Our weekend in Photos

After traveling for Thanksgiving, we are back and since I have piles of laundry to attend to and decorations to put out, I am going to give you a quick peek of our holiday.

We spent Thanksgiving day with both my and my husbands families.

Did some shopping on black friday.

Hit the lighted parade in the evening. My favorite part, besides being with my family, the fire from the hot air balloons... minus the balloons.  Ahhh, warmth on a chilly November night.

Hubby went hunting.

Celebrated a 80th birthday.

Good food, Family and Friends.  What more could a girl want?

I don't think so.

I went to the store the other night, to get a couple things for Thanksgiving.

When I was checking out the cashier checking customers out in the lane next to mine leaned over and said, "Has anyone ever told you you look like Amanda Bynes?"

Me: "Umm, No and I would guess I have a few years on her."

Cashier: "Well, you do and you don't have to tell people you are older than her."

I said thanks, took my items and went on my way. When I got home I was compelled to google Miss Bynes. Yep, thats who I thought she was. And nope, I'm not seeing the resemblence.



Oh, did I mention I was buying wine?

I think he must have been tasting the product!

Well at least he didn't say her (nothing against her ~ so take no offense!):

Hmmm, what are your thoughts?

And who have you been told you look like?

Crock~Pot Oatmeal

Looking for a yummy, warm, easy breakfast for those cold fall and winter mornings?

Like oatmeal?

Look no further ~ I aim to please:

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal

(as found in my parents hometown newspaper ~ with a few subtle changes)

Gather your ingredients:

Turn it on (I actually set a timer to turn it on so it doesn't overcook).

Then go here:

Well, not here exactly because that would be creepy, but you know what I mean.

Add in the brown sugar that you didn't add in last night ~ because you wern't suppose to (I don't know why, thats what the recipe says to do.)

Prepare your toppings

Now doesn't that look YUMMY!

Oh, and we can't forget to clean up:

Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal

3 1/2 cups water

2 cups apple juice

1 cup steel-cut oats

1/2 cup regular barley (NOT quick cooking)

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup brown sugar

Toppings (all of course are optional, but if you ask me the pecans, apple and honey (and I don't typically like honey) make the oatmeal!):

1/3 cup coarsely chopped pecans, toasted (if desired)

coarsely chopped apple (1-2 apples)

honey

milk

~ Line a 3 1/2 - 4 quart slow cooker with a disposable slow-cooker liner.  IN slow cooker, combine water, apple juice, oats, barley, cinnamon, ginger and salt.

~ Cover and cook on low heat setting for 6-7 hours.  Before serving, stir in brown sugar.  Top with pecans and apples.  Serve with honey and milk.

*Makes about 8 servings.

Update on our Thankful Jar

If you remember, we recently made a "We are thankful jar". In it I put slips of things we are thankful for and something we can do to acknowledge these things. 

It is going very well.  Every morning Sassy and Action take turns pulling out a new slip during breakfast. 

Here are 3 examples of how things went:

One that made me crabby:

The kids pulled out a slip that read:

We are thankful for our Grandparents
Write a letter or draw a picture and mail it to them

Easy enough right?

Well,  Sassy didn't like the way Action signed his name on one of the pictures so she began erasing it ~ keep in mind he DOES NOT like to write.  He yelled at her, she poked him with her pencil, he started hitting her and I was just trying to remember what we were thankful for as I was yelling back at them telling them nicely to knock it off and treat each other respectfully.


One that made me giggle:

Since they usually remember to pull a new slip out each morning, I was surprised this day that I had not yet heard what we were thankful for.

It was a Saturday, so I figured they maybe forgot.  I asked Action if he had pulled one out because it was his turn.  He replied sheepishly,  "no".  About 1 minute later he came up to me and said,  "I did pull one out mommy, but I didn't want to do it so I put it in the cabinet."

Hmmm, what could be so bad?

This is what it said:

And

One that made me smile:

The slip said:

Here's what they drew:

Something to Think About Sunday

“Be yourself;

everyone else is already taken.”

―Oscar Wilde

A beautiful day ~ 10 years ago

 As I recall, it was a beautiful day ~ weather included.

10 years ago a fabulous friend of mine got married.  As a tribute to her and her husband today, I fixed up my hair and slid on this beautiful blue dress... again.

Today:

10 Years Ago:

Happy Anniversary Happy Mom and Big Poppy!

12 months and growing...

Yesterday, Smiley had her 12 month well-check visit.  It was confirmed.  She is growing up and there is nothing I can do about it.

Lets begin with the stats:

Smiley:
Height: 31 3/4" ~~ >97%
Weight: 20 lbs 3 oz ~~ 25-50%
Head: 46.5 cm ~~ 75-90%

And just for fun, because I like to see how similarly they are growing, here are stats for Sassy and Action at 12 months: 

Sassy:
Height: 30 " ~~ 75-90%
Weight: 19 lbs 8 oz ~~ 10-25%
Head: 46 cm ~~75-90%

Action:
Height: 30 1/4" ~~ 50-75%
Weight: 18 lbs 5 oz ~~  <5%
Head:  46cm ~~ 25-50%


Smiley at 12 months:

And:

Sassy, with hair a bit longer than Smiley's and  much much darker.  She had the brightest, biggest blue eyes I had ever seen on a little girl.

And

Action.  Once again huge blue eyes, long eye lashes, a gorgeous smile and dimples so big you can't help but smile yourself.

If you are interested, you can click here to see 9 month stats, and here to see 6 month stats.

Time to go and enjoy my beautiful babies ~ Happy Thursday!

New Year's resolution ~~~ CHECK!

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to finally get rid of the vertical blinds on our sliding glass door and the 2 windows on either side of it. 

Thankfully, this can now be marked off of the list!

The problem?  This is a bay window area.  I wasn't sure how to just add curtains.  What do you do with the smaller windows on either side?

Here is my solution:

SO...

The finished product:

Yeah, I can check this one off of my list! And I have 1 1/2 months to spare!

It's Tuesday, so you know what that means don't you?

A girls WEEKEND that turned into a girls DAY

The planning started weeks ago. We were looking forward to getting away. Away from our hubbies, and kiddos (don't get me wrong, we love them DEARLY!). For an entire weekend.

Then one gal couldn't go.
The other had sick kids and ended up getting sick.
I came down with a kick you in the butt cold.

So it was down to 1. Her getaway ended up being about 20 mins away at her moms house. Still, no kids or hubby. Relaxing, sleeping in, no looming laundry, nothing to plan, no one to drive here or there. Ugh, why did I get sick?

Anyway, Friday night I decided I was tentatively going to meet up with them (my friend and her very sweet mom) on Saturday morning for a girls day.

Saturday morning came and I felt good. Not myself, a little tired and not much for a voice, but good.

We drove downtown and ate at a very yummy, little cafe. Mmmm, a perfect way to start the day.

Then we drove to a quaint little river town full of little shops, clothes, gifts, antiques, candy, cooking.... you get it, a little of everything.

Here are a couple pics:

A cute antique step stool/chair

Inside a cute antique shop:

A staircase (did I mention never ending?)calling out to us from the end of a quaint little street:

An unfortunately blurry view from the top (it was beautiful):

We had fun. We ate good food. We had no worries.

I went home happy but wiped out.

I haven't had a voice since. So today, is just one of those days. My cold is in full swing, and I think it's time for a nap.


See you all tomorrow!