Thanksgiving!

It has been a week! Oh my... I was worried we would just be lying around the house in turkey coma for days, but hence, we managed to fill the WHOLE weekend!
After a lousy start to our loonngg weekend, I was so sick, Thanksgiving went off without a hitch!

Kellen allowed us to sleep in until 8, I know right?! We watched the Macy's parade. it was not great this year. I am disappointed that every time I stopped to watch it was Broadway people, just dancing. Even Callie who is an avid parade groupie, gave up on it and went to roller skate in the basement. Try harder next year Macy's, you are losing the Wood family viewership.

We headed over to my parents house and started the festivities early!
We had such a blast hanging out with the family and gorging ourselves with delicious treats and it was like 60 degrees, it doesn't get much better than that!

I like to start off the day by torturing my family with a barrage of pictures! They actually came out pretty well! If only we could get that boy to smile.

My pies were a hit! I was pleasantly surprised that they came out. I even got compliments from my grandpa, who is the spouse of the pie queen!

After food fest 2015, we went home to put up the Christmas tree and decorations. Well, that was another adventure with a 1 year old. I forgot how they like to destroy things...So on Friday we had a special Pinterest craft just for Kellen, more on that later.

We spent the rest of the night getting out all of our Christmas treasures, including our tacky white tree, more on all the decorating shenanigans later as well.

"Helping" with the tree

Kellen loved the lights on the tree, but was blinded by the flash, another crazy face picture.

This girl loves hanging up the ornaments, she did a wonderful job!

aannndd, we were finished and it was time to wrestle with daddy!

So the decorating is pretty much done, but now I just have to get started on my shopping, oy!

Grandma's Pumpkin Pie

So I have mentioned a few times that at every holiday get together someone has an assigned dish to bring, that becomes theirs forever. Apparently my sister and law and I are now sharing pie. I used to be terrified of pie. People depend on it and if you mess it up, well, there is just no coming back from that!

A few years ago I called up my grandma and she gave me her recipe. It is so easy!

Pre-heat the oven to 400

Mix together 15 oz can of pumpkin, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup of sugar, 1 cup of milk, 1/2 tsp of ginger, 1/2 tsp of all spice and 1 tsp of cinnamon 3/4 tsp of salt. This year I tripled it and used 1, 15oz can and 1, 30 oz can, that's a lotta punkin'. I tripled all the other ingredients as well, of course.

Stir everything together and pour into a 9 inch pie plate. I used a pre-made crust because crust is a lot of work! If I do a fruit pie, I always make a real crust, but I have been sick all week and making a pie crust seemed beyond my ability today!

Pop the pie into the oven and bake for about an hour. The recipe says 45 minutes, but mine ended up being about an hour. Start with 45 minutes and check every 5-10 minutes after that.

You'll know its done when the crust is golden brown and I knife comes out clean!

Not super pretty, but super yummy!!

What I wore Wednesday!

This week has been surprisingly calm and wonderful! The students have been great and now we are officially on Thanksgiving break. Yay! Today will be a day of pie baking. I  inherited the pumpkin pie baking last year and I hope I live up to my grandma's amazing legacy.

My sweet grandma told me that they first year she made pumpkin pie, she put a top crust on it. It was nice to know that queen of pies had humble beginnings!

I wore this to one of my sweet friend's baby shower. She is having twin boys soon! I can't wait to hold them. I miss tiny babies, they are my favorite!

Sweater: Old Navy

Vest: Old Navy

Denim leggings: Target

Boots: Kohl's

Necklace: Target

I wore this last weekend, when it was FREEZING to run errands. I hate trying to smash thick/long sweaters underneath a coat when I am out and about in the winter, so I went with a thinner sweater and scarf to keep toasty!

Sweater: Target

Grey denim leggings: Old Navy

Scarf: Very Jane

Boots: Target

I saw this outfit on a blog and tried something a little new! The plaid and pearls, I love how it came out!

Dress: Target (old)

Long sleeve tee: Kohl's

Tights: Very Jane

Boots: Target

Pearl Necklaces: Target

I love this sweater! I usually wear it with a bright yellow tank, but when I tried it on, it had a small hole in it, so I had to retire it and try something new!

Sweater: Old Navy (old)

Tee: Target

Grey pants: Target

Teal wedges: Target

These pants, hmm, I got them 2 years ago and I haven't really worn them much because they look weird with heels, like they are little too short. Does any one else have this problem?? I have the hardest time finding pants that look okay with flats and heels. Is that too much to ask?!

Top: Limited (thrifted)

Polka dot jacket" Target

Pants: Target

Nude heels: Target

2 Ingredient Cupcakes

As if we needed more sweets in our lives... A few weeks ago I made the easiest dessert known to mankind! Pumpkin cupcakes!

All you need is:
1 16 oz can of canned pumpkin
1 box of chocolate cake mix (ours had little chocolate chips in the mix!)

1. Preheat the oven to 350
2. Mix the pumpkin and cake mix
3. Spoon into muffin tins (I think ours made like 16 and they were pretty big)
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

The batter is super thick, but don't worry!

Done!! Let them cool and frost them! I used the a can of frosting from the store (I was on a tight schedule). I brought the left overs to school the next day and one of my colleagues said that they were only 2 weightwatcher points without the frosting. So I feel like they are pretty healthy and I had like 4  in a day!

What I wore Wednesday

This week has been pretty chilly, still! It feels like I should be getting out the Christmas decorations. But I am firmly for letting Thanksgiving have it's day. Then, that night of Thanksgiving I will put up all the Christmas stuff! So cold weather called for some cute sweaters and boots this week!

