Santa! Ho, Ho, NO!

Happy Holidays!!! It's hard to believe that Christmas is right around the corner! I still have so much to do and I haven't even wrapped one single gift. I have been busy making other things though!

My first deco mesh wreath! My childhood friend, Erin made these last year and I fell in love with them! I was bound and determined to make one of my own and I must say I was pretty impressed with myself! :) I've made five so far to give as Christmas gifts! I'm quickly becoming addicted to Hobby Lobby!

Our mantle! If you look close, you'll notice that Hunter's monogramming is different. I purchased our stockings at Pottery Barn when I was pregnant. I didn't find out until after Christmas what we were having- I came extremely close to having Lily monogrammed on it since I just knew I was having a girl! Luckily, I didn't and my neighbor monogrammed his name on there for me. When I had Brody, his stocking was one of the first things I purchased. It's a little different in design, but they're all from a similar collection.

Our Christmas tree! If our tree survives Christmas, it will be a miracle! Brody enjoys pulling all the ribbon off and tugging on it. I've lost count as to how many times I've had to fix the ribbon and branches!

Our Christmas ornament for this year! When Brett and I got married, we couldn't find an ornament series we liked, so we decided to get a personalized one each year instead. When we take the boys to Bass Pro to see Santa, we always stop by the Christmas Place to get our ornament.

When we got to the Christmas Place, they had a little, steam train you could ride! Hunter was in heaven!!!

Staring in amazement! This train has been running for over 100 years!

Hunter wanted Brett and Brody to ride with him! Brett was beyond thrilled! :)

There they go! Look at the steam!

I just love Hunter's face in this picture! He would have stayed on the train all day if we would have let him!

The train obsession continues! This is at the front of the store and he immediately climbed on it. Normally I would have made him get down, but it made for such a cute picture! :)

We've also made it a tradition to drive through the Smokies Stadium each Christmas! Shadrack designs the light show and synchronizes it to music. It's so neat to watch and we look forward to it each year!

When you arrive at the end, they have Santa's Village set up with a petting zoo, rides, and food! Yes, I had a funnel cake! Brody enjoyed the animals and Hunter kept telling us he was scared-he's never liked petting zoos! Luckily, this one was small with only llamas, sheep, ostriches, goats, and camels.

Trying to give the llama his paci!

And of course, they had a train! I was the lucky one who got to ride this time!

It was a tight squeeze in this little train car!

We finally made it back to Bass Pro to meet Santa! Our bass pass to see Santa was at 7:00-we picked it up at 3:30. It's always a long wait there, but it's worth it! We had other things to do, so we didn't mind. He is by far our favorite Santa and I love everything they have to offer the kids! I love the reindeer next to his house!

This was the first year Hunter walked up to him and sat on his lap! We usually have to take a family picture, but he overcame his fear and we were so proud of him! He told him that he wanted presents and trains.

Brody on the other hand was less than thrilled to be on his lap! Love his heart!

We've been enjoying Christmas movies, hot cocoa, and making crafts for grandparents! I realize I've missed Tasty Tuesday twice, so I promise to get a recipe on here sometime this week! Only 19 more days until Christmas!

Thanksgiving and Go Cats!!!

Our Thanksgiving holiday began with Hunter's Pre-K Thanksgiving lunch! Granna and Brody came along with me to surprise Hunter! The food was delicious and it was great to spend some time with Hunter's teachers and friends.

This is the only picture I snapped at the lunch! Time flew while we were there and of course we had to socialize! His teacher got a nice picture of all us, so I'm looking forward to seeing it- maybe in a craft! :)

Each child was asked to bring a dessert and I decided to get a little creative thanks to Pinterest! I thought the turkey cookies turned out well considering this was the first time I had designed something with icing!

Hunter's placemat at the lunch! I love it! I plan to get it out every Thanksgiving!

The candle he made for me. They were used as decorations at our table!

These two have the sweetest relationship! He would move in with Granna if we would let him! I didn't get any pictures of our Thanksgiving-Brody was still on the mend and wanted me to hold him the whole time! This is the day we went back for leftovers-it was actually Thanksgiving! We had to celebrate a day early because of family.

Getting ready to make his gingerbread train! He is obsessed with trains, so you can imagine his excitement!

Working hard on the icing! It was pretty goopy and somehow he managed not to get any on his clothes!

Working so hard to get the icing out! The face of determination!

Thumbs up! They did a great job and it's still intact on our counter!

There's that precious face I love! Excuse the mess on his face, but this was the first time he had smiled in a few days!

Look at those front teeth! I could just eat him up! After we left, we drove by Walmart to see if anyone was in line for Black Thursday/Friday! It was 7:00 and Brett went inside and sure enough, lines were forming for certain things! We wanted to get an Xbox 360 and Kinect for Hunter for Christmas and I won't lie, Brett and I wanted it too! He stood in line for three hours and we got one!! I went out once he got home, but I didn't have much luck! Our next adventure would be Saturday morning!

