Tyler Speak

My favorite things to hear Ty say right now...

1. "oh no!"

2. "oh gosh"

3. watch tb...buzz...downstairs

As soon as he wakes up he wants to watch tb and eat his breakfast. It's so cute. He loves Toy Story!

Black Friday

I just can't bring myself to wakeup in the middle of the night or wee hours of the morning to go shopping. I tried it last year for the first time and it wasn't for me. I think I went out at 6:30 or something last year. I remember walking in Tar*get, going part way down an aisle and seeing the line around the whole store. I turned around and walked out. It wasn't my thing. So this year I went to Tar*get at 8:45ish. That is early for me -much more my style! It was busy but not CRAZY. I bought several christmas gifts and crossed some things off my shopping list! It was fun to get some christmas shopping done and I did get some good deals but not at the expense of my precious sleep. That afternoon I even got to nap while Ty napped because the big boys were at my mom and dad's house! It was soo nice!

Today we are going to decorate the house for Christmas! Can't wait!

Thanksgiving #2

On Thursday Andy and I hosted the Mc. family Thanksgiving at our house. I spent all day Wednesday cleaning and that evening I prepped my food. Andy cleaned the bathroom, mopped, and worked hard on our downstairs bathroom. Thursday morning I finished cleaning and decorated the table with some fall decorations I borrowed from Cara. The boys had made a sign for the front door, place cards for the kids table, and handprint turkeys to hang in the dining room. They were so excited to have everyone over to our house! My parents showed up for dinner and I was so glad for them to come.

Everyone came over around 2ish. We had some appetizers since no one ate lunch. I made Jalapeno Popper dip and served it with toasted bread. Erin brought fresh fruit and spinach dip. Everything was yummy! I also made Pomegranate Punch which Wilson thought was lemonade and poured half of the juice mixture down the drain... :(

We had dinner around 5ish. I made sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. (Next time for the cranberry sauce I would reduce the pomegranate juice to 1 cup and the sugar to 1/2 cup.) I enjoyed trying new recipes for the holiday. With both thanksgiving celebrations combined I tried 5 new recipes!

The food was delicious. We also had turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn pudding, green bean casserole, and broccoli casserole. Everyone had a great time hanging out. The kids put on their own Thanksgiving Day parade in our basement which was adorable. It was too hot for a fire but overall it was a wonderful day of hanging out, food, and fun! With 9 cousins we have started putting all of their names in a hat. Each cousin pulls out 1 name and that is who they buy a christmas gift for. So the kids all traded gifts since we don't all see each other at Christmas. They were excited to get to open a present!

Sweet Potato Casserole

As requested, here is the recipe I use for Sweet Potato Casserole! Enjoy!


1 large can sweet potatoes, drained and mashed
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2 eggs
1 stick butter, melted

Mix these ingredients together and pour into a 9x13.

Topping:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 stick butter, melted

Mix together and spread over top of sweet potatoes. Sprinkle with pecan pieces.
Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

This dish is always a hit and now you can see why - it is NOT healthy at all!!

Thanksgiving Dinner #1

Tonight we had Thanksgiving with my side of the family at Cara and Jason's house. It was nice to all be together and the food was delicious! The kids had a great time together. I made a pumpkin pie and Sweet Potatoes with sage butter crumb topping, both new recipes. The pie was delicious. Probably the best pumpkin pie I've eaten before. The recipe was time consuming and I didn't know how it was going to turn out but it was good! Homemade pie crust and homemade whipped cream to boot! The sweet potatoes were not the brown sugar super sweet ones that we are used to. These were good, just not the same. It was just a recipe I'd been wanting to try for a while so I'm glad I did. I'll be making the usual brown sugar sweet potato casserole for Thursday.

Andy's side of the family is coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year! We're excited. Everyone is bringing different parts of the dinner. Looking forward to Thanksgiving Dinner #2!

Burritos

So here is the first recipe I tried from the new food blog - The Way the Cookie Crumbles. I made burritos on Tuesday for dinner. Everyone ate them up! Tyler didn't but he's still in a picky phase. I served them like a soft taco with lettuce, cheese, tomato, and black olives. Yum!

Ty Update

Andy took Tyler to CCH on Tuesday. He went for an ophthalmology appointment. He had to get his eyes dilated and miss a nap but daddy said the french fries for lunch made up for that! No glaucoma or any other complications at this time! We still return every 6 months to ophthalmology. His port wine stain is still very faint and unchanged since any previous updates. He went to the Hemangioma unit in August and they are now seeing him only once a year! Our next CCH appointment is for Neurology in December. These have still been every 6 months while he is still in such a critical developmental age. I'm guessing these will begin to be spaced out as well. I'm sure everything will be fine - he continues to meet all developmental milestones and is very advanced with his talking as compared to our other two boys at this age! Praise the Lord for the continued good news regarding his PWS. God is good!

Trunk or Treat

Wilson invited his best friend to come. They both dressed as SWAT team/police officers.

Luke was a "dinosaur" that was really a power ranger costume. He called it a dinosaur. Ty refused to dress up!

Pumpkin bowling!

One of my favorite annual events at our church is the fall Harvest Party. The boys love it too. It starts with a chili dinner, hot dogs and dessert. I entered for my first time in the chili contest with Pioneer Woman's Chili. I didn't win and was totally okay with that. It was my first food contest to ever enter! I also made a pumpkin dessert. Then we go outside and the kids trunk or treat - getting candy from decorated trunks. There are crafts for kids, a hay ride, and pumpkin bowling. It's always fun! This will double as our Halloween trick or treat pictures! We took the kids around our two courts and to about 5 houses on my grandparents street. They all had a good time. I couldn't get Ty to put on a costume at the Harvest Party but I finally convinced him to wear one to trick or treat!

