My new obsession

Pinterest. That's right. I love it. I have brushed it aside for a while now when I get invites or hear people talking about it, but no more folks. I am OBSESSED.

My favorite is looking thru recipes....in fact I am trying out a few this week.

For those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, you need to go check it out. Loads of fun, hours of entertain....

Click HERE to check it out for yourself.

I added my Pinterest button on the side bar. Follow me there.

Best Sweet Potato Casserole EVER

I wanted to write this recipe on here so I can find it in a few days when we are in Ohio. I plan on making this for Thanksgiving...yum. My grandmother always makes it and it is quite possibly the best side dish on the table.....so here ya go.

Sweet Potato Casserole
Ingredients
3 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes (you can use canned)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1//2 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter (melted)

-Mix all above ingredients until well blended. Pour into buttered baking dish. Sprinkle with topping (see below). Bake 350 for 30 minutes.

Topping
1/2 stick butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup self rising flour
1 cup chopped pecans

-Melt butter and stir in brown sugar. Add flour, then pecans. Mix all ingredients together until crumbly for sprinkling on sweet potatoes.

Yummy......your welcome!!! :)

Turkey.

Danner and Sawyer had their "Thanksgiving Feast" at school yesterday. It was so cute. They wore little pilgrim hats......

 And Pilgrimettes??? haha

 And ate some food. Nothing says Thanksgiving like some yummy pumpkin pudding and chicken nuggets, right??

 I love how much fun they are having at school. It is so cute to see them interact with other kids and adults.

 I made these super cute turkey cookies out of oreos and peanut butter cups. 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. We are catching a flight to Ohio tomorrow. Pray for me people!!! No seriously....3 kids....2 adults....bad weather......ugh. Did I mention I hate flying......

Amazing Race

Friday, (while the kids were in school) I ventured to the mall to return something. I happen to run across this poster that said there was an open casting call for Amazing Race the next day. I was super excited because I love Amazing Race and I am always telling Jesse that we should try out for it. So I ran to my car and called Jesse to see if he would go with me. He laughed and said he would, but i opted to take my sister instead. I figure if by some small miracle we got chosen to go someone would have to work to pay bills (him) and stay with the kids (so they don't think we abandoned them).

Anyway, Ashley and I showed up Saturday morning for the casting call. Some people had camped out all night. We got there at 10 (the time it opened) and were out of there by 2. So it took 4 hours of sitting on the floor waiting around. We filmed a 1 minute video and went home. I am about 200% sure we won't be picked but we had fun and it was worth a shot.

I honestly like the show Survivor better but I can't live in the woods, pee in the ground, and not shower for 40 days....so Amazing Race it was.

Running

Today I decided to run in my first 5K. Well, technically not my first. I used to run 5k's ALOT when I was in high school. I was quite the competitor back then. So I guess this was my fist 5K in many years. It was a last minute decision....like yesterday......I made up my mind to do it.

Last week I started going back to the gym. I haven't been in a while...mainly because Porter didn't love it. He would cry in the gym nursery...which made me feel awful. But last week we tried again. And he did great. So Monday we went while the kids were in school. I ran a mile on the treadmill. Just one....because I didn't want to leave Porter for too long. Wednesday we went back and I ran 2 miles on the treadmill. And Friday I ran 3 miles. So I must be ready for 3.1 right?? So I realize I need more training before just jumping back into road races, but I figure I should run this one just to have a baseline time. I wasn't trying to compete with the other racers. But when I stepped up to the starting line I had that competitive urge back. I wanted to win.....I knew it wouldn't happen. I am no shape to compete against serious runners. But I plan to compete with myself for now.  ( and the winning runner had like a 20 something time)

So I headed out there today, with my mom in tow....because it was football day and Jesse couldn't come. MEN!! I didn't want to go by myself just in case I died in the middle of the race. My goal was to do it in less than 30 minutes. Which I did.....barely!

28:41 was my time for my first run....Seaside Shuffle at Wrightsville Beach. It was a nice flat easy course. This week I plan on hitting the gym again...and then next week. I have picked out my next 5K for the first weekend in December. My goal is to beat my first time. I am pretty confident with more training I will do that.


So I am back into the running thing. I told Jesse this will be my weekend hobby. Wish me luck

It's the Most Wonderful Time

of the year. Yep, that's right. I pulled out some Christmas stuff. Drug it right out of the attic and let the kids help me decorate around the house. Some of my neighbors still have their Halloween decorations out, but nope, not me.....there is a Christmas wreath on our door.

 Danner sporting her new winter jammies and Santa hat.....I had to pry those jammies off her after 3 days to wash them. She cried the entire 2 hours it took to wash and dry them. Sitting by the washing machine and all.....drama I tell you.

 I hung some wreaths on the windows......

 And had some garland on the banisters.....with some cuties to model it. We also posed for some pictures for our Christmas cards......yay.

And this little monster stole an ornament off the table......it's gonna be a fun one around here with this little guy into everything.....and I do mean everything!!

