Weekend Happenings

We had such a great weekend! 

Friday was a lazy day for me and Thomas. It always seems like those days at home just put him in the best mood!

We actually had a great night Friday, just relaxing at home and then we went to spend a little time with Derek's family.

Saturday we had Derek's grandmother's surprise tea party. She knew that she was coming over to have a tea party with Anna-Kate and I but what she didn't know is that there would be 3 friends from her hometown there too! The look on her face when she walked in and saw her friends was absolutely priceless! I am still kicking myself for not getting a picture of it!

We had so much fun visiting and catching up with the ladies. I was so glad they got to come help make it a special day for his grandmother. It has been hard on her to move away from the town she lived in for over 50 years.

After lunch, we visited and then took the ladies to see her house. 

I tried a few new recipes for lunch that were so good!

Here's what we had on the menu:

via Taste Of Home

Chicken Club Ring
(This turned out really well! I knew I'd be in a hurry, so I used deli chicken. I just rolled several pieces together and cut it into chunks. It worked really well. I also added a little bit of parmesan and cheddar cheese and a small piece of bacon to each crescent roll. It was a big hit!)

via Food.com

Cucumber Sandwiches
(I realized that I forgot to get cream cheese so I substituted with sour cream. I also felt like it needed a little extra flavor, so I added maybe a tablespoon of vinegar. I liked the way it tasted and these were a hit too!)

Fresh Fruit
(I wasn't sure what everyone liked, so I just stuck to some favorites. I cut up fresh pineapple and tossed it with grapes and orange slices)

Veggie Tray

Sour Cream Pound Cake
(This is so unlike me- but I bought this cake! I knew I couldn't go wrong with Paula Deen. It was perfectly moist and a great combination with the lunch!)


We got to spend the rest of the day with Derek's grandmother and we watched the Hogs play the Vols. The one game where Derek and I are not friends. ;) Sadly our Volunteers lost. At least Anna-Kate told me that she wanted to be a Vol instead of a Hog. (She might have turned right around and called the hogs... but who's keeping track?)

We had the most perfect, relaxing Sunday after church! I love Sunday's when we can just spend time together. I don't worry about the housework or dishes because I know I'll be home Monday to tackle all of that!

We have a busy week getting ready for our first Thanksgiving this weekend! Look for a different Menu Monday this week! I'll be posting Thanksgiving recipes! :) 

Getting Scrappy!

A while ago, a very crafty friend mentioned that she was thinking about working a scrapbooking weekend (called Scrapbook Extravaganza) and wanted to see if I would like to join her. We could scrap the night before and then get all of the kits that they pass out on Saturday if we just helped out with the classes they teach. Of course I was on board for that! It was a major savings and a great way to get started in scrapbooking! 

I have a scrapbook that I have had since Anna-Kate was a baby. It was supposed to be her first year scrapbook. I got it thinking that it was a pre-made one so it would be really simple to make. Then I realized that was just a little harder than I originally though... and so I was going to have a friend make it for me. I kept putting it off and eventually the scrapbook and all of the pictures I had printed off wound up in my attic! Horrible- I know! 

So, last weekend, I rescued my forgotten scrapbook and pictures out of the attic and took it with me to the scrapbooking extravaganza! I really had no clue what I was getting myself into! :) 

When I got there with my one bag of supplies I was in shock and I felt a little overwhelmed with all of the "stuff" everyone brought!

There were over 400 women and most of them had brought their own chairs and little lights and even drink holders that attach to a table and have a trash bag holder on them. Most everyone owned a cricut, which they had lining the walls and most everyone had huge rolling bags full of scrapbook tools and supplies. If I ever had any question about how expensive this little hobby could get... it was gone after last weekend! 

I didn't get much time to scrapbook Friday because I had to pick Derek up from the airport, but I did manage to spend just enough time there to realize that my scrapbook was horribly outdated! Saturday we got there at 7:30 and worked the show until 4:30. It was so much fun seeing all of the creativity that these women had! I loved getting ideas and seeing techniques. It was the perfect way to introduce myself to the whole world of scrapbooking! 

