9 years today, whoop whoop!

A couple of months back, Hubs was cleaning out his bed side table and came across something that he had saved.

When I saw it, I had a flood emotions.

Amazed he saved it.

Then I thought about it for a hot sec, and was like WOW I was a hussy.

It was the napkin that I wrote my number on for him.

Thats right, I gave him my number, ha.

Hussy.

But today we celebrate our 9 year wedding anniversary.

And that number hangs on our wall.

So I guess sometimes being a hussy pays off.

Happy anniversary Jeffie.

BHH.

10 years next year, its a BIG one.

We want to go somewhere.

Where would you go?

Two Minute Salsa.

We planning this for this upcoming weekend, I wanted to make a lot of stuff in advance.

When you are going to have 6 extra people around for 5 days, planning is key to a stress free weekend.

One thing I knew right away to make was this salsa recipe passed to me by my girlfriend Jenni.

It really is beyond easy.

What you will need:

- 3 cans stewed tomatoes {original}

- 3/4 onion {diced}

1/2 bunch of cilantro

- 1 tsp chili powder

- 1/4 tsp ground cumin

- 1/2 tsp garlic powder

- jalapenos {to taste}

- 6 shakes of red wine vinegar

- salt {to taste}

Ready for this, combine in food processor and push button.

And now you have salsa!

This recipe filled a large 24 oz mason jar AND a smaller 12 oz.

Which worked out perfect, filled the 24oz jar up, then add some more jalapeno blended for a hot version.

This is better after a day or so in the fridge.

Add chips and enjoy!

Off to check something else of my list.

I will take my Holidays one at a time, thank you.

Traditions are designed per the individual.

And one tradition I hold dear is not over shadowing

Thanksgiving by decking the halls before hand.

Over this past weekend there was SO many photos popping up of

Christmas trees, mantels, and elfs on shelves.

Not in our house.

This week is all about the bird and giving thanks for all we have been blessed with.

Last Friday Buggie had her Thanksgiving Feast at school.

All the kindergarten classes gathered and gave thanks.

Every child pay $3 and the parents organized the event that was catered by Boston Market.

I am thankful for being a SAHM that has a husband able to adjust his

schedule so I can be there to capture these moments.

I am thankful for the friendships Buggie has made over these past months. And what a wonderful transition she has made into kindergarten.

I am thankful for this group of kids, that call me "Avery's Mom". They are the sweetest.

I am thankful for hosting my first Thanksgiving.

I am thankful for Hubs family from Boston coming to give thanks with us.

I am thankful for 80% off fall clearance at Hobby Lobby.

I am thankful for the beautiful handmade table cloth, that was passed down to me from Hubs grandmother.

I am thankful for so much more and Thursday I will sit at our dinning room table and reflect on them. But not with the glare of a Christmas tree behind me.

I am thankful for all of you.

They all can't be winners.

Sunday I wrote out our meal plan for the week with the idea of trying ALL new meals.

Not just new meals but using my crockpot {or as auto correct likes to call it "crackpot"}.

Monday:

Pot Roast

We came out of the gates running with this one.

It was AH-MAZING.

Hubs said top five meals I have made, and lets be honest people that pretty high standards here :)

The only I changed for our was instead of putting the potatoes in the pot, I made mashers. Which is just cause my kiddlets prefer them that way.

Oh and do not forget get the loaf of crusty bread to "zamboni" that plate clean.

Tuesday:

Orange Chicken

Going into Tuesday we had some big boots to fill after the pot roast.

And lets just say those boots were not filed, even the little drop.

This meal was disgusting.

Worst part it was in the crackpot all day, smelling up my house. Giving me the sensation that it was going to be EPIC. Yeah it was EPIC alright, EPIC FAIL.

Live and learn.

The taste was over powering, and NO ONE liked it.

We ate cereal.

Wednesday:

Tortellini Soup

This was the only non crackpot meal I made.

It was good.

It was easy.

And it made up for the night before.

Mind you it was not Pot Roast, but they all can not be a "pot roast" type of meal.

I did make my Cheesy pull-apart bread to go with it.

Thursday:

Angel Chicken

I knew this would be our redeemer.

And it was.

Full of flavor.

Everyone loved it.

Even my non-mushroom eaters.

We all agreed it will go into the "routine".

Random side job:

Apple Butter

When I pinned this, I knew it would be a gift for Buggie's teacher for Thanksgiving.

