NaBloPoMo Day 30 Sweet moments with Little Man

Tonight the kids and I made rice krispy treats for their lunches....they are supposed to be for lunches but I think we all know they won't make it to tomorrow.
We got them in the pan and let them setup on the counter. I had already given the kids a share while we were watching Shrek the Halls.

Little Man came over a few minutes later and asked "Mommy, can we have more Christmas Treats?" :) So sweet!

NaBloPoMo Day 29 Sunday

Reminder: 1 more day to leave a comment on my 900th post to be entered to win a $10 gift card to Hobby Lobby.

Oh, Sunday day of rest how I love thee. :)

Today was a restful day even if we did not rest rest. We went to church and came home for leftover turkey enchiladas. We went to the Nashville International Car Show because I had free tickets and it was kids free day. I had free tickets due to giving blood but I was signed up to give blood before finding out about the tickets.

We dug all of the Christmas decorations out of the attic, tested lights and decorated our slightly lopsided Christmas tree. Most of the ornaments are clumped about the 3 foot mark and we lost our star wars ornament but I wouldn't have it any other way. This is the first year Little Man has been super excited about decorating and was thrilled to help out. Munchkin is the one who broke the ornament and felt horrible about it. But, it is was it is and it was an accident. I made sure she was ok and let her know I knew it was an accident and cleaned it up.

Dinner was turkey tetrazinni and the punch I forgot to make for Thanksgiving dinner. I got a resounding nod of approval to make this recipe again.

Last week I read Anne of Green Gables: Beginnings and today I have read half of Anne of Green Gables. At Goodwill a few weeks ago I found the next 2 books for about ninety cents each so I am excited to read them in the coming weeks.

Now we need to get our sweet babies to bed for they have school tomorrow and I am not looking forward to getting them up. Hopefully going to bed on time will help them get up in the morning. I suppose we shall see. :)

Happy decorating!

NaBloPoMo Day 28 Oh Tannenbaum

I convinced my hubby that we should get a tree today. Normally we are out of town this weekend so it seems early for us to decorate. However, our next door neighbor has all of their Christmas decor up and we are starting to look like scrooges.


It did not take long to find a tree because it is early. We found a fluffy Douglas fir that is perfect for our house. While shopping I thought I might be able to get a few cute pics of the kids. I took a lot. There were a couple of good ones. You can see the some of the "outtakes" at the bottom of the post.

Hubby and the kids with our purty tree.
outtakes:

NaBloPoMo Day 27 Analytics

I know I did this awhile back but I think it is time to do it again. I use Google Analytics to see how you are getting to my blog. I am not that tech savvy so I know I am not utilizing it as well as I could but I like seeing where you are coming from.

Keywords that are popular:
Locks of Love - I hope this is helpful for people who want to donate their hair to this amazing organization
7th birthday prayer
emotional turmoil
Apple Cherry Chutney - I think this one is kind of funny because the person searching for this was from Michigan and the recipe I used was from a cookbook from Michigan.
Hello Kitty Pops - I am sure they were looking for Bakerellas but got mine..sorry! :)
Precocious moments - kids say funny things.
80's bunco party - my group looked like totally awesome in the pictures
ameretti cookies and World Market - these are delicious little cookies
azusa, ca "trick or treating" best neighborhood - I hope they ended up going to APU for their trick or treating
beth moores denomination -
brezinka twitter - a friend and neighbor
chicken pox party, chicago - Sorry we aren't close but we did try to infect a neighbor...
bounce factory, nashville - haven't been here in quite sometime. Is the one in Anticoch still in business?
fort negley - Fun, your should go. :)
gigi's cupcakes - Delicious. There is now a kiosk at Opry Mills.

