All I want for Christmas is my....

Following the trend set by his brothers, Ethan finally lost his first tooth at the age of seven.  We were on the way to the mall to see Voyage of the Dawn Treader and I just happened to have a ziplock with Jack's tooth in it. Jack lost his playing basketball moments before we left. Although his was knocked out, it needed to come out and saved us a trip to the dentist.  Since Jack's new tooth has come in, you'll have to look closer to find where his is missing.

HOT WHEELS!

"Criss, cross, criss-cross-crash, the winner is the one that doesn't get smashed!"

Will sang this song many times before I understood what he was saying.  He loves this commercial. This Christmas will be especially fun for him. He keeps saying that he is so excited because this is going to be his first Christmas! Apparently, he really doesn't remember last year at all.:)  Take a peek at his Christmas Wish List:

• legos 
• a real machine gun..
• a real dragon
• a toy Harley the dog (to take with me everwhere) Funny since we have a real one of these!
• Toy Story I and II
• surprises

He didn't give us much to work with, so it's a good thing that he is four and will like probably everything! Little ones bring so much joy and fun to everything. We are looking forward to Christmas morning!

Thanksgiving 2010

Laurie and her Martha Stewart Centerpiece

Okay, so I picked the holidays to start a blog...how typical of me!  Please, bear with me as I am just now sharing Thanksgiving. We did not travel to see family this year, as work and schedules were pretty full. Gary was actually scheduled to work Thanksgiving Day and so, I thought maybe we should just have a quiet celebration at home.  Thankfully, our friends, Laurie and Bob invited us to celebrate with them. They are such dear friends as we have much in common...church, home school, etc. Laurie and I love to cook and talk about cooking and watch shows about cooking. We share recipes and lately have really tried to brainstorm ways to make meals that are doable with our busy schedules. She is great at streamlining things and keeping them simple. I need her voice of reason! When I remember back to my childhood, my mom seemed to handle this task of motherhood with great ease. A home cooked meal was the norm and going out was only on occasion.  I'm sure that I am not any busier than my Mom was, yet, meal time can be overwhelming to me.  Well, I will have to write more on that topic later. Back to Thanksgiving....

Bob and Gary

I must draw attention to the shiny holiday apron that her husband Bob is wearing.  It is made out of duct tape! Their son, Zac, is quite talented with making anything out of duct tape.  Alex has enjoyed learning to make a flower and a wallet with his help.

Laurie cooked two turkeys and put our husbands on turkey carving duty. Two turkeys?  Well, She had 40+ people to feed!  And she took it all in stride. Everyone else brought sides and deserts. There was so much to eat and it was all delicious.  Jack's favorite was the corn bread...I found out later that he had way too many pieces...from all accounts, at least 8!  I had no idea. He said that it was his favorite thing there. I got the recipe from Laurie, since he was so crazy about it.  As long as you limit yourself to less than 8 pieces, you too, will enjoy!
Three Corn Casserole

1 stick butter

1 cup sour cream

2 eggs

1 16 oz. can whole kernel corn (drained)

1 16 oz. can cream style corn

1 9 oz. box corn muffin mix (Jiffy)

Mix together first three ingredients (I melt the butter in the micro then add the sour cream then add the eggs so that the eggs don’t cook in the warm butter).  Then both corns, then muffin mix.  Spoon into well greased casserole.  Bake uncovered in 375 degree oven for about one hour or until puffed up, golden brown and crispy on top.

Our 15th Wedding Anniversary

 Here we are at Epcot!  Imagine our surprise when we saw this giant 15 topiary! Wow, was this just for us?

Gary, did you know about this? Well, he had to confess that he had nothing to do with it. It just so happened to be the 15th annual Food and Wine Festival...I loved seeing all of the potential photo opportunities.

                                                We were celebrating 15 wonderful years!

I love you, Gary

  
Here we are at Sanibel Island, our first destination. The weather was beautiful. We went shelling at low tide...3:30a.m.!  If given the chance,we would have stayed longer.

I did it!

We have arrived...now that we have a blog, I hope to keep family and friends up to date. Please check back soon for pictures and stories to come.