Happy New Year's Eve

It is so hard to believe that this year has finally come to an end. My first baby turned 4 on Halloween and my baby girl turned 1 in July. I love my kids so much, but man it is so difficult having a preschooler and a toddler. It is the toddler who is wearing me out! I know that this is only a stage, and next year will be so much easier. I have quite a few resolutions/goals set for myself this year. I will share them in my year in review post that I will have up *hopefully* tomorrow.

I took this picture of Austin and Kinley yesterday while we were at the mall. They were holding hands while enjoying their suckers.

 If only they were this sweet always. This sweetness only lasted for no more than 10 minutes! I had to carry little miss sugar high out of the mall kicking and screaming!

 Mom surprised us girls when we woke up and told us to get ready because she was taking us to breakfast and for pedicures. We had an awesome breakfast (kid-free!!).

 After breakfast we went to the nail salon and enjoyed pedicures. I am planning on keeping it up and getting a pedicure every month.

 My pretty toenails. The color suits me well, Your a pisa work!

 When we came home the kids were in the backyard golfing. Little Kinley had papa showing her how to hold the club and hit the ball. She was loving it!

 Austin and Kinley were hitting golf balls all over the backyard and running around playing. It was beautiful outside today, 60*.

 Austin was learning to skate with his new skates that Nana and Papa got him for Christmas.

 Papa took him skating up the sidewalk and then took him up to the neighborhood park. He had a fun time!! He is not ready to go home at all. He keeps telling me that he wants to live at Nana and Papa's house.

 We made a bunch of appetizers for tonight and have been munching. I love appetizers! Who doesn't?! We had queso, Tex-Mex dip....

 Buffalo chicken dip, sausage cheese muffins, veggie tray, and dad made a big pot of ham and bean soup. We have been having the best food!!

Both kids are in bed asleep and we are all sitting around watching Dick Clark's New Year's Eve. The guys are having some beer, girls are having champagne, darts, pool, more appetizers, surrounded by family... nothing could get better! Happy New Year's 2012.

Christmas vacation: Atlanta

We are having so much fun in Atlanta at Nana and Papa's house. The kids are having so much fun, staying busy, and loving all of the attention. Austin even told us, "I want to live at Nana and Papa's house!" He doesn't even want to go home. HA!

We have been staying on the go every day with shopping, having lunch out, and date nights. Kinley is loving her Aunt Mallory and even says, "Mallory" so well. I wish our kids were around family all of the time.

Mom and Dad have been telling us every night to go out and they watch the kids. I could get used to this!! We dined out at my favorite, Pappadeux!  Drinks at the bar and calamari for appetizer.

 It was so nice being able to spend some time alone and have drinks and dinner.

 Mallory and Justin (my sister & BIL) met us there for dinner. We had such a great time!

 Austin has been having so much fun playing with some new toys from Santa. He loves the 'little helper' set that Nana and Papa found for him. Just like daddy! ;-)

 Nana helped Austin paint some Christmas ornaments while Kinley sat and snacked! ;-)

 He really had fun painting the ceramic pieces.

 We have been having some of the best meals. Papa really knows how to cook!!

 We all gather in the kitchen and everyone is on their 'electronic devices' HA!!

 Kinley is having so much fun checking out all of Nana's cabinets, climbing stairs, and keeping us busy! I'm afraid they are going to be bored when we get home.

 We have been having a wonderful time. The guys are going golfing tomorrow and us girls are going to get pedicures. Only a couple more days and it will be the new year!! Can you believe it??!! I have some great goals set for myself. ;-)

Our Christmas day

Austin was so excited last night ready for Santa to arrive. We finally got him to sleep around 10:45pm and 5 of us did operation Santa from Nana's basement 'Santa's workshop' to under the tree. It was the most amazing sight. We all stood around the tree in awe. Christmas is such a fun and exciting time of year.

We all woke up early. Doc was up so early he went to QT and bought a bunch of donuts. I woke up a few times in the night. We were all super excited!! We all met on the stairs. Austin was the last one up!! He finally woke up and we all had donuts, muffins, and then opened presents.

 Kinley was so excited when she came down stairs and saw that she had a beautiful new doll buggy. Nana and Papa sure know how to make a little girl happy! I'm kind of jealous... I want one of my own. She loves it. She strolls it around all day.

 Aunt Mallory and Kinley this morning after opening presents. We had such a wonderful time. Aunt Mallory is going to be having one of her own (baby) in just a few months. We are all pretty sure it is a little girl. She is going to let it be a surprise... but, I just know it is a girl. ;-)

 Uncle Justin and Aunt Mallory waiting for our Christmas dinner to be cooked. We all hung out in the kitchen today. Mom made some delicious spinach artichoke dip that was completely gone after about 5 minutes. It was awesome!!

 Dad did most of the cooking, only because he is the best cook! We had a huge spiral cut honey baked ham, scalloped potatoes, rolls, green bean casserole, and homemade noodles.

 We were all starving and ready to eat Dad's awesome Christmas dinner!

 Kinley and I today after she woke up - she's been napping so well. She goes to bed easy at night and has been napping for her usual three hours during the day. She's been worn out! She is staying busy!!

 All of us girls! Me, Kinley, Mom, and Aunt Mallory. It kind of happened that we all wore gray today!

 Mom set up the dining room table and we ate in there on her pretty Christmas dishes.