Where you are:
Canada (Hi Sherri!)
Cambridge, Kelowna, Edmonton, West Vancouver, Orillia, Ft. Erie, Bramalea, Don Mills, Port Moody, Victoria
United Kingdom - London, Glasgow (I lived in Kilmacolm when I was a wee lass), Poole, Manchester, Edinburgh
Philippines - Mandaluyong, Cebu
Australia - Sydney, Perth, Brisbane
Singapore
France - Paris, Nantes
Latvia - Daugavpils
Mexico - Guadalajara , Sahuayo
Croatia - Zadar, Split
Germany - Berlin, Sulzbach
India - Bangalore
Netherlands - Hoogeveen , Leeuwarden
Malaysia - Petaling Jaya , Kuala Lumpur
Taiwan - San-Ch'Ung
Maldives - Male
Slovania - Ljubljana
Costa Rica - Heredia
Portugal - Porto
Denmark - Arhus
Greece - Athens
Columbia - Bogota
Japan - Urasoe
Austria -Korneuburg
United Arab Emirates
Ukraine - Karkov
Czech Republic - Prague
Saudi Arabia -
Israel - Petah Tiqwa

And of course United states. The majority of you are from California (Hi Mom!) The only states not represented are: Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Mississippi, West Virginia, Delaware, Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island.

Anyway, that is just a little snapshot of what google analytics can show you. :)
I would love to hear from any of you, comments make me feel loved.

Make sure to make a comment before Dec. 1st on my 900th post to be entered to win a $10 gift card to Hobby Lobby!

NaBloPoMo Day 26 Thankful

There will be hundreds upon hundreds of blogs about thankfulness today. They are all special to the people who are writing them. I am so glad to read about the things people are thankful for since so much of the time it is hard to see it.

A few things I am thankful for:

First and foremost my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am unabashedly a follower of Jesus Christ. And since I am not a rock star I don't have to put that in my liner notes or mention it on the Grammys to look cool.

I am thankful for my husband who loves me without measure. He is a sweet daddy to our kiddos, cleans bathrooms and plays a mean guitar.I am thankful for each of my children. They are so special in their own ways. I love that they climb in my lap and tell me they love me. I love that they are stretching and growing into amazing little people.I am thankful for my mom who raised me to know Jesus and to understand that I could do anything I put my mind to.

I am thankful for my stepdad who has an infectious laugh, a sweet spirit and silly sense of humor. I love that he in is my life and that he is my dad!

I am thankful for my mother in law and my father in law. They are shining examples of solid Christians in this crazy world.

I am thankful for all of my sisters, sister in laws and brother in laws. They are all hilarious and make me laugh!

I am thankful for each and every one of my friends that love me for who I am and who challenge me to be a better person.

I am thankful for Johnny Appleseed Pie and Cornmeal Crescent rolls, a roof over my head and the laughter that fills the house.


I hope your holiday is filled with love and laughter and time to reflect on the people and things you are thankful for.

NaBloPoMo Day 25 Pictures from TWD

Over the last couple of weeks I have made my TWD recipes but not posted pictures...mostly because I am a slacker and hadn't finished them. I did make the molasses dough but didn't bake them for a week. Then I was planning on making the crisp and couldn't get to the store for cranberries. Supplies I had on hand had to do.

So without further ado here are the photos of my Cran Apple Crisp Raspberry Apple Chocolate Peanut Butter Crisp and my Sugar Topped Molasses cookies.

These ended up being square because this is what they looked like on the cookie sheet. They spread...a lot.

Since I didn't have cranberries I used some freezer burned raspberries and added some delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter because who doesn't love those two things?

This right here is delish! You will want to eat it right out of the jar. Go right now and get some!

The cookies disappeared quickly. My individual crisp for me disappeared quickly but the one the kids shared stayed in the fridge with a few bites taken out of it. I didn't even attempt the crisp for my hubby, I didn't think he would eat it. Overall I think I will make both of these again sometime.

NaBloPoMo Day 24 {TWD} Caramel Chestnut Cake

Thank you to Katya from Second Dinner for choosing this weeks recipe. I have been drooling over the picture in the book since I got it. I had no idea how involved it was because I couldn't get past the photo to actually read the recipe. Now, you are going to have to pretend there are photos until tonight. My sweet husband took the camera with him so he could take pictures of Little Man by his star at school. This year, the kids school is learning a different virtue each week. A child from each class that displays that virtue gets a star on the virtue wall and has the treat of sitting on the stage for lunch. Munchkin was chosen for Peacefulness and got to sit on the stage a few weeks ago.

