Sing Off - Caleb Style

Over the weekend Caleb had his Christmas performance at his daycare.  He had been practicing the songs all over the house for weeks so we were really interested to see how he would do up on stage.  For the most part he did a great job and I was impressed at how well he knew each song.  Here are some pictures from the day (please excuse the not-so-good pictures):

Classic Caleb face...getting ready to get his sing on :)

The performance included a ton of hands motions and Caleb had each one memorized.

Look at those hands go!

For most of the performance he was all smiles...but for 2 or 3 songs he was like this:

We have no idea why...he just wouldn't sing.  Afterwards he said he was tired and that's why he didn't sing.  I guess being a star is hard work!

miscellany monday

Happy Monday Friends!  How was your weekend?  I have a couple of random things to share with you today.

1.  Big Guy.  I don't know if you know this or not, but I am married to a tall man.  Rondell is 6'5"!  When I first met him one of my reactions was "wow, he's tall!"  I love that he's easy to find in a crowd :)  I have gotten used to his height over the years, but there are times when I am reminded that he is tall. 

One thing that has us tickled lately is a little girl who attends the same daycare as Caleb.  Whenever Rondell walks in she says "Big Guy!"  

I finally got to see her this weekend at Caleb's Christmas performance and heard her say "Big Guy..it's Big Guy!" with such excitement.  It was adorable :)

My "Big Guy"

2a.  Cookies...cookies!  

Yesterday I went to my friend Lyndsey's 5th Annual Cookie Exchange.  I forgot my camera (again), but you can go here to see where I posted about the 2nd year & the picture above is from the 3rd year (I made snickerdoodles that year).  This year she and her mom asked me to sell a few cards and I was happy to do just that.

2b.  My cookies.  I try to make a different cookie each year & this year I made a lemon cookie.  You can find the recipe here.  I saw it first on Paige's blog a few months ago and knew right away that I wanted to make them because I love lemon.  I did not ice them though...but they were still good.  Here they are in all their glory:

2c.  The greatest discovery EVER!  So, see what my cookies are sitting on...that, my friends, is parchment paper.  This recipe called for using parchment paper, which I have never used before.  It is now my new best friend and I do not know where is has been all my life.  The cookies came off so easily and I didn't have to wash pans between each batch.  I.am.in.love :)

3.  I think that's all I've got!  Join in on the fun over at Carissa's blog.

Friday {Thanksgiving} Favorites

Hi Friends :)  Do you know that this is my 900th post...crazy!  For my Friday Favorites I thought I would take the time to be thankful for our relaxing Thanksgiving (and a few other things in between).  

~  I am thankful that I was able to provide a meal for our family.  This year we decided to keep Thanksgiving low-key, stay home and have our meal here.  It was a very relaxing day...with yummy food :)

~  I am thankful for Kroger...for providing our delicious turkey.  Anytime I have a large meal with a turkey, for as long as it is offered, I will get my turkey here and let them do all of the work.

~  I am thankful for my laptop.  When I cook or clean the kitchen I like to watch shows or listen to music.  So, I can watch this:

 {Yes, I was catching up on Y&R}

...while I am doing this:

 ~  I am thankful for my new cooking utensils from Pampered Chef...they are bamboo.  I learned that wooden spoons keep a lot of bacteria but bamboo spoons do not.  Or as Rondell says 'I got scared into buying them.'  Maybe I did, but so far I love them.

~  I am thankful for Mrs. Keys (my good friend Melanie's mom) for sharing her dressing recipe with me.  And while I may or may not have added a little too much sage this year, it is by far my favorite part of Thanksgiving dinner.  If you want the recipe you can go here.

~  I am thankful that Rondell was brave enough to light our fireplace before dinner.  See, we have lived in this house for over fire years and we have never lit the fireplace...gasp.  I just knew there would be something living in there, but all was OK.  Isn't it pretty?

 ~  I am thankful that the one "craft" that I ended up putting together was a big hit.  I love the everyone got involved.  It was a coloring sheet that I found online (thanks Erin) and there was a space on the side to write the things for which we are thankful.

 {Wanna know something about that handsome guy in the picture above...he got a new job!!  Talk about thankful :)}

~  I am thankful that we were able to slow down and enjoy one another's company (minus Caleb, who decided to spend Thanksgiving with his grandparents...but how wonderful that he has grandparents who love on him in that way...though he was truly missed).

