The Eve of Christmas

I have done a lot today. Not because I had to, though if I didn't, it wouldn't have gotten done. I was really just trying to stay busy and keep my mind off the fact that tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!! I am 27 years old and still get giddy at the thought of Christmas morning. It's going to be hard to sleep tonight.

First up... get the turkey ready. I am planning a to roast a turkey in the oven for Christmas dinner-- something I've never done before. We usually fry a turkey because it's easy, incredibly delicious, and we have a fryer so why not use it? I have been searching online for the best way to do it so that the bird is moist and flavorful and the skin is brown and crispy. Everywhere online was talking about brining the turkey, whereby you soak it in a salt solution overnight. It's supposed to be to die for. Hopefully no one will die tomorrow from it though, I'd much prefer people just say, "wow that was yummy." So off to my local Pioneer Woman site to find the instructions-- you can't go wrong with the Pioneer Woman. Below is a picture of my version of her brine.... note, my picture is different than hers because this was taken after the orange peels sank to the bottom after boiling. The aroma in the kitchen this morning was heaven!

While I waited for the brine to cool down so that I could pour it over the turkey, I made some trash, and by trash, I mean homemade chex mix. It's such a yummy snack to have and when you make it yourself, you can change the chex to other stuff ratio. I prefer to go heavy on the worcestershire sauce and chex. I also only put pretzels and peanuts in my trash. By the time the trash was done, it was time to work on tonight's dinner. I didn't have the for thought to take a picture of this process, but I made the EASIEST pot roast in the crock pot, and it was soooooo delicious! In a nut shell, I combined one packet each of dry ranch dressing mix, brown gravy mix, and dry Italian dressing mix. Then I sprinkled that mixture over a 4lb. rump roast in the crock pot. Next I added 1/2cup water around the roast in the pot and turned the crock pot on low for 8 hours. Once it was ready, I just added 4tablespoons of corn starch to the juices and viola... gravy! Goodness, it was so good. I also made peas with a garlic butter sauce and potato rolls.


But before dinner, and after the Viennese Torte I tried to make went to hell, Matt and I took Weston to the park. It was such a beautiful day, slightly chilly, but comfortable. Matt got such a kick out of seeing Weston on the swings and slides, etc.







Also, since it IS Christmas Eve, I thought I'd share some of our festive decorations since I haven't done so yet.

This is the door that goes to our basement covered in the cards we got this year!

We bought these giant ornaments from the greatest store ever, Costco, and hung them in our foyer with ribbon

Christmas bells on our front door

The dinning room table set for Christmas dinner-- I even broke out the good china!

Our mantel

Danger baby playing precariously on his Thomas Train

Our tree decided to fall over tonight at the EXACT time I was putting dinner on the table. Fortunately, we only lost one ornament and, from what we can tell, no presents were injured in the tumble. This is what it looked like after we cleaned everything up....

...and this is what it looks like now, after Santa came.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow..... don't worry, I will post tons of pictures of Weston's first Christmas.... and my first turkey!

SANTA!!

For those of you that don't know, 5 years ago, Matt and I went to see Santa-- like we did every year we had been dating-- and he proposed when Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas. Since then, we have had a son... so we took him back to see "our" Santa. Unfortunately, "our" Santa was not there, but the new Santa is still great, and as it should be, Weston loved him.

Giggling with Santa

Deep in conversation (my favorite)

"Seriously, you want me to smile?"

Thanksgiving in Review

Thanksgiving break has meant a week off of work for me, which has been GREAT-- I love spending time with my boy! Last weekend, though, one of our good friends was on her way into town for the week with her folks. She brought with her Will, her son of just over a year. Weston and Will enjoyed playing with each other!

Thanksgiving Day, Matt and I headed up to Big Canoe with Weston and Matt's Mom, Nan, to spend the day with my family and some other family friends, the Johnsons. While we had our mishaps, the day was fun and the dinner was yum!

Will and Weston

Mishap: The thermometer on mom and Jim's Big Green Egg wasn't working and the back up thermometer wasn't synced properly, so.... we had a crispy turkey this year--- if you look very closely, you will see a smile on mom's face. She took it in stride.

Luckily, though, all the yummy juices were seared into the bird and the meat inside was very good!

Tracy and Lee brought pvc pipes and joints to make marshmellow shooter guns!

Jim held Weston during the assembly process

Two peas in a pod

Shooting the marsh mellows

Unfortunately, Jake came down with a cold, or flu, and spent the majority of the day quarantined, but he was able to make his own "gun" on the porch....

Our contribution to Thanksgiving dinner-- aside from some other tasty treats, we brought mini turkey cakes!

We had chocolate with raspberry filling, yellow cake with strawberry filling, and marble cake with butter cream frosting throughout

Tracy and Lee brought their dog, Sparky, who enjoyed his time in the woods as much as he enjoyed resting on the chair next to the kitchen!

Matt helped Weston take an afternoon nap.... or was it the other way around?

Matt, Weston, and I headed back up to Big Canoe the next day to spend it with my folks and the Culloms-- Weston promptly peed on my as soon as we got there, so this was outfit #2 while mom washed his other one.

He loved playing with these dartless lawn darts!

Thankful

This year is almost over, and as the holiday season is approaching (technically, it's here), I am forced to look back and count my blessings-- I have so many to be thankful for, so here it goes (I admit some of these may sound cavalier or petty, but I assure you, I am thankful for EVERYTHING on this list).