This weeks virtue is Kindness and Little Man was chosen from his class. Not only did he get that honor it was his day to take in snack for his class. I made these:

On to the cake. This is an expensive, time intensive cake to make. And I didn't even spend as much time as I needed to. Why? Oh because I forgot the entire step where you add an extra 2 and 1/4 cups butter to the caramel chocolate ganache and let it sit in the fridge over night before putting the cake together.

Instead of making a square cake and baking for 48 minutes and then sawing the layers apart, I baked my cake on a 17.25 inch cookie sheet and cut it into 3 sections. I probably should have trimmed the edges but didn't think about that until after the fact.

The caramel chocolate ganache is so tasty I think I could sit down and eat it all in one sitting and then have a horrible stomach ache and just not care. yes, it was that good. Maybe that is why I forgot the extra butter. But again I am getting ahead of myself.

On Saturday I cooked and peeled the chestnuts that would go in the cake and adorn the top...with a little help from my hubby.

Sunday, since Munchkins spots were still fading from chicken pox, we stayed home from church so I could bake. I forgot to add chopped chestnuts to the first layer but made sure to add them to the second layer.

The last layer of ganache had to sit at room temperature until it was thick but still pourable. After 6 hours it was still pretty thin but I poured it over anyway creating a nice puddle under the cooling rack. After sitting in the fridge for a little while everything firmed up nicely. I added my gold luster dust coated chestnuts to the top and took a few photos.

Here are my monkeys cleaning up the puddle of ganache.

It looks delicious! Now I hope it lasts until Thursday when we cut into it. Come back tonight so you can see the lovely photos of this extravagant cake!

NaBloPoMo Day 23 Before and After

Here is the tornado struck kitchen before clean up:

After cleaning up the giant mess:

NaBloPoMo Day 22 Kitchen

My kitchen looks like a tornado hit it. We are having a couple of friends over for Thanksgiving so I am starting to prepare. Of course the cake I am making today may not make it until Thursday. It is my Tuesdays with Dorie cake and I am fairly certain I have been in the kitchen for 4 hours making this cake...and the mess. The dishes, oh the dishes. Is there anyone who would like to come being my personal dishwasher? I have already run the electric one once this morning and it didn't even make a dent. All I have to say is this cake better be worth it. The gold dusted chestnuts that I just finished painting will hopefully make the cake look very pretty.

I <3 baking. I do not <3 the cleanup. :)

NaBloPoMo Day 21 My 900th Post and a giveaway

Good morning world!

It is the Saturday before Thanksgiving. The sun is shining, my daughters chicken pox spots have faded and this is my 900th post.

To celebrate I am giving away one $10 gift card to Hobby Lobby (the craft store not the airplane store). I love Hobby Lobby and the expanse of craftiness they have.

To enter leave a comment and December 1st I will draw a name from a hat for a winner.


*Hobby Lobby has no idea who I am but I <3 them. :)

NaBloPoMo Day 20 Housebound

One would think that I got a ton of stuff done at my house this week. Munchkin and I have been pretty housebound due to the chicken pox. We had to leave to pick up Little man from school but otherwise have stayed in. NPT says kids need outdoor unstructured play every day. Munchkin made sure to let me know that since we have been inside. I suppose I could have let her play in our backyard but it has been a little chilly. Well, not that chilly.

Anyway, even with Munchkin sick (not acting sick) I have loved being home this week. Just to get to spend quality time with her has made me happy.

One of these days maybe I will get to be home with my babies again.

NaBloPoMo Day 19 Pumpkins

I know I kept saying I was going to post pictures of our pumpkins and here they are finally a week out from Thanksgiving. Munchkin won the beast sitting next to her out at Pumpkin Hill by guessing the closest weight. It was 68 pounds and looked much bigger sitting on its end with her on the table next to it. It weighs 22 pounds more than she does.

Not only did she win the pumpkin, it won our neighborhood carving contest as well! Lucky Pumpkin! :)

This pumpkin was carved by Munchkin. She did a fantastic job but we carved the Monday night before Halloween so by the time candy day rolled around its name became "My Head Esplode"!

