Friday night we enjoyed a night in Columbus to see the Columbus Cottonmouths. They beat the Mississippi Surge 5-2. Here’s a few pics from the game. When the game concluded we were famished so we went to Carrabas for a yummy dinner.
Zooperstars
I found this quick highlight video.
Servings: 3 dozen
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 10 minutes each
Ingredients:
1 package devil’s food cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1 package (8 ounces) toffee bits
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°
In a bowl, beat cake mix, eggs and oil (batter will be very stiff).
Stir in bits.
Roll into 1 to 2 inch balls.
Place on greased cookie sheets
Bake for 10 minutes
Cool for 5 minutes and then carefully remove from pan on to cooling record or wax paper. Yield: 4 dozen.
Thursday afternoon Monkey’s Cub Scouts went to church to help make up boxes for the food pantry. Our church provides food for those that are need every Friday and they make up all the boxes on Thursdays. He enjoyed being able to help others.
After that we went to the hospital because his class collected books and toys for the little boys and girls in the hospital around the holidays.
After doing good deeds he and I had a Mom and Me date at Chick-fil-a.
The 7th day was a Fun Day at Sea. The day seemed to fly by. We started with breakfast. Then, a towel animal demonstration.
We played some bingo and some trivia.
One last nap in our cozy cabin.
We enjoyed our last dinner and were so sad to say goodbye to our wait staff.
Our bar waitress, Samali
One last hurrah in the dining room.
We also had to pack up our bags and fill out our customs form. So sad
We enjoyed some golf on deck.
Our last towel animal
TONS more pics from Day 7 here.
Here’s the Fun Times Newsletter for Day 7!
Last night we attended Teenager’s Troop Christmas Party. After dinner, the boys tried to stump the Scoutmaster by tying knots and then, he had to attempt to tie it. Needless, to say the Scoutmaster knows his knots. 🙂
Then the Scoutmaster reversed the playing field by stumping the Scouts with a couple games that showed his “psychic” abilities!
My favorite part of the night was walking down to the fire station to give toys for Toys for Tots.
Friday afternoon after Thanksgiving, our friends, R & J, and 3 of their kids came over for a Pizza Party and football. For appetizers I made:
Chili’s Salsa
Jalapeno Popper Dip
I made 2 batches of dough the night before. That morning I rolled out the dough and cut it into pieces for individual pizzas. I put them each on their own paper plate and stacked them up, placing one more plate on the top one to prevent drying out. I prepared all the toppings. You can include whatever you like, but I had ham, pineapple, black olives, onions, green peppers, jalapeños, pepperoni, and Italian sausage along with mozzarella cheese and pizza sauce.
Yesterday we headed out to Wetumpka to the tree farm we found last year.
Somebody’s ready to cut one down!
Monkey says, “This one is just my size!”
We quickly found this one.
And decided to cut it down.
The boys cut it down all by themselves this year. First time ever!
Rob was happy he didn’t have to get down there and help.
Off to get it shook and baled.
Monkey concludes, “On 2nd thought, Mom. I think we should have bought this one!”
Before Thanksgiving I was thinking about desserts for Turkey day. I thought about the fact I love Pecan Pie and Rob loves Apple Pie, so why not put them together? I hunted around and found this recipe. They called them “bars.” To me a bar is like a cookie, you should be able to pick it up and eat it. This was not like that. Quite ooey, gooey, fall apart messy, but very yummy!
Servings: 10-12 pieces depending on how small you cut them
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes
Ingredients:
Apple Layer
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter
2 cups peeled apples, chopped (I recommend Granny Smith or Gala)
1 beaten egg
Topping
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons milk
Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 9-inch square pan with cooking spray.
2. Mix flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Chop butter into small chunks and drop in as you mix with a mixer.
3. Add in apples and egg and stir gently.
~Adapted from Betty Crocker
We recently purchased this beautiful wreath from our friends’ daughter who was selling these for the Girl Scouts. There’s nothing like the fresh smell of pine to get you in the mood for Christmas.
This month I was happy about: getting the kitchen done!
This month I was sad about: Auburn high losing in the 3rd round of the playoffs.
Somethings I accomplished this month were: getting the kitchen done!
Something new I did was: helping with the demolition of part of our kitchen and helping with installing new counter tops.
Books I read were:
The Rough Guide To The Maya World by Peter Eltringham
The Lords of Tikal: Rulers of an Ancient Maya City by Peter D. Harrison
Lonely Planet Belize by Mara Vorhees
Every Now and Then (9/11, #3) by Karen Kingsbury (haven’t finished)
Movies I watched were:
Breakfast at Tiffanys (Netflix)
Sabrina (Netflix)
TV Shows I watched were:
Survivor
Mentalist
Amazing Race
Criminal Minds
CSI
CSI New York
Bones
Drop Dead Diva (Netflix)
My favorite song this month was:
What I remember about work was: getting tired of the negativism from people. Trying so hard not to get sucked in by it. So hard! Brings me down!
A lesson I learned this month was: sometimes you have to step back, because what you may be looking for is right under your nose.
A friend and I: enjoyed Black Friday together with both of our families.
My favorite pic that I took was:…well, I didn’t take too many pics except for a bunch of the kitchen remodel, so I don’t really have a favorite.
I cooked: lots of good stuff. New recipes coming soon!
The boys were: finishing up soccer for the fall.
My husband was: busy with the new boy scout troop among other things.
The thing I’ll remember most from this month was: finally having a kitchen floor and sink…post to come.
