Friend Makin' Monday

 It's time for another fabulous edition of "Friend Makin' Monday." Amber is hosting while Kasey takes a break. This week it's another fun survey! I love survey's and I'm guessing most of you do, too! ;) Have fun and be sure to head over to Amber's blog to link up and join the fun.



1. Favorite website    Etsy

2. Favorite color   GREEN

3. Facebook?   My Facebook Page (hopefully)

4. Favorite Christmas song?  Mary Did You Know

5. Christmas tree: Real or fake?  fake so that my hubby lives through the holiday ;)

6. Hottest celebrity?  Rob Thomas is my celebrity crush

7. Favorite restaurant?  this one is tough for me, I like so many. Stir Fry Cafe is a fave on my list as well as Chop House.

8. Favorite magazine?  Family Fun

9. Favorite thing to drink around the holidays?  Starbucks Peppermint White Mocha (non fat, no whip of course)

10. Favorite Christmas movie.  A Christmas Story

Wordless Wednesday

Little Miss Matched

Turkeys, overheated trucks, and a Give Away...

That my friends is all part of this fabulous day we call....

Okay, the turkey talk starts now. I got an email from Women's Health of something stating how you could cut so many calories off your Thanksgiving feast. I don't remember all the details and quite frankly I just don't have the time (seriously my kid has a dentist appt!) to go about looking it all up, but here are 3 things I did write down.

1. 3 ounces of turkey breast (white meat, no skin) has about 107 calories

2. 1/2 cup stuffing (try the regular bread kind not cornbread) has 177 calories

3. Cranberry sauce (yum!) the jellied/canned kind if sliced about 1/2 inch thick is 86 calories.

This all sounds fantastic to me. I would like to think I can stick to just those things for my dinner but I am sure I will find a bite or two (or three even) of some of the yummy casseroles to suit my fancy as well.

Hubby's ol' (and I mean ooollllddddddddd) truck started to overheat yesterday. This is not good. My handy man inquired about the first steps to fix such an issue on his own. Fail. He will be onto task 2 in that endeavor tonight. I hope it works. His truck is 11 years old. And I don't know about you but we just can't go out tomorrow and buy a new vehicle! Hopefully a new thermostat today will fix the issues.

Gobble, Gobble. In case you don't read my other blog, hubby and I (and my good friend) ran a Turkey Trot 5k race Sunday. It was not my best race but I have come to accept the fact that it was a much tougher course than I have previously ran. I still do not have "real" official results. But I have this pic...

 Check out this cool give away!

It's being hosted by someone I hold very near and dear. She would love for you to visit her blog and enter this great give away! Should you happen to win, you could knock off a Christmas gift or two! Good luck. And be sure to tell her Kimert sent you. ;)

Friend Makin' Monday

It's almost (like this week!!!) Thanksgiving. Join me and a whole host of others for Friend Makin Monday.
This is my first time participating in FMM (yay for first timers!). So, join me and the others as we share a few of our own Thanksgiving tidbits! 

1. Turkey or Ham? I like both, but don't require either. I do prefer to have Honeybaked ham though, if ham is on the menu.

2. Favorite side dish. Sweet potato casserole. Only the kind with candied pecans, not marshmallows.

3. Favorite dessert. Pecan pie or my hubby's (yes, hubby's) Carrot cake or pumpkin cake.

4. Black Friday: Are you going out or not? Definitely!!! It's a tradition. I get so giddy over Black Friday shopping. :)

5. If so, what's on the top of your list? Just some last minute things to finish up. Headed to Old Navy for a couple of their deals. Then off to Walmart for a V-Smile Pocket and then Target to see what they have. I've scoped out all the ads but wasn't too impressed this year. However, I wouldn't NOT go shopping just based on that. ;)

6. Going out of town or staying close to home? Staying home.

7. Hosting or helping? "Helping" if you call it that. LOL My hubby is usually the one that does the cooking/baking for holidays.

8. Name one family tradition at Thanksgiving. We don't really have any. We usually put up the Christmas tree but we are hoping to get on that a little earlier this year.

9. What do you do after dinner? Usually just hang out a while and then go home to put up the tree and rest up for the next BIG day ahead. This year I think we may go catch a movie with some friends.

10. What are you most thankful for this year? God's blessing on me and my family! My wonderful hubby and kids, my job, my home!

Don't forget, if you want to join in on FMM to visit AEFilkins ! 

Fun w/my little Girl Scout Daisy

Friday night Annabelle and I met up with the rest of our Girl Scout Troop for Disney's Nemo on Ice. It was so much fun! Annabelle loved all of the souvenirs they had out and picked a stuffed Pearl to take home for herself. We picked a HUGE sucker for Peanut. It's still at home unopened! lol

Annabelle wasn't much on having her picture made though, as you can clearly tell by the look on her face!

 

 

Here are a couple of my favorite shots! I was really not aware that they would let you even video such events so I had only planned to take my point and click Kodak digital camera instead of my mack daddy big zoom lens Olympus. Oh well though, right!?  I loved this show and was really regretting not taking Peanut too. I have vowed to definitely take him if there is another ice show in town next year! 

