Home By the Creekside

So if husband and I had our names monogrammed together. This would be it. Actually, we have a silver dish that has fancy etching on it and it says CIA. I wanted to do something with these letters I got at year ago at Kohl's 75% off. I figured it would be best to separate them. I tore rags of fabric that kind of match the colors around the house. So I ripped them and tied them up. It looks better in person than in the pictures. So this is in our front hallway. I was going to move our family picture over and put the I next to it. I still might. Ya, someone's hand in the way, stinker. I caught them playing in our bedroom with flashlights. They were trying to put on the Christmas ties. Weird, I know. We look happy in this picture and I don't look too fat. That even makes me happier. We have nothing in our bedroom on the walls. It is kind of blah. This one is in our bedroom over our bed. I read somewhere that by having pictures of your family in every room around the house

We finally bought a snowblower after 3 winters in this lovely place. Really, I do mean lovely. I actually like it here. It reminds me of home: the wind, the awesome summer, 4 seasons, and lots of nice people. Anyways, with that weird blizzard and drifts galore, we decided to hurry up and purchase one. We had one on layaway in October but we had an unexpected expense and took the money from it. I am glad that we did because I saw bad ratings on that machine every day. Anyways, husband was trying it out on Friday and ended up getting snow blown in his face (from the wind). So he decided to bundle up: ski mask and all. Daughter wanted to take her picture with daddy because he kind of looked scary (more funny) in the ski mask. Atleast he didn't get snow in his face. Grant it, he was only plowing about 3-4 inches.

This is what it looked like before it basked in the roaster oven for many hours. It was delish! All of our fancy plates and such.   Happy Thanksgiving......

 Husband wanted a lemon pie so I opted for a bakery pie.We went to this scary little bakery in IF. As we were crossing the street to get into our car, daughter saw this huge snow mountain from all the snow the previous days. She hiked up and demanded her picture taken. Son met her at the top as well. I could have made this but it was soo good. My pumpkin cream pie. Blah! We are just not pumpkin eaters. Oh, well! I will definitely make my apple pie for Christmas and whatever husband wants.

Well, I didn't see day #2 coming at all until day #1's forecast. We were supposed to have an A.R. party for the students that made their goal. I guess now their party will be their Christmas party. Score! I don't have to plan their party. This is a view from window. You can't really see anything, huh? Okay, I really am not a bad parent. The drift by the trampoline looked very enticing until the kids went outside and experienced the 40mph winds. Yeah, I didn't go outside with them until I lost sight of them and panicked. I went outside to see where they were and they were playing on the north side of the house in all the drifts. But they were ready to come in. They gave up, went to the side of the house that is sheltered, and then came inside. I guess this was an excuse to have some hot cocoa. I guess I would rather have the snow here than in my driveway. I shoveled the front porch 4 times to help husband out while he was at church.. but I gave up. It kind of still

Me: (after hours of the kids driving me crazy) Wanna go outside and jump into the snow drifts. It will be fun. Daughter: Sure (bundles up) Me: Score! Son: Aren't you coming outside, too? Me: (sigh) I guess so. Before we go outside, son says we need to hunt for snow mountains.  This is where we find her after son andI bundle up. Where's the rest of her body?   She found the first one right off our front porch. Son jumps right in. Then we head to the side of the house and we hit the mother lode.  Daughter continues to climb while son falls and succumbs to the deepness. His foot is stuck. I went back to the garage and got the sled. I stood in back of the mountain close to house and pushed them down the snow drift. What fun they had! Until the wind carried the sled to the lot next door. I know my neighbor watches us out of his window. Wondered if he placed bets on far I had to catch up with the sled or lose my hat.                                    More pictures tomorrow

Thank you la nina weather pattern for giving us lots of wet snow and more snow.  After church today, I said that I can't take it anymore. I mean with no satellite T.V. I told my husband if he can hold the ladder that I will try to knock off the snow with the broom. We tried our hardest and our neighbor brought over a long piece of PVC pipe. We were able to knock it all off and yeah! we have T.V. Then we shovelled the driveway together. We are definitely buying our snow blower this next weekend. I am sick of shoveling and I am sick of my husband complaining about shoveling (more the latter). This is a snow BEAR that the kids helped me build yesterday when we had nice wet snow. I think we will have a snowy winter this time around (but don't tell anyone that I like it except to drive in it).