This was Little Mans pumpkin. What you can't see is the other side was carved like Darth Vader. The mouth hole you see there was actually carved the night we carved all the pumpkins because it was already starting to mold a bit that night. I figured if I got the moldy part out it would survive. The eyes were added to this side after Darth Vaders face mushed in.
This guy makes me laugh because I think he looks a little bit like Gonzo. He looked scared of our big maama jaama pumpkin. This was all hubbys doing!
It's too bad you can't see this goofy guys nose in this picture. He was pretty fun to carve. There were surprisingly few guts to pull out and was easier to clean because I could actually get my hand in there.

Munchkin had a blast helping out with the pumpkins this year. It is really the first year she has helped a whole lot. At first she didn't want to touch the guts but eventually got her hands in them and wouldn't leave them alone. She is my child that will play all day in the dirt.
Little Man carved a bit but didn't want to touch the guts. Nope, not a play in the dirt kind of boy.
I can't wait to see what my kiddos will come up with next year for their pumpkins! :)

NaBloPoMo Day 18 Almost Wordless Wednesday

Can you guess what crazy disease this is?

NaBloPoMo Day 17 Songs that made me cry

yesterday...

I Wish by Point of Grace



Just another day in Paradise by Phil Vassar

And My Front Porch Looking in by Lonestar


Listen and weep. :)

NABloPoMo Day 16 Thanksgiving Dinner Ideas

Over the last 8 years I have cooked 1 big Thanksgiving dinner. That, I think, was the first year we lived in Tennessee. We invited a bunch of friends from church to share a meal with us before we headed off to Texas for what would become an annual family tradition. This year none of are able to get together so we are on our own and I find myself thinking about what to make for Thanksgiving.
When I think back to the things my mom made I think of Johnny Appleseed pie and Cornmeal Crescent rolls. I have made those in the past few years so I know they are going on my list.
My preliminary menu includes:
Rosemary Roasted Turkey
Garlic Mashed potatoes (with some that don't have milk and butter for our dairy free friend)
Green Bean Casserole (which Munchkin will not eat, it is her least favorite food)
Ambrosia salad
Cornmeal Crescent Rolls
Sweet potatoes
Veggie tray (for snacking)
Deviled eggs
Cranberry sauce
Gravy
Johnny Appleseed Pie
Chocolate Satan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

What am I missing? And, what are your favorite recipes for Thanksgiving?

NaBloPoMo Day 15 A Crazy Dream

Hubs and I went to bed early last night..10:30. I don't know why I couldn't get up this morning but it could have something to do with the very involved dream I was having.

For some reason Salient was playing a show at the Scraphouse because it was the last weekend the scrapbooking retreat house was going to be open. We had a youth group there and Mike from Big Daddy Weave was there playing worship. Ryan from This is Reverb was also there taking pictures...he may have been the speaker as well. There were also a couple of people from work there.
We discovered that the house next door was going to be the new scraphouse and that it had scripture painted on the walls. We all looked in the windows and Mike played a song that made me cry while we were reading the scripture. Rosy, Mike Lee and Jason Allen were also there which makes me think there was supposed to be a Dr. Smooth reunion concert later in the day.

A little while later someone said "Ok, let's go!" except that nothing was cleaned up. Any time we left the scraphouse we always ran the dishwasher, swept up our scraps and made sure we didn't leave any of our stuff. In the dream people that hadn't been there before I guess assumed we would leave at three in the afternoon and could leave it a big fat mess. I said we needed an itinerary and people needed to understand they needed to clean up their own messes.

One girl from work said she wasn't happy because she didn't like the other girl from work that was there. That rose tensions for everyone. Then we were back out at the concert and I was sitting in a wagon talking to some woman that was tanned to a crisp. She had some seriously sprayed crazy 80's hair....giant bangs and probably had stock in aquanet. She was laughing because my legs were orange. For some reason I dyed them for Halloween and it hadn't come off yet.

All of a sudden Kevin from The Office walked up and handed me a cupcake shaped like a purple pig and told me to take it to some bakery. I asked him if I could eat it and he said no. I ate it anyway.

Then I was woken up by a small voice asked daddy what time it was. I was exhausted.

NaBloPoMo Day 14 Random Thoughts

I am glad to be blogging more frequently (every day this month) but am finding fewer things to write about except my day.

