Hosting My FIRST Thanksgiving!

I usually travel to see family for Thanksgiving, but this year I invited my parents to come visit me! They accepted and I was more than thrilled. I don't have a HUGE place, so I couldn't host too many people, but I decided to invite my grandma and cousin to come up as well!

The table all set.

In addition to hosting Thanksgiving, I did all the prep work and almost all of the cooking. It was a lot of work, but completely worth it! I have to give my mom the credit for the yummy gravy, and my grandma mashed the potatoes with some butter, milk, sour cream and seasoning.

ALL the yummy food!

Roasted Butternut Squash

French Bread Stuffing with Bacon

I LOVE stuffing...

but now I love it with bacon even more!

Cranberry Orange Sauce

Roasted Turkey Breast

It was SO moist and delicious! 

Green Bean Casserole

No Knead Clover Rolls.

I halved the recipe and STILL had a ton!!!

Potatoes Mashed by Grandma!

And Gravy made by Mom!

A holiday meal isn't complete without a Relish Tray.

My plate - YUM!!!

All in all, it was a VERY tasty meal and I can honestly say I look forward to doing it again!  Besides all the amazing food, I had one of the BEST Thanksgivings I've had in a long time.

My wonderful Thanksgiving guests!

Fall Gardening

Now that it's Fall, and the weather is FINALLY feeling like it's November, my garden is in a transition phase. That's one of the reasons I haven't really posted about it recently. Oh and the fact that not much had changed the last few weeks...but this week I had new flowers bloom and other fun exciting stuff! 

What other fun exciting stuff?

You really wanna know, huh?

Ok...fine! I'll tell ya...

My tomato plant is not only still doing well - it might be a little small, but still thriving - and now it has brand new blossoms in addition to new teeny tiny tomatoes!

And holy moly - the former miniature Christmas tree is growing like crazy and ginormous compared to what it once was!

My other tree - the key lime tree - is doing quite well too. I have SO many baby limes and I just can't use them fast enough. What I problem...I know! :)

The herbs are all doing pretty well. The oregano is still struggling, and I recently got rid of the thyme. I plan to replace that and maybe add something else too! Any suggestions? What's an herb that you just love to use?

The corner plants are doing AMAZING and just can't get enough of this amazing weather we've been having. I really can't either!!

Lastly, the other window box flowers are struggling, but I don't think they'd last too much longer anyway because the temperatures are getting so cold over night. I may just wait until the Spring, or replace them with sometime cold tolerant.  I'll take suggestions and opinions on this too, folk!

I'm excited for the changes over the next few months. 

A Visit to The Midwest

In my Halloween Post, I mentioned that I recently visited my brother and his family in the Kansas City area. 

I had a great time with them and wish that we didn't live so far away. I can't wait to see them again, but until then - I have these amazing memories that I captured over the five days I was visiting them.  

My brother, Randy and nephew, Gavin 

at dinner the night I got there.

My nephew, Logan had his dinner at home.

He enjoyed some mashed banana and avocado.

YUM!

Logan and I the next morning.

He's such a happy baby!!!

I got the pleasure of watching him that evening.

We had some fun in his jumper before going to bed.

On Halloween, Gavin got a haircut.

He's sat so still and did a great job!

Watching TV one morning before school.

Eating again!

Oatmeal with Peaches and Applesauce this time.

Logan hanging out with Addison.

Addison playing in the toy basket!

She's so adorable and I got to watch her 

for a few hours one day. 

My brother and nephew, Logan.

Logan playing on the Rocking Ladybug.

Gavin and myself. 

I love him SOOOO much!

Gavin and Emma.

A boy and his dog. 

Celebrating Halloween In Kansas City

My brother, his wife and my two adorable nephews moved to the Kansas City Area earlier this year. I hadn't been to visit and see their new home, so I figured that Halloween would be the PERFECT time to go! The weather would be great - okay maybe a little cold, but more importantly I'd get to dress up and go Trick-or-Treating with my nephew Gavin!

I spent most of the day getting the house and food ready with my Sister-In-Law, Becky. The whole family was coming over for dinner before we went Trick-or-Treating around the neighborhood. Becky and I made some great Halloween themed food that was served on a very life-like cobweb covered table. The many flickering candles were a great finishing touch!

While Becky and I made some goodies,

Logan, the Black Cat, supervised! 

The finished table! 

Now that you've seen all the goodies, take a look at the rest of the fun we had that night!!!

My adorable nephew, Gavin as Waldo!

Two of the cutest Waldo's I've EVER seen!

It was very hard to tell which one was Gavin 

and which one was Ethan!

Oh look - two more Waldos!

Finishing touches for my brother, Randy 

and nephew, Logan. 

Waldo Family!

And Waldo Siblings. 

I love my brother!!!

The WHOLE Waldo Bunch!

Not complete without Captain Rex and Pocahontas too. 

The littlest AND cutest Waldo of the bunch!

Trick-or-Treating!!!

And more Trick-or-Treating! 

All the kids ended up with a TON of candy. Their bags were overflowing that's how much they had! The adults got to benefit too because we could dig through and pick out our favorites. YUM!!!