Friday, October 31, 2014

Halloween 2014

 Happy Halloween from the cutest Fireman and Police Man.  

Last night the boys carved are pumpkins.  


For dinner tonight I made mummy hotdogs before heading out trick or treating!  They were a big hit!

It turned really cold and windy today but we still trick or treated for a little bit until the boys said they were cold and ready to go home.  

We came home and they enjoyed handing out candy to the neighbors.  It was a fun and memorable night!

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Charleston, SC

 How has it been over a week since I blogged?  We have been quit busy around here.  This past weekend we traveled to Charleston, SC for a family wedding.  Matt's first cousin Ray was getting married.  

We loaded up the kiddos and headed out of town Thursday night.  We drove halfway and stopped just East of Atlanta.  The boys did great.  Ryan even fell asleep the last hour and a half or so.  We all crashed once we got to the hotel.  

Friday morning we loaded back up to finish our drive to Charleston.  

We got to Charleston around 2:00 and checked into our hotel.  The boys were wired so we decided to hit the pavement and walk around the city and grab an early dinner.  

We found this amazing wooden block toy store.  It had these amazing creations made out of hundreds of pieces of wood blocks.  Think Lincoln Logs - it was really neat.  Ryan's favorite was the train going over the bridge. 

They have a carpeted area in the middle for anyone to create and just build.  The boys immediately sat down and started building.  So neat!

I kept calling Colton our T-Rex because he was walking and moving around without any concern for the fragile buildings around him.  I just knew he was going to knock over Ryan's creation, then Ryan would totally lose it.  Thankfully that didn't happen but he came pretty close.  

Ryan wanted me to take a picture of his building.  

We continued on our way and found a fun little place to eat dinner.  

We decided to check out the pier and waterfront after dinner.  The boys loved walking along the pier and seeing the Cooper Bridge and all the sailboats in the water.  

After a little walking and sight seeing we had to stop and get some ice cream.  Yum yum!  

We headed back to the hotel and called it a night pretty early.  The boys were both sound asleep by 7:00.  It had been a long day of traveling and no naps.  

Saturday morning we all awoke being refreshed and ready for the day.  We decided to take the boys to the USS Yorktown (the retired air craft carrier in Charleston).  We weren't too sure how the boys would do and if they would be interested at all.   

The highlight of the morning was riding the trolley and the water taxi over to the Yorktown. 

Waiting on the water taxi. 

On the dock of the USS Yorktown.  The boys did well.  They weren't all that interested in the planes or the aircraft carrier accommodations but I would say as a whole they did well.  

My boys!

Family picture 

We were so excited Papau and Yaya joined us on this trip.  They got to Charleston around 3:00.  The boys were over the moon about seeing their grandparents.  

Saturday was my FIL's birthday so we went to a nice dinner then grabbed some gelato on the way back to the hotel.  

The wedding was on late Sunday afternoon so we went out exploring on Sunday morning.  

Across from our hotel was this train museum, which was basically this old restored train from the early 1900's.  The boys loved it and really enjoyed seeing it.  

We strolled down to the market and decided to take carriage ride around Charleston.  The boys enjoyed it and we all loved learning some cool history about Charleston.  After the carriage ride we grabbed a quick lunch and headed to the hotel for a nap before the wedding.  

The wedding took place at Magnolia Plantation.  This was the first wedding for both boys.  I wasn't sure how they would do but they did great.  They colored pictures the whole time during the ceremony. 

The ceremony wasn't long and the boys did great coloring and being quiet.  

The happy couple - Ray and Jestine Deepe

Papau and Yaya with the boys. 

We enjoyed cocktail hour(s) visiting with family and catching up with people Matt hasn't seen in years and some I had never met.  

On the far left is Uncle Robert (Papau's brother).  His son Ray was the groom.  

He enjoyed seeing the boys and Ryan loved telling him knock knock jokes.  

We had a wonderful time at the wedding and the boys had fun too.  They had a ball dancing with Papau and Yaya.  They were tearing up the dance floor.  Everyone was commenting on how cute they were and how they were having a such a fun time.  

