• Life

    Senior Night

    November 17, 2015 - By 

    Friday night, Oct. 30th, was the last regular season Auburn High School football game, which brought Senior Night. Before the game, all the seniors from the marching band line up on the field with their parents to get their name called and receive a medal. We had family in town that weekend to watch Drew march possibly his last time at home depending on the outcome of the game. Being that we’re the season of “lasts” with Drew, I’m really surprised I’m not a bumbling mess. I think I was more of a mess with all the senior stuff last…

  • Life

    GoodnessKnows Snack Squares {Product Review}

    November 14, 2015 - By 

    Influenster recently sent me a complimentary box that included GoodnessKnows Snack Squares. They currently have 3 flavors; cranberry almond dark chocolate, apple peanut almond dark chocolate, and peach cherry almond dark chocolate. I got to try the apple variety, which contains 4 square bites of dried apples, crisp rice, toasted oats, and almonds with a dark chocolate coating on the bottom. While I’m not a huge fan of dark chocolate, I found this dark chocolate on these squares to very tasty and not too overbearing or sweet; a great way to get in a little bit of that healthier dark…

  • Life

    Exciting News!!

    November 13, 2015 - By 

    It’s the time of year when seniors in high school apply for college. Drew applied at the end of the September and has been anxiously logging in everyday to check his application status. Over the last month or 2 many of Drew’s friends have been getting accepted. One of our friends, who’s a professor at Auburn, warned us based on Drew’s scores, he probably wouldn’t get accepted till after the New Year. Well, yesterday Drew was home sick and he got a text from one of his good friends, JR, saying he had logged in on his phone (at school)…

  • Dinner - Recipes

    Sausage and Rice Stuffed Peppers

    November 11, 2015 - By 

    I don’t know about you, but I occasionally get a serious hankering for stuffed peppers. Lately I’ve been wanting to try something a little different. I found a recipe by Martha Stewart and I while I’m not a huge fan of hers, I decided to give it a try with a few alterations. This turned out so good. I like cutting the peppers down so that you don’t have as much pepper to eat in one sitting. Servings: 4-6 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 3 1/2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings…

  • Travel

    Fort Lauderdale Riverfront Cruise

    November 10, 2015 - By 

    After spending the night in Fort Lauderdale at the Comfort Suites Airport & Cruise Port, we grabbed a quick breakfast snack from the hotel and then headed down to the river to inquire about a Fort Lauderdale Riverfront Cruise. Here’s a few pics from the drive. Since we were there in January during peak season, we were lucky to get a spot on the next cruise. After Rob purchased the tickets [23/adult, $13 children (4-16)], we had a few minutes to kill before getting on so we walked around before boarding. The cruise lasted about an hour and took us…

  • Recipes

    Crockpot Meatballs with Ragú #simmeredintradition #ad

    November 8, 2015 - By 

    Being married to an Italian decedent, I’ve heard stories of Rob’s great grandparents who came over “on the boat” from Italy to New York. With little money and lots of hope, the one thing they were armed with was tons of delicious recipes passed down from their family. This is much like the story of Assunta Cantisano, Ragú’s originator, who left Naples, Italy to immigrate to America in the early 1900’s. After arriving in the U.S. and getting settled in Rochester, New York, she planted a garden and began using those fresh vegetables to make her family’s pasta sauce. With…

  • Chicken - Recipes

    Spicy Chicken Veggie Soup

    November 5, 2015 - By 

    In the morning before I left for work, I threw the raw chicken (each chicken breast cut into 4 or 5 big chunks to help them cook quicker) along with the chicken broth, carrots, onions, and garlic. I allowed that to cook for about 4 hours on high. When I came home and lunch, I pulled the chicken it, which by the way was fully cooked and cut it into small bite-size pieces. Then I threw in the everything else except the zucchini and squash because I didn’t want them to get soggy. I bumped the crockpot down to low…

  • Travel

    Alabama Coast Top Casual Seafood Restaurants #StayAlBeaches

    November 4, 2015 - By 

    When I’m planning a trip, I always like to have a list of great restaurants so that when we’re starving and don’t want to think about where to eat we cazzn just refer to the list. When you travel to the coast, if you’re like me you have to have some seafood. Lots of seafood! Today I’m sharing with you some awesome casual seafood restaurants in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area. When we travel to Gulf Shores for a soccer tourney, one of our team’s favorite place to go after a game LuLu’s. Fun atmosphere and a with a large…

  • Cheesy Potato Soup - prepare in the crockpot and come home to a nice warm meal!
    Dinner - Recipes

    Cheesy Potato Soup {Crockpot}

    November 3, 2015 - By 

    The weather here is getting colder (at least a few days each week) and I love that because that means its soup weather. This Cheesy Potato Soup can be prepared in the crockpot and who doesn’t love that! Servings: 12 Prep Time: 10 minutes Cooking Time: 5 and half hours Ingredients: 5 pounds russet baking potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes 1/2 cup sour cream 1/2 cup butter 1 cup half and half 12 oz. bacon, cooked until crisp, drained on paper towels, and crumbled (easiest way to cook bacon here) 6 green onions, chopped Salt and freshly…