~  I am thankful for Jamison's love for writing.  She is constantly writing a story or a news report.  Here she is presenting her "I am thankful" presentation:

 {Sorry for the blur}

~  I am thankful that the one new recipe that I tried was a hit:

I followed a recipe from Cooks.com (which I can't seem to find now).

I boiled my yams and then peeled and sliced them, placed them in a 9x13 dish and sprinkled them with cinnamon, nutmeg and some pumpkin pie spice.

I made a simple syrup (I like saying that) using 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, and about 1/3 cup of water.  I brought it to a boil and stirred until the sugar was dissolved.

I poured the syrup over the yams & then added butter to the top.

I baked them @ 350 for about 30 minutes...basically until they start bubbling around the side.

YUM!

Share your Favorites...come on, it's fun :)

I'll Be Back Soon...

Hello Friends.  Can I just say that I miss you all?!?!  I have made the commitment to be back to regularly scheduled blogging starting on Friday...with Friday Favorites.

I'm not sure why, but it has been a struggle lately about where to take this lovely blog of mine.  If you have any thoughts about what you like seeing over at my place let me know...what are your favorite posts/topics?

I hope you all had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving and I will see you on Friday (with pictures I might add).

And just in case you're missing me too much:

I Just Wanted to Share...

My name is Kelli and I am not a big fan of hymns...gasp!  I'm not sure why, but for some reason they bore me.  Are you still there?  Are we still friends?

There are times, however, when a hymn captures me.  That happened last night at BSF.  We sing a hymn before the lecture (see BSF's four-fold approach here) and last night's hymn was Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus.  The chorus really struck me:

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.

In our lesson we covered Hebrews 3 & 4 which talks about fixing our eyes on Jesus and entering into God's rest.  I love how this hymns tells us what will happen once we 'look FULL in His wonderful face'...do you see it?  The things of earth will grow strangely dim!!!  That means stress/anxiety/worry, things that we make a higher priority than Him, financial issues, etc all pale in the light of His glory and grace.

I think that's awesome news!!!

Perhaps I need to listen to hymns more often :)

miscellany monday

1.  I love the Christmas Season...like could listen to Christmas music all year long kind of love.  I just love the warmth and the family togetherness that the season brings.  It, of course, is so much more than that, but that's a post for another day.  I do try and save our festivities until after Thanksgiving, but the other night we decided to pull out How the Grinch Stole Christmas.  Jamison has the book so she decided to read along.

2.  So...who's into Twilight?  I saw Breaking Dawn Part I on Saturday and it was really good.  I tried to finish the book before seeing the movie, but I was not successful.  Luckily this was only Part I so I am not too far behind.  Did you see it?

3.  This is totally random...why is it that I can only use McDonald's ketchup when I eat McDonald's fries?

4.  I talked last week about the things I need to do for Thanksgiving.  I got a few things done over the weekend, like cleaning out the fridge, making the detailed shopping list & organizing my containers.  Tomorrow I'll go over my list and revise it...I love a good list you know :)

5.  My brother Evan was in town for a party and yesterday he stopped by to see us.  My kids love him and he loves them just the same.  He also got to meet a few of my friends and I am always impressed by how personable he is.  I just love this guy :)

Stop by Carissa's and share your random!

Thanksgiving Thoughts :)

Well Friends, Thanksgiving is one week from today...where does the time go?  Are you hosting?  I am, but that sounds fancier than it really is.  I am hosting me, Rondell, the kids & my mom.  This year I wanted to stay low-key and make a meal at home.  I can't wait to work on the preparations this week (I'm not quite as prepared as it shows here, but my "event" is much smaller)...which leads me to a few thoughts as I get things ready:

~  One of the things I will be working on this week is a deep cleaning of the house.  Come Thanksgiving Eve & Day all I want to worry about is final food preparations and spending quality time with my family.

In the next week my plan is to make my home spotless...mostly in the kitchen & my dining area (and yes, I have started working on cleaning my craft space).  I plan to clean out the fridge really good and also make sure my containers are all organized...because we'll need that in order to put food away after our dinner.  I also need to check my spices.  I think I buy sage each year and sometimes I end up with more than enough cans...so I'll be sure to check that out this year before I head to the store.

