Fill in the Blank Friday

Happy Friday, my friends! It's been a long week and I'm so glad that Friday is here! I can't wait for the fun that this weekend will hold. Plus, DECEMBER 1st, is tomorrow! December! I can't believe it! And Christmas is so close! So, to go along with that, today's blanks are Christmas themed. Thanks Lauren!

1. "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is..." to give someone a big old smile and wish them a Merry Christmas!

2. The holiday season is so fun! I love shopping and finding the perfect gifts for people. I love decorating my house. I love spending time with my family. What could be better?

3. When it comes to holiday decorating... I love to make my house cheery and bright! Nothing gaudy and I definitely don't cover every inch of space, but just little things here and there and a beautiful tree covered in our special ornaments.

4. The thing I look forward to most about the holidays is decorating the tree and spending Christmas Eve with all my family at my parent's house. And this year I'm really looking forward to seeing how Seabass reacts to the wrapping paper and excitement of Christmas morning. From our first year married I know Stank enjoyed eating the wrapping paper, I wonder if Seabass will hide in it?

5. My favorite holiday tradition is one that doesn't happen anymore. =/ My sister and I used to exchange our gifts to each other on Christmas Eve. But now that we're married we just do it on Christmas day with the rest of the family. Which is totally okay. Traditions sometimes need to change as you grow up. I'm looking forward to hopefully starting a few traditions this year with Collin!

6. This year my Christmas plans include waking up and opening presents just Collin and I, then going to my parents' in the morning for lunch and presents, then going to Collin's parents' in the evening for dinner and presents! What a full (and fun!) day it will be.

7. My favorite holiday food is Honey Baked Ham. Collin's parents always get one each year and it is so delicious!

I hope you guys have a lovely weekend. May it be fun and I pray it will get you in the Christmas (or Hanukkah if that's what you celebrate!) spirit. See you all Monday. =)

Cindy

Family Fall Fun

I totally just had an "Oh shoot!" moment where I realized I never shared the photos from our fun day with our niece and nephew. This may have taken place just over a month ago but I want to post them. It's as much for me though for memories as it is for you guys! We had such a great visit with Collin's family and I was so glad that in addition to his brother and niece coming, his sister and nephew came to visit, too! As I said before we went to this big old beautiful tree Collin's dad passes everyday going to work and the kids played in the leaves while we took photos. Then we went to the pumpkin patch/corn maze and we all really enjoyed ourselves there as well! It was so delightful!

I love little Jaden peeking out from behind the tree.




Aunt Jade with Kayla.

Beau decided to hang Kayla from the tree. She didn't mind too much.

Jaden however was not so thrilled...

Burying Uncle Collin in the leaves.


Jade and Jaden

Beau and Kayla

She really got into it and started enjoying herself!


Oh I love him so much!

Bahaha!


Uncle Collin holding Kayla's hand and MiMi (Collin's mom) holding Jaden's hand on the way into the farm.



Off for the train ride!

Playing in the corn box.





Jaden was so excited about holding the flag while in the corn maze. He kept trying to raise it up and we would tell him "Don't lift it too high or they'll think we're lost!" So then he kept asking if we were lost so he could raise it! Too cute!



Collin just had to go down the slide.

Finding some pumpkins in the pumpkin patch.

I love being an aunt! It's so much fun! And it doesn't hurt that my niece and nephew are just so darn cute! I'm so glad we got to spend time with them and I can't wait for our next visit. =)

Cindy

(Semi) Wordless Wednesday

Week 4 of my November Thankful challenge on Instagram! Follow me here!

Day 21

Today I am thankful for Jeff willingly being Collin's podcast cohost. Podcasting is something Collin really enjoys and I'm glad he has found a cohost who enjoys it just as much and that he can have great banter with! If Collin is happy, I'm happy! Check it out at TTAOD! It's quite fun!

Day 22

Today and everyday I am thankful to be able to call this man my husband. He is an amazing and godly man and he treats me like a princess. I love him dearly and God blessed me immensely with this wonderful man!

Day 23

Today I am thankful to live in a place with a downtown that celebrates the beginning of the Christmas season with a tree lighting. I'm also thankful for the quaint area we live in and how vibrant it is!

Day 24

Today I am thankful for the ability to make our own pizza. Buffalo chicken style!

Day 25

Today I am thankful to have a friend who enjoys making cards with me!