And just so you know I haven't decorated the tree yet.....only because there is no tree lot open yet......

Tis the Season.

First Haircut

Last week I decided to take Porter for his first official haircut. We went to the kids place to do it in hopes that they have more patience with a 2 year old. He wanted to sit in the yellow car but of course as soon as he was in he wanted to switch to the red plane, then the blue one...you get the idea.  Overall he did really well......after being bribed with a sucker.

 I know he didn't look too thrilled......because he really wasn't.

 Good-bye long curly locks.

 As you can see I didn't get too much trimmed off. I just couldn't do it. His locks are too precious to snip  them all off. This kid is obsessed with chewing on his "B". It is sooo smelly.

What a cutie!! Right??

Weekend Fun

Last weekend Jesse had a work conference in Myrtle Beach. We stayed at the indoor water park hotel....the same one we stayed at last year. The kids were awesome. Went to bed on time. Slept all night. And woke up ready to swim. They went down all the slides...even the big ones.....lounged in the lazy river.....and made a few friends in the pools. They even sat still for a 45 minute magic show...Miracle? Yes.....

I, of course, didn't snap any photos. Mainly because camera + water = disaster.......but also because I brought my crappy lens. I did manage this cute photo of Jesse and the boys cuddling on the couch before bed....but it was dark and blurry.

And our Lil Missy who did not want to cuddle with the boys.....lets hope it stays that way. HA

Porter's Room

Mr. Porter has his own room. Luckily the big dude still stays in his crib and hasn't decided to crawl out yet. He totally is capable of escaping if he wanted to...he is really talented when it comes to climbing, jumping, and getting into trouble.  He has a large walk-on closet holding his vast array of clothing and toys. 

And I figured out that it was the lens on my camera that is really dirty and smudged. So I changed the lens and the pictures are clear again. Voila!! However,   I haven't taken the pictures over...these will just have to do.

Twins Room

The twins have their own bathroom in their room......froggy style. And for those who were wondering we were going to split them up and put them in their own bedrooms....but they had a big fat fit and just weren't ready. So for everyones sanity they are still sharing a room.

 Sorry about the blurry, darkness.......my camera sucks right now.

 Black-out curtains are a necessity right now. The hop up at the first sign of a sunshine. The earns us an extra few hours of sleep.

 Looking out of their bedroom door.....playroom on left....Porter's room at the top of the stairs

Standing at entrance of playroom....twins room on right.

The Playroom

The playroom is really large and open. There isn't a door to close it off......We hope to add maybe french doors one day, but it isn't necessary right now. The problem with the playroom is it is always messy. I clean up the toys and within 5 minutes they dump them all out again. The good news is this room is upstairs and out of view...so all the mess can't be seen. We are adding a couch up here tomorrow.

Dining Room

Here is the dining room......The far right of the picture is the front door

 Looking from front door..on left is dining room.....straight is living room....and to the far left is our master bedroom.

Master Bathroom

Ok....here is the bathroom and closet. It is quite large.....really large. Somehow I missed a picture of our actual bedroom but I will add that in later.

 standing in Jesse's side of the closet looking at my side- it is really a large closet.

 Jesse's half- I am actually standing in the back of the closet and the door you see leads into the bathroom

 Standing in master bedroom doorway looking into bathroom and closet.

Large tub (with all the toys), separate shower, and toilet.

HAve you noticed that I don't really have any of our pictures hanging yet? I really have to think hard about where to put things. There isn't many places to hang pictures due to all the windows, but the ones that I decide to hang I want to match....so it is a thought process. I will get there.

I almost forget these.....

This was the kids right before trick or treating. Danner might have been the cutest lady bug EVER. And Porter and Sawyer made a great team. Just so you know, Robin did not leave the mask on. It was off seconds after this photo.

Living room

Living room....

 View from kitchen. I love the built ins and tall ceilings. All the windows are great for lighting and views.

 Looking from the other entrance . (front door). The door beside the couch leads to the kitchen.

View from hallway. You can access the kitchen down the hall to the left and an additional pantry on the right.

Up next....master bedroom

Some photos of the new house

So let's take a tour of our house. Starting with the kitchen area because that's my favorite. 

 I especially love that we have a laundry/mud room. Our old house just had more of a closet. With 3 kids we need lots of space for dirty laundry. There is lots of storage cabinets for all my cleaning supplies.....LOVE.

 The kitchen. I love the bar and the double ovens and the pantry (which is to the left of Danner) It has great lighting too.

 This angle is taken from the laundry room. The breakfast nook overlooks the pool.

 Looking from the living room.....we have a "keeping room".

The keeping room right now has some toys, a train table, and a tv. We are searching for a love seat to put in there. I know I will be spending lots of time in the kitchen and it is great to know I can supervise the kids while they play.  You can see the pantry (double doors), laundry room (first door on left) and entrance to the garage (in between laundry and pantry).

Up next....living room