Our Thanksgiving holiday was relatively uneventful, but sometimes, that's just what you need. I had mounds of laundry to get done, which I hardly touched. I wanted decorate for Christmas, but that didn't happen. And I'm sure there are plenty of other things that needed to get done around the house, yet they all went untouched. So now I sit here after returning to work today and wonder... "just what DID I do while I was off work the past four days?" Well, in short: I cooked. I ate. And I shopped. And Oh boy was it fun!

I guess the cooking started on Tuesday night when I made two different kinds of chili for our holiday lunch/chili cookoff at work. Nothing says Giving Thanks like a crock pot of chili, right? I made my traditional beef variety and tried my hand at my very first vegetarian dish. Being born in Texas and raised by a cattle rancher, you can probably imagine that there weren't any vegetarian dishes in my diet growing up. I got some rave reviews on that vegetarian chili, so I might just have to try that (and maybe other) veggie dishes in the near future. (Let the record show that my meat-and-potatoes-husband wouldn't even try it.)

Anyway, after cooking all that chili for Wednesday, I was very glad that I only had to fix the dressing and GBC (or green bean casserole as most of you probably call it) for Thanksgiving dinner. I was able to do this pretty easily while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV. Carter loved watching the parade with me-his favorite was probably a tie between the Rockettes routine and the Sesame Street float. We made the trek 7 miles north to my sister's house in Anna for our Thanksgiving dinner, which only consisted of my parents, my grandmother (on visit from the nursing home for the day), and my sister, brother-in-law, & nephews.... just like I like it. Small, informal, easy to please everyone. Plenty of time for napping, football watching, and Black Friday ad scouting.

On [Black] Friday, my mom and I were at Wal-Mart by 5 am and were immediately surprised that there wasn't a single parking spot to be had in the entire lot. We go shopping on Black Friday every year, but NEVER have I seen it like this before. It was pretty crazy, but I was glad I wasn't in the hunt for any big ticket items this year. I simply wouldn't have had the patience. Along with Wal-Mart, we also hit up Target, Babies R Us/Toys R Us and Stonebriar mall. I was beyond pooped when I finally got home at 6:30 pm, but it was all worth it. I had a great time, got some good Christmas presents and even bought a thing or two for myself.

Saturday was a fun outing of lunch and shopping with the in-laws and Sunday was our normal routine of church, lunch with the fam and relaxing at my parents' house. All in all, a great holiday filled with the things for which I am most thankful.

Up next... holiday decorations, setting up the tree, and making some room in this house for bigger baby toys (think exersaucer) for Olivia. Pictures to follow. Hope everyone enjoyed their Thanksgiving holiday as much as we did. Only 24 more days until Christmas!

Showered with Love

Okay, so maybe I’m just not cut out for this whole blogging thing. I just can’t seem to keep up. I always seem to be running on about a 10 day delay. But as they say, better late than never, right?

Two weekends ago was a bridal shower for one of my best friends, Rachel Davis (soon to be Rachel Pittman). Shevin and Jacqueline were the absolute best co-hostesses ever, and thanks to things like my grandmother’s antique milk-glass, Jac’s superb mimosas & party planner skills and Shev’s Martha Stewart-like flower arrangements & invitations, the shower went on without a hitch and could not have turned out more beautifully for our dear friend. It was in the gallery at the McKinney Performing Arts Center, formerly the vault of the old courthouse in downtown McKinney. And don’t worry Jac, they didn’t charge us for the artwork that managed to jump off the wall while you were standing right underneath it. Here are some pictures from the shower.

The spread… fruit kabobs, sausage croissants, and quiche, oh my!

The hostesses and bride-to-be: Shevin, Jacqueline, Rachel & myself.

Rachel thoroughly enjoyed the game where we asked her questions about Ryan and their relationship then we compared it to his previously recorded answers.

The Mothers...

