McBrayer creatives...

My whole life as an artist has been devoted to the visual arts, mainly painting. And in the past years I have found that crafting and sewing, even if it's just something practical, has become a really good outlet for me. As you may imagine, paints, large jars of water, paper that needs to remain pristine until painted on and small people don't exactly mix well, when they all need their space, and the same space I might add.

Interestingly enough about a year ago I realized I had some things I needed to say. And not being one of words, I allowed myself to be convinced that it just wasn't my medium. I have struggled so much over when, where, how and with what do I allow the burning desire to "create" to run free. So on one of our camping trips last summer, in God's great wilderness of creation, more specifically, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, I found a scrap piece of paper in the car door and allowed it to be my canvas for the first time. I began jotting down some lyrics to a song. With the help of Justin, I managed to compose"Higher Ground" and, later, "Tivoli." Who knew?!? Not exactly your top 10 on the radio but something that has fed my creativity for sure.

Even more out of the ordinary, and yet still in the creative spirit, I was recently invited to play and sing in a developing band, (which is more like a few people that just want a more committed group to jam with). So...I sing my heart out once a week with people I barely know and whom are ridiculously more talented than myself. Crazy and very much out of my comfort zone but it feeds my soul in a way only I could know.

So if you are burning with some creative energy, read this post, reflect and then allow yourself to be encouraged to make the move by prioritizing some time for you to create.

It's a baby belly!

Baby Boy Merritt and me at 16 weeks. Okay... I realize it's not much, but he's definitely starting to... ummm... affect the way my clothes fit!! My pants that fit just right are now uncomfortable to keep buttoned throughout the day. So I'm going shopping tomorrow in Atlanta with 3 other pregnant friends to get some maternity clothes.

Profile shot. Do you see his puckered lips and little nose?

A quick rundown on the pregnancy thus far. I have felt REALLY good, no sickness, no tiredness throughout the day... although I do sleep about 9-10 hours a night now as opposed to my previous 7-8. And I LOVE the new change, I love going to bed early! I have been able to eat anything I liked before and haven't had any real cravings or aversions. I've been able to go walking and Joel got me a prenatal workout DVD hosted by a former Olympic swimmer, so it's pretty serious and will have you sore the next day. I like it! We went on 12/30 for our gender ultrasound and he was SO active. He was kicking and turning and crossing and uncrossing his legs. After showing us his boy parts, he even crossed his legs and covered his parts with both of his hands. Guess he'd had enough! Joel and I are both really excited about having a boy. A quail hunting buddy for him and I'm just so used to my brothers, that I think this will be an easier transition for me. And I started to feel the "butterflies" this week. It's all so amazing!

Baby having hello!

It seems like I'm surrounded by pregnancy in my life! Outside of LeeAnn and Ann in our family, an immediate co-worker of mine is pregnant after 4 years of trying, including invetro that didn't take. She was given a 2% chance of conceiving on her own and she did!! All pregnancies are miracles, but it's especially exciting being able to go through it with her. We were pleasantly surprised with our news and she's been waiting for a long time for this. But it's nice to have each other to go through it together. Two other girls in my small group are pregnant. A girl who started at the bank with me in the MA program, Crystal, is pregnant with a boy AND is due the EXACT same day as me! Joel's two closest cousins' wives are also pregnant. And I could go on... but it feels like I've joined a club or something! Admittedly, I didn't always care for pregnancy or baby talk before I was pregnant. But I always knew that someday, when I was pregnant, I'd be more than happy to join in. And I am!


So I've read that during your second trimester, you usually feel your best and have the most energy so it's the ideal time to get all your planning done. Registry, nursery, decorating, organizing and more. We haven't done any of that yet. Partially because we wanted to know what we were having first and also because we are SO busy. But I've googled some nursery ideas and this morning, Joel and I had what seems like our first Saturday morning at home together in a long time. Oh how I LOVE a morning at home to wake up on your own time and make coffee and breakfast together. I have a new soup recipe in the crockpot (Italian sausage and barley... yum!) and will make Aunt Kay's cornbread in a few minutes. But I had a chance to mention a paint color for the nursery (blue) and Joel asked if we could have a bird dog themed nursery!! Oh my! We already live in rural Alabama, I don't know if I'm ready for guns and camo and hunting stuff in my son's room. So I agreed to maybe an animal theme that included dogs, but I don't know that I'll be looking at Cabela's or Real Tree for the crib bedding!


I feel like I could go on and on! About my midwife that I love, weight gain (I'm doing good according to her, better than she did over the holidays!), work plans, etc. But I'll save you your time and eyes for now! But let me know if I've left something out that you want to know more about!

Thank Goodness for Snow!

It snowed here for the past two days and it was so fun to not have anywhere to go or anything to do but to enjoy it. So we spent the days building an Oafy G snowman and building sledding jumps. It's a good bit of work to get everyone bundled up but it is so worth it. Patrick and Aeneas both stayed out for over an hour and had to be coaxed to come back in. Check it out.