My subtitle has religion, music, children and other random stuff. So, I suppose I could write about a few of those things.

I have been slacking on my Tuesdays with Dorie. I really want to bake but haven't had the time or the energy.

Munchkin has an extremely loose tooth. She won't let me pull it because it is "fun to wiggle".

Little Man had a birthday party to go to at Glow Golf today. He buried his face in my leg and would not go sit with the other kids. He would not get his face painted and wouldn't even acknowledge people speaking to him. The birthday boy came over and put his hand on his back and told him everything was ok and asked if he would like to see the cake. It made me think this happens at school more than I think it does. At times, I am at a complete loss about what I should do. At conferences his teacher said socially things were difficult for awhile but that he was fine now. I just want him to be happy..

I would like to be a photographer but need a new camera....and some classes. I have been eyeing the new Digital Canon 50D with 15.1 mega pixels. I know most of my pictures I post are not great quality but I have been told I have a good eye. Is the industry too saturated for a hack like me?

My cat has decided that she must sleep on me, all night long. It doesn't matter if I sleep on my back or front she is sleeping on me. If I roll over she just acts like it is a log rolling competition and moves as needed. She is losing a bunch of hair. Every fall she looks a little scraggly. I am not sure if it is because of the weather change or what but, I think she is allergic to something.

Hubs is going to the Titans game tomorrow. A friend just called with an extra ticket. That should be fun! :)

The Lifechurch message tonight and tomorrow is on speaking in tongues. Growing up in Baptist churches this was a spiritual gift that was ignored or swept under the rug. I don't remember learning about tongues until I was in college. Then I thought it was weird. I know as Christians we are gifted with Spiritual Gifts. My strong ones tend to be mercy, teaching, and discernment. I am interested to see what the message tomorrow will be like.

Just in case you didn't know, black lights will show every bit of sugar you dumped on your red shirt from the Aunt Anne's pretzel you ate before the movie you saw today. No matter how many napkins you used to get it off.

The piranha feeding at Stingray reef is far less impressive than you might think it would be.

Until tomorrow...

NaBloPoMo Day 13 Nails on a chalkboard

The one sound in the world that absolutely makes me want to go postal is the sound of dogs barking. I can understand a little warning bark here or a "Here's the mailman" bark there. But, when it is woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.............woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof...woof, woof, woof, woof........woof, woof, woof, woof, woof, woof for 3 hours straight I get a little on edge.
All of a sudden the little dog in the neighborhood that has been doing that for 3 hours has been silent for a full 5 minutes. Please Lord let it stay that way. I am at peace once more.

NABloPoMo Day 12 I Left My Wallet in El Segundo

NaBloPoMo Day 11

A brief conversation with my son.

Me: Hey Boo! How are you tonight?
Little Man: goo(d)
Me: How was My Gym today?
Little Man: goo(d)
Me: What was your question today?
Little man: Daddy, what was my quesion today? I don't know my quesion.
Me: Ok, I love you sweetie pie
Little man: I love you too mommy! Want to talk to Munchkin?
Me: Sure

The part of this conversation that stood out to me most outside of I love you mommy was asking daddy about the question. He was so clear and concise and sounded like a little boy without speech issues. He is so sweet and I am so glad he is getting speech at school. It is helping tremendously!!

Stepping up on the soapbox: If you have any question about how your child is progressing in the physical development or in speech please talk to your doctor. Here in Tennessee there are early intervention programs that last until age three that are free to your child. Please utilize them and get what your child needs! Thank you and I will now step off my soapbox.

NaBloPoMo Day 10 and {TWD} Cran Apple Crisps

I am planning on making my Cran Apple Crisps for dinner tonight. They look delicious on everyone elses page. However my daughter and my husband "don't like cooked fruit" so I make have to make a slight alteration to theirs.....we'll see. :)

Last night was crazy at work. Someone decided it would be a good idea to pull the fire alarm so we would have to evacuate the building. I am not sure what people are thinking when they do something like that. It really messes up things for everyone else. Once we got back in the building we were able to close up and go home around 10:15.

