Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Farewell Christmas 2009

Well the presents are all unwrapped, the food has been eaten, and the boys headed back to their homes today. The house way is too quiet but it will soon come alive with the hum of the washer full of towels and sheets and the vacuum removing all of Duke and Annabelle's hair. It was a great Christmas but like all good things it too must come to an end. It is time to look forward to 2010. I hope this year brings many happy moments for each and everyone of us.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Fort Hill

Matt and I decided to drive through the VNMP today. We took turns quizing each other on the facts about the park. He remembered more that I did. We took a few pictures at Fort Hill.


Different Family Christmas 2009

 
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Christmas Morning

 
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Christmas Eve 2009

 
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Christmas 2009

Wow it's hard to believe all the planning, shopping, wrapping, baking, cooking and partying is all over. Christmas has come and gone. It was great. We had a party at our house. Then we had our traditional Christmas Eve fondue and snacks. Christmas Day we were joined by Dianne and Jeff and Meme. Everything was perfect. We all got great gifts and ate way too much good food.

Bunco Christmas Party

For our December Bunco we brought snacks and a gift for our ornament swap. Here are the pictures.Click on the pictures to see a larger view.

Christmas Eve

Here is our annual Christmas Eve Picture. Since the boys were little they always wanted to open just one present on Christmas Eve and it was always pj's. Now we all get to open a present and this year it was matching MSU pj pants and black shirts.

Sunday, December 27, 2009

Action Sports International - St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend




Matt just told me if you go to this link you will see the pictures of him running in the marathon. I had checked right after the race but he wasn't listed. Guess it takes a while to sort through the thousands of racers. Great pictures.
Action Sports International - St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

See Matt Run

Matt ran his first half marathon this past weekend. (for dummies like me that is 13.1 miles) Wow he did great, he ran the 13.1 miles in 1 hour and 40 minutes and 35 seconds. That is running one mile in 7.35 minutes. We are so proud of him. Way to go. Check out the pictures below.

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Ready for the Christmas Season




Duke and Annabelle posed for their Christmas photo. Aren't they darling?
Thank you Aunt Dianne and Uncle Jeff for our holiday bells.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Pumpkin Fudge

I love to try new recipes. I recently found this recipe for pumpkin fudge. What a perfect sweet treat for Thanksgiving.
Here are the pictures. I'll put the ingredients at the end.
Gather all the ingredients and measure them out.







Pour the sugar into the saucepan and add evaporated milk.






Have the other ingredients ready to add when needed.






Bring sugar and milk to a boil, stir with a wooden spoon.






Add pumpkin puree, stir then add cinnamon. Return to a boil then add marshmallow creme and butter.













Boil for 18 minutes, stir often. Be careful it does "pop" up. (and yes you will think you arm is going to fall off)






Remove from heat and add white chocolate chips and vanilla extract. Stir until creamy.






Spoon into a 9 x 9 baking pan that is lined with wax paper. Cool. Cut into squares.






Ingredients for Pumpkin Fudge.
5 oz can evaporated milk
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 can of 15 ounce pumpkin (yes I know this is a tough)
1 teaspoon cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice
7 ounce jar marshmallow creme
2 Tablespoons butter
6 ounce package white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
ENJOY

Planting Bulbs

"Forcing" bulbs to bloom for the holidays is a great thing to do to bring color into the house. I have several dozen paperwhites doing their thing so they will be ready for when Christmas guests drop by. This weekend I decide to plant two Amaryllis for gifts. I know it might have been easier to just give them the box and let them do it but I like to get the ball rolling for them. It is so easy to do. I'll walk you through it.
Step one - Buy a Amaryllis kit.









Step two - Remove bulb, pot and potting soil disk from box.









This is the amaryllis bulb, the root end has the "fingers", you can see the plant has started to sprout.







This is what the soil disk looks like. Kinda like a big thick burger.












Step three
- Measure very warm water






Step four - When all the water is absorbed plant bulb, place in a warm room, out of direct sunlight. Keep soil moist, and turn as needed to keep stalk straight.

