Tablescapes and Christmas

Happy New Year!  We have safely and happily entered into 2012!  Hope you have too!  Looking back over my Christmas photos, I saw that there were huge gaps.  Usually the gaps were when I was cooking - which was quite often.  But I did get a few shots of the completed tables, and they sure were worth all of the hard work.  You know you work for 2 or 3 days and then everybody gobbles it up in 40 minutes!  This year I was smart and made sure we had leftovers to last a few days!  Because once I had reached Christmas Day- KITCHEN CLOSED! 

I made the pecan pie- yummy!  The cake was store bought and I added the holly from our yard.  It is a tradition that Don goes out and cuts me lots of greenery a day or so before Christmas.  Then I put it everywhere!  That little church was my Grandmother Mottie's!  I would not want to collect a "village" like she did, but it reminds me of her, and John Stephen loves to peep in the lit up windows.  I am so glad that I ended up with it!

Here is my table before dinner for 16 of Don's family!  It was so much fun to host everyone this year.  I love to set the table and plan my menu.  The Christmas tree in the background was round two of decorating after John Stephen knocked over the first version!  It was tied to the wall in two places so we don't know how he did it!  But, I usually do lots of colored lights and glass ornaments.  After the catastrophe many of my ornaments were broken and the lights had fallen off.  Rather than risk another mishap with the rest of my favorite decorations, I went to Walmart and bought $8 worth of white plastic snowflakes.  Then I just put any gold, silver, or white UNBREAKABLE ornaments on and we had a reinvented tree!  I have to admit that it did look a little more "on trend" to have the simpler, all white tree, but I still like my colored stuff!

Here's the SPREAD!  It tasted good,too!  Beef Tenderloin, Scalloped Potatoes, Glazed Carrots, and Symphony Spinach!  YUMMY!  I set up the serving table in my kitchen- it could have used some decor- flowers or votives or something...Maybe next year!

Here is the scene at my sister's house!  With all of these kids the presents get out of hand!  Her house was GORGEOUS!

Here are the Christmas Cousins!   

Stephanie decorated the table with a Gingerbread Train that she and my nephew made!  It was so unique, and the kids loved it!  She used coconut for the snow!  Stealing that idea next year! 

Christmas Eve was at Stephanie's house she had incredible food!  Here they are cutting the rib roast!  I've always wanted to have one on the Christmas menu!  Love the little hats!

And, last but not least- Here is the Thanksgiving table at my Mom's!  It was very pretty, and the food was excellent!  That is Wilson helping put the final touches on!  The painting over the fireplace is of cotton on my family's farm.  We commissioned it for Mom's birthday one year. 

Here are two of my favorite boys on the way to see Santa!  It was a fun day!

John Stephen loved the train!

And finally, the Christmas play at church.  Sydney is the tall angel!  I didn't get a bunch of good pics of the kids with their gifts because I was cooking Christmas lunch.  And, as luck would have it, our dishwasher broke a few days before Christmas!  SO, we handwashed a LOT OF DISHES!  The bright side is that since I was handwashing anyway, I went ahead and used all of the silver and china and crystal that I might have been tempted to leave in the cabinet!  But, if you aren't going to use it for Christmas- then when are you going to use it?!! Right?! 

I'll be back soon with lots of news!  John Stephen has started school!  And I am starting a new job in the morning!  Very exciting!  The prospect of a paycheck has inspired me to do a little online shopping!!  So, until next time!  Happy New Year!

Crazy Days!

Hello Everybody!  Today is a rainy Tuesday, and John Stephen and I are drying off from a few errands in the rain!  Just thought I'd catch up the blog and try to stay in the swing of things around here! 

I had my Pre-Christmas Nervous Breakdown this morning, and Shew! I feel better already!  Do you ever hold yourself together through a stressful situation, and the when it is over just fall apart over nothing?  

Here are Sydney and John Stephen making homemade pizza rolls last Friday night!  It was John Stephen's first attempt at cooking, and he LOVED it!  Sydney let him wear her butterfly apron, which was hysterical!  These tasted terrible, but the kids loved them.  I guess it was a nice activity for the little maniacs! 

And speaking of cooking...I sent Don to the grocery store on Saturday night with very little direction.  I just said," Get a steak or whatever looks good"...Here is what "looked good" to Don...

