Thanksgiving Day

We had a beautiful Thanksgiving Day. I'm so happy my family was willing to make the drive to our house this year. We played for a few hours before lunch. Emily and Lydia played on the new swing set while the others chatted and watched football. I wanted to eat at 2 and "planned" accordingly. I had NO idea the gravy would take so long (I used some fancy Bon Apetite recipe that was really good but not worth the work). Good thing mom was there to help me make the gravy! We ate at 2:45...that's not too bad! The food was hot and delicious. In addition to my turkey, gravy, and apple sausage stuffing, Cate made mashed potatoes, Brian made sweet potatoes (AMAZING), Lauren made a cold, sweet cranberry side (borderline dessert), Steph made green beans, mom made rolls and pies, and dad brought the wine. Dan "made" canned cranberry! We introduced Cate and dad to the wii. Mom and dad were the last to leave (Dad was getting hooked on the wii). Here are a few pictures from our day.

In front of our new house (no landscaping yet)

Steph and Jon with baby Ryan (Brian and Lauren's son)

Emily and Lydia

Nana and Emily

Dan and Lydia

Me and Stephanie

Me and mom

Steph (with her medal for the fastest run that morning) and Jon

Brent and Cate

Me and Lydia

The dinner party

Happy Thanksgiving

I am especially excited for this Thanksgiving as I am the hostess for my Texas relatives. Leave me a comment with your plans for the day!

Praise the Lord for His abundant blessings!

I was inspired by several Bon Apetite ideas. Here are my cornbread and sourdough cubes drying out. I'm making cornbread according to Ben Westcott's (my brother in law) instructions. He's an amazing cook and gave me really great instructions (no measurements, just "feelings" to know the cornbread is perfect).

I am brining the turkey in a salt, cider, and spice mixture. Here's the bird soaking.

I set my table days ago. How else do you ever get to enjoy your china?

This is my $8 centerpiece.

Can you tell I'm excited?

Happy Thanksgiving!

What's for dessert?

Lydia ate her crayons this evening.

I had to pull wax off her teeth!

A little overdue

Sorry for the lack of posts lately...it's not been for the lack of things going on around here! We've entertained many friends and family in our new home and are working to get things set up for Thanksgiving. Why is it that hanging things on the wall is so scary? So permanent! I have artwork leaning up against the wall where I'd like to hang it; I just can't put the nail in the wall. If you're free, come by and give me your opinion. Maybe I'll feel better if someone else tells me that's the right place for a piece!

Lydia is interested in her potty chair these days. Actually, she went IN (not just next to...another story) the potty today. Her reaction? She almost cried. She did NOT like seeing her pee pee in the potty chair. Oh dear. And what kind of treat to you give a little girl who is not interested in candy, cookies, or ice cream? Ideas, anyone?

And the big news...we found out Lydia's going to have a baby brother! Lydia has been practicing her sweet little mommy skills on all our baby visitors. She loves to give out kisses. A few more months and maybe she won't cry every time I pick up another baby!

More Before and After Pictures

We've moved in! Check out these pictures to see how far we've come.

Breakfast room before

Breakfast room after

Formal living room/front entry before

Dining room after (we opened up most of the wall).

Front entry before

Front entry after

Master bathroom before

Master bathroom after

New master bathroom shower

Master bedroom before

Master bedroom after

Dining room before

Dan's study after

Wet bar before

Wet bar after (it's all gone!)

Almost done

We are so close to being done with our remodel. The house passed it's final inspection today! We are moving furniture tomorrow, then the rest of our stuff on Saturday. I am half dreading and half anticipating the weekend move. I know it will be a ton of work, but the weather report looks good, and we have so many people helping us.

Here are some before and after pics. I will do this again when the rooms are decorated, but I'm just so excited to share now!

This used to be a small study off the master bedroom with entrance to one of two master baths (the door in the corner). We closed off the doors to the bathroom and master bedroom, leaving a doorway off the main living area. This is now a nursery. It's just a small little room that will fit a crib, changing table, and toys. But, once we're done with babies it will be a great play room.

This was the master bathroom off the former study. It is now our master closet (this picture only shows one corner of the closet, but it's pretty big)!

The master bedroom lost a little space to the closet, but we added a tiered ceiling that makes it feel much more luxurious.

This was the fireplace. You can't really see from the picture, but it had lots of floral and heart decor on the face. We ripped that off and put stone over the brick. We still need to repaint the inside.

This is a view of the breakfast room (with a bit of the wet bar on the right side). This biggest change here is the wet bar is gone and you can see into the kitchen now. Hmmm, maybe the biggest change is actually that we replaced the pink carpet with hardwood. It's a toss up.

And my favorite before and after, the kitchen. Not only is the kitchen 8 inches bigger (hey, I took all I could get), but it's opened to the main living area with my fabulous BLUE breakfast bar. I know it's my personal taste, but I love it. We have all new cabinets, appliances, granite, and buttercream subway tile back splash.

Fall, but just for the day

Saturday was "cold" (in the 60s) and overcast. We spent the afternoon at The Oil Ranch in Magnolia. Lydia couldn't wait to pick out her pumpkin (or "apple" as she called it). She carried it around most of the afternoon, offering it to every little animal.

Here we are riding on the choo choo train.

Offering pumpkin to the calves (they actually enjoyed licking it).

Chickens, roosters, and turkeys roamed all over the ranch. Lydia thought maybe they were playing a game with her.

We fed the cows.

This cow, Daisy, loved being scratched on her head.

Lydia enjoyed her pony ride and asked for more.

But her favorite was finding pumpkin after pumpkin.

I'm glad we spent time outdoors even though it was overcast. I think Fall may have only lasted one day. It's getting warm again.