Jenna's birthday

My baby turned 14 this week. Last week she celebrated with a sleepover party and this weekend we will celebrate with Oma and Opa at Parkwood Hospital so her celebration stretched out over a week.

Better late than never

Who said Gingerbread Houses are just for Christmas. We think they are fun any time of year.

My kids had a couple of their cousins stay overnight and they had fun decorating their houses.

Happy New Year

We are celebrating New Years with a Dutch tradition. My mom and dad usually make these but this year we have taken on the challenge and will bring them tomorrow. Here is the recipe.

Oliebollen

Ollie-bollen, or (Oliebollen) is a dutch pastry similar to a doughnut. It typically is a deep fried pastry filled with raisins and dusted with powdered sugar. Some modern variations serve them topped with berry filling, but this is a traditional recipe. Oliebollen are a traditional treat on New Year's"

Ingredients
1 (0.6 ounce) cake compressed fresh yeast
1 cup lukewarm milk
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 egg
3/4 cup dried currants
3/4 cup raisins
1 Granny Smith apple - peeled, cored and finely chopped
1 quart vegetable oil for deep-frying
1 cup confectioners' sugar for dusting
Directions
Break up the compressed yeast, and stir into the warm milk. Let stand for a few minutes to dissolve. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Stir the yeast mixture and egg into the flour and mix into a smooth batter. Stir in the currants, raisins and apple. Cover the bowl, and leave the batter in a warm place to rise until double in size. This will take about 1 hour.
Heat the oil in a deep-fryer, or heavy deep pan to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Use 2 metal spoons to shape scoops of dough into balls, and drop them carefully into the hot oil.
Fry the balls until golden brown, about 8 minutes. The doughnuts should be soft and not greasy. If the oil is not hot enough, the outside will be tough and the insides greasy. Drain finished doughnuts on paper towels and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve them piled on a dish with more confectioners' sugar dusted over them. Eat them hot if possible.

Christmas Day lunch

Since Dad was not able to be home for Christmas we brought a little Christmas to the hospital.

A couple more pages from the Rietdyk Christmas

Christmas 2011

Did a couple of digital layouts while sitting by my dad's hospital bed overnight.

Merry Christmas to one and all

Where ever you are, how ever you spend

the time, remember the ones you love because we never know what life has in store for us.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Family scrapbook

Jenna and I just went through our scrapbooks and took photos of over 90 pages. Over 18 years of family history.

Working on a digital recipe book

This is not a Christmas gift but I thought it would be fun to do a Favourite Holiday Recipe book.
I used a free download at http://www.shabbyprincess.com/downloads/holidayrecipe/holidayrecipe... and added it as a photo box. Then added ingredients and directions.
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Happy Thanksgiving to our American friends

Chocolate chip cookies

Jenna decided to make Chocolate Chip Cookies. All she needs me for these days is to crack the eggs. They taste yummy Jenna. She asked why I took a picture. I told her it is for our Favourite Recipes Book. Next time we'll make a double batch and hide them for Christmas

Summer 2011

based on a sketch from www.pagemaps.com

Summer 2011 digital pages

2 more based on pages done by Heather Summers were based ones done by Heather Summers http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather

More digital pages

I always thought I would not like digital scrapbooking. While I am not ready to give up the traditional paper, chipboard, ribbon and buttons, I am having fun using my computer for the digital versions. I think the greatest advantage is you can change the size and crop of your photos so easily.

The Sailing layouts were based ones done by Heather Summers http://stampwithheather.typepad.com/stamp_with_heather/ using Stampin Up's My Digital Studio. Heather often shares digital projects as well as stamped projects on her blog. I visit it every day and am amazed at how she can always come up with new ideas.

The free digital kits were downloaded from http://www.computerscrapbook.com/.

I used Raging Seas, and Sea Swept.