Around 4:30 we started in on our scrapbooks! The store in town that sponsors the show had set up their store that you could browse and shop. They would just scan your badge and you could pay when you left. (Pretty smart, since it's super easy to rack up a bill that way!) But probably one of my favorite parts of the weekend happened towards the end of the night. 

The yard sale. I cannot fully share how crazy of an experience this is! Basically the sponsoring store auctions off their scrapbooking supplies at a very discounted rate. If you've ever gotten out on black friday and fought the chaos, you have a slight idea of what I'm talking about! Only try it with a bunch of hobby-passionate women looking for a great deal! Don't worry, I snapped a little video just so you can see what I'm talking about! :) Just to warn you, it's about a minute long. 

I am just so grateful that I got to go to this! I had such a great time, got some wonderfully uplifting advice, and grew a friendship! Plus I now have the first 4 pages of Anna-Kate's scrapbook finished and tons of scrapbooking supplies to keep going! 

Random Happenings...

It's been a BEAUTIFUL week here! I am loving the break from the hot weather... although Thomas has gotten a little longer and so all of the pants I had set aside for him to wear this fall and winter are too short... so I'm hoping the warm weather stays around for just a little bit longer! :) 

Thomas started his first type of preschool this week. He's with me and my two year old class, so I count that as starting. He's enjoying it, but he definitely does not like sharing his momma! He's been a little congested this week, so that's made him a bit more attached. Thomas also took quite a spill the other day and face planted into the side of my (rock) house. I think he wanted to make sure he got plenty of sympathy from me! I'd show a picture, but it looks pretty rough. The side of his little nose is scraped, and he also managed to get a bump on each side of his face, scrape under his arm and his leg! It was so sad! Last night he was playing in our church nursery while Derek and I were in a class and he fell and his his cheek, so he has a big bruise there too! It's really pitiful! 

Thankfully, we decided to have a day at home, cleaning and baking some cake pops for a friend's first birthday! This morning Thomas and I took a nice long walk around our "neighborhood." 

Anna-Kate has had a great week too! She was home with us on Monday, for Labor Day and so we all 4 enjoyed a nice day at home getting things done. Monday night she got to go play with some friends, Shelby and Riley. She loved that! I love how close Anna-Kate and Kristen are, but I think it's good for her to make other friends too. Shelby will be 4 next month and she is hilarious! She is always saying the funniest things! One day, I watched her and she said "Thank you for having me over. I had a nice time." So cute! Anna-Kate got to go to Uncle Ryne's football game last night, which is always a favorite for her. She and Kristen each filled up water bottles with rocks. I think I have mentioned before how opinionated she is about clothes. It seems like there is something wrong every day. If I'd let her she would probably wear the craziest things and shoes that are about 5 sizes too big. I got an idea from my doctor to try and give her one or two days a week that she gets to pick out her outfit. So I gave Anna-Kate one day of her choice and told her that if it went well she could have another day. She chose Saturday (yes!!). That was going well until we had a huge fit over something I picked out and I took her day away. Now she's back to the same old routine of fighting with us about everything! Shoes she used to love, she hates. Her pants are too big or sag. She doesn't like t-shirts. Anyone have any suggestions on what worked for them, besides making her wear the same outfit every day? I'm probably going to re-introduce the one day of the week thing, but I still think she's going to fight me! Anyone want to take her when she hits 13?? You can give her back when she's over the teenage phase... :) 

Derek has had a pretty good week at work. He's just struggling with the motivation to keep going. His job is challenging Derek in ways he didn't expect. I am so proud of how hard he is working and I know that things will get better. He just has to keep fighting through! He does such a good job balancing family and work. I know it's draining on him but I am so grateful that he's always here when I need him.  

Okay, sorry for the randomness! I just felt like I've missed out on updating about us! I feel like I do too many link ups and I forget to share about what's really going on! I love the link ups though... so tomorrow I'll post my normal Friday link up! 

I've been a terrible photographer and have barely busted out my camera, but here are a few of Thomas lately! 

He cracks me up! 

Happy Halloween! (Lots of Pictures!!)

First of all, I just have to say that I'm sorry there are so many pictures!! I just couldn't help myself! I thought Anna-Kate and Ben were adorable! 

