Menu Plan Monday

Can you believe that November is almost over? We are in the last week of November! Where did this year go?

Pretty easy week here for our menu plan, still recouping from last week!

Monday: Lemon Pepper Chicken with steamed rice and broccoli.

Tuesday: Vege tacos with refried beans and all the trimmings. Fruit on the side.

Wednesday: Oven-BBQ chicken legs with baked potatoes and corn on the cob.

Thursday: Cheesy Baked Ziti with a big salad and crusty garlic bread. So, so very yummy and makes a BIG pan, so there's enough to freeze for left-overs.

Friday: BFD! Either french toast or pancakes, eggs, and fruit.

Saturday: Free Night!

Sunday: Grilled Cheese sandwiches with Panera Broccoli Cheese Soup.

Head over to Laura's site to see more meal plans.

Also - Check out the contest that Green Style Mom is hosting for some cool baking gear! I absolutely love baking at this time of year and how cool would some star shaped breads be?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Not a lot to say, just wanted to share some photos. I hope everyone had a wonderful day, full of family and food. I made dinner this year, and it was soo yummy. And the best part is, I get all the left-overs!


My mom ate dinner with us, here we all are sitting down to eat. Like the girls' turkey wreath hanging in the backround?

Even Camille had some Thanksgiving day dinner. She loved feeding herself the green beans! She also gnawed on a carrot (but didn't eat any of it) and had some mashed sweet potatoes.

After dinner, some of Craig's famile came over to visit. Here's our family, with my mom, his mom, her boyfriend, his two sons and Craig's sister. I love having family together at holidays.

Thankful

Melissa at Banana Migraine has tagged everyone to share what they are thankful for this Thanksgiving, and everyday. We all have soo very much to be thankful for.

I am thankful for Camille. Before I got pregnant with her, I was going through some serious depression, and when I found out that I was pregnant I wasn't exactly happy. I didn't think I would be able to handle another child emotionally, and had finally come to accept that we were going to have two and only two children. The moment I held her for the first time, and every day since, I can't imagine my life without her. Our family wouldn't be complete without her.

I am thankful for Kaitlyn. She is such a cool, wonderful, beautiful girl. She is a great help in the house, and especially with her younger sisters.

I am thankful for Celeste. My princess. She is such a fun kid. I love seeing her learn everyday.

I am thankful for my best friend, my husband, Craig. Without him in my life, I would be an emotional basketcase. To quote a Blue October song - he "gives me a quiet mind."

I am thankful for our home, my job, our continues good health and our many friends and family that we love soo much.

There are soo many more things that I am grateful for in life, much to much to list in one blog post. I tag any and everyone who feels blessed in life to share what they are thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Crochet Updates

I've been slacking in the updates department, sorry. I have been getting stuff worked on, just not updating. I've updated my Christmas list a bit. I'm not going to stress myself, I will get done what I can get done. It's not like anyone is expecting homemade gifts. For now though, here's what I've been working on.

1. Milly's Round Ripple Baby Balnket

I'm actually a bit more finished since taking this picture. I've started the pink rounds, so just about 8 more rounds to go until I am done. I keep seeing blogs/posts where people talk about what a quick project this is. I must be the slowest crocheter in the world, because this feels like it is takign for-evah. But I still love the way it looks and the yarn is super soft. It's going to be soo cozy and warm and gorgeous when it's finally done. I really want this to the blanket that Camille drags along with her everywhere as a child, takes with her when she leaves for college and someday passes it on to her own kids.

2. In the meantime, I whipped up these fingerless gloves for my oldest. She asked me to make her two things for Christmas: fingerless gloves and socks. I think I can oblige. I made these using a heavily modified version of this pattern from Inner Child Crochet. Obvioulsy, I didn't include the tops to the mittens/thumbs and they are bigger. I used the same cheapy yarn that I had left over from her hat, so at least they will match!

3. I am still stuck on these damned cute birdies. All I need to do is add the beaks and eyes. All I've needed to do for the last 3 weeks is add the beaks and eyes, I just can't motivate myself to do it. Maybe tpying out my laziness will be the motivation I need to get these done. They really are cute!

