Let It Snow!!!

By Friday, the area I live in and most of the South East will be under a Winter Storm Watch!  I love snow and I am hoping we will get the 5-9 inches they are calling for.  We have no plans other than church this weekend so it would be great to hang out and play in the snow with the kids!  I am also planning on some old fashioned stove top hot chocolate and I found a great recipe @ Southern Plate.  My husband went out and bought some sleds for the kiddos so I know he is planning on having fun also.  Tomorrow, after work I have to go to the grocery and get a few things.  I am sure it will be crowded.  I am going to share a few pics I have found from the past winter weather fun.

This is from Jan. 2009 Ice Storm

More from the Ice Storm

We can do without ice, but we love snow:)

  This has been a few years ago.  It is probably the only snowman my kids have got to build and it wasn't long until the snow melted that day.  We just don't get snow here like we used to.

Here is our house, I love the look of snow on the roof-tops.

Stay warm everyone, I can't wait for some Hot Chocolate:)

13th anniversary and The Harlem Globetrotters

On January 11th, Jimmy and I celebrated 13 years of marriage.  We usually plan a nice dinner date out and have some quiet time alone.  This year ~ The Harlem Globetrotters happened to be coming to town on the night of our anniversary.  Sarah, our 10 year old, decided that this would be a perfect date for ALL of us to go out and celebrate.  So that is what we did, and we had the best time!  We LOVE basketball and so do our kids so this was an exciting time for us.  A lot has changed over the past 13 years and 3 kids later, but we wouldn't change a thing:)

View of the Big Screen

YMCA~getting the whole crowd involved

AWESOME ball handling, spinning the ball on his finger around the back and between his legs!!!

The TEAM!!

Me and little bit

Daddy and Sarah

Happy Anniversary!!!!

Christmas Catch Up

It has been so long since I have blogged---and I have so many things that I need to blog about!  I am going to go back to Christmas and catch up from there!!!  SORRY!!

This is the best picture of the kids on Christmas morning, notice Nate had just woke up and was not happy to be getting his picture made!  We have a tradition of giving the kids new pajamas on Christmas Eve.

He is happy now--this expression is priceless!!!

Lovin the CD player that was a surprise from Santa

She was so funny on Christmas morning, she had to get a picture made with each gift.

I hope everyone is having a blessed 2010 so far!!!

Card Shower

This weekend we are celebrating my grandmother's (my mom's mother) 90th birthday!  We are having a family get together at my aunt's house to celebrate.  I have been so blessed growing up and knowing both sets of grandparents and even two of my great-grandparents and I am very thankful for that!  Happy Birthday Grandmother!

To honor her at her birthday we are hosting a greeting card shower!  Grandmother loves receiving mail, if you wish to share in the fun please send birthday greetings to:

Charlene Kincheloe Webb

P.O. Box 82

Smiths Grove, KY  42171

Thank You

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!

to all

and

to all

a

good night!!!

I love when he falls asleep this way:)

I couldn't resist showing this picture of the girls--who kept me up until 4:30 in the morning! UGGHH!!  I finally went to bed and they stayed up in the living room looking @ what all Santa had left.  I don't know when he had the time to stop since they never went to sleep, they were so excited:)  So on the way home from Grandma's this was how they were in the car by 7:00 Christmas night! HA!  I packed some PJ's with us so they could go ahead and have them on for the car ride home.  We had so much fun with both of our families, more pictures to come.  Tomorrow we plan on taking down the tree and cleaning up around here--Have a good rest of the weekend everyone:)

Tales of Christmas Past

I was looking through some old pictures and found that the past 3 Christmas's we have attempted to take a picture of the grandkids in front of Nana and Pop's tree.  There are 8 grandchildren and their ages are from 15 down to 2, it is getting harder and harder to have everyone cooperate.  I can't wait to see how it turns out this year! HA!

2006 The sweet little girls

2006 Handsome little boys

2007 The whole gang

2008 as good as we could get of the whole gang:)

*notice my sister trying to get my nephew to stay in the picture--oh what fun!!

Hopefully we will get another picture for 2009

Merry Christmas!

Here is 2009--no time for a picture it was time to open the gifts!

Blog Award

My blogger friend Crystal, has sent me my first blogger award!  I am so tickled that she thought of me:) 

Thank you Crystal!!!

Now I am going to tag 5 other blogs with this award so here goes:)

Kentucky Newlyweds

Mommy 2 a Charli Girl
Dave and Brit plus one
Step Inside
The Sweet Life of a Stay at Home Mom

What's in the mail?

