Saying Goodbye

I wish could be with my husband's side of the family today as they say good-bye to his grandmother - his Mamaw.  She passed away on Wednesday, and James and Eva left for Louisiana yesterday to be with his parents. Samuel and I stayed home because we've both been battling a stomach virus. I think we're both on the mend today though.

Mamaw was delighted to be a great-grandmother.

 I don't know what these ladies were talking about, but it sure was funny. James is not the best with the camera, but sometimes he captures some true gems. He grabbed up my camera after I left it to chase down a child & I'm so glad he got that shot.

 James has many fond memories of his Mamaw. She was very involved in the lives of her grandchildren. He talks often playing at her home as a child and vacationing in Nashville with her and her husband. She loved her husband well, and she enjoyed life best when he was at her side. Mamaw loved to sew and cook, and she enjoyed sharing her talents with others. We have three quilts that she made. In her wisdom, she made baby blankets to give her great grandchildren before her grandkids were even married. She feared that her hands wouldn't allow her to sew by the time the great-grandbabies came along. I'm glad she prepared them in advance!  James' favorite recipe of her's was her cornbread dressing, and he went over to her home one day around the time we got married so she could teach him how to make it.  I'm glad he did this, and so was she. The recipe was all memorized & she had never measured any of the ingredients. James measured everything out, and put it to paper.  Here is it is - you have to start with homemade cornbread first.
Cornbread     

- Verdell Thomas

1 ½  C.  Martha White’s Self-rising corn meal

1 Tbs. oil

2 eggs

1 ¼ C. buttermilk

½  tsp. baking Powder

Preheat oven to 400°.  Beat eggs before adding them to the rest of the ingrediants in a medium sized bowl.  Mix well.  Pour into greased and floured skillet.  Put skillet into hot oven.  Bake 20 min. on Medium rack, then 5-10 min. on high rack.

Cornbread Dressing

- Verdell Thomas

1 cornbread (see above recipe)

2 stalks of celery (chopped)

1 onion (white or yellow)

1 can cream of chicken soup

Crumble cornbread in a large mixing bowl.  Saute celery and onion in skillet.  Mix celery and onion with crumbled cornbread in the mixing bowl.  Warm a can of Cream of Chicken soup with 1 can of water in skillet then mix into dressing.  Pour into buttered 9x13 aluminum pan – cut slits into dressing with knife before baking.  Bake at 350° for 15-20 min.

Christmas Day 2014

I was going through some photos to put together a montage for Samuel's third birthday, and I saw that I never finished editing my photos from Christmas day. Here they are, finally!

 We add a new ornament or five to the tree each year.  I took the kids to Target one day before Christmas and let them pick out one ornament each. Eva Kate chose Minnie Mouse and Samuel chose Superman.  The sphere with the fish on it was our souvenir from Hawaii. We bought it at the resort we stayed at on Kauai. It was handpainted by a local artist.  The ornament on the bottom row was one of the stocking stuffers I gave James.  We had to say goodbye to Daisy in June, and these were some of my favorite photos of her.  That ornament is made from metal, and I ordered it from Shutterfly. I'm really pleased with the quality.

 Stocking stuffers are always fun. The kids got socks, a coin, soap, sunglasses, cutters for bread, annd Frozen band-aids.

 Eva liked the new silicone baster that I gave James. Silly girl.  We ate breakfast after we had opened our stockings. The kids wanted to use their new bread cutters.

On to the rest of the gifts. 

The day after Halloween, I got up early and went to Wal-mart to get some costumes for the kids. These were a big hit. They like to play dress up. I embroidered chef's hats and aprons for them too, and they have already used these several times.

I gave James the Rosetta Stone spanish suite and he gave me a studio backdrop that is portable. I'm looking forward to using this!

The kids had a fun surprise waiting for them behind these doors. James' parents gave them a power wheels car that they can both ride in. The weather was really nice, and they were able to play outside for a while on Christmas day.

I took Samuel to register for preschool a few days ago. He was very excited to see the school, and he told me that he would drive himself there in his new car - not ride in my car. Hahaha.

Thanksgiving Recap

We had a fun visit with our family last week in Louisiana.

 There was time for fun. Samuel and Eva Kate both love this tricycle. Eva was too little to ride it the last time we visited.

 Sometimes, there is nothing more fun than a laundry basket and a pair of glasses that you stole from your grandmother!

James' parents watched the kids for us one night so we could go out. We went to a batting cage at a new place called D-Bat, and then we went out to eat at a nice place called Restaurant Sage. We'll definitely go back to both places. The batting cages had only been open for a few weeks, and we both had fun.  I did better that I thought I would. I hadn't tried to hit a softball or baseball since high school PE. For dinner, I had Sea Bass and James had New Orleans style BBQ shrimp. Yummy!

 James' parents suggested we all go to the Visitor's Center in their town for a free viewing of The Polar Express. This was fun for all of us. They had cookies, popcorn, and hot chocolate for everyone. The kids were invited to wear their pajama's, but we'd just been to the nursing home to see James' grandmother. I didn't want to bother with changing the kid's clothes at the visitor's center.

We don't make a big deal about Santa at our house, but the kids have seen James dress up as Santa for my photography business.  When Samuel first saw Santa in the movie, he said "Santa my Daddy."  So cute.

Santa and Mrs. Claus made an appearance after the movie. Samuel didn't want to have his photo taken, but Eva Kate was willing.

We took some family photos, and this is one of my favorites of the kids.

My parents were able to spend the day with us.

Both kids missed their nap, and Eva crashed late in the afternoon.

Here's the kid's completed Thankful Charts for the month. I think one little boy is missing baseball season.

Halloween Recap

 Better late than never, right?  Halloween was fun, but really cold this year. I dressed the kids in two layers, and I bought them mittens - which they actually wore!

 A fews before Halloween, we went over to our neighbor's house to carve pumpkins.

 The kids all thought this dancing skeleton was awesome!

 I carved Elmo, James carved a smiley face.

 Eva Kate was agreeable to sit in Frankenstein's lap for a photo, but Samuel wasn't. He was unsure.

The kids ate a hot dog for dinner, along with a few pieces of candy.  I put them to bed after they got too cold, and I grabbed the baby monitor and went back outside.  We had about 200 trick-or-treaters, and while we didn't have any candy left, we did have some stickers and apple cider left.

Here's some of the decorations from our street:

 Our house:

 We usually put our big screen up over the garage to show this movie, but it was too windy outside. We were afraid that the wind would rip the screen, so James just projected in onto the garage door.