Halloween Pics

Happy Halloween!

To be completely honest, I am not a Halloween girl. 

I LOVE the fall but I am not into the witches and goblin kind of stuff.  

We do go trick-or-treating and the kids love that.  

We only for a couple of blocks and then give out all our candy.  

I always buy the "good candy" from Trader Joe's and the kids eat that instead.  

I hate all the sugar and artificial crap the put in stuff.  

Kids do not need that junk!

They actually have no problem swapping out candy.  We do it every year and they are used to it.

Do you go trick-or-treating?

How do you feel about the holiday?

How do you feel about all the candy?

What did you do tonight?

I wanted to share some photos of our night with you!

Grace was a sailor girl!  (I couldn't believe all the inappropriate girl's costumes in the stores.)  I thought this was cute and modest a different than the usual "princess" that she has been the past couple of years.

Michael was a Star Wars guy and Matthew was a little rocket.  He freaked out when we found that costume because currently he wants to be an astronaut when he grows up.   

And Andrew was a little monkey!!  I just love when babies are animals!

Baby's first Halloween!

 Matthew was always the last one to get the candy! :(

The kids loved racing house to house!  

He also got easily distracted. Lol!

We had our cousins come over and trick-or-treat with us.

I bought costumes for us to dress up but we ended up not using them so I will just save them for next year.  Did you dress up?

Yup, the candy is still there....just checking though!

One of our neighbor's had a jumpy out and were handing out hot dogs and hot chocolate!  They are so nice!!  

Andrew loved his stroller ride!

The kids loved everything!

Trying to catch up!

Happy Halloween!

After we went out, we came back home for chili and hot apple cider!  We ate with our cousins and talked with them until 8 or 8:30, did homework, got ready for All Saint's Day tomorrow, read books, and put the kiddos to bed!

Scott is studying for a mid-term tomorrow for his MBA so I decided to hop on the computer to catch up a bit.

What did you do tonight?

Bonnie :)

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SPOOKY NIGHT / KÍSÉRTETIES ÉJJEL

Book / Olvasnivaló

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BEDROOMS / HÁLÓSZOBÁK

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Our Chicken Soup Recipe

I am sharing this recipe for my friend Erin who is so desperate for it after visiting last week.
It is a family favourite and we also have it without the chicken in for a vegetable soup on it's own.
We have found it to be  a very nourishing and filling soup for all year round.

Honestly  it is just something we made up and the quantities vary but this is as close as I can remember.
This can be a two meal recipe for our family of 14. So if you want less you can reduce the quantities or perhaps freeze it, although I am not sure how it goes frozen. The amount really varies with the amount of veggies you put in

First Cook one or two chickens and let cool then pull apart discarding the skin. Or you can use cooked chicken breast pieces.

Preparing the vegetables:
chop up onions 6-12 and cook in a olive oil while preparing the rest of the veggies

Peel and cut up potatoes 3-5kg (or you can leave the skin on if you prefer)
3 garlic cloves chopped
sweet potatoes 4 large sweet some larger and some smaller
pumpkin half a large and or one whole some large and some smaller
The reason we do some smaller is so that they break down more and make the soup thicker
carrots in little quarters 1kg
4 zucchini in quarters
celery 4 stalks

Put all the veggies in a large stock pot and cover with water just above the veggie line.

At some stage usually when all the veggies are in the pot we add these seasonings~
about a desert spoon of curry powder,
a shake of garlic powder
a shake of onion salt
a sprinkle of Celtic sea salt
grind some 4 seasons pepper in to the soup
and some chili flakes ground up too.

As the soup is near the end of cooking I sprinkle some chia seeds in to thicken. If it needs more thickening at the end just add more chia and cook a little longer.
I no longer use any other thickener for our soups or stews.
I get a taste tester at this stage to taste and tell me if we need more seasoning too.

Serve as it is or with sourdough bread.

There I hope that is what you wanted Erin, it is an imprecise art really.

Blessings to you and your homes,
 

How Time Flies!!!

Well it seem like ages since I have had time to update what has been happening here in our lives.
In fact I still have our moving in  post nearly ready to post.

However we have been extremely busy settling in and finding where we fit in this big opportunity that has been  given to us here in our new home.

We have been introduced to more people than we could ever have imagined and are starting to develop some of those into more personal relationships. There are so many children for our children to meet and  interact with as well as for us too.

We have found our place in the many church opportunities and have finally settled at the Vianney College which is the Seminary for the Diocese of Wagga Wagga. We have really really  loved attending Mass here every Sunday. The are so very friendly and the Mass is beautiful with all the 'bells and whistles' we love.

making individual snack bags for the pilgrimage - 3 each for each day

To top all this off we had an amazing visit with our dear friends who were able to take our older children with them to the Christus Rex Pilgrimage and I had the most lovely visit with Erin and the younger children.

I have been reading books in preview for our daughter and  some mama books for me to be better as a mama and some  books for the benefit of our children.
Of course swimming in the pool has been a huge priority for our children too and so I have spent lots of time outside with them watching them progress in this area.

One of the things the little ones  have enjoyed is the orange tree on the property  and picking and then making orange juice to share has been popular for our children to do.
We have had our Kynan visit us and we celebrated his birthday belatedly as well as Braedon's  21st birthday yesterday,  even if we will be having his big birthday party later.

I have introduced student teachers to our home lessons and this is working very well for us. This is an extension of our  'big kid, little kid time'  we have had for many a year and is now undergoing this new transition.

I have been busy making kefir both water and milk form the grains Erin was bale to bring me. Making vanilla and sprouting sprouts for our salads.One of the most popular  things I have made lately is the flavoured coffee creamer, this lasted only a day as it was so popular, especially with Saxon.

 I have also  made rose water for the first time. This is a long time  goal of mine and I have been researching many home made health and facial products for our children.
I  have been gradually finding the  ingredients I need  to make sunscreen and soap, although  I will admit that making soap still scares me a little, even though this has been a goal for many years.

We are enjoying the little trips to the play ground very near to us that only takes us a few minutes to walk to each time and have been enjoying having Anna-Lisa with us for a small time. Arwen especially has enjoyed her company as they have been doing school together, both for Arwen and Anna-Lisa's studies too.

Rogan continues to make movies with his siblings and anyone who visits are also drafted into becoming actors in his latest play.

And we have been walking around the neighbourhood a little too, enjoying all the interesting views

So even as I try to record our daily lives I can see that we have been busy adjusting to new routines in this new life we have and it is a wonderful and yet more intense lifestyle than we have been used to.

We love it and are enjoying every single day we can in the everyday and ordinary circumstances that surround our living and learning in our family circle!!

Blessings to you and your homes,