i'll have a smoked turkey and a cup of coffee to go

We celebrated Christmas day on Christmas eve.  We cooked a dazzling french toast breakfast, opened presents, had turkey for lunch... you know... traditional Christmas day stuff... only a day early. Then we got up at the crack of dawn and drove 9 hours to my parents' house on Christmas day. TOTALLY amazing. Here are a few special moments from Christmas eve at our house...

Little Dean's prayer: "Lord, thank you for this french toast. Thank you that this is the goodest day and Jesus' birthday. Thank you for Christmas and for this french toast. Amen."

Charlie's parents joined us for our Christmas feast of smoked turkey, baked potatoes, salad, and green beans. Millie g. made place cards so everyone would know where to sit.

Brownies for dessert...

They bought us a Wii. They are nice.

Pictures from part two of our Christmas extravaganza week coming soon!

day twenty three

Good morning! Raise your hand if you love waffles and coffee for breakfast on a cold, cold morning! (Hand Raised) Our house is busy and excited for Christmas morning. Here are a few keepers from our (second) family Christmas photo shoot. Our sparkly friend, Sara Vail, snapped these. She's nice.

 Merry almost Christmas!

5 days

It was cold and rainy today so we had no choice but to build a little indoor tent... and paint a mascara mustache on little dean. We worked on a little Christmas movie for my mom and read books and sang songs. It was a good day. Almost Christmas!

big ole pot of chilli

It's time for chilli. Here's a recipe for perfect chilli...

1. Saute an onion with some ground beef (or turkey or chicken)
2. Add one huge can of crushed tomatoes and one bag of frozen corn
3. Stir in one package taco seasoning and one package dry ranch dressing mix

4. Add one 15oz can of black beans, red kidney beans, chilli beans and rotel tomatoes.
5. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about twenty on low heat.

6. Top with sour cream and cheddar cheese.
7. Yum.

pancake breakfast

Breakfast is our favorite meal of the day! We usually sit around the table and share our favorite things about each other and tell jokes and smile. After breakfast?  A little couch dancing with Stella Belle. Look at that pointed toe!

track team

My students are on a very strict "three strikes, you're out" system. The rules are specific, clear, and posted in the classroom. I don't want to be a mean lady, but things seem to go much more smoothly when everyone is following the rules. A few months ago, three of my students found themselves with two strikes. I gave them an offer: I promised to take one of their strikes away if they would run a 5k race. We started training the next day.

This morning was the race. They were amazing little racers! I finished about 10 minutes ahead of them, so I ran back to find them and crossed the finish line with them. They beat their personal goals and were so proud that they finished strong. I think I told them one hundred and ten times that I was proud of them.

Why is Charlie wearing a medal in this picture? So glad you asked! He finished number 14 out of more than 500 people and won 2nd place in his age group! He's a machine!!!!

p.s. only two of the 3 "striked" students ran the race because one got her third strike last week and was forced to choose another route for her education :(

at our house

I'm still pulling Christmas decorations out of the attic and working on a few special gifts. You may be asking yourself, "What makes the cold, wintery days go by a little faster?" Here's what works for me...

1. Trying my darndest to get one picture of the children all smiling at the same time.
2. Christmas playlist on Pandora
3. Peppermint candles burning all day
4. Hot tea and apples
5. Wrapping presents

Hope you are loving the Christmas season today!

a day that will go down in infamy

Today is our anniversary. 8 years ago today, I married Charlie. He is like a strong root planted by a stream of water and I am like a tree flapping and bending in the wind. I love him very very much. Yes, I do know that we got married on Pearl Harbor Day.  Charlie wanted to play "You dropped a bomb on me, Baby" during the ceremony. I knew that would not be a good idea... so we didn't.

I love his randomness and his strength and everything else about him. Happy happiness today!

christmas parade

Almost every morning while the kids are eating breakfast they ask me to tell them "the order." This means that I have to start with, "put our plates in the sink..." go through every detail of the day's events and end with, "go to sleep in your bed." Yesterday, the order was interrupted with cheers and clapping when I said, "go to the coffee shop... go to the Christmas parade..."

We bundled up and met some good friends downtown for the parade. I think 17 candy canes were consumed by my children during the parade. It was so much fun.

*Side note* Nobody does a parade like south Louisiana. Nice try, Georgia. Nice try. *End of side note.*

tacky tree

We have two Christmas trees every year. One tree is pretty and the other tree is tacky. Since our beautiful wedding was in December, we decorate the pretty tree with decorations from our wedding. The tacky tree is decorated with... um... everything else. All the "dirty santa" ornament exchange randomness and all the sunday school kid creations go on the tacky tree. The tacky tree is silver. The kids say that it is the prettiest tree in our whole house. After we got the tacky tree all put together, it still looked a little bare. I figured we could recycle a box and create something fabulous...

I cut the box into square-ish shapes, grabbed some neon green pipe cleaners, and painted the pieces on one side...

On the other side I let the kids write down a few items from their Christmas lists...

We stuck them on the tree and smiled at the prettiness. Maybe I should not call this the tacky tree anymore. What do you think?

camera strap cover

I did a guest blog last week. This is what I shared... homemade camera strap cover with a little screenprinted fishy. This is such an easy (and affordable) project. Perfect for stuffing stockings!

Step One: Cut two strips of fabric about an inch or two larger (wider and longer) than your camera strap. I chose one solid piece and one piece with dots. Put your strips to the side.

Step Two: On the dull side of freezer paper (make sure the box says, FREEZER PAPER... not wax paper. Oh, and make sure it's the DULL side... not shiny... dull... o.k. let's continue) draw your design.

Step Three: Using scissors or an exacto knife, cut out your design, creating a stencil. I wanted my fish to have an eye and some detail on the tail, so I cut the circles and triangles out of the middle part.

Step Four: Iron the stencil (shiny side DOWN) onto your fabric. After the stencil is cut out and ironed down it should look like this...

Step Five: Use fabric paint and a small paintbrush to fill in your stencil. Let dry for two hours or more.

Step Six: When the paint is dry peel your stencil off and iron again with the fabric upside down. This will set the paint.

Step Seven: Sew the two pieces of fabric down the length of each side with RIGHT SIDES together. Flip it right side out and hem the edges. Iron your edges and there you have it! You can use these screenprinting techniques on many, many things (bags, clothes, towels, pillows, hair bows, etc). Enjoy!