I hope by now that everything is settling down for y'all and you're ready to enjoy Christmas with your families. As usual, I got everybody's Christmas cards made...but my own. :) After 7 years of marriage, you'd think I'd have my act together on getting cards out...but I'm awful at doing that. So, I decided to be tacky...
Here is our 2010 digital Christmas card...
It's the thought that counts, right? May God bless you all and your families this Christmas, and He bring you many blessings in the New Year!
Merry Christmas!
P.S. Here is what will be on our desktop when we get home from church tonight: Santa Tracker
No, I'm not caught up on the laundry...but I feel like I got caught up on everything else! Let the Christmas festivities begin! I even made a batch of Puppy Chow or Muddy Buddies or whatever you call the powdered sugar chex mix stuff.
We've iced some Santa cookies...don't tell Santa what they looked like!
Trey's poor cookie...
I finished Emery's second pair of bling shoes...gotta love Ebay $4.99 shoes!
The other day I saw Missy mention Kids Crazy Christmas on Facebook and her blog and I wondered what it was. I got online and found it at 2nd Baptist here in Houston, and it was FREE. We're all about free in our house! Better yet, their youth team tells the Christmas story in SUCH a cute way, and it was so refreshing to walk out and hear Trey tell what it was all about. Even Joe and I had a great time! Here are a few iPhone pictures of the show. If you can't make it there tonight for the show, definitely put it on your list of things to do next Christmas!
If you look closely, you can see the puppets in the windows...
Glow in the dark dancers...SO fun!
Today we're off to go visit our Nana in a nursing home in Angleton and head to church to work the first of 5 Christmas Eve services! Merry Christmas to y'all!
I've logged in to blogger this week, contemplating what to write about, which is why another week has passed between my posts. I have plenty to say, it just may not be very entertaining.
Let's start with the fact that my laundry is out. of. control. I might actually be more motivated to stay on top of the laundry if my laundry room looked like this...just saying.
{image from a random interior design google image}
My ultimate goal is to have the baskets empty by Sunday...wait, the baskets have NEVER been truly empty. Have yours?
Moving on...I have 3, count them, 3 presents taken care of. That's it. Thank you Amazon for making me not feel like a total failure on December 16th. I will finish my shopping by Tuesday, it is my mission. I'm excited for this Christmas with Trey and Em, because they both are into it.
School is c.r.a.w.l.i.n.g. by this week. It's really strange...when I am at school, time goes by so slooooow. At home, however, it flies by! There is not enough time in the day! I'm giving myself a big pat on the back for getting the tree up, lit, and decorated on my own.
Well, if that's not a boring post, I don't know what is. At least this will buy me a few days before I have to post something meaningful...joking. Here's to tomorrow being Friday, and me being done at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow! I think I can, I think I can...
Well, the 2010 football season ended this past weekend. It was a heartbreaker, as both teams played their tails off, and we only lost by 3 points. I hated to see football season come to an end...for a couple of reasons, 1 being that basketball season is now upon us. Let's not mention Joe had a basketball game last night, Touchdown club dinner tonight, and a basketball tournament Thursday night, Friday night, and Saturday. Nothing says welcome to basketball season like that schedule does. Good thing is, when February rolls around, he is done for the year. Let the countdown begin!
I think I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about my new obsession. Auctions. Holy goodness...if you're a bargain shopper, look no further. They may get me even more excited than a good garage sale! This last Friday was awesome because part of the auction was leftovers from a booth at the Nutcracker Market. They had great Christmas decorations that they were auctioning off in lots. Just to mention one lot that I got: 2 small Christmas trees, and 3 stocking holders...for a grand total of $15. My mom got another lot for $30 {4 big strands of garland, an angel, a tree topper and 2 wreaths}. My final lot I spend $25 on and got a bread bowl, 2 angels, 2 wreaths, and a rooster. You can see most of the stuff in the collage below...
I don't know where the energy came from, but tonight while I was flying solo with Trey and Emery...I got the tree up and decorated. Feels good to have that crossed off the to-do list.
A few of my favorite ornaments...
Our only Radko ornament...Joe's mom got it for us when we got married.
Gotta have the boots...
These snowflakes are pretty, but are quickly becoming my 'un.favorite'...
Glitter is EVERYWHERE...
The little Santa's have a story. My Nana was once obsessed with QVC.
Yes, I'm sure these came from QVC. Yes, they're on my tree....don't judge.
