It's the first day of Thanksgiving holidays and I am as giddy as a school girl! :0) I absolutely LOVE having Caleb home, having him NOT go to school, having a change in our routine where everyone seems happier. I don't know what it is...maybe because two years ago I was working part time and it made the time off more hectic (much more I had to do during the time off that had been building up) or last year when I worked FULL TIME and wasn't home at all really! If there is anything to have come out of that year, that year of working WAY too many hours, then maybe this is it (well, and a better wardrobe and shoe collection!)....that I CHERISH and truly ENJOY my time with my kids.
It's not a conscious thing...I don't think "Ah, Caleb is home and a year ago I was working. I need to make the most of it and realize that it is time to make special and enjoy". That's not it (although that's GREAT!). It's truly inside of me and just sorta' there... it's a happiness and joy that I'm not trying to have. It's a giddiness that makes me grin all day long. Yes, I am also planning some great activities and crafts to do together this week. Mainly though, I am just plain happy. So happy it brings tears to my eyes to think about. A deep, resounding, pure happiness.
I love being home with Georgia. This is the FIRST time we've EVER had it... this year. When she was a baby either Caleb was here or when he went to preschool I started keeping a little girl in our home full time. So I never had EVEN ONE DAY alone with Georgia. Now I do. And I love it. I love it every day.
BUT having Caleb home makes both of us happy. All of us happy.
They love playing together.
Making things together.
just being together.

and i love it too.
So, I pray that you are enjoying this time...if you have more of it than you're used to. If you find yourself with more kids home during the day than usual.
If you find yourself with time off of work.
Whatever it may be, I pray you enjoy it.
That it doesn't fray your nerves but instead finds you giving extra hugs and cuddles, extra time of watching your kiddos just be themselves, or time of all curling up together to listen to a good book or watch a good movie.

i love this day
i will love every day we have together
i thank the Lord for each minute of it.

:0)

I love a challenge...and I should do ones like this more often! My friend and I try to scrapbook every Friday together. For a while we were doing a good job...but lately we get together on Fridays but hang out instead...without doing any scrapping. SO, last week we challenged each other. At first we were just telling each other what our goal was and then try to hold one another accountable BUT I upped it a notch. I threw out "what about whoever does the most layouts wins and the other person buys them a large iced tea?" (we are both sweet tea lovers). She agreed and the challenge was made. It wasn't spoken of again for a week..until I reminded her today. Our deadline is midnight tonight so I still have time to do more.... this is what I have so far though....













Technically I have 11 pages done BUT some of those are super easy...I just put a few different photos in and change the journaling, then it becomes a page for the other child. For example the Halloween ones....4 different pages but only had to make 2 from scratch. All of them are like that. So only 6 from scratch and 5 other "pop-ins". :0)

Hope she doesn't see this and see how much I have so far!
:0)

I love Fall.
It's my all time favorite time of year.
It actually gets cool here in Texas (for at least part of Fall).
I LOVE football.
and I love the food that I can enjoy.
MMMMM MMMMMM...my mouth is watering just thinking of it all!

I love homemade chili when the nights get cool.
Homemade Tortilla soup too!
Smores are also a tradition in this house...starts on the Sunday after Thanksgiving~we make some after decorating the tree. Then I pretty much eat them almost every night until Christmas! We enjoy them earlier in the Fall as well (have already made them twice so far, over the fire pit in the backyard, but the tradition is for after decorating the tree).
I have a new apple crisp recipe I love so that will be made a few times this fall.
I have also already made one batch of my favorite PUMPKIN DUMP CAKE.
That is what I will share with you today.

Now first off, it's not really a cake. If you are familiar with "Dump Cakes" then you know the basic idea...you pick a pie filling of some type, pour it on the bottom of a pan then pour DRY cake mix on top. You just sort of DUMP everything in, giving it the name. :0) This pumpkin one though, if you've never tried it, you are going to be delightfully surprised with how good it is. I have shared it with many people and they all LOVE it and ask for the recipe.
So, here ya' go:

One LARGE can of Pumpkin Pie Mix (I use Libby's 30 oz easy pie mix)
2 eggs
2/3 cup evaporated milk
1 box of yellow cake mix
1 stick of butter~melted...maybe even 1 and a half sticks
2 cups of finely chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Spray the bottom of a 9x13 dish with butter flavored nonstick spray. In a large bowl, mix together the pie mix, eggs, and evaporated milk (it's just the directions on the back of the pie mix). Pour it evenly into the dish. Then simply pour the DRY cake mix on top of that, spreading it out (gently) evenly and breaking up any large clumps. Next sprinkle the nuts on top all over evenly. I've made one side without nuts in case some people don't like pecans. It works just fine. :0) Last, pour the melted butter on top as evenly as possible. You want most areas to have melted butter on it but some won't.... depends on how much butter you're willing to use.
I let that sit for about 5 minutes just to let the butter soak in a bit.
Then bake for 35-45 min, until it starts to turn golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean...don't let the nuts burn. :0)

