"7 minute icing"

Have you ever made 7 minute icing?? It's way yummy... but does NOT take 7 minutes. Here's a recap of how to make 7 minute icing.

Put all the ingredients and cook on low.... until it reaches a very particular temp.


Oh, and while it's coming up to temp - you have to CONSTANTLY beat the mixture.


Here's me about 12-13 minutes into the mixing process. This is when I realized that Andrew was VERY quiet. He's always quiet, but he was being super quiet. Grandma goes to check on him, and suggests that I go in... and she'll manage the mixture for a while.


Discover that Andrew's pulled a chunk of the ornaments of the tree for the second time today (ugh). How can you get mad when they are lined up so nicely?? Poor guy, I scolded him then grabbed the camera. Talk about mixed signals.


Go back, transfer the mixture into the KitchenAid and beat on high for "7" minutes... more like 25! We thought we'd be wise and use egg whites from a carton... yeah I'll never do that again.


Finally! Icing complete! Only took close to 45 minutes.


You know what? It was worth every minute. Mom loved her birthday cake! (I did too!)

The Magic of Christmas

Isn't that smile AMAZING? Yeah, I live for those. Santa came early this year- the morning before when left town. Who would have known that a Handy Manny singing/dancing tool box would get such a great response?

Here's an e-copy of our Christmas Card that we sent out to our family. If you're reading this blog - you probably are up to date on what's going on - but enjoy our little update. We hope that all of you are having a wonderful Christmas season. In my parent's ward today - There was a wonderful string quintet of Handel's Messiah - it was the perfect way to start off this week.


Quick Stinson Family Update:
Morgan Yep! He’s still in school! He’s staying very busy while he’s pursuing his PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy. He’s enjoying the University of Georgia and all of the things that is offers him. When he doesn’t have his nose in a book or at school he makes sure to stay updated on all of his favorite sports teams. Morgan also completed his first 10K this fall - we were all so proud of him! He’s also REALLY looking forward to the Boston Bruins Hockey game we are going to later this month!
Emily I’m loving being at home with Andrew, he’s such a sweet boy. I’m also working with the Young Women in the ward again, which I am thrilled for. I’m having a fun time with that. I trained for a 10K this spring/summer, but that was sadly sidelined due to a nasty ankle sprain (during a 5K nonetheless!) I’m getting back to running slowly and will hopefully be catching up with Morgan before long! I’ve also started an Etsy Shop called Elmwood Avenue, (www.elmwoodave.etsy.com). You should check it out! I’ve been having a lot of fun with it. I also recently got glasses for the first time - so that’s been a big adjustment!
Andrew He’s still our sweet boy. The terrible two’s haven’t hit yet. We’re choosing to call them the terrific two’s in our home. Let’s just hope he continues to feel the same. He stays busy lining up his toys, especially all of his trucks and cars. He’s gotten to be a pro with making TALL towers with blocks as well. Andrew also finished first in his age group in his first 5K this year (Morgan was pushing him in the jogger). He’s starting to talk a little, but continues to remain the strong silent type J. Morgan and I have been amazed with how much he’s grown and developed this year. We keep asking him to slow down, but he doesn’t listen J.

We hope that everything is going well with you! We also want to make sure you remember that we keep a family blog @ www.morganandemily.blogspot.com We hope that you have a VERY Merry Christmas as we reflect on the Birth of Christ. May we keep Him in the forefront of our minds during this season.

Etsy Sale!

Here's my shameless plug for my Etsy shop - Elmwood Avenue. I'm running a 20% off sale and free shipping this weekend only! Don't miss out. Use code hollyjolly at checkout! THANKS!!

5 YEARS!

Santa man.

Ever year Andrew's been a charm with Santa. This year... not so much. We opted to have a family picture with Santa at our ward's Christmas party. I didn't want Andrew in a full meltdown - although it would have made for a great picture.....


P.S. How do you like my new specs? (They are my first pair of glasses... ever) I think they make me look smart :-) haha.

You say goodbye, and I say hello.

Yep! We're done with the high chair. Andrew quite enjoys sitting at the table with Morgan and I now. I can't believe he's growing up so fast. He needs to slow down! I added a picture below of Andrew when when we first got the high chair when he was 10 months old (we were way late getting it - the bumbo chair was great!)
Seriously - look how little he was! His head is no where near the top - and Andrew towers over it now. Sad.

Visions of Sugar Plums...

... danced in their heads.


