Josh's Birthday

With Josh's parents living only 45 minutes away, we celebrated his birthday by having dinner at his parent's house. His grandfather also made it over for dinner. After dinner we talked to his brother and his family over the internet using web-cams.

Our nephew Jack helped Josh blow out the candles over the internet

Josh's Birthday Presents

Josh decided for his birthday this year he wanted bike rollers (so he can ride his bike inside during the winter) and new biking shoes. The packages with his presents came today and he has already put them to good use.

Bike Rollers

New Shoes

Working Up a Sweat

Summer Externship

Josh found out today that he has an externship this summer in...

Johannesburg, South Africa! He still needs to work out all the details, so he doesn't know for sure when he will be going, but it will probably for 6 weeks or so at the beginning of the summer. I will be staying here to work while he is gone, so hopefully we will be able to meet up in Europe for a little vacation when he is done.

Bathrooms Before and After

Downstairs Bathroom - Before

Master Bathroom - Before

Downstairs Bathroom - After

Master Bathroom - After

Pumpkin Waffles

Christmas morning Josh's family came down and had breakfast with us. I made pumpkin waffles and homemade vanilla syrup and it was a huge hit! My mother-in-law kept telling me I needed to post the recipes on my blog so here they are. Enjoy!

2 cups flour
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1-½ cups milk
1 cup pumpkin
¾ cup melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla


In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks (reserve the whites for later), milk, pumpkin, butter and vanilla. Mix the dry mixture into the wet mixture with an electric mixer. Take the egg whites and beat with a mixer until they form peaks. Fold egg whites into batter with a spatula or large spoon. Pour into waffle iron.