I just thought after reading the directions it would take around 10 hrs, well tack on 6 more hrs and you have yourself some apple butter.

Its good.

REAL good.

Worth the time.

I think were I went wrong was the apples I used were REAL juicy, so it took longer for the liquid to evaporate.

But make it.

The before:

The after:

That cute Thanks little tag came from here, they are free!

Ok so there it is, the low, the skinny, the nitty gritty, the good, the bad, and the REALLY REALLY good.

I encourage you all to take a week and plan a new recipe for each night. Just remember there might be a night you end up eating cereal!

Mom in the shot {Nov 17th A sick little Bean,

Knock on wood, my kids rarely get sick.

But when they do, oh boy, they are out of commission.

Sunday Nolan started showing the signs.

A little sneeze here or there.

His eyes started getting a little glassy.

And by bedtime we knew.

The fever came.

Monday morning I got him up and we headed to our peds office.

Thats one of my favorite things about them, the 2 hrs in the morning that are just for walk ins.

It's such a relief to wake up at 7, throw on some clothes and not have to call or wait.

As you can see in his little face when waiting for the dr, it had been a LOOONG night. After a quick checkup his diagnose : ear infection. Reason two to love my dr's office, our two dr's carry those little laptops, where they already now our preferred pharmacy, and my dr simply sends over the rx for Bean's prescription with a flick of his finger. So I just leave and go straight home without having to swing by and drop off the rx and just go get it when it was done.

Yeah it was a rough start to our week. Poor guy.

But I can report that my little dude is back on the upswing!

We got to leave the house yesterday!! Even if it was the grocery store.

{Talk about a reflection pic, this is a reflection of Bean through the window reflected on the back of my phone and my image on the window, crazy right, kinda really love it. Even with the dirty window}

As you can see he was all smiles.

***Having one of this days or weeks for that matter, when you think you are losing. Losing against your kids, read my cousins blog post, and take note that you will WIN.***

Did you see his birthday party?!

Linking up with Em.

Fall Florida Style {The Paper Mama Photo Challenge}

This is my first time linking up with Chelsey from The Paper Mama, and I am very excited to join the fun.

This weeks challenge is fall.

And honestly these pictures may not look very fall to you, but if you do not live in Florida then you my not recognize "our" fall.

Unfortunately for us fall is not about trees filled with techno colored leaves, falling to the ground every time the wind blows.

And it surely is not about scarfs, hats, and mittens.

Nope our falls are shorts, flip flops, and palm trees.

But one thing fall does bring us is time outside in 70 degree weather.

So with the sun hanging low in the sky, giving us an hour or so of sweat free playtime, we RUN full speed outside.

This was fall for us this weekend.

Time at the park playing peek-a-boo.

Then a little pretend game of baseball, where Daddy stood on the mound and "throw" the ball and we "swung" our bats. And every ball we "hit" was a homer! Then ran the bases with our arms stretched high above our head in victory!

And for some of us preferring to draw in the dirt.

It was a magical fall day here in Sunshine State.

And then we partied Part 2 {Bean's Dino-mite 2nd birthday party}

**WARNING: Heavy link and picture post***

As I already shared last week, we had Bean's party at Gymboree.

Which was a blessing and a wee bit stressful.

The stressful part for me was remembering everything, packing it all up, lugging over there, and only having 45 mins to setup, EEK, I get the shivers thinking about it again.

But honestly it turned out perfectly.

I also mentioned last week about 90% of his party was DIY, why? because I love to.

Bean is WAY into dinosaurs, so choosing the theme was a no brainer.

And another no brainer for me was where to go to get the paper good made.

As you know from this party and this party Kori, Paper and Pigtails, is my go to girlie for all things party.

First things first the backdrop for the little dessert table.

I was lucky to find large square plates at Ikea summer clearance section, $1 for 10.

Then with my Joanns coupon I purchased a bifold foam board, the kind for science projects, then hot glued the plates to the board.

Then to add a little extra something I added a fabric garland across the top.

Honestly it took all of maybe 20 mins and cost maybe $10 bucks.

One thing I did buy and not make were dinosaur masks from Oriental Trading.

I loved the variety and price. :)

When planning this party it became clear right away that Pinterest was going to be a BIG tool for me. So I created a "Little Dude is Turning 2" board. And one of the first things I pinned were these dinosaur tails, and knew I was going to make them as favors. The first one was not the greatest but after, oh maybe, number 5 I was on a groove and it took two days to complete 12 of them. To make the ones for the girls a little more girlie I added a felt bow to them.

