Girls Weekend {Cooking School}

You gotta love weekend get-aways, but you can't get it any better spending it with a girlfriend that you love and adore. Meet Marie, but most of you already know her ;). We have been friends since 1999 and we thought we deserved to break away from everyday life and spend some time together. We booked our weekend in Greenwood, MS where the Viking School is located. If you haven't done a cooking class or spa treatment, book your weekend NOW. It's tucked away in this small town on a street filled with Mississippi southern charm! There is not much else there, so a weekend is plenty!
We went to the "Casual Holiday Cocktail Buffet" class on Saturday night from 6-9.

The class max is 12 people. They split you in 2 groups with name tags and you get to know one another over wine, cheese, and fruit. You are placed in your stations where you have the entire kitchen to work with. It's laid back and care-free and so much fun. The ingredients are already measured and all you do is dump, stir, chop, bake, etc. You make one item at a time and the chef guides you on all the steps. Plus, you get the recipes and directions on how to make all the dishes. Well, let me just tell you what we cooked up!

tiny turkey burgers

smoked ahi tuna dip

beef tenderloin with gorgonzola on black pepper croutouns

mini chocolate peanut butter mousse pies with bruleed bananas

These were already made:

cranberry "ketchup"

sesame pita chips

rosemary maple candied nuts

And our bonus recipe:

Santa Baby Cocktails

Here are some of our new friends:

The other group:

those mini mousse pies which were my fav!!!!!!

And our finale...... and it really is hard to take pics of food where they look appetizing.

Jonas' Birthday {December 22}

We started the morning at a local donut shop with chocolate covered donuts, donut holes, and chocolate milk. His bday hat was made by a special lady that Jonas LOVES, Mrs. Tasha, his speech therapist.

Jonas and Reese chowing down on their sugared treats!

After taking Reese to school, Jonas spent the day with SuSu and his momma!

We had lunch at the Purple Cow!

I really loved his birthday hat and made him wear it lots that day ;)

They brought him chocolate icecream with sprinkles and Jonas got a little shy at first.

After lunch, we went and saw Tangled, which was Jonas' 2nd time to see it. It's a great movie and one that we will purchase!

That evening, I cooked his favorite meal: mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese, butter peas, and chicken strips. Here is Reese with Jonas' candle..... but I cant remember what that is stacked up on the plate. Cookies??? Yes, it's M&M cookies that were freshly baked. YUM!

Jonas' birthday gifts from us, SuSu & Poppa, Nana & Pops, and Gma Dor.

So excited about Toy Story!

It was a great day and I am glad I was able to spend it with him. Thank you for the calls, cards, gifts and LOVE for Jonas!!!

Questions that Jonas answered-

What is your favorite color? blue and yellow

Who is your best friend? Elliott and Ted

What is your favorite movie? Toy Story, the new one

Where is your favorite place to go? Disney World (even though we don't leave until Wed)

What do you like to play with? Woody and Buzz

What is your favorite thing to do at home? Play games on the telephone

What else can you tell me? I like chapstick.

Do you like Reese? nodded head :)

What happens when you get in trouble? I get a spanking.

What is your favorite food? chicken and macaroni and catsup

"And I like to go to school."

Wishing you.....

a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

photography by Paige Mobbs

Celebrating {A Whole Hand}

Today is this guy's 5th birthday! It is really hard to believe. As I write this a little after 1am, I can remember 5 years ago just getting to the hospital around midnight to start my induction. He arrived about 16 hrs afterwards and it has been a blessing to have Jonas in our lives. There is more to say about our love for him and I will write another entry about what we have planned for his special day. Wanted you to know that the next 24 hrs is all about this cute dude, our son, grandson, brother, friend, child of God, that we call Jonas.


Happy Birthday sweet boy!!! And by the way, he is soooooo excited to be 5!

Jump Fun {december festivities}

In the mall, you can get connected to bungees and jump real high! The kids decided they would try it out. Here is Reese getting connected...

And Reese jumping high...

Jonas' turn...

Jonas jumping high...

And then it was daddy's turn......

I know the pic is blurry, but Jason and Reese were going at the same time...

red & green {the merriest}

For the first time, our family has an artificial tree. We got one this year for a couple of reasons.... 1) It's way more fun to decorate....or maybe I should say easier 2)Last year our tree farm was running low on trees and it took a while to find one (and we went the day after thanksgiving) The goal is to get a small real tree to put in the foyer, but that might be something we aim for next year.