UNBELIEVABLY YUMMY!
There won't be leftovers! (well, if you're sharing this with others)
:0)

P.S. You can make a "dump cake" with almost anything! Cherry pie filling is another one of my favorites and many people like apple too. Simply dump in the pie filling, the cake mix on top, and the butter on top of that! :0)

What do YOU have planned for the week?
I'm not sure why but for some reason I sit here this morning and think I have a very busy and productive week ahead of me.
I COULD.
I have some things planned that could make it a busy and WONDERFUL week.
Like today: meet with a neighbor/friend for a little while, take my baby Dixie to the vet (and that is an event because she's allergic to the vaccinations and has to be monitored and given Benadryl every 4 hours), and take Georgia to gymnastics. But that's pretty normal stuff....Sometime this week I hope to make the final touches on my garage. Don't worry, I WILL be posting photos of that! I am so stinkin' excited for how my garage is looking that I can't help but post photos! Don't imagine anything beautiful or unbelievably organized...it wouldn't win any awards...unless your award is for most improved. My garage has been an overly stuffed and completely unorganized storage unit for years and now it actually looks like a garage. YEA!

I had a garage sale this past weekend and it was wonderful! It was a lot of work but worth it. It is what made me stick with cleaning out the garage AND it made me $500 so it was a double wonderful whammy!

This week will also bring some pumpkin carving and Halloween cookie decorating, a trip to see my Sis, and getting my house ready for guests this weekend. If you're reading this, you are INVITED TO COME OVER SATURDAY! I love a business called Custom Doodles. I think the stuff they make is fabulous. So I asked if they would come over and show my friends all of their wonderful "stuff". They are! Now what is going to be sad is if I don't have anyone show up. BUT my house will be clean (and that always makes me happy!)

For food this week I'm thinkin':
sour cream chicken breasts (didn't do it last time so I still have the ingredients!)
homemade pizza with spinach salad
blackened shrimp over salad (first time attempt)
turkey cordon bleu (first time recipe for me!) with roasted asparagus
Tex Mex Chicken Fettuccine (first time recipe for me!) with green beans

:0)
What does your week look like?

I'm not sure really what I'm going to be making this week for dinners. Good thing I post this each Monday, makes me take the time to figure it out!
Ok, I have chicken breasts in the freezer so we'll have sour cream chicken one night.
We didn't have the red beans and rice last week.

I'm going to try this:
Mon~mini taco bowls * with corn and salad
Tue~red beans and rice with sausage
Wed~sour cream chicken, acorn squash, and rice
Thur~Saucy pork medallions *, stuffing, peas
Fri~chicken tacos ^
Sat~open...

I made my pot roast again last night for our couples group that meets on Sundays. I got a lot of compliments so it seems like everyone liked it. :0) YEA!

Notice the little marks?
* = new recipe for me
^ = crock pot recipe

:0)
have a great week!
What is on your menu?

One of the many wonderful things about digital scrapbooking is how darn easy it was to make Caleb's Medina layouts after making Georgia's. (same for bowling). Once you make it for one child, you simply can change photos, change journaling and Voila!, they are done! :0)

These Medina layouts were VERY simple but I like it. It looks better larger, the background paper does have a very light texture to it but you can't really tell here. Also, the layouts may be simple but the first one took quite a while because I actually made the tree components and the ribbon! First time for me to do something like that from scratch! :0)






I saw in a magazine a challenge to "Make it Thick" with bunches of layers. So this bike layout was my attempt at that. I like how it turned out and will try again in the near future. :0)




The bowling layouts are scrap"lifts" from one I saw online. This made it SUPER easy for me. A "scraplift" is seeing a layout you like a duplicating it on your own. :0)

This Works for Me is pretty simple....but very convenient and wonderful.

Do you have to pluck your eyebrows often? Do you struggle with WHEN to do that?
Do you have a child in school that you have to go pick up each day?
(are you wondering why I threw that in there?)

COMBINE those two things!

On many days I find myself sitting in my car, in the car line, waiting to pick up my son from school. I am sitting in a non-moving car, flooded with natural light, with nothing to do. With a mirror right in front of me.
Perfect.
perfect time to pluck.

My eyebrows have never been so wonderfully maintained!

(although this cooler weather could put a hurtin' on my eyebrows if we start walking to get him!)

SO...try it out.
It's all about making the most of little situations.
:0)