Family Adventures

The Best Black Bean Chicken Chili Recipie

2011-11-21T15:33:00.001-05:00

I am going to share one of my favorite fall recipies for black bean chicken chili. It is sooooo delicious and very good for you too. It is chock full of veggies and very, very easy to prepare. Ingredients: 1 small rotissery chicken - remove meat from bones 1 can of tomato paste 1 32oz. box of fat free low sodium chicken stock 1 can of whole kernel corn 2 cans of black beans 2 cans of rotelle

Happy Halloween!

2011-11-01T16:00:00.001-04:00

I hope everyone had a fun and safe Halloween! The kids and I had a really fun day and night of trick-or-treating. The kids were out in record numbers in our neighborhood. Some of our neighbors go "all out" on Halloween with their decorations and parties. My kids love it, of course, but I'm just along for the ride. I did put on my witch hat and fake eyelashes and walk around the

Top 2 Tuesday

2011-11-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

Happy November! Today, being the day after Halloween, I have candy on the brain. What are you two favorite "treats" from your kids trick-or-treat bags? Here are mine: 1. Almond Joy 2. Wonka Nerds

2011-10-27T10:02:00.000-04:00

This is how I usually feel around dinner time too.

Brownie Investiture Ceremony

2011-10-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Sidney Grace was involved in her first "Investiture Ceremony" last week. This ceremony welcomed the new members into the Girl Scout family and they receive their Brownie pin at this time. There was a color guard who walked out and the pledge of allegiance was recited. Then each girl was given a candle and each had to read a line from the Girl Scout promise. It was very sweet. Sidney

Top 2 Tuesday

2011-10-25T05:00:00.000-04:00

It has been a while since I have done a "Top 2 Tuesday" so I thought it was time to get it going again. This week I am gonna go with my Top 2 favorite items of fall/winter clothing. 1. Scarf - I love scarves. They are so versatile. There are so many ways to wear a scarf that you could go just about all season and never wear it the same way twice. 2. Boots - There is nothing like a

Pumpkin Dip

2011-10-24T20:17:00.000-04:00

I love fall! The cooler weather, the turning leaves, football and of course all of the yummy fall flavors. I want to share a favorite recipie of mine with you all. It is D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S.!!! I crave this stuff and so do all my friends when they get a taste of it. Pumpkin Dip 1 - 16oz. package of powdered sugar 2 - 8oz. packages of cream cheese 1 - 15oz. can of pumpkin 2 - tsp. of

The First Band Concert

2011-10-15T08:16:00.000-04:00

The first 6th grade band concert of the year was this week. They played 3 songs: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Hard Rock Blues. Yes, I know, I agree the first two songs for sixth graders? Really? Well, they only know 5 notes so far so their repertoire is VERY limited (obviously). Despite a few (lots) of "sour" notes, they did a great job. I love my little

Family Tree Site

2010-05-01T13:10:00.002-04:00

If you like genealogy and have been looking for an interactive way for family members across the country (or even the world) to be involved than you must check out this great family tree site. It is called MyHeritage.com. I love this site! It is so easy to navigate and to update your family tree. I uploaded over 30 family members in about 20 minutes. It's fun and addicting.I didn't realize

Top 2 Tuesday

2010-04-27T23:39:00.000-04:00

Top 2 Favorite Things About Summer1. No getting up early for school!!!!! Getting up early for a day of fun at the pool just doesn't seem to be quite so painful!2. Traveling with the kids to fun destinations like the beach, grandma's house, the zoo, amusement parks or anywhere just to get out of town for a few days.

Tuesday Toot

2010-04-20T22:06:00.001-04:00

Top 2 Tuesday

2010-04-20T16:13:00.008-04:00

Top 2 Tuesday is back.This week the topic is top 2 favorite items under $15.1. A good t-shirt. I am such a big t-shirt and blue jeans girl! I practically live in t-shirts every day. My favorite type is probably a white, v-neck t-shirt from Old Navy. They sell for about $8.00. 2. A cute pair of sunglasses. They are essential and get used daily. These sell for just under $6.00.