I put the tree up along with the mesh a couple of weeks before Thanksgiving. However, those cute ornaments didn't appear until turkey day. My parents were over and helped us decorate.

The tree topper, which might be my favorite decor! I have been collecting these glitzy stems for a couple of years now and was finally able to use them. They came from Walmart, Paul Michaels, Hobby Lobby, and Michael's.

Jonas putting an ornament on the tree. Of course the kids LOVED helping and put 90% of the ornaments on the bottom half of the tree. Jason and I were coming in behind them and rearranging.

This is one of Reese's first year ornaments. She was enthralled with it because it was a "baby".

This is our sweet little elf. He is our unofficial Elf on the Shelf. I found him for $16 compared to $30 for the original. And I must say, ours is cuter. He moves around at night, and you never know where he lands until the next morning. Jonas named him Lickey-Waki and someone suggested I make him a lei because of his hawaiian name. This is another fav for the kids!

Our front door. I had the swag hanging up there for a week before I got the garland up. It was warm today, so I worked on it while the kids played outside. It's fru-fru for sure!

And perhaps the most important part of celebrating Christmas. JESUS!

Jonas {the photographer}

I have done a post about this before where I collected a few pics to share from Jonas' camera. He just asked me to delete some of his pics because his card was full and I told him I wanted to look through his pics first. Here are a few things he has taken pics of....... mostly toys and other random things.... like this.

I think this is a toy from a happy meal.

The train station he built. I really like his design work :)

Pops! Apparently from this Spring when they visited.

Nana!

Poppa!

I like how he is getting creative with his angles!

just hilarious! fuzzy,but still wanted to share...

In the car....

Just a little something to share with you this Friday! Jonas is in a great mood but continues to have the rash. Reese stayed with my parents last night and will come back today. Hopefully Jonas won't be as contagious since he has had several doses of his antibiotic.

The plan today:::: put the garland up around the front door. Then hopefully pics to come soon!

Home-Room Mom {first for me}

Since I am part-time, I thought it would work well to be Jonas' home-room mom this year. So far, it has been fun. I have tried to make his teacher wall art for each season. Apparently I didn't take pics of the pumpkin (or either can't find it). And it looks as though Christmas won't happen either, unless I do it ASAP! Here is the first one I did for the new school year. His mascot is an alligator, so I tried to make gators out of the kids handprints. I thought it turned out so cute. I also applied the handprints with velcro so she can re-use it next year.

Life {in sickness and health}

Both the kids "studied" and learned about pilgrims and indians. They each are wearing their indian headbands that were made at school. I might have blogged this already, but Jonas' class got to choose their own indian name. Jonas chose "Little Rabbit". That day I picked him up from school (it's usually Jason) and the first thing he said was, "Momma, call me Little Rabbit for the rest of the day."

Oh, and Reese's class even put on face paint. So adorable!

And this lil' fella came home from school early today. His teacher called right at noon to tell me Jonas had this rash on his face, chest, and arms. Jonas has had this before and he was positive for strep. I picked him up and we headed to my work. Jonas kept complaining of his belly hurting. After encouraging him to use the bathroom, he went ..... and then vomited right on the counter of the bathroom. And not in the sink. You know your a mom when you clean the vomit with your own hands. p.s. maybe you were not ready for the details, but thought I would share our day with you anyway :)

Our sweet man was a champ and his only complaint, besides his belly, was having to walk "a long way" throughout the hospital. He tested positive for strep (which i had that feeling) and we left to get some rest. He has had a dose of zofran and antibiotic and is watching The Incredibles as I write this. He has even perked up enough to request goldfish, his fav snack.

Our plan is for SuSu and Poppa to watch Reese for the afternoon because strep is so contagious. My dad will bring Reese back home a little after Jonas goes to bed. I work this evening and will have both munchkins at home tomorrow. One thing I will do is finish our Christmas garland around the front door so I can post pics of our decor. Then we have Breakfast with Santa on Saturday. I really can't believe December is here already. Where does the time go? As you might already know, our lil man turns 5 on December 22. Can't believe it!!!!!