Thanksgiving

went very well. I made a deal with my mom this year that if she supplied all the ingredients for dinner then I would be the chef. I have only cooked the whole meal one other time and it was years ago. I found new recipes for stuffing and cranberry relish. I have to say that they both turned out great- along with the rest of dinner. We had dinner set to start at 2 but we ended starting at about 2:30 - not too bad. I didn't get any pictures of our meal-just too busy. My brother and Erin came along with my grandma wood- Missy and Jim and kids were at the cabin.

After our meal and before dessert we usually play board games or cards-not this year. Neil's brother has a playstation 3 and just bought Rock Band. For those who don't know - its a game disk that also includes, a drum set, guitar and microphone. You need 3 players, one for each instrument and a lead singer. You choose your song and the game directs each player when they need to either play their instrument or sing. You must keep up or you lose your audience and get booed off the stage. I give Troy a lot of credit- most of the songs he didn't know that well and it was funny to see if he could try and keep up. I can say we never laughed so hard! Sorry for the bad color on the video-


I can't wait to see what Christmas brings.
Hope your day was as fun filled as ours!

10th Anniversary

10 years ago today I married my best friend. I can not put into words how much Neil means to me. He is the love of my life and my best friend.
Neil worked a short day today - due to the Holiday so we decided to go to breakfast as our anniversary meal. We went to Bob Evan's and this is what I had:

Cinnamon Chip Stuffed Pancakes. They were stuffed with a creme, had cinnamon chips in the pancakes and topped with whip topping and a cinnamon glaze. They were so good but too sweet so I could only eat about 1/2.

Neil- I love you and look forward to spending the rest of my life with you!

Another great dinner

again it came from the Fix-It and Foget-it cookbook.
Southwestern Flair by Phyllis Attig
4 lb chuck roast
1 envelope dry taco seasoning
1 cup chopped onions
1 TBSP white vinegar
1 1/4 cup green chiles (I used a 1 7oz can)
Place meat in bottom of slow cooker. Then combine the other ingredients and pour over meat. Cover and cook for 9 hrs on slow.
Shred meat with fork. Serve in a flour tortilla topped with lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream and cheese.
If you and your family love mexican then you will love this.

Mothering

I will stand up for my children at any cost! Those of you that know me should know that by now. I have ever right as a parent to do so! Any GOOD mother would do the same thing. I do not let my children give up on things without a very length conversation.
We (Neil and I) have had several conversations with Amber. We don't want what happened this season to detour her from playing again (because Amber's frustration has been building all season). We also don't want her to think that she can quit when things get rough-this is not something that we encourage or let happen.

Hopefully we can get past this and move on!

Dinner Tonight

was a new recipe out of my favorite cookbook - Fix-It and Forget-It. It was super easy - only 8 ingredients, which most people already have in their pantry. It was Tater Tot Casserole- By Shirley Hinh.
32 oz bag frozen Tater Tots
1lb Hamburger, browned
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
2 - 14 1/2 oz cans Green Beans (I only used 1 can and it was enough, Drained
10 3/4 can cream of mushroom soup
1 Tbsp. dried onions
1/4 cup milk
Place Tater Tots in bottom of Crock Pot. Mix all other ingredients together and then pour over Tater Tots. Cook On High for 3 hrs. Can serve with cheese on top- which I did becasue we LOVE cheese!

Yummy:)

Grocery Shopping

I have changed the way I grocery shop. First, we sit down as a family and look through all my cookbooks and recipe cards. Side note- Right now my favorite cookbook is Fix-It and Forget-It, Meals for your crock pot. We decide our meals for 2 weeks. I then go through my cupboards and see what I have for the recipes. Next I make my shopping list. Changing my shopping habits has reduced the amount of money I spend at the store and reduces my time at the store, which I love! The other thing I am liking about this new plan is that we are trying new meals- some we love and some we hate!

Happy eating-

Volleyball Districts

Was extremely frustrating. The same girls got played all 5 games. They kept making the same mistakes and yet they were kept in while we had girls sitting on the bench! Amber got to play for all of 3 rotations in the 2nd game. Which we felt was ok, until she sat there while the same girls made the same mistakes over and over and over again. The reason she was not played was that she was not a junior or a senior! That really sucks! I am not saying that she is the greatest player but she is an average player-most days serves better then a couple of the juniors.
We do not have a jv team so all the girls play on varsity or are supposed to. Telling a player that you are not playing them because they are not the right status is not ok. This is a team, she made the team, kept her grades up, was at practice on time and dressed(unlike most of the team) and was at all games.
If you do not let them play how will they get better?
Needless to say Amber is crushed. She spent the car ride home in tears. Her self esteem is bruised-not understanding why she is the only player that was played so short tonight.
We are scheduled for a tournament on Monday and Amber informed me she will not be going. I am torn-one part of me wants to make her go but the other part is totally fine with her decision. I guess I will wait and see how I am feeling in the morning.

Quality Time

Neil and I spent some quality time together tonight as he combed the LICE out of my hair! Yep you read that right.. I had lice.
Let me start at the begining- Last Monday I started using a different shampoo and conditioner. On about Wednesday my head started itching. I thought it was the shampoo so I stopped using it. Well my head kept itching, so I thought maybe it needed a few days to get the shampoo out of my system. This Monday I had Neil check my head and he said he found nothing. Still itching. Had him check again last night-again nothing he says. Called my mom today, asked if she would come look. Had high hopes that she would find nothing like Neil. Well she was unsure because she said what she was finding was the color of my hair. I decided to treat anyway.
I need to say - I love my husband! He sat and combed my thick, semi long hair. Not an easy task. Anyway as he was combing we realized it was a great idea to be treating me.
I have no idea where I caught lice, but I did have it. I am the only one. So in a week I will do a treatment again. UGH!