I highly recommend this show or any other Disney on Ice show if you have one coming to your town!

 

 

Meet Willy

This is Willy.

He's our Elf on the Shelf.

If your family doesn't have an Elf on the Shelf and is the home to small children, I highly recommend you find one! The story is great! My kids have loved this little guy and the book so far.

I will keep you posted on all the fun places Willy has been in our house.

Check out The Elf on the Shelf

Let's Get a Little Bit Random...

R-A-N-D-O-M!!!

 

Yeah, so I am a little lame today. It's been one of those days. I almost thought it was a Monday until I started reading all the blogs! Ha. My day started off (last night actually) with a sick kiddo. I was lucky enough to bring said sick kiddo to the office with me today. Poor dude has a sinus/ear infection. And a lovely case of keratosis pilaris. Say that 3 times real fast. It's been a lovely Tuesday so far. ;)

I went to the trouble (for lack of a better word) and made up some Thanksgiving photo cards of the family to send out. So, far all I have done is stuff the envelopes and address them. I have not made it to the Post Office yet this week. Can we say slacker? Yes, we can. I plan to do that tomorrow. Seriously. Wednesdays are so much better for me and I am confident tomorrow is going to be great. 

 

I have another 5K race coming up this weekend. I am nervous (of course) and excited. My hubby and good friend are running too! :) I haven't ran with my hubby in a while and am looking forward to it even though I am sure he will blow me away. Although, I have come quite a ways in my running since we last ran together. Watch out, buddy! Just kidding. Anyway, we are running this 5K on Sunday. It should be fun. As always I am hoping the weather holds out. We have had some really great weather lately. It would be my luck that the rain would show up for this, but I am seriously hoping the sun shines. And I do have a goal for the day. I will keep ya posted on whether I make it or not. 

I have successfully held my first Daisy Girl Scout meeting as Troop Leader. It was last night. And by successfully I mean that there was no blood, no whining/crying and no one threatening to not come back. I am not quite as organized as I had hoped to be at this point but I have only had one meeting with my girls and one parent meeting. We have our first outing this weekend and I am really looking forward to it. We are going to Disney on Ice presents Finding Nemo! It should be a great time. 

Okay. It seems this is all I have for now! And because I know you are all deeply saddened to not be on my card list this year here is the photo that will adorn the Thanksgiving cards I am sending out tomorrow. ;o)

Wordless Wednesday - *love*

Random Thoughts Tuesday

Do your kids keep Christmas secrets? What I mean is, if they know what you got for someone else (say Grandparents) do they keep a secret and not tell them or do they "slip up" and spill the beans before the holiday arrives? My sweet Annabelle didn't keep a secret. In turn, it made it hard for hubby and me to keep a complete secret. Still I am rather excited, happy, pleased with said Christmas secret. I'm actually pretty proud of myself, too. More details to come later on this. For now, just new pics in my sidebar. :)

Have I mentioned that I took on a couple of tasks lately that may have me in just a little deeper over my head than I anticipated being? If not, let me elaborate. I am now Annabelle's Daisy Girl Scout troop leader AND Upward Basketball coach. Yeah, yeah.. that is great and all, but let me tell you this.... I KNOW NOTHING about doing either!!! Yes, I was a Girl Scout when I was a kid. No, I do not remember a thing about it! And as far as basketball goes, nope I do not know a thing. Oh wait.. the ball is round and you play on a court! ha Anyway, I am looking forward to being a part of both activities for Annabelle. So far we have had one GS meeting and we just had basketball evaluations last night so we haven't gotten too deep into anything with either activities yet. I will say that I do have some fun stuff planned for the GS troop though and I am looking forward to it. I will definitely keep you posted!

It's a very rainy and yucko day here today. It's the kind of day that makes you wanna go home, curl up in bed with a good book and junk tv. No one home but you. Warm bed, quiet house and the freedom to only get up when you need to go to the bathroom. Too bad that is not happening right now. At least not for me. Heck, that rarely happens for me. Actually, I can't recall a time it did happen for me. My house is never quiet, my bed is like a fire pit because there are usually two extra bodies that seem to make their way in it and I never go to the bathroom alone!! Motherhood = pure bliss, right?!?!  ;)

Speaking of Christmas...

Have you started decorating yet? I want to so bad, but hubby says it's still too early. Bah humbug, Scrooge! lol just kidding. I would probably get tired of my decor if I started putting it up now. I usually wait to start that task the Friday after Thanksgiving. And only after I have done all of my shopping for the day. The shopping comes first you see. Then I can put the tree up and have presents to wrap and adorn the underneath of the tree with. I don't like the bottom of the tree to be bare so I have been known to wrap empty boxes to make it look full. See doing this the tree doesn't look as bare after the holidays are over and all the gifts are given out. It makes me feel like I have more time to enjoy my tree after Christmas is over.