Tonight we went downtown with our friends Elizabeth and Justin and their little boy Ben! Anna-Kate was a flower girl in their wedding back in June. She and Ben have celebrated Halloween every year since they were born! It's kind of special. :)

Last year we decided to coordinate their costumes. Anna-Kate was Dorothy and Ben was the cowardly lion and Thomas was Toto! This year since they both had their outfits from the wedding, we decided it'd be mean cute to dress them up as bride and groom! haha! Poor things! 

My Aunt passed down a costume from her son, so Thomas was an elephant this year! I had a pumpkin costume from Anna-Kate's first Halloween but I decided that it would probably be a little small on Thomas, so I let my sister borrow it for my nephew, Luke! He was SO cute in it! 

Sorry, I couldn't help but share this picture!! It's adorable! And taken by the very talented Brenna Gentry, located back home in Franklin, Tennessee!! 

After we went downtown, we went to see Derek's parents and grandmother. If you couldn't tell by the pictures, Kristen was Snow White! We all went trick-or-treating at a couple of places. 

After that we went over to Elizabeth and Justin's house for some pizza and to watch the game! She made us homemade pizza! It was delicious!! 

We had a great time! 

Anna-Kate is staying here with Derek's parents tomorrow so she can go to the fall fun fair at our church here! She's going to be a cheerleader tomorrow. Or as she says it "a broken-footed cheerleader." :)

By the way, if you noticed her new cast, you can scroll down to read all about it! I don't usually do back-to-back posts, but I was trying to catch up! :)

Just What The Doctor Ordered

A day off! 

Well the doctor didn't order it and I don't just have one day, but you know what I mean! :)

Today was SO fun! I think I appreciated my day at home a whole more than I used to and I know Derek certainly enjoyed having his dinner on the table when he walked in. ha! 

Derek "let" me sleep in this morning, so I was barely awake when he and Anna-Kate left. (Before you say anything about me being a lazy bum, keep reading!) I tried to go back to sleep but couldn't and then I thought about what I needed to get done so I woke up and took a nice long shower. Those are great, aren't they??! Then, I wasted an hour on the computer. (Now you can call me a lazy bum!) 

Thomas woke up right as I was finished getting ready so I fed him and we played and took our time getting ready. 

Then we went to the dollar store in search of a styrofoam or straw wreath for my craft day. I looked at Walmart but didn't find one and then the dollar store didn't have one. Hey- in a small town those are the places you go for these things! We don't have a fancy Hobby Lobby! ;) Ooohhh I wish we did though!! 

When we got home we had just enough time for a snack and to start some fruit tea and chicken and dumplin's before Amanda and Jackson came over for our crafts! 

I found the wreath ideas from Lauren over at Little Big Nest! We were in the same social club at Harding and I've been following her blog for a while now. She has the cutest house and is always inspiring with her creative decorating and crafts! Since we couldn't make our wreaths today we decided to try the toilet paper pumpkins that Lauren also made this fall! 

They were pretty easy to make and also pretty inexpensive! Each pumpkin takes a roll of toilet paper, a small piece of newspaper and some fabric! (you can click on the link above for the step-by-step instructions)

Amanda's are the red and the tan ones. I think they turned out so cute! She had really great fabric to work with! 

While I worked this is what Thomas did... 

hahaha! 

Amanda and I took a little time to take pictures of our boys let our boys play outside... they're just so cute! 

And that's where the pictures stop! I hate it when I forget to take pictures!! 

After Amanda and Jackson left, Thomas and I went to pick up Anna-Kate from school. She got out early today and I was so excited to spend some extra time with her!

When she got home Thomas laid down for a nap and then she helped me finish the chicken and dumplings! She really loves to put things in and stir them. Anna-Kate loves to help in the kitchen and I really try to let her most of the time. 

Anna-Kate laid down for a nap after that. I really thought that Thomas would be up soon, so I just relaxed for a couple of hours. I finished up the chicken and dumplings and got the table all set for dinner and then Thomas woke up, just in time for Derek to get home! Anna-Kate wound up sleeping until 5:30! 

After dinner we got cleaned up and ready for bible study. We host a home bible study, so we usually try to have some sort of a snack each week. While we were waiting on it to be time for church, Anna-Kate recited her memory verse for us! It totally took us off guard! I knew that they were learning memory verses each week but that was the first time we've ever been able to get her to say it! It was so cute! I wish I had gotten it on video! Maybe tomorrow I can! 

