Happy Thanksgiving, Black Friday Madness, and Flasback Friday, all rolled into one......

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We always celebrate Thanksgiving at Dan's Aunt and Uncle's house. Dan and his cousins always play a football game in the morning with their friends. This year was the 20th Annual Turkey Bowl. I used to go and watch the game when Dan and I first started dating but now I stay home and cook a few things for Aunt Dolores and Uncle Ed's house.

While Dan went off to play his game, Katie and I stayed home and cooked. She was happy to help me in the kitchen. We made mac and cheese (I use Patti LaBelle's "Over the Rainbow" mac and cheese recipe with a few added bonuses of my own), Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Bananas and Honey (recipe I got off of Lisa's blog), and an Apple Pie. The apple pie was a recipe I got from my old co-worker Mary. I love this crumb top deep dish apple pie recipe.

The mac and cheese is a favorite with Dan's family, especially Walter. It was Walter's 20th Birthday yesterday so I really wanted to make the mac and cheese for him. The dish is so bad(it has 5 different cheeses, half and half, butter, and eggs in it) for you that I only make it once or twice a year.

The sweet potatoes came out GREAT! I will make these again. Thanks for posting this recipe Lisa!

While Katie and I were making the apple pie, I decided to try to use my apple/corer/peeler/slicer from pampered chef. I never use it and always peel my apples by hand. I know this nifty gadget is supposed to be easy to use but I never can get the hang of it. Well I finally got it set up after a phone call to my friend Carmela(who is a pampered chef consultant) and it WAS so easy to use. I got my apples cored/peeled/sliced in no time. Katie had fun helping me turn the handle. During the coring/peeling/slicing process, juice and peels where flying off the apples. Katie said "Mommy, you got juice in my eye!! Now, I am going to need glasses." She is so funny. The things she comes up with.

The apple pie came out great. I should of taken a picture of all my hard work but I was in such a rush to get out the door that I forgot.

We had a wonderful meal with our family and we have many things to be thankful for.



After the football game. The boys go back to the bar for "lunch".

Dan, Walter, Bill, Uncle Ed, and Eddie.



I ventured out this morning for Black Friday. Last year I actually went out by 10:30pm on Thanksgiving night because the outlets opened at Midnight. I got some awesome deals at the Disney Store outlet. This year I skipped the outlets. But, I did get up at 4am to go to Toy R Us. I was at Toys R Us by 4:45am. The line was wrapped around the store. When the line started moving it was amazing to watch all the people rushing into the store. I knew exactly what I was there for and went right for it. I got my shopping cart and thought to myself....GAME ON PEOPLE!!! I was in and out of there by 5:25am. I got everything I went in there for. Then I headed to Joann Fabric and was the 3rd person in line for there "doorbuster deals". While I was in line, I met up with my 70 something year old friend Betty who invited me into her sewing circle last Black Friday. Unfortunately Betty and her friends meet during the day while I am at work. So I was never able to join them. I felt like a bit of a loser waiting in line at Joann Fabric at 5:45am since most people were at places like Walmart and Best Buy. But, I got some great deals for my sewing hobby and I was quite pleased with myself when I left. I then hit AC Moore. I wanted to get fake pine swags for under the windows in the front of my house. I hit the jackpot because the 32 in pine swag were $5.99 each with a manager's special markdown of 80% making them $1.19 each and then I had a 30% off your entire purchase coupn. So, I got the swags for $7.52 and they would have been $53.91 for 9 of them at full price. I was back home by 8:30 am and very happy with myself. Dan said Katie woke up and wanted to know where Mommy was. Dan told her "shopping" and Katie said "Without me??". The girl loves to shop already. I assured her when I got home that I did not go to Target. Target is her favorite.

I also wanted to post a picture of Katie first Thanksgiving. This is her in 2006 at Thanksgiving dinner.



Katie ready for dinner with her plate she made at school.



Katie and her Thanksgiving Feast!

Not so Wordless Wednesday

I can't be wordless on this Wednesday. I have too many things to say. I am so thankful for our silly, funny, smart, sassy, amazing little girl.

She has the best little personality. She loves to laugh and joke around. On one of our first days as a family, Dan was giving Katie cheerios. Katie took the cheerios from Dan and started to pretend she was feeding them to Dan. Just as Dan went to take the cheerios from her, she pulled it back from him and laughed and laughed. She is a little jokester.

Just the other night, I heard Katie laughing and she was lying on the family room floor with blocks on her eyes and Dan was taking her picture. So, I thought it would be a great "Wordless Wednesday" picture. But, I needed to say a few words this Wednesday.

We are so blessed to be her parents. We are so thankful for Katie today and everyday.

Good Neighbors, Good Times....

I want to start this post by saying how thankful I am for my wonderful neighbors. We are so lucky to live in such a wonderful neighborhood. We built our house 5 years ago. It's a small neighborhood of 2 streets, 40 homes. We know every neighbor. There are so many kids in our neighborhood. It's a great place to raise a family. There are 4 other girls( and I think a boy or two) that will start Kindergarten the same time as Katie. We also live across the street from our Best Friends. How great is that???