To say they were a hit would be a HUGE understatement.

Honestly I think they made the party.

Another one of those not made things was dinosaurs on the tables, which I bought one for each kiddie to take home. $1 store came through on this one, $12 bucks = PERFECT!

Now back to the table. Using Kori's snack cups, which are my favorite things in her lines, I put some goldfish and homemade lemon buddies {check the back of the Rice Chex box for the recipe}, so yummy.

Now I was going to make cupcakes, and when I woke up on the morning of the party and realized that would NOT be happening, a quick call to our grocery store solved that problem quick and easy.

The cupcake "stand" was made with a $1 pizza pan from the dollar store, a large can from making tomato sauce for dinner one night, then taking the striped paper Kori had made for the set and gluing it all together. WHAM BAM, thank you MA'AM. Cost maybe $3. I also made Oreo Pops, cause no party is complete without them, TRUTH.

Another thing I had pinned were these Cheerio Snacks and right away I knew they had to be our volcanos. So after making them and letting them cool, I took some red wiltons melting candy, heated it per the bag instructions, added it to a ziploc baggie, snipped the tip off, and squeezed on took to make the lava.

They were super cute! And tasted yummo.

When I pinned these dino fossils, I know I was going to make them into cookies. So after making the BEST sugar cookie recipe, rolling it out and cutting it into circles, I took a {washed} dino and made foot prints, then took a little cinnamon sugar concoction, and sprinkled in the foot prints. Baked and done.

Lastly, came the dino claws. When I saw this pin, I was like "HOLY DINO CLAWS!". After making them, which I am not going to lie was NOT fun, the taste of these salty sweet goodies made up for it!

For favor bags, I took just regular old brown paper lunch bags, filled them up, took one of the circles from the dino paper set and sewed the bag.

I love sewing paper, its kinda of weird how much I love it.

And the bags were filled with a book of dinosaur stickers, $1 bin at Target, stamps from Oriental Trading, and no spill bubbles with dinosaurs on the bottle {regular $2.49 I scored on clearance at target for .50!!}

My last project was to make the birthday boy a special shirt. I purchased the shirt from American Apparel, Kori made the Dinosaur and his name and a 2 for the back. After printing onto some iron paper, he was all set to party!

So there it is Bean's Dino-mite 2nd birthday party. It was super fun to plan and execute.

And this little face made it all worth it!

So I warned you, there was a BOAT LOAD of links and pictures in this post.

If you have any questions feel free to ask away.

And then we partied Part 1 {Bean's Dino-mite 2nd birthday party}

***WARING: Photo HEAVY post***

Last Saturday our friends and family gathered to celebrate Bean's 2nd birthday.

See every week we attend Gymboree classes, and he LOVES every second of them.

So when planning the party, we decided to venture into new territory and have it out of our house.

It was DIVINE.

No before hand clean up and no after clean.

My sweet girlfriend Jenni took photos for us, and it was a blessing.

Not to have my camera around my neck and be in the moment was the best gift anyone could give me on my "birth" day of Nolan, ha, like that right.

There were SO many wonderful images, that I have decided to break this into two post.

So today I am sharing just images from the party.

Then on Monday I will get to the nitty gritty with the DIY's, since 90% of the party was DIY.

Having it at Gymboree was perfect.

I requested his teacher host the party, and she knows what he REALLY likes.

And she made sure we did it all.

He party was Dino themed. So there was a lot of stomping and roaring about. Which made it nice since there was a age range of 2-5 there.

Buggie got WAY into her role as "girl dinosaur".

Another thing I really enjoyed was the time of the party. We chose 2:30 to 4:30. A time in which we did not feel we needed to REALLY feed people other then snacks. And for us saved money and time for my parting.

This picture cracks me up, because it is so him, throwing his head back and chugging milk!

He got the candle out in one blow. It was super cute.

The group was made up of some amazing kids that made his day so special.

I giggle every time I see this image. I mean he is such a crack up, he loves secrets, and Ms Kelly was telling the kids a "secret". And he just covered his mouth and started laughing.

So freakin cute.

It was a great day, filled with friends, family, and fun.

See you back on Monday for the low down post on the dino details :)

Have great weekends!