Snowball Fight!!

Aunt Val (Jeremy's Aunt) gave the girls these cute little snowballs in a bucket as an early Christmas present. SO CUTE!!! So, the girls are practicing throwing snowballs so that they can get ready for Christmas in Pittsburgh!!

I went out this morning for my first Black Friday experience! I didn't leave the house until 8:30 but I had bought a newspaper and we looked through it. I knew exactly where I wanted to go and what I wanted to buy. I got EVERYTHING that I had planned to get with the exception of one thing. But I was able to order that online today for the same price and free shipping!!

It was a good experience and nothing was too crazy or crowded at 9 in the morning.

Two of my purchases were these cute little Christmas PJs.

"Ok snow buddy, do you think that you can hit my sister right in the face?"

This was the best smile that I could get from Layne! Finally when Hayden graduated from the awkward "say cheese" face Layne enters that phase!

Little Turkeys

Today we decided to make some pine cone acorn turkeys because Thanksgiving is right around the corner!! We had to check the mail so we just picked up a couple pine cones and acorns on our way back up the mountain.

Then it was time to get to work on our little creations.

Poor diddle still doesn't feel well so it was kind of hard to get her to smile a good smile.... Daddy is still pretty sick too. They both are just very congested and have no energy. Jerm walks around the house like a 90 year old man. Hope they both feel better soon!

Girlies cuddling on the couch together-BFFs!

Thanksgiving Sweets

I worked on two different pies for Thanksgiving this year. The first one is a smurtle pie. Smurtles are oat, caramel, brown sugar, and chocolate goodness bars. I decided that I would try to make the bars into a pie! And it worked!!

The second one I tried was Bakerella's Ooey Gooey Brownie Pecan Pie. I made the fudgy version!

Hunter's Wife....

Before you scroll down to the picture below read this! So, the other week Jeremy shot a deer. It was a very cold weekend so when he got home on Saturday night he just left the deer in the back of his truck overnight. The girls and I were invited to go outside and look at the deer the next morning. Right before I looked over the edge of the bed of his truck I had this moment of..."Do I really want to see this, because this picture will be in my mind forever. Is this really am image that I want to put in my brain?!" But I looked anyway. The poor thing was frozen and the rigamortis had definitely set in. Jeremy's yanking the thing trying to get it to the edge of the truck so that the girls can see it. Hayden is sitting on the tailgate of the truck crying because she's terrified that this stiff deer is coming towards her. Layne is clapping and cheering as daddy is repeatedly banging the deer's nose/head on the inside walls of the bed of the truck. And I am just squinting my eyes so that I can at least block out some of what's going on-but I just can't stop looking. That morning Jerm was going to take the deer to the processor before church. He was going to take one of the girls with him. I quickly decided that Layne would be the one going. Here was the reasoning that went through my head during this split second decision. Number one-she was clapping and cheering during the whole experience. Number two-she is so young that she will most likely not be scared for life from this experience. It probably won't make the cut as one of her early childhood memories!

Hunting is one of those things to me that's just fine for Jerm to do until he actually kills something. Then I have this overwhelming sense to go out into nature and feed as many animals as possible. I even feel like I need to sign to them and teach them all about hunters and their tricks. I know that it sounds crazy, but I just feel so bad. I mean, Snow White did it.....why can't I!?

Now jumping to this past weekend. Jerm went hunting and stopped at the processor on his way home so that he could pick up the meat. When he got home he put all the meat in coolers because we were giving it to a family at DP. He then crashed on the couch for the rest of the night because he was sick. Later that night I went out into the garage to put something in our freezer out there. Our freezer is in between our two trucks against the front wall. As I rounded the back passenger side of my truck I saw something sticking out of the back of Jerm's truck-yes I did a full blown double take. As I walked closer to his truck I saw.....OH MY GOSH......now the florescent in our garage are just about to go out so there is this very dim eerie feeling to the whole scene. OH MY GOSH....I am blinking repeatedly as I was closer to make sure that I am really seeing what I think I am seeing....OH MY GOSH....I AM really seeing what I think I am seeing.......

Not only did Jerm bring the deer MEAT home but he brought the dang deer HEAD home too! Talk about a freaky thing to see at 10pm under flickering florescent lights!!

I love the random birthday gift bag that's back there too. Was his plan to gift wrap it or something?!

His explanation for this madness is that he is going to do a "European Mount" for this deer so he got the head back....intact!! If you are interested to see what a European Mount is see below! Now, this IS NOT his deer and I really hope that he doesn't do the whole neck/backbone mount thing. Just the head is enough-thank you! Maybe this one will stay in the garage and keep his turkey fans some company. As most of you know, we already have two of the....how would you say it......"made to look like they were just killed 5 minutes ago and mounted" deer in our BEDROOM!

Oh the joy of being married to a hunter....at least I get some great stories out of it!!

Nature Walk

The other day the girls and I decided to go on a nature walk. We just walked on the grass along our road and looked for neat things to pick up.

They found this mushroom thing to step all over and kick.

When we got back the girls emptied their bags and we glued all of their "treasures" onto paper. Here's everything that Layner picked up.

And all of Hayden's treasures.

Yesterday we went to the library and BOTH girls got to play on the computer!

On Thursday nights the girls get to sleep in Hayden's bed together since their school week is over. This was just too cute!

