Flower Girl in Training...

This past Saturday night we went to Ron and Brittany's wedding. If you remember, Brittany was my roommate at Engaged Encounter and well,....she is my step-sister-in-laws sister! Whew!!

The wedding was absolutely beautiful. We ended up having Savanna with us so she came to the wedding and was very well behaved...until she got tired and hungry.


BUT then...she saw the flower girl, McKenzie (my niece who is the reason JC and I met). Savanna thought McKenzie was just magnificent. She kept calling herself a flower girl too. We have been talking alot about a flower girl and what her job will be in our wedding! She gets so excited!

I had to take a few other pictures since we had such a pretty background...at Bragg Mitchell.

Say Cheese....

I have learned that with a 3 year old and a sometimes unwilling fiance...pictures are just a lucky chance around here! I try my hardest....but you never know what you'll get!

For example....

But....every now and then....you get a few good ones!

I needed a SMILE today!

Go see how funny this is!!

Funny Santa Pictures!

FUDGE!

So in addition to the peanut brittle...mom and I also make homemade fudge!! This stuff is kind of stressful too! There are just so many steps that you have to get right so that everything sets perfectly.

My Kitchen during the process...

We cook our fudge on the stove and use the recipe on the back of the marshmallow creme container! One of our famous alterations is to make peanut butter fudge using Reese's morsels instead of chocolate!


Ingredients:

10-12 oz Package of morsels (chocolate or peanut butter)
1 can marshmallow creme
5oz of evaporated milk
3 cups of sugar
1 and 1/2 sticks of margarine
1tsp vanilla
(1 cup chopped pecans optional...we use for chocolate)

Step 1: In large pot...the lighter the better so that you can lift it easily, Mix sugar, margarine, and milk on medium heat...stirring constantly, bring to soft ball using a candy thermometer (this is very critical to helping the fudge set)



Step 2: Remove from heat and add entire bag of morsels (10-12oz)...stir continuously.

Step 3: Add vanilla and marshmallow creme....never stop stirring! This is the hardest step and why mom and I cook this together...it can get very tiring. As the mixture cools it will get hard...so you need to move fast.
Stir until all marshmallow has melted. (Add chopped pecans if desired).

*Getting the marshmallow creme out of the container quickly is IMPOSSIBLE. So before hand, mom and I will scrape the container into a greased bowl so that we can just dump it into the mixture in one motion!



Step 4: Pour into greased (with butter) 9 x 13 casserole dish...let cool completely then slice.

Christmas Stuff!

After lots of toiling around with different ideas of how to display our Christmas Cards without damaging anything in our house....I decided to tape some Christmas ribbon to our glass door so that it will easily clean up!! Then, I am stapling Christmas cards to it! (please notice the penguin Christmas card...thanks Lesley)!



AND....a few Christmas ornaments!

Cinderella..of course! What can I say! How fun will it be years from now to pull out this ornament and tell Savanna how much she LOVED Cinderella! Everything Cinderella...and if we wanted her to do something we just had to say that "Cinderella does it!" I had bought her two Cinderella ornaments and as luck would have it she dropped the glass one. Oh well! We can remember that story too!



Our Penguins...one of my friends from work gave me this as an engagement present....and I LOVE it...what an awesome gift! It has the year on the back!



And a few others I bought for the season!



Don't tell JC but I did put an Auburn ornament on the tree...I don't think he has seen it yet!

Peanut Brittle

Oh my goodness! My mom has been making this treasured recipe for as many years as I can remember. Of course as I got older I began to help and have even taken over making the beloved holiday treat of homemade Peanut Brittle. Now I am not over exaggerating when I say that it is absolutely fantastic. I could eat it all year round!

However....this stuff is tough to make. It requires so many little steps, sticky stuff, and such little product from each batch is produced. Mom and I have decided to get together to make our holiday goodies (making fudge tonight) and it makes the process so much better. One of us cooks and the other one is the preparer and cleaner! After I show you this process you will probably hope for 3 or 4 people to work on this at a time!


Here we go!!