~  I told you how I started my list for Thanksgiving in my new planner...this includes a grocery list.  I've been trying to buy things here and there as I've seen them on sale.  In my mind I go through each part of the meal (for both breakfast and dinner because we're also having a yummy breakfast) and while I'm cleaning the kitchen I can look for the items that I already have...like sage :).

Oh, and I'm cheating and ordering my turkey from my local grocery store.  I have done this before and it is SO worth it...the meat is tender and I don't have to fuss with the preparation that goes along with baking a turkey.  It's a win/win for everyone! 

~  I thought it would be fun to have cute table decorations too...especially for the kids.  I have tagged this post by Just a Girl and hope to put together a cute table setting.

~  To keep the kids busy while I'm cooking I have been looking for some fun crafts for them to do. Two years ago we make these thankful turkeys:

We will probably do this again and I'm in search of a few more.  I was thinking of having them make their own placemats.

~  The last thing I was thinking about is showing others my appreciation.  I was driving by the crossing guard who works for Jamison's school this morning...she was all bundled up making sure a child got across the street safely.  My thought is to take her hot chocolate next week.  I also want to take cookies to my neighbor for staying with Jamison while she's at the bus stop each morning.

So...those are my thoughts...things I'm writing out.  You know I love a good plan :)

miscellany monday

Hello Friends & Happy Monday!

1.  Did you all have a good weekend?  I did, but forgot my camera for each event...sigh.  Jamison ice skated for the first time this weekend at a birthday party.  Initially she was scared and actually got off the ice and took off the skates.  But minutes later she decided she was going to try again...I was SO proud of her.  She made it all the way around the rink (holding on for dear life) and she was really excited.  She was an inspiration to me to get back out there and try...even if it's hard.

2.  Are any of you Blogger bloggers using the new interface?  I have tried to use it a few times and can't quite figure it out.  I usually read blogs from my dashboard and for some reason I can't seem to figure out how to scroll down to see all of the blogs that I follow like I can on the current dashboard.  If you have any tips feel free to pass them along.

3.  I love a full moon...it is so captivating.  I was able to capture last week's full moon with my camera.

4.  This is on my Christmas list this year...I have always wanted it and can't believe I do not have it.

5.  Look what I got to play with over the weekend:

 My new Erin Condren planner arrived last week and I could not be happier.  I was actually able to get it for only $20 because Plum District was having a special where you bought a $50 voucher for only $25...and because it was my first purchase I got an additional $5 off...SCORE!

I got a chance to transfer a lot of my plans from the old planner into the new planner.  I was in my happy place. 

I like the new tabs so far (even though I have heard that they are not as sturdy as people would like).

I also like this new feature of a notes page at the beginning of each month.  I have started planning my Thanksgiving dinner on November's page.

This back page is something that I'm really excited about.  The one thing missing for me from this planner was an extended calendar view...and now it's included!

Well I am off to work on my To Do list :)

Join sweet Carissa & tell us your randoms.

35 Things :)

Well Friends it is over...my birthday is officially over.  I had a wonderful day & received a ton of love.  I thought I'd list 35 things (since I'm 35 now) that made my birthday great, in no particular order.  And I apologize ahead of time for zero pictures ;)

1.  Coming into work and seeing my desk completely decorated with a banner, streamers and balloons.

2.  The kids singing Happy Birthday to me.

3.  Wearing my favorite color.

4.  Texts that I received wishing me a Happy Birthday...even the one that came in at 5am.

5.  Emails from dear friends.

6.  Birthday voicemails complete with the Happy Birthday song.

7.  My grandfather remembering my birthday and calling me to sing.

8.  Reading a tweet from my brother saying that I am the best :)

9.  Eating pizza twice.

10.  Having my boss sit and eat lunch with us because it was my birthday.

11.  Pizza from my favorite pizza place for dinner (and having leftovers for lunch today!).

12.  The sweet sign that my kids and their friends made for me.

13.  My friend Tasha taking a picture of the kids with the sign and framing it for me (I'll have to share that with you).

