The last day of 2015! There has been so many great things happen this year, and I'm thankful! We've had great moments shared with family and friends. We've laughed, we've cried, we've did life, and I'm thankful for this life of mine, and this year that's been a part of this adventure we call life. I'm thankful for this journey the Lord has placed me on. Every step of it!
From big things like our Destin, Florida trip to walking the staircase of the Titanic with our daughter on our Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge trip to simple things...camping trips, evenings with family and friends, and just this adventure of life.
Life is beautiful, and I'm thankful!
Happy New Year's Eve!
I'm also dwelling on this Bible verse I read yesterday while spending some time with the Lord.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Colossians 3:16 KJV
Most of the Christmas decorations are now taken down. Maisy is enjoying her space where the Christmas tree used to be.
We were so blessed to have such a great Christmas with family and friends!
Christmas morning has included coffee in a new mug, and I love it!
Christmas has also included the night before Christmas, the day of Christmas, reading the Christmas story, great time with family, great time with friends, great food, great gifts, and the greatest gift of all is that He came to this Earth and did what He did for you and I.
Christmas Eve morning spent at work then the rest of this week with family! How we spend Christmas Eve morning at work...dressed up in tacky sweaters, elf hats, and maybe even some festive Santa socks for the occasion!
Christmas Eve will be spent with my husband, our kids, and I having my brother, his wife, and their son over to our house for finger foods and a gift exchange. Memories in the making!
Oh! And, let us not forget how warm it is on Christmas Eve. The kids are outside riding their bikes!
More Photos are in the Members Area.
It's the day before Christmas Eve, and we've honestly been celebrating Christmas with family all week...yes, already. It's been great! From Monday up to today we've celebrated with some of our best friends and my husband's Mom and our nephew. Tomorrow we celebrate with my brother, his wife, and their son. Then Christmas...well, it's Christmas, of course!
This evening I'm preparing some finger foods for my brother and the rest of his house who will visit tomorrow. Me and the rest of my house went to a local Mexican restaurant to eat dinner this evening. Now, I'm enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree, as I relax in between the preparations for tomorrow. Most of of all, I'm enjoying my family.
Merry Christmas Eve Eve! :)
Today, the calendar shows it's December, but the weather says it's warmer. So, how do we do dinner on this December day? We're grilling steaks, and we're having this side dish of Creamy Macaroni & Cheese Casserole.
Here's how we are making it!
Ingredients:
12 oz dry macaroni
¼ cup butter
¼ cup flour
1½ cups milk
1 cup light cream
½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
bread crumbs (approximately 1 to 2 cups, enough for the topping)
1 can condensed cream of cheddar soup (optional)
4 cups sharp cheddar, divided
½ cup fresh parmesan cheese
salt & pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Cook macaroni according to the package directions, be sure not to overcook. Drain and run under cold water.
Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan then whisk in flour and let cook 2 minutes while stirring. Slowly whisk in the cream, milk, mustard powder and onion powder. Cook over medium heat while stirring until it is thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in parmesan cheese & 3 cups cheddar cheese until it's melted. Add soup if you are choosing to use it.
Toss the cheese sauce & macaroni noodles together. Pour mixture into a greased 9x13 pan. Top with remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs.
Bake 18-24 minutes or until it is bubbly. Do not overcook. Cool 10-15 minutes before serving the dish.
This evening we celebrated the birth of Jesus with the best of friends we could ask for...these people are our chosen family. They're not just simply members of our community, they are our chosen family...our chosen brothers and sisters...nieces and nephews...each of them are so dear to our hearts. While we unwrapped each gift, we appreciated every single thing that was received, but, honestly, the greatest gift of all is these people's friendship.
The photographer in me usually pulls out a camera at every event, every life happening, but tonight...I wasn't a photographer, I was just these people's friend...their chosen sister (and aunt). So, I honestly only have this one photo of myself with one of my besties, that we took with her phone's camera.
