Clown Day *Ü*

Today was "clown day" for Lucy at school! She did not want a wig...just pigtails. And a little paint on her face. We recycled a top she wore when she was a clown for Halloween a couple of years ago...added some striped ruffle pants and her sparkly tennis shoes, and she was cute as a little button.

Even though Macy didn't have clown day, she is a regular little clown...ALL the time. Me and my little clown...

Lucy with her sweet, sweet teacher. We just adore her.

The kindergarten classes did a little clown parade through the school. They were so cute!

Then on with the rest of the day...

I boxed up some cookies and thought these ribbons looked so pretty together...so fall-like!

We are having some absolutely beautiful weather. The temps are getting cooler, which means it's time to pull out my boots. Yay! I love my boots...

Lucy has been entertaining us tonight with the clown face she made at school...

And off subject a little bit, but have you tried one of these? They are SO yummy. The whole pack is 5 WW points...but worth every.single.point.

It is supposed to be a gorgeous fall weekend, and the girls are out of school Monday and Tuesday for Fall Break. And we have NOTHING to do...whoo hoo!!!!

Simple Shrimp & Grits

While Jason and I would love for all of our siblings to live closeby, there are perks to having brothers and sisters live in other places. Like Jason's brother for instance...he comes to town and brings loads of fresh shrimp from the Gulf. Sometimes we will just boil the shrimp up and eat it with a yummy mixture of ketchup, mayonnaise, and a dash of worcheschire sauce. But most of the time, we make Shrimp and Grits. Two things I have learned from this recipe:

1. Shrimp and Grits is way less complicated and takes way less time than it looks.

2. I actually enjoy deveining shrimp. Gross, I know. But I like it.

I have found a hundred recipes for shrimp and grits over the years. But we like simplicity, so I adapted a recipe from the Neely's (Food Network) that suited our taste...

The Grits

32 oz chicken broth

1/2 cup half & half (you could use heavy whipping cream instead)

1 cup quick grits

salt to taste

1 Tbsp butter

1/4 cup parmesan cheese (I use the kind in the can)

Bring chicken broth and half & half to a half simmer/half boil over medium heat. Add grits and a dash of salt. Stir often for about 5 minutes or until grits thicken. Add butter and parmesan cheese.

The Shrimp

2 Tbsp butter

1 small sweet onion

half of a green bell pepper

1 tsp minced garlic (because fresh garlic intimidates me)

1 to 2 lbs of shrimp, peeled and deveined (the fun part!)

all-purpose flour

a little more half & half

Melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Saute until onion is clear. Add shrimp. Cook several minutes (it's pretty easy to tell when shrimp is done). Sprinkle shrimp mixture with a little all-purpose flour, then pour a little half & half in to make the mixture a little more liquid-y (I don't have exact measurements for the flour and half & half...Jason took over at that point). Toss the mixture for a couple more minutes, then serve over cooked grits.

Like I said...it's a simple recipe...but so yummy!

First of all...

My little sister is 30 today. Saying my little sister is 30 makes me feel really old. I remember the day she was born. I had just turned 4 years old. Of course, that was "back in the day" where you didn't know if you were having a girl or a boy until the baby was born. I was determined the baby in my Mama's belly was a girl. My brother felt otherwise...he wanted a brother. My Mom must have gone to the hospital in the middle of the night, because I just remember waking up and my two grandmothers were there to take care of us. We waited and waited and waited to hear the news. And those being the times of no cell phones either, we had to wait until that night when my Dad finally got home to hear the news of what the baby was. I never will forget my Dad walking in the house and telling us we had a baby sister. I started squealing with excitement, then I looked over at my brother was standing there all wide-eyed and sort of zombie-like. He said (and these are his exact words, I promise)..."Oh noooooooooo. NOT another Shannon." He literally fell backwards into the floor.

And then...I never will forget the day my sister came home from the hospital. My brother was in kindergarten, so he had to go to school. I was the lucky one that got to ride up to Amory with my Dad to bring my Mom and my baby sister home (and when I say "ride" I do mean on the hump in the front in the middle of the driver's seat and the passenger seat of my Mom's brown Buick regal with white vinyl interior). Now, apparantly it was planned all along that I would get to ride with my Dad to bring them home, because my Mom had laid out a beautiful smocked dress, matching bonnet, and matching purse out for me to wear...complete with lace trimmed socks and Mary Jane shoes. But, for whatever reason, I decided to pick out my OWN outfit...brown cordurory pants and a faded worn-out red t-shirt that boldy said "I'm a Dr. Pepper Kid." And some sort of brown clunky hand-me-down shoes. No socks. I was styling in my opinion. When we drove up to the hospital, out comes my Mom and my feltman brother dress-clad baby sister. One look at me, and if I had to guess what happened next, my Daddy probably got chewed out.