The real reason for this post was to post pictures of my friend Karen's 40th birthday. The girls from the neighborhood took her out for a birthday dinner. We had a great time helping Karen celebrate her 40th. Happy Birthday Karen.

P.S. Check me out in the pictures.....bye, bye red hair. I went back to brown with blonde highlights. Thanks for all the nice comments but I couldn't get used to the red.




Karen the birthday girl and Karen my best friend



Wendy, Cathy, and Heather



Kim and me with my new hair color



Happy Birthday Karen



Karen with her tote bag



Tote Bag, I made for Karen



inside of tote bag



drink koozie, I made for Karen

Kelsey the Elf on the Shelf

Thanks Missy for telling me about Elf on the Shelf. I never heard of it before and thought it sounded like a cute tradition to start.

Our Elf came in the mail for Katie. She opened him and I explained that Santa had sent this Elf to watch over her. I read her the storybook that came with the Elf. Katie wanted to name her Elf "Kelsey". So, I guess our Elf is a girl elf. Then we went on www.elfontheshelf.com and registered Kelsey.

That night Katie said night night to Kelsey and then told the Elf..."Kelsey, my China friends, my Zona friends(this is what she calls her Hubei Sisters since she saw them last in Arizona), and my school friends have all been good. Please tell Santa!". I thought that was so cute that she was reporting good things about her friends to Santa.

Katie has been having fun waking up in the morning to find where Kelsey has moved too.

Then I was thinking I will probably scar the kid for life by using "Kelsey the Elf" to get her to behave. She was acting up and I told her that Kelsey was watching and going to tell Santa and she started to cry. Kelsey is slightly creepy.

Hopefully she grows up thinking Kelsey the Elf is a cute tradition and not in a therapist's office talking about the creepy Elf that my parents bought me when I was 3.

Wordless Wednesday

Soccer season has come to an end

Katie and Coach Daddy did a great job this season with Soccer. Katie got out there every week and played a great game. Of course the one week she scored a goal, I wasn't there to see it. I was "Sewing by the Sea". Dan was AWESOME as the coach of Katie's team. He was so good with the girls.

Saturday was the last game of the season. Katie was so excited to get her trophy.

I already signed Katie and Dan up for the Spring season.

Sewing by the Sea

I went away with my girlfriend MaryBeth this past weekend for our own version of "Sewing by the Sea". MaryBeth and I started taking sewing class together about a year ago. The one instructor told us about Sewing by the Sea in Ocean City Maryland. It is held at one of the hotel's from Sun to Thurs. Well, going during the week was not good for us so we decided to make our own sewing by the sea. MaryBeth's grandparents have an oceanfront beach house in Brigantine, NJ. So, we packed up our sewing stuff and set out to sew by the sea. We arrived late Friday night and set up our stuff. Saturday we sewed from 10 am until 2:30pm just stopping to go out to dinner. I made 3 skirts and a tote bag. I also embroidered several items. MaryBeth made 3 tote bags, 2 pillowcases, and 3 change purses. Sunday we got up and packed our stuff and went out to breakfast and then came home. We had a blast. It may sound boring to some(like my husband, who laughed and said..."Have a blast girls") but we had a really good time.

We are already looking forward to next time!

Flashback Friday

I was reminded recently from this post, the fun times we used to have at music class. Katie and I joined a "Mommy and Me" style music class a few months after she came home. We were lucky enough to go with our friends, Kate and Lia, and Kim and Hannah. We were all new Moms enjoying our daughters. We became friends during the wait for our daughters. We talked about all the fun things we would do together once our daughters came home. Well over the past 2 1/2 years were have done some REALLY fun things but one of our first memories as a group was music class. Enjoy the pictures. These were taken in May 2006.

Wordless Wednesday

High School Musical...starring~KATIE!

Isn't this funny! My friend Ruck did this picture for Katie.

Halloween Happenings

We had a wonderful Halloween. Katie really enjoyed herself this year. She wanted to be Sharpay from High School Musical. Katie had changed her mind so many times. We went to the Halloween store(on this day) and she saw the Sharpay costume and that is what she wanted to be. She has never even seen High School Musical. She learned the characters from school.

Two weeks ago we had our annual Halloween parade in our neighborhood.



Bailey and Katie



Katie and Neve



Katie and Mommy~ Katie didn't want to wear her Sharpay sunglasses so I wore them.



This picture of Katie running with her wig flying off the back of her head, cracks me up.


Halloween morning was Katie's Halloween parade at school. Then we went to Bailey and Brady's school in the afternoon to watch their parade.



Katie at her school parade



Lotus at ALK school parade.


We headed out Halloween night for Trick or Treating with Aunt Karen, Bailey, and Brady. Katie wanted to Trick or Treat with her friend Neve, so we stopped at her house first and picked her up. Daddy and Uncle Jeff went to Philadelphia for the Phillies parade. They were gone all day and did not get home in time for Trick or Treating. All the trains were packed and it took them hours to get home. So I had to put the candy on the front step with a sign that read take "2" only. Aunt Karen did the same thing at her house.

Katie and Neve were so much faster Trick or Treating this year. They ran from house to house. Last year they would stop and get back on the wagon after every house. They were so funny, they would have a little conversation at every house when they got their candy.