Monday morning we said good-bye to Papau and Yaya and started on the long drive back to Nashville.  It took us almost nine hours but the boys did great.  No one napped but they handled the long drive really well.  

It was a great trip seeing family and we loved Charleston!  We would love to go back.  

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Frozen Cookie

 
I know this isn't a recipe on Wednesday but I wanted to share these Frozen cookies I did for a new client here in Spring Hill.  Loved how they turned out!  

Monday, October 20, 2014

Fun on the Farm


The boys and I met my MOPS group at Gentry's Farm Pumpkin Patch today!  The farm is close by in Franklin.  

The farm was great and had so much for the kids.  They had playhouses, tire swings, a fun corn maze for kids and all kinds of animals include chickens, roosters, turkeys, lamps and cows. 

The boys loved looking at the chickens and roosters.  

One of their favorite activities of the day was this trough full of corn.  

They had the best time filling up these water bottles with cups and funnels.  I think we should just get them corn, water bottles and funnels for Christmas.  They could have played there for hours!  

They also had a hayride.  The boys loved it and loved seeing the cows and calfs.  

We finished up our morning with a picnic lunch with our friends.  It was such a fun day on the farm.
  

Friday, October 17, 2014

5 on Friday

 

I'm linking up again (a little late) for 5 on Friday!

1. That's how you eat a hushpuppy!
Colton and I had a fun lunch on Friday at Uncle Bud's Catfish.  It was yummmmmy!  Colton loved their huge hush puppies.  He was so funny!  I think he ate at least three of them.  They were great and their catfish was awesome!

2. Pumpkin Cookies
I made some fall pumpkin cookies to take to my new MOPS group.  Gotta build up my business here!    They were a big hit and everyone loved them.  I love how people say "wow, and they taste good too".  Love that!  

3. Potty Training Update
So I haven't updated really about Colton's potty training journey.  We did the three day potty training and I'm happy to say he quickly got the peepee down, the poop was another story.  I remember Ryan being the exact same way.  It took a little longer than three day to get number 2 down.  

After about 3 weeks of trying to ease his fear and get him to poop on the potty, he FINALLY got it.  Last weekend he went both Saturday and Sunday (only took about an hour of us sitting in the bathroom) and on Tuesday he went #2 at school!  Wow, big doings!!!  I was so proud of him!  Since then he has gone #2 without us having to sit with him and goes right away on his own.  Hallelujah!!!!  It's so awesome not having any diapers and two kiddos potty trained!  

4. My New Obsession
I picked up this snack randomly at Kroger and I am completely obsessed with it.  I love caramel corn and chex mix and that's exactly what this is, a yummy mix of the two.  I might have eaten the whole bag in two days!  

5.  Family Pictures
We are having family pictures done this weekend.  I am excited and nervous.  The weather should be great!  I'm always nervous that everyone will behave, look at the camera and look good.  My new friend Diane is taking our pictures and I cannot wait to see her magic.  

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken

I made this BBQ chicken in the crockpot for dinner tonight and it was relish!  It was super easy, only took 4 hours to cook and the whole family loved it!  We ate it on sliders but you could eat it just as is if you wanted to.  We will definitely be making it again!


Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken
From Number-2-pencil.com
Prep time:  
Cook time:  
Total time:  
Serves: 4
 
Easy and delicious Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken.
Ingredients
  • 3 large bone-in, skin on chicken breasts about 6 pounds (I used skinless boneless chicken breasts)
  • 2 tablespoons of all-pupose steak seasoning
  • 3 tablespoon of brown sugar
  • 1 cup of BBQ sauce
Instructions
  1. Create 3-4 large foil balls to fit in the bottom of slow cooker.
  2. Remove skin from chicken breast, and season each with steak seasoning and brown sugar.
  3. Arrange chicken breasts on top of foil ball, and pour BBQ sauce over.
  4. Cook on high for about 4 hours, or until chicken reaches 165 degrees. It’s important to use a meat thermometer as cooking times will vary!
  5. Chicken breasts can be served whole with juices from slow cooker poured over, or shred chicken and pour the slow cooker juices back over.