I am thankful for...
1. Weston never having been really sick-- he's had a cold, but nothing more than a stuffy nose
2. humidifiers-- the reason why Weston's cold wasn't anything more than that
3. family that will let us just "drop" in.
4. our sassy seat which saves space at home and makes eating out very very easy!
5. hand knit hats from my Nana
6. other crying babies on airplanes-- takes the stress off of me believe it or not.
7. a job I truly love going to
8. a great Falcons' season
9. friends with other babies Weston's age
10. protective Tungsten
11. living in the country
12. a short commute to work
13. fall football
14. DVRs-- especially the kind where you can watch something recorded in one room on a DVR in another room!
15. Music channels (not VH1 or MTV.... true, music only channels)
16. friends that return phone calls
17. the Christmas music stations on XM
18. the fact that my nieces know it's CRAZY to have Christmas decorations up before Thanksgiving!
19. Weston being able to take LONG mid day naps-- not to mention he's been consistently sleeping for 12 hours at night now for the last few days!
20. trivia nights at Mellow Mushroom (even though we haven't been in a while)
21. spell check
22. blogger
23. patience
24. facebook-- like blogger, it helps me stay connected
25. 30 minute comedies-- How I met Your Mother, Community, etc-- keep the comedy to 30 minutes, it's short and sweet and leaves you wanting more
26. google maps on my phone. I get so lost so often... it REALLY helps
27. real time traffic on my phone
28. my phone.
29. Costco memory foam mattress-- temperpedic comfort on a Costco budget.. LOVE it!
30. rain sensing windshield wipers
31. motivated students
32. video baby monitor
33. ALL of Weston's grandparents, who love him wholly and undoubtedly
34. sisters... they are ALWAYS there for you.
35. beautiful colors in the fall leaves-- it's not really fall unless the leaves change brilliant shades of red, yellow, and orange!
36. Cloudy days-- because it gives me hope. Hope that maybe it won't rain. Hope that maybe it will snow instead (even though it's 60 degrees outside). Hope that maybe it will rain, because sometimes you just need it to rain.
37. above all else, even though these were in no particular order... I am so thankful for my wonderful husband, who lets me sleep in when I don't have to go to work and he does, who always holds a hand or elbow out for me to hold when we're walking. He understands that sometime my stories don't have endings... they just end. He will watch tv shows he hates just because he knows I love the show and his company. He empties the diaper genies. He hides cotton balls at the doctor's office, or will walk in my line of site if we happen to go down that isle in the grocery store. He laughs with Weston. He doesn't mind changing a diaper or two or three. He makes the world's best fires-- and doesn't get mad when I try to surprise him with one and forget to open the flew. He eats my food even if, on an off chance-- because it really never happens, I happen to over or under cook it. He's patient, he's kind, he's funny, he's supportive, he's caring, he's trusting-- he's amazing and I am so thankful for him and the life we have made together!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Weston's First Pro Game

I'm trying to be a better blogger... We took Weston down to the Ga Dome today to see the Falcons take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with our friends Darren and Rive and their two boys.

However, it was a tad cold, so we bundled up little man good before leaving the parking deck. If he could talk, he would have said, "I can't put my arms down!"

We got down there early so the boys could do the pre-game festivities at the landing.

Jamon, just hanging out while the bigger boys wait in line!

Darren and Tobin raced Matt and Weston...

Matt and Weston won!

Chill'n after the big win

The Wolkows

Team Aurand

Finally! At the game

A Lot Going On Lately!

We have had so much going on lately, I haven't been able to keep up. So I'm throwing it all together....

Matt and I loaded Weston up and we drove to Memphis, by way of Nashville to see my Granddaddy Al.

My cousin's daughter, Kate, enjoyed playing with Weston

She even read to him from the Calloway catalog

We took Weston to his first Ga Tech game when they played MTSU. The sun was in our eyes for the majority of the game, but he eventually fell asleep right after half time.

Two random horses roamed our neighborhood one Saturday afternoon. Matt called the police, who were grateful for the call-- they had a Sheriff looking for them

We bought Weston a new toy and he LOVES it! Actually, we all do. Target has a great section for new "vintage" toys. Love it.

Weston's friend, Ella, came over to play last Saturday. Unfortunately, Weston needs to learn how to play "softer." He was so excited to see Ella that he shrieked, crawled as fast as he could towards her, and hooked her.... literally. He put his finger in her mouth to greet her. She didn't like it.

Okay. I think that's it. OH! I almost forgot.... the winner of the pumpkin carving contest.... pumpkin #1... my pumpkin! So glad you guys liked my pumpkin!

Halloween 2010 Carving Contest

Okay, so we did it last year, and Matt won. He wants everyone to know he won. He is the reigning champion pumpkin carver.

This year, things are similar... below are pictures of our carved pumpkins, you won't know which belongs to the carver. All you have to do is vote on your favorite pumpkin, and to do that, all you have to do is comment below and tell us which one you like the most.

Since Matt's mom, Nan, is living with us, she is also a contestant in the contest... that's the only difference-- there are three to chose from this year.

#1

#2

#3

Not actually a choice-- this is our family pumpkin... Go Jackets!

The front of our house decorated with giant spiders and their web!

All lit up in the dark

So which is your favorite?