Henry as a spider for Halloween

Happy Halloween

freakish store front window downtown

Busy Busy Busy

I guess it's true when they say time flies when your having fun. The past week was very eventful for TaitX3. Jason flew to Kentucky to visit his sister Cassandra and family and to retrieve our new old van that they gave us. You guys are the best. He had a long drive home, about 15 hours. Henry and I are glad he made it back safely.
Henry and I went to Brockton to spend the weekend with my parents. I was so nice spending quality time with them. Hope everyone has a Happy Halloween! We'll post pictures tonight.

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Photos from the past week

Henry and Jason in front of Dunkin Donuts
Henry and his Uncle Michael
Henry and his new hat from Dawn that owns a boutique downtown
At the park

Dancing With The Stars

I totally think that Marie Osmond faked her "faint" for the publicity. Anyone agree with me????

He loves me........

I better enjoy this, because years from now he won't want to.

Hank and Mary's Swing Set

Just wanted to show off my mother-in-law Mary's hard work painting their swing set. She honored all her children with their families name painted on it.. Thank you Mary! We love it and love you!

Our Trip To Russell Orchard

Fun time was had by all on our famiy excursion to Russell Family Orchard. We visited the petting zoo, enjoyed a hayride, tasted several fruit wines, ate warm cider donuts and sat around the pumpkin patch.
Hayride
Henry in the tree
Pumpkin patch
Henry looking at the goats
Hanging out
Bottle of Rhubarb wine waiting to be consumed.

Sunday Sweet " Sticky Cinnamon Buns"

Buns baking in the oven

STICKY CINNAMON BUNS

2 tbsp. dry yeast
1/3 c. light honey
1/4 c. warm water
1 c. buttermilk
4 1/2 to 5 c. whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1/4 c. butter, softened
Salt (add if desired)

FILLING:

1 c. light honey
1/2 c. maple syrup
2/3 c. raisins
2 c. finely chopped nuts
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. butter, melted

In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 teaspoon honey in warm water. Set aside to proof.

In a large bowl, combine buttermilk and remaining honey. Beat 1 1/2 cups flour into buttermilk mixture. Add yeast mixture and continue beating to blend well. Add eggs, butter, and more flour (a little at a time), blending until dough begins to come away from sides of bowl. Dough will be soft.

Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes. Shape into ball; place in an oiled bowl and turn once to oil top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk, about 1 hour. Butter 3 (8 inch) round pans.

To make the Filling: Mix together all ingredients, except butter. Divide filling in half and reserve half. Divide other half into 3 parts and spread evenly over bottom of prepared pans.

Punch down dough; turn out onto floured surface and divide into 2 parts. Keep 1 part covered and roll out other into a 10 inch square. Brush with melted butter and spread with reserved filling. Roll up like a jelly roll, pinching edges of dough into roll. Roll dough a few times to secure edges and then cut into 1 inch slices. Repeat procedure with remaining dough; arrange slices around bottom of pans with each slice nearly touching the next. Cover and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully turn out onto wire racks to cool. Makes 2 dozen rolls.

Savory Saturday "Swiss Enchiladas"

Swiss Enchiladas

* 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken
* 1/2 (4 ounce) can chopped green chilies
* 1 (7 ounce) can prepared green chile salsa
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 cups whipping cream
* oil for frying
* 12 corn tortillas
* 1 1/2 cups shredded Monterey Jack cheese


DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. In a bowl, mix together chicken, chilies, and salsa.
3. In a wide, shallow dish stir together salt and whipping cream.
4. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Fry each tortilla for a few seconds, until it blisters, and immediately dip into cream and salt.
5. Fill fried tortillas with chicken mixture. Roll and place flap side down in a baking dish. Pour remaining cream over tortillas, and sprinkle with cheese.
6. Bake, uncovered, in a preheated oven until cheese has melted, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Martina Apple Picking

Just thought I would show off my brother Anthony's daughter Martina. Isn't she a cutie?

