Events & Holidays

  • Book Character Parade

    For the Book Character Parade at school the girls their class featured the book “The Crayon Box that Talked” by Shane Derolf.  The kids and teachers dressed up as crayons for the parade.  Every class featured a different book.  It was a neat seeing the kids get excited about their book.  A lot of parents, grandparents, extended family and friends came to watch the kids in the parade.

    They each got to pick and color the crayon of their choice.  Brina was a pink crayon and Karlie was a blue crayon.  It was cute watching them walk in the parade with their classmates.  Thankfully the weather was beautiful that day too.  I always enjoy participating in the fun events at the girls school.  The kiddos are growing up so quickly!

  • Book: Better Homes and Gardens

    Grandma Willa gave me this cook book –  Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book as a wedding gift and we use it all the time.  Grandma Willa is one of the most amazing cooks I know.  I am thankful for the times we had cooking together.  Grandma is still cooking a lot of meals for family and friends but due to distance I am not able to participate in her cooking adventures as often as I like.  Below is the note she put in my cook book, which I treasure even more then the cook book itself:

    What’s Cooking?

    Bridgette,

    My Aunt Zell Body, gave me a BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS cook book as a Wedding gift.  It was my first and faithful cook book, and I found it to have many helpful hints as well as great recipes.

    I and the girls wore one out, and almost the second one over the many years.  If I couldn’t find something, needed to substitute, know cuts of meat etc….. I’d go to old faithful BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS.  I hope this new version is as good or better than my old one was.

    Happy Cooking!!!

    Love,

    Grandma Willa

    “And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life he that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” – John 6:35

  • Family Recipe: Dad’s Favorite Carrot Cake

    My Mom is an excellent cook!  Over the years my parents have hosted a lot people in their home and continue to have people over regularly.  I am thankful for all Mom taught me about cooking and for her willingness to allow me to “experiment” in her kitchen as I was growing up.  Mom makes the best Homemade Carrot Cake!  She would make it for special events such as a Holiday or birthdays.  This is my Dad’s favorite cake.   It is rich, moist and delicious.  Here’s her recipe:

    Dad’s Favorite Carrot Cake

    • 2 cups of Sugar
    • 2 cups of Flour
    • 2 teaspoons of Baking Soda
    • 1 teaspoon of ground Cinnamon
    • 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
    • 1 1/4 cup Oil
    • 4 Eggs
    • 3 cups grated Carrots
    • 1 cup chopped Nuts (optional)

    Combine all ingredients.  Mix thoroughly and pour into a greased and floured 11 x 13 pan.  Bake at 350 for 40 to 55 minutes.  If you want a layered cake you can do it in two 8 or 9 inch round pans just reduce the bake time by ten minutes and add the Cream Cheese Frosting in between the layers. Cool, then frost.

    Cream Cheese Frosting

    • 1 stick Margarine (softened)
    • 1 lb Confectioner (aka powdered) Sugar
    • 8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)
    • 3 teaspoon Vanilla
    • 1 cup chopped Nuts (optional)

    Cream ingredients together until smooth and place on cooled carrot cake.   Optional you can add the nuts in with the frosting or sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top.  Optional you can add green and orange food coloring to a small amount of the frosting to create a decorative carrot(s) for the top for the cake.

  • Movie – “Secretariat”

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4wvRAjTbm0

    My husband and I had a relaxing evening together last night after a busy week of family visiting.  Having some quiet time snuggling with my man and watching a wonderful movie together was a perfect way to unwind.  If you enjoy animals, horses in particular, this is a great movie for you.  The neat part is that it is based on a true story of a family and an amazing horse.  The main character is a Housewife and Mom, Penny Chenery Tweedy, who after her mothers death takes over her parents Virginia-based Meadow Stables.   She goes against all odds with the help of veteran trainer Lucien Laurin, a loyal secretary, a gutsy rider, and a talented horse “Red” who has a personality of his own.  Together they manage to navigate the male-dominated business and ultimately the first Triple Crown winner in twenty-five years.  The triple crown hasn’t been won since “Red”.  The only thing that made me twinge a couple times is her married name is “Tweedy” and when they said her name it sounded like “Mrs. Tweety” from “Chicken Run”!  Really enjoy sharing this movie with my man and recommend that you check it out if you are looking for a great movie to see in the near future.  Go here for more information about “Secretariat” .

  • Candy Cane Smile Pancakes!

    Now that our Christmas festivities are done with family and friends I am trying to come up ways to use some of the extra goodies.  Somehow throughout the various Holiday celebrations we accumulated a stack of candy canes and as we begin the first quarter of 2011 we are having fun finding ways to use up the remaining ones.  Instead of sprinkles on the girls pancakes we decided to have candy cane smiles.  They loved having minty pancakes for breakfast and the smiles added extra cheer for everyone, smiles really do spread cheer!  Do you have a creative recipe or way of finishing up the last few candy canes around your house?

  • You know I do a lot of smiley faces for the girls when…..

    The girls start coming up with food smiles on their own.  I was baking the Beary Cute Cookies and asked Brina to help unwrap and sort the candies.  This is the plate of goodies she handed to me.  Yes, it made me smile.  I am thrilled to see her willingness to participate in the kitchen and love  the creative side coming out as well.  Thankful for some extra cooking time with my sweet Brina.  Everyone has been enjoying the goodies that we baked together this weekend.  Hope you are having a wonderful time celebrating the last day of 2010 too!!!!

  • My Parents Are Coming!

    Mom & Dad's picture from our 2010 Cruise adventure together!

    I am very excited to have my parents come out for the Holidays this year.  The majority of my family lives in the Midwest (Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and Missouri areas).  We were not able to make it out there this year for the Christmas season so they are coming to see us along with my youngest brother Josh.  The girls are very excited to see Grandpa Russell, Grandma Penny and Uncle Josh. We will be celebrating Christmas and enjoying family time during their few days in South Carolina.  Thankful to have parents who love us and enjoy spending time with our family.

    Somehow I managed to wait until the last moment to finish cleaning and organizing for visitors.  I have some major projects completed but they are flying into Atlanta today and will be arriving early afternoon yet I still have cleaning to do….hm….  I will still be posting on the blog but they may a little shorter during the time that our family is staying at our house.  If anyone is bored today you can help me power clean! =)  Hope you have enjoyed time with your family as well over the Holiday season!

  • Crafts: Painting Christmas Ornaments

    Karlie and Brina's hand painted ornaments!

    We went to early service one Sunday with the family.  Love getting up early going to church and coming home to a relaxing time with our family.  On the way home we stopped by to get a newspaper at Walgreens.  As a super special treat Jake went to Dunkin Donuts, the girls were so excited to get donuts.  They picked out some yummy sprinkle ones and we headed home.  We had a relaxing time sitting around the table eating donuts, talking and laughing.

    After finishing up the donuts the girls wanted to do a craft.  We pulled out some ceramic ornaments, striped the girls down to their underwear and let them paint.  They had a BLAST!  We had to give them a bath after painting but it was well worth a bath in the middle of the day.  Jake watched the girls and started the crockpot for our potluck at church that night while I took a quick nap.  Sundays are a wonderful day with the family.  Not every Sunday is as peaceful and relaxing, however, we treasure the ones that are that way.  It is fun creating memories.  Hopefully they will look back at the ornaments and remember the sweet time we had together.

    Brina painting her tree!

    Karlie being silly!
    Brina checking out her ornaments....
    Karlie painting....
    Karlie's decorated ornaments!
    Brina's decorated ornaments!