Gingerbread Contractor

Can you stand it??? Another new blog post! So, I'm going to have to do this in two parts because there are just too many pictures of the Gingerbread House process and I don't want anyone to lose interest. Okay? Okay. Here goes...

Everything is all ready to go here. The dough, baking sheets (brand spankin' new unwarpable Cuisinart pans...that will come into play very soon!) rolling pin, pattern pieces, scraper, etc.

I just have to add here that when we were looking at homes to buy, I may have done a little jig when I saw this granite island. I mean, to a girl who rolls out gingerbread dough every year, this island sealed the deal. Just had to share that tidbit.

So, we place a hunk of dough on the heavenly slab of granite and start rolling. This dough is a rollers dream.

See? All flat and even. {{sigh}}

Okay, I use the scraper to cut out the pieces. This is a roof. I'll need two for each house. I am a gingerbread contractor. We came up with that name the other day. I like it!

Next, pan by pan, the pieces are baked. Do you like my new non-warping pans? Can I share with you my horror when after only 3 1/2 minutes of the very first pan baking, I heard the lovely wrenching WARPING ping in the oven. Nice.

Gingerbread contractors do not like it when their roofs (rooves??? I'm going with roofs.) are warped. Or maybe it is the homeowners that don't like their roofs warped. Either way, this sight really pissed me off. Sorry, just keepin' it real folks. I was ready to march back into Costco with my unwarpable pans and have a chat. But then, the pans unwarped. Just like that. Maybe they were afraid of my wrath? We'll never know. They've not warped since that baking day, so I'll move on.

This is where the pieces cool. Those little pieces are various cookies that I bake to keep the wolves (aka: my children) from chewing on the house pieces. Actually, they like to eat the raw dough, so I got up early to bake these.

My gingerbread Santa always presides over the baking.

So, do the scraps go in the trash? Do they go in my children's mouths? What does one do with all those scraps?

No. They are not really scraps. They are perfectly good to re-roll.

And the scraps are happy about this. See?

I hear your thoughts. "Diane has got WAY too much time on her hands." Shush.

Ahhhhh. That is a glorious, re-rolled sight.

In fact, the re-rolled dough behaves even better than the first rolled dough. Let's take a moment to take in this goodness, shall we?

Ohhhhhhmmmmmmmmm. Okay. Moving on.

Now, I don't want you all to think that my kitchen always looks neat and pristine. Because it doesn't. Gingerbread contracting is a messy, flour-y, spread out MESS. Behold:

But, that is what sponges and towels and elbow grease is for. Everything cleans up all nice and tidy and in the end, this is what you get:

A clean island with nicely stacked building supplies all trimmed and ready for assembling. It's a good thing.

Check back tomorrow for the final chapter in this Gingerbread story. It will be worth it. Meanwhile, this morning, I woke up to this:

I love this shot so much so I made it my new header photo. And then I got a wild hair and changed the background to a Christmas-y color. I'm not sold on it yet. =)

It is a stunningly beautiful day here in the PNW. And the hubs comes home from SoCal this afternoon. And we're heading to the Christiansen's for their holiday Open House tonight.

Truly a good day in this neighborhood!

Snow Day Y'all

Reporting live from beautiful Marysville. Snowed in, if you will. Yep, we're on our 2nd Snow Day from school. Tomorrow is only half day, so really, Christmas vacation started yesterday! Woohoo! This is part of the front yard. Taken before it dumped another six inches on us yesterday.

I think we had about a foot of the white stuff yesterday. These shots were taken early in the day. The patio table on the back deck:

Seeing how Hayley and Brian didn't grow up with any snow in their lives until now, they tend to get a little excited when it snows. So there was a lot of this: Abby is licking up the residue from the kids spraying cooking spray on the bottom of their boogie boards for extra sliiiiide. For the record, I believe the kids have used their boogie boards (meant for the ocean) up here in the snow wayyy more than they ever used them in the water down in SoCal!

There was a lot of this: This snow was perfect for packing into snowballs. Just sayin'. Abby...still licking.