Top 2 Tuesday

2010-04-06T13:46:00.004-04:00

Top 2 Tuesday is back again. Today's topic is top 2 favorite magazines. My first favorite magazine would have to be DIY Magazine. I'm a long time subscriber and just love the project ideas that it contains.Another magazine I like to read is People. I read it at the hair salon. I don't subscribe because I don't have time to read it every week. So, I get caught up while waiting to get my hair

Top 2 Tuesday

2010-03-23T23:07:00.000-04:00

I guess it's better late than never to join in! So... here are my top 2 things I wouldn't want to live without.The first thing would have to be my chocolate. This girls gotta have her chocolate fix (if ya know what I mean). Cadbury milk chocolate is by far my favorite. Yum!!!The second thing would be my jewelry. Not that I'm a flashy person by any means but I just feel naked without my

Rainbow Brite Adventure Pack

2010-02-06T11:52:00.002-05:00

Wow! My daughter loves this fun filled CD ROM! And... I have 8 copies that I can give away. Yea!!! Leave a comment on this post and a way to get in contact with you if you are a winner.The Rainbow Brite Adventure Pack has enough activities to keep any child entertained for hours. It contains games, puzzles, animated stories a theme song and much, much more!My daughter loved the puzzles and

Puppy Luv!

2010-01-26T22:43:00.006-05:00

Millie and Hershey don't get a lot of camera time because they don't sit still long enough for me to get a decent picture of them. If I squat down to try and get their picture they run over and jump all over me. So, when I saw them snuggled together in this basket on my back porch I had to tip toe over and get their picture before they realized what was going on.They are miniature dachshunds

Icicles Galore

2010-01-10T21:59:00.004-05:00

Wow! A pipe burst underground and sent water spraying about 30 feet into the air last night. It sprayed for about an hour and a half before the county was able to come out and shut off the water.This is what we found the next morning. The ground looked like ice cubes has been dumped all over.Sidney Grace tried to "sled" on her little kick board.My weeping cherry tree lost one limb due to the

Another Snow Day

2010-01-08T22:16:00.000-05:00

As predicted, school was canceled today. We only got less than an inch of snow but the roads are really icy. My front porch steps are very icy as well. Last night I slipped down and got a pretty nasty bruise on my shin and knee. :(Even though it wasn't very much snow the kids still had fun playing outside in it. They wanted to sled but had to improvise with a boogie board. Needless to say

It's Snowing in Georgia!!

2010-01-07T15:35:00.006-05:00

It is officially snowing here. The kids are having fun playing in the snow. I have a feeling school will be cancelled tomorrow. I was amazed to see the detail in some of the snowflakes. I took a few pictures and tried to capture the detail of a few flakes. (Not a very easy task)We don't get much snow here in the south so the kids get very excited with even the smallest amount.Here are some of my

American Girl Bistro Birthday Party

2010-01-03T16:30:00.001-05:00

Sidney Grace had her first American Girl experience last weekend. She was invited by her BFF Bevin to her 6th birthday party. It was a lot of fun. The kids had a choice of appetizer, entree and a drink. Sidney Grace choose the warm pretzel for her appetizer. It was very good.I got the cheese fondue appetizer. Yum-O!This is Bevin, AKA the birthday girl. She was so cute all dressed up and

More Pictures From My New Camera

2009-12-30T19:28:00.000-05:00

Here are a few more pictures taken with my new camera. I got a Canon G10 and so far I love it!!!! This is me and my mom.Alex and Nicholas on the farm after walking all the way back from the fort.Charlie's John Deere tractor.

Cairo Critters

2009-12-29T18:25:00.001-05:00

These are just a few pictures of some of the critters at the farm in Cairo. I got a new camera for Christmas and I took a lot of pictures while trying to learn how it works.This is Renegade the cat.This is Hobo. He is part boxer and part pit bull (we think).Alex and Nicholas were playing with Renegade.This is a white button quail that was found in the road. His wing was clipped so he/she can't

Picking Turnips

2009-12-27T17:33:00.001-05:00

After Christmas we all took a long (about 2 miles) walk around the farm at my parents house. Here is a picture of my nephew Bradley. He's such a cutie pie.Towards the end of our walk we came across the turnip patch and noticed that there were several ripe turnips and decided to pick a few. Bradley and Nicholas had fun pulling up turnips.Carter tagged along too.Here's Nicholas with his