This life though, we're blessed with friends...with family such as these!
This Post is Also in the Members Area!
This Post is Also in the Members Area!
Some rainy December days are meant for relaxing by the Christmas tree.
It's a rainy December morning.
The kids are at school. They'll be exchanging gifts with their friends, as Christmas break draws near.
I'm scheduled for a late morning at work, and our Maisy is relaxing next to the Christmas tree.
When you have one of the greatest friends ever, you show your appreciation for them with breakfast!
Not to mention, she's a super nurse who will be helping treat my son later today...Poison Ivy is a terrible, terrible thing!
Today, we mail out Christmas cards. With as fast paced as the world is becoming...and we now have the internet and email, it's still nice to give and receive an actual Christmas card in the mail!
So, last night the kids and I put together some sweet treats for some folks in the community. I love these boxes!
We have a Christmas Party to go to this evening. We are celebrating the season with family and friends. As our daughter and I went grocery shopping and went to nearly finish up the last bit of Christmas shopping we had to do today...as we got Christmas treats for the tasty and thoughtful gifts, and as we talked about the Christmas Party we plan to attend this evening, our daughter mentioned to me that we should make these Christmas Trees as the food that we bring to the party.
I must confess, I had no idea how to make these trees. I helped her make one or two of them, but it was with her guidance, and she did the rest. They turned out to be so creative and adorable and delicious! What a brilliant thing for a Christmas party!
Here's how we made them:
Ingredients:
Strawberries:
Green Icing (with tube or bag and tips)
Sprinkles
Peanut Butter Cups
Directions:
1. Rinse the strawberries and cut the tops off of them.
2. Place the strawberries upside down (the cut part down) on the top of a peanut butter cup.
3. Add the frosting and sprinkles.
'Tis the Season! We're decorated for Christmas, even on the outside of our place.
It looks like late Fall here, but it certainly doesn't feel like it...it's a really warm day!
It's Friday. I will go to work today, then I will be off for two days. Happy weekend!
This was for breakfast this morning.
Blueberry waffles and coffee (with whipped cream and caramel).
This was in my Bible reading this morning...a verse to always keep tucked away in my heart!
Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. -Psalm 37:4
So, so true!
Our Christmas cards list, that is! :)
I'm excited to be filling out our Christmas cards today! :)
We have some adorable cards to share with family and friends this year, and I'm excited about the photos we're including in some of them as well!
Merry, Merry Christmas!
It's a good Sunday, the Lord, Family, Church, these lemon filled doughnuts...
And these ornaments...
Today, I made homemade pancakes, and the kids were excited! I cleaned house. Then we shopped.
We Christmas shopped. Bree and I were festive...we wore Christmas earrings and Christmas colored socks (mine were fuzzy). We got almost every bit of our Christmas shopping finished today. Then we ordered pizza for dinner. Pizza and breadsticks!
So, this evening, I've wrapped gifts, and made ornaments, and the list goes on. This one, though! This one is enjoying a nap in front of the Christmas tree on this cold night.
More Photos are in the Members Area.
This day of ours...
Lunch date with my guy! We're eating at Cootie Brown's, and it is our first time dining here.
The colors are certainly eye catching. And...the lights...they're neat-o! Oh, and even that spoon that is next to the W on the welcome sign...that's different! My husband even pointed out our windows were garage doors. Cool stuff!
Great food, a great time, and we're even ordering for dinner to take home.
And, this...this!
More decorating for Christmas at our place! Oh, how I love Christmas!
Oh...and...ya know...just one of my favorite ways to make my coffee. Coffee, creamer, sugar, whipped cream, and caramel. Yumminess on a cold day! :)
So, this year...I thought of putting a Christmas tree upstairs, but wasn't sure about it. We have big glass doors up there, and it just makes sense to have pretty Christmas lights shining through.
Photo Details: Father's Day Weekend. Then the photo behind it is our daughter blowing out her 15th Birthday candles.