I felt like I was a part of history! We went to Lexington with a group of friends to the Kentucky/Tennessee game! Kentucky beat Tennessee for the first time in 27 years!!! We had great seats- six rows behind the field goal! There were only two of us out of the bunch cheering for Kentucky!!!

Rushing the field!!! It was unbelievable!!! They had the field goals down in less than ten seconds!

What a great day! What a great feeling for the Seniors who were playing their last game!

Yes, I got on the field!!! I loved every minute of it and I'm so glad we were able to go!!

We put up our Christmas decorations on Sunday and we are ready for the holidays!! I realized I missed Tasty Tuesday so it will have to be Tasty Thursday this week! It's just so hard to get back into the swing of things after a holiday!

Tasty Tuesday- Chicken Noodle Soup

Are you tired of chicken recipes? I swear we eat more than chicken! After the week we've had, chicken noodle soup fits our household at the moment! Both boys are on antibiotics and Brett is starting to feel sick! :( Poor Brody has gone to the doctor twice and the ER once in the past week! We couldn't get his high fever to break, he was totally inconsolable, and was having difficulty breathing on Sunday night! No strep, no flu, so they have determined he has a sinus infection on top of teething! Yuck! I am one worn out mommy! Not only is this recipe great for sickness, but for cold, winter nights too!

- One package of chicken tenders or chicken breasts
-Garlic Salt
-Parsley
-Onion, Carrots, and Celery
-Chicken bouillon cubes
-Noodles (no yolk)

-Boil chicken until tender, drain, shred, and put back in pot
-Add 4-6 cups of water (I've added up to 8)
-About 10-12 bouillon cubes
-1/2 of a small chopped onion
-Carrots 1-2 cups
-Celery 1 cup
-a few shakes of salt and pepper
-About four shakes of garlic salt
-2 shakes of parsley
-Add noodles

Ready to eat when noodles are tender! I must admit, I don't add carrots or celery because I don't like them, but it was part of the original recipe!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! Luckily before the sickness hit, I was able to attend Hunter's Thanksgiving lunch at school! I have a few pictures to post from it and I have some wonderful fridge art now! I'm going to get out on Black Thursday/Friday if the boys are feeling well! Wish me luck! :)

Tasty Tuesday-Creamy Chicken Casserole

Is it already Tasty Tuesday?! This past week was extremely hectic and busy for me. My mom was in town and I left Friday for a girls weekend in Nashville! I bet you can't guess what my next post will be?! Anyway, for this week I picked the easiest chicken casserole ever! My husband loves it, along with the kiddos!

-3 cups of chopped cooked chicken. Again, I buy one pack of Tyson trimmed and ready chicken breasts, boil, and shred.
-1 can of cream of chicken
-1 sour cream tub-8oz
-1 1/2 cups of crushed round crackers (about 40). I use Ritz crackers and if I'm being honest, I don't measure this part, I just crush them over the chicken until it's covered. I know some people like to have measurements though!
-1/4 cup of butter or margarine melted

Combine first three ingredients; spoon into a lightly greased 11 x 7 x 1 1/2 in baking dish. Cover chicken mixture with crushed crackers and pour butter on top. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30 minutes. Yields four servings.

Side note: I got this recipe from my neighbor and she uses a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store instead of having to boil and shred the chicken. I realize these recipes aren't the healthiest, but it's easy and my family likes it. I usually make rolls, Velveeta shells & cheese (Hunter and Brody's favorite), and peas or green beans.

Nashville-Good Times

Last weekend, I met up with my four high school best friends for a girls weekend in Nashville! We shopped, ate, laughed, reminisced, and created more inside jokes than ever!

At Charming Charlies, trying on hats for fun! Lauren has a New Years Eve wedding to go to, so she was on the hunt for a fun dress! We all tried on sequence dresses in Macy's and I'm sad to report that no one took a picture! :( We had a good time though and I can say I looked very stylish in my one sleeve gold sequence dress! haha

Eating my Hershey's Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory! It was divine! We all got a different type of cheesecake and shared! As Layne stated, "I'm going to need a cardiac doctor after I finish this piece!"Thankful to be out of the parking lot! I don't know if you all have ever been to the mall at Green Hills, but I have never seen such tiny, packed in parking spaces! It took me a good ten minutes to park my SUV with Lauren and Brandy's help! I got a round of applause when I completed the task! ha When we came out to leave, a group of guys offered to help us! The main one who helped us was named Bouje! Yes, folks, pronounced Boo-gee! He was able to get me out in about five minutes! His friends kept hollering at us not to forget his name, he's a rapper, I apparently haven't and will never forget it! I have never been so stressed and I definitely needed a margarita by this point!

