Cookie Decorating Party!

Last Saturday, I hosted a cookie decorating party for my favorite little girls!  I pre-made cut-out sugar cookies and was working on making my family's traditional Italian Egg Cookies when the girls came.  I made plenty of sprinkles and frosting in squeeze tubes and protected my table with a  disposable table cloth which I later tossed.

 

Alexa making Italian Egg Cookies...carrying on a tradition.

Ryleigh decorating her sugar cookies

Dipping Italian egg cookies in frosting

Italian egg cookies all frosted and sprinkled.  Look at that mess! 

The girl's sugar cookie masterpiece!  They turned out so cute and yummy!

 

We finished things off by decorating a gingerbread house.

 

The girls said they had a lot of fun!  I had fun too even though I literally spent all day in the kitchen and was cleaning up sprinkles for quite a while.  Watching them decorate and sprinkle and dip was worth everything.  I hope they have good memories of this as I had good memories of making cookies for Christmas as well.  We will have to make this a tradition!!!!  I love you girls!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Where have I been for the last 3 weeks or so?  Well, I've been shopping 'till I dropped, baking up a storm, and wrapping, wrapping, wrapping!!!  Things have been busy but here is an update.

Clay and I enjoyed a night out at the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra's Christmas concert.  We got all dressed up and enjoyed the show! 

This is our Christmas picture that I used on all of our Christmas cards we sent out.  Note the cute little scarves I crochet for the girls.  Emmi was a little upset about wearing her scarf and being contained while the camera flashed at her again and again.  We overcame the challenge and here is the product!

 

This is Nugget being tortured by Mommy.  The purple toy you see in the stocking is Nugget's baby.  I crochet it a while back and it is her all-time favorite toy.  She loves, loves her baby!  Well, I think it is quite amusing to put her baby in places that are challenging to get to and just watch the show.  Sometimes it takes Nuggie a while but she usually figures it out.  Here she is standing up to reach her beloved toy and she eventually saves it from the stocking!!!

The hutch decorated. 

The tree, bursting with presents.  We are truly blessed!  Let me tell you a story about our tree.  My dear friends and neighbors Sarah and Andy were tree hunting in the mountains and picked us out a tree while they were there.  I told her that I like fat trees and a fat tree is what I got.  It is the biggest, most beautiful tree that I have ever had and I am grateful to have such thoughtful, special friends.  Thank you!

Our mantle.  Clay had to hang my stocking on the fire screen because it is so stuffed with amazing presents that the stocking holder won't hold it!!!

Stars I painted a while ago.  I put out red, green and white but I have other colors for other times of the year.  I gave them a distressed look.

This is my all-time favorite Christmas decoration.  It is a gift from my mom who gives me an ornament/decoration each Christmas and had done so since I was born.  It says, "They came upon a midnight clear to tell us that the Child is here."

A group shot of Christmas at Roger and Belinda's house.  We celebrated early because they go to Texas each year to spend time with Belinda's family.  I am so thankful to have such a wonderful family!

A lot to be Thankful for

I know everyone has been on the edge of their seats waiting for me to post again!  What can I say?  I've been a busy girl.  From Thanksgiving, to Christmas shopping, to currently having the flu, I've been tied up.  What better time to catch up with the blog than when I risk throwing up doing anything but sitting and not eating?

Concord Christmas Parade:  my first time attending this event.  It was delightful!  I enjoyed the floats and the bands and everything about it.  By the end, I was frozen but thoroughly entertained.  Nugget got a lot of attention too.  We can't bring her to any public event without everyone saying, "Oh my goodness!  Look at that dog!!!"

 

 

Thanksgiving:  Clay and I hosted Thanksgiving at our house again on Thursday.  It was great because that way, we can have both sides of our families together :)  Clay brined and cooked the turkey like a pro.  We had the traditional sides and everything was wonderful.  My favorite was probably the corn pudding that Lisa made...I'm going to have to get that recipe :)  Clay made a pumpkin pie and I made an apple pie and we feasted until we could feast no more!  Thank goodness for good friends and neighbors like Sarah, who made the apple pie possible by lending me her pie dish last minute.  Somehow it didn't cross my mind until Wednesday that you need 2 pie dishes for 2 pies.  I enjoyed the time with family and friends!!!



To top the most wonderful Thanksgiving off, we spent Friday at Roger and Belinda's house, feasting again on the most amazing soup.  She made kale and sausage soup and chicken noodle.  Both were good but the chicken noodle was to die for!!!  Another recipe I must have.  Roger also made his famous cheesecake which was the best yet!


Shop 'till we drop:  it turns out that we did not go Black Friday shopping but were forced into cyber Monday shopping.  My laptop had been breaking for quite some time.  The hinge where the screen attached to the base of the computer was literally falling off.  We knew we would have to replace it before long.  It ended up being sooner than later.  My computer crashed and we lost about 3 weeks worth of pictures (which pretty much consisted of pics of Nugget and Emmi) and we lost my most updated Christmas list.  What is a type A girl to do without her Christmas list?  So, prince charming came to the rescue and resurrected my laptop long enough to back up a few files and pictures.

