Christmas...

Last weekend we went to my Uncle Jimmy's house for lunch to celebrate Christmas with my Grandaddy's side of the family. He lives on a farm, right across the pasture from the Compound. This is his barn...



And these are his horses.





Yesterday we went to Chad's parents' house to celebrate with everyone. Mary Ella loves her grandparents - this is Chad's mom, aka "MeMama."



... and Chad's Daddy, whom Mary Ella has lovingly nicknamed "Gran-Gran" (short for Grandaddy.)



Mary Ella got all kinds of goodies from MeMama, Gran-Gran, and her Uncle Jason and aunt Keri Lynn. Dishes, books, Alabama shakers, a Donald Duck, and a baby doll playset, complete with high chair, stroller and crib! She was in heaven.



We got home around 11pm last night and tucked our little girl into bed... just in time for Santa Claus to drop off his goodies.








More to come, including videos...
We are off to Huntsville and then Florence for more Christmas fun!

We wish you a very Merry Christmas! And remember, it's not about the gifts, but about the GIVER of ALL GOOD THINGS...

"Thanks be to GOD for His INDESCRIBABLE GIFT!"

2 Corinthians 9:15

SNOW!

Remember this?


Well, only days later, the flurries turned into a downright blizzard. Lucy needed a scarf.


And then George Washington showed up to play.


And so did Jenny. And we made snow angels.

Just in case she fooled you...

... here is a video of my precious child in TIME OUT, throwing a rather horrendous temper tantrum. You should know that our TIME OUTS are the last resort, not the first. Before this, Mary Ella had already received 2 spankings... from her Daddy. Which says a lot, because Daddy does NOT like to spank his little girl. But she knows not to disobey and tonight she decided that her way was best. So to TIME OUT she went, for about 15 minutes. (Our TIME OUT dungeon is located in the guest room in her Pack n Play.) Notice the attitude as we try to get her to say "I'm sorry." I think she was a little perturbed at the video camera too, so I'll cut her some slack.

And bless her, when she finally did say "I sorry! I sorry!" at the end, it melted my heart a little.

Multi-Tasking

So far Mary Ella has completed her third course in Helping-Mommy-With-the-New-Baby Boot Camp.
Today she mastered burping her doll and eating her lunch at the same time. Way to go, Mary Ella.



Stay tuned for course #4: Changing a diaper while texting.

William

I am blessed to have some of the most wonderful neighbors. This morning my friend Jennifer invited us over for a playdate and Mary Ella had the best time! I was able to take a few pictures of Jennifer's youngest, William, who is an absolute DOLL and didn't seem to mind the camera too much.

Messy Marvin

We've been working on using a spoon for a while now...




But tonight I made spaghetti... and there was just no other way.

Chicken & Corn Succotash

Ingredients:

2 T. butter
2 1/2 cups shredded Rotisserie chicken (or just shredded cooked chicken)
1 10-oz box frozen corn, thawed
1 cup frozen lima beans, thawed
1 bunch scallions, white and green parts separated & finely chopped
1 tomato, diced
1 cup heavy cream
Salt & Pepper

Heat a large skillet to medium heat. Add the butter and then the scallion whites. Add some salt and pepper to season and saute 3-4 minutes. Then add the corn, lima beans, and cream. Bring all to a boil and cook 4-5 minutes until sauce begins to thicken. Add chicken, tomato and scallion greens and stir gently. Serve with your favorite slaw/salad and sweet yellow cornbread! (I used a simple Jiffy cornbread mixture, which makes 6 corn muffins.)



This recipe is sooooo delicious. It came from the menu-planning section of an old Rachael Ray magazine and I'm so glad I found it. It compliments the sweet yellow cornbread SO well that I ended up crumbling my cornbread right into the succotash. And next time, I think I might try this: Mixing up my Jiffy cornbread mix and pouring the batter on top of the succotash in a casserole-type dish, then baking until the cornbread is done, so that the cornbread becomes the top layer of a yummy casserole.

(You culinary people, would this work or would it make it gross? I think I've had a Mexican casserole that is made with cornbread like this... but not completely sure. I wouldn't want to ruin a good recipe, but man, that cornbread is GOOD with this stuff!!)