I got a new (to me) dslr camera a few weeks ago. I have been having a great time learning how to use it, and about photography overall. I'm happy to say that I haven't used the manual mode at all! I'm trying to dive right in and figure it all out.

Anyways, since having this fancy camera - I've been taking pictures of pretty much everything. So, naturally when Andrew fell asleep one morning while the sun was coming up (he had previously woken up at 4...) I made to sure capture it!

I love that little guy. I'm so glad he's ours. He makes our family so complete. I couldn't imagine life without him! Come on, look at those cute lips??

Launching my NEW SHOP!

I just opened an Etsy Shop!

It's called Elmwood Avenue. You should seriously go check it out. Right. Now. :-)

www.elmwoodave.etsy.com




THANKS!

Thanksgiving Break

We had a very nice week. Morgan was off of school the entire week of Thanksgiving - so we headed to my parents house to enjoy it. We had a small Thanksgiving Dinner - my grandparents, my parents, and us. Although it was small - it was great. We also spend a good bit of time with Rachel and her family as well as Dan and Kim! We were so happy that they were out here for Thanksgiving. We had not seen them since the summer - it was a nice treat to have them in town.

Although it was a nice week - all three of us managed to get sick - thankfully it didn't really set in for Morgan and I until Friday. (but now I have laryngitis) I'm just glad that it wasn't a repeat of last Thanksgiving (we had to take Andrew to urgent care due to an ear infection) This year I found out how grateful I am for Ear Tubes! Andrew's cold has just remained a cold - no following ear infection (this really is a first for him)

We ate way to much pie - Apple Pie from Ellijay, Blueberry made by Morgan, and Pumpkin made by yours truly. The next few weeks we're going to have to be super good before all the yumminess of Christmas is in full swing.

My mom and I also ventured out at 3:30 am on Black Friday. We got EVERYTHING we wanted - whoo hoo! It was crazy, but actually a lot of fun.

Anyways, we had a great Thanksgiving - this month I've been reflecting on all the many blessings I have in my life - too many to count. I hope that all of you had a great Thanksgiving.

Now... time to get the tree up!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We had a nice time at my parents house this weekend. We had fun trick or treating and eating lots of yummy food. Here are some pictures from the evening.

Morgan, Me, and our Little Raccoon.


We chose to make Andrew into a raccoon this year. I had a lot of fun making his costume. We chose a raccoon, for well.... if you spend any amount of time with him, you'll understand. He gets into everything!


Here are the McKinney Cousins. Mr. Raccon, Buzz Lightyear, and Super Girl.
Note: Andrew eating a cookie. He probably had 5 tonight. The kid was all over the cookies tonight. Needless to say, we'll be sweets free for a while.


Taking Andrew trick or treating! He had a great time. It was fun to go in the neighborhood I grew up in. Lots of fun memories....

Lastly, my pumpkin I carved. What a happy jack-o-lantern.

I hope that all of you had a great weekend!

Mountain Home...

...take me home.... to the place, I belong! (sorry, John Denver was in my head!)

We went up to my grandparent's Mountain Home in Ellijay last weekend. We had SUCH a nice time. Although it was a quick trip, we had a wonderful time being there with my grandparents. Andrew had such a blast going up and down the stairs, and snooping around and finding all types of things to play with. The weather was great, the leaves were just barely starting to turn, and the air had a nice crispness to it. We also made sure to stop and get some fresh picked apples, and boy... are they good! We LOVE being up there. We can't wait to get back up there!

My grandparents had the stuffed RCA dogs. Andrew got a kick out of them. Andrew made sure to line up his toys and admire them on the stairs!

I love seeing these two photos. My grandparents have had this rocking horse for as long as I can remember. Andrew LOVES it. The pic on the left is July 2009... he was just learning how to stand holding onto things, right is Oct 2010... able to giddy up on the horse. He's growing up TOO fast!

Thanks grandma and grandpa! We had a great time, and can't wait to get back up there!

Happy Birthday, Andrew.

Andrew's second birthday was on Wednesday, the 13th. I can't believe that he's already two! We had a great time celebrating his birthday with my family. We went out to Alpharetta and had a great time. I made a Mickey Mouse birthday cake. We had Mickey ears, balloons, and plenty of Mickey toys. Andrew was in heaven! He LOVES Mickey Mouse!

Here are a few pictures of his soiree.

Learning...

Although Andrew isn't talking much, I'm enjoying all the other things he is learning. It's been so much fun watching him grow! I can't believe that he will be 2 next week.

Andrew just LOVES to make towers. He'll just make them, then simply admire them. It's so fun - once he's done - he'll get this big grin and claps ecstatically for himself. Love it!

