big boy!

drawer knob jewelry

the latest thing you know!

boy with a stick

splendor

"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering and come before him. Worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness."

I Chronicles 16:29

leaf photo taken in Seattle

cornbread dressing

For me, Thanksgiving dinner is not complete without this cornbread dressing that my grandma, Sweetie has always made.

Last year was my first year to make it myself as we celebrated in Colorado, not in Houston where my grandma lives. I was following the recipe she sent me via e-mail hence the iphone in the photos.

In case you'd like to try it for yourself:

Sweetie's cornbread dressing 2 pkgs of Corn Kits cornbread mix 1 full cup of chopped (fine) onions 1cup celery chopped (fine) broth from turkey or canned chicken broth 1 rounded tsp of poultry seasoning salt and pepper to tast (optional) pieces of dry bread broken into little pieces Bake corn bread, crumble into a large bowl, add bread pieces, onions, celery, poultry seasoning,salt and pepper mix well. Add a can of chicken broth and continue to add more broth as needed to the cornbread mix until you can pull the mixture to the side and can see a little liquid on the bottom. Bake in casserole dish at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Yum!

Kelly

Seattle

On the way home from Hawaii we had an overnight layover in Seattle which gave us a great opportunity to visit some friends there.

It was my first time to go to Seattle and I really liked it.

I look forward to going back and having more time to explore!

Our color is almost all gone in Colorado but theirs was beautiful!

Have you been to Seattle?

What is your favorite thing to do there?

Kelly

swinging bridge

This was something we just stumbled upon one afternoon in Kauai.

It was really neat although it did make me a little nervous, all that swinging . . .

does that mean I'm turning into a "mom"?

hmmmm . . .

David loved it!

Afterward we went to get a shave ice.

We did that after pretty much everything.

I was making up for my whole summer in Colorado Springs without a snowcone stand in sight!

Kelly

breakfast

Our last two mornings in Kauai we ate breakfast at the hotel and on the beach with our assorted groceries. It was fun (and at least a little cheaper than eating out). See that pink fruit? Isn't it neat looking? It's called dragon fruit. I had never seen it or heard of it before.

we went . . .

to Hawaii!

It was beautiful and relaxing and a much needed time of being together as a family and rejuvenating after some crazy working hours for Adrian lately.

Aloha!

Kelly

ten on Ten - November 2011

Rebekah's great idea to capture ten photos in ten consecutive hours of your day on the tenth of the month led to these shots of our day today.

MOPS meeting where we made these cool scarves out of an old t-shirt

my little guy helping to fill Operation Christmas Child boxes for the first time

picking out a book for reading before naptime

scheduling appointments

taking a break from folding laundry to . . .

catch up on blogs

(Is anyone else falling down on blog reading due to Pinterest? I would rather read blogs but Pinterest is such a very long rabbit hole and I often find myself mindlessly following it.)

post nap tooth brushing

(not that this is some special dental hygiene regimen in our house but this boy likes his brush and asks for it often)

sweet sisters who made a super yummy dinner and dessert for family and friends

chocolate pie filling with a coconut "crust" all layered in a mini parfait dish ~ yum!

It was a delightful tenth!

How was yours?

Kelly

p.s. I guess no one felt like playing the guessing game on the last post, huh?

we've been . . .

a-traveling.

Anyone wanna guess where we went?

And no fair guessing if you already know.

One clue is we saw this guy . . .

and this guy got to do lots of this . . .

and some of this too . . .

We had a great time and are now glad to be home.

Hope you're having a good week.

Kelly

reminder

Tomorrow is Ten on Ten if you'd like to participate.

Kelly

fall vignette

creative reuse centers

Have you heard of creative reuse centers?

They're basically like a thrift store for craft supplies.

Pretty sweet!

I got to go to one in Pittsburgh and in addition to some crafting supplies for David and I, I picked up the vintage bingo cards above and the word learning flip books in the entryway photo.

Here is a directory I found of creative reuse centers around the States and abroad.

I'm curious if any of you have ever been to one and what the one you went to was like.

Kelly

back to that carpet

When we were looking at the house, Adrian realized from seeing hardwood flooring in the coat closet, that there were probably hardwoods on the main floor under the carpet.

After eating in a carpeted dining room with a little one in our Texas apt. we knew that we really wanted to take advantage of those hardwood floors in the dining room.

We were prepared to refinish them.

The first thing we did after closing was go to our new house!

Adrian broke out a crowbar and began peeling back the carpet to see what we were working with.

What a blessing to discover that there indeed hardwood floors beneath the brand new carpet and that they were in GREAT condition!

This is a shot taken while standing in the living room looking into the dining room and the sunroom beyond.

We plan to use the carpet from the dining room in a space that we will be converting into a second guest room/home office. Yea!

And just for fun, a few more pics . . .

the fireplace wall in the living room

and the dining room as the house was staged before we moved in

the living room

First up, a photo of the living room as the house was staged before we moved in.

I wouldn't have minded a bit if they had decided to leave those blue chairs!

As you walk in, this {brown} wall is in front of you and you can see the dining room off to the left and the doorway into the kitchen on the right.

The living room that we just saw is directly to the left.

I would not have chosen brown paint for this accent wall and am planning to paint it a robin's egg blue. You would think that now that I have decided on the paint color that it would no longer be brown, but it is.

I need some motivation I think.

And here is looking into the living room from the dining room after we moved in.

My signature ikea Expedit bookshelf has found itself a home and as you can tell we began ripping up carpet . . .

stay tuned.

Kelly