Freezer Cooking Day!

I am so proud of myself for doing freezer cooking today. I totally decided this morning. We have been saying over and over that we needed some freezer meals, especially BB burritos, to keep us from eating out as much. Garyn goes to Mother's Day Out on Tuesday and when I saw the rain, I decided going Christmas shopping and running errands wasn't going to be any fun. (I avoid getting out in rain since breaking my foot!) Which equals: impromptu cooking day!

Anyway, I got 4 dinners done and 10 burritos to put in the freezer (actually only 9 cause one I ate for lunch). I tried one new chicken casserole that I had gotten out of the Better Homes and Garden magazine a while back. Hoping its good!

Hot N' Cheesy Chicken Casserole
3 cups chopped cooked chicken
1 14 oz. pkg. frozen broccoli
    (I left this out since my boys don't like it)
2 cups cooked rice
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
1 10 oz can cream of chick. condensed
1 10 oz can fiesta nacho cheese soup
    ( I substitued nacho cheese dip....?)
1 10 oz ca rotel
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper (optional)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup crushed rich round crackers

1. Preheat overn to 350 F. Place chicken in bottom
of 3 qt. casserole dish. Combine broccoli, rice, and peas.
Spread over chicken. Then combine cream of chicken,
nacho cheese, soup, rotel, milk, and red pepper. Stir in
1/4 cup of cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup of mozz. cheese
Pour mixture over everything. Then sprinkle crushed
crackers and remaining mozz. & cheddar cheese.

2. Bake, uncovered, 35-45 mins or until topping is
golden. Makes 8-10 servings.

I split this into 2 dishes since there are only 3 of us.
And I didn't put the topping on cause I was worried the crackers wouldn't be crispy after freezing.

I also made the Mexican Chicken Casserole and split it into two dishes.

Just to let you know how we roll around here....I made all this, planned for us to eat one of the dishes, and my wonderful, sweet husband wants to go out to eat. Of course! And he talked me into it because he is leaving for a conference in Nashville for work tomorrow and won't be back till Friday.....oh the irony!

Thanksgiving 2010

Well, Thanksgiving is over! Wow, how 2010 has gone by......

We had a good Thanksgiving, although I missed the McGhee family (Tyler's mom's family). His grandmother had knee replacement surgery this past Monday so we had a smaller Thanksgiving at Nana and Poppa's house on Sunday night instead of our normal bigger gathering with his whole family.

The food was great!

My mother n' law set the table with china, and
tried a new turkey recipe that was wonderful.

The crew minus Nana

Uncle Philip and Garyn playing....they had a blast

with these two rabbits that were "attacking" Garyn

Then he and Nana danced and sang to the Wiggles in the kitchen.

 One of Garyn's favorite things to do with Nana and she says its a workout for her!

My family was great, too.

We went down (my family lives in Summerville, Ga an hour away) to my brother's house on Wednesday. I met up with my girl cousins, my niece and one of my aunts for a girl's night. It was some much needed time to get to see them more than I normally do. We went to the mall for a bit, saw a movie and then ate dinner.

My cousins Hannah and Lindsey, both in college.....

My aunt Joy and I....
 
 My niece, Lorna, cousin, Mandy and I

Tyler riding Lakelin's, my nephew, dirt bike....

Garyn and Lakelin playing, Garyn loves going to Lornie,

a.k.a Lorna, and Lakelin's house......

Garyn and I (and baby sister :)

Garyn getting to ride on the dirt bike...I insured he went really slow and was safe

Family at dinnertime, talking and laughing

Most of the younger cousins playng outside



It was a great Thanksgiving and now we are getting ready for Christmas around here!

It's that time again!

Christmas is almost here! Can you believe it?

One of my favorite things are the Christmas cards we get.....

I love plastering them all over this window and card holder; looking at them daily when at the sink.
And yes, I did finally put them all in a photo album instead of throwing them away. Can't wait to look through them in 10 or even just 5 years to see how the families have changed!

The picture cards are the best invention. It adds so much to be able to look at the family the card is from especially when its out of town friends and family you don't see much.

The crazy thing is that it's time to get those cards done and ready to send! AHH! It is always a hard choice for me trying to pick the right pictures and the best card. This year I am going for Shutterfly cards! I always love them from people and love their quality.
Better yet, this year they are offering 50 free cards to bloggers! How can you beat that?! Go to
http://bit.ly/sfly2010  and you can get 50 of their cards if you have a blog!
Now to choose! I love family wall, and many memories because you can display a lot of pictures on them
But then there is vintage noel that has a great look and message
and how about Christmas captions that let you tell the pictures' story....
Plus these desk calendars would be a great gift!

See what I mean, its hard to choose what you want! First, I have to get some pictures of us, planning on doing that this weekend during Thanksgiving. I was hoping to look more pregnant for them. Speaking of.....I have a little bit of a bump, but its not that noticeable unless you know I am pregnant. With Garyn, I was late to show, too. But hey, the baby is kicking me and stealing all my food! I am starving-hungry ever couple of hours. So she is in there!

Hope you have fun doing your Christmas cards!

Bathroom Remodel!

So remember this post? Our bathroom has been mostly done for a few weeks. And I L-O-V-E it!
We feel so accomplished and Tyler is ready to move to the next job. I, on the other hand, want a little break for the holidays. Plus, the next project involves taking out a huge window to put in a french door. But on to the finished project!

