{after thanksgiving turkey}

This is what Chad and I found when we went to bed a few nights ago.

Stick a fork in her, she's done...

{thankful}

Chad and I have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season! We have each other and amazingly wonderful family and friends, we have a sweet little girl on the way who is loved so much by so many people, we have jobs we love that allow us to provide for our growing family, we have a roof over our heads and a warm bed (to snuggle with 3 very bad canines and kwang!), we live in a great little town with wonderful neighbors, and a great church, we have men and women fighting for our country so we can enjoy the things we're thankful for. It's very easy to take these things for granted and not realize how lucky and blessed we are. We hope your holiday season is just as enjoyable and fulfilling as ours!

We had 3 Thanksgivings this year and I only managed to take one or two pictures. This is from Chad's family's Thanksgiving down in Olanta.

Meet Todd and Aubrey and Abby, Chad's oldest sister and her husband and their dog, and Ally and Parker, Chad's youngest sister and her boyfriend. And of course me and Professor Chad. :)

And if this ain't proof of how good we've got it, I don't know what is...

{this is the most photographed food i've ever eaten...}

Yesterday was my dad's (Big Dad) 56 birthday so I decided to cook him supper. And what a super supper it was! This idea came about when Chad went grocery shopping with me and I lost him. I finally found him over at Chef Gary's table sampling some fried Cornish game hens. Cornish Kwang hens as we like to call them...

It was decided. Our culinary adventure was a salad of mixed baby greens with raspberry vinaigrette, butternut squash soup (nutterbutt squash as Scootie calls them), fried Cornish Kwang hens with wild rice and grilled asparagus and key lime pie for dessert.

The salad was prepackaged plus organic...you can't get better than that. The vinaigrette was Marie's brand. You can find it in the salad section at the grocery store.

The nutterbutt squash soup was regular. I've never had it before and I don't really want it again anytime soon. Mama, Daddy and Chad liked it. The girls liked it A LOT. Scootie and I did not like it. The recipe is here. I added 1 cup heavy cream and a dash of dill from another recipe I found. You might like it. I did not.

*The girls polishing of my bowl of soup...like you don't let your dogs lick your plates! That's how we do dishes! I'm kidding...but I'm serious...! Also notice how the soup matches my floor. It also matched Big Mom's sweater.

Cornish Kwang hens were delicious. De. Lish. Us. We got 6, one per person, but only ate 3. I would do a half per person next time. All we, and by we I mean Chad, did was slather em up with butter and sprinkle salt and pepper on them and fry them in a stock pot on the stove. They cooked for about 20 minutes or until they were 180 degrees. Pull them out and let them drain and we put homemade garlic butter on 3 and Lawry's Havana Garlic and Lime Marinade on the other 3. The wild rice was Uncle Ben's. For the asparagus, put them in a baking pan, drizzle olive oil on them and sprinkle with salt and pepper and roll them around to coat them good and broil 5-10 minutes. Simple as that! Girls also got to sample the main course as well and they gave it two paws up.

Dessert was key lime pie and coffee. Need I say more?

*Thanks for the thumbs up Scootie!

Big Dad said this was the most photographed food he's ever eaten. He also said I should make Cornish Kwang hens more often. Perhaps I will when my kitchen recovers. I'm glad you liked your birthday supper! Thanks for being the best dad in the world! I love you!

I have a few November birthday shout outs for my obnoxiously large family: My lady cousin Erin's birthday was the 10th. She turned TWENTY ONE! This is the ending of an era where she was Anna Bush born January 23, 1985 and resided at 771 Windsong Trail (don't act like you're surprised). I hope the legacy can live on through another deserving co-ed. I love you ReRe! My cousin Austin's birthday was the 13th and for his birthday Carolina BEAT Florida and took on the title of SEC East Champs! GOOO COCKS! Big Dad's was the 18th, see above meal. My friend Jessica Sloan also had her little girl, Natalie, on the 18th. Congrats! And last but not least, is my long lost cousin Ben who turns 26 on the 21st. He only graces us with his presence on Thanksgiving and Christmas. I could maybe pick him out of a crowd...I kid! I kid! If I forgot your birthday, it's probably not because I don't like you, just my brain simply is not capable of holding all that information. My family is HUGE, I tell you!

{befores and halfway afters}

On today's episode of This Old House...kidding! I just wanted to show you a sneak peak of how far our bedroom has come since we moved in a year ago...umm...closer to two years ago, but really who's keeping score?? Actually our whole house has come a looooong way since we moved in. I love, love, love our house and wouldn't trade it for the world, but fixing up a house is a lot of work and money and time. But it's coming together beautifully!

This is before.

This is another before where you can at least tell it's a bedroom. And btw, I tried to find shots taken in the same corner of the room.

Aaaand the halfway afters! We put beadboard over the wood panelling, painted all of the moulding, doors, window and door trim and the ceiling. I hate these pictures were taken at night. It really doesn't do the color (Zen by Behr) justice. It looks almost green in these pictures but is really a peaceful blue. All we have left to do is the baseboards and new flooring! We're waiting and doing all three bedroom floors at the same time so we have to get done with the nursery and the front bedroom before we can start ripping up this carpet. Hopefully this will be before Christmas! We have on wall left to do in Weavus's room before we can paint, but all of the front bedroom. It's going to happen! Soon!

P.S. We do have more bedroom furniture. The big pieces are hanging out in the hallway waiting on new floors! We don't have any art for the walls. Suggestions?