When I went to get the mail today I found this........

My mom has given me a gift subscription to this magazine and I LOVE IT!

This is something she usually does for me and my sisters and it is so nice to get something in the mail:)

She has also given us this one a few years ago......

She said that everytime we come to her house we always look at her Southern Living magazines and sometimes we may have even taken one home to borrow:) HA!

Thanks mom for the "gifts in the mail"--- love getting my magazines and recipes!!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas Cookies

No-Bake Orange Ball Cookies, or Frozen Orange Ball Cookies is an old sweet southern recipe that my mom used to make when I was younger.  I have not had these for a long time and found the recipe in the  December 2006 issue of Kentucky Monthly magazine. 

No-Bake Orange Coconut Balls

1 stick butter or margarine

16-ounce box powdered sugar

6-ounce can orange juice concentrate, thawed

12-ounce box vanilla wafers, finely crushed

14-ounce package sweetened coconut

Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl, mixing well.  Add juice and wafers and mix again.  Pinch off small amounts and roll into balls the size of a dime.  Roll the balls in the coconut and place in a covered container.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.  This recipe also freezes well.  I have also seen a version of this recipe to add 1 cup of chopped pecans.  Makes about 3 dozen.

Mix Ingredients well.

Your hands will get sticky, but these are deliciously YUMMY!
It is also easy for the kids to help if you don't mind them getting messy:)
When we were growing up, mom would keep them in the freezer and we would sneak and get a few! HA!


Kelly over @ Kelly's Korner is hosting Show us your life--Christmas Cookies, take a peak @ her blog and enjoy all the YUMMY recipes!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Door Tour

WELCOME

Lianna @ Growing Our Own Garden is hosting her 2nd Annual Christmas Door Tour, so I have decided to participate:)

Please excuse the front door that needs painting HA!  This will go on the to-do list!  A few weeks ago my dear husband was hanging the icicle lights, and I worked on the front door!  (Thank you to my mom for getting this new great ribbon for all our wreaths)  LOVE IT!!  I used a lot of stuff we already had and went with a red/white theme!  I just spray painted a grapevine wreath white added red/white ribbon and I already had the santa.  The sticks I found in our backyard and spray painted them white!  We have wreaths on all the windows and at night you can see the tree through the side lights of the door.

Here is how it looks from further out!  Although it is simple I love how it turned out--we also have wooden candy canes along the sidewalk leading to the front door.

I made this around 4 years ago and it is hanging on the side door!  I had seen another version of this in Southern Living magazine and thought it would be so easy!  Just buy small, medium, and larger grapevine wreaths and attach together with floral wire!  I spray painted it white and added one on my old scarfs!  He will hang out until Spring:)

*P.S. Sorry about the picture--I had to run outside and take it tonight and it is freezing here!  Brrrrrrr!

Ornament Swap

This past week Erin @ Kentucky Newlyweds hosted an ornament swap!  I was so glad to come across this post on her blog and decided to join in on the fun!  There were several bloggers who participated and once we were assigned a partner we just exchanged emails and addresses!  It was so fun to get a package in the mail, my girls even thought it was fun:)  My partner happened to be Erin herself--here is a picture of what she sent to me

I LOVE this ornament and can't wait to do this again, maybe next year:)

If you get a chance check out Kentucky Newlyweds and see the ornament I sent to Erin! 

P.S.  I have been so behind with blogging, I need to try and catch up---Nate our 4 year old has had strep throat so it has not been to fun here the last few days. 

Potato Soup Recipe

This is an awesome and easy recipe that my mom gave me about 10 years ago!  It is also called "Rafferty's Potato Soup"--and is supposed to be similar to the potato soup served at our local Rafferty's restaurant!  I have shared this recipe with friends and know a lot of people who use this same recipe.  It is yummy and on cool rainy days like today it really hits the spot! YUM!!!  YUM!!!  So I thought I would share our supper with ya'll!  My family is thinking how crazy I am for taking pictures of my food. HA!  Comment and let me know how you like this or if you already use this recipe.

Rafferty's Potato Soup Recipe

5 diced potatoes

1 diced onion

Put in a large pan with 2 cups of water and cook until water is absorbed and potatoes are tender.

Add 8 oz. diced bar of cream cheese

Stir in pan until melted

2 cups of milk

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1 can cream of celery

stir in salt and pepper to taste

Simmer for 30 min.

Top with grated cheese and crumbled bacon if you like:)

We usually have grilled cheese sandwiches also, yummy!

