National Adoption Day Celebration!

Saturday morning we headed to our county courthouse to celebrate National Adoption Day. Our family, along with 59 other families, finalized adoptions during a special ceremony that day.

We were so excited to participate in the days events and of course finally finalize Sophie's adoption. It was so... sweet to be there and witness so many other families becoming FOREVER families as well. So many happy tears were shed!

There were carnival- like games and refreshments set up in the lobby of the courthouse.

Sophie had fun playing in the prizes!

Waiting for our turn to enter the court room!

My mom, Aunt Betty, and Grandma came to celebrate the day with us!

My sweet Aunt Betty and Hudson!

Daddy and his boys!

Standing before the Judge. She handed us our adoption decree and then gave Sophie a little teddy bear!

It's official...We're FINAL!!!!
Together FOREVER and EVER!!!!!!!!

A few of my favorite pumpkin recipes!

I LOVE anything pumpkin! I've probably already eaten my weight in pumpkin treats this fall. lol!
I thought I would share with you a few of my all-time favorite pumpkin recipes.
Of course, their is this Pumpkin Bread. I posted the recipe a while back.
So delicious!!!!

Have you ever had pumpkin dip? Oh.my.word. It is the BEST! I had it for the first time a couple of weeks ago when one of my sweet neighbors brought it to a get together. Trader Joe Ginger Snaps go with it perfectly!! I'm not kidding when I tell you that I ate so much of this dip I had no room for dinner!!!

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 (15 ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon frozen orange juice concentrate

In a medium bowl, blend cream cheese and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Gradually mix in the pumpkin. Stir in the cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and orange juice until smooth and well blended. Chill until serving.

Another one of my all time favorite desserts is Pumpkin Crisp!
I like this better than regular pumpkin pie! It's so...........good!!
Riley and I made this dessert today!

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (29 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2/3 cup evaporated milk
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Set aside 1 cup cake mix for the topping. Combine remaining cake mix, 1 egg, and melted butter or margarine. Pat into a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix pumpkin, 2 eggs, spices, 1/2 cup sugar, and milk. Pour pumpkin mixture over the cake mix crust.
3. In a small bowl, combine 1 cup cake mix and 3/4 cup sugar. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle mixture on top of pumpkin mixture.
4. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 55 minutes.

And here are four of the yummiest PUMPKINS of all...

...all bathed, in their cozy pj's, and cuddling together on the couch!

My two little turkeys!

Just finished making Thanksgiving outfits for the kids. Sophie and Hudson wore theirs to church on Sunday!


My little turkey!

Some "Turkey" Fun...

I really can't believe Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away!!!! It's time to start preparing my menu for Thanksgiving dinner! Oh, how I just LOVE this time of year!

Yesterday, Corban had the day off of school in honor of Veterans Day! We decided to have some "Turkey" fun in preparation for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday! I LOVE doing little arts and craft projects with my kids---especially holiday projects!

The first thing we made (and probably the boys favorite craft) were these adorable
Oreo turkey's!

They not only looked cute but were YUMMY too!

We also made turkey hand prints. This was definitely my favorite project.

It was quite the mess painting Sophie and Hudson's hands, but their little turkeys ended up looking so precious!!!

I wanted to take a picture of the kids holding their hand print--just so I will ALWAYS remember exactly how little they were when they did these prints!

My sister Al and my sweet Sophie girl!
I'm going to cut each hand print out and laminate them altogether in order to
save them for years to come.

We also made "paper cup turkey's", and a "thankful turkey"--where the boys listed some things they were thankful for on each feather.

Now, we are definitely in the holiday spirit and ready to celebrate Thanksgiving!!!

Wednesdays Weekend Wrap-up!

Why do week days seem to drag sometimes,

but the weekends ALWAYS FLY by?

Sunday afternoon, we had my family over to celebrate all the October and November birthdays. We have a total of six birthdays to celebrate during these two months.
We always have one big birthday bash somewhere in the middle of when all the birthdays fall.

Sunday we celebrated Shane, my Dad,
my sister Al, my brother Steve, and my brother Tim's birthday.
WHEW--that's a lot of celebrating!

Baby Jake