, Caden: Joseph
Connor was the cutest Baby Jesus
This was hilarious...Megan and Eric were Angels and when it was their turn they got up and acted like "angels"...funny.
All the kiddos
The 3 wisemen: Jeremy, Brandon and Curt offering gifts to baby Jesus...as they walked into the room Brandon sprayed his awesome cologne and about gagged us all:) Afterwards we all sang Silent Night while I played the piano...I either need to take lessons or just forgo playing ever again because that was just a joke...

It was a fun night and I think the kids loved it. We all had fun laughing at everyone. The kids got the plate of cookies together for Santa and were off to bed.

Thatcher Christmas

We started off our holiday by going to the Thatchers (Ben's parents) first. It just so happened that EVERY SINGLE Thatcher boy was in town! That is 6 boys my friends! So we went there and of course had to get some pictures!

How can you resist this little face? How cute is he!!
These are all the boys...Jon (brother #2), Ben (#1), Josh (#4), Cameron (#5) Chris (#3) and Logan (#6).
These are all 7 grandkids. There has been a grandbaby born every single year since Caden: Connor, Caden, Will, McKenna, Noah, Molly and Henry.
The boys and the wives. Chelsea will be the newest of the sisters...she is the one in the middle...Cameron and her got engaged over the holiday! Congrats to them, can't wait to have Chelsea join the family!
We had Christmas at my parents home, but came over the Thatchers the Sunday after Christmas. This was when we opened presents and what not. Here is Caden extremely excited for this DS game...can you tell?
Noah with his gift...loves imaginext!
And Connor...just excited to eat paper:)