Day 26

Today I am thankful that my boys finally get along.

Day 27

Today I am thankful for my praise band. What a great group of musicians and I'm so honored to play with them and make music to God every week! (This is most of the band but our piano player, bass player and I are not in the picture because we wouldn't fit. =))

What things have you been thankful for this past week? I'm sure there has been plenty!

Cindy

Sausage Casserole

A few weeks ago I told Collin that I had a breakfast casserole that I wanted to make for dinner. Collin is a fan of breakfast so he readily agreed that this would be an acceptable dinner. I was a little hesitant because I'm not a big fan of sausage, but this sounded good. And it was! It was really good! Ours probably had a little more than a pound of meat in it which made it very hearty, but it would be just as good, if not better with only a pound.

Sausage Casserole

Ingredients

1 pound of sausage
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 can (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425F.
2. Crumble and cook sausage in medium skillet over medium heat until browned. Drain.
3. Line bottom of greased 13" x 9" baking dish with crescent roll dough, firmly pressing perforations to seal.
4. Sprinkle with sausage and cheese.
5. Combine remaining ingredients in medium bowl until blended; pour over sausage.
6. Bake 15 minutes or until set.
7. Let stand 5 minutes before cutting into squares; serve hot.
8. Refrigerate leftovers.

If you make this casserole I'd love to know what you think! I think it could be the perfect Christmas morning brunch. If it wasn't a tradition to have crescent rolls for Christmas breakfast I'd make it myself! =)

Cindy

Thanksgiving Fun

I'm so sad that this past weekend is over. It was quite wonderful!! We spent time with family and friends, did a little bit of shopping, and just relaxed! It was glorious!

Thursday morning we headed over to Collin's parent's house early to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. I helped his mom out in the kitchen a little bit and made the mashed potatoes for dinner. Our friend Megan joined us for dinner and we had a delightful time. Later that evening we went to my parents house to visit and we played Quelf. So. Much. Fun. We laughed so, so hard!

A great way to start Thanksgiving off. Relaxing in bed together before getting up.

The tree was already up at my in-laws on Thanksgiving. So pretty!

Playing Quelf with my family was a blast.

My parent's cat Marmalade decided that our stuff was perfect to lay on. haha!

Collin and I on Thanksgiving.

My Thanksgiving outfit.

Friday I woke up early (though not as early as some!) to meet Megan and our friend Crystal at 6am for shopping. We made our first stop at JC Penney, then on to Belk. Next we got breakfast at Chick-Fil-A then we hit up Hallmark, Bath & Body Works, and Target. Next on our list of places to go was Kohl's and Dick's Sporting Goods. However, on the way to Kohl's I started feeling not so well so I bowed out and went home to rest. I'm glad I did because it made me feel better since we had an evening out in downtown Leonardtown for the Annual Christmas Tree Lighting! It was actually warm this year! The past few years we've been it's been SO cold but this year it was in the high 50's! It was a delightful evening with Collin.

Collin and I had a basically free meal at Chick-Fil-A Friday night (yay coupons!). Afterwards we had delicious Ice Dreams.

The Leonardtown Square tree lit in all its glory!



Posing in front of the tree.

A model train they had running in one of the buildings filled with trees and auction items.

Saturday once Collin got home from work we headed to his parent's house because his mom was having an Open House for her Thirty One and Mary Kay businesses. We spent the afternoon there helping her out. She had a successful open house and I'm so glad! That evening we relaxed at home, had homemade buffalo chicken pizza, and played Sports Resort on the Wii! We hadn't played with the Wii in a while and it was fun!

There was an awesome sky on Saturday morning while I was running errands!

The Mary Kay room at my mother-in-laws Open House.

Sunday we had church in the morning, then we watched a movie while we ate lunch before going to our friend's, Jeff and Jeannie, apartment for the afternoon/evening. Jeannie and I made cards while the guys watched Vegas Vacation and played video games! Then they made us a delicious dinner and we had S*more Pie for dessert. Such a fun day with our friends.

And just to share something silly, I filled this MadLib out on my phone this weekend and thought it was hilarious. =)

I was using the voice recognition feature of the app and so Nose came out Knows and I realized it too late. I do know the difference, I promise!

I hope you all had wonderful weekends, too. For my American readers, I hope you enjoyed a great Thanksgiving holiday! May this coming week not be too long and arduous!

Cindy