Top Five

Dear Subscribers: On any given day, we enjoy certain material things. For some people those things are golf clubs, and for others, best selling romance novels. The photos below contain some common worldly things that help to define Jason, Kara and Henry Tait from day to day (for the purpose of this exercise, we set aside Jesus, nutritional food, family and other such necessities, figuring everyone needs those things). Enjoy. The Taits.



Jason likes to jog to reduce his stress and belly, read newspapers and write in them, drink coffee, eat cereals and watch movies of all sorts, but mostly his six Star Wars episodes. That list represents Jason's typical day.


Kara likes to listen to upbeat Christian music and sinful rap on the family I-pod while jogging, watch Martha Stewart's show and read her magazine, be creative with her sewing machine, her Fiber One bars for breakfast (which have 9 grams of fiber per bar), and all 10 seasons of Friends.


Henry is a simple creature. He likes his soft blanket, his binky, his juice bottle/sippy cup and Uncle Stephen's old cell phone. He also likes to eat ramen noodles, even though his parents suspect they are not nutritious.

Happy Birthday Adam & Eli

Happy Birthday Adam and Eli. I hope your wildest dreams come true!

Happy Birthday Matt!!!!

Happy Birthday to my nephew and Godson Matthew who turned 14 yesterday!!!! I wish I had a picture of him to post so everyone can see how cute he is. I love you buddy!

Thank you Grammy Mary and Papa Hank

Yesterday as I went to the mailbox to retrieve our mail, I noticed a small brown paper bag package with Henry's name on it and a return address from Michigan. In the package was a cute t-shirt and stickers from Henry's Michigan Grandparents. Henry had fun ripping the bag open!

Nature's Candy

Happy Birthday Uncle Michael!!!!!!

The good news is the food was good and free for the guests. The only bad news affected Uncle Michael -- he's 59, just a year from the big 60. We celebrated Uncle Michael's birthday in Manchester, N.H., Sunday. We had Chinese food, cocktails and chocloate cake, all washed down with a big time New England Patriots win. Henry stayed home with his babysitters, Stephen and Linsey Tait. A good time was had by all.

BIRTHDAY BOY


UNCLE MICHAEL, CHELSEA THE DOG & AUNTY SUSAN


ADAM, UNCLE MICHAEL, ANTHONY


ADAM & KARA


KARA & LISA

Just Around The Corner

It's a gloomy cool day here in Newburyport. The trees are finally turning beautiful shades of red and orange and people are walking around bundled in their sweaters and a Starbucks coffee cup in their hands. I love this time of year. In a couple weeks is Halloween and to me that kicks off the holiday season. We plan on dressing Henry up in some cute costume and taking him around to a select few homes in the neighborhood. A definite stop will be visiting Stephen and Liney who live a stones throw away. Then I plan on sitting on our front steps to pass out candy.
Then comes Thanksgiving. Turkey, yum. We plan on spending turkey day with my family and hopefully partake in a hometown football game. I plan on making some kind of yummy dessert and a side dish for dinner maybe a first course soup or something. I'll have to discuss with my mom.
Then a month away is the most important of all... The celebration of the birth of Our Lord, CHRISTMAS!!!!!! Yeah for Jesus!
Our plans are to spend Christmas in Michigan. We will leave on the 21st and come home on the 26th. It will be nice since Jason hasn't been home for Christmas in many years. I am looking forward to it also. I will miss my family BIG TIME...... I have never missed a Christmas with my family, so I'm sure there will be times that I will be sad. I will miss all of you. I am looking forward watching Henry open gifts this year, hopefully we will see somewhat of a twinkle in his eyes.
Anyways, I hope all of you are getting exciting for the up coming holidays like I am.

A Small Surprise

My husband is great at surprising me with little gifts. After a long day of crazienss, Jason brought home a cute decorated bag with these two adorable salt and pepper shakers in it. I am a lucky women to have such a thoughtful husband.

