Making Tamales

My mom came down for a visit and we got to do something we've never done together!  Make tamales!  I can remember my Granny making them (mom's mom) and my mom making them, but it has been a long time.  So I had it on my brain and when I talked to her about it, she thought it was the best idea ever!  So that was our project for when she was down here.  We made a double batch and each came out with 4 dozen!  We are set for tamales!

I think the neatest part of it was that I could taste and smell the tamales just by mixing a few spices together.  It was very interesting to me how either the process or the spices make it taste like tamales.  It was much easier than I had thought it would be and I could definitely make them again sometime although with two people it was half the time when assembling them.  And I think that was the most fun-putting them together.  I spread the freezer paper out on the table and we went to work!

Zane with his new rake!

No bubbles so I'll just chew the bottle!

Enjoying the shade.

Dirty birdy for sure!

Collecting pine cones!

Masa and meat!

Cooking tamales!

My goofy husband!

Reading with Grandma D!

Rachel Videos!!!

I finally got some good video of Rachel walking!




And today at our little devo:



Sometimes devo is a little chaotic. Oh well!



Here she is patting the Bible and singing!



And more Rachel!

Happy Fall!

We made a jack-o-lantern today!  He is a friendly jack-o-lantern by the way.  :)  The friendly jack-o-lantern ended up having two teeth, and a nose!  I tried to get Zane to pull out the seeds, but he did it one time and that was enough.  :)

When Rachel got up, we did even MORE pumpkin decorating!  We had two more pumpkins, so we decorated them with stickers!  They are boo-tiful!!!!

Ready to begin!

We even put a candle in it!  Happy Fall!

The Lord is My Shepherd

Zane is still into leading worship.  And it's fun to listen to him put stuff together that he's learned.  Today he preached that Jesus wasn't good because he wouldn't let the people go.  ---I think he was thinking of Pharoah.  haha.  And he preaches John 16...the Lord is my Shepherd.  It's fun to listen to!

Today at lunch was interesting and a good talk.  Zane asked, "Where is God?" and "How do we get to heaven?"  And Jeff did a great job answering both of those! 

Scrub a dub dub!

Bathtime has changed around here!  Rachel has graduated to the big tub and Zane and Rachel like taking baths together!  It's been great because Zane is more eager to take a bath now!  And Rachel loves playing with all the toys!  So far so good!

Lots of Playing Going On

I snapped a quick pic before getting this little lady down!  She is such a good girl.  She hasn't gotten up since!

She gets excited now when I get her pants out and socks.  She knows she gets to go outside!

She likes the balls!

Away they go! 

My two sweeties love the sandbox!

I love this picture.

Everything still goes in her mouth!  After working in the sandbox, her chin is a mixture of sand and drool!

Oh, this is the best, Dada!

Ah!

At the library!  Before the wails began from Zane trampling her! 

We all love the pillows!

Even Dada!  Or maybe we're just trying to get a rest in!

Zane's flippers!  haha!

Hi Baby!  Rachel can say 'baby' now!

Night night big boy!

She certainly can be a little snuggler!