                                                 

I love this sweater but it poses a bit of a problem. Our school has uniforms and when kids don't wear them, they get to wear on of these gigantic bright yellow t-shirts. Our students call them highlighter shirts. Sadly, my sweater is the exact color of the non-dress code shirts. So I got made fun of a lot this day, but I don't care!

Sweater: Forever 21

Stripped layering tank: thrifted

Black Jeans: Target

Booties(I hate that word!): Kohl's

Hello warm clothes!

Sweater: Forever 21, Thrifted

Long sleeve tee: Old Navy

Denim leggings: Target

Boots: Target

Necklace: Target

Dress: Target, thirfted

Patent heels: Target

Necklace: Very Jane

Dress: Kohl's

Jacket: Forever 21

Boots: Target

Boot socks: Very Jane

Casual Friday for our Veteran's day assembly. Our kiddos were amazing as they honored veteran teachers and community members!

Button up: Old Navy, thirfted

Denim leggings: Target

Red flats: Target

Scarf: Gift from my sister in law

I love this sweatshirt and I know it's more like a going out top, but I was super sick this day and I just wanted to be warm and cute. There is something about looking okay, even if you don't feel okay that allows you to survive the day at work, when you would rather be at home in bed!

Sweatshirt: Target

Lacy Tank (hard to see in this light) Target

Black jeans: Target

Flats: Amazon

Scarf: Gift from my sister in law

DIY boot cuffs from old sweaters!

This weekend I massacred some old sweaters! The weather has been frigid, I am talking like 12  degrees for a high, yikes! I have been seeing all these cute girls with fun boot socks.

BRRRR!

 I started searching all my favorite stores and websites for boot socks or boot cuffs and they are not too cheap. Any where from $10-20 a pair, no thank you. I will make mine for free!

Last week I went through all of my winter clothes and cleaned house. I had a bunch of sweaters all packed up and ready to donate. Friday night I was laying in bed and the wheels started turning and I raced down to the basement and dug them out.

The next morning I began my creations!

As with most of my projects, there was no rhyme or reason to this. I just knew that I wanted something cute and fun. I started with the pink sweater. It was in sad shape, stretched out, old, broken zipper but the sleeves were in great shape. I busted out my secret sewing scissors and got to work!

I wanted these a little bit longer so I did one arm and then made the other the same size. They came out pretty well!

Fun!

Pleased with my progress, I kept hacking! This time I wanted them a little shorter. I have inherited these cursed linebacker calves, so it's a struggle to smash my legs in boots with pants/leggings and socks...enter the boot cuff!

Oh, the carnage!

I think these brown ones are my favorite!

The last sweater has weird cape sleeves, so these ones were super short and I forgot to take a before picture, but they look pretty cute with my black boots!

So there you have it! 3 old sweaters and a pair of good scissors = 3 new pairs of boot socks! 

Total cost: Free!

How to throw a painting party!

Last week Callie turned 8, so to celebrate we did a painting party! She wanted to have it at the Canvas and a Cocktail place, as she found out they have kid's parties. So a few months ago I called and found out that you pretty much have to be a millionaire to have a party there. $400, no thank you. We did it on the cheap and the kids had a blast!

The decorations: Could not be more simple! We got a bunch of different colored streamers from the $tree and put the dads to work! It came out so pretty! Total cost $6.

A banner, balloon and some twirlies in the window from Hobby Lobby, total cost like $30.

The food: Wed did all kinds of fun things! We made paint brushes (Rice Crispy's dipped in candy coating with a Popsicle stick)

Aunt Phanneth made an amazing trail mix with all kinds of colorful treats! (Dang I never got a picture! You will have to send me what you put in it P) Decorate your own sugar cookies and rainbow cupcakes! Everyone was on a sugar high after this!!

I also made some adult treats including Jalapeno Tree green dip and Bacon cheese dip! Yum!

The fun: For these kiddos we had aprons, canvases and supplies from Hobby Lobby to paint some masterpieces!

This was seriously the best thing I have ever done at a party! They were so quiet and so focused for like an hour! 

Their pictures came out so well! We have some artists in this group!

It was great party and I am so thankful for my family and friends for helping everything come together for waaayyyy less than $400!

What I wore Wednesday!

It's back! Last week, was  just too crazy with Brien gone, Callie's birthday, planning for school and the weather blah, blah, blah, blah, no time for anything. I finally found some time to be able to share this week! Yay! Here goes...

My wardrobe got real fall, real fast!

 Stripped Dress:Target

Leopard Scarf: Target

nude flats: Target

I love that nude shoes go with everything! I love that striped and leopard go together and I love that this dress fits again!

Lace tee: Forever 21, thrifted

Stripped tank: Target

Cargo skinnies: Kohls

Camo flats: Target

I keep reaching for these cargo pants, They are missing a button, so maybe that's what makes them extra comfy. I better get that bad boy sewn back on!

This was on of my fall break looks! I have missed my sweaters!

Aztec print sweater: Target, clearance!

Tee: GAP, thrifted

Jeans: Target

Oxford shoes: Payless

I was running so late this night, I had to take picture at my parents house. That's okay I like their mirror better!

 Floral Dress; Target

Cardigan: Target

Belt: off another dress

Maroon tights: Target

Boots: Kohls

I wore this last week to a work shop! I love these pants but they were huge, but they don't look huge... Hmm life's mysteries!

Sweater: Old Navy

Tank: Old Navy

Grey cords: Target

Yellow toe flats: Old Navy

More fun fall fashion to come!!