 Okay, that's all I have for now. I need to make a trip out in the rain and pick up some cookies to send to school with Annabelle. They're having a fall festival Friday night and her class is in charge of the cookie decorating booth. Fun times!

Now go on...Join me and others and especially ...

The UnMom

and be random.

'Tis the Season

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

First Grade Field Trip

Last week hubby and I took the day off (Friday) to go with Miss Annabelle on her first field trip of the 1st grade year. The class went to Cades Cove in the Great Smoky Mountains. They have a wonderful program up there where they use the great outdoors as a classroom. I am sure the program has a name but I cannot remember what it is right off the top of my head and well, to be honest, I have slept since this field trip! ha.

 Annabelle playing in the leaves!

I love being able to take the day off and go on special outings like these with the kids. They usually turn out to be as much of a learning experience for me as it is for the kids. It was also great that Daddy was able to take the day off and go. We really had a great time together!

They split the classes into different groups and since there were so many parents who came we didn't have to really take any extra kids with us. :) We took a quick little hike into the woods where a couple of activities had been set up for the kids. The ranger noted that some kids and adults were huffing their way up the trail. She reminded them how to breathe properly. I took notice that hubby and I were not of those that were huffing our way up. It seems all the running and working out has really paid off. That was a proud moment for me.

Anyway, the ranger talked about the different animal groups and their habitats.That is what the activities of the day were based around. I also found myself surprised that Miss Annabelle was quick with answering when questions were asked! I had no idea my girl knew so much. Proof that she really is learning something in school even if she doesn't come home to tell me about it!And not that I ever doubted she was being taught anything, but the girl just never does "remember" what she learned each day. I'm sure some of you with school aged kids can relate to what I am talking about.

 Annabelle got to wear the lady bug hat because she was so quick with answering all those questions correctly!

 Annabelle and friends working on an activity together.

We had a nice little picnic lunch along the trail. I had lunch all planned out the day before! We picked up Subway. Yum! I don't know about you but Subway is the best thing to eat the next day especially on a trail in the woods!  All in all it was a great day and a very fun field trip. We are so lucky to live in such a beautiful place!

Annabelle and Daddy during our stop for lunch.

Annabelle and Mommy during lunch! Notice Annabelle's puffy cheek, she had lunch in her mouth. 

When we got back down to the picnic area some of the kids headed straight back over to the leaves! They had such a great time jumping in them. It reminded me of how my siblings and I would make huge leaf piles to play in.

Just another reason to love fall so much! 

Wordless Wednesday

He caught my kiss! <3

Random Thoughts Tuesday

 

It's that fun time of the week I always look forward to - RTT! 

Join The Un Mom and a host of other fabulous bloggers and let your random thoughts roll! 

I don't know about you but I love November because it means that Christmas is near and the most fun day of all is quickly approaching - BLACK FRIDAY!!!!  I am super excited! I've started getting Black Friday ads in my email box. I live the whole month of November for Black Friday shopping. Who doesn't love getting up at 3:45 am to be in line at Walmart for those "hot ticket" items??? Hey, I can even get dear ol' hubby out of bed that day to go with me! How's that for exciting?!?! I am a little sad this year though because normally a good friend and I go together and she has to work this year. Bummer, it's been a tradition for the last several years and our routine for the day hasn't ever changed. I love that. But this year I plan to drag hubby out early to stand in line for whatever it is on sale at Walmart/Target and Toys R Us that we decided we have to have!  Between Walmart and Target we will likely hit up Starbucks to get our blodd warmed. After Target and before Toys R Us we will hit up Chick Fil A for some yummy goodness to get our body energized for the day! I get so giddy thinking about all of this! :) 

I was in the bathroom at work this morning and noticed a can of Oust air sanitizer spray or whatever it's called. "Outdoor scent" the can read. Now really people, what does the outdoors smell like? I can assure you that whatever the person ahead of me left in the bathroom might have smelled like the outdoors before he/she sprayed that mist of Oust in the air! It wasn't pretty people!!!! And now I want to know who exactly comes up with names and concoctions for these scents anyway!?

FYI- McDonald's Yogurt parfait is far better than ChickFilA's yogurt parfait and has 110 less calories! Actually the granola on ChickFilA's adds another 30-40 calories so make that about 140 less (give or take). 

One of my favorite morning meals is yogurt with fruit and granola or nuts. I seriously could (and sometimes do) eat it every single day of the week! Oh and this other tidbit of info - McD's parfait is ONLY $1!! Less than half the cost of CFA's. And aren't we all looking to save a buck or two?

I was sent this quote in an email from a fellow runner. It came at a great time!

"Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising every time we fall" ~Confucius

Oh and let me end in saying this...

My hubby has pointed out (almost daily) that I have definitely slacked in the blogging department! So, honey and blog readers... my deepest apologies! I am working on it! :)

Happy Halloween

My little goblins at our church Trunk N' Treat!

They had so much fun.

I think it was a pretty good night even with the cold rain we had!