New white shower/tub and curtain.....

New toilet, wainscoting, and towel/toilet roll holders.......

New tile with this detailed area in front of shower.....

New counter top, sink, faucet and redone cabinets.....

New lighting around mirror and also a fan-light above shower.......

I wish I had a good picture of the before, but it was that peach tub/shower tile, toilet, sink and counter with laminated flooring. It was outdated to say the least!

Tyler is such a good handy man. He tiled the floor with help of his dad, painted the tub and shower tile, put up the wainscoting with hand rail and redid our previous cabinet. The cabinet before was two separate pieces that had an opening in the middle under the sink. They were exactly the same: two drawers above two doors. Tyler cut one in half and made it the 4 drawers.  Then to make it long enough for the counter top, he added the open shelves, that I choose, making them from the other half he cut. Meanwhile, he sanded it all and re stained it darker (it was a yellow-pine-looking color before). Also, he added some decorative trim around the doors and had to make the faux drawer panels under the sink. I just love him!

I did a little painting and staining. Since I am pregnant and had a broken foot at that time, there wasn't too much I could do. I supervised A LOT and had to keep Garyn company most of the time!

So there it is!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Taking a moment

Just wanted to take a moment and present some great accomplishments by my little man....

He has began to color a lot and loving it, I'll say "Come on Garyn let's eat" and he replies "Hold on, I just have to finish coloring this" He is really working on coloring in the lines and coloring every inch.....so much so you can't see the picture anymore! But today he was drawing.......

While you may think this is a dog, or bear; nope, it is Garyn. He brought it to me and said "It's Garyn, see my ears and eyes" I am so proud of this because it is his first real picture......you know usually its several lines and a scribble, which there is nothing wrong with abstract. But he made eyes and a circle for the face, a mouth and nose. He even pointed to the scribble at the top as his hair.......loving it!

Next, he loves to sing praise songs in the car with us. We listen to kids songs, too, but it is so precious to hear him singing such deep phrases with a sweet, child voice at the top of his lungs. I took a video of him last night. While Tyler was working on school stuff, they were listening to music. (Sorry it is long)

Just love that boy!

Haven't officially mentioned on here that along with this boy we are having a GIRL!

Scared yet cute........

Halloween is becoming more enjoyable for the boys of my family. It seems Garyn has inherited Tyler's dislike for Halloween. Tyler doesn't like scary movies, haunted houses, etc because of some scares at Halloween when he was young. He doesn't do any "girl" screams or run and hide, but he just chooses not to watch/see things that might come back up in his dreams. Since about a year old,  we have realized Garyn was following in his footsteps....

Garyn is scared of a lot.....

   scared of the dark
   scared of mascots
   scared of anything that talks or sings without him knowing it will
   scared of being alone in a room while I am at the other end of the house
   scared of Halloween

Last year at Halloween, Garyn started getting very scared of Halloween decorations and costumes. We had a time getting him to wear his costume. When we were at stores, I would have to tell him it was only a toy and to not be scared of it in order to get by the Halloween section. From then on, he would tell me "Don't be scared momma, its just a toy", over and over.

Once Halloween was over, other things started scaring him. Christmas decorations and animals, some of his toys, mascots, pictures and the dark. Some things he is not afraid of and then switches to being afraid of it or vice verse. His pictures and stuffed animals in his room have been "taken away" several times at night, then replaced and he doesn't notice. He is even scared of the "G" on his wall.

Obviously, it has continued into this Halloween. One night, we were on the way home and he started telling us to "take away that bug." We had no idea what he was talking about. It started escalating into demands, crying and screams as we got closer to home. Then he told us to go another way and frantically started trying to get out of his car seat.   I feel so bad, but in my consoling I also want to laugh. That's horrible isn't it?  Then we arrived to the house on the corner that has many Halloween decorations. A graveyard, a large skeleton head with a spider web hanging, and eventually they have a haunted house in their front yard. We had to stop at the stop sign there next to it and he was trying to move from that window and was frantic. Poor baby! He is sooooo scared of things, I don't know how to console him when he gets so upset.

I guess we should have known with his first Halloween.................

Doesn't that just make you laugh!


We had many costume switches this year....First it was Buzz Lightyear, then he wanted to be Woody. When we went to buy a costume he wanted to be Dash from the Incredibles, but he pitched a fit when I put it on him. By this point it was the week before Halloween; we took back Dash and there was little to choose from. Everything I found in his size, he said he wouldn't wear. He doesn't like anything tight or furry or on his head. So we had a football uniform from buying his Texas helmet last year that was too big at the time. I had put it up so he didn't even realize he had it but was willing to be a football player when I suggested it.

He was a cute football player!

The helmet was on and off, but that was to be expected. I was surprised he let me put the shoulder pads on! And we already had the cleats so this was a free costume! (of course we had paid for it at one point but it was already something we had rather than buying something new :)

Trunk or Treat was more exciting and fun to him this year. He understood the games more, and was less afraid of everyone. You knew when he saw something that scared him because he would tense up and stop walking, but other than that, there were no crying fits.

He has an interesting way of playing the games....a cheating way! He wanted to walk right up to the holes or the basketball goal and put the ball in rather than attempt to throw it. Daddy was trying to get him to stand back, but he thought his way was so much better!

 High five! I did it!

Can't believe he actually got this on his head!