Wants to talk

I Love My Baby Boy!!!!!!

Caught Red Handed!

Henry likes to turn on the stove. He laughs when I catch him doing it.

Sunday Stroll

Jason relives his glory days. Clare Pioneers Rule!

Stephen and Henry on a walk

Downtown Newburyport

Henry and his Momma

Bath Time!

Amya Beatrice Shaw (Henry's future wife)

Does anyone else thinks it's a bit feminine that my husband takes a bath almost every night? He even uses bubbles!

Savory Saturday "Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage and Toasted Hazelnuts

Pumpkin Ravioli with Sage and Toasted Hazelnuts

1/2 cup peeled hazelnuts
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 pound fresh pumpkin ravioli
1 stick unsalted butter
6 fresh sage leaves
Large pinch grated nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
2 amaretti cookies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread hazelnuts onto a baking tray. Toast hazelnuts in oven until light golden brown and fragrant, about 5 to 7 minutes. Allow to cool completely. Coarsely chop the cooled hazelnuts and set aside.

In a 10 or 12-inch saute pan with high sides, bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil. Add the vegetable oil to prevent the ravioli from sticking to one another. Add ravioli and cook for 4 minutes or until they float to the top. Using a spider strainer, carefully remove ravioli to a large platter and tent with foil to keep warm.

In a small saute pan, melt the butter. When butter is sizzling and starts to brown, tear sage leaves into the pan and fry for about 20 seconds. Remove from heat and stir in nutmeg. Pour butter sauce over ravioli and sprinkle with toasted hazelnuts. Grate amaretti cookies over the dish and serve immediately.

How Jason Likes His Women

Your man (or woman)

Jason and Kara want Willard "Mitt" Romney to be the next president of the United States. We just like the guy. He's smart and articulate. But, some Christians have a problem with him for being a Morman. Have any of you out there dismissed him as a candidate because of his religion? Just curious. I'm not worried about his denomination. It did not affect the way he was governor of Massachusetts.

aaaaaaaaah

Brittney

So, what does everyone think about Brittney Spears losing custody of her children?
I have mixed emotions about it. I feel bad for her because as a mother I couldn't imagine
what my life would be like if Henry was taken from me. She must feel empty.
On the other hand I feel like she should have stayed out of the spot light until she could
straighten out her life. But she lived the high life and now she's paying for the consequences.

Crazy Busy

First I have to apologize for not posting Sunday Sweet recipe. We have been none stop since Saturday morning. We babysat for my sister Suzie's twins while they went to a wedding. It was so nice hanging out with my nieces. Henry loves his cousins. I was bummed out that I left my camera at home so I couldn't take any pictures. We rented "Lucky you" with Drew Barrymore and Eric Bana, I thought it pretty much sucked. Not worth the $4. We ordered pizza... mmmmmm . Sunday afternoon we visited my parents then went to the mall and I bought a new over the shoulder boulder holder, which was desperately needed since after having Henry my boobs have sagged down to my belly button. I feel like a new women.
We got home late Sunday evening and had more pizza... mmmmmm (I have to run an extra 4 miles for all the pizza consumption for the past 2 days).
Henry woke up coughing several times last night which made for a sleepless night for both Jason and myself. He just can't seem to shake his cold. The poor little boo boo. Jason took a personal day today which was great so Henry didn't have to go to work with me. It was nice having Jason home today, he never takes a day off.
Now it's 9:15pm monday, Henry is sleeping and Jason is at Stephen's watching the Patriots vs. Cincinnati. Jason decided to bet Adam Herman $1 (and the Caravan that they supposed to be giving us) that the Patriots will win. Man, I really hope they win, or no wheels for me. I think my husband has a gambling problem..... And for me I am suffering from the after effects of eating too much fiber.

Lullaby

We like to play music for Henry before he goes to bed to calm him down. On this night, it got a little crazy. Sorry for my ear wrenching voice.