Corn Mazes & Pumpkin Patches!

Saying goodbye to Fall, well at least in our activities.  I feel like the start of December start winter fun, even though it doesn't officially start until almost the end of December.

Our trip to the corn maze:

Here is our trip to the pumpkin patch:

When do you say goodbye to all the Fall activities?

 

 

For the Love of a Pine Cone

I know what a title!  Well, we went out to the flea market on this particular weekend a few towns away and decided we would go out on search for pine cones.   Growing up on the coast I was used to having pine trees EVERY WHERE.  I am originally from Bay Saint Louis, Ms & during the  Halloween season we used to put pine straw in the pumpkin bags because that is what we had. Funny I know.  Now we have SO many leaves, we don't know what to do with them.   It was a shock to me to move to a state that people actually pay for pine straw and they sell pine cones in Walmart.  I refuse to buy either one because my mom taught me early on some of the best crafting materials are found outside and I will just look for them. 

 

My husband is such a sweet heart he guaranteed me we would find some pine cones.  It also gave me an opportunity to take some more Fall foliage pictures.  I had it on the ole Fall Bucket list and I could officially mark it off.  The colors the trees turn are so beautiful.  If I could bottle the color as it is, I would.  So I wanted to share our trip with everyone.  You may not have the opportunity to experience the changing colors of Fall, so I am happy to bring it to you from the NC mountains.

 

 

I wish my camera would capture the true 3D effect of the mountains & how far they actually went up.

 

Most of these photos were taken while we were driving, so you will see the window and maybe a few reflections because it was cold and I couldn't get the window down fast enough.  I love it and we would probably live in the mountains rather than the foothills of the mountains if I wasn't so scared to death of the height/tiny roads on side of a mountain with certain death if you get knocked off the side.  The mountain have such beauty an aww factor to them.  The air is so fresh and crisp.  I was dead set on being nothing but a beach lover coming from the Gulf Coast, but I can say I am a lover of the mountains too now.

 

 

 We ended up quite a ways from home and see that 1st picture below?  Well, that is my wonderful husband that slid down the hill to grab some pine cones for me.  <3  He would do anything to make me happy.  Sorry if I am making you sick with the lovey dovey stuff.  We were on a little turn circle and happened to be on Moses Cone Overlook. 

 

I love jumping in the car and just going, because we just run into so many things we wouldn't otherwise find.  As I have said previously a few times, my husband is a driver for Williams Sonoma/Pottery Barn etc... and he travels throughout the week and gets to see all of these awesome sites.  Normally he is on the east coast in the Raleigh area, but he once had the mountain route, so he knows where all of these wonderfully beautiful places of nature are.

We passed by some snow, which was great. This was right down the road from some horse trail, art center place but since we were parked right on side of the road on a pretty good slant I was too scared to get out or let the kids get out and play in the snow.  It hasn't snowed here where we live yet, but I am sure it is coming.  Finally, on our way home we passed by the Black Bear General Store.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE little stores like this on the side of the road in some little town.

 

 

We obviously had a fun time as you can see in our day out in search of pine cones.  I hope you enjoyed our family trip photos!  By now, I am sure you have figured out that plenty of pine cone crafts are on the way.  Pine cones are so awesome.  So many things can be done with them.  Not only did I get them for free but had some wonderful family quality time.  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you are having a great end of November.

 

 

 



Portable North Pole- Free Personalized Santa Video

I know it is not quite December yet, but I had to share this.  Have you ever done one of these with your child(ren)?  We did this last year and our whole family loved it.  We went with the naughty option first and waited until it got closer to Christmas before filling it out again for a nice video.  Our kids are still young so they of course were initially shocked that Santa was talking to them and was ecstatic.  Kaylei at the time was 6 and when she heard that she was on the naughty list she actually was super upset.  However, her behavior improved a great bit to make sure she was on the nice list so Santa would come.   Last year a little boy and girl elf was jumping around and dancing all happy and they pull the lever and wait to see whether the nice or naughty light comes on and then it goes to Santa talking.   I will be making Kaylei and Gerrys this week.   The best thing is it is free.  If you want more perks you of course have the option to pay.

