Menu Plan Monday

Thanksgiving week already! It will be a short week at home and here's what I'm planning:

• Chicken Fried Steak (today for dinner)
• Whole chicken in the crock pot
• Chicken noodle soup from the crock pot chicken

That should get us to Thursday when we hit the road for the Holiday. I don't want to have too many leftovers in the fridge since we'll be gone for a few days. I hope y'all all have a good week and your Thanksgiving planning and traveling go smoothly!

Neglect

That's what I feel like I've been doing to this blog...neglecting something that I love doing because there are so many other things I have to do! This blog doesn't feed my family, bathe my daughter, love my husband, fold my clothes, etc. I think you get the idea. BUT, this blog does give me a creative outlet, it connects me to my family and friends, it connects me to a world that - between changing diapers, errands, meals, nap times and a plethora of other things - I feel I'm not always a part of.

Oh, I've been plenty busy. Gardening, canning, planning for the holidays, remodeling, working to create flower beds around the house...I haven't sat still for long. And that's ok. However, I want to work harder at sitting still long enough to write. Patience isn't always easy for me. It gets used up early in the day and when my thoughts don't flow quickly and easily from my fingers, I want to put it off. I'm going to work not to put it off because we do so many things that I want all of you to see and be a part of. Besides, Elizabeth is too cute to keep off of here for long!

Since Sweet Baby Girl is napping, I need to step out to the garden now and replant spinach and maybe do some chopping. The chopping will be punishment enough for my neglect.

Haulin' Hay

This past weekend, as soon as Travis got home from a three day work trip, we went to help haul hay out of the field. I drove and Elizabeth had a good time hollering out of the windows.

From L to R: Joe (Stephen's friend), Stephen, Grandpa, Elizabeth & Travis

She liked being up on the hay stack.

This was Saturday morning when we drove to "the farm" to unload two trailers of hay. Elizabeth was waiting for Great Grandpa's dog, Freckles.

Playing with Freckles.



In the barn.

Saturday night, unloading a trailer at my in-laws so we could bring in more hay. They needed to get it all hauled in because it was supposed to (and did) rain nearly all day Sunday. I even helped do a little manual labor.

Elizabeth mostly liked to eat the grain off of the dried sorghum heads.


We had a good time, believe it or not! Such a good time that I even ate liver 'n onions for supper. (And that's saying a lot seeing as how I've never eaten liver in my life!)

Halloween!

Trick or Treat! Our little cauldron carrying fairy made three small stops on Halloween night. First, to Miss Vickie's house. Elizabeth hit the jackpot there!! I'm not sure she's ready for Tootsie Rolls just yet, so I better eat them, just in case!

Next, we stopped (aka drove 15 minutes to the next house...) at Miss Suzanne's place. Lots of good candy there, too! It only took one stop for Elizabeth to learn how to take a candy bar and put it in her cauldron! What a smarty pants!!

Last stop, the Vegas of Candy, Grandpa and Grandma's house. Yum, yum. I now know that Elizabeth likes Raisinettes. At least it's half-healthy food!

We even stepped in for a bit to shoot a picture with mommy! Of course, she was already stuffing her face with the Raisinetts!

I don't know about you, but I can't tell who's cuter!!

Menu Plan Monday

There's a good chance that Travis will be gone for at least one night this week, so I'm a little skimpy on the meals this week. For some reason, I'm leaning a little on the Mexican side...

• Leftover tortilla soup (so good, recipe follows)
• Taco Salad
• Tacos with leftover taco meat
• Sandwiches

I need to get some Halloween pictures posted, but maybe later tonight!

Tortilla Soup (I received this recipe from one of my wedding showers.)