So...to my favorite sister in the whole wide world...happy birthday!!

I made the sign myself. I love markers. I waited until after the girls went to bed to make it because I knew they would want to do it...aren't I a meanie?? I laughed out loud when I finally found the markers Lucy was supposed to put up...stuck in the door of the armoire in the playroom. So there goes my theory of "a place for everything and everything in its' place." Oh well...at least they weren't strewn all over the floor. On to other things, like pumpkins. You are probably t.i.r.e.d. of hearing about them from me. Actually, these aren't my pumpkins, if you can believe that. A sweet lady from church asked me to paint crosses on some for her. I did some last pumpkin season, and am excited to paint some more this year.
Lucy made a masquerede mask one day, and I never took a picture of her "wearing" it. She made it all by herself *Ü* Thursdays have become our crazy day. I am so excited tomorrow is Friday! And as of now, we have nothing planned for Saturday...and the girls have Fall Break Monday and Tuesday! Yay!!

Frogs and Pumpkins

We had some stormy weather come through Sunday night...some lightning and a good bit of wind. When I got home from taking the girls to school on Monday morning, I noticed a couple of my pumpkins were kaddy-wompus. I went to straighten them up, and this little fellow scared me silly...

He sat right there all morning. I promise I did not spend my entire morning watching him (I do have more to do than that!), but I had some things to do outside, so I would glance at him every once in a while. Once I had come back inside, I opened the front door and saw that he was getting a little froggy (ha!) and looking like he wanted to come inside. Ummm, don't think so little man. (That is the step into the house he's staring so intently at...sorry...that was typed so grammatically incorrect).

I had to make an emergency trip back to the pumpkin patch yesday morning. And since my last visit, they had put out some baby boo pumpkins...some more of my favorites. Of course I had to pick up a few. The bowl in the middle of Macy and Lucy's table in the playroom needed some...

So did my mantle *Ü*

And they make the cutest tiny topiaries...

I have mentioned the pumpkin patch that is right around the corner from my house. Well, there is also one that I pass every time I go to and from the girls' school. Folks, this is not a good thing (except for the pumpkin patch owners). Pumpkins tempt me. This other pumpkin patch has the best squatty, round pumpkins that you have ever seen. I am serious when I tell you they were calling my name this morning. I wheeled in and picked up the squattiest, roundest one I could find. Pumpkin love...

Jason told me to look straight ahead from now on when I drive by a pumpkin patch...ANY pumpkin patch ANYwhere. I think he is kidding with me. At least I hope so.

Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Fall is finally here! And I couldn't be more excited!

I hardly ever make cookies "just because" but I had an idea swirling around in my head, and I just couldn't wait to try it out. So I did...

I think...

I like *Ü*
The colorful messes I make when baking make me smile (actually this is a mess already cleaned up)...

Okay, so ya'll know I have a fetish (okay OBSESSION) for fall. And pumpkins? Don't even get me started. If you've read my blog for at least a year, you know we live right around the corner from the most awesome pumpkin patch. Not only can you get all the pumpkins you could ever imagine from there, but it is a great and fun place for kids to play. Their opening date for this year was yesterday. Can I tell you how excited I was?? I set my alarm for 6:45 so I could go get my pick of the pumpkins. Jason told me I was crazy...really...6:45 on a Saturday morning? What can I say...I love my pumpkins. We'll go back a hundred times between now and the end of pumpkin season, but I was eager to get my fall decorating done.

You can tell by this picture that I was really there that early in the morning (Lucy got up and went with me, but was not about to let me take her picture)...

Pumpkins, pumpkins, pumpkins...

I spent the rest of the morning decorating my front porch. This is my basket chair that has been brown for the last several years, but I decided to paint it bright blue a few months ago. I really like it with the bright orange!

I bought these candlesticks about 7 years ago when we were getting ready to move into our house. I used them inside for a while, but decided I liked them on my porch mixed with my fall decorations. I usually put candles on them, but decided on little pumpkins this year instead...

And I love to do pumpkin topiaries in my concrete pots...

I also decided to paint some owls on burlap for my front doors. The colors were inspired by the owl Jason got me for my anniversary and my bright blue chair *Ü*

And of course, I had to put some pumpkins inside too. This bowl is on my table...

Instead of just filling it with pumpkins, I filled the bowl with split peas and just put a few pumpkins on top...

And this bowl is filled with pearled barley...

I love the way this candle makes our house smell very fallish...

I got a few pictures of the girls outside this morning after church...

Abby was insistant on being in the pictures too *Ü*

I love this picture...

And this one too...

I plan on savoring every.little.moment of fall.

*Ü*