Christmas 2012

We woke up at 8:00AM all excited for Colton to open his presents.  Since Barry wasn't home, we were able to Skype so daddy could watch little man open his gifts and participate in our Christmas morning.  We miss him so much when he's gone!

After he opened some of his gifts and we visited with daddy some, then it was off to Nana's house for Christmas lunch.  This was my content little man before everyone else arrived at Nana's house.........

I couldn't pass up taking a picture of our table centerpiece that mom had, it was beautiful!

When everyone arrived, we ate lunch and boy was it every yummy!  We were all stuffed, there was so much food.  Finally after lunch Colton and Noah were able to open their gifts and then play, play, play.....................................

Thank goodness Nana bought them the exact same gift this year, that way there was no fussing or fighting over who was playing with what toy.  These two cousins act like brothers more than they do cousins, but with only 10 months apart in age, I guess that's what happens.  The boys both received superheroes for their Christmas presents.............Colton had Hulk and Iron Man and Noah had Spiderman.  Those boys played for hours with their superheroes..............

While the adults were visiting, the boys took a nap.  Once they woke up, we then decided we wanted more food in our bellies, so we ate some more, then once we were stuffed, we were ready to take it easy on the couches.  After we visited a little more, we all decided it was time to go home.  We all needed our rest since we had to go back to work tomorrow.  This was our Christmas Day 2012......................wouldn't have missed it for anything.

Our Fun Day

I wanted to get out of the house and do something fun.  I wanted to try a new restaurant and I wanted to go to Dick's Five and Dime Store in Branson, so we headed out last Friday for a road trip.  We ate at Joe's Crab Shack.

Inside, it was awesome where we sat..................right under the shark...............

We ordered some Great Balls of Fire and let me tell you.......they lived up to their name, they were very spicy hot!  Then Colton and I shared the popcorn shrimp and fries.  Mom ordered some calamari and we all tried that as well.  I know........can you believe we tried fried squid?  Well I'll have to say, I thought it was yummy! 

Next, we headed off to Bass Pro for the kids to play.   They shot guns, bow and arrows, drove remote control trucks, sat on 4-wheelers, road the carousel and tried on hats.

They had a lot of fun.  Our day was awesome spent with family.

Cookies for Nana

Colton and I had a fun and exciting morning making cookies to take to Nana's house today.  This was one of the best days off for me since I've been on vacation.  When we were making the cookies, Colton said, "Mama, this is so much fun, it's amazing!  I love this day!"  Amazing........how and when do they learn such big words at only the age of 4 1/2 years.  He really did have a lot of fun helping make the cookies.  I'm so glad we did it.  They actually turned out to be quite delicious.  Since this was the first time we've ever made them, that is really saying something.  Here's the recipe in case you are wanting to try something new.  Enjoy.

Toffee Bits Cookies
from www.hersheys.com

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (8 oz. pkg.) HEATH Toffee Bits

Heat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Add eggs; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in toffee bits.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4 dozen cookies.

Simplicity

Just wanted to post something simple.  I absolutely adore this picture of Colton where he looks so happy and content just sitting in the floor.  That's what every day should be like.  Just wanted to share it with you all.

Christmas Get-Together with Friends

Tonight we exchanged our Christmas gifts with our good friends, Angel and Katie.  The kids took some cute little pictures before opening their gifts.  I could not pass up sharing these.  They were way too cute and funny to keep to myself............see for yourself.............

I love how happy and excited they look.......................they wanted to open these ALL night long, but we made them wait until after we ate dinner.  Anticiptation!

They then played with their gifts the rest of the night while watching Madagascar 3.  Funny kids!

Photo With Santa

When Colton and I went with Dan, Angel and Katie to Branson Landing a few weeks back, I had a picture made of Colton sitting on Santa's lap.  Here it is:

When Santa asked Colton what he wanted for Christmas, he couldn't think of anything apparently because he told Santa, "I don't know."  My goodness........what kid doesn't know what they want for Christmas?