Yep, that is a 7 lb standing Rib Roast!  What most normal people reserve for Christmas dinner, we have on a humdrum Saturday night around here!  Ha!  It took two big meals to polish that thing off, which is saying a lot considering how much Pax and Don can eat! 

I've got Emeril's Red Beans and Rice started on the stove right now.  If you haven't tried it, you should!  I have to cook meals that can simmer on the stove top while we are waiting for Basketball or Football games to be over.  This one has been a crowd pleaser, and it is pretty easy!  You can find it on the food network website...


And, I guess most people are looking towards Christmas about now.  I sure have been planning and plotting about the season ahead.  When they put the Christmas decor out at Walmart a few weeks ago, I had to take a spin through.  I am sort of a Decor snob, but I thought the ornaments were pretty cute this year! These vintage style wreaths were like $2- pretty cute!  Gitcha Some! 

  Can't beat that!  I refrained from throwing about 10 of them in my cart and moved along...

In other news...
*football season is over, and we have now moved to basketball!  Pax is doing well  and may get to play on the 9th grade team as well as the 8th grade team!
*I'm helping with the Hospitality Suite for an upcoming convention that Don has to go to each year.  And trying to come up with ideas for snacks that can sit out for a few hours at a time. The goal is to NOT be TACKY!  Hard for a hospitality suite!
*Don's side of the family is coming to my house for Christmas this year!  Gotta get to work on some menu ideas.
*Christmas list done, not much shopping done...next week? maybe? 

Toodle Loo, I've got to go back out in the rain- forgot Toilet Paper at the store- and we are OUT.  So guess I'm heading back to Walmart!  Have a good day!

Puppies!

Hello Blog Readers!  I guess I've been a stranger lately.  We've been busy, BLAH BLAH BLAH!  It is October and the fall is here!  My Dad has a new litter of puppies!  He is an avid hunter who likes hunting mainly because of the dogs!  At any given time my Dad will have 3 or 4 Labs of his own, and he has a litter of pups each year to sell (and for fun)!  Have you ever heard of Field Trials?  It is where hunting dogs compete in a series of hunting trials out in the woods/water to see how well trained they are for duck hunting (and I guess any wing shooting).  Well, that is my Dad's main hobby.  He trains the dogs and works with them every day. He sends them to live with his trainer.  He sends them to summer in South Dakota or Aspen.  It is safe to say that some of the dogs have more expensive educations than I do!  But, he LOVES it!  We do not want a new puppy, but it is fun to take John Stephen over to play with these cuties! 

I think there are 11 or 12 of the fat and fine little rascals!  John Stephen loved them until their little shark bites started nipping at his ankles!

I am sure my Stepmom was thrilled when these little fur balls were moved off of her fabulous screened porch out into a pen in the yard!  They are cute, but they can make quite a mess!  We have been keeping our mess makers in the yard a lot, too!

These three boys could make your head spin with the messes they make!  I am sooooooo sick of laundry!  I feel bad for complaining, but I am sure that this is a major theme in my life right now that needs to be recorded in the blog!  LAUNDRY STINKS!  And I do it all of the time! This pic is an every afternoon routine. After football practice Don throws the ball to pax while John Stephen darts between them and risks his little two year old life by getting under the feet of the two giants! 

He wants to be just like Pax, and that is OK with me!  They are cute together!  Also, I'm not sure if you can tell, but there is a Bible verse on Paxton's practice tshirt from school!  I love that and I am sure that we live in one of the last places in the US where that could happen in a public school without somebody having a problem with it. 

In case you were wondering, we are playing tons of football around here, but it is not bugging me as bad as baseball did!  There aren't any cheerleaders in baseball- that might make me like it a little more.  And we are doing it 3 nights a week- yep-3 nights, but I'm not feeling like I need to go to every game! 

AHHH!  I love this. 

And just in case you were wondering where Syd was...Here she is with her friend last Friday night.  They made rice crispie treat pumpkins and had a sleepover!  I found the idea on Pintrest.  Have you joined yet?  I LOVE it!  It is addictive and I have gotten so many great ideas from other people's postings! 
Hope you are having a great fall so far!  I bought 3 Christmas presents today and feel like I am going to ROCK IT THIS YEAR!!  YAY!  Be back soon!

