stuff

*I've seen lots of recipes lately with "crispy sage". I'm wanting to try it but am a little intimidated.

*The other day Chris and a friend went to Slaters 50/50 in Rancho Cucamonga. For those of you who have never heard of it, they specialize in burgers which are 50% beef and 50% ground bacon. The funny thing is that the burger was not the highlight of their meal. Both guys raved about their cheesy artichoke dip with fried pita chips. Wow. Chris is determined to take me there soon to try it. The nice part is that since the burgers are so huge (meaning we can split), we will both be able to get out of there for roughly $20!

*Seconds before this pic was taken, Kendall had her head on Cam's shoulder while watching a movie. Ahhh...

*We've been doing advent this year. Each day the kids open their bag for the day. I've done "donuts for breakfast", "let's make a Christmas paper countdown chain", and a couple 99 cent store finds. They are so excited each and every morning to see what is in store for them. :)

*I did my first Jazzercise last night. It was really fun. I only did the 10 session Groupon, which I think will be a good amount. With my Jillian DVD's I'm done in 25 minutes vs. 50 minutes for Jazzercise.That's just too appealing to give up...as well as the fact that working out at home is free. :) However I'm still glad I'm doing something different for a change. :)

cauliflower pizza? why thank you!

I can't believe I did it AND it was SUCCESSFUL!!!! I have been wanting to make pizza using a cauliflower crust for a while and I finally attempted it tonight. I could not believe the reaction. Cam couldn't stop talking about how yummy it was and Chris loved it. Yes, Chris loved a cauliflower pizza crust. Say what??!!! This was sooo incredibly yummy.  Before I link the recipe, note that I cut the cheese down by 3/4 and it was still amazingly tasty (I also doubled this recipe).

I will say that it's rather labor intensive, but so worth it when you think about how much healthier it is. I will make this again FOR SURE!! Here you go...

Note: The pic above is from the blog I pinned it from. I topped mine with cheese and the kids and Chris with ham and pineapple.

thanksgiving

We celebrated the Sunday before Thanksgiving with my parents. My mom had a fun craft for the kids to do after lunch:

Wednesday we drove up north to be with Chris' family. The cousins pretty much were glued to each other the entire time. So fun to see.

Kendall was also glued to the tree swing. She went from person to person until she would find someone to push her :)

I love this picture of the kids out in the dirt. This is pretty much what they did...occupy themselves with anything and everything.

Setting up the Nutcrackers while decorating for Christmas.

Bonfire with hot dogs and smores.

Because there were so many of us, Chris' parents put us parents in a hotel so we got to sleep in each morning. :) One morning while we were still gone the kids played a little dress up.

The last morning we took our ending trip to IHOP.

 Another highlight was taking the kids to see Frozen. It was really, really cute. And lastly, we can't forget the mounds of yummy food that was consumed. As usual, my favorite were the homemade rolls...and this cake I made. :)

thanksgiving break and 4:50

Cam is on break this week. I had made a BIG deal about Monday being our decorating day. We'll be out of town for Thanksgiving so I thought it would be fun to come home to Christmas. The kids were beyond excited and it served to be such a fun morning.

Even with taking a scooter run break to the donut store, we were still done by 10:00, so we needed something else to do. :) I decided the weather was just too beautiful to not go on a hike. Oak Glen was perfect and was made more fun by all the other hikers who were on the trail. :)

Cameron has a tendency to wake up REALLY early when he is excited about something. Last night we told him not to look at the clock (he wouldn't let us take it out of his room) and that we would come in and get him. So wasn't it so great of him to come in and stand right by my face at 4:50 a.m. just to tell me that yes, he was in fact awake, but that he was trying to go back to sleep? :)

We'l be back on Sunday so I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! :)

saturday

This morning Chris took Cameron to a lofthouse build (small homes our church pre-ensembles then takes down to Mexico to put together). He really enjoyed the hammering and drilling he was able to help with. :) Eventually we'll take him down to Mexico to see the follow through of the build and to see the families that are helped.

While they were gone, Kendall and I attended a family day at the library. Crafts, stories, and games made for a happy girl.

After receiving a Red Robin gift card a couple months ago, we've been meaning to go and finally made it tonight. Cam took this picture, which I thought turned out pretty well! :)

success!

Lately my new recipe experiments haven't yielded many positive reviews. Tonight I changed that with Roasted Red Pepper Pasta from Pioneer Woman. It was easy, though I think it took a little longer than her "16 minute recipes" show I saw it on. :)

Chris: 9, "This would be great for company!"
Kelly: 8
Cam: 9, "This is my second favorite pasta dish!" (first would be mac n' cheese)
Kendall: Who knows? She finished her allotted amount simply to get to dessert :)

dry pot pie and heavy duty push up

*Made my first individual pot pies the other night. I'm not overly excited to try again. The inside was dry and the corn bread topping was dry. Overall we would give it a 4 :(

It looked like it would be good, right?

*I ADORE Cam's teacher. She just always looks out for him in such a neat way. Yesterday he had a hard time during lunch. The kids were inside due to weather and it was very loud. It upset him, making him very anxious and emotional. She was so great with him in helping him create an "escape plan" for times like that. I've never heard him talk so fondly of a teacher. :)

*Chris has two bootcamp buddies, Christina and Matt. Christina invited me to do a Groupon Jazzercise for 10 sessions. I enjoy being done with my solo workouts by the time the kids wake up, but I've also wanted to be around people too. Anyway, we'll do once a week for 10 weeks starting after Thanksgiving. I think it will be fun even though it's short term.

*As we progress with Breaking Bad, it is becoming one of my all time favorite series. It will join Felicity, Friday Night Lights, and West Wing.

*Chris always tells me about the crazy exercises he does at bootcamp. The other night he decided to let the kids in on the action of a basic push up. :) Check it out...

*We will head up north for Thanksgiving so are celebrating early this weekend with my family. We aren't sticklers for HAVING to have the traditional meal. So on the menu is a tostada/burrito bar and apple pie/ice cream for dessert. And no, apple pie will not go on Kelly's plate...just ice cream. :)