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Saturday, December 10, 2011

easiest potato soup recipe


this is my favorite potato soup recipe because it only has a few ingredients and it tastes amazing!!!

try it out sometime if you wish.

  • a bag of potatoes
  • 2 large containers of chicken stock
  • 2 blocks of cream cheese
  1. peel and boil potatoes until soft.
  2. mash the potatoes until they are the consistency you like.
  3. add cream cheese and whisk until combined.
  4. top with cheese and chives 
  5. serve with they yummiest bread you have.
  6. enjoy ;)
this makes a very large pot and you can make less by cutting the recipe in half.

Friday, December 9, 2011

handmade advent calender

a few years ago i made an advent calender for my kids because i never found one i liked enough to buy already made.


this was a nearly impossible task for me. it required a lot of cutting and gluing, and cutting...

i did my best and the kids actually love it, so i guess that is all that matters. 
they get to put a new ornament on the christmas tree each day as it approaches christmas.



it is a simple joy, but they look forward to completing it each year.
 

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

if cari was a bear...

this was my youngest daughter's ornament that she picked last year....

here she is doing what she loves the most...

nativity



candle and bird



stockings




i wish i lived here



charlie brown christmas tree



keepsake ornaments don't all come from hallmark

i hate it that i haven't got to blog since thanksgiving, 
but all my free time was geared towards completing my on-line defensive driving. thank the lord it is done!!! I'll never speed again ;)

after thanksgiving, like most people, we put our tree up and other christmas decorations.

now, i drool over big, fancy, over decorated trees and aspire to own one at some point in my life, but
for now ours is a little hokey and we love it! 

the tree itself is special to me because it belonged to my memaw who passed away 2 years ago from cancer. she loved christmas and i loved going to her house every year to see how she would decorate it. i enjoyed spending special time with her and unwrapping the awesome gifts she always had under her tree. i think of her a lot especially at christmas. her birthday is even in december. i do miss her dearly.


i am not much of a dedicated "scrapbooker", but our tree serves as one huge scrapbook in many ways. i am very sentimental and it is hard for me to get rid of anything that triggers a fond memory. as a result, i have a growing collection of ornaments that i cherish very much.

i end up staring at our tree many times during the holidays and remember the little things from the years prior. all the memories that i love are represented by very special unique ornaments that adorn our tree every year. many are handmade by our children or picked out individually.

the star at the top of our tree is 11 years old and topped our first tree as a married couple.


each year my mother-in-law gets the girls an ornament and camille collects snowmen.

my memory of christmastime in the 80's includes clothespin reindeer and puff paint sweatshirts.

 this piano was given to camille at her very first christmas piano recital by our dear friends.


last year, camille picked this hannah montana ornament out and this year she is embarrassed by it which then makes me love it even more ;)

(we also keep real candy canes on the tree for the kids and don't let that popcorn garland fool you. 
it is fake. have you ever tried making it...it is impossible!)


 my mother-in-law got this ugly thing for my husband and i several years ago. 
(two peas in a pod) it makes me smile and i love it ;)

 
do i really have to explain this one...our love for starbucks runs deep.


 remember these...when you squeeze it's cheeks it will give you a kiss (hersey kiss).


this is cute...a sweet memory of my husband's childhood.


this was carigan's ornament from last year in kindergarten.


my mother-in-law gets carigan an animal every year and this was this year's choice.


my husband plays the drums so we needed one of these.


here is my husband as a reindeer putting up lights and drinking coffee.


this was for the year carigan played t-ball.


this is me as a reindeer. i make tons of cookies during the holidays.


this was when camille was in ballet at age 3.


this was carigan's pick last year. she loves drawing and doing art.


obviously there are a ton more and many are made of paper or are pictures of our family.

so, there you have it. a trip around memory lane on my sentimental christmas tree.

it's nothing fancy, but i just don't do fancy right now. i prefer the imperfect tree that the kids can touch and help decorate. it's a tree full of memories and christmas just isn't the same without it. 

which ornaments brings you the best memories?


Thursday, November 24, 2011

happy thanksgiving

i was inspired by something i heard in a recent church service.

"anything you are thankful for appreciates in value and anything you complain about depreciates in value."

i think this statement is so true.

when we focus on what we are thankful for, then we cherish it. it becomes very valuable to us. 

this is true for the material things in life such as our home, car, clothes, and the rest of our stuff.

but it is also true in our relationships.

the divorce rate in our country would be lower if we would focus more on the positive things we love about our spouses and not complain so much about what we dislike.

children would feel more valued and friendships would last a lifetime if we would practice having a grateful heart and not spend so much time on our own wants and needs. children are a gift and time spent with them is the greatest gift we could ever give them.

parents would be cared for more and grandparents would never be forgotten.

this thanksgiving is a great time for us all to start focusing on what God has blessed us with 
and recognize the worth of the people around us.
in doing so, i think we would all realize that we lead a very rich life full of value and worth.

happy thanksgiving!

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

thanksgiving eve bloopers

this morning, i gaze out my kitchen window and begin to soak in the beauty of the day when -

...i happened to notice this!!!
i think our tomato plant exploded in the herb garden!
it looks terrible and my husband keeps trying to reposition it, but it obviously has a mind of it's own. 
he wants to pull it out, but it is covered in tomatoes!!!
(i will be picking them today)


then, i start to make my pie for thanksgiving and i am just loving the morning.
i'm feeling so thankful to have the day off to bake, do laundry, and pack when...

 

my pie nearly falls on the floor as i take it out of the oven to place it on the cooling rack.
my adrenaline kicked in and saved the pie. i was willing to grab the hot glass if need be.
so, my pie is a little funny looking from the trauma, but it is all in one piece!
(i will post this recipe later - it's awesome)


i made the chex mix last night, but didn't buy enough cereal for both batches, so i raided the pantry 
and used up the rest of the kid's cereal to have just enough for the puppy chow. 
they were a little surprised and annoyed with me this morning when they found no more cereal left.
i'm sure they will forgive me in the car while they are eating this deliciousness.
(this was my first time making them both...really yummy. found recipes online)


today was a clear reminder for me to be thankful even in the small things.

i'm thankful for ugly tomato plants that actually produce, 
pies that don't end up on the floor, 
and that golden grahams and crispix taste good with powdered sugar on them!

book of thankfulness


i started this thanksgiving book the first thanksgiving that camille (our first-born) was at home with us.
she just turned 9 so this makes our little family book 9 years old this year.

(i question my color choices back then...oh well :)


 this was cami's first hand print in our book.


this was when cari made her first appearance.

this was the year we lived in colorado and cari had a "mummy hand" after her first visit to the er. 
(good times)


 this was the following year back in texas.


our first trip to the sweet berry farm.

every year we list things we are thankful for throughout the year and 
it is so fun to look back and see all that God has done for us. 

challenges we faced many years ago seem so little, 
but were big to us at the time.


 and this leads me to 2009 - 2011...ooops!


this is a result of life getting busy and me starting to work ;)
i don't want to ever lose my focus and attitude of thankfulness.
we will get caught up because i plan on handing over some of the responsibility 
of decorating these pages to my eager girls.

i look forward to many more pages filled with all that we are thankful for.


Monday, November 21, 2011

party in the nail salon


this past thursday was my daughter's birthday party.


we packed out the nail salon and every girl got a manicure (except mom).


we invited all the girls from her class, but one little girl didn't make it.


 she loved all her gifts!!


she gets her silliness from her father :)


many of the girls said it was the best party they had ever gone to :)

 

happy birthday cami!!
you sure are growing up so fast.
enjoy your last year being a single digit number!!!