Spiced Applesauce Bread

Here is my little munchkin enjoying the muffins...

Here is the picture that came from the original recipe. It would be great with some tea!!

Now that the kids are getting older, I have been trying to bake more, especially when I know some fruit is about to go bad and I want to use it right away. We had some apples that I needed to use so I looked up a recipe for applesauce spice bread. I made the applesauce myself, steaming the apples and then blending them. I changed the ingredients from a recipe I found to make applesauce bread here to make it more healthy =). I used organice white/wheat flour, peanut oil, organic sugar cane, and organic apple sauce. Asher loved them and has eaten 8 of them in 2 days!! They are not even that sweet because I did not have enough sugar but he still loved them!! He wanted them to be called cupcakes instead of muffins so I guess that's a good sign =). I love winter and the wonderful bread that we get to eat during this cold season... keep that cold weather coming!

Trick-or-treat 2011

I know that Halloween can be one of those taboo topics- do we "celebrate" it or not? For us, we simply enjoy dressing the kids up and letting them play with all of their friends in fun costumes. It is a great way to get to know your neighbors more and enjoy fellowship with friends. This year, Asher was a football player and Zoee was a princess/ fairy. Our little friend Kinley came over and she was a dragon. It was crazy and fun to let them dress up and go trick-or-treating down our street. They looked so cute and seemed to have fun. There were so many kids in our neighborhood out-and-about- it was crazy!!

More Pumpkin Patch...

Ash loved the pumpkin patch. He loved running around the pumpkins, playing in the hay, going on a hay-ride, riding huge john deer tricycles, climbing in the tree-house... it was perfect for him (especially since his best friend, Aeva, and his Papa were both there!)

Zoee and Kinley and their matching hats =)

Here are a few more pics from the pumpkin patch... More are coming- We are just taking more pics than I have time to edit and post!!

Blessing Our Children... Hebrews 11:20

Pics of our little blessings at the Pumpkin Patch...

Can you tell they are siblings?

I was reading Hebrews 11 today and was so very encouraged and strengthened after a crazy start. We had a rough little day before 2pm in the Howard household. Sonny had to be at church early which is not usually a problem but things got a little hectic when we were getting ready... it was just one of those normal days that can happen when you have a toddler (who is pre-potty training if that is possible) and almost-toddler running around. Asher wanted to sit on the potty for a while so I let him but when I came to check on him, he had been WAY too generous with how much toilet paper he needed (thankfully the toilet did not get stopped up!!). Then, Asher decided that he wanted to get Zoee up from her nap without telling me (she was still asleep) so when I am about to start getting ready, I hear him talking with her in her room. I knew that he woke her up because I went in and she still her "I've been woken up" look on her face. Anyways, I know this all sounds little but when you are trying to get things done ON TIME, all these little stressers can add up...

Back to Hebrews 11... I was reading it this afternoon to just get my spirit right and rest in the Lord and I was very encouraged by Hebrews 11:20. Sandwiched in between all of these great acts o faith like Moses leading the people across the Red Sea and Abraham moving to a new country, we see that Isaac and Jacob were both commended for blessing their children regarding things to come. I don't know why this really stuck out to me but it encouraged me to ask more for God's blessing on my children and have faith that He will do great things in their lives. Just to clarify... by blessings- I do not mean that I desire for my children to be great in this life/ world- but I pray that they will know and love Jesus with their whole hearts. I pray that their lives will be totally consumed with honoring Jesus and that like so many of these Hebrews 11 people, that they will not count this life as the one worth living for but that they will live for eternal life with Christ the Lord. I hope that we can always pray blessings over people and have faith in the Lord...

Hebrews 11:20:

"By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come."

Learning from the Fall...

Here are some pics of our little adventurous girl at the pumpkin patch this weekend...

Her playful side is coming out more and more these days =)

We just love her joyful spirit!!

And her intense/ passionate spirit!!