  • Life

    4 Wheelin’

    November 29, 2014 - By 

    Family Friday {4-Wheeler Edition} Earlier this month, we enjoyed a nice time visiting with one of our good friends, Mr. Paul, at his place. We enjoyed lunch at the Broadway Diner. Afterwards, we had a great time hanging out with Mr. Paul. The kids along with Drew’s girlfriend enjoyed driving a 4-wheeler and golf cart. A little look of concern from Caitlyn. What you don’t see a picture of here is Drew started to take off before this picture was taken. The throttle was messed up and Drew (with Caitlyn on the back) jumped the 4-wheeler up on a concrete…

  • Chili Citrus Spice Marinade
    Pork - Recipes

    Chili Citrus Spice Marinade

    November 28, 2014 - By 

    This recipe is called Chili Citrus Spice Maridinade that would be great with pork or chicken. You could do like I did and cook it in the oven or even better yet you could cook it on the grill. Servings: 1/2 cup Prep Time: 10 minutes + marinade time Cooking Time: depends on the size of the meat

  • Thanksgiving Recipes by an 8 year old
    Life

    Thanksgiving Recipes by An 8 Year Old

    November 26, 2014 - By 

    In my scrapbook from my childhood, I found a gem. My 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Marshall, who was one of my all time favorite teachers had us write a recipe of how to prepare turkey and dressing. She typed all of our responses up just the way we wrote them. If you have young kids, I highly recommend you have them do this and save it for laughs later.

  • Life

    Turkey Day Art & Letter

    November 25, 2014 - By 

    While going through all the stuff I got from my Grandmother’s house, I came across a book with a lot of my stuff from school. Seeing these Thanksgiving projects brought back many memorable memories and I just had to share them. My turkey from 2nd grade (I think) My Thanksgiving letter from 1st grade. Not sure why I wrote it God, but ok. 🙂 Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

  • Things I Love About Thanksgiving
    Life

    Things I Love About Thanksgiving

    November 24, 2014 - By 

    It’s Thanksgiving we and I’m really glad. These days many people put up there Christmas trees after Halloween. Christmas music is being played on the radio and of course, you can’t go to a store with out being overwhelmed by Christmas decorations. My family still chooses to wait to decorate until the 1st week of December. Having a real Christmas tree, it’s really not a good idea to put it up until then. With all that being said, I still love and enjoy lots of things about Thanksgiving and the month of November should be a time to be thankful.…

  • Colonial Day
    Life

    Colonial Day

    November 21, 2014 - By 

    Family Friday {Colonial Day} Since Alex is in 5th grade, it was the year to have Colonial Day. I bought Drew a Colonial Outfit back when he was in 5th grade and for him it was almost too small. So needless to say, I was concerned that Alex was too big for it. A couple nights before Colonial Day he tried it on and it fit! I was so happy. I love to see pics of the boys side-by-side at the same age.

  • Taco Joes - Ever wanted tacos, but didn't have any tortillas in the pantry? Here's an easy recipe to remedy that situation/craving!
    Beef - Lunch

    Taco Joes

    November 10, 2014 - By 

    The other night I was seriously craving tacos and when I looked in the pantry we didn’t have any tortillas or any taco shells. I always think back to the days when I used to go to Taco Bueno, when they had the yummiest Taco sandwiches. I looked to see if we had any buns, which we did. I was in business! My family was totally making fun of me, but once they tried it there mouths were too stuffed to say anything. Servings: 4-6 Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 1 1/2 lbs. of ground beef…

  • Southwestern Casserole
    Dinner - Recipes

    Southwest Casserole

    November 2, 2014 - By 

    Those of you who know me well, know I’m a big fan of Mexican food. This Southwest Casserole is a great spin on some of my favorite Tex-Mex recipes. Beef, black beans, corn, and tortilla chips…Yep, that’s all I needed to hear. This is another great recipes that can be made ahead of time or if not, it can easily be whipped up in less than an hour. Servings: 6 Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes Ingredients: 2 lbs. ground beef 1 chopped onion 1 can spicy chili beans 1 can black beans 16 oz. corn (drained) 15…

  • Memories of the Month - Taking time to document the important memories from January.
    Life

    Memories of the Month {10.2014}

    November 1, 2014 - By 

    This month I was happy about: being done with Thunder pics for another year. This month I was sad because of: of things I’d rather not talk about here. Something I accomplished this month was: making some big decisions about this blog.

  • Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars
    Dessert - Recipes

    Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars

    November 1, 2014 - By 

    I love these Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bars. Now I will preface this by saying I don’t love Pumpkin Pie, so I have found it’s the Pumpkin Pie spice that is the whole reason why. Consequently, I just leave that spice out when making stuff that asks for it. I never realized how adding pumpkin makes cake so moist. Try these next time your in the mood for a sweet treat and have your house smelling amazing while doing so. Servings: 24 bars Prep Time: 15 minutes Cooking Time: 30 minutes Ingredients: 2 cups all-purpose flour 1 tbs. pumpkin-pie spice (I…

  • Travel

    Thanksgiving 2013::Spring Hill, FL

    November 30, 2013 - By 

    After Rob and I got home Monday, we had a quick turn around to get ready to hop in the car and drive 7 hours down to Tampa for Thanksgiving. We had originally thought we’d stop part of the way and get a hotel, but we ended up driving all the way. We got in around 2am. Wednesday we hung out with Grandma, Grandpa, and Cousin Tara. We had lunch at a yummy restaurant and then, went to Linda’s house to see her farm. Thanksgiving Day we didn’t have the traditional turkey and dressing. We instead had homemade pasta. Before…