If it is too small just click it to enlarge.

You just go through the whole process and it will be delivered right to your inbox. Your kids will love this to pieces and it may even help the ones that are on that line of believing and not. I look forward to doing this each year for our children and it has become a tradition to do.

What is your favorite tradition?

Thanksgiving Recovery

Recovering from the thanksgiving holiday?  Normally this includes the cooking, over indulging on all that yummy food, cleaning, family and friends visiting or vice versa, fun, shopping, traveling and whatever else was done in excess at your house.  Now as our weekdays start, more than likely your still in relaxing weekend mode.  So how do you recover from all of this and start your normal routine? 

Well for our family, the time with my husband ended.  Oh and of course, the left over creations have begun.  There are many options for leftovers. Today was kind of busy for me cleaning wise. I ended up cleaning for the better part of the day because we just spent our time together just together and not doing much of anything else.  Much needed family time; especially between my husband and I.  We haven't spent more than 2 days at a time since at least July when we went to my mommas, so 4 days was a treat.  It normally goes in one of two ways: 1. He drives me absolutely bonkers and I can't wait for him to go back to work even though I love him still. 2. We have the best quality time with each other and hate to see the work week come so quickly. {--------this time was option 2.

How else to start your week back from the holidays with some left over turkey day recipes.  Here is our first left over turkey day recipe.

Turkey, Bacon and Potato Soup!

How'd we do it?

Simple, by mixing our left overs! 

I grabbed my pot and put my left over mashed potatoes(the kind from boiled potatoes not instant) from Thanksgiving in and gave them a good mixing. Once it got to a small boil, I threw in about 2 cups of cubed turkey and let it simmer a little longer.  Next comes 2 cups of shredded cheddar, 1 cup of sc, a cup of butter and mixed it.  I then added some instant mashed potato flakes to make it thicken a little.  Scoop it in your bowl, some saltine crackers or dipping bread and it is good to go. 

I normally make loaded potatoes for Thanksgiving and that involves: boiled potatoes-partially skinned, 8 oz of cream cheese, a little butter, a little cheese, a little sc and some crispified real bacon pieces.  I know SO unhealthy.....but so delicious.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars

For the Cranberry Filling:

12 ounces fresh cranberries

2/3 cups white sugar

3 tablespoons water

In a medium saucepan over medium high heat place all the ingredients in the saucepan and cook until boiling. Continue to boil the mixture until it is thick and syrupy, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool while you make the shortbread.

For the Shortbread:

2 cups flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 cup butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

To Prepare the Bars:

Preheat oven 375 F. Butter or spray a 8×8 inch pan.

In a separate bowl whisk the flour, cornstarch and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer beat the butter until smooth about 1 minute. Add the sugar and beat until smooth 2 minutes. Then add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.

Evenly press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Then evenly spread the cranberry mixture over the shortbread base, leaving a 1/4 inch boarder.  With the remaining shortbread dough, crumble it with your fingers over the cranberry mixture. Then lightly press the dough into the filling.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown on top. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack, while still hot cut into 12 squares and allow to cool in pan.

From the Joyofbaking.com

Now this is something right up my husbands alley! Smash it all together and call it a sandwich.

There are so many recipes out there and the possibilities are as endless as your leftover stash.

Diy Centerpiece and Table Runner

Martini Glass/Wine Glass

Fruit Jar

Baby Food Jar

Tea light holder 

Glass candle stick holder

Decorative Plate

Cinnamon sticks glued into a platform for the candle sitting on the empty fruit jar

Pine Cone

Acorns

Popcorn Kernels

Cord from a gift bag

Artificial Fall Leaves

Champagne colored ribbon

I messed with a few options on a centerpiece and these are just the two that I ended up liking the best. You can always use what you have and make it your own.  I do have to admit something about this project.  I had scheduled an online chat in our mommy forums and I forgot about it until it had already started because I  just couldn't get that picture perfect shot I was looking for.  I quickly went to my laptop and turned it on to get to my really late chat session I had scheduled.  Bad me!  Well in the middle of pulling it up, I rubbed my itching eye. Guess what happened next?  In my hurry to get to the chat session I scheduled that I was over 30 minutes late for I failed to wash my hands off.  Yep, I had cinnamon stick stuff on my fingers and I wiped my eye, which now was on fire and watering!  I ran(wobbled with only one eye open) to the sink to wash my eye out and my hands off.  Lol, I know its funny and I laughed at myself in disbelief that I did that...well not really.  My eyeball ended up being just fine. 