Last weekend was one of those events that I replayed OVER and OVER in my head this week when I would try to go to sleep. God's sweet grace is so abundant. I knew that He would probably teach me a few things through the event and He sure did. Let me back up and explain...

Last weekend we were hanging out with our friends who happen to have a trampoline. I am not crazy about trampolines because when I was younger I accidentally double bounced my little cousin and he ended up breaking his leg. Needless to say, they make me a little weary. Well, as you know- Zoee is our little adventure-driven "SCOUT" and she is always keeping me on my toes. Asher and Aeva were playing on the trampoline and Zoee really wanted to get on it. I thought it would be okay since there was netting all around it. Wrong. She started literally RUNNING to the opposite side that I was on. I did not really trust the netting so I started to run to that side to just be there in case the netting gave out. Mommy was too slow and there just happened to be a Zoee sized hole in the netting that she was running towards. She fell off. My heart leapt out of my chest. By God's sweet grace she landed perfectly on a soft dirt patch BETWEEN 2 metal objects (one a metal fence and one the metal poles from the trampolines). She cried for less than 2 minutes and within 10 minutes was playing again with the other kids. Thank you sweet Jesus!

What I learned....

1. Don't trust Zoee on anything that is slightly or potentially dangerous. She is TOO adventurous!

2. This is the one that the Lord showed me in the spiritual realm.... Sometimes the Lord softens our falls. There are times where I believe that He allows us to fall so that we can learn from our mistakes but instead of letting us fall on the "metal poles" so to speak, He gives us a "soft dirt patch" to fall on. I have seen this so many times in my life. I know that the Lord is letting me experience a little bit of hardship to grow me but I still know that His hand is with me, protecting me and leading me. He wants to always be growing us to be more like Him and that can often involve us stumbling at times to learn form our mistakes. I hope this makes sense. I just know that as the Perfect Father, God wants us to learn to walk with Him and trust Him. At times, if we are trying to live life without Him, He will give us a little room to fall so that we can come back to Him. I am so thankful though, that He never leaves us or forsakes us. He is so faithful and worthy of our trust, affection and adoration. If you feel that life has been tough lately, I encourage you to spend time in prayer- meditate on His goodness. Thank Him for Jesus- our perfect Sacrifice... our Sin-taker... our sweet Redeemer. Even if everything else seems crazy- Jesus is our constant Help and He wants us to rest in Him.

Matthew 10:28

"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."

Ash and Zoee singing in the bath!

Bath time is usually a time where we do A LOT of singing. Honestly, I am the worst singer I know but my kids love to sing and dance so I give it my all. Zoee just started joining in when we sing "If you're happy and you know it..." and it makes me smile so much! Ash and I did make this song a little more dramatic by adding extra excitement to the "hoo-ray" part. Hope it makes yall smile!! =)

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Asher and his best friend Aeva. They have been friends since they were born and they get along very well for 2 toddlers learning to "share" and "be kind."

Zoee and her best friend Kinley. They are already learning to "play together" and it is so adorable!

All of our babies... Zoee, Aeva, Asher, Ian, and Kinley

For some crazy reason, my two friends and I decided to take our kiddos to the pumpkin patch to take pictures. When we got to our local farmers market, we realized it was CLOSED!! The weather was beautiful and I still have NO idea why it was closed. So if you can picture the scenario in your head, you will know why I think we were crazy in trying to proceed with the picture taking...

1. The place was closed! (Asher and Aeva did find a wagon to sit in so we could get a few pics of them)

2. The place that did have pumpkins available for picture taking was right next to a parking lot and busy street!

3. All 3 of us Mommies were trying to take pictures of 5 kids under the age of 3 (and 3 of those kids are walking!!)

4. It was windy and loud with all of the cars driving by.

Needless to say, I am thankful for even one picture that turned out nice. We left with some bumps and bruises from small climbing accidents but I guess the pictures we got made the craziness worth it. Maybe =).

Needless to say it