Happy Thanksgiving

I would first like to say THANK YOU to my mom & mother-in-law for all the hard work they have done over the years making incredible Thanksgiving feasts. They are both GREAT cooks & I love eating a meal I didn't have to make. This year though I was on my own, I had to actually make Thanksgiving dinner. I have always helped by making whatever side dish I was assigned...Mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie, rolls, etc. But never never had I actually made THANKSGIVING DINNER!!! I was FREAKED OUT for such a huge responsibility, but felt up to the challenge. (Knowing that Boston Market is only 2 miles away gave me some relief, because getting food through their drive-up was my backup plan.) I started the night before making the stuffing & the pies. The next morning Der & I prepped the turkey (Yuck, I hate raw meat) & put "Tom" in to cook for several hours. Luckily I had purchased the worlds most awesome meat thermometer at Target the night before, because as we prepped "Tom" we noticed he didn't come equipped with a pop up timer. Now I am starting to relax, because the pies are done, the stuffing just needs to bake & "Tom" is in the oven. All we have to do now is the mashed potatoes & gravy. To me making the gravy is the most stressful part. I either make it to runny or it looks like Jell-o. I think it was a Thanksgiving MIRACLE, because the gravy did turn out pretty good. We were elated that our Southern friends Shawn & Ashley would be joining us for dinner. (They are from Louisiana, & moved to Chicago about the same time we did for the same reason we did.) And lucky for me Ashley is a good cook & wanted to help by bringing some of their favorite side dishes. She brought Sweet Potato casserole (this was to die for), some sort of broccoli rice casserole (this is a family tradition of hers that was very tasty), deviled eggs (another family tradition), & rolls. We had quite the spread. We had so much food that it wouldn't all fit on the table. Ashley & I were so excited that we had pulled it off, we had made our very first Thanksgiving Dinner & it was DELICIOUS!!

Thanksgiving Tradition

Two years ago I saw the cutest turkey cookies I have ever seen. So the kids & I decided that we were going to make them & take them to Thanksgiving dinner as the kid dessert. We had so much fun making them, that we decided it would be a Thanksgiving tradition. (We didn't do it last year though because we were moving 1/2 way across the United States.) The kids have been talking about this tradition for a couple of weeks now. So this year the night before Thanksgiving we made our cookies. The kids all loved it & the cookies turned out so cute. Keep in mind that I made a few cookies, but most were made by the kids all by themselves.

You Want What For Breakfast?

Lindsey has a hard time deciding what she would like to eat for breakfast. Most days she would like green beans, or corn, or a grilled cheese. I know I should just give her green beans, but I just can't. So finally yesterday she decided on a waffle. Great, waffles are breakfast food, but she wasn't done. She wanted waffles with syrup & a dill pickle!!! Nothing like the smell of syrup & dill pickles in the morning. Maybe she is having sympathy cravings for her Aunt Holly.

I LOVE MY HUSBAND!!!!

Der was patient enough to let all the kids help

You can see my handy work on the wall



All Done

While I was in "Mootah", having a weekend away, my sweet husband was playing super parent. Chauffering the kids, cooking fabulous dinners, trying to keep the house picked up, putting in ponytails & redmodeling. Yes that is right, I said remodeling. The best part of it all, is that he remodeled my office!!!! I know hate is a strong word mom, but I can honestly say I hated the ivy stenciled border that was put up by the previous owner & wanted it to go away. One day (about 9 months ago) I had a little paint left on the roller from the room I was painting and decided I would see how the color looked in my office. I rolled the roller a couple of times & then I was out of paint & that is how it has looked ever since. (Not one of my best decisions.) So while I was away, Derek totally redid my office. He painted, put up new blinds, installed a new ceiling fan, bought new lamps, printed out adorable pictures of the kids, framed them & hung them up all over the office. But that is not all, he even...organized all my stuff. (I have a lot of scrapbook stuff, so this was not an easy job.) Thanks so much Der, I love it!!!! (Cinda, Jennifer & Tracey you guys better come check it out fast before I mess it all up.)

Christmas Music

Yesterday I was talking to my neighbor about Christmas Music. I love Christmas music, my favorite Christmas CD is Home for Christmas by Amy Grant. My FAVORITE song on this CD is Breath of Heaven (Mary's Song). I have listened to that song over & over & over. If you have never heard this song, you so need to check it out on itunes. I am always looking for new Christmas CD's, so please share with me your favorite song or CD!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

BOBA FETT, ARIEL & HSM CHEERLEADER

TAKING TIME OUT FOR A PHOTO OPP

WAITING FOR OUR FRIENDS

THE GREAT CANDY SWAP

All you can eat...

Grayson had the opportunity to go out to dinner with his friends family last night. When he came home he was elated. He said, I am so stuffed, I wont be able to eat breakfast tomorrow. I ate a mini hamburger, two pieces of pizza, mashed potatoes with gravy, french fries, chocolate & vanilla ice cream, some chocolate ball thing, a coconut cookie & a few other desserts. Where did he have such a feast? Well it was none other than Golden Corral. Our poor kids have been deprived all this time, because Derek & I both despise buffets. We have many reasons for not visiting these eating establishments, but we will save them for another day.

Carving Pumpkins

Last year we didn't get to carve pumpkins. Derek was living in Illinois, while I was trying to sell our house. The day before Halloween the kids & I were on our way home to carve pumpkins & the realtor called & asked if we could show our home. So instead of carving pumpkins we ended up driving around waiting FOREVER for this family to leave. It all worked out in the end though because they ended up buying our home. This year I was not going to let pumpkin carving escape us again. (Mainly because the kids were so sad about not being able to do it last year.) We all had a great time, except for the part where you have to reach your hand into the slimy pumpkin & get all the guts out. This was so disgusting to Abby & Lindsey. We were so proud of Abby & Gray, because they were able to carve their own pumpkins this year. Good Job Peeps!! Derek was especially proud of his pumpkin this year. He drew on a spider & a spider web. This was pretty intricate & took A LOT of time to carve.