The cake was yummy. (Thanks again to Whitney for turning me on to the most affordable cake lady in McKinney, aka Melissa at Kroger on Lake Forest.)

So congratulations again Rachie! I’m so happy for you and Ryan and can’t hardly wait for the big day!

Taggy McTaggerson, I've been tagged.

8 T.V. Shows I love to watch:
1. How I Met Your Mother
2. The Big Bang Theory
3. House
4. The Biggest Loser
5. ER
6. Law & Order: SVU
7. Project Runway
8. The Hills (I know, I know)

8 Favorite Restaurants:
1. Saltgrass
2. Chili's
3. Buffalo Wild Wings
4. El Fenix
5. Pei Wei
6. Olive Garden
7. Chick Fil A (if you want to call this a "restaurant")
8. Cheddars

8 Things that happened today:
1. Got a 52 oz Diet Coke from Quick Trip
2. Communted to and from work with Nick
3. Had a conference call with a punk sales rep in Wisconsin
4. The kids had their pictures taken with Santa at Discovery
5. [just found out] I won an auction on ebay... 8 baby sleepers NWT for only 4.99!
6. Was told by the daycare that Carter had a bad day, why does this kid keep biting other kids?
7. Bathed both children and put them to bed by myself, thanks to flag football
8. Drank two large glasses of milk (if you know me, you know how weird this really is)

8 Things I am looking forward to:
1. Cooking for DNow this weekend; it brings back fond memories of my time in the youth group
2. Thanksgiving Day and looking at all the Black Friday circulars
3. Black Friday!!!
4. Many baby showers in the coming months starting with Rachel & Jaxson's on Saturday
5. Christmas
6. Two potty trained children
7. Date night with my hubby
8. Rachel & Ryan's wedding

8 Things on my Wishlist:
1. A bigger house in a few years
2. A two year old that doesn't bite
3. A smaller waistline
4. Another dog, but smaller this time
5. Texas Rangers in the World Series someday
6. A video camera
7. A regular cleaning lady (and the money to afford her)
8. A happy, healthy family

8 people I tag:
1. Haley
2. Lorin
3. Amanda
4. Misty
5. Jennifer
6. Leslie
7. Elyse
8. Shelly

Elmo (in pastry form, that is)

So as you'll see from my previous post, we had a Sesame Street theme for Carter's 2nd Birthday Party. I'm sure I could have picked up a Sesame Street cake from just about any bakery, but for some reason, I got the itch to make Carter an Elmo cake myself. And after all the time and energy I put into this thing, I'd say it's deserving of its very own post.

I found an Elmo cake pan online, and despite the seemingly intricate, difficult decorating instructions, I wanted to try it anyway. I bought the pan and all the various cake decorating items that I would need (tips, parchment bags, cornstarch, icing dye-not just food coloring, etc., etc.). I decided to make it two days before Carter's birthday so that in the event of a total flop, I would still have time to purchase something else pre-made. All in all, it probably took me about a total of 5 or 6 hours and WAY more money than a sheet cake would have cost, but it was all worth it to see the look on Carter's face when he saw Elmo. And I just might have picked up a new hobby in the process.

Alright, here's the cake after only icing the mouth and nose. I dyed the cake mix red because, well, Elmo's insides are red too, right?

The star-tipped decorating has begun...

Almost done...

Finally finished!!!

So proud of my accomplishment. Don't I look exhausted?

Since I didn't think the cake would feed everyone at the party, I decided to make some cupcakes to go along with it, complete with candied Elmo decorations, of course. And although Carter wasn't able to help with the actual cake because I wanted it to be a surprise, he was able to be my helper in the kitchen the following night for round two: cupcakes. These weren't hard at all to make, but adding a two year old to the mix of cake batter, a hot oven and a wobbly stool can make anything difficult.

It was worth it though; as you can see, licking the spatula was his favorite part. (And yes, he is wearing his Elmo shirt too. Seriously... can't get enough of that zany puppet.)