My Nana has been in a nursing home for 2 years and this is my way of having her with us. I like my Santa's.
OH, I can't forget to blog Emery's newest shoes I made. I'm in LOVE.
Not only because they're cute. Also, because these little suckers will cost you at least $50 on Etsy. I made them for $12. Success.
Let the countdown begin...7 more days until we're out for the Holidays!
Well, I survived my first Thanksgiving. :) Thanks to my mom and Joe's mom!
I think I learned from the best. I have watched my mom enough times now, that it really wasn't too tough. The main thing I learned was to get all of your stuff chopped and ready to go prior to preparing and cooking everything. My dishes this year were: the turkey, corn casserole, green bean casserole, rolls, and sweet potatoes {PW's recipe...delicious!}. My mom brought the dressing, oyster casserole, pumpkin gingerbread trifle, and Waldorf salad. We had a table FULL of food, and lots of left overs.
Billie {Joe's mom...aka Grandma}, was a HUGE help with the turkey. She got up with me and helped season it. We used the turkey bags, and it was SO easy. I think the big difference was she made a butter with all different seasonings, and she slid that underneath the skin. I did my part by cutting up little Clementine oranges and quartered an onion and we stuffed the turkey with that. The turkey was YUMMY, and super moist.
On Wednesday, we decided to have a little photo shoot with the kids and Grandma and Papa. Grandma got Emery and Trey THE cutest outfits from My Vintage Baby. We had a good time getting some of these shots. Check out Facebook for the full albums. Here are some of the outtakes. Yep, those are my 2...if you know them, then you know that is about how it is, ALL of the time.
Don't be surprised if this is our Christmas card this year...
I hope y'all had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday. We are still fast and furious, as football season is STILL going. Round 4, here we come!
Let me know when there is a magic potion to slooooow down the hours in the day. I think that would come in super handy! It's sad when Joe and I are running around the morning that the maid comes to pick stuff up. His response this morning was, "Aren't we paying her to do that?!" I am just getting thru the day waiting for the second I pull into my garage and get the whiff of Fabuloso. You know you have a good house keeper when your garage smells good!
Moving on. Thanksgiving is at my house this year. First. Time. Ever. I am responsible for the turkey. I think I need to have Luby's on speed dial just in case.
I am making these, and I'm super excited. PW is my idol. I'm just going to throw that out there. In my next life, I want to live the ranch life.
Will y'all say a little extra prayer for our sweet friends? Their maternity shoot is still one of my favorites, you can check that out here.
Are y'all 'linked' out yet...because I could keep going.
I think I will keep going. I'm super excited to do a photo shoot with Trey and Emery in the next week or so. Grandma got them some AWESOME outfits from My Vintage Baby. I was going to show you which dress, but I think I like the element of surprise for this one.
I finally cleaned out Trey and Emery's drawers. Happy to see those 4 trash bags FULL go to great friends! That just means that all of my garage sale/consignment finds can finally go INTO their drawers. I have hit the jackpot in the last couple of weeks for their clothes. Last week at a garage sale, I found a lady who was selling her daughter's clothes {all Em's size}, for $1 or less a piece. Oh, don't let me forget to mention that they were all Gymboree, Miss-Tee-V-Us, and other boutique brands. SCORE.
I guess that's enough random-ness for one day. Joe's team plays tomorrow at 6...I'll let you guess how excited I am that I have a babysitter for the game!!!!!!!!! {the exclamation points should give you a hint!}
Veteran's Day. I really can't put into words the special place that the military holds in my heart. Earlier this year, I attended a ceremony for soldiers returning home from serving a 12 month tour. Whoa, talk about touching. I had to definitely choke back lots and lots of tears while I was taking pictures...It hit home for me, because I have a hard time making it thru football season without Joe home during normal hours. After attending the home coming ceremony, I told myself that I would work really hard to not complain about the hours he puts in at the office! At least he gets to come home every night. These families sacrifice countless hours away from the ones they love, to protect us. I wish we treated every day like Veteran's Day, they deserve it.
I thought I would share this poem because it hits home for so many.
The Bravest Man I Know
by Amanda Whitney
The bravest man I know.
Is a man I've never met.
He's a man who risks his life
To save a friend,
Not only to save a friend,
But to save a nation.
Risking his life
For those he does not know.
Stepping up
Leaving loved ones behind,
So that somewhere,
Someone else won't have to.
