2015 Resolutions

After a completely chaotic week of Holiday festivities, I am definitely glad for the chance to sit down and relax! Five days of running around to different houses, family gatherings and multiple Christmases, this Momma is tuckered out! We are still awaiting the arrival of our son, he's not due until the end of January but with my stomach already dropping significantly we were told to expect him any time between now and then.

Aside from eagerly awaiting our little man, I decided to sit down and start a list for 2015. Not so much New Year's Resolutions, more like goals of things to get done around the homestead. So, here goes...

• Build  a pallet fence around the vegetable garden
• Extend the "free range" area for the chickens
• Convert the front and back flower gardens into vegetable gardens
• Build a shelter and pasture for goats
• Get a puppy! (because an infant isn't enough to keep my hands full - haha)

Trying to keep the list short and manageable as I'll have an infant to care for as well, but I'm hoping to complete all of these by the end of 2015! What are your goals/resolutions for the upcoming New Year?

Turtle Cake

With the Holidays literally right around the corner, I couldn't resist posting my new favorite recipe: Turtle Cake!

Ingredients
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups pecans
3/4 cup melted butter...
1/2 cup evaporated milk
1 (14 ounce) bags caramels
1 1/3 cups water ( or as called for by your cake mix)
1/3 cup oil ( or as called for by your cake mix)
3 eggs ( or as called for by your cake mix)
1 (18 ounce) boxes German chocolate cake mix

Directions
Prepare cake mix as directed.
Pour 1/2 of the batter in a 13x9 inch pan.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
Remove and let cool.
In a double boiler, add caramels, milk and butter and stir constantly till melted.
Pour melted caramel over cooling cake.
Sprinkle on top 1 cup of pecans& chocolate chips.
Pour remaining batter on top and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

If you want to add the Caramel Icing, pictured, just follow this recipe:
Ingredients
2 cups brown sugar
6 Tbsp butter or shortening
6 Tbsp cream 
       *(or 3 Tbsp cream and 3 Tbsp evaporated milk) 
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking powder

Mix together the first 3 ingredients. Put on low heat and bring to a boil slowly. Stir very little. Let this boil for 5 minutes, then set aside. After letting it "rest" for a few minutes, add the vanilla and baking powder. Beat together and then spread on cake.
 

Maternity Photos

Saturday we had the opportunity to work with Kristen of Little Lion Photography and she did an amazing job! We had maternity/family photos taken and I am absolutely smitten with the 4 teasers she sent me and I can't wait to see the rest of the photos from our shoot. But, here are the few that I have! I can't believe Luca is due in less than 6 weeks and Billy couldn't be more excited for his arrival. The look on Billy's face just melts my heart!

Slacking

How has a month slipped by already?! Sorry for the lack of posts! With all the chaos of Thanksgiving and now Christmas and we're expecting our little man to arrive any time after that, things have been CRAZY! But, we are completely ready for his arrival. I take being organized and planning ahead very seriously (I swear I probably have OCD) and the car seat, diaper bag and hospital bag have been packed and ready to go for weeks. His nursery is completely set up, all his clothes are washed and packs of diapers are waiting! I'm sure there is something I'm probably forgetting though!

Anyway, we have been busy around the homestead and all this snow has been making things quite a mess! The chickens are very happy to have the gutter installed (their enclosed run is beside the back of our garage and all the runoff from the roof was flooding their run). We also put a roof over half of their run so even when it's raining they can go outside and not get soaked...it will also provide shade in the summer as well. Hopefully this weekend we will be butchering about 5 chickens and then I think our to-do list for the outdoors is fairly complete until spring - other than shoveling snow!

I have a couple posts that I'm currently working on so stay tuned and I promise to update more frequently! Happy Holidays!!!

XOXO