• 3-4 chicken breasts, boiled and cubed
• 2 cups water
• 14 oz can beef broth
• 14 oz can chicken broth
• 16 oz can tomatoes, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup carrots, chopped
• 1 can Rotel Tomatoes or chilies
• 1 clove garlic, chopped or 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3-4 cilantro leaves or 1 tsp dried cilantro leaves
• 1 can corn or 1-1/2 cups frozen corn
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• 1 package taco seasoning
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper

Saute onion and bell pepper in butter until tender. Add water and broth, bring to a boil. Add chicken and turn down to simmer. Add all other ingredients and simmer until corn is heated through and carrots are tender. *This is a very spicy dish. Even spicy for me, and I like spicy! So, I cut back on the taco seasoning. If you want to make this even less spicy, cut back on the Rotel, too.*

To Serve: Crumble tortilla chips in the bottom of a bowl. (Or, better yet, cut corn tortillas into strips and fry in hot oil until golden brown and delicious...which is what we do.) Ladle soup on top. You can even top with avocado and cheese! Yum, yum!

I hope y'all enjoy the good weather this week, we are!

Almost Halloween

A couple of weeks ago, we tried out Elizabeth's Halloween costume. A dress rehearsal of sorts. We watched our little fairy flutter around the yard playing with the flowers of a four o'clock plant. The costume was hand made (and nearly no-sew) by yours truly. I still need to make her a little wand, but something has to be last minute!


I'm not sure if you can see it, but I used glitter glue to make designs on her wings.

Last week, I took Elizabeth to the pumpkin patch. My MIL works across the corner from where the pumpkin patch was set up and met us during lunch. Elizabeth liked looking at all of the pumpkins, but hated posing for pictures! Here, it looks like she's saying, "I want them all!"

Her cute little t-shirt, given to her by my MIL (Thanks!) says, "Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid." It is just too cute! Everyone says so.



Here's the one picture of Elizabeth and I. She's squirming to get out of my arms. Oh, well.

She decided to sit down and take a rest on the two pumpkins that I had already picked out.

Elizabeth the scarecrow!

We had a good time at the pumpkin patch and hope that Daddy can come next year!

Family Reunion

This past weekend, we attended another family reunion. This time, for my family. Before I talk about that, though, I was finally able to put Elizabeth's hair up into a pony tail for the first time! Isn't she adorable? It only lasted a few minutes before she became inquisitive about what was holding her hair back. It was cute while it lasted.

Ok, on to the reunion...almost. These next three pictures are from the day before when we were decorating the hall. Uncle Matt did a good job of entertaining Elizabeth while we were finishing up. The fun activity? Rolling a gold dollar on the floor! Who knew something so simple could be so interesting?


Isn't he a good uncle!?

Now, the reunion. Uncle Mike was the emcee. He did a good job and moved fairly quickly through the "formal" part of the day. Each of The Twelve's family was asked to stand up and introduce themselves and the people in attendance as well as anything new that had happened over the last year.

Aunt Fayola and Uncle C.A. (Great Grandpa's sister and her husband) also attended the reunion. I think Uncle Mike had gotten some facts out of order and she's got her finger out telling him like it is! She really is a sharp, funny lady!

I didn't get an official count, but between 80 and 90 people showed up to the reunion (this includes guests and the Family Priest of Choice: Father Walter).

This year, for the door prizes, my Crafty Aunt Jana decided that it would be much more fun to put a sticker naming the door prize on the bottom of ten chairs. (There were ten door prizes, six mums and three candles.) So this is a shot of everyone in the hall turning their chair upside down to see if they won a door prize. This was really fun and I think everyone enjoyed the change!

And finally, the best picture of the day: my Crafty Aunt Jana and me! Under our names are our family number. This is the order in which we entered the family. Jana is number 27 and I'm number 85. For the blessing and singing of Let There Be Peace On Earth, we all lined up by our family numbers. It was really neat to see how the generations faded into one another! Another great idea from Crafty Aunt Jana!

All in all, I think everyone had a great time at the reunion. I brought three silent auction items, all garden related, of course, and they all sold well. Elizabeth didn't get a nap in, so when we were finally on our way to our Down South home, she was asleep before we arrived at the first town with a stop light. She had a good time playing with all of her cousins and we had a great time visiting. I'm already looking forward to next year!