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
1 cup peanuts
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp butter/margarine
1 tsp baking soda

That's it...haha!
To make this we use a large glass mixing bowl/measuring bowl. We worked with 3 this time so we could keep the process going.

Step 1: Sugar and Karo syrup-mix together in glass bowl
Microwave on high for 4 minutes



Step 2: Peanuts
Dump peanuts in mixture (leaving it in microwave just reach in and dump peanuts)
Microwave on high for 3 minutes


Step 3: Vanilla and Butter
Dump into the mixture (leaving it in microwave, I use a big spoon so the vanilla and butter are on the same utensil and I just can make one movement)
Microwave on high 1 minute


Step 4: Baking Soda
Grab glass bowl with pot holder and remove from microwave. Drop in baking soda and STIR...like crazy...and fast....and then dump mixture (scraping the bowl clean) onto a buttered cookie sheet. Take cookie sheet and shake from side to side to spread the mixture out so it will be the right thickness. You have to do this quick because it will cool extremely fast.



Cool...then crumble and store in ziploc bags.



Easy Huh!!?!?! THE WORST PART.....one recipe only fills two sandwich size ziplocs!! Mom and I used 10 lbs of sugar, 2 containers of peanuts from Sams, and 8 bottles of Karo.

This stuff is tough to make and you must move fast. There is no time to sit back, take a break. You must know the recipe before you get started. I like to make an assembly line with all of my ingredients. I only really messed up one batch when I accidentally repeated Step 2!

Oh well.

We had a great time and our family will be excited to get this stuff!

One Year Ago Today.....

...this is what I wrote.

"Preoccupied??

I guess it's time to admit (without revealing too many details) that I'm sort of "preoccupied." Blogging for me is usually an escape from work since I sit at a computer for eight hours at a time. I spent hours reading what other folks had written so I decided to join in. On the weekends I would upload pictures of my "almost famous, not too involved life." But now.....my free time is not just mine...I'm (gladly) sharing it!!! So hopefully as time moves forward, I can share more of those details and entertain you with my "very satisfied, table for 3" life! God does have a plan for me and once I decided (focused my prayer) to let him reveal it to me, he did! I still am amazed."

Oh my gosh......SEE....this is why I blog. How cool is it that I was able to pull up my blog from last December and there this was! Maybe God sent me back searching so that I could remember to be thankful for the gifts He has given me! I have mentioned several times how since I found what I had been looking for...my love....I sometimes forget God. Not on purpose...but because I am so busy enjoying what I have that I forget to glorify Him. So today I read what I wrote a year ago....not knowing what was in store and I find myself amazed again!

Lord, help me to remember You. Everyday, every night, and every in-between. You are the reason my life is blessed. Amen.

Another good blog I found!

http://www.kidjunkies.blogspot.com/

A Little Christmas Stuff!!

We got our tree up and decorated....and our house..the inside and the outside!! I just love it! I tried to take some pictures but I don't think they do justice to how calming and relaxing the lit tree makes our living room feel!

I haven't taken any of the outside yet....I'll work on that this week perhaps!

On another note....

We don't have Savanna much this holiday season, in fact, we won't have her again until the week leading up to Christmas. Her mom's family is doing a bunch of traveling and they want to have her with them. BUT...we did get to see her on Saturday! Her mom invited us to go to breakfast with Santa at the Country Club. We had a nice time and I think Savanna liked seeing us! She doesn't seem confused by having us all three around! When she needed to go potty....she asked me to take her....normally it is a good feeling that she wants my help (still kind of is) but not when she is wearing panties, and tights, and big dress....whew...tough work!

Savanna doing crafts!
Savanna and her cousins!

(Not sure why my camera was not working well that day...I guess the lighting! I'm still trying to figure out how to reduce the red eye here and lighten it up)!

I've been a little sad that we don't have Savanna all of the time especially around the holidays when I LOVE the idea of starting traditions with her. She is just starting to understand all of the magic and is so fun at this age. I do have some things planned for the few nights we will have her before Christmas. We will have her Christmas day and the week after so we will have plenty of time....just not the before time! I have made some arrangements for Christmas Day so that we can actually have Christmas dinner so that she will be with us!