Cooking all weekend! PW style!

Got up early this morning to walk the dogs and make maple pecan scones with icing for the family. I got a the new Pioneer Woman's cookbook from my sister-in-law and wanted to try out a few of the recipes! I was planning on making the cinnamon rolls on New Year's Day for breakfast but my very own Marlboro Man requested the scones first. So I made them and they were delicious!! It took about an hour but worth the wait (and weight, based on the amount of butter, heavy cream and 1 pound of powdered sugar involved). Tonight we are having chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and fried onion strings- all from the PW. Check tomorrow for the review!

holiday treats

Christmas was filled with family, gifts, food and fun! We played new Wii games of Glee karioke and U Draw. Got to spend quality time with family we don't see everyday And all kinds of yummy holiday foods! Santa was good to us all! Merry, merry Christmas and looking forward to a Happy New Year!

A WHITE CHRISTMAS!

It has snowed for a full 24 hours now and we have about 6 inches of snow! It is the first white Christmas for my town in my life!! The big girls flew out to NYC today until Thursday and M. enjoyed the snow with family and friends! Now we are back inside, in front of the fire with hot chocolate and biscuits! I see movies, Wii, and reading the NY Times in my future! Great Christmas treat!

Skating in downtown!

Our downtown just got ice skating rink. It is temporary, just for the the winter, and small but was a lot of fun today! There were lots of people and you just rent skates and go! The music was blasting and the snow flakes started falling so it was a winter wonderland for a little while!

A lucky break!

Our high school got our early yesterday- real early, 10:30 am. Turns out a student hit the transformer about 8am and literally knocked out all the power and heat to the school. The kids were held in first period until all the buses could be rounded up and brought back. I got to take my 2 girls (and a few friends) out to lunch to P.F. Chang's. Fun, unexpected day out of school. And the best part is that it will not have to be made up since only one school was involved. Everybody was "thanking" the kid who hit the pole on facebook (there were no injuries to the kid, just the car and transformer).

A Star is Born!

M. had a lead in her school musical yesterday. She also has had a cold and missed school both Monday and Tuesday. I took her in for play practice then brought her home. Well , the performances were OUTSTANDING! She did a fabulous job and enjoyed every minute of it. She had lots of speaking parts, even taking over for another child last week. She apparently "saved" the show and her teachers gave her a small gift in appreciation. So now she is a STAR at our house. She was not nervous at all. The funniest part was she really knew everyones lines because we could see her mouthing the lines when other were speaking. Hilarious! Now she is definitely trying out for the Wizard of Oz next year!

Snow much fun!

College, snow and birthday!

It started snowing about 12:30 pm Saturday and continued for hours and hours! Fun little oddity and the earliest I can remember. But it was H.'s birthday so that made it and extra lucky one, according to M. And K. got into the University of Georgia! Great weekend all the way around! We celebrated both the birthday(dinner at our favorite Vietnamese place) and the college acceptance (champagne, balloons and red M&Ms).

Happy Holidays

I am so happy because the holiday lighted balls are hanging in my front trees, the Christmas tree is bought and decorated and my cards are mailed! Whew! Now I can get on with the buying and wrapping of gifts! Ho! Ho! Ho!

Thanksgiving Island Style

We headed to Bald Head for Thanksgiving and it was wonderful! I absolutely love the ferry ride over where you get to leave all your "troubles" behind and get on "turtle time". We had great weather, a great rental house and a lovely Thanksgiving feast, that we did not have to prepare and clean up! We had fun on the beach, ran a 5K, biked all over and enjoyed time with family and friends.

1st Awards Ceremony in 2nd Grade

M. was going for citizenship. I mean she really, really wanted the citizenship award. Why, I do not know. All we knew for sure was that she was getting some award. I arrived with my camera all set to record the occasion. Turns out she did not get citizenship but did get TWO others. I secretly hoped this would make up for the coveted one. She got outstanding reader and outstanding homework. There were several kids who got the reading award but only one homework award. Okay, I thought homework was mandatory and, of course, you would always do your best on it. Whatever, just glad it was my kid with the outstanding homework. Now I am justified for making her do it daily and to an "outstanding" job on it each and every time! Go Mom! Maybe next quarter I can get the outstanding homework drill Sargent award!

Wild West Birthday

Our next door neighbor had a western birthday complete with ponies, thanks to Nana! It was a perfect, sunny and warm November day for a backyard birthday. M. was dressed for the party, not exactly as a cowgirl but awfully darn cute! She had a "fairy" party later in the day so she was trying to dress for both. They had a fire for roasting hot dogs and marshmallows too! Great party! HAPPY BIRTHDAY ELLA!

A happy Thanksgiving (early)

We are going out of town with my husband's family for a long Thanksgiving weekend so we had Thanksgiving with my family early- on Saturday! We also fried a turkey for the first time. And not just any turkey but a local, fresh turkey! We rubbed it first with some awesome spices then cooked it for about 35-40 minutes. It was the moistest turkey I have ever eaten!! We also had yummy green beans with walnuts, goat cheese and a vinaigrette, sweet potatoes, corn pudding, mashed potatoes, squash, cranberry bourbon compote, brie and chive buttermilk biscuits and a jello salad. For dessert a pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap/pecan crust and pecan tarts and chocolate pie. It was a feast that we enjoyed sharing with our family, who I am so thankful for!

Fall Foliage/Eye Candy

Football Saturday

Perfect afternoon in Chapel Hill for a football game! Gorgeous blue skies and the beautiful fall leaves. Unfortunately we did not get the outcome we were hoping for but we did have fun. Kick off was at 3:30 but we were there by 1 to tailgate and the girls went to part of a NCAA field hockey game! GREAT DAY!

Pirate Pace 5K

We had a 5K for my youngest's school this morning! It was a beautiful fall day, a crisp 39 degrees but warming up. The course was unbelievably hilly but I won (in our family) with a time of 29:10. H. finished in 30 and K. and M. who ran together with no stops, finished in 38 minutes! L. refused to get up so we subbed one of K's best friends in. Fun for our whole "family"!