Friday, December 27, 2013

Cinnamon Buns ....

I love making Pioneer Woman's cinnamon buns. Not only are they the BEST ever, but the recipe makes so many that it's fun to give as gifts. So after shopping on Black Friday, I made a big batch so that I would have buns to take over to my family that Saturday.
I clean the granite real good and then roll my dough out on that.
It's perfect for this kind of thing.........Look at all of the butter, cinnamon and sugar, yum!!
 

 all covered up and waiting for them to rise. You can freeze them before you bake but since I was planning on taking to my family the next day, I went ahead and baked them and then kept in the frig. So all my family had to do was stick in the oven for about 10 minutes to heat them up

 and here they are all coated good with the super sweet maple icing....so dang good

later......


Thursday, December 26, 2013

Black Friday shopping .....

Jacquelyn and I usually go out very, very early on Friday
after Thanksgiving
 
We love the excitement, crowds, deals of shopping on Black Friday
 
but this year with a new baby, we didn't even give it any thought
early afternoon I decided to go to Target so Jacquelyn said her and Declan
would come along too.
 
the crowds were fine, no big deal
then one of Jacquelyn's friends told her that Gap had 50% off of everything
in the store. The Gap is one of our favorite stores to shop so we
headed to the mall
 
and OMG.......we struggled to find a parking spot
but we did.....and wow, found some really great deals
 
below are the pics of Declan getting ready for his first
Black Friday shopping trip!
 

 
later..........

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Decorating for Christmas ....

I decorate very early for Christmas
I like to enjoy our decorations because once Christmas is over with, I like
to pack it all away
So I decorate the first of November
 
This year, I decided to scale back some on the decorations
I didn't even bring half of my storage bins down from the attic
 
 
so here we go.......
first, here are the tons of presents I had to carry downstairs after wrapping! The ribbon is leftover from Jacquelyn's wedding so recycling at its best!
 

the small table in the dining room

Instead of putting one of the bigger trees in the living room, I put it in the kitchen. I figured I spend so much time in there, it would be nice to have a pretty tree to look at

the windows below are over the kitchen sink


 
Below is my Bose radio that Johnny gave me a few years ago for Christmas. I love it. And on top is my basket full of Christmas CD's that I listen to all of the time! 



this is the table in the foyer
 


Since I put one of the bigger trees in the kitchen, I put the little one in the living room






My snow tree is my favorite!

This cute snowman is in the guest bathroom upstairs

My night stand

I love putting the greenery on the bed....it's fake but still pretty

My Santa sleeps here......




here's Santa standing guard over my wine

My chalkboard for December
 
 
later.......

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Grandsons ....

aren't they grand!
we have 3 grandsons with our 4th on the way
due end of January

Maddox is 8, Gabe is 6 and Declan is 8 months

On Thanksgiving, Gabe suggested to me that we should take
a picture of the 3 of them in front of my Christmas tree

what a great idea
until we tried to take the picture
getting 3 little guys to cooperate wasn't as easy as we thought
I think if we had tried earlier in the day it might have worked better
So we'll try again

here's what we ended up with.......pretty funny




 
we will try again at Christmas :)
later.........
 
 
 

Monday, December 23, 2013

Welcome home ....

A year ago our son moved with his job to Charlottesville
only an hour away but still, an hour away

but we were happy for him to finally at 24 leave the nest
and experience living on his own, having his own place
paying his own bills.....haha!

Even though he came home a lot on weekends, he still missed
family dinner on Sundays because he always left early to
get back to his own place, cook, laundry, prepare for the week

After being away for one year, he was ready to come back to
his hometown. This should not have surprised me because as a child,
he could never be far from home. He really wanted to spend the
night at friends house, like all of the other kids, but he just couldn't
do it. He would try, and then end up calling us 10, 11 at night
and asking if we would come pick him up......which we always did.
I remember whenever I would take him to a friends house, if he felt like
the car ride was too far, he would tell me "let's just go home"

So now he is back and even though he's facing a one hour commute
every day to work, I think he's really happy about being in his
own hometown!

I know we are!

later.........

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Thanksgiving Round 2 ...

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my family on
the Saturday after Thanksgiving

there are 26 of us!!
my parents
4 siblings + 3 in-laws
7 nieces
2 nephew
3 nephew in-laws
5 great grandbabies

and we all live in this area
how blessed are we!!
and we have so much fun together

This year my niece Aimee and her husband Alex hosted
our family gathering.
they just moved in to their new house end of the summer
and wow, it is so grand. We are all so proud of them for
all of their hard work and now living in the house of their dreams! And it was great because it is so big, it never felt
crowded with all of us there. They are hosting Christmas too
so should be lots of fun!

probably beer talk below......


my brother-in-law below carving the turkey....he always gets this job!

 
 my brother and 2 of my beautiful nieces

 
 I know the pic below is weird with that strange reflection of a light on Jake's neck but I just loved the look that him and Declan have....



My Mom and my daughter Jacquelyn ..... so beautiful
My niece Mallory.....so pretty!

 I love the fireplace in their new house

And I really love this sofa in their living room. The colors are all off due to the lighting. The sofa is actually an offwhite and the woodwork around the fireplace and all of the trim is white too. Maybe at Christmas I can get some better pictures ... haha

the dining room
the chairs were purchased at auction and are from the Waldorf in NYC....so cool


 My mom and I


Mom and Maddox

 a bunch of the cousins having dinner together


My other beautiful daughter Nicole and Tyler. They will be welcoming our newest grandson in about 5 weeks, John Thomas

 
 
later........