School days....

Wow, the summer flew! I always feel it goes quickly but I think this summer went really fast. I miss the kids so much when school starts back. The house is so quiet. It is strange!

Ava is in 2nd grade. For K and 1st she looped up with the same teacher and same class. This year she got a whole new class and teacher! She was a little nervous the first day but excited that her daddy got to take her in! She loves her new teacher Ms. Relaford. She also has a few friends in her class...Kierston, Mia, Sydney, Alex and Connor. I was shocked they had homework the first week. I think Ava was too! She is signed up for Zumba and Acrojax as well as Art. Oh and Brownies! It will be a busy year!

Sarah-Tate started VPK. We love her new school. Her teachers are awesome and the class seems really great. She didn't even cry or seem concerned when I left. She just smiled and said good bye! I was worried. At her old school she cried often. :( She has already made lots of new friends! We hear about Sadie, McKenzie, Sophia, Rowan and Eliza. She is the tallest kid in her class, the first day someone thought she was a 1st grader! Ha! My kids are all so tall. Not sure how? She is also doing an awesome job writing her name! Yay! We have worked on it all summer. She does it but in her time. At school she has done it everyday. She is also coloring awesome.

Griffin will start school 2 days a wk after Labor Day. He and I have had quality time. Today we did the library story time and then puzzles for about an hr. It was so much fun. Normally I feel so stressed or in such a hurry. Nice to just have him and time to kill.

Happy Thursday!

Birthdays and stuff....

I totally missed the post on Ava's Birthday!?!?! We had a small party this year instead of a big class party. Ava invited Sarah-Beth, Dominique, Ragan, Sydney, Summer and Sara to go the movies and see Arriety for her birthday! She had a Monster High Cake and cute lollipop party favors. The movie was great and the girls were wonderful! After the movie we came back to our room, had cake and opened presents. Ava's teacher, Ms. Helms and her daughter Katlyn came. Ava was so excited! She got lots of Monster High stuff! Gigi and Poppy also came to visit and go to your party!

I cannot believe Ava is 7! These years have gone so quickly! It seems just like yesterday I was at Dr Boyd's office and he said I had to be induced the next day! Crazy!!! Ava was so tiny when she was born 6lbs 2 oz!!! We had to go buy premie clothes to fit her! We were both so nervous! It was crazy to be so nervous b/c I had always taken care of kids? I think I expected her to be bigger and not so petite and fragile!

I am so blessed to have Ava bean in my life. She is such a ray of sunshine. Always a big helper. Always watching out for her little brother and sister. Ava makes me smile each and everyday! She also makes me want to be a better person. I love you Ava bean! I am glad you had a wonderful birthday! I hope all your birthdays are magical.....

Christmas and other stuff....

Wow, such a long time without blogging! Well, Christmas was wonderful! We headed to NC to be with my family this year. That is getting harder and harder! We have 3 kids, a dog, the 2 of us, all our luggage and then all the presents! Wow, our van was FULL! But, we made the trip and the kids were beyond excited to be at the farm for Christmas! We had a full schedule as always! The first night my aunts, uncles, brother, sisterinlaw and cousin came up for supper. The next day was shopping and last minute stuff. Saturday, Christmas Eve we spend the day cooking for a mid-afternoon lunch/dinner. I made hashbrown casserole, poppyseed salad and made from scratch red velvet cake! YUM! The cake was almost a disaster b/c Mr Griffin upped the temp on my mom's oven! Thankfully I smelled it before it was too late. He is a mess!

We had a wonderful get together! My sweet 92 year old mamaw came! I love her and miss her so much! Wish we lived closer!

Christmas Day was wonderful! The kids got an overload of STUFF! Ava and Sarah-Tate were so proud and happy to finally have an American Girl Doll from Santa! They both asked for Kanani, doll of the year! They also got games, dolls clothes, books and the list goes on and on! Griffin got a John Deere Tractor from my mom and dad that he can ride on! Oh, that was it for Griffin! He is obsessed with that thing! Loves it! After presents we had our traditional breakfast of biscuits, gravy, bacon, sausage, eggs, grits and homemade jelly. Once everyone was settled mom and I went to visit Mamaw were she is staying. She is so cute, I hope I live to be 92 and have all my kids love me as much as we love her.

On Sunday Ava had a sleepover with her cousin Caroline. She had waited all week for this special moment! They were all so cute and excited!

Funny how you plan for so long but the trip is so, so fast! When we got back into town Matt's mom and dad came up from Sarasota! It was nice seeing them. The kids were excited of course for round 2 of Christmas! Unfortunately, Griffin got really sick New Year's Eve! Matt and I ended up spending our night in the ER downtown. Turns out he had a hernia and hydrocele. It was an awful night. They had such a hard time getting an IV in him and he was miserable, crying. So sad! :( Thankfully he got treated and sent home. We ended up having surgery at the end of Jan. He did awesome and is all good now! Yay! Can't believe he is almost 2!!! Time flies!

Some Christmas pics....

Santa....

We decided to go see Santa Saturday morning with some friends. Ava and Sarah-Tate were super excited. I knew Griffin would probably not like Santa.....