Thanksgiving Recipes and Traditions

Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday!  As a little girl, I can remember getting up and being excited about The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  Still today I get excited and have found my kids enjoy watching this parade;)  It would be awesome some day to go to NYC and watch it in person.

(I think this turkey has been in the parade as long as I can remember...)

Jimmy and I spend time with both of our families.  We will have get togethers from Thursday through the weekend.  My dad's birthday is on November 24th so we celebrate his birthday @ Thanksgiving also.  Last year we got "Pop" this birthday cake, I think the kids thought it was cute.

This was made @ a local favorite bakery:)

This is another tradition of Thanksgiving @ my parents house!  We can have some pretty big games of Phase 10 if everyone plays.  We usually have to combine a few decks to have enough cards.

*I would also like to share a few favorite recipes that I make @ Thanksgiving

My mom gave me this recipe for Sweet Potato Casserole and it is wonderful--I almost think it could be classified as a dessert!  HA!

Sweet Potato Casserole

3 cups mashed sweet potatoes(1 large can no juice)

1 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of softened butter

2 beaten eggs

1/2 cup of milk

1/2 tsp. of salt

Combine all ingred. and pour into dish.  Sprinkle the following topping and bake @ 350 for 30 min.

Topping

1cup brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1 cup pecans, chopped

1/2 cup softened butter

ENJOY!!

Crockpot Dressing in something Jimmy's mom always has me make, I got the recipe from a friend I used to work with and she got it out of her smalltown newspaper!  Easy and also taste great:)

Crockpot Dressing

1 8x8 pan of cornbread-I make this up the night before

1-2 bags Pepperidge farm stuffing mix (Herb flavor)

4 eggs

2 cups turkey or chicken broth

2 cans cream soup(chicken, celery, or mushroom) whichever you want

1 tsp. sage

1 tsp. black pepper

1 medium sized onion chopped

1 cup of chopped celery

2 Tbsp. of butter

Mix cornbread, stuffing mix, eggs, broth, cream soup, sage, pepper, celery, & onions together and place in crockpot--Dot with butter.  Cook 2 hours on high, then 4 hours on low.  I will get extra broth and keep an eye on it while cooking--if needed I add more broth to keep it moist just use your judgement to how you like it!

*P.S.  Head on over to Kelly's Korner and check out more Thanksgiving Recipes and Traditions!

Before and After Party

I have been following Thrifty Decor Chick for some time now.  She amazes me with her designs and re-do's and bargains she finds!  I decided to participate in her Before and After Party and share with you all a redo I did of my own!

BEFORE

This is a sewing kit that we received as a wedding gift 13 years ago!  I think??

I keep my cross-stitching supplies in here!

AFTER

1 can of spray paint and a little fabric

I am very pleased with the outcome and instead of a home in the closet, it now sits in the living room next to a side table.

A close up of the top

I am lovin the animal print

So head on over to the Before and After Party and check out more!  Have Fun!!

-Trick or Treat-

Trick or Treating has always been great in our small town.  Everybody knows each other and wants to see all the ghosts and goblins.  Also a lot of the local community churches participate in "Trunk or Treat"--this is where everyone gathers @ the church or a local park and decorates their trunk for Halloween and the kids go from car to car to get candy.  Sometimes the churches even have chili suppers, games, and fellowship!  You can imagine with 3 kids how much candy we get---and most of it we do not need HA!  We have so much fun on Halloween, and I am glad this year it falls on Saturday--however there is a chance of rain so I hope it is not to yucky! Boo!!  This week over @ Kelly's Korner she is hosting Halloween Costumes--past and present, so I decided to share some pictures of my kids and their costumes!

Halloween 2007

Andrea as a cowgirl, Sarah as Hannah Montana, and Nate as a cowboy!

This seems like just the other day!  Sigh!!!

Halloween 2008

When I grow up I am going to be a fire-fighter!  That is all Nate talks about!

Little Miss Andrea loves to be in the kitchen, so she decided to be a chef!

Costume was $1.00--I added a little flour to her face--she loved it!

PEACE

This girl wanted to be a "HIPPIE" and here is what we came up with!

*Here is a preview of 2009*

Nate has watched Peter Pan several times, so that is what he wanted to be!

A close friend had this costume and let us borrow it--thanks Mel!

Andrea had the idea to be a baby and this is what we created!

Big Sis--wanted to dress like she is at a sleepover!

I think for Halloween we will put her hair up in rollers! HA!

Happy Halloween!!

Thanks for stopping by and have a safe night!!!