Oafy G needed a friend so he wouldn't be lonely!

Here is Aeneas's launch.

And here is Patrick launching!

Peanut Butter Granola Balls and Home made Play-Dough

I was looking for the recipe for play-dough tonight and found this little snack recipe. It 's warm gooey deliciousness will have the ol' hubby making repeat trips for spoonfuls as you put them into the candy liners.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup peanut butter

2 Tbsp butter

1 cup rice cereal

1 cup oatmeal

1/4 cup dried fruit (I used craisins!)

Melt the honey and butters in the microwave stirring along the way until fully melted and combined. Stir in the remaining ingredients and mix well. Scoop in to mini muffin liners or candy liners and refrigerate. Yum!

And while I'm at it, here's the Play-Dough recipe. It's so great, soft, smells good, the kids don't actually LIKE to eat it and it's fun to make with them!

Home-Made Play Dough

2 cups flour

3/4 cup salt

4 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups boiling water

3 Tbsp oil

1 pkg kool-aid

Mix all the dry ingredients, then pour the water and oil over the top, mixing as you go. Mix in the kool-aid for instant color with a yummy scent. (You can use food coloring if you want instead.)

Family Traditions

At Patrick's school this week, we got to give a presentation to the class about our family traditions. Once I sat down to think about it, I realized just how many traditions we actually have.

Aeneas, Patrick and I created a poster and then Aeneas and Patrick did a wonderful job sharing with the class what sorts of things we do around the holidays each year. Each of the little presents had pictures of a particular tradition; hiking through the woods to find a tree, sleeping under the Christmas tree the night it goes up, Santa coming on Christmas morning, calling everyone on Christmas day to wish them a Merry Christmas, having a birthday party for Jesus and of course the annual fondu feast!

I made chocolate fondu and Justin passed out the goodies. We had the kids dip marshmallows and bananas into it. Everyone loved it (we caught a couple teachers taking a little taste). The class left school wound up and chocolate faced! I am sure the parents were so thrilled.

Merry Christmas Ms. Cash's Kindergarten Class!

Anyone LOVE Oatmeal Cookies?!?!

As 8 inches of snow fell to the ground on Sunday, we skied our hearts out (read: skied two runs which was plenty for the little guys) for the first time this season. So on the way home, JP treated us to a gigantic "Sow Your Oats" oatmeal cookie from our favorite bakery in town simply called Bread. They make these GINORMOUS, ridiculously perfect oatmeal cookies, chocked full of nuts, flax seeds, sesame, fruit and just all around delicious. Hubby says, "I sure wish we could figure out a slam dunk recipe for oatmeal cookies. You think Bread would give us theirs?"

So with our tea hosting that comes up once a week at Fort Lewis, I always have an excuse to get out the butter, sugar and flour. I found a recipe on the web, modified it some for high altitude and came up with a delicious second to a bakery version of Oatmeal Cookies. Check it out!

Best Bakery Oatmeal Cookies

2 eggs well beaten

1 cup raisins

1 Tablespoon! vanilla

1 cup butter (3/4 cup high altitude)

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp nutmeg

3 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup sesame seeds or flax or both!

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup wheat bran

Beat the eggs well, add the vanilla, stir and then add the raisins. Allow to soak for an hour or two.

Beat the butter, add sugars. In separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, soda and spices. Add the dry mixture to the butter and sugar. Mix well. Add the bran and mix well. Then add the eggs with raisins. Mix well. If you like large chunks of nuts, them mix the remaining nuts in, along with the oatmeal, by hand. It makes for a pretty stiff dough.

Shape into 2" balls, place on a greased air bake cookie sheet and then flatten a bit with the back of a spatula. Bake 350 for 18 min., remove and let sit on the pan for 4 min. (My times are high altitude. You flatlanders may need to adjust that on your first batch to get a correct time). The recipe made 24 too-large-to-dip-in-a-glass-of-milk cookies.

They turn out huge, soft and delicious. The recipe made 24 too-large-to-dip-in-a-glass-of-milk cookies. Try it and let me know how they turn out. That picture is one I took this afternoon!

Cranberry-Apple Pie

Here's a new twist on an old favorite.

4 large Granny smith apples, peeled and sliced

2 cups fresh cranberries

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

Frozen double crust package (the kind you just unroll)

Press one of the crusts into a deep dish pie pan, pinching the edges to create a boarder. Mix the fruit together in a large bowl. Mix all of the dry ingredients together then toss with the fruit. Dump in the filling. Take the other piece of crust and use a cookie cutter of your choice ( I used a maple leaf cutter to be extra festive!) to cut shapes out of the dough. Starting from the edges and working toward the middle, layer onto the top of the filling of the pie overlapping each piece a little as you go. You can re-roll any extra out to get a few extra shapes. Brush with half and half and sprinkle the top with sugar. Bake at 375 for 30-45 min. You know it's done when the cranberries have baked long enough to cause the juice to turn pink and bubble out of the spaces in the topping.

Serve with vanilla ice cream.

DELICIOUS!