A New Food Blog

I spent a lot of time this weekend looking at a new to me food blog. Check it out. I have bookmarked about 12 recipes! I'll never cook my way through all the recipes that I mark but I like reading and getting new ideas from the food blogs I frequent. Click the link to see for yourself! The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Fall Ball

Up to bat!

Nice Swing!


He looks so grown up here to me.

Running to 2nd base.

Score!

Technically it IS still fall...though t-ball has been over since the beginning of October! Luke played fall ball with his cousin Trey and enjoyed it most of the time! He was on the Wildcats this fall. I think his favorite part was the snack after the game!

Frozen Yogurt

Grandma & her boys

Terry and my mom

I had strawberry cheesecake frozen yogurt. I added the pink strawberry beads? Not sure what they were called. They burst in your mouth. Pretty cool! Check out the spoon - it's like a shovel!

Tyler had cookies and cream with a few crushed oreos on top.

Silas enjoying his treat!

Yesterday the boys and I met my mom, Terry, and Silas for frozen yogurt. The boys had a great time trying a sample, picking their flavor and adding a topping. This place is so cool! They have 16 flavors of frozen yogurt and tons of toppings.

Downstairs Bathroom

This is the before shot...so glad it doesn't look like this anymore!

Greenboard for the sink/toilet area.

Andy's fantastic drywall job - this will be a closet! Tub is on the right.

The beautiful tile I love. Plus my chuck's. Which I also love. But notice the floor around the tile -clean and level for the tile job!

First Andy redid the plumbing, behind the scenes work that you might remember from the previous posts. The old cast iron pipes have been replaced with PVC pipes. Then came floor leveling after repairing the concrete he had to drill up. Now he has been drywalling and sanding...repeat, repeat, repeat. The new drywall is primed, the light/fan combo is installed, and he is working on the tile today. Next comes painting- we picked out a putty color like a khaki with a hint of gray in it if that makes since. I love our tile choice! The bathroom is going to look so nice. We picked out an espresso colored vanity, mirror, and cabinet to hang over the toilet at Lo*we's. I told Andy I might just start getting ready downstairs in this bathroom! Ha!

It was a LOONG week...

This week seemed to go on and on. It was a hard week for me at school. But it's over! So looking forward to two days at home. Nothing exciting planned - just extra sleep and catching up around the house. Last night was good - came home from school and bought my first fresh salmon filets. I made a nice dinner- salmon, rice, steamed broccoli and my favorite wine. But I don't think I'll use the salmon recipe from last night again - the salmon was ok but didn't really care for the cilantro pesto - and I love cilantro! It didn't have much flavor. We LOVED the garlic rice pilaf. Easy - and will definitely make it again. Yum! But I was glad I finally tried fresh salmon! I've always been afraid I might not like it. I had to cook fish with the skin still on one side but like the meat man said, it peeled off very easily once it was cooked. I made sure to not touch or look at it! LOL!

After the kids were in bed Andy's uncle stayed at our house so we could go out. We went to Home*Depot to look at bathroom vanity's. Andy has been working SO hard on our downstairs bathroom (separate post to come). We then went to Star*buck's and had coffee and played checkers. It was fun! Even though he beat me both games. I told him I didn't think I'd played checkers in about 20 years. Of course he has all this strategy and I don't! Anyway, it was fun. Then I fell asleep watching The Closer.

New TV Show

Ok. Let me explain. My mom has been raving about The Closer for a couple of years. She and my dad watch it and she has been telling my sister and I to watch the show. She has seasons 1-4 on DVD so that is what Andy and I have been watching the past month or two. Jason and Cara have also been watching and are ready for season 5! I had Season 1 on DVD from my mom for several months before I decided to give it a try. I don't watch much tv because: we don't have cable, we don't have DVR, and I have 3 children. So without DVR I can hardly ever watch the shows I'm interested in when they are on tv. I gave up Grey's Anatomy after maternity leave with Ty because I just didn't have the time to watch it and now (2+ years later) I've lost the story line.

So being able to watch 1 episode (almost) every night once the boys are in bed has been so great for me! Sometimes I have trouble relaxing because there is always so much to be done.

I'm on the last episode of season 3. The main character, Kyra Sedgwick has grown on me. She really got on my nerves at first. But I really enjoy the show. To me it's like a Law and Order only better!

P.S. I figure my addiction to The Closer is way better for my figure than my recent addiction to Reese's Pieces. ;)

Happy 32nd!

Andy's birthday was Friday. We had fun celebrating! Last weekend while his mom was in town we had his side of the family over to celebrate. His parents ordered pizza, I made a veggie tray and Mountain Mama Mudslide for dessert. One of his all time favorites! We celebrated his mom's birthday too which is in a few days.

This Friday night just our family went out to dinner. We gave him his present and celebrated with pumpkin dessert. Last night Andy and I went to see a movie after the boys were in bed while his uncle stayed at our house to baby-sit. We went and saw Due * Date which was funny. It reminded me a lot of Hang*over. It had some really funny parts - like truly laugh out loud funny. I used to avoid LOL because it wasn't true and it bugged me. But I've gotten over it and use it now too. Some parts that I didn't enjoy but overall it was funny! Happy Birthday, Andy!

I bought Andy his first Christmas present today! Christmas will be here before we know it!