The Fort - At Lake Charles

2009-12-26T20:05:00.001-05:00

Here are some of the first pictures of the fort that is being built by Papa (my dad). He is building it at the request of all of the grand kids (9). The fort just had the walls raised on the first floor and the flooring put down on the loft level. It rained so tarps had to be put all over to try and keep it dry. Nicholas found a peep hole in the front. This is a view of the lake that the fort

Hand Stamped Christmas Cards

2009-12-24T11:12:00.000-05:00

Here are the results of my first attempt at making my own Christmas cards. I like the way they turned out (considering I'm new to stamping). I had a lot of fun designing and making the cards. It was more time consuming than I anticipated but a lot of fun none the less.

The Kids' Christmas Program

2009-12-13T23:25:00.002-05:00

Sidney Grace was my little angel this year, complete with wings and a halo. This was her first year being a part of the Christmas program at church. She did a great job and made me very proud. :)She memorized all of her songs for the program in only a couple of weeks. Pretty good for a 5 year old!Nicholas is the shepard in the center and he had a speaking part as well as having to know all of

Daisy's Christmas Make & Take Event

2009-12-11T22:37:00.000-05:00

My baby girl Sidney Grace is a new Daisy scout this year. She is really enjoying it. These pictures are from a make-&-take event where they were able to make about 10 Christmas ornaments. She and I went with her friend Bevin and her mother Betsy. They had a blast.

Christmas in Vickery Village

2009-12-06T16:45:00.000-05:00

We spend a fun afternoon in Vickery Village today. Everything was great except for the freezing cold weather. BURRRRR!!!! I got the kids to pose for a couple of pictures in front of the humongous Christmas tree. This is the picture that I used for our Christmas cards this year.There was a horse drawn carriage giving free rides through the village.This station was set up so the kids could

Making Our Gingerbread Village

2009-12-05T23:07:00.002-05:00

One boring afternoon after school got out we decided to try something fun. We pulled out the gingerbread village kit and went to work on it. The kids had so much fun gluing/sticking the houses together with the icing.Then came time to decorate each house with gumdrops, sprinkles and gummy Christmas trees. We used powdered sugar as snow.They enjoyed every minute of this project and were very

Family Pictures From Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T23:17:00.000-05:00

This is my nephew Jacob. He was giving me his "tough guy" pose.This is Carson. He is my cousin Jessica's newest son. He was almost 2 months old at Thanksgiving.This is my very silly niece Katherine. We all call her Kappy. She is so cute and funny and OMG what a hand full!!!I love this picture of my grandmother Memah feeding baby Carson. She loves babies.And this is Cale. Carson's big

More Fun At The Cox Farm in Cairo

2009-11-26T23:37:00.000-05:00

We had so much fun in the paddle boat. I would love to have on of these. Me and Amy by a really pretty tree.Me as Annie Oakley.Alex shooting at a tin can. He hit it several times before knocking it into the pond.Memah and Pop rocked on the swing most of the afternoon.

More Pictures From Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T23:29:00.000-05:00

A little croquet tourney between the cousins was in order.Sidney Grace posing with the soccer ball.The golf cart rides have become an annual activity that the kids love.Nicholas loved Amy's wreath cookie things. They were good but they made his mouth green.Alex had eaten one of the green wreaths also.

A Redneck Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T23:06:00.000-05:00

The kids talked Nana into playing a game of checkers with them before dinner.No true redneck Thanksgiving is complete with out gun fire and rattlesnakes.The snake is dead but his body continued to move for quite a while. Creepy!!!!This is where Amy spotted the rattlesnake swimming across the pond. Ronnie went and got his gun and shot it after it came up on the opposite bank.

