Little Pies

Mom and I made little pecan pies tonight for her church's Christmas reception Sunday night. It's a delicious recipe that's not too sweet; Mom got the original recipe from her friend Kathy, who's a wonderful pastry chef and cake baker.

Pecan Pie
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp milk
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix all ingredients, and pour into an unbaked pie shell. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. (We used mini fillo shells for our tiny pecan pies, and we baked them only 15 minutes.)

December 3

The frosty hippo spent a frigid night in the backyard after playing hard with Hamilton all afternoon. The hippo gave a cheery welcome to the puppies and me this morning as we braved the 29-degree temperature during their first-of-the-day potty break.

GPS

Mr. Morgan emailed me this story about his morning adventure with Claire.

As we were driving to Chick-fil-A this morning, I noticed Claire leaning over in her seat from the back to see something in the front. I asked her what she was looking at, and she said, “I want to see when the GPS changes to white.” (The GPS changes from night colors to day colors based on the sunrise time.)

I told her that it probably wouldn’t change until after we had breakfast at Chick-fil-A since it was still early. I offered to let her hold the GPS on the drive, and she gladly agreed. When we arrived, she handed me the GPS. I asked her, “Do you know what ‘GPS’ stands for?”

She replied, “God’s Personal Satellite?”

I laughed and said, “No, Global Positioning System. It tells you your position on the globe.”

She said, “Ohhhhh. But couldn’t it be God’s Personal Satellite?”

I said it probably could, so we could go inside to eat.

Daily Photos

Reading Aubrey's blog post inspired me to participate in the December Photo Project. I'm only one day late starting, but I'm hoping it'll inspire me to take pictures every day.

December 2

The repurposed, former Christmas-tree-farm now produces dug trees. Dale T.'s "goomer" digs the root ball and lowers it into the burlap-and-wire basket. The farm's trees grow much taller now that they're not being cut for Christmas trees. These Leyland Cypress trees are nearly 20 feet tall. Though I sometimes miss the shorter, closely trimmed Christmas trees of yesteryear, I like the tidy look of tightly bound trees standing in burlap-and-wire baskets awaiting their trip across the state to their new home where they'll flourish for many years.

Another One

Though Claire has been actively and consistently praying for a girl, we're adding another little boy to the brood. I think Mr. Morgan had been countering Claire's prayers with his own asking for a boy. We're super excited to have another boy! Everything looked great and normal with the ultrasound today, so we're thankful for a good pregnancy and a healthy baby boy coming in April.