There was this, where Hayley buried Brian in the snow: Abby....still licking.

There was a lot of chasing: Its not easy capturing them as they run up the stair at you.

Say it with me:

"Later dudes!" If you don't get that reference, go watch "Christmas Vacation" and get back to me. =)

Hayley came inside to thaw out, but Brian got busy doing a lot of this:

That is some heavy snow. Trust me.

Because it took two of us to hoist the middle section of Frosty onto his bottom portion.

He actually does have a hat, gloves and scarf. But we took them off so they wouldn't get lost in the snow that was still to fall.

Abby had a ball out in the snow.

Here she is wondering if there is any more cooking spray to lick up out there. You can see the snow piled up on the patio furniture. It got worse.

This is my gratuitous composition shot. And some serious snow flurries.

What, praytell, are you looking at? Well, that is a candle pot on the corner of the railing of our bedroom deck, nicely framed by the arbor over one of the gates in the backyard. And a lot of snow.

This is one of my favorite shots of the day:

I went out on the front porch and saw these darling little birdie footprints. The little guy must've hop-hop-hopped his way all over the porch. Can you stand it? Actually, this little bird looked like a fat little golf ball with feet and a beak. Cutest.Thing.EVER.

And finally, another of my favorite shots. Check this out:

My wonderful friend Kathy came over on Monday, and after she drove my children to school in the snow (Thanks again Kathy!) we baked cookies for NINE HOURS STRAIGHT! I believe we counted 14 varieties of cookie goodness. Seriously good times. Burgers at the Roadhouse for dinner...it was truly a great day!

So, that gets you all up to date on the big snow of 2009. Oh, and Dano? He had to head down to SoCal on business earrrrrly Sunday morning, so he's missing all this. We miss you Dad!!!

Tomorrows post: THE BIG GINGERBREAD REVEAL! Oh, you'll want to come back for that!

I Had Help...

...wrapping Christmas gifts this morning.

In other news, I apologize again for abandoning my little blog here. No excuse. Just busy. And I was sick for a good seven days. Winter crud.

But seriously, we've been really busy.

Check it out:

1. Brian bowls an average of four days a week on a high school league. That is a lot of driving time. Trust me. But bowling is a story worthy of its own post and I'll get to all things bowling early next week. Trust me, it's THAT good!
2. Hayley was inducted in the National Honor Society last week. Smarty-pants.
3. She also had her high school volleyball awards night last week and then this past Tuesday night, she tried out and made her Club team again! Same coach (Hi Ron!) and some of the same girls from last year (Hi Hannah, Jodi, Kate, and Shelby!) But get this: Hayley (at a solid 5'10") is shorter than three of the new girls! Yowza...we gots ourselves a tall team! And oh, distressing news: This team was supposed to travel to Anaheim in April for the SoCal Qualifier and we were going to have the biggest cheering section (especially for an out of town team) because come on, between SoCal friends and family, we would have rocked the place and then there would have been Disneyland and........BUT NO! Due to a scheduling snafu, we will not be traveling to California. Instead, we will be traveling to....Minnesota. Sigh....I can't even talk about this right now. =(
4. Christmas decorating. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm a decorating fool at Christmas time. I'm almost done...just have to do the wet bar, the powder room and finish up on a new valance over the kitchen sink! Oh, and our room. I'll post some photos next week. Then you will understand.
5. Then there was this:

Ahhh, Thanksgiving. We four PNW Liebels stayed home this year and cooked up a fresh little hen with all the trimmings. For the record, those rolls....YEAH! Everyone pretty much agreed they were the best part of dinner. Here is the recipe. You will not be disappointed. I promise.

About 10 mintues after dinner, while we were still loosening our belts, the kids stormed the kitchen demanding pie pie pie pie pie! This year, we asked the kids to decide what kind of pie they wanted. Hayley chose Coconut Cream and Brian chose Pumpkin, but I persuaded him to go with the Chocolate Cream. Again, no disappointments.

