Shall We Just Get This Out First??!!.....Thanksgiving 2015

Yes, of course I am SO thankful for my family.  For my friends, For our health and happy times together.  For getting to share the most awesome Thanksgiving 2015 ever!  And the "few" toddies we have together sure are fun too!!

We all began gathering at the deer camp for our annual turkey day party on Wednesday.  Food was brought in along with babies and toddlers and more food!  It's always such a fun time because there is no pressure.  It's just family and good friends huddling together for 4 days of fun.

(altho my time was cut short...had to come home late friday to nurse a croupy cold....feel really bad)

The kids had hardly tumbled out of their carseats when they saw little surprises.....Cap'n and I had gotten 4 battery operated 4-wheelers of their very own.  There are lots and lots of 4-wheelers around the deer camp but they're for the grown-ups and the kids are always asking us to take them riding. I don't recall being asked a single time to go riding this time....they were thrilled to be able to drive their own.  OMG....just made my heart so happy to see them so happy!

Even the 11 month old jumped right in like she was all grown!! (she doesn't even walk yet..hahaha)

these two are going to be very good friends!

and a huge thank you to this dad for putting 3 of them together!!!! 

DIL and I had our first toast together on our first afternoon together - I found the champagne of the favorite vineyard we went to in Napa years ago.  I had not seen it in our town before. We had such great memories of our trip together...

Our lil preggo one not happy while her sister wife enjoys a morning mimosa!!

We had candy acorns....

and Hailey always has an activity for the kids to participate in...

Of course, since we're at the deer camp, there is always a gathering around the deer cleaning area when one of the guys brings one in

We had fried turkey..

alongside roasted turkey!

and so many side dishes that I didn't even get pics of all...

the carving station!

Unstuffing the bird!

the kiddos sat at their lil table 

while the adults ate and laughed and well......enjoyed our cap'n!!

Before the Turkey...

...comes the hunting!  Duck season, deer season, football watching season and the male bonding season is in full force at the deer camp!  My sons and their friends and their dad spend many quality hours in the fields and at the camp.  And from those moments, come many beautiful images....

sunrise hunting! 

hunting with the rainbows! 

my fave pic every year of all my boys in the duck blind!

(pics courtesy of my middle boy!)

And guess who gets their freezer restocked with venison????

I do!!!!  The boyfriend completed his task for me!!

and while the guys were doing all of that......my daughter in law and my two granddaughters and I enjoyed an afternoon of the Moscow Russian production of The Nutcracker ballet!!

The little girls dressed up and acted like such little ladies....well, one of them fell asleep minutes into the first half ...

But we had such fun and had a good dinner together afterwards with DIL #3 and grandson, Case!

This week is going to be filled with lotsa cooking and a little grandbaby playing so I probably won't get to post until after Turkey Day.  Just wanted to wish all of my friends a HAPPY THANKSGIVING and be sure to take a minute to thank your lucky stars for all the good things in your life!!  Make a memory!

Rainy Days and Tuesdays......

ooooooooooooo-weeeeeeeeeeeeeee.....we had a very rainy day today. Early morning temps were mid 70's.  Evening temp is 53.

And you know what a rainy day brings......

a big ol' pot of boiling chili....

and a big ol' pan of The Pioneer Woman's dr, pepper ribs!!

they marinated in a chipotle pepper/dr pepper sauce overnight

and cooked on slow heat all afternoon.  Talk about make your house smell good on a rainy day!

Y-U-M-M-Y!!!

and when the house is dark and warm, the soft glow of autumn decor makes me happy and content.

Look out Turkey Day..,,you're right around the corner and all the family will gather.

That makes me content as well!!

Turkey Day Ideas.....

While pulling out and doing inventory on Thanksgiving supplies, I came across pics of  this lil notebook that I made last year.  I decided that our family needed a little reminder of all the things we have accomplished in the previous 10 years.  We read it while sitting at our Happy Thanksgiving Day table.

It's amazing, when written down in black and white, how obvious our accomplishments are.....yet until you see it in black and white, you sometimes don't take the time to appreciate all we have and have done!

What does our family have to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving Day?

In the last 10 yrs, we have grown and loved and multiplied.

We are so lucky!

I gave each family a copy for their children's baby books...with hopes that they will continue to add  to it as their lives progress.

Thanksgiving 2015?

We've now got Josey, who was born on 1-5-15!

Lilli began kindergarten in August - 15!

Grandbaby #6 is in the oven, cooking until early 2016!

It was a fun little project!

Recipe for the DIL's.....

...and anyone else who needs an easy dish to make on a crisp fall night!!

EASY AS TAMALE PIE!!!  I may have already given ya'll this recipe but it's worth printing out. I think my boys would like this...and it's EASY!!  I found it on a cute blog here kitchen meets girl.
I had no daylight....only kitchen light....so bear with me on the images.

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter, melted (I used veg oil, heated, to coat skillet)
• 1 cup cornmeal
• ¾ cup flour
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1½ cups buttermilk
• 1 can enchilada sauce
• 2 cups shredded pork (or chicken)
• 1 tablespoon taco seasoning
• 2 tablespoons chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, optional
• 1 cup shredded cheese, any kind (I used monterrey jack and cheddar)
• chopped cilantro, to taste

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400. Lightly grease a 9x9 pan (I used a 10" cast iron skillet).
2. In a large bowl, mix together your cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt baking powder and baking soda.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, and buttermilk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour mixture, and stir just until combined. Your batter will be lumpy - that's okay! Pour the batter into your baking dish.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove pan from oven and reduce heat to 350. Poke holes with a fork all over the top of your cornbread (it won't be quite set in the center). Pour enchilada sauce over the crust.
5. Combine shredded meat with taco seasoning and chipotle peppers, and sprinkle meat over the top of the crust. Top with shredded cheese. Cover dish with foil, and return to oven for an additional 20 minutes, or until cheese is melted. If your cheese isn't quite melted, remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes.
6. Top with cilantro and allow to cool for 5 to 10 minutes before slicing.

The enchilada sauce seeps into the cornbread giving it a nice spice...make sure you use the chipotle peppers...I boiled 4 big chicken thighs and deboned but you could use a cooked chicken from the store too.  Even easier!!

Hope ya'll like it!

Got this from Preppy Empty Nester's blog.  Still laughing when I look at it!!!!

Diamonds on the Pumpkins?!!

My daughter in law's friend made her a bedazzled pumpkin and I just thought it was the cutest thing.  So, when I wanted to take a lil sumpin sumpin to my girlfriends at lunch last week, I thought this would be a fun thing to have sitting at their place setting when they arrived!  They loved them and have said they will use them on their Turkey Day tables......I have my doubts about that.....heheheh!!!

Her friend did the orange pumpkin but I chose the white ones with a lil harvest decor on top.  This way, they can take off the fall decorations and replace with Christmas when it's time.  One of them loves peace signs and the other one loves angels. So I used both.  As my tacky self always says.."If a little looks ok, then alot will look great"!!!