Merry (sick) Christmas

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!
I am in Northeast Nebraska visiting my folks with the girls.  The hubby had to stay home to work.  We made the drive pretty well considering our youngest is fighting a fever.  I had some great helpers in the back seat.  We made it into town just in time for me to see my lifelong best friend before she left to go home to Ohio.  It sure was good seeing her and her family!  The next day I started feeling sick and we are going on day 4 of being here and our youngest is still fighting a fever and I have gotten what the girls had as well.  I went to the Doctor and he said it was Influenza.  GREAT!  I am glad I am at my folks where I can rest and my Mom is really helping take care of the girls and loving it.  I do however REALLY miss my Hubby though.  Must sign off for now.  I hear my Mamma coming in the drive with a soft pretzel and a smoothie from the mall.   It's the little things!
   God bless and Happy New Year!!!

SNOW!!!!

     Yesterday was the last day of school before the Christmas break started.  I dropped the girls off at school and hugged them tight and told them to have fun.  Two of the other Mom's and I left to go have coffee before returning to the school to make pizzas for a pizza party for lunch before the classrooms began their Christmas parties.  I was a bit disappointed because our area was in a Winter Storm watch and I woke up to no snow.  I happen to be one of those crazies that LOVES snow!!!!!  Imagine my delight when it began to flurry while we were chatting over coffee at McDonalds!  We decided it was really starting to come down, so we left to begin baking the pizzas.  In the 15 minutes it took to get to school the weather took a turn for the worse.  We wondered if we would have to serve lunch at 10:30 to get kids HOME early.  We decided we would have to reschedule the pizza party and get the heck outta dodge!  The roads were very icy and visability was zero.  Keep in mind we live in the West in a tiny town out in the country!  I almost did not make it home as the hill leading out of town was so icy and my minivan is NOT equipped to handle that.  We finally made it home safe and sound and snuggled down into our couch with hot cocoa and a good Christmas movie.  This morning we woke to about 4 inches of snow.  Just enough to play in!  My dreams came true.  Now if only it wouldn't melt so we could have a WHITE Christmas! 

Cute Bubba in the snow.

Lamp post in our yard.  Love having it lit up at night!

Lil A playing in the snow.



Me and lil A. 




Two of the girls and myself.  Our oldest is inside sick.  :(

    I wish you all a wonderful Holiday and wonderful times spent with family and friends.  God bless!

"Baby" A's Birthday!

I don't know where the last 4 years have gone.  I just know they have gone way too fast!  Today our "baby" is 4 years old.  The girls were all up at 6:45 because they were so excited to see A's bedroom.  I usually fill the birthday girls room with balloons and hang streamers in the doorway, and the older girls remembered that, so they were so excited to wake up and play with balloons.  And all these years we have wasted money on toys.  Balloons are the way to go!  ;) 
   I am a bit sad as I have to go help out with a school function while the hubby is at the movies with the girls.  I miss them!  But tonight we will have a horse birthday cake and A can open her presents.  She already received birthday money from her Grandma in Louisiana and knows exactly what she wants to spend it on.  A stuffed dog that bounces.  The kid LOVES stuffed animals! 
     I hope ya'll had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We did.  The meal was delicous and the company even better.  The girls were adorable and my folks had fun relaxing with the grandkids.  After our tummys settled a bit we put up the Christmas tree and over the past week I have been decorating for Christmas.  I love this Season!  Now, I must go and put in my time helping with a volleyball game.  Sports are not my thing, but I will do what I can to help out.  Hope everyone is having a great Saturday.  The high temp here today is 69.  That is outrageous for December 1st in NEBRASKA!!! 

My friend and I waiting to see "Breaking Dawn 2" for the second time!!

Working on word families while waiting for dinner!

Our table before dinner.



Getting ready to eat!



We made a dent in that turkey. 

Mom's yummy pumpkin pecan pie!

Our tree.  I bought new ornaments and flowers this year.  I love the white and silver!

My Anniversary gift from my sweet hubby!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Ooops!
I have been sidetracked lately.  Sorry for my lack of updates.  I am trying to prepare for a fun Thanksgiving dinner this year.  My folks won't be able to make it until we eat, so I want to be very prepared so I am not running around like a TURKEY with my head cut off.  ;)
     I printed out some fun activities to keep the girls busy while the Hubby and I cook.  Hopefully some maze placemats and coloring pages will help!  This is by far, my favorite time of year!  I am looking forward to Thursday so very much!  I my attempt mashed potatoes in the crockpot this year.  We shall see how they turn out.  I have gotten a lot of ideas from Pinterest and The Food Network shows this year!  I hope my Mom and I can do some Christmas baking on Friday.  I am having a candle party/Holiday cookie exchange on the 15 and can't wait.  It doesn't take much to make me happy does it?  I will try to post a few pictures showing why I have been so busy.  Our school had a Fall Carnival on Halloween and I was basically living at school that entire week.  It was a lot of fun though! 
     I pray ya'll have a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by lots of yummy food and loved ones.  God Bless and remember how much you have to be thankful for!!!  I have been posting everyday on Facebook what I am thankful for.  Most important is my precious Savior.  Followed closely by my sweet Husband and adorable children and wonderful Parents and In-laws.  I am blessed with some amazing friends and family, and we are very thankful that we are all healthy and living where we are.  God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!!!

