Simply having...

My kids have been so excited to hear all the Christmas music on the radio. We listen to FM100 all the time. Today Brielle has been singing this song all day....

"Cindy, Abby a wonderful Christmas time!"

Are Bunnys on the menu?

Our conversation as we are leaving Pei Wei just having had a really good diiner.

Brielle: "Lets go to IHOP!"
me: "we just had dinner!"
Brielle: I wanna go to IHOP!"
me: "what would you get at IHOP?"
Brielle: "a bunny! remember yesteryear when we had a bunny and one died, and one hopped away?"

Thanksgiving Feast

It was my week to teach preschool and it was the Thanksgiving Theme. We had so much fun talking about the Pilgrams, Indians and turkeys. Today we had a big "Feast" and learned how to set the table and use our manners. These kids are so cute and I'm so glad I have the opportunity to teach Brielle and her cute friends!

Cheap and Fabulous Fall Decor

I have a Sister-in-law that is very talented. Holly has the cutest designs and she recently posted a DIY on making this cute garland. Its so easy and very inexpensive, the entire project cost me under $5. I chose to take the easy route by using gold fabric paint for the veins instead of embroidery floss. It took way less time and I think turned out pretty good!

Painting Party

Victoria, Katie, Abby, Ashton, Ella

The last 3 weeks have flown by. I can't believe its time for Katie to go back to school on Monday. She is so excited to see her teacher, she misses her so much!
I had all these ideas of things we would do while she was off track but we haven't really done much so I told Katie she could invite some friends over for a party. She said she wanted a "painting party". We found some canvas paintings for the girls to paint and then made and decorated some cookies. Katie has a cute group of friends in her class and of course she invited her cousin Ella.

Princesses

My most awesome Mom took me and the girls to Disney Princesses on Ice tonight.
We had so much fun!!!

Best Fall Recipe

I found this yummy recipe here. Its Perfect Fall Pork Chops and let me tell you they are YUMMY!!! Its the best dinner I think I've made or had in a long time! But lets be honest thats really not too difficult (considering we've mostly had chicken and rice or spaghetti for dinner).
So you'll just have to make it and see for yourself!

6-8 pork chops

olive oil

3-4 fresh garlic cloves

3-4 shallots sliced into quarters

2 Cup baby carrots

3 red potatoes (sm-med)-cubed

1/2 - 1 small apple sliced

1/2 - 1 small pear sliced (remove skins optional)

fresh rosemary

fresh chives

fresh parsley

1/4 C butter

3/4 C brown sugar

4 Tlb dijon mustard

1-2 Tbl Apple Cider Vinegar

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp pepper

DIRECTIONS

Melt butter and brown sugar in a frying pan. Saute shallots, carrots, garlic, korsher salt and pepper approx 5 minutes then add potatoes, apples and pears and herbs for an additional 3-5 minutes until everything is well coated but not cooked tender.

Sear pork chops in a hot frying pan with 2 Tbl of olive oil and generous amounts seasoning salt and pepper until barely browned. Place in baking dish and pour vegetables and glaze over pork chops. Stir together 4Tbl Dijon mustard with a little apple cider vinegar (or water) just enough to make it thin enough to drizzle over pork chops and vegetables. Snip fresh parsley and rosemary on top and cover dish with 2 layers of foil.

Bake 400 for 45 minutes, then reduce heat to 250 for 30-40 more minutes. Make sure pork chops are cooked throughout and are no longer pink.

Thankful Tree

For FHE on Monday we started our family thankful tree. I purchased this one from Oriental Trading Co. but to learn how to make one click here. Everyday this month we will add a leaf to our tree and write something on it we are thankful for. Hopefully by Thanksgiving we will have a full tree and be able to read them all and reflect on everything we should be thankful for!

Yummy Play Dough

Katie's cute teacher gave the kids a packet of fun Off Track activities to do. One of the things was make edible play dough. Today the girls each had a friend over so we made it and its a HUGE hit. Playtime and snack all in one! I wish I would have had this recipee when my kids were little and insisted on eating real play-doh... this tastes much better!Here's the recipe:

Peanut Butter Play Dough
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light Karo syrup
1 1/4 cup dry milk
1 1/4 cup powered sugar

Mix ingredients