This was the craft that the kids got to do on Wednesday night up at DP. Hayden did most of this coloring by herself!!

Click on the above image in order enlarge!

In the Kitchen with Mommy!

Unfortunately, the girls aren't always able to help me in the kitchen especially when I am working on cake jobs. But yesterday we were preparing a lot of food for our Test Kitchen ThanksGIVING meal that we put on for some very special families. I needed their help and they were so excited!

We made a curried fruit dish, sausage sage stuffing, brown sugar glazed ham, and smurtles.

What's wrong with this picture?

This is the normal "view from behind" that Layne gives everyone. Angela told me how to put those elastic sizers into pants, so I will have to work on that.

Funny story. So, last night a bunch of us stayed at DP to clean up after the meal and the kids were just running around playing together. All of a sudden Jen got Jeremy's attention so that he would look at "HIS" daughter. Layne had her pants and undies down to her knees, she was bending over, and smacking her butt with both hands!! I think that it may have scared the other kids for life! I am so glad that I didn't see it, I only heard about it. She is definitely a different breed and I love her to pieces!

Chef Layne reporting for duty.

Seriously!?

This is what I found one morning when I left to take the girls to school. What crazy kids! Mazie is such a good sport!

This was last week when we went to help Rebecca out at an apartment complex. We went there to help some elementary school kids with their homework. We had a lot of fun and the girls just loved "doing their homework" just like the big kids!

Tomorrow our Test Kitchen group is putting on a Thanksgiving meal for a few families. I picked dessert and stuffing. So, here are the girls helping me make the dessert by unwrapping the caramels. Don't worry, all of the caramels on the floor are still wrapped!! We're making Smurtles-they are unreal!!

If nothing else.....come for the FREE food!!

Annual Home Show/Open House!

This Saturday, November 13th from 9:00-4:00

951 Thornwood Circle

Covington Ga

This is the home of Beth Adamson - just off Brownsbridge Rd right past Snapping Shoals EMC. Turn left onto Magnet Road off Brownsbridge Rd (heading east from corner of Hwy 20/Brownsbridge Rd). Right onto Thornwood Circle. House is second on the right.

Vendors include: That's Mine Embroidery (purses, scarves, bibs, onesies and more), Arbonne (beauty products), Doodle Pad Designs (personalized Christmas ornaments), The Family Jewels, Rebecca Cipolla Photography (Rebecca will be offering Christmas card photo shots on site!), Bob's wood carvings (hand carved ornaments) and more!

Snacks will be served - with treats generously provided by Sugar & Spice Sweets (Trista Ross).

Fashion Model?

Here's what the little fashion girl wore to preschool this morning. Poor Hayden wasn't ready for the picture I guess!

This is on for the girls' favorite games. Don't Break the Ice!

Here's Hayden talking on the phone with Aunt September this afternoon. Kids are so funny!

Southern Belles

While I was putting clothes away in Hayden's room tonight I found these Easter hats. The girls just LOVED them!

It's like the instantly felt beautiful and fancy!

Hayden's new jewelry box has a dancing ballerina on top. Layne likes to turn the jewelry box on and imitate the ballerina on top.

Sister working together to put the sheets on Layners mattress.

Layner adding the finishing touches to her bed. Too bad she's sleeping with sissy in her bed tonight. I guess she'll enjoy the freshly made bed tomorrow :)

Another Package!?

Today we got another package from Aunt September! And since Hayden got to open the first one....Layne got to open this one. You can see how well that went over!

The girls got Silly Bandz holders!! Moms-if your children have Silly Bandz and they don't have one if these holders....they NEED one! It keeps them all together in ONE place.

First step was for the girls to track down all of their Silly Bandz!

Next we put them all on the carabiner side of the Silly Band holder.

Last we attached it to Hayden's backpack. Layner didn't want her on her backpack though.

AWESOME!

My sister makes these and it would be an awesome stocking stuffer for the kiddos this Christmas. Check out her Etsy Site Top Knotch Gear and place your order today!

She also threw in some stuff for the 'rents!

A dragonfly and Steelers monkey fist key chain for me and a carabiner key chain and Steelers bracelet for Jerm.

Thanks Sep!!

Late Birthday Present.

Sep and Morgan got Hayden this Human Body puzzle! It's awesome and very educational. The girls and I worked on it this afternoon. Thanks ladies!

Halloween Night

Last night Layne and I stayed home and handed out candy because I was not feeling well at all. Daddy took Hayden and went to Philip and Angela's house for some chili and trick-or-treating fun with some of our friends. We had about 5 groups of kids make the long hike up our driveway to get candy. After the 3rd group of kids came up Layne spotted something in the candy bowl. I went back to cleaning after the kids left and I noticed that Layner wasn't sitting on the couch like she had been. So, I looked around and found her sitting under the table unwrapping a Starburst! What a nut.

Trunk or Treat

We went to Trinity Baptist church for their Trunk or Treat on Saturday night. Layne got a pig nose face painted on her nose....sort of....

Hayden got her whiskers and cat nose touched us AND she went on a hay ride all by herself!

And of course, there were the jumpers!!!

This one's for you Grandma and Pap! Thanks again for the awesome Steelers trick-or-treat bags!!

This is the aftermath to the stolen Starburst on Halloween night! Crazy sugar high toddler!