The girls class.  1st and 2nd Grade.  One is on the far left in front and the other is on the far right in back.



Sunset in the Midwest.  LOVE it!



Batgirl and Kitty Softpaws from the movie "Puss in Boots".

Just a little bit of my hardwork.

Everyone was excited to watch the Pie eating contest this year!
The girls Teacher participated and was cheered for VERY loudly!





Ten seconds left!  I missed out who won since I was manning a game booth!

Homemade Chicken pot pie.  The girls gobbled it up!



Our  "Thankful Tree"



The girls playing w/ Grandma F.



The girls helped me color an activity for them to do on Thanksgiving day.  Word family turkeys!



Our President and Treasurer of the PTL.  "Daphne, and Velma" from Scooby Doo.  All dressed up for Halloween at our Fall Carnival at school.

Fun pictures

We had an exciting first day of snow on Saturday.  It snowed so much the girls built a snowman.

We all enjoyed playing in the snow for a while and then came inside for hot chocolate and chicken noodle soup for lunch.  After taking a little snooze, I woke up to find the snow all melted.  So glad we were able to have fun with it while it lasted. 

  With the weather finally getting cooler here, I have really been in the baking mood.  I have really found a LOT of great ideas and recipes on Pinterest.  So, here are few pictures of what I have been up to in the kitchen.

These are some of the ingredients I used making homemade carmelcorn!

I added in some yummy Chex cereal.  The recipe is actually one I found in one of my Pampered Chef cookbooks and I improvised.  ;)



The finished product.
It didn't last long in our house!





This is a pan of cherry crunch and a pan of brownies cooling in the window.  These were made for our school Bake Sale.




This is the dough for my awesome 4 ingredient Peanut Butter cookies.  They are soft and chewy pieces of Heaven!!!



Pumpkin muffins!!!  With just 3 ingredients!  Moist and to die for!!!!



I had a LOT of dough, so I made square shaped muffins and mini muffins, and added some mini chocolate chips!!!  YUM!




Veggie Beef soup with OKRA added for my Southern Hubby!!!!

And, I just wouldn't be me if I didn't include some sunset shots!  :)

This would be a sunRISE shot!  Isn't it gorgeous?  I just LOVE our view here!



This is another morning picture.  It was hazy and absolutely serene!  I LOVED that morning!

And now for some odds and ends... A few pics of the girls and finishing off with a picture of my sweet, precious Grandparents!  My Grandfather turned 96 on September 13th and my Grandmother passed away last year in August.  So, they are on my mind a lot lately!  They are such a great example of a GREAT marriage!  I adore them!  Hope you have enjoyed my latest update.  I may not lead an exciting eventful life, but to me, it is FULL and I feel extremely blessed!  Happy Fall Y'all!!!



Baby A set up her toys for "story time".




An after school snack.



Don't know if this will correct itself, but it is supposed to be fried green tomatoes.  My hubby made some since we had a freeze and our neighbors had a zillion green tomatoes to use up! 



My sweet Grandparents! 

 

A few pictures

I will be posting a few silly pictures today.  The girls have been making their own doll houses the past two days.  I had some candle boxes sitting around and they wanted to decorate them and make them into doll houses.  So, I figured why not use up some of my scrapbook stickers too?  I can't remember the last time I did any scrapbooking.  The girls came home from school Thursday and Friday, did their homework and went straight to work on the houses.  They worked until supper time and then played afterwards.  In the smart words of my Hubby, "That's better than spending $50 on a Barbie house!" 


2 pounds of hamburger with dried onions sprinkled on the bottom.  Baked for 20 minutes at 375.



Cut and put cheese slices on top.  Put in the freezer for an hour.

Put the burgers in a bun, wrap individually in wax paper and put back in the bun bag.  Put them in the freezer and they are ready to go for school lunches.  Nuke for 30 -40 seconds.  E LOVES them!!!!!

Chicken Spaghetti.  2 cups diced, cooked chicken.  1 can each of cr. chicken and cr. mushroom soup.  Half a can of diced tomatoes and green chilies.  1 small log of Velveeta cheese.  1 box of spaghetti ( I used Fettuccini).  Mix and put in crock on low for 2-3 hours.  My family gobbled it up!!!



Sunrise



Enjoying coffee outside before waking the girls for school.

Picking pears at the neighbors house.

Our goofy girl!



Yet another glorious sunrise!



Working on the houses.

Bub's house

All of the houses lined up.  They are so proud!

E's dollhouse that she made.  Of course it is "Pinkalicious"!!!!

"Pinkalicious'" kitchen fully stocked!

Baby A's horse stable! 

     And, I am going to post pictures of the YUMMY supper I made last night and the sliders I made and put in the freezer for E to take to school for lunches.  I'm off to go to the Farmers Market in hopes of finding some tomatoes.  I haven't seen any there yet this year.  Happy Weekend everyone!!  :)