My new house!!

Crock Pot Enchiladas

This fantastic recipe has been moved to Aggieland Mommy Cooks

My Aunt Ellen's Eggnog

This amazing recipe has been moved to Aggieland Mommy Cooks

Prayer request

I just found out that they have found a tumor behind my grandmother's lung. They will do a biopsy on November 23. Please pray that the tumor will be benign. My grandmother is 80 and her health has been deteriorating over the last few years.

Layered Mint Chocolate Fudge

This has been moved to my recipe blog Aggieland Mommy Cooks.

Thank you Honey!

Yesterday I read on a friend's blog how to make your own header. I went home and asked my husband if he could look into this since he is the computer genius in our family. Bless his heart...he got started and just wouldn't stop. I mean we stopped to run to Hobby Lobby but the minute we got back, he was at it again. That was really not easy since I didn't know EXACTLY what I wanted. So he whipped something up and he did a good job but it wasn't symmetrical y'all. I know, I know, who cares right? Well, ask him about the house I wouldn't buy because the front door was on the far left, not even close to the middle. Anyway, a woman has the right to change her mind and that's what I did. So back to work he went. I told him he could use 3 pics, 4 pics, 6, or 8, I didn't care but it had to be symmetrical. He came up with a good header but the darn thing wouldn't center. His bedtime, 9:00, came and went. "Honey, you can go to bed and we'll worry about it tomorrow." Nope, he wasn't going to go to bed without figuring this one out. At around 10:20, sleep deprivation set in and he thought he lost my entire template. He fixed it and finally realized he did need to get to sleep. Well, he must have gotten started on the centering issue as soon as I left for work because when I got my first chance to check email, he left a message that he got the header centered! Now we're just going to work on a little tune for your listening pleasure. So...thanks Stephen, I love you!

Don't forget our soldiers...

When you are making your Christmas Card list, add just one more:
A Recovering American Soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue, NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

Holiday Cooking Blogger Style

http://overwhelmedwithjoy.blogspot.com/2007/10/holiday-cooking-blogger-style-2nd.html
I just found this wonderful site where you can post your favorite tried and true holiday recipes.

If you're new to my blog, welcome and while a few recipes are listed below, there are many more...check out the labels section on the right. I try to post new recipes every day so come on back y'all!

Baby It's Cold Outside

Well, not that cold yet, but it's coming. I love this weather as long as I can be inside, by a fire, sipping a hot drink, and snuggling up with my family. Today when I went home for lunch, my wonderful husband had Frito Pie waiting for me, how perfect. Caleb went down for his nap early and Lauren wanted to color in her room so it was just the two of us. That doesn't happen very often at all. During our nice quiet visit, Stephen dozed off a few times but who can blame him? He only gets about 5 hours of sleep each night, I couldn't do it.

Back to the cold weather...I found a gift card that I got for my birthday (Don't you just love it when you find "money"?) and I splurged on 2 Christmas CDs. Josh Grobin's Noel and Burl Ives' music from the Rudolph shows. Now I know what you're saying, yes I did rant and rave yesterday about Christmas coming too early but I promise I will not listen to the CDs until Thanksgiving. I'm just excited about having them.

Gobble, Gobble

Moved to Aggieland Mommy Cooks

Santa Claus is coming to town! Friday!

Yes, you heard me correctly. As I was driving to work this morning I heard a commercial on the radio that Santa is arriving at our mall this Friday night, November 9. Are you kidding me? Let's slow down people. Halloween came and went and is only a memory. I'm ready to dust off my Bing Crosby White Christmas CD but let's spend the next few weeks anticipating what we are truly thankful for and let's experience the chaos in planning our meal.

I would love to take the kids to all the fun and festivities they have planned for Santa's arrival but not before Thanksgiving. This is a ploy to get us to spend money now and to get our kids to start the begging now. I will not be a part of it. I won't take my kids to the section of the mall where they have Santa set up. Where are all the Advent and Nativity decorations?

Speaking of Thanksgiving, my parents will be coming here for Thanksgiving this year. Stephen and I decided a few years ago that we want to start our own traditions and while we knew some feelings would be hurt about us not going to Fort Worth, we realized with little ones that we can't stress ourselves out to make others happy. Are you with me on this one? How many of you have "been there, done that?" We want to have a nice TG meal which I will prepare (if Mom will let me) and then we'll watch the Cowboys. That's what we always did growing up and I can't wait to watch another game with my dad. Friday we'll anticipate the annual A&M vs t.u. game and we'll crank up the Christmas music while we decorate the house and bake the 100th batch of Chex mix. Then we'll spend the weekend resting and relaxing.

Lauren asks us every day if Grandma is coming. We show her on the calendar how long it will be before Grandma comes and she still wants Grandma to be here now. She talked to my mom Friday night and then asked to call her on Saturday. I always put the phone on speaker but this time Lauren took the phone and walked around the house talking to Grandma for almost an hour. When we hung up she cried and cried because she wanted Grandma to come right away. I called my mom back and let her listen to the saddest little 3 year old. When we hung up the phone we made a countdown chain and explained how we'll take one link off every day and when they're all gone, Grandma will be here. She caught on to that pretty quickly, yesterday she asked if she could tear them all so that Grandma could be here now. It's going to be a long 17 days.

Halloween!

We sure have had fun this year. The kids and I watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown on Tuesday while Stephen filmed an Elementary show. Yesterday we carved the Jack-O-Lantern-which Lauren designed, put on costumes, went to the mall for Trick-or-Treating, went to a small festival for Trunk-or-Treat, and then went to some houses in our neighborhood. I'm not sure who was more worn out when we got home but I haven't slept that well in weeks!

Happy Birthday Aunt Patty

October is a very busy month in our family. When I was younger, we would have one big celebration for all the October and November birthdays. I think there were 8. Saturday was my Aunt Patty's birthday. Aunt Patty is the middle of 5 children and sometimes referred to as "Crazy Aunt Patty." While I didn't make that phone call I planned on making (the Aggies were on TV and I lost all touch with reality), I did send her a card (well, it is in the mail). I hope you had a great birthday, we love you!

Happy Belated Birthday to Uncle Chris- the baby. His birthday was October 2 and I totally missed it.

Not my "Itty Bitty Boy" anymore

We set up the toddler bed almost a month ago so that Caleb could get used to it. We had it set up with the headboard against the wall so he could get on and off by himself. So for weeks Lauren and Caleb have had fun playing on the bed. A few weeks ago we turned the bed around and tried letting him sleep in the bed. We left the crib in place as a precaution and we put pillows on the floor at the end of the bed just in case. As soon as we closed the door we heard a loud thump and sure enough, he had escaped, so back to the crib he went. But the next day, the bed once again became a cool place to play. As we were cleaning the house, Caleb climbed into the bed and amused himself. At about 11:45 I realized that even though his door was open, I didn't hear him anymore. Any good parent knows that silence is NOT golden when your kids are in a different room. When I walked across the hall, this precious moment is what I found.






And he has slept there ever since.

Fashionista

Lauren has decided that naptime doesn't mean she actually has to sleep anymore. Let me say that Lauren has always been a WONDERFUL napper. She usually goes down at 1:00 and sometimes we have to wake her up at 5:00. Lately she has been playing, which is fine as long as she stays in her room, but yesterday she must have had her own little fashion show because when she came out of her room to potty, she was wearing something completely different than what she went in with. And later when she came out because she heard me at home, she was wearing something different again.





So, how many different outfits do you think she tried on in a 3 hour period? We're going to have a quick lesson on hanging up clothes! Mommy's big ol' belly can't bend over anymore.