Now on to that pretty little table runner sitting under the centerpiece.

Grab a role of brown craft paper from the Dollar Tree.

Trace out the shape you would like your table runner to be and use a X-acto tool to cut it out.

I went with this size due to our table having the ability to being extended from the center. With just the 2 sections it will overlap the ends of the table and with the inserts in, the tips will touch the ends of the table without overlapping.

I grabbed an old curtain, newspaper and white spray paint and headed outside.  The wind was kind of blowing pretty good so I put a few extra cans of paint on the ends to prevent it from blowing my curtain off.

That is Shiloh, our kitten I swear is kin to Garfield due to his eating ability.  

I spray over the curtain back and forth until it was completely sprayed.  I waited for a minute and then I lifted the curtain off and this is what it looked like.

Here is a closer look.  It was my first time and I can tell I over sprayed or sprayed too closely on some spots, but it still turned out pretty good looking. 

I had picked up a can of pearl spray paint on sale at Micheals the other day for a $1 so I lightly sprayed the surface, which gave it this look.

If you wanted to have a more natural look then you could just flip it over.  I am sure the more saturated the paint on the opposite side the more defined the back side would be. 

I grabbed some .33 Sherry colored ribbon from A.C. Moore this week and really liked the color combination.  I used Flexible Glue{$3} on the scrap booking isle from Walmart that was labeled for paper and fabric use.  Trace and attach your ribbon after it is cut to size.  I didn't worry about passing a lighter over the ends of the ribbon to prevent fraying because it will be glued down.

I glued the ribbon down while it was in this position:

All done......Happy Crafting! 

Happy Turkey Day!

From our family to yours, we hope you have a safe and Happy Turkey Day!

Me, Myself and I link up Party

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Its been a while since I have linked up...I know bad me.  I am on it now. I ran across while browsing my bloggers read list and saw it on the Life of the Wife post preview.

 

I love the questions this month!

 

 

My top favorite movies to watch during the holidays are:

 

How the Grinch that stole Christmas (cartoon and movie)

 

The Christmas Classics and have been since I was little

 

The Polar Express

 

A Christmas Carol

 

The Christmas Story

I have so many more but I will stick to just the top ones, that I look forward to watching the most....with the kids of course. 

 

This month of Giving Thanks I am most thankful for: 

Well, I can't really answer this question how it is asked.  I am thankful for each and every blessing we get each and every day.  I am thankful for having a happy and healthy family the most.

 

If there would be a quote or a verse to describe your life, it would be:

 I have quite a few different personalities.  Not literally, but I feel like it sometimes.

 

I feel this in my heart which gives me the push shove I sometimes need.

FAITH MAKES ALL THINGS POSSIBLE,

LOVE MAKES ALL THINGS EASY,

HOPE MAKES ALL THINGS WORK"

- Wall Quotes Canvas Banner

 

 

Self explanitory.

 

True story happens to me all the time and I think it is an effect of my procrastination.

 

I think that this is why my husband and I mesh so well.

 

 I over analize everything.

 

 

That is me in a nutshell. 

 

Hmmm, who in my family am I most like?

I would have to say:

 My mom, because she is artsy and crafty, has a big heart and loves her family.  She does what she can and is happy with that.
 

 

I thought you would never ask! lol.  My favorite Starbucks drink to order is...{drumroll}:

 

A white chocolate mocha with vanilla soy, extra espresso and pumpkin sauce. 

&

My other favorite is the Espresso Truffle with soy and extra shot of espresso.

 

 

Those are my 5 answers for this link up and I hope you were slightly entertained.  I am kidding. Thanks for stopping by though.

 

Oh, and I am having my very own little blog hopping linky party if you would like to join!