We are spending Thanksgiving at our house alone again this year. Husband has to work the day and the day after. I really don't mind because we are used to it anyways. We invited his mom and aunt but they probably have other plans. If you know me, you know that I like to cook/bake so I am happy to have Thanksgiving. So this is what we are having. Turkey (this is how I prepare it and it is awesome ) Mashed Potatoes and Gravy (Who can screw that up? Me, I make my gravy from the juice and if I mess up I have packets of gravy on hand ) Corn (frozen, baby!) Cranberry Sauce (I buy the can because husband is the only one that eats it) Stuffing with clams and mushrooms (It's yummy I swear) Deviled eggs (that's my husband's request, kind of weird, I know) Rolls (i love the dough setting on my bread maker. Sometimes I use this recipe . ) Olives I don't do yams or sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top. Husband did not want a relish dish with celery or anything else

                                  I forgot to add this over the summer. After the game was over, I figured that I would take his picture so I would not have to pay for a picture. Glad I did because he wasn't even smiling. I miss green grass. Now we have white grass.

I got a call from her babysitter after school today saying that L had a cut on her leg and that she might need stitches. She accidentally scraped it on a screw on a playground set. As soon as I got the call, I said that I would be there in a couple of minutes. Usually it is hard to get B out the door because he is with his friend in another classroom. I told him that his sister cut his leg and he was out the door lickety split. Then we arrived and picked her up. L was fine and it wasn't that bad. She was calm and in good spirits and that made me calm when I arrived as I kind of panicked on the way home to my mom. While I was chit chatting with the babysitter, Sister Lou snuck out with her little friend and went and jumped over on a tramp in a neighbor's yard. Although the picture looks bad, it really isn't. It is not her bum..but below it. She will have a scar. When we got home, I had her put her jammies on. Then B got his jammies on and asked if they could watch a movie

Before the play...he was so excited! B'sThanksgiving program was sooo cute. It totally brought some tears to my eyes because he did his parts and he was singing. The singing made me so happy because he didn't really do much singing in the primary program. I am so proud of him.  I can't wait to see L's next year. The first part of the play had groups of students telling the Thanksgiving story. This was B's part with other little boys and girls. "The Pilgrims were so thankful. They invited their Indian friends to a Thanksgiving feast." They sang a couple songs. Then a story about Tom Turkey was told and this was his part with more little boys and girls. "Ha ha hee hee, you are the funniest orange turkey I ever did see." I enjoyed this so much. I was so thankful that my class was able to see this program and that the first grade allowed the school to watch. 

  This week was great! The weather not so much. It kind of snuck up on us and we were unprepared. Sister Lou's snow boots were one size too small so she had to wear her sneakers all week. Little man's boots were snug as bug in a rug and they were cutting into his shin. Sister Lou's winter coat from last year is now too small and dingy. Little man's coat is still pretty roomy. On Thursday night, we went looking for snow boots for the kids and two places that we went were out. After our ward party on Friday, we went back into IF and found some boots for both and got a bday gift for a birthday party.  I hate shopping with my son because he is soooo picky but my daughter is not. The next day we went to Cal Ranch and picked up a nice winter coat for Sister Lou for 14.99. Score! Aren't these socks cute? Found them at Shopko. Kids loved them and they are slipper socks.

1 lb of sweet italian sausage links (use ground italian sausage instead, I wished that I would have) 3 cups of chopped carrots, onion, and celery (not each combined total) 2 cans of diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano 2 (14 oz) cans of fat free chicken broth (I just bought the 30 oz carton) 1 small cup of pasta (ditalini) 1 can of red kidney beans rinsed and drained Coat huge pot with cooking spray. If you are using ground italian sausage, cook until no longer pink. If you are using links, cut up and cook until no longer pink. Discard any greasy fat. Stir in veggie mixture and 1/4 tsp pepper. Cook until they are tender 3-5 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juice and chicken broth. Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes. Then add the pasta. Cook until tender. Then add the beans until heated. Yummy. This made two nights of soup for a family of 4 and some for lunch the next day or two. *Got this recipe out of Woman's World. If you try it, please comment back and let me know