Fast forward to the day after Thanksgiving. We got the Christmas tree we've used for several years out of storage, and after putting it together we realized a small amount of the lights didn't work on it. So...we bought a new Christmas tree for downstairs. We carried our old one upstairs (turning the unlit portion to where it can't be seen), and now we have two Christmas trees!
Photo Details: Our Halloween Party.
Now...what to do with that second tree? How will we decorate it? I love photography, and I love how our photos help tell our story! So we made these wood ornaments with our photos from this year, and they help tell our year's story...vacations, birthdays, holidays, the kids' first day of school, the kids' Cross Country Meet, everyday life...it's on on our tree! After Christmas, we'll box the ornaments up to keep, and we can hang them in upcoming years as well as pull them out just to look at and remember.
Photo Details: Spending time with the Lord before her Cross Country Meet.
How we made these:
Items Needed:
1. Flat Wood Circles of Your Choice (You can be creative. I got mine in the craft department).
2. Photos of Your Choice (Measure and cut the part of the photo you want according to your wood circle leaving a small amount of the wood showing around the photo's edge).
3. Mod Podge
4. Ribbon
5. A drill
Instructions:
1. Upon cutting your photos to the right size, place some of the Mod Podge on the circle and then place the photo ontop of it. Then brush a layer of Mod Podge on your photo (being careful to not leave streaks). You may need to wait for a few hours for the Mod Podge to dry clear (it may brush on white at first). I waited 24 hours to make sure mine was fully dry.
2. Drill the hole in the top of the ornament.
3. Place the ribbon through the hole.
4. Hang and enjoy the ornaments!
Helpful bit of information: use scrap paper to work and place your project on while it dries.
Photo Details: Camping
Photo Details: Our boy and his love for frogs!
Photo Details: Bree and I at our friends' 4th of July celebration.
Photo Details: Destin, Florida Vacation/Anniversary Getaway
We got the prelit tree out of the box that we have used the last several years, and, well, some of the lights would not light back up on it, so we found ourselves buying a new Christmas tree for downstairs.
And now...now, it's finally, beginning to look like Christmas at our place, and I'm loving it!
And now...now, it's finally, beginning to look like Christmas at our place, and I'm loving it!
I always love how we decorate our steps. Bree and Troy usually does this, and they do a great job!
I also must show you these great throw pillows that I made...real life y'all! I guess all of the decorating just kinda' wore her out!
We are also putting a Christmas tree upstairs, at our doors (that are mostly made of glass, so it just makes sense to have a Christmas tree there)! I'll add a photo of it as soon as it's finished, but we are still working on it.
You see, we are doing something new this year...we started a new tradition of sorts. Each year we each purchase a Christmas ornament to hang on the Christmas tree downstairs. My husband even mentioned how most of the Christmas tree is filled with ornaments that we have chosen over the years. It's a special Christmas tradition to us. We started it when the kids were babies, and we still continue it to this day.
This year we are starting a new tradition as well.
You see, we are doing something new this year...we started a new tradition of sorts. Each year we each purchase a Christmas ornament to hang on the Christmas tree downstairs. My husband even mentioned how most of the Christmas tree is filled with ornaments that we have chosen over the years. It's a special Christmas tradition to us. We started it when the kids were babies, and we still continue it to this day.
This year we are starting a new tradition as well.
We are making these wood ornaments...I love photos, anybody who really knows me knows that! They tell our story. So we are selecting photos that we've taken throughout the year, and placing them on these wood ornaments. The Christmas tree upstairs will help us to tell our story (in photos) of 2015. After Christmas is finished, we'll put them in a box to keep, and we will even use some of them on the Christmas tree downstairs for upcoming Christmases. Next year, if the ornaments all turn out as planned, we will make photo ornaments for that year, and so on and so forth. It is just so neat seeing our year's story hanging on our Christmas tree. It's really, really awesome, and I love it!
