Gnome Sweet Gnome

Mom has made a home for a couple of tree gnomes in their backyard. As the legend goes, a tree gnome cannot be seen by humans. They come out only when they cannot be seen, and if a human opens the door to their home, they will only see the tree. When a gnome opens the door, he sees the inside of his home.

This is the home of Dwoble and Ellywink:

It looked like Dwoble needed some help with the yard work, so we helped him out by clearing out the twigs and weeds after I took these pictures!

Dwoble and Ellywink are new to this area, so if you'd like to make them feel welcome, please send a christmas card to 1 Kitts Tree!

Fall Festival Picture

I finally received the picture from the Halloween festival we went to a few weeks ago. I'm fairly certain there was a picture that turned out better than THIS one, but nevertheless, here it is!

Holiday recipes needed :)

I am officially putting in a request for your favorite holiday cookie recipes. My friend Sarah and I are compiling a big book of our friends/families favorite recipes, so if you're interested in participating, please email me your favorite recipe at nakni11@gmail.com. If you share a recipe, I'll send you the whole compiled book!

I'm so excited for the Holidays! I'll actually be able to enjoy them a bit this year! Last year's Christmas was so hectic and I was so sleep deprived, it was hard to enjoy anything. We're going to get our Christmas tree next weekend, and I can't wait!

Drawer dilemma

Tonight Noel pulled the drawer out on her nightstand. Once she got it out, it was a completely new toy!

But what to do with it? First, she pulled a few diapers out of the dresser and put them in the drawer. She clapped her hands in triumph!

Then she decided the drawer was best suited as a chair.

Easy as Apple Pie

Today I finally made my apple pie. I was going to make the crust too, but considering that Noel was doing this

the whole time, I decided to use the frozen crusts from Pillsbury. :o)

So I cut the apples, mixed in a few other ingredients, put them in the pie crust, then did a lattice on top, and coated it with a "crunchy" topping.

It turned out BEAUTIFULLY. However, when trying to cut it, it completely fell apart and looked more like cobbler. I will have to make my own crust next time, and hopefully I can work on that.

But it was delicious!

A Who-riffic Halloween

Yesterday Tim, Noel and I headed down to a local church for a "Fall Festival". We originally chose it because it started much earlier than the other activities (4 pm) but we were so glad we went.

Everyone was so nice and welcoming, and there was so much to do. They had pony rides, hay rides, fall portraits, a live band, face painting, trunk or treat, games, snow cones, lots of food (homemade vegetable soup, hot dogs, mac & cheese, and a variety of sweets), and two bounce houses.

Here was our inspiration for her costume -

It's Cindy Lou Who!

Although I think most people didn't know who she was! I put blush and
glitter on her cheeks and you can't even tell!

Hay ride! She was still carrying a rock that she found in the parking lot!

Noel wasn't sure what to think of the pony ride.

And for the record, I think she is scared of those bounce house -things. Last week at the Berry farm, other kids were jumping in there and she lost her balance, fell, and bumped her nose. This week, we waited FOREVER for the big kids to get out so that she could be in there alone. Once the last little boy came out, we put her in, and then the same little boy turned around and went in again. He started bouncing and she ran for the door! So, unfortunately no pictures of that.

She also had her first sno-cone! She had her first little sip of it and then she started doing her slurping noise, asking for more. Haha - I wish we had gotten pictures of that too!

I'm still waiting on them to e-mail me Noel's "fall portrait" :) I'll be sure to post it when I receive it.

So after checking out all of the little activities, we decided to make our way back home to give out halloween candy to the trick-or-treaters. We've never given candy out before, so I was really excited! I bought three bags of candy, lit our pumpkin, turned on the porch light, and waited..and waited...and waited....but sadly, we did not get one knock on our door. Hmm. Maybe next year! If anyone wants any Milky Ways or 3 Musketeers, PLEASE let me know!!

So instead of handing out candy, I took a couple more pictures of Noel with her reindeer Max.