A Valentine Recap...

What a great weekend!  

On Friday my sister came home from school and we took the kids to the park (I'm a nanny) to take some Valentine's Photos for their parents.

This is Tyler after coming down the slide...

Here they are together.  Aren't they cute?!

On Saturday afternoon, my sister and I went over to my Aunts house to have a fun lunch with our cousins. 

I'm in the middle, and my sister is on the far right.  The others are my fabulous Aunts and cousin!

Aunt Susie made us wear these hilarious red cowboy hats.  She is always coming up with the funniest themes for parties. 

After the cousins lunch, I went home and Vince had candles and rose petals all over the apartment (I later started a small fire in the kitchen because of one of these candles!)

He had written me the sweetest letter I've ever read on stationary from our hotel in Paris.  Then he framed it with our plane tickets and sweet memories of our trip.  It was so great.

We had some champagne before heading over to my parents house for dinner. 

My dad's birthday is Valentines day, so we usually do something with my family.  My family is awesome and we have so much fun together.  This is my dad wearing the cowboy hat and my  aunt told him he could be "broke back Gary".  He didn't like that!

We got TWO sets of our china at our engagement party from a family friend, and it finally came.  We opened it and I am SO happy we registered for it.  It's just so pretty!

The morning after Valentines day I made us a yummy brunch (with Trader Joes multi grain pancake mix.  It's awesome!)

After brunch I went to see "He's just not that into you" with my family.  It was so great!  Every girl in the world (single or not) should see it.  I loved it so much that I made Vince go see it with me again later that night!  I have been known to see the same movie twice in one day.  

I have never ever ever liked Scarlett Johansson, but I dislike her even more now.  

UGH.  Just see the movie and you'll understand.  WHAT is with her obsession with nasty colored lipstick?!

Two new DIY...

how cute are these???  From here

via here

Here is her tutorial:

this is the mysterious crayon project!

using old crayons...i made new ones.  

i bought these silicon letter trays.

(you can make ice or bake in them too.)

first break the crayons up and put the pieces into the shapes on the trays.

set the silicone trays on a cookie sheet for stability.

preheat your oven to 250-ish.

put sheet of trays into the warm oven and check at 10 minutes.

when all the crayons pieces have become liquid....they are done!

remove the sheet from the oven and let cool for at least an hour...or 3 or 4.

I already ordered mine, and I cannot wait to do this project for the kids at our wedding!  So cute!!

Remember when I was asking everyone about a gorgeous wedding where the just married sign was one I wanted?

I found it today over here!

Can you believe how adorable this is?!?!  We will be driving off in Vince's SmartCar, and I think it will be so adorable 

These letters are made from wood!  Just so happens that my brother is HANDY as they come, so I will be showing him this weekend at our engagement party!

By the way, have I mentioned that I'm SO SO SO SO excited about our engagement party this weekend??  Cause I am.

Merry Christmas to ALL!!

Hello friends!

I hope everyone is having a relaxing day after Christmas.  I am so cozy on this rainy day in Georgia, and I thought I would blog about our Christmas!  

We had a great time with family, and I have to say-it was so much fun being engaged over Christmas.  Every time I look at my hand and see my ring, I just feel so overwhelmed with happiness and excitement.  I cannot wait for all of the planning and spending time with family over the next 10 months.  It is such a fun time of our lives!!

This is me and my wonderful Momma at my parents house...

Me and my FIANCE!!!!

This is my awesome Uncle David.  He and his son, Nick, came up from Florida to spend Christmas with us.  Uncle David and I have a shared love (obsession) with cooking, and we had such a great time making eggs benedict on Christmas morning.

This is sweet Abigail, my parents God Daughter, and my favorite 5 year old in the world.  She got lots of makeup and nail polish this year, and Vince (being the amazing man that he is) let her do the works on him.  Nails, toes, and even makeup!  She loved every second of it.

My adorable Dad reading us The Night Before Christmas book...

I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday and enjoyed time with your families!

A low key weekend...

This was a laid back weekend.  My brother and his kids came in town.  And my sister came home from school for the weekend.  It was so much fun to hang out with family and eat good food.  My dad did his famous ribs and chicken for us, and we drank and played with weapons...

My brother being a goof ball with his pellet guns.  Oh, there was a blow gun too.  We're redneck.

Then we had friends over tonight and I made this squash and zucchini casserole courtesy of my lovely Natalie.  Here is the recipe....it's amazing!

Ingredients:
about 4 1/2 cups zuchini (diced)
about 4 1/2 cups yellow squash (diced)
1 1/2 cup yellow onion (chopped)
1 1/2 sticks of butter
one pan of prepared corn bread 
8 oz. cheddar cheese (i usually use more, though)
chicken broth
1 tspn minced garlic
1 tspn salt
1/2 tspn ground pepper 
1/2 tspn thyme
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
     
-preheat oven to 350 degrees
-Place zuchini and squash in a large saucepan and add just enough broth to cover
-Cook on medium heat until tender, and remove from heat.  Drain, but RESERVE one cup of the water for later
-On medium temp, heat all butter in large saucepan and saute onions until they turn clear
-add salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley.  stir.
-Add drained squash and cheese and stir.
-Crumble the cornbread into the mixture, add the reserved cup of broth and mix well.
-put it all in a casserole dish a 13x11 pan that has been sprayed with non stick spray
-cover casserole and place in oven for about 40 minutes
remove cover and bake for about another 20 minutes (i usually sprinkle a little more cheese on top before putting it back in without the cover)