Thanksgiving

We went over to mom's house for Thanksgiving.  We had so much good food this year,  We had turkey, mashed taters and gravy, stuffing, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce and rolls.  The best part was the desserts, we had a ton to choose from........pumpkin pie, pecan pie bars, cheesecake with strawberry topping and upside down pineapple cake with caramel topping that is delicious!!!!  Just take a peek........

Colton and Noah had their own table this year............

After lunch we went to the living room to visit and play.  Daddy and Colton were playing in the floor.

This cracked me up....................... I couldn't pass up this picture of Ashley really telling Gabe just how it was..................... tee hee................

I was really thankful for another Wonderful Thanksgiving.

 

Silver Dollar City Christmas Lights

We had a great road trip with our friends on Wednesday to Branson.  We decided to go and get the kids pictures taken with Santa at Branson Landing and then head to Silver Dollar City.  We first let the kids ride some rides before it got dark.

We headed off to grab something to drink since Colton was really thirsty.  Angel bought a red velvet funnel cake with cream cheese icing on it that she shared with me and it was wonderful!(I wish I would've got a pitcure of it....but it was gone too fast).  We left to head to let the kids play at the treehouse area and I ran into this scenery and I had to snap a shot.

We finally let the kids run and play here for a little while. 

This picture cracks me up, it looks like Colton got caught with his hand in the cookie jar..........

I started walking around and found this tree that really stood out to me, it is nothing gorgeous, but to me I thought it was beautiful.  It truly grabbed my attention.

We finally started to head out and leave and ran into the Christmas Tree music show.  It was awesome to see the huge Christmas Tree turn different colors while the music played.

I was so excited this year to get to finally be able to stay late enough to see all of it.  It was the first year I had ever seen this and I had a great time!

Cream Cheese Chicken Enchiladas

Enchiladas are one of my favorite dishes, so when I found this next recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them.  They turned out really good.  However, I did make a few changes to the recipe, I used red enchilada sauce instead of green enchilada sauce and I used pinto beans instead of black beans.    Other than those two changes, I followed the recipe exactly.  Mom came over and helped us eat them and we all enjoyed them, they were very good.  I think next time, I may try corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas and see how that works.  Hope you enjoy this recipe!

TO-DIE-FOR CREAM CHEESE CHICKEN ENCHILADAS
from www.pearls-handcuffs-happyhour.blogspot.com on Pinterest

2-3 chicken breasts, shredded {OR rotisserie chicken}
1 {8 oz.} pkg. cream cheese
1 28 oz. can green enchilada sauce {I used Las Palmas}
1 can black beans, drained & rinsed
2 cups cooked rice {I used boil in a bag because I can't cook rice to save my life!!!}
Tortillas {I used Mission flour tortillas, but homemade would be muy delicioso!}
1-2 cups shredded monterrey & colby cheese

Cook chicken and shred; boil rice. Mix the shredded chicken, cream cheese, and 2 cups of the enchilada sauce together. This mix makes A TON!!!!
Pour half a cup of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. 
Layer the rice & black beans to your taste…and top with the chicken mixture in each tortilla.
Roll up each of the tortillas and place them in the baking dish seam side down.
Top with 1 cup of the enchilada sauce…and 1-2 cups of shredded cheese. The more, the merrier so we piled on the full two cups.  Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 375 for about 25 minutes.
Uncover the enchiladas, turn on the broiler, and broil for about 3-5 minutes uncovered...just long enough to brown the cheese.

Daddy Time

Since Barry was able to be home with us another night, I was able to grab my camera and snap some shots of Colton and Barry playing around.  Colton had to dress up in his Spiderman costume and do a little boxing with his daddy.  Daddy is so much fun because he gets right down in the floor with little man to wrestle, box and tackle.................boy stuff.  Colton misses this a lot when Barry is not around, so whenever he gets to come home for a few days, this is always on Colton's list of things to do with daddy.

They had a great time until daddy was wore out and needed to rest.  Colton was not happy, apparently he wanted to fight all night long..............so it was then pouting time...............

..........oh well, not always can we get our way and play 24/7.  There is always next time.