He is a man who follows orders
Even though he knows he might die.
The bravest man I know.
Is the man who would rather die,
So one more person could go home
To see his family again.
The man who stares death in the face,
But never blinks.
The bravest man I know.
Is the man who risks his life
So one day the world may be a better place for his children.
Or any man who goes against his biggest fear.
DEATH
Just to save someone he loves.
The bravest man I know.
Is the man who fights
So another man can have the taste of sweet freedom.
Not fighting only for his own benefit,
But for many others all over the world,
Fighting to make this world a better place.
That's the bravest man I know.
Here are two of the bravest men I knew. My grandfather...
...and my dad.
This is a scrapbook page that I did for a Veteran's wall at my school. My dad served not one, but two tours of Vietnam.
Hopefully, tomorrow we all take the time to stop and honor the men and women that provide us our freedom. I know my high school students will, because I'll make them. :) We're going to watch this video:
We had a great time Sunday trick-or-treating with the kids. Joe got home earlier than expected, which during football season is a rare occurrence! I had fun making Emery's costume, while TJ Maxx was nice enough to supply me with Trey's costume. Up until Thursday, I thought Emery was going to be a wingless bumblebee! No one was selling wings separately (other than Etsy, and I didn't have time to get them in...I'm last minute like that)...and I was definitely not spending $30 for the full costume to get the wings! Thank goodness Party City came thru in the end, and it was the best 10 bucks I've ever spent! Enjoy the pictures!
Hooked on what you might ask? AUCTIONS. Oh. my. word. My mom convinced me to go to a model home furniture auction Sunday afternoon. I've heard great things about the auction, so I was definitely excited. I really needed a console table for one of our walls. Well, there were 3 I liked. Did I mention this was an ENTIRE warehouse full of FABULOUS furniture and accessories? I was on a bit of a schedule and couldn't stay all afternoon, so I refused to get my hopes up that I'd get my table. My mom on the otherhand, was hell bent on a mission. Her table came up within the first 45 minutes. Wham, bam, thank ya ma'am...she got her table for $300 less than what she was going to pay for it at Star!
The tables I had found that would make me happy were on the complete opposite side of the room from the direction they were pulling, and I was running out of time. Then it happened. There was another table, just like the one I wanted. It got moved up to position...and then, they started sitting accessories on it for people to bid on. It was 3 o'clock at this point. Starting to sweat (did I mention there was no AC?)...I kept willing them in my head to lift that table and let me bid. They finally held up my table and started the bidding. I was not leaving without it. I had sat there for 2 1/2 hours, I was sweating, and by golly...I GOT MY TABLE. How sad is it, that when I won, I looked down at my hands...they were shaking, I was SO excited. Ridiculous, I know. I am on the lookout for more auctions, because I may enjoy it more than garage sale-ing!
Here's my fabulous new table...I don't know how we did without it for so long!
Here's my mom's new end table. {$500 @ Star...$200 @ Auction!}
Warning. Totally changing the subject now. A couple of weekends ago, my friend Sheila took our family pictures. My mom has been wanting a picture of all of us for a couple of years and we finally got it done. Sheila is AWESOME, and if you're in the Dallas area...book her, you won't regret it.
Here's one of our shots...
Lastly, I had seen this somewhere and wanted something easy for dinner...and something that didn't force me to load and unload the dishwasher. So, that called for mummy dogs and apple slices with the fat free caramel dip. Check out the mummy dogs!
They are super duper easy. 1 can of crescent rolls, and a package of hot dogs. Unroll the crescent roll dough, cut thin strips and wrap a short one around the top of the dog for the 'hat' and then wrap the bottom. Bake for the allotted time on the crescent rolls. The eyes are little dots of mustard, but you could use ketchup if you're not a mustard person. The kids LOVED these...gobbled them right up!
Excuse the pictures, I figured it was time to unload my iphone pics!
Take the b out of crab, and replace it with a p....that was one of the words that flew out of my mouth last night!
I was SO going to be an awesome food blogger today and give you a picture by picture recount of the new recipe I tried last night. No, not the PF Chang's Orange Chicken bag dinner, but the baked crab rangoon that we had along with it. I was so excited, because Joe and I both LOVE crab rangoon. I whipped out my camera and was doing so good taking the step by step pictures...well, kind of. It came time to put the crab stuffed wontons back into the oven, I put my mit on and what-do-ya know, the muffin pan slips and about 6-7 of the crab rangoon fly out into the oven and about 2 of their fillings land smack on the bottom of the oven, sizzling away. I made Emery put her ear muffs on at that point...the girl LOVES to be under my feet in the kitchen. Anyway, I managed to salvage 90% of them. I would change a few of the things I did, but they were still yummy.