Thankful to be out of there as well! I tried forever to get this picture to rotate and it wouldn't! I'm sure many of you are tilting your head at this point! :)

We wanted to hang out somewhere that night so we decided to go to the Big Bang Dueling Pianos! I don't love this picture of me, but it's one of the few of all us! It was freezing by this point, but thankfully we only had to walk two blocks. Kilee and Layne were definitely troopers considering they are pregnant! Luckily we knew someone working, so he was able to get us a table in no time!

I have no idea what my swangs (swoop bangs) are doing here! Kilee tried to do waves in my hair, but I think it needs to be a little longer.

We had a great time and tons of fun! The next morning we got up, ate at Cracker Barrel, and hit the road! I realize how lucky and rare it is to still have four best friends from high school and I consider myself blessed! We are already talking about next years trip and making fun of what we will do for trips when we get old! I love you girls and here is a montage of inside jokes dedicated to you all!

I can't believe all of the traffic I caught on my way over here! Yes, I will more than likely be late to my own funeral. What type of donut do you want? I want a banana- so you want a long john? I have to pee! Are these the Real Housewives of Detroit? Come back here, you all have to see this shirt! Do we get the friend discount? You should have parked in the parking garage! Will you curl my hair like Jessica Simpson's? They're really clean! What's that noise in the bathroom? Why is it everywhere we go, someone has thrown up? You have to smell her perfume, it's Justin Beiber and it really does smell good! I'm going to order a pizza and onion rings when we get back! Bouje! Sit back down! Sit back down! They're getting ready to do NSYNC!

Tasty Tuesday-Chicken & Dumplings

Here we go- it's Tasty Tuesday! This is the easiest chicken and dumplings recipe ever! I got it from a friend who got it off of Pinterest! If you love Cracker Barrel's, then you will definitely love this! I have made it numerous times and have told everyone I know about it! My mom is in town and this was her first dinner request! She gave me a five star rating and said it was even better than Cracker Barrel's C&D's! Enjoy!!

A blurry picture of our dinner last night! It was delicious!!!

-3 Chicken Breasts (Frozen or Not)- I just buy one pack of Tyson trimmed and ready thin sliced boneless chicken breasts. Put in crockpot and add two tbsp of butter on top. Then throw in two cans of cream of chicken soup, one can of chicken broth, small chopped onion (I leave out the onion because my family doesn't like it), and a heaping tbsp of parsley. Let it cook around four to five hours or until you can shred chicken with fork. After you shred the chicken, take at least half a can of refrigeriated biscuits, cut each one into nine pieces and throw in. Continue cooking for around one more hour! Enjoy!

Sidenote: I use Pilsbury biscuits and I have doubled the recipe and it works out great! I also cook this on low!

12 Month Stats and a Hodge Podge of Stuff

I still can't believe Brody is one! Our nephew's birthday is the day after Brody's, so by this point, we were on our third birthday cake of the weekend! I am definitely a sweets person, but I have never eaten so much cake in my life! Brody had his one year appointment the following week and other than him getting upset from the shots, everything went well!

Weight: 19 lbs, 9.5 oz (5-10%) I was shocked that my little piggy was that low in weight! He eats all the time- wish I had his problem :) The doctor said he wasn't worried and considering he has FOUR teeth coming in and he is more mobile, it's not surprising!

Length: 30.5 in (65-75%) Now that's more like it! Long and lean! Our newest accomplishment is using utensils! It's more of a mess I should say considering maybe ten percent goes in his mouth! He no longer allows me to feed him with a spoon or fork-he has to do it! My Swiffer has gotten more use in the past week than it probably has this whole year!

Hunter had a football game the same day as Brody's birthday! It was originally suppose to be at 9:00-no big deal considering Brody's party was at 12:30. WRONG-they moved the game to 11:00! Can you say panic mode?! It worked out fine, but I had to miss the game :( They won the game and made it to the playoffs the next weekend! His team lost by one point- they went for the win instead of the tie! We are so proud of the Panthers and they had a great season! Coach Tony was great with the kids and we are looking forward to next year!

Proud daddy moment! I must admit, I was a little teary eyed during the awards and handing out of the trophies! It's just amazing to see your child in these moments!

After Hunter's game, we had to get ready for the UT game! We had a blast tailgating with friends and spending some time just the two of us!

Now this is totally random, but I've been thinking about starting Tasty Tuesdays on my blog! I want to share a recipe every Tuesday because let's be honest, who couldn't use a new recipe? I got in a rut where I was cooking the same thing over and over, so I borrowed my neighbor's cookbook, recipes, got on Pinterest, etc. I have found some easy, excellent meals and why not share them! Let me know what you think!