Now all you have to do and wait and watch.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

National Clean Out Your Fridge Day

Yes there really is a designated day to clean out your fridge. Actually it was last Saturday but we were so busy working in the yard that I didn't get to it but since Paul and Mark are deer hunting this weekend,it was the perfect time. I think the timing is meant to clean out before you stock up for the holidays. Makes sense to me. I got the folding table out and emptied the refrigerator, washed all the shelves and the inside. Threw away old stuff and then put the rest of the food back. Sparkly Clean! It is ready to fill with our turkey and all the trimings.
While I was at it I cleaned out the pantry. It is nice and neat too. I even labeled many of the shelves. Now about five bags of outdated and old stuff later it is neat and clean. Now it's time to start cooking and baking.

Christmas Shopping

Wow what a week, I spent a couple of days on the coast with work. While I was there I got an email from Paul that his company had adopted several families for Christmas. His office picked a family of 3 girls. I "offered" to shop for one of the girls while I was doing some of our shopping. Oh My Goodness, it is a good thing we did not have girls. I had a blast, I picked out a darling cordoroy jumper with big dots, a matching turtleneck and of course coordinating tights. It was so cute. It was hard to get a good picture but this will give you an idea.
It was a long drive back but the weather was great. There is one stretch of the back roads that I love, the trees are always so pretty as they drape over the road. I couldn't get a picture from the middle of the road so I pulled off and here is what I got, Doesn't that look lovely.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Bunco Fun

Well I didn't win big but I had a great time. Renee did a super job on the food and the gifts. Thanks for hosting. Can't wait until next month for our Christmas Party Bunco.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

BUNCO NIGHT


Yippee. I love Bunco. This is the second group I have played with and I love it. It is a great night out, good food, great friends and Bunco is a game you do not have to think about as you play. (unless you are the table scorekeeper) Last month I had the most buncos (which gets the best prize) Keep your fingers crossed that my "winning streak" from last month will continue tonight.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Thank you to all the Veterans


Tomorrow is Veterans Day. The eleventh day of the eleventh month at the eleventh hour. This date marked the unofficial end of WWI and was orginally called Armistice Day. We should all take time to thank those that have and still are serving our country so we can be free. My father and Paul's father were both Veterans of WWII. They both served their country. We were so fortunate that they were able to return home to their families so many were not that fortunate. God Bless each and every one and thank you from the bottom of my heart. I found a picture of my Daddy and Papa in their uniforms. They were two very brave men.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

In the Christmas Spirit

Paul picked me up in Jackson after Mistletoe and we had "date night" Of course we started out at Bass Pro Shop (a man's version of MM)for a little shopping. We stopped by the new Sam's in Pearl and then made a quick trip to find an Office Max. Dinner was at O'Charlies and then we saw the new Christmas Carol Movie
It was so good. We even wore our 3D glasses

Aren't we the a sight. 3D was so realistic you felt like you could reach out and grab the snowflakes. Of course both of us, took off our glasses to see what the difference was, blurry images. Oh well it was fun.

Mistletoe Magic

What a great day. The decorations were prettier than they have been in many years. I loved all the teal and silver. I bought a few Christmas presents and had a great time with Betzebe, Bert and Carolyn. Of course my camera battery died and I only got 2 pictures. :(

Friday, November 6, 2009

It's Mistletoe Day

Yippee! It is my favorite day for shopping. (yes even better than Friday after Thanksgiving) Betzebe should be arriving any minute to pick me up. I can't wait. I'll post more about what I goodies I found. See ya

Monday, November 2, 2009

ALL SAINTS DAY

It's been almost 10 months since Papa died. Sunday was All Saints Day at Parkway Heights UMC. How fitting that the celebration was on the actual All Saints Day.
Dianne J. lit a candle in Papa's memory. She picked the tallest candle in the arrangement. Is anyone surprised?

It was a lovely ceremony and our entire family was there for the event. I think Papa would have been pleased