4. And last, but certainly not least, the Soft as a Cloud dress for Camille from the book Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies. The pattern calls for a fingering weight yarn. I started this with a worsted weight yarn. Yes, I really can be that dumb sometimes. Of course, it's already way to big, the picture is just one of the sleeves, so I am shelving this for now and will start it again when I get the right yarn. I might also continue with this yarn and she'll have it for when she's an older toddler. lol

I'm also just starting a new project. This shrug/bolero for my 5 year old. In a beautiful deep red Borroco Touche yarn. No prictures yet, so far just the 1st row done. I am attempting to modify the pattern since it's written for an adult, hopefully I don't screw it up too badly. If the finished product looks half as good as the pattern photos, she will love it.

Blue October in Concert

As I posted in this blog post, a few weeks ago I was lucky enough to get to see Blue October in concert not once, but twice.

Thursday night's show was in St. Pete at Jannus Landing, which is a fabulous little outdoor venue. It was nice and cool outside, so there was minimal sweatiness. lol The show itself was great! I missed the first opening band, Love Drug, but was able to catch Shiny Toy Guns set. They are great! Should have bought their CD at the show, but I will definitely be getting soon. Met up with one of my good friends after their set and we stayed together for the rest of the show. Up next was Yellowcard. Not really my bag, but they were ok. Very energetic, good musicians and performers, I just didn't kow the music well enough to enjoy them. There were a lot of people there specifically for them, though, which was good for me because once their set was over a lot of people cleared out. Leaving us plenty of room to get up closer.

Kate, one of our local DJs from 97x (the reason the Tampa area even knows about Blue), came up on stage to introduce Blue October. It was wonderful seeing her up there, Kate has been stationed in Iraq for the last 6 months or so and just got back a couple of weeks ago.

Once Blue took the stage I was lost in the show. They are a phenomenal band and never, ever fail to awe and amaze me. Justin was full of smiles and was interacting with the crowd throughout the show. Ryan was just on fire, he is such a talented musician.

All of my pictures are from a crappy disposable camera, so they kind of suck, but here are the best of the bunch:

Will post a review of the Orlando show later. :)

Menu Plan Monday

Thanksgiving is this week, and I absolutely can't wait. I will be hosting this year and am really looking forward to it. I love playing hostess and cooking/baking. It will just be us and my mom, unless my hubby's mom decides to show up. But even if she does, Craig doesn't think she will be eating with us.

Here's our plan for the week:

Monday: Oven BBQ chicken drumsticks, fried taters, and corn on the cob.

Tuesday: Chicken Parm with angel hair pasta, broccoli and garlic bread.

Wednesday: Grilled Cheese sandwiches with chicken noodle soup for the girls.

Thursday: Turkey Day! We'll be having all the traditional sides with our turkey: mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato cassarole, green beans, corn, cranberries, corn-bread stuffing, and fresh baked bread. For dessert, I will be making pumpkin and apple pies and Celeste wants me to make rice krispie treats.

Friday: Mom and I will probably go shopping, and then we'll just stuff ourselves on left-overs for lunch and dinner.

Saturday: Free Night for me. Whatever Craig plans on making for dinner tonight is what will be served

Sunday: Chinese take-out and popcorn with a movie.

Hope everyone has a FABULOUS week and holiday! Click the link above for more menu plans.

AHA Heart Walk

Today was the day for our local Heart Walk. It was a beautiful day, perfect for being outside. The morning started out a bit cold, but by mid-walk, we were peeling off our sweaters and enjoying the sunshine.

They started off with a pep-rally (basically) and a warm-up. We then we walked through Safety Town, or as Celeste called it Little Town, a miniature-size city that is designed to help teach kids about safety. Celeste loved this part and we quickly ended up at the back of the pack because she wanted to stop and look at each little building.

The track & fielder in Craig started coming out at that point, and he urged (read "come on, come on!") us on to walk a bit faster, so that we weren't dead last to finish.

Camille slept through most of the walk, but when she woke up, she wanted out of the sling so that she could play!

After the walk, they had lunch provided for the walkers from Subway and lots of fresh fruits to snack on. Jarod (the Subway guy) was even there, he did the walk and then some meet-and-greet type stuff afterwards. They also had a bounce house for the kids to play in - Celeste had fun with that!

We also got to say hi to the horseys (and their mounted officers) from the Pasco County Sherriff's Office. But, of course, the batteries on the camera died before we could take a pic. It was a wonderful morning, we all had lots of fun, and it was all for a great cause. This will definitely be an annual thing for us.