Feast your eyes:

Luscious. I made these. And yes, I made that chocolate curl. All by myself.

I'll give you a moment to take in the glory of pie.

All done? Okay, moving on.

Hayley and I got up very early the day after Thanksgiving and met up with our friends Karen and Kathy for some shopping fun. And a little IHOP noshing. Good stuff...we all agreed that we have a new girls tradition! Woohoo!

I'm going to leave you with this vision of manliness.

Can you stand it? That is my Hubs. Well, kinda sorta. It is his head. (teehee) But the fish really was that big. (Hi Crusher!)

My mad Photoshop skillz are gettin' pretty good, no? Just having a little fun (at Dano's request...)

Check back Saturday because tomorrow is gingerbread baking day and the flour is going to fly! And can I just express how happy I am that Top Chef is back on??? Anyone else???

~~~{{Doin' my happy dance....}}~~~

Proof

of #2.

I suppose this one is more for Missy Laura than anyone. But honestly, can you actually look at this lovely sight and not say, "Ohhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm."

Hmm? I didn't think so.

Hayley and I are going to the high school production of "Class Action" tonight, after having dinner with our buds Kathy and Karen (Hi Girls!!) It should be a great evening!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

It's That Time of Year Again...

Time to make the GINGERBREAD HOUSES! The tradition in my family goes wayyyy back to my Grandpa who was a German baker by trade. We use the exact same recipe as he did back then. Every year, we start the three-step process of making the houses by first making the dough. And I do apologize, but the recipe cannot be shared. It just can't. Don't ask. =)

We start by heating some of the ingredients to blend them well.

Then, we add the warmed mixture to the dry mixture. This is when it starts to smell all yummy and gingerbread-y, when all the spices interact with the liquid.

Now comes the messy part. There is no other way to knead the dough but to plunge a hand in and work that dough. This calls for a strong arm.

Those with sticky food issues need not apply to mix the dough.

My hand hurts.

Sometimes, I ask for help. Yesterday, I recruited Hayley to help mix. Wait a minute...that wasn't yesterday! That was four years ago! Silly me. Teehee. (And obviously my camera was having issues because we generally don't make gingerbread dough in March.)

Mixing the dough is a good way to bond with your children. See what happened yesterday? Silly me...that was eight years ago! Just look at my little babies!

I digress.

When the dough is all incorported (or it is just too hard to mix anymore!) it is ready to be put into Ziplock bags to rest for a week. Thank God for Ziplock bags. How did we function before Ziplock bags? I'm just sayin'. (And on a side note, apparently there is no "K" in Ziploc! But this is my blog, so the "K" stays.)

Mmmmmmm! So, stay tuned. Next week, we will have Step Two: The Baking of the Gingerbread.

Have a great day!

A Blast from the Past

I got tagged again! This time from the lovely, pregnant with a Liebel baby boy, Julie! Julie is married to our nephew Chris and is already a wonderful Mommy to two adorable little girls, Athena and Zoe. Hi Julie! Hi Chris! Hi Athena! Hi Zoe! Hi Baby Boy Lump!

Anyway, here are the rules of the Tag:

1. Go to your Picture File.
2. Upload the 4th picture of the 4th folder.
3. Post it.
4. Tag four friends.

I love this! Behold, the 4th photo in my 4th file:

Now, normally this photo would never see the vast expanse of the internet. (Honestly, why would anyone ever post a photo of the mess in that closet??) But this photo has always cracked me up. Here's why: This is a photo of Brian's First Holy Communion outfit that he hung up, all by himself, during the little shindig at the house after church. Now, I hadn't even had the chance to take any photos of Brian with anyone at the party while he was all gussied up. He just went and changed all by himself because he was ready to play! BUT, my little man remembered what I'd always told him: Hang up your clothes! And so he did. On the little pegs on the wall. I guess the pants didn't stay hung up for long.

I think this is the effect he was going for:

I will always love that memory of him showing me how he had hung up his good church clothes!

And just how dapper was Little Liebs in his First Communion ensemble? (Dan does not allow me to call boy clothes "outfits"...they are "ensembles!" )