14.  Gifts on my desk from co-workers.

15.  Getting to talk to one of my oldest and dearest friends on my way to work.

16.  Getting to talk to a friend who is like a sister to me on my way home from work.

17.  Renee and Toshianna signing to me first thing in the morning.

18.  A sweet e-card from my Daddy.

19.  Exercising my right to vote (and not having to wait in line).

20.  Making videos on my phone of the kids signing to me so that I could play them throughout the day.

21.  All of the sweet Facebook messages.

22.  The sweet and thoughtful card from my mom, complete with a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory.

23.  The yummy cherry crisp pie that my mom brought for dessert...YUM!

24.  The CD by one of my favorite artists that my honey gave to me.

25.  A sweet little note from Jamison's teacher wishing me a Happy Birthday.

26.  All of the Happy Birthdays from co-workers (since my desk was decorated everyone who walked by knew it was my birthday).

27.  All of the hugs I received.

28.  Not having to do any dishes :)

29.  Watching a good episode of NCIS (sometimes I do love a good cliff hanger).

30.  Rondell not having to work at Best Buy.

31.  My friend Lyndsey's gift to me...a hanger for my keys that hooks onto my purse so that I don't lose my keys (I'll have to share that too).

32.  Abbie's world-famous chocolate chip cookies.

33.  The gorgeous weather...it was 70 degrees with beautiful blue skies.

34.  The smile on my face...all.day.long.

35.  God blessing me with another year and allowing me to be surrounded my wonderful people.

miscellany monday

 Happy Monday Friends...how was your weekend?  Did you remember to fall back or did you get to your destinations early?

I am here on another Monday with a little of this & a little of that.

1.  So, you know how I have been in a bit of a rut?  Well last week I was praying for guidance on what I needed to do to get out of this and God continued to bring me to various Scripture about habits...like 1 John 3, which deals with the hard Truths about how I need to conduct myself.  The "theme" of habits has also been popping up in my devotional, Jesus Calling.

I have to rethink habits like always reading blogs before reading His Word, ordering out in a pinch instead of getting creative in the kitchen, taking naps instead of being productive (sometimes I nap just out of habit, not that I am even that tired).  So, I'm going to continue to pray about this issue and hopefully get back to my old self :)

2.  This weekend I cracked into my card making stash and it rekindled the romance :)  I hope to be able to pull out these containers so more this week.  I so enjoy sitting down and creating something special for someone.

3.  Speaking of cards...soon my table will look like this:

Oh yeah...it is time for Christmas card making.  My new stamp just came in and I would like to get started this weekend.  I am still debating about whether or not to do multiple styles or stick with just one

4.  Happy birthday to me...a little early.  This is my birthday week (it's tomorrow...and don't worry, you still have time to send me a card or a gift...wink, wink).  My mom ordered me a pair of tennis shoes and they arrived last week.  I love a new pair of tennis shoes...some people are boot people, some like heels, but I am a sneaker kind of girl :) 

Come on and join us...here :)

Halloween 2011

We had a really great Halloween weekend...packed with a party, friends & candy :)

My friends Amber & Lyndsey throw a Halloween party for our kids each year.  The kids come in costume, eat some goodies & play a few games.  It is always a fun time and my kids look forward to it every year.

 My cute ladybug...with all her sass.

 Lyndsey's mom had each kid stand and tell about his or her costume and do a little trick while the other kids paid close attention.

 I made Rice Krispie Treats with candy corn...I heard about it here.  I also made Mummy Dogs...seen here (I actually used the crescent rounds which roll out into strips...perfect!).

 Amber & her oldest son made a punch and put dry ice around for a spooky theme.

Group shot (minus a few).  Can't wait to do it again next year :)

On Halloween my mom, my friend Marja & her daughter came over.  My mom and I always sit and pass out candy and Rondell takes the kids.  It was pretty cold this year so they only stayed out for about an hour.

 This was our attempt to make our house a little spooky...some web and a ghost.  The ghost was voice activated and would make a "scary" sound and move along the line when activated.  Since my mom & I sit and chat we laugh a lot and every time she laughed it would turn on the ghost...lol.

 The Trick or Treaters ready to beg for candy. 

 Rondell and Marja both dressed up this year.  I think Marja wants to be an extra in one of the Twilight movies :)

 Me & my old man...he is older than me you know?!

These two crack me up...they are so good together (except for the moment they decided to "break up"...it didn't last long).

Hope you all had a wonderful Halloween...now bring on Thanksgiving :)