Dress Up

Yes, I have been MIA for several weeks...OK it's been more like months now, but I am hoping to start blogging more regularly once again. :)

Over the last few months Annsley has found a new favorite past time, playing dress up! Here are a few snapshots of Annsley in all her fabulous wardrobe choices!

We definitely have a girly-girly in the making.

September/October At Our House

I love Fall. I love the bright blue skies and chilly morning air that lingers until early afternoon. I love the spices and find their way into different baked goods of the seasons, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger. I love the comfort food that comes with colder nights and the way you just want to snuggle up with a good book and a cup of cider. This fall in the Stover House we have had many of those wonderful evenings at home as a family, we have also had a number of fun outings celebrating different things. Here are a few snapshots of our family over the past 2 months!

Here is one of those cosy evenings at home where Annsley was helping with the laundry.

We had a blast the the Hitscherhof Farm Fest, Annsley didn't really know what to do with the big pumpkins.

Luke and Annsley in the "Labyrinth" aka: the corn maze



More BIG pumpkins!




Annsley this time playing in the laundry basket.

The beginning of October I accidentally bumped the trailer hitch of the car parked on the other side of my parking space (in my defense he was sticking into my lane and the hitch was so low I couldn't see it). Both of the cars were fine but the bump unlocked the license plate holder, I thought the plate was screwed in like they are back in the states so I didn't worry to much about it, well as I was driving home the plate fell off, and was nowhere to be found. Long story short, Luke, bless him, was able to get it all sorted out with the police, auto registration and I was back on the road a few day later. In the mean time though we did a lot of car seat juggling and Annsley found a new toy to play with in the house....

We also ran the local Breast Cancer Awareness 5K, the whole family, this weekend.

Before the race...

Aunt Natalie ran it with her coffee shop co-workers and their team won second for the Spirit Award, dressed up in fun costumes.

Luke and Annsley after the race, all smiles!

It has been a busy last few months and we are looking forward to the rest of the beautiful autumn here in Germany and moving into the Holiday season!

Wordless Wednesday

lambie love

Annsley has this little floppy lamb that she received for her birthday from our friends Mariana and Rueben. Over the past few months Annsley has come to ABSOLUTELY ADORE her lambie. Here are a few pictures of her giving lambie some love.

These Feet Were Made For Walking.....

Homemade Butter

Ok, so looking in my fridge this morning I found 2 unopened containers of heavy whipping cream that were a few days past the sell by date. I had gotten them to make a Chocolate Mousse which I never ended up needing to make. Anyways, I didn't want the cream to go to waste so I started think what I could use it for. Luke and I had just gotten done watching this PBS Frontier House program that we had gotten through Netflix.

On the program 3 modern families were sent back in time to the 1880's to homesteaded some land out in Montana. Everything was time period accurate so the families were truly living and working as 1880's pioneers would have, milking cows, making their own bread cheese, clearing the land and cultivating it, building their own log cabins, everything. So, having that fresh in my mind made me think BUTTER! We could make our own butter to use up the heavy cream. So I poured the cream into a mason jar, put a lid on it and started shaking. Annsley and Natalie both took turns and within about 10 minutes we had homemade butter and buttermilk. It was so easy and fun to do.

All you need is:

Heavy cream

1 Mason jar with lid and ring

2 hands to shake!

Shake until cream thickens, keep shaking until a ball forms, pour off and keep or drink the buttermilk. Then enjoy on some homemade bread or muffins!

Red Currant Jam

Yesterday at the Farmer's Market there were some BEAUTIFUL red and blue berries that were marked Johannisberries, well come to fine out in English that translates to currants. Now I have never really had currant jam but I thought that it would be nice to have the taste of summer come wintertime. So currants or Johannisberries, being native to Germany I thought it was appropriate to make some jam with them. Here is a recipe I found on a food blog called Real Food has Curves for Red Currant Jam.

