Our family is big on traditions and celebrating holidays and special occasions in big ways. However, Halloween is just not one of our favorites. The neighborhood we live in goes a little overboard on the spooky, gruesome side of Halloween and our kids have never wanted to be out in it all on Halloween night. So, we've made our own tradition of staying in and watching It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown while eating Jack-O'-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie! This has gone on for years and my kids still love it and look forward to it. They are not budging. Jack-O'-Lantern Cheeseburger Pie is such a tasty treat! You could easily replace the cheeseburger mixture with a meaty pizza filling, a bbq ... Read more
The Blog Balance
Happy fall morning, y’all! And I do mean fall! We are finally feeling it here in Alabama! My younger kids and I are taking a fall break from homeschooling this week (my oldest is in college), so I'm taking advantage of the time off to catch up on some writing I've been wanting to accomplish. Recipes have been my fallback posts in this busy season of schooling because they are easy and quick to post. I'm always excited over a good recipe, and love to share them, but I've also had other posts in mind that require more thought, and I'm happy to finally have a little more time this week to explore those ideas. One of the topics I've been wanting to address is the delicate balance of blogging ... Read more
Happy is the House
The following post is a piece I wrote for my previous blog several years ago. Our home continues to be blessed with the happiness others bring into it! Have a lovely fall day, friends! Above our family’s front door hangs a plaque that reads Happy is the house that shelters a friend--a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Although the plaque has hung in our home for over a decade now, I still smile every time I read it because Emerson’s words epitomize the blessings we receive when family and friends come to visit. Our family delights in welcoming people into our home and into our lives! You see, the joy begins with the anticipation of “company’s coming”— the planning, preparations, and excitement ... Read more
Cottage Pie
I’m in a cooking club that meets every other month with a different meal theme each time. Our group is called The Mixing Bowls. Isn’t that cute! I told my kids I must be getting older now that I’m in social clubs that have cute names like that. Haha. And I’m totally embracing it! It’s so much fun getting together with the ladies to eat, talk, and laugh for an entire evening! I love these women and I always come home with a full tummy and lots of great new recipes! We met last night and our theme this month was “Family Favorites”. I took Cottage Pie because, not only is it a favorite meal at our house, but it represents a favorite destination of ours as well: Disney World! We’ve eaten this ... Read more
Sweet Lottie
Last week our family said a tearful goodbye to the sweetest dog ever. Our poor Lottie suffered from a brain disease, seizures, and multiple orthopedic disorders, and that’s just scratching the surface of her problems. Having loved this dog as much as we did, and having lost one of our bunnies over the summer, I was concerned about how the kids would hold up when her time came. However, I was the one who sobbed and sobbed when she passed. Yep, me. The mom. (We each cried. Mine was the ugly kind.) Despite the numerous pains and discomforts she experienced on a daily basis, our Lottie girl loved and protected our family fiercely. Joel and I never worried about the kids when Lottie was ... Read more
A Grandparents’ Day Tradition
Happy Grandparents’ Day to all the grandmamas and granddaddies out there! We have a tradition of inviting our grandparents over for a meal to honor them on Grandparents’ weekend, and so yesterday Joel’s parents and mine joined us for lunch at our house. Having our big extended family together is always wonderful, but for this meal we enjoy time with just the GRANDS! As we began setting the table yesterday morning, Country Girl and I had no idea what we’d end up with because the day before our special lunch, a certain very bad doggie, who shall remain nameless (ahem, Barney!), ate the zinnias we were planning to build our table around. So, I went rummaging through the cabinets and found ... Read more
And The Sun Rises Again
Good morning! Isn’t that sunrise breathtaking! I got to witness that particular sunrise in person earlier this week. Sunrises are one of my best motivators for rising early and hitting the ground running (or maybe just walking briskly!). I’ve been a little MIA here the last couple of weeks. I planned to get in a few posts last week, but a 3-day migraine derailed those plans. This week has been back-to-homeschool so I’m just getting around to hopping back on here and saying hello! During the summer months my kids all sleep later—a perk that comes with having older kids (hang in there young mamas!)—but I continued to rise with the hubs at our regular 5A, which not only allowed me my usual ... Read more
Barney
Our family has two dogs, two bunnies, and a leased horse (and would totally add a cat if one of my kids wasn’t allergic). Our newest pet—a puppy we gave Incredi-Boy for a very special milestone—joined the family this summer! If you have pets, you know all too well that pet care is one of the many works of our hands in any given day, and this new puppy has kept our hands quite busy! Meet Barney. I know, he looks pretty adorable, doesn’t he? Well, I have another name for him: The DESTROYER. If you can just look past the beautiful chocolate coat and those mesmerizing eyes, you’ll notice a plant hanging out of his mouth. That plant was just one of MANY he has dug up from my yard. I don’t know ... Read more