The best news of all:  Julie and Josh had their baby boy:  Caleb Joshua Sutton.  She ended up having to have an emergency C-section but overall, all is well.  Caleb has had to be monitored for a while but he is holding his own and doing well!!  God is good and has given Julie and Josh and awesome testimony to His hand in their life.

Well, that is that.  More to come about decorating for Christmas.  Clay and I are just working on getting better (he had 2 different types of the flu, which is clearly why I'm sick too).  We had to put decorating and other Christmas traditions on hold for now.  Stay tuned!!!

 

The Adventures of Emmi

I am a cat lover.  I always have been, always will be.  I even have a cat named Emmi.  I am writing this post because Nugget steals all of Emmi's attention!











A few years ago, Clay and I headed to the Cabarrus Pet Society just to "look."  I wanted a black, short-haired boy cat because that's what I grew up with.  While driving there, I noticed something in the median of the road...a kitten.  Of course I yelled for Clay to stop the car, jumped out, and grabbed this tiny, emaciated kitten.  We immediately became friends as Emmi hissed and bit me out of fear.  Clay ripped off his shirt to wrap her up and then we put her in a bag :)  Upon inspection at the Pet Society, Emmi was infested with fleas and malnourished.  Now she is clean as a whistle and plump from a life of love and ease.  I always say that she is nothing I wanted but everything God knew I needed!

Despite what some may say, Emmi is a sweetie.  You just have to understand cats and their body language to get her.  Her favorite activities include snuggling with me, looking out the living room window while perched on the couch, and eating.  Her favorite toy is any craft I am working on at the moment.  She has trained me to open doors for her and pet her on demand, but I have trained her to "come" and "sit."  We are best friends :)

Investigating a new object in her territory

Loves open windows!

Chillin like a villin on her "Kitty City" perch...not spoiled at all

Helping Clay with the guitar

Playing :)

Checking cabinet inventory

Hogging the whole couch

Spa time!

Emmi loves doing laundry with me!!!

Baby it's cold outside!

My Birthday Man!

Yesterday, Clay turned 32!  I had to work but from what I gathered, he spent the day doing whatever he wanted and ate at Five Guys, his favorite greasy joint :)  Once I got home, the party started!  I treated Clay to dinner at Red Lobster.  He got crab legs and shrimp and I ate my new favie, lobster bisque.  Later, I surprised him with the book Killing Kennedy, by Bill O'Reilly, and a meat injector.  Finally, I was able to smuggle in a slice of pumpkin cheesecake and flourless chocolate from the Chocolatier in downtown Concord.  There is one more Birthday surprise to come on Friday, hopefully :)

When asked how it feels to be 32, Clay responded, "Old, tired, uninspiring, unexciting, grey, and painful.  Other than that, pretty good."  So there you have it, the Old Man is even older!!!!   Sorry, this picture is the only one I managed to remember to take of the night.

On another note, I am proud of my very, very old husband.  He saved a 31 year old husband, father of two, and previous classmate of his.  He was called out to a "CPR in progress" and, to make a long story short, helped to saved his life.  He has heard updates about his buddy and it sounds like he is doing well.  My husband, as a paramedic, is so often taken for granted and taken advantage of by his patients.  What an encouraging experience to lift my hunni's spirits!  I LOVE YOU CLAY!!!

WCU and Cataloochee Valley

Clay and I spent this last weekend in Cullowhee and the Great Smokey Mt. National Park!  We drove up on Saturday for a mini-tailgate:  Hot dogs all the way (my favie).  Then we endured another Catamount loss, but recovered at Speedy's with a yummy, yummy pizza.

 The WCU band...world famous?

 Beautiful scenery...

  
The drive to the park entrance was a 8-mile winding, steep dirt road with no signs to tell you that you were headed in the right direction.

 Beautiful view from a lookout on the way

 Wild turkeys!  Too bad we couldn't bring one home for Thanksgiving.

 Palmer Chapel.  It didn't face the road...it faced a little river...I thought that was neat.

 Nugget being schooled :)  This was the only school in the valley when people actually lived there.

 These little bridges were all over the place.  How cute.

 Speaking of cute...

 Awww!

 We got APPLES!!!  As I write this, there is a home-made apple pie in the oven :)  Be jealous, very jealous!!!

 I saw ELK for the FIRST time in the wild.  It was so cool!  A bunch of them.

 These two clinked antlers...the big one ran the other one off into the woods. 

 We found Papa Elk all by himself. 

 One of several houses we saw built around 1900.  The funny thing is...if you refer to my blog "Little Yellow Farmhouse," you will see the built-around-1900-house I used to live in.  Obviously this was more primitive than my house.  In my opinion, it is a miracle that they were able to build any houses this sophisticated way out here in the first place.  The Cataloochee Valley started off as Indian trading trails and then people began to settle here.  The road to get there was long, curvy, and on the edge of a mountain the whole way.  Of course it wasn't difficult, being in a car and having tractors that have leveled the area.  I can't imagine what it was like around 1900.  Probably a long, dangerous trip!!!  How did they even find the area in the first place?  I always wonder things like that.

 This weekend was great.  I got to spend some QT with my QT.  The mountains, although having lost most leaves, were still gorgeous and refreshing.  Cataloochee Valley is a must-see!  I wish we had more time to hike the miles and miles of trails and camp...in a tent!  We will just have plan on going back soon!  Darn :)