Initially things seemed ok. He stood with Santa and didn't seem to mind at all. But- things changed quickly when the photographer suggested Ava stand beside Santa and place Griffin on his knee....

He was ok at first but then he looked back and saw Santa and it was all over. He quickly returned to Mommy and the girls continued with their talk!

The visit with Santa was the same when the girls were small too... funny how it doesn't change!

Happy Monday!

Yummy Christmas Food!

I love the holiday season and love entertaining! I have so many staple Christmas recipes- it was hard to figure out which ones I wanted to post! I love to make peanut butter balls, toffee, chocolate mint ritz crackers(YUM!), date nut cheese ball and sugar cookies just to name a few! I narrowed it down to these 3 favs!

Crab Ball

1 Block of cream cheese room temp
1 cup of crab meat chopped
1/3 cup ketchup
3 T of worcheshire sauce

Mix softened cream cheese and crab meat; form a ball and put on a plate. Let chill in the fridge for 30  mins or so. When ready to serve mix ketchup and worcheshire sauce together- pour over crab ball. Serve with wheat thins.

Date Nut Balls

1 egg well beaten
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
8 oz of dates chopped
1 cup of pecans chopped
2 1/2 cups rice crispies
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Cook butter, sugar, eggs and dates until gooey and thickened. Add pecans and vanilla. Then rice krispies and mix well. Cool slightly and form balls and roll in powdered sugar. Makes 50 or so small balls.



Melting Moments

1 cup of butter
1/3 c powdered sugar
3/4 c corn starch
1 cup flour

Cream butter; add sugar, corn starch and flour. Mix well. Chill 1 hr. For 36 or so irregular heaps and put on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 until lightly browned. (10 -15 mins) Cool and frost. These cookies are not good without the frosting.

Frosting

2T melted butter
1 c powdered sugar
1 t vanilla
Enough milk to spread
Green and Red food coloring

I mix butter, sugar, vanilla and a tad of milk. Then I divide the frosting in 2 bowls. I add red to one bowl and green to the other.

These "Melting Moments" cookies are special Christmas tradition in our house. So fun to make and so delicate and delicious to eat.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Christmas Cards....

I LOVE Christmas cards! When I went to college I started sending cards to my family and friends back home. I would take pictures of my college Christmas tree or my animals. I always loved getting cards from friends and watching their kids grow! I couldn't wait until the day I had my own kids and could send out these cute cards with matching outfits! So fun!

Well, Christmas cards are such a source of stress in our house! ;) I always wants the kids to look perfect and I never get the picture I am looking for! It normally turns into a nightmare...the more stressed I get the more stressed and silly the kids get! Sad but true!

I attempted to take pictures Friday morning.... didn't turn out so well. My wonderful husband took the 3 kids to the beach on Sunday and got the cutest pics! So thankful that he can do this stuff and make it stress free!

Here are the pics.... first set I took Friday and then the beach pics!

We used the pics of the 3 kids running on the beach along with the group shot above for the card! It turned out so cute!

Every year I say I am going to start with pics for the card early and every year I am doing the pics the week after Thanksgiving or later! Let's see what happens next year! ;)

Happy Tuesday!

Thankful for so much!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! We went to my inlaws- the kids love being there! They love seeing their cousin Meagan who goes to college near my inlaws. And they enjoyed meeting her new boyfriend Ian. He was great with the kids! So cute!

We headed out of town Wednesday afternoon; we were worried traffic would be crazy! Traffic wasn't bad after all! We had a nice drive south with the kids and the dog! We arrived around 11pm. The kids always get a second wind when we arrive late! They had fun running aroung and showing all their new stuff to grandma and grandpa. Grandma made a wonderful bread pudding! YUM!

Thanksgiving Day was busy getting ready for the big meal! My mother-in-law got a new stove and hasn't fully figured it out. Well, we put the turkey in to cook and 30 minutes later I realized that the turkey wasn't cooking b/c the oven wasn't on! :( So, we started over again! Luckily, grandpa took the kids on a boat ride! That helped a lot!

We had a great dinner with turkey, dressing, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, gravy, rolls and yummy cranberries! I love Thanksgiving! I don't eat the turkey but everything else is awesome! I know... I don't eat the turkey on Thanksgiving? Strange? I am not much of a meat eater- for some reason turkey isn't my thing at all!

Friday morning I got up bright and early to go shopping. I found a few good deals. I don't think they have the deals  they used to have on Black Friday unless you are going to Best Buy or Walmart? I enjoyed getting out and into the spirit! I also found my new favorite thing! Unsweet tea from DunkinDonuts with coconut added! YUM! Love it!

After my shopping spree we headed to the G Whiz museum- so fun! Ava totally loved it! She got to hold a snake! There were so many fun things to do there!

Saturday we went to a new beach to shell hunt and have a picnic! Ava found some nice shells! We had a great time hunting and having a picnic! After we headed to Nokomis Groves! They have amazing soft serve orange, vanilla, lime, chocolate and pineapple ice cream! It is a great treat! Lime and chocolate is so, so good!

The trip was awesome! Leaving on Monday was sad as always! I love family times! Matt works a lot and is often busy- being on vacation is nice! We miss seeing him but are thankful for his job!!!

Happy Monday!