The Terrible Two's and a Trip to the Fair

Well, we have officially entered the TERRIBLE TWO'S!  As you can see, we celebrated in a small way at the lake!  Our nephew-in- law, Bryan, was turning twenty nine (again) and we had cake and ice cream to mark the occasion!

The next day we floated around the lake and had a perfect day at the lake!  John Stephen is very happy to float around for hours in the water, and that makes us very happy, too!

Then the next week we took a little family jaunt to the County Fair!  Let me tell you, I love the Fair!  This is just about the most quaint event I've been too since I moved back to the Delta!  The fairgrounds are surrounded by mature oak trees, there is livestock, good food, and fun rides!  It was really fun, and I am sure we will go back next year!

John Stephen in the Chicken Exhibit!

Checking out a Horsey!

Sydney's drawing got a second place ribbon!

There was a beauty pageant going on!  Not exactly Toddlers and Tiaras, huh!  I think Sydney wants to compete next year!  Looks like fun!  The winner is named THE FAIREST OF THE FAIR!  How Fabulous! 

And, since I have Martha Stewart fantasies- look at the fluffy chickens!  They are hilarious!  If I was going to have my own coop- I would have to include this breed of hen! 

Not much else going- just fighting mosquitos annd anticipating fall!!  Have a good weekend!

Lake-N-Bake and a little decorating...

YooHoo!  Have you been squeezing every last ounce of fun out of the summer before it is over?  We have, and for a few weeks there -shew, I was BUSY!  John Stephen and I joined my sister and her kiddos at our good friend Cortney's house in Heber Springs for a night!  All of the kids played, we went to the lake, we got a couple of very brave babysitters to watch the kids so that we could go to dinner, and we had fun!  It was really hot on the water, but the kids didn't mind!

Wilson learned how to Knee Board!  Steph has decided now that he is old enough for water sports we might be able to convince my brother-in-law to buy a big, nice ski boat!  Ha! It would be fun though! 
So we have been cooking out, going to the lake, practicing football, and getting school supplies!  I have managed to squeeze in a little work- here are some "almost after" shots of a job I worked on this summer...

Yep, my fraternity clients sure are good to me!  We did new carpet throughout the downstairs, added a little new furniture and a few accessories.  And we did a major overhaul of the House Mother's apartment!  It isn't ready to photograph, but I'll post some pics when we get them! 

Hope you are getting into the Back to School Swing of Things!  Have a good weekend!

Howdy!

We are just back from the second of our Whirlwind Adventures this summer!  After staying home for two years we have certainly been on the go this year!  Farm Bureau had a trip to San Antonio this summer that we went on with a bunch of our Farm Bureau friends, and it was tons of fun!

The Pool was the main attraction!  And that is a good thing because it was HOT! 

The resort where we stayed had pools,  a lazy river, and several water slides! 

We loved the JW Marriott resort!  Only ate at one place that I would recommend- Boudros in the Riverwalk area.

We spent one day in HELL ON EARTH  SeaWorld.  The pic says it all.  It was 104*, John Stephen was not the easiest to deal with, and I really don't like amusement parks.  The best thing was that Sydney and Don rode two REALLY scary rides!  We did feel like it was a good EYE OPENER about what to expect/plan for if we ever go to Disneyworld.  Let me just say that we will plan way ahead if we ever head to Florida to see Mickey!  I felt so overwhelmed at SeaWorld.  I didn't know which rides and shows we wanted to see, I didn't know what rides John Stephen could go on, I didn't know much.  There were lots of tattooed people, and we were aimlessly wandering around rubbing elbows with them all- not my favorite way to spend a day!   

Speaking of Tattooed People...Look what Sydney got at the resort!  A colorful, butterfly, airbrushed tattoo!  Temporary, of course!  She loved it!

When we got home Sydney continued with her cowgirl theme for the summer and went to Equestrian Camp!  It was super fun, and she learned everything from how to saddle a horse, to how to ride him! 

The local college has such neat children's programs for the summer, and I was so happy to see her learn something new!  I am having a busy Monday, and have been writing this over a period of 5 hours on and off between loads of laundry and other chores around here.  Glad to be home for a while, and planning on enjoying the last little bit of the summer!!