{Thanksgiving}

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!

Slooooow Down

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

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:

Trick or Treat

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!




On our way...


Mr. Soldier...


Sir, Yessir!


Miss Bumblebee


...and her mad face.


Have a great week!

Hooked.

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!

Crab

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:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Put the cream cheese, crab meat, chopped green onion, garlic powder, onion powder, and hot sauce in a bowl, and stir until mixed well.
   
3. 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.
   
4. Spray the muffin tin again (yes, with the wrappers in them, this helps them get brown)
5. Place the Wonton wrappers in the oven for 5-10 minutes, until they start to get golden brown.
6. 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)
7. Place back into the oven for another 5-10 minutes, until the mixture gets nice and bubbly.
8. While the Wontons are in the oven, you can make the dipping sauce: Mix the Apricot preserves, with the sweet chile sauce...
9. 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.
10. 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!

Enjoy.

Pumpkins!

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.