It was "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5 

I mean, that's a pretty tough memory verse and she said it all... including the book, chapter and verse! I was impressed! 

Thomas went to bed pretty soon after church and then Anna-Kate and I stayed up and read books together. She told me that she had to read 5 books so she could get her name written at school. ha! I'm not exactly sure what that means, but we read the 5 books just to be on the safe side. :) She has really started to love reading! I'm so glad because I used to read all the time. 

When they went to bed I finished my fruit tea and made hash brown breakfast casserole for MOPs tomorrow. I love fruit tea but I've had the hardest time getting it right! I think I need to just read the recipe closer. ha! 

So, I had a busy day but I loved every minute of it! Tomorrow is another busy day with MOPs and then packing for our trip. We are leaving tomorrow night for Franklin! I'm hoping to squeeze a little time to bake some pumpkin bread in there too. 

If you can't tell, I love being busy and I love cooking! I think that's just what I needed to snap out of my funky mood I've been in lately! 

County Fair

Tuesday afternoon Anna-Kate had a half day for parent/ teacher conferences so I picked her and Kristen up. We went to eat lunch with the family and then came to our house to play!

The girls made tiaras... which they loved! They were so cute putting the stickers on and then wearing them for a while after!

After we played for a while, we went to the county fair with my friend, Liz and her son Ben! I was very glad to have an extra set of hands! Thanks Ryne! Thomas fussed most of the time but the girls really enjoyed it!

We took them over to see all of the animals!

They had chicks and hatchlings (those were my favorite... so sweet!)

and goats

and sheep

and a Zebu

Kristen didn't like the cows moo-ing at her! This was right before one of these ducks bit Anna-Kate! After that she asked "do they bite?" before she'd pet any animals!

and a miniature pony

and longhorns

and a yak

I loved the little Bison!

and cows

This is a Scottish Highlander... he was pretty cute!

and little piggies! 

The girls got to feed the animals!

We went pretty early so there was not a big crowd at all! After we pet the animals, the girls and Ben went for a pony ride! They loved it!

Then we walked around and got snow cones and cotton candy... but I figured Derek's parents were keeping them, so no worries about the sugar high! Ha!

After the fair the girls were WORN out! I took them to Derek's grandmother's house so that I could go meet Derek for parent teacher conferences!

I know I'm a dork, but I was so excited about going to hear what the teacher's thought of Anna-Kate! Of course, she's right on track and doing really well! She's only brought one note home because she did not take a nap and talked the whole time! Anna-Kate's teacher makes a portfolio and keeps certain papers the whole year so we can see how she's learning. Anna-Kate has never been one for coloring or drawing much. I've tried to get her interested in writing letters and drawing shapes but it just didn't interest her. Honestly, I think we are too much a like for me to be able to really teach her! So far most of her papers and drawings were just scribbles but they told us that's the first step. I'm really excited to see her drawing more shapes and making people!

Anna-Kate's class has had color days. Tuesday was purple (that's why the girls were both matching). Their class made a book with the adventure of the purple crayon. Each child "drew" some part of the adventure with a purple crayon. Anna-Kate had "the adventure" to draw! Haha! Very abstract!

When we got done, we went to get Thomas and Anna-Kate. Thomas was super sleepy so I got to nurse him to sleep and then he snuggled with me for a while. I love it when he sleeps on me!!

We laid him down when we got home and he slept Wednesday until after 11! I was sad to miss Ladies Class, but I know he needed to sleep in!

Derek and I volunteered to do a home bible study so that some of the parents with small kids can still go to a home bible study but don't have to be far from them. (We are right across the street!) So, I spent some time cleaning and getting ready for that yesterday too.

I'm really enjoying it! Derek is leading the class and he always does such a great job!

This morning Thomas decided to sleep until 9, so we were late to MOPs. (Mother's of Preschoolers) I can't remember if I mentioned that I have started doing stuff with this or not! I missed the first actual meeting so this was my first time going, excluding the kick off mixer! I'm really looking forward to meeting other moms!! I had a lot of fun today! Hopefully next time we wont be late! :)