 It was so pretty with the white Christmas tree. Nana even put the kids table in there too. ;-)

 My honey and I. We are so blessed. It's so wonderful being with family. I can't tell you how much fun we are having. It is absolutely wonderful being with everyone. I couldn't think of a better way to spend our holidays.

 Aunt Mallory is now 17 weeks pregnant! We were comparing Aunt Mallory and Uncle Justin's belly's. HA!!

 She's so cute!! I just *know* it is a girl. I wish she was going to find out, but she is going to have it be a surprise. I could never be that good and wait. But, it will be super exciting on that day that the baby is born.

 Mom made this amazing bourbon pumpkin cheesecake. It took 10 hours to cook!! I think we all died and went to heaven while eating it. Oh my gosh... it was so good!! Better than Cheesecake Factory! Mom, this is definitely going to be a tradition at Christmas time now!

 Dad and Mallory cleaning up the kitchen and doing dishes while everyone was napping and playing on their *electronic devices*. ;-)

 Poor little Austin is just beyond tired. He has been going non stop. He skipped dinner and went straight to sleep in Papa's big chair!

 Uncle Matt was asleep on the couch and Doc was playing with his new Christmas gift.

We have had the best day! I'm so thankful for my family. I love being around them all every chance I get. Tonight, we are sitting around the kitchen table playing blackjack! That is a tradition too. I hope that you and your families have had a wonderful Christmas day.

Happy Birthday Jesus!!

Atlanta Christmas: we're here!!

We arrived to Nana and Papa's house after a very long, exhausting drive with two perfect little kids. They were wonderful on the long drive, but they did stay up until 3:20AM! Yes, like in the morning, after midnight!! We decided to leave after Doc got home at 7pm on Thursday night so that they kids could sleep all night while we drove. Not exactly the way it happened. ;-) We stopped a couple of times at two different rest stops and slept for an house here and there and finally arrived at 3:30pm on Friday. Yes, you are reading that correctly, it took us 19 hours in the car. Never again will we leave at night.

Our little babies were so good and slept the whole next day on the drive there. Kinley got to Nana's house and went to bed for the night at 7:30pm. She's been so great and napping like usual and going to bed early every night. She's been wearing herself out with all of her Uncles, Aunt, and Nana and Papa. Our kids are absolutely loving all of the attention from their family.

Christmas Eve morning we enjoyed some bloody mary's around 11:30am as soon as Matt and Jeremy arrived. Perfect way to start the day!  

 Uncle Matt has a new baby girl - Ellie. She's a great dane and Austin has just absolutely fallen in love with her. Kinley isn't as sure of her and just waves, saying "hi". HA!! :-)

Uncle Justin and Aunt Mallory arrived about an hour after Matt and Jeremy and we all just sat around and had lunch and all of the sweets mom has made.

We got ready and went to evening Christmas Eve mass at church. Kinley got to wear her new Christmas smocked dress I bought her for Christmas church service. She looked so pretty! I must say she was such a great girl in church, minus the breaking of my beaded bracelet and beads went flying every where! HA!! Little stinker.

 Austin will not leave Matt and Jeremy's sight when they have little Ellie with them. He LOVES her.

  I think he has found his new best friend!

After Dad's awesome lasagna dinner, I put Kinley to bed and we all headed down to the basement for some pool and darts. The girls played pool...

The guys all were drinking beers and playing darts.

We had a great day! It has been one memorable Christmas Eve for all of us and the kids. I look forward to Christmas in the morning with Santa. I know one little boy who is so excited! His Uncle Matt keeps checking the Santa radar and telling Austin where he is and how long until he will be at our house.

Tomorrow is Christmas - so exciting! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. May each of you have a wonderful Merry Christmas with your families. God bless!

sausage cheese muffins

Thanks to Pinterest, I made some sausage cheese muffins this morning for breakfast. It seems like we always have the same old thing every single morning... waffles. They love them, they eat them, why change it?! Well, I decided to try these because 1. I had all of the ingredients 2. I wanted to try something different 3. I LOVE sausage balls, these are just like that only more breading and soft.

They are pretty healthy, easy for kids with no mess (HUGE plus in my book!!) and so super easy to make! Austin and Kinley LOVED them. They both ate a bunch of them. I wanted to share this recipe with you all since it is Christmas time, you probably are having guests around and this recipe makes 48 mini muffins. These are a perfect appetizer to bring to a party.

Sausage Cheese Muffins

1 lb. hot ground sausage (I used lean ground turkey sausage)

1 tsp. onion powder

3 cups Bisquick baking mix

1 10.75oz. cream of mushroom soup 

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 cup whole milk

Cook sausage and onion powder in a large skillet over medium to med-high heat, stirring until it crumbles and no longer pink. Drain and cool.

Preheat oven to 375. Combine sausage, baking mix, and shredded cheese in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture. Stir together the soup and milk; add to sausage mixture, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Spoon until lightly greased mini muffin tins, filling to tops of cups. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned.

ho ho ho!!

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paint project

The kids and I did a little canvas painting today. Austin and I did all of the colors and had so much fun this morning while miss sleepy head Kinley slept in until 10:00!!!

This afternoon once all of the colors dried, we took some black paint and Austin and Kinley did their foot prints and hand prints. I love making canvas artwork like this, because it is something that I will keep forever with their small little hands and feet.

I painted on a ton of the modge podge to give it a clear coat and to protect it. It turned out perfect! I love it!! We have it hanging in the playroom. I love all of the fun colors.