Red Currant Jam

1 pound red currants, stemmed and washed
2 cups water
8 to 10 raspberries - (raspberries are naturally high in pectin so putting a few of them in was to help ensure that the jam set up nicely)
1 1/2 pounds sugar

6 to 8 small canning jars with lids - boiled in hot water for 10 minutes-keep hot

After stemming and washing the currants, place them in a large pot add the water and raspberries. Bring to a rolling simmer over med-high, then turn down to med-low and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Add sugar and return to med-high heat, stirring constantly, simmer for 20 minutes, continue stirring until mixture reaches 222 Degrees Fahrenheit on a candy thermometer.

Once the mixture has reached 222 degrees, pour it into the hot jars, leaving about 1/2 inch unfilled. Quickly cover the jars with the hot lids and screw on the rings, turn the jars upside down and let sit 10 minutes then turn them right side up again and let sit until the jars seal. If any jar doesn't seal (you will know if this happened because you will be able to push the lid in), store it in the fridge and use within the next month or so.

Happy canning!

A Trip to Moses Lake

Last month Annsley and I were able to take a trip to visit my family in Moses Lake. Most of my family had never met Annsley so the thought of introducing her to everyone was exciting, the only draw back...Luke was unable to come with us because of work. That meant it was the 2 of us girls flying across the Atlantic and then across the US by ourselves. Now normally that would be a problem for me but Annsley is at that stage where she does not want to sit still for long, so it was a little daunting the thought of 17+ hours of travel time with a 1 year old. Thankfully, God blessed us with smooth travel and Annsley did great, she is such a happy little girl. Once in Moses Lake we had a great time getting together with family and friends. Here are some pictures from our trip.

We spend a lot of evenings hang out outside by the fountain where it was cooler. Grandma Lolo and Grandpa Howard had such fun playing with Annsley!

Annsley's new best friend and new word of the trip..."Kitty!" She LOVED my parents new kitty Max!

Stuart, Caroline and Andrew came up from Oregon. It was so good to see them and the kiddos were so sweet to watch playing together. We also went to visit Grandma Fay, she really enjoyed seeing her great-grandchildren.

I was also able to meet up with some friends from High School and College.

It was so special to catch up with everyone and see their little ones. God has blessed me so richly with wonderful family and friends! Thank you all so much for making the trips and time to get together! I love you all!

Wordless Wednesday - playing in the grass

Going, going, going

This past month has been a blur with birthdays, trips and company so this post will catch you up on some things we have been up to. One of the biggest things that happened this month was Annsley's FIRST BIRTHDAY!!! We had such a special day celebrating our little girl, who is an incredible blessing in our lives.

Annsley, this past year (ok so it is closer to 13 months now) has been full of joy, learning, a few sleepless nights, and hundreds of sweet moments, we have loved every minute of it and are so thankful that we get to be your parents.

At one year Annsley you:

• have 10 teeth
• pull yourself up on things
• give your toys and stuffed animals hugs




• have started crawling a bit on your knees
• like to walk with someone holding you hands
• love being out and about in the backpack
• continue to "talk" all day long, your most popular sounds are: "hi", "mama", "dada", and "nana"
• LOVE books
• like to be sung to, current favorite song: The Church is One Foundation
• love your new red rocking moose




• are very European in your choice of beverages
• have started noticing other babies
• love to look at animals
• have started dancing when music is playing

You bring us such joy Annsley, we love you so much!

Love, Mommy and Daddy

We celebrated my 27th birthday a few days later.

Then it was off to Switzerland for a church retreat. We spent a week in the beautiful mountains and crisp air. Unfortunately Luke could not get away from work so it was just us girls, we had a great time though.

Once we got back from Switzerland, we took a family day trip. We took a 2 hour train ride to Trier (which by the way is the oldest city in Germany, dating back to height of the Roman empire) where we spent the day taking in the sights.

We saw the old Roman baths

the amphitheater were gladiatorial games were held and the Porta Nigra (one of the gates into the old walled city)

beautiful cathedrals

palaces

and baroque churches

It was a long, exhausting, but fun day.

And that has been our month of June !