I could provide you with a picture, but I'd be hijacking it from someone else's blog, so you'll just have to deal with a no-picture post...
Here's the recipe:
1 - 8 oz block of cream cheese, room temperature (I used fat free)
1- 6 oz can of crab meat (FYI...by the tuna)
1 green onion, chopped
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 dash hot sauce
1 package of Wonton wrappers (FYI...in the produce section)
1/4 cup Apricot preserves
2 to 3 tbs of Sweet Chile Sauce (FYI...in the Asian food section)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Put the cream cheese, crab meat, chopped green onion, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot sauce in a bowl, and stir until mixed well.
Spray your muffin tin with cooking spray. Place Wonton wrappers in each spot of the muffin tin, pressing lightly to get a nice inset. Don't press too hard, or you will tear the wrapper.
Spray the muffin tin again (yes, with the wrappers in them, this helps them get brown)
Place the Wonton wrappers in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until they start to get golden brown.
Remove from oven, and place a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture into each of the wrappers. (I used a mini scoop for these, and it worked great)
Place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the mixture gets nice and bubbly.
While the Wontons are in the oven, you can make the dipping sauce: Mix the Apricot preserves, with the sweet chile sauce...
If you like the dipping sauce, the recipe I had says you can spoon it over each one of the wontons. I wasn't sure if Joe was going to like it, so I kept it on the side.
Serve!
The one thing I would change, is to not let the wontons get too done during their first round in the oven. I let them get too brown, and then when the cream cheese was in there, they got a little too done because I was waiting for the cream cheese to bubble. Know what I mean? Anyways, these were yummy, and not fried! Obviously, they're no PF Chang's Crab Rangoon, but they're a good substitute for the budget, and the belly!
Sunday evening I decided we would head to the Pumpkin Patch. I really want to take the kids to Dewberry Farms, but can't bring myself to fork over the almost $40 to get us all in. I missed out on the Groupon that had the tickets half off...oh well. I looked around for other pumpkin patches around us, and stumbled across Old Time Christmas Tree Farm. Don't let the name fool you...each Fall, they do a pumpkin patch along with hay rides, train rides, jumpers, etc. Mimi accompanied me and the kids and it was worth the $3 admission. The rides/games are $2/piece, so I took Trey and Em on one train ride and Mimi treated Trey to a duck race and we called it a day. There's probably enough to keep you entertained for about an hour, which was just right for us. Their pumpkin prices are great too!
Going in the evening meant we had the yummy lighting for pictures...see?
Em found herself a Christmas tree she wanted. Too bad daddy doesn't do real trees...Sorry Em, I've tried for 7 years. However, if you show him your pouty face, you'll probably get a lot further than I would.
Here's my two turkeys on a turkey...
Here's what happens when there is a plane right above us... There is not a one of these pictures that he is looking at me. Boys.
Trey's duck race...
The only way they would get close to the spider was with Mimi...
If you're in the area, I would definitely go check this place out.
Today I thought I'd share a cool photography resource. Love that Shot is a fun site with all sorts of tips and tricks. Right now they are having a Love your Shot Link Up to share your favorite shot of September/October. If you haven't ventured over to my photography blog or site, you may not have seen Mr. Mason. He was a stud muffin. Who does this at 6 days old? Seriously. This is my favorite shot at the moment. Hope you like it as much as I do!
One of the nice things about the link up, is that everyone is sharing tips on how they got the shot. Mason did most of the work and really made my job easy. Mason's house had LOTS of windows, so it made getting the shot indoors very easy. My processing has changed so much since I began my photography journey a year and a half ago. Lightroom and presets are now my new best friend, and I really use Photoshop on a minimal basis, other than resizing for the web. Go check out the Love that Shot link up!
Another week has started, which means we survived another week of football season! We won this past weekend...can I get a hallelujah?! I was threatening Joe that I might have to be committed if the Wildcats lost this weekend. I am not a good loser. I was looking thru the last few posts, and realized y'all may have forgotten what Trey and Emery look like! We went outside {is this weather not fabulous?!} Sunday while we were waiting for Joe to get home from work and had a little impromptu photo shoot...I should have known that Joe wouldn't be home before dark, they have a Saturday - Thursday game turn-around this week...YUCK. Okay, okay, the pictures...