I digress.

The dapper dude, pointing to his artwork on the altar banner. That, my friends, is a handsome little man.

So now, I will tag:

1. Missy Laura
2. Heidi
3. Jenny
4. Any takers?

Have a great weekend everyone!

The Dorm Room

Let me start by saying that if you are one of those people that believes pets should sleep outside, you might want to move right along and skip this post. Trust me...I don't want anyone breaking out in hives over what they are going to read here.

Disclaimer: Check.

So, our house has four bedrooms. And a dorm room.

Behold: Our dorm room (aka: the Master bedroom closet) has two beds for its roommates Abby and Molly. Missy Laura, what was it you said about animals living together in harmony? Ahhhhh.

You'll notice that during my highly professional photoshoot, my subjects (or I should say my feline subject) did not cooperate according to the contract.

The photographer was not amused. At all.

It was much like trying to photograph a toddler.

See what I mean? What could possibly be so interesting that she can't just lie still so I could get the money shot???

Of course, the heating vent needed her attention. Whatever.

Being the professional photographer that I am...(heh)...I decided to regroup and try to capture the true essence of Molly. This is her divine profile. And her twinkle toes.

This is her backside.

She is booty-licious, no?

Any good photographer knows when the photoshoot needs to end. In my case, it was when the feline subject escaped from the closet.

But I am sneaky. I continued the photoshoot late that night when the subjects were fast asleep in their Dorm Room.

Uh huh. Proof positive. (On a side note, I'm not sure that I'll ever get that Pottery Barn endorsement deal...I don't think this is how they would feature their lovely pillowcases in their catalogue.)

The Money Shot.

Animals living together in harmony.

It's a good thing.

I'm Baaaaaack!

Once again I shirked my blogging duties. Sorry about that! We were pretty busy around here with visitors, volleyball, bowling and everyday life in general. Here is a little recap of late October.

First of all, we had to say goodbye to my dear friend Susan and her awesome little guy, Steven. We had such a good time catching up, crafting, shopping and eating. Dan took Steven fishing (no fish, though!) and on a hayride (I don't know who enjoyed that one more!) and all the kids had a good time playing video games and goofing off in general. I miss my buddy, but I guess that is what the phone and email is for!

I decided that if I ever got a big front porch, I was going to decorate it up for Halloween. Danny and I made these cute trick-or-treating ghosts and Rosie had to be out there with them, of course! Rosie is in the Tiger costume that Brian wore wayyyyyyy back in the day. My boss Caren back in SoCal let me adopt Rosie (actually she is a Patty Playpal, but we named her Rosie due to her very rosey cheeks.) Caren and I both like to dress our dolls up in holiday clothes and costumes. (DON'T JUDGE!) Now, Rosie tends to freak people out because she looks so real, so of course she had to go hang out on the porch with the other trick-or-treaters. One year, I had several dads trying to engage Rosie in conversation...serious laughs for us. Anyway, this was our front porch this year, complete with flying bats!

Edited: Click on the photo for a closer look at our Rosie!

This year, Hayley was a cat for Halloween.

Oops...that was ten years ago in Kindergarten! Sorry...but honestly, can you stand it?

This is Hayley dressed as a cat for Halloween. Hmmm, still standing next to a little devil. Ha!

We debated long and hard over whether to let Hayley drive to a Halloween Party at Karen's house. Alone. In the dark. Did I mention it was Halloween? You know, when kids are all hopped up on sugar and run in the street? We decided to have faith (plus it was still light out when she left) and let her drive. Doesn't she look happy that I document every time she drives away from the house? Ahhh, teenagers.

Brian had three buddies over for pizza and video games. And yes, they trick-or-treated. Twice. (After changing costumes so as not to be easily identified.) I'm guessing this is the last year for them to rock the costumes and have fun like this, so...CARRY ON DUDES!

And there you have it. The decorations are put away. But Christmas is right around the corner!