Halloween

2009-10-31T22:40:00.001-04:00

Here are the kiddos getting ready to go out trick-or-treating. Alex was a zombie, Sidney Grace was Bat Girl and Nicholas was a warlock.Alex made a great zombie. We made his costume ourselves. After going to Goodwill to find a big shirt we took it home and shreaded it. Then we rubbed it around in the dirt and dripped fake blood over the "stab" wounds. He had on quite a bit of make up and we

Flag Football Party

2009-10-20T22:25:00.000-04:00

Nicholas' Upward flag football team finished their season with a party that included hotdogs, chips, drinks and cupcakes.Nicholas and his coach had fun picking at each other during the party. During the party each player was given an Upward backpack to keep. Nicholas was very proud of his.At the end of the party the team got to shave their coaches head. He made them a deal that if they won a

Sips-N-Strokes #3

2009-10-15T22:08:00.000-04:00

Well, here it is... Our third trip to Sips-N-Strokes was great! As promised here are the pictures of our rooster paintings.This is Betsy's rooster painting. I love it! And, this is my rooster painting. So cute! I love painting and can't wait for our next project.

First Daisy Scout Meeting

2009-10-08T22:56:00.000-04:00

Sidney Grace has joined the Daisy Scouts. She has been very excited about becoming a Daisy. Here are some pictures from her first meeting.For their first project they made cards to send to soldiers who are fighting in the war. They did a great job on their cards and were very proud of themselves.This is Sidney's friend Casey. She is showing off the card she made.After the cards were done the

Sips-N-Strokes #2

2009-09-21T00:14:00.000-04:00

Well... we did it again. Betsy and I loaded up once again and headed for Sip-N-Strokes for another fun night of painting. We got caught in some heavy traffic on the way over there so we were about 15 minutes late. But the class was so large (75 people) that we didn't miss anything. They were still checking people in when we arrived.This is my painting. It is titled "Funky Flowers".Here is a

First Footbal Game of the Season

2009-08-22T14:13:00.001-04:00

Nicholas, my youngest son has taken on a new sport this season. He decided he wanted to play football. So I signed him up for flag football through Upward. This will be our first experience with this sport and hopefully not the last. We have played Upward basketball for the past 2 years and are familiar with how the program works. It's a wonderful organization that really aims to boost

Sips-N-Strokes

2009-08-04T17:12:00.001-04:00

I am so excited to share with you all how much fun I had painting at Sips-N-Strokes. I was introduced to this awesome place by my friend and fellow crafting junkie, Betsy. She had been once before and asked me to go this time around. And... I must tell you I can't wait to go back again. I got my frequent painters card punched and I'm ready to fill it up!!There is an instructor that stands up

Photo Contest

2009-06-22T21:16:00.003-04:00

Who can resist a "cute baby" photo contest. The winner of this one will get the chance to be on the cover of Parents magazine. Check out the entries. They are adorable. Here is the link... photo contest.

Water Balloons

2009-06-17T18:24:00.005-04:00

Today the kids had a blast building up their arsenal full of water balloons in anticipation of the battle that was scheduled to commence later. They had so much fun goofing off and picking at each other. I on the other hand have very sore fingers because of the whole ordeal. I was chosen to be the official balloon tier. After about 30 balloons my fingers were begging for mercy. Here are some

40th Birthday Hibachi Style

2009-06-16T21:10:00.000-04:00

Well I finally made it to my dreaded 40th birthday. I can't say this is a birthday I was looking forward to. To keep it low key we went out as a family to Kani Japanese Restaurant.The kids really enjoyed the "show" and the food too.This is an onion volcano. SG kept crawling under the table when the chef would set anything on fire. She said she was skeered.I had grilled pineapple and fillet

Wedding Day

2009-06-06T20:43:00.001-04:00

Meet the bride and groom! Millie & Hershey Long!Long summer days call for some creative activities.There was some speculation that Ms. Millie might be pregnant so naturally she and Hershey would have to be married before they could have any puppies.We made a top hat and bow tie for Hershey and a veil for Millie. She looked more like the flying Nun than a bride to me. It was cute none the less.

BBQ Etiquite

2009-05-15T14:55:00.002-04:00

I got this today and thought I would share it with all of my fellow BBQ slaves. :)New Standard Operating Procedures released today...please learnBBQ RULES We are about to enter the BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking activity . When a man volunteers to do the BBQ, the following chain of events are put into motion:Routine..

My Mother The Teacher

2009-05-09T21:56:00.000-04:00

Mother the Teacher... 1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB . WELL DONE . "If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning." 2. My mother taught me RELIGION . "You better pray that will come out of the carpet." 3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL . "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you Into the middle of next week!" 4.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-09T14:36:00.004-04:00