Let me set this stage for you. Trey wants nothing more than for Emery to play tackle football with him. However, if you remember...Emery does NOT like to get dirty {other than taking her dirty diapers off in bed}, so she declines the invitation 98% of the time. In this picture, Trey says to Em, "Emery, take the football and run...I'll tackle you very nicely!"
This is Em's mad face...you're scared, right?!
Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend...get outside and enjoy the weather!
Wednesday night we had some friends over and I decided to be brave and try a new recipe. I wanted pasta, but not the standard lasagna. I scoured thru my usual blogs that I stealborrow recipes from. Nothing was talking to me, so I went to my back up site and struck gold. I had never tried my hand at Chicken Parmesan, but this was SO good. It was probably a few more steps than I would take for a normal weekday meal, but it was worth it! Make this, you won't regret it.
P.S. This recipe uses 4 chicken breasts, I used 6 and had enough breading ingredients to cover them.
On a side note, don't do this before you start.
One roll of paper towels later...
Chicken Parmesan
4 chicken breasts {I used 6}
4 whole eggs
1 cup Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 cups Grated Pamesan cheese
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup olive oil
3 tbs butter
1 1/2 jars Marinara sauce {I used Emeril's}
2 cups shredded Mozarella cheese
Prep:
Put each chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper and pound them out to a uniform thickness, no more than about 1/3-inch thick.
Whisk the eggs in a pie plate to blend. Place the bread crumbs in another pie plate and add cheese to the bread crumbs. Place the flour, salt and pepper in a third pie plate.
Coat the chicken completely with the flour mixture, patting to adhere. Dip the chicken into the eggs, then coat completely with the bread crumbs and cheese mixture, again patting to adhere.
Heat oil and butter in a very large skillet over medium heat. Add chicken, in batches if necessary, and cook until golden brown and the center reaches 150 degrees, about 6 minutes per side. Grease a baking pan with the baking pan with a splash of olive oil and transfer the chicken to the greased pan . Sprinkle with freshly grated parmesan cheese, cover with marinara sauce, and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.
As one of my coaches used to say, "we're still just pluggin' away". {sigh} That sentence just made me shudder...oh, the memories. ANYWAYS...could you please check this guy out? Oh my word, if I didn't have any self control, he may just make me want to have another one. NOT happening, by the way. Mason was AWESOME for his newborn session. I got in some good practice, because I have not one, but 2 sets of twins to photograph in the coming months. SO exciting.
Have y'all checked out Zulily.com? I finally bit the bullet and purchased some boots for Emery a couple of weeks ago...can y'all get over these? I can't.
You have to sign up with your e-mail for the Zulily daily e-mails, but you can find some GREAT deals. I think I paid $20 for those boots, and that was with almost $6 shipping! Well worth the cuteness, don'tcha think?!
That's all the fun I have for today, stay tuned...oh, and say a prayer that the Wildcats can get to 2-2 this weekend. A win means the weekend will be a little more enjoyable at our house!
Whooooops. I've been pretty good about getting with Channa about when our Woods games are. Yeah, not so good this week...totally slipped my mind today! The Woods plays their big rival Saturday night, Cy Fair...{can I please mention how much I don't like Saturday night games...that means win or lose, Sunday is totally SHOT}. Moving on...we're hoping for a turn around this weekend to get out from our 0-2 start. If we lose this game, it will NOT be good.
On a more positive note, I made this today.
Here's to praying for a win this weekend! Hope all goes well with all the other teams out there!
I'll start off with our pre game picture from Saturday evening. To say it was miserably HOT, maybe a bit of an understatement. So, this cute overall outfit didn't even last the first quarter. Luckily, I had a back up 'cooler' outfit in the bag. Oh, and don't mind that Emery already had the bottoms unbottoned before we left.
Moving on...I had to share this one. I'm starting Em off on my fascination with all things Southern Living. I'll have her reading the Paula Deen cookbooks next week.
This evening I decided it'd be fun to do a little mini shoot of the kids in the bathtub. Why, you might ask? Um, no brainer...they're confined and can't run in opposite directions! So, I'll finally get to the title of this post: The Many Faces of Trey & Emery! Enjoy!