Come back and check out my photos of my cran-apple crisp! :)

NaBloPoMo Day 9 A Day for me

Well, not a whole day mind you but a couple of hours anyway. I am not sure when the last time I did something just for me was that didn't include taking a shower, watching TV or playing on the computer. I just don't take time for me because for some twisted reason I don't think I need it or deserve it. Because I am away from my family so much for work I would rather hang out with them and feel like time away from them breaks my heart...co-dependent much?

Things have been tight lately so it has not been an option to just go hang out at Starbys and drink overpriced coffee while reading the latest and greatest gossip magazine. This morning though I went to take care of a bill and got a nice surprise. It was about 1/4 the amount that I thought I needed to pay. Now, I could have thrown the extra at another bill but we have a car in need of an O2 sensor and an exhaust manifold. Hubs was quoted around $900 for the repair. I went to Auto zone to find out the price of the parts and called a local guy who said he would charge $77 for labor. The parts were still $300. Since I knew we wouldn't be spending $900 I decided to head over to Goodwill.

I ended up spending $6 on a shirt and 3 books. I would have bought a 4th but Black Beauty had apparently been used to stash something in it. The pages were cut out like you would see in the movies. I spent $3 at Panera and sat and read one of my new Goodwill finds.

After having lunch with my Munchkin I ran home and changed for work. Hubs called to let me know that they were only going to fix the O2 sensor because they were able to get the old one out without stripping the threads. Grand total parts and labor: $187. Woo hoo! I felt even less guilty about the $6 trip to Goodwill. :) Later I got a text from my hubby stating that it takes 33 minutes to walk from the car shop to our house. A few minutes later I got another text saying it took 36 minutes to fix the car. Doh!

Now I am at work anticipating the end of the work day. It has been a good day but I miss my family and can't wait to get home to them. I am thinking about what to write tomorrow and wondering if I will be too lazy to bust out my thumb drive with pictures to post....we'll see.

If you would leave a comment I would love to hear from you. It will make me feel special..Hi Mom! :)

NaBloPoMo Day 8 Locks of Love

For the last couple of months I have been thinking about chopping my hair off. It had gotten really long and was to the point that my husband would roll on it at night making me wake up
from a dead sleep in serious pain. My kids somehow kept managing to try and bald me, not on purpose of course. And, every collared shirt or hoodie gave me knots that were not to be reckoned with.This morning I took a look around the interwebs trying to find a photo of heart shaped face haircuts. I do have a heart shaped face right? That is what I was told at a Mary Kay party anyway. Instead of printing off Reese Witherspoon or Christina Ricci I found a photo from my facebook page from about 7 years ago. I was at the Dove awards with my hubby, the band and the other band waives and I looked hot! At least I remember getting quite a few compliments that night. The other wives and I looked like Rock Star Wives! Anyway, I printed the picture and my daughter said "Hey, mommy! That looks like you, only with different hair!" Glad you see the resemblance dear. One more kid later and no hair cut for a couple of years and you are seeing the end result.
After church hubs and I took the kids to Qdoba. We had a buy one get one free coupon and spent less than we could have at McDonalds. My handy dandy Citipass also had a coupon for a day spa in the same complex. The coupon was for $10 off a haircut OR I could get a free haircut with any color job. The haircut was $51. The color was $89. Um.....hm no wonder I haven't had a haircut in quite sometime. My friend Angela had raved about Monique at Great Clips so that is where we went (we are on a budget here people! $10 is a good price for us at the moment). I explained to Monique (who I am quite certain is not the same Monique Angela told me about) that I wanted to do Locks of Love. She got out her measuring comb and sure enough, there was enough hair for donation. The rubber band was placed, a large amount of hair was hacked off and the real haircut began. Monique did a pretty good job of making my new do look like the photo I took in but it is a little bit shorter. That is Ok though, it is hoodie season and now my hair won't tangle like it has been.

I have been wanting to do Locks of Love for quite some time. I am glad that I finally got to do it. If you don't know about Locks of Love you can go here to find out more!

When I went to the counter Monique said there was no charge since it was for Locks of Love! Not expected at all. At least I had cash on me for a tip. I think she did a nice job and will go back to her. :)