Thanksgiving Memories

And just like that...it's December!!  Can you believe it?  I have exactly 19 Christmas presents bought so far, but I still have a long way to go.  Right now, I'm more concerned with Christmas cards...see, Anna and Jake HATE posing for their picture and to add insult to injury, Anna is now saying she is too old for her picture to be on a Christmas card!!!  The nerve!!! I LOVE getting Christmas cards  from our family and friends that have pictures!!  Everyday during the holiday season Anna and Jake can't wait to get to the mailbox to see if there is a new card....and hoping it is a picture of someone in our family or an old friend from Pine Bluff, or a new little one that we've yet to even see.  So, with all this being said, we will dress, we will smile, and we WILL enjoy having our Christmas card published for the world to see!!  


We had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday.  We had our first Thanksgiving Feast at our church on the Sunday before Thanksgiving.  There was more food than you could imagine.  I brought Cranberry-Orange Relish and it was a hit.  Several people asked me for the recipe afterwards, so I'll post it here for anyone who wants to try it for Christmas....

Cranberry-Orange Relish
2 navel oranges
zest of one of navel oranges
1 red delicious apple, cored, but NOT peeled
1 pound bag fresh cranberries
1 1/2 cups sugar

After getting the zest of one orange, peel both oranges and place ALL ingredients in food processor and chop fine.  Store in refrigerator overnight.  Enjoy.

Anna's class had a dinner at the First Baptist Church in Clarksville last Monday.  It was really nice and their teacher, Mrs. Amanda Banning, is the greatest for doing this each year.  She absolutely does it out of the goodness of her heart and I am so thankful for teachers like her.  We went to see Joe's side of the family on Thanksgiving Day.  Spent the day eating and visiting mostly.  We had Thanksgiving dinner with my mom and dad on Saturday night.  It was good to just relax and enjoy our family.  


We have a new addition to our ever-growing family......

Her name is Bella.  She is about 2 1/2 months old and weighs 2.4 pounds.  She is really sweet and seems to be getting along with Jada, our Yorkie, pretty well.  She came from Needy Paws and we are in love with her.  She has a personality all her own and is never far from us.  We had to talk Joe into getting her, he is not a "cat-person"....

They seem to be rubbing off on each other!  haha


Anna has been pretty busy with cheerleading.  She has started basketball season, so the games come a lot more frequently.  We play Pottsville on Thursday night.  She has her fall dance on Friday night.  The girls are going to dress up a little more for this one, so it ought to be fun to snap some pictures!  They have a Christmas band concert on Sunday afternoon.  

Jake hasn't started basketball at the boys club yet, but when he does things will be a little busier again.  I'm enjoying the break, but I know it will not last.

That is about all around here.  Will hopefully start decorating for Christmas this week.  It has started getting colder at night.....we had our first frost last week.  


Bye for now...


Candy

Dreams Can Come True

Several years ago, before the kids were very old, we had season tickets to see the Razorbacks play football.  Due to the crazy expense and the fact that we seemed to never go, we stopped getting tickets.  Well, now that we have an 11 year old football fanatic, we may have to reconsider this move.  If you know Jake, you probably know that football is one of the 5 food groups!!  Well, last weekend he finally went to see the Hogs in action!  He is a Georgia fan, but the fact that we could actually SEE a college game was a dream come true for him.  Joe had decided a couple of weeks ago that we WOULD go to a Razorback game this year if he had to sell something to get tickets!!  Well, needless to say, he didn't have to sell anything, but anyway, we had a great time.  Joe found tickets on the internet and Jake got to sit on the 50 yard line, 3rd row up!!  He was practically on the field!!  We ended up taking 6 kids, none of which had ever been to a Razorback game, so it fun to see all the excitement in their eyes. 

Here come the Hogs!!

After the game, the boys went as close to the field as they could get and got to give all the players Hi-5s!!


Jake said that was the coolest part of the game, but personally, I think it was the look on their faces when we walked out of the gate and saw the field.  It was truly priceless.  I'm glad we were able to take their friends along for the fun!!

This is Jake with his friend, Logan.

This is Tanner, Anna, Ashley and Trey after the game

Quarterback, Ryan Mallett

I think before it was over, Jake even thought this guy was pretty cool!!

Here are a couple more quick pictures....

And the really cool thing is...next Saturday, we get to do it all over again.  A friend got us tickets on the 2ND ROW!!!  Man, life is really good!!  This time we get to go onto the field and watch the players warm up before the game.  I don't know if Jake will be able to handle the excitement!!  I can't wait to see his face when he gets to see those players face-to-face!!  Believe me, if it is allowed, I will have camera in hand!!

For my scrappy bloggers, have you been following Kristina Werner's blog?  She is doing a card-making video everyday for a month, I think....what was she thinking?  Anyway, she made this one a week or so ago and I tried it.

It was made using a Cricut, so I was really excited to get to pull mine out!  I wish I could hand-make my Christmas cards this year, but I don't know if I have the dedication to tackle that.  Anna told me this morning that she was getting to old to take a Christmas picture, so who knows??

I would like to wish all the Veteran's a Happy Veteran's Day!  Thank you for your service to us all, for protecting our country and fighting for our freedom and the freedom of others!  A special thanks to my favorite U.S. MARINE...Bobby Lee Holly (my sweet Daddy!!)

Better get going....got to pick up the kiddos from school, then its off to church! 

Bye for now.......

Candy

It's Fall Ya'll

The fall weather has been wonderful the last few days.  We have been a little chilly in the mornings....about 47 degrees when I took the kids to school at 7:15.  I can't wait to get the hot tub cleaned up and running for these cool fall nights.  

Anna and her friend, Shanae decided to dress up for Halloween this year.....don't know why, but they did.  They began looking through our old costume stash Saturday afternoon and this is what they came up with...Gypsy Shanae and Dorothy!! 

I thought they turned out pretty cute, but not sure 13 year olds need to be Trick or Treating!!  They took Jake and Logan along as "Football Players" ...one a Steeler and one a Colt.  I didn't get a picture of them, but trust me, they were cute too!

This is a picture I took last night after Jake got out of the bath tub.  Did I ever say he was a little OCD? 

He keeps his room spotless, keeps all his videogames stuff in its place, keeps all his toys that "belong together" in ziplock bags, etc.  After he finished bathing last night, I went back in to brush my teeth and found all his sea creatures lined up to dry off.  For some reason, it was funny that he didn't just throw them in a pile to let them dry!  Anna saw them laying out this morning and started laughing and said, " If those were mine, I wouldn't have gotten them out of the tub at all, much less, lined them up like that!!"  I guess that's the funny part, Anna is the TOTAL OPPOSITE of Jake.  One is VERY left-brained and one is VERY right-brained!!


We FINALLY get to go to a Razorback game this weekend!!  Joe got on the internet and lucked up with GREAT tickets...50 yard line, row 3!! Then today, a friend asked him if he wanted 4 more!!  So looks like we will be cheering on the Hogs against South Carolina on Saturday!  Then next weekend we are going back to Fayetteville, but this time, we have Hospitality Passes and get to go on the field before the game to watch the players warm up, attend some meetings with the coaches, and some other cool stuff that I can't quite remember right now..but I promise I will have my camera close to snap some good shots!  Jake is over the top excited about touching the turf field!!  That will be a shot I have GOT to get!!


The moon was beautiful last night....believe it or not I took this picture through my kitchen window, through the lens of our telescope!!  I thought it turned out pretty good, but wish I could have zoomed in a little more.

Well, gotta run.....thanks for checking up on my blog and I will return soon!!


Bye for now!!


Candy