Also - if you've been around Andrew at all - you know how he loves to line things up. He loves playing with my fake fruit that I use as a centerpiece. I was quite impressed when I realized that he had separated them by color, then proceeded to make two lines. Such a smart little guy.

Tradition.

Some things seem to never change. Morgan is not a Chinese food lover, I on the other hand, LOVE it. So, after Morgan and I got married, when I kissed my Chinese restaurant love goodbye, I started a tradition.

Every General Conference while Morgan is off going to Priesthood Session I go out and get Chinese Food. I've shared this special event (yeah, it's an event to me) with closest friends, a sister, and a sis-in-law. Even when I was only 10 days from delivering Andrew, and as swollen as you can believe - I risked consuming MSG to carry on this great tradition. So, to keep up with it - I ventured out tonight to have my Chinese. And oh, was it good.

I do have to admit - while I was enjoying my Hot and Sour Soup - I couldn't help but think of my sweet little sister who had one horrible incident while enjoying some yummy soup in China. (click here, then here)

So, do you have any "Priesthood Session Traditions?"

Case and point.

It's funny when I see Andrew do certain things, and am positive that I used to do the exact same thing. Case and point....

Andrew LOVES stuffed animals as of recently. He just loves to get in the hamper with all of his buddies. From what I hear from my parents - I was often found playing with my toys in my closet in the very same manner.

There are other things about Andrew that I can see he clearly gets from me. He is getting to be shy lately. You can ask my parents... I was super shy, and still struggle with it from time to time. Thank goodness I have a bit of my dad's extroverted-ness in me to balance it out.
Also, Andrew is becoming quite the tenderhearted little boy - which I LOVE. It's sad though- he definitely knows how to stick his little bottom lip out and whimper - it's super cute, but something we are trying to shake off little bits at a time.

I love seeing Andrew grow and develop traits that either I or Morgan had growing up.

5K, ok!

Morgan, Andrew, and our good friend, Mike.

Today Morgan, Andrew and I all had the chance to participate in a 5K. It was in memory of a solider who passed away a few years ago (he was LDS, too). It was put on by the ROTC organization on campus, and the proceeds are going to the Families of 9/11. We thought it would be nice to go and support our country this way, especially today. They had a nice short program before the race in Sanford Stadium. It was really nice.

I've been training to do a 5K since May, and have been able to run the whole length, and steadily improve my time during the past 6 weeks or so. So, we get to the race and everything starts out great - Morgan is moving faster than he thought he would with the stroller - I was feeling great and pumped - and had some great music going on my iPod.

Lucky me, though. Literally 4 minutes into the I roll my ankle and sprain it really bad. At first I thought it really wasn't that bad. I tried to walk it off, then started to run a little, and realized that it would not be wise to do to. Needless to say - I had to stop. (SO BUMMED... remember, I've been training for this since May) Thankfully when I started to walk back I spotted Mike's wife, Heather and her son Anders. I was glad to have someone to sit with until the race ended. I was pretty bummed about not being able to finish the race! It's still pretty swollen, and imagine it will be for a little while. I'm having a grand time hobbling around the house. haha.

At least Morgan and Andrew did well - Andrew won first place in his age group!!! (haha) Morgan was really happy that he beat the Air Force group from on campus. (sorry Air Force) I was really impressed with the Army, Navy, what have you. They all ran in formation and were doing their chants, the whole time! Some carrying flags and all.

Morgan said it was also fun pushing Andrew. He swears that at parts of the race Andrew was saying "Go, Go!" He was a good little cheerleader for Morgan.

Well, I'm hoping to be back running in a few weeks. I had plans on running a 10K in November, I think it'll only be a 5K now for me. I don't want to push it too much. I'll just have to find another 10K to do later on.

Trip to Maine

(click to enlarge)

As you can tell from the plethora of pictures - we had a GREAT time in Maine! Highlights included:

-Mimi and Papa's trampoline. He definitely knows what the word "bounce" and "jump" mean now!
-Visiting Morgan's Grandma and thoroughly entertaining her, and then later seeing Morgan's Pepere.
-Being in dog heaven! Morgan's aunt and uncle have something like 5 golden retrievers - and about 5 or 6 puppies to go with that - Andrew was in heaven.
- Swimming at Uncle Laird's pool and later at Coldstream Pond. Weather was great!
- Bangor Ward's Pioneer Day celebration. It was so nice seeing all the of ward members, eating fried dough, and competing in the two-man saw contest. (Not to shabby - 1min12sec)
-Andrew playing on the screened porch - and going in and out, in and out of the door.
-Enjoying the hammock. We felt like bad parents when we would take him out - he loved it so!
- Discovering mobility on a tricycle (thankfully we have one now!)
- Morgan and Emily going to multiple dates and outings - including a few Pat's Pizza outings and kayaking on Pushaw Lake. Crazy winds made it one crazy upper body workout! (Thanks, Mimi and Papa for putting Andrew to bed SO many times!)
- Andrew learning how to climb onto the wood stove. Er, this really isn't a highlight - but it proved to show that Andrew is just as daring as Morgan was growing up.
- Morgan being able to read something like 4 or 5 books - for pleasure! What a novelty! (Andrew got in on the reading too - haha)
- Seeing Bananas the Bear and Sims the Cat become buddies :-)


We had a great time, and true it it's motto "Maine - the way life should be" we had just a joyful time enjoying all the nice things Maine has to offer. The weather was WONDERFUL - nothing like mid to upper 70's in the middle of July. It was so nice spending time with family, we can't wait to get up there again soon!

Kayaking

Morgan and I, along with my sister and her husband went kayaking early in July. We really had a nice time together. Like always, I had poor luck with anything white water related. I don't think anyone else fell out of their kayak.... but me. I really think that if the water level was a little higher, I would have been fine. The river was super low one the day that we went.

So, on a measley class 2 rapid, I get stuck sideways. I'm trying to maneuver my way out, and then the kayak flips, hitting me square in the head (on the EXACT spot were I had a concussion about 5 years ago... now I have just one larger bump on the head, instead of two) So Morgan comes to save me. (does this sound familiar?) Soon I'm back on the kayak, pretty shook up, my head is killing me, but ready to get moving (and get this trip over with!!) Later on there was a fork in the river. Morgan said that the right side looked easier, I was all for smoother waters, it was a whole lot easier, at first. I could tell the river was picking strength, and I spotted a rock that I could stop on to assess what needed to be done. Well, thank GOODNESS I stopped. There was about a 5-6 foot slide/drop. Man on man, I have major luck, not. So, for the second time that trip, Morgan was able to paddle over to save me and I was able to shove my kayak of the bolder and then I jumped down.

Thankfully the rest of the trip was pretty uneventful. I decided that I'm not much of a thrill seeker, and I'm totally fine with that.Me and Mo.Lollie and Chris. Some how Chris managed to paddle most of the river in a reclined position. He must have some major abs to do that!Yep, that's me. Stuck for the second time that trip.


We had a great time having Lollie and Chris come out to Athens. She shot some family photos for us, we had great food, rocked out with Guitar Hero, and enjoyed the World Cup.

White Water Rafting

Morgan went rafting a few weekends ago with some of my family. They had a great time! They all had a good time camping as well. They went to the Chatooga River, which is the most difficult river to raft in the south east. I was happy to stay home, especially with the experience that I had last year and the weekend before they went on this river. I skipped out on the camping this year. I thought Andrew would be a little too much into everything. Can't wait for next year though. Anyways, we all found this sequence of photos pretty amusing. Some how little Lollie was the only one to stay in the raft!!

Updates to come...

Our family just concluded a whirlwind of a vacation season! We have had loads of fun this past month, and cannot wait to share details. For now, I'll leave you with this, oh so cute picture of Little A. We are happy to be home, but missing all of the family we've had so much fun with for the past few weeks!


(And, I took this pic! Lately all the pictures on this blog have been by her and her awesomeness, but I grabbed her camera for a little bit, and had fun. Man, I need a nice camera!!)

25th Birthday

This year on July 1st I turned the Big 2-5! I had a lot of fun celebrating my birthday - over 4 days. We had a blast. The night before my birthday Morgan, Andrew and I went out to one of our favorite restaurants in Athens. On my birthday Morgan was working from sun up to sun down, so I went out to Alpharetta to spend it with my family. Then on Saturday we had all the family together - it was great! We ended the evening with some fun fireworks, too. I think this'll be a birthday to remember.

Love this pic!

This infamous sombrero picture at La Parilla
My little Fam on Saturday....

This was Morgan and Chris' first time setting off fireworks... legally. They had a blast! (sorry for the pun!)

Having some fun with Lollie's fancy dancy camera.

Speaking of Lollie - I am LOVING all the nice pictures I'm getting this summer. I don't know what I'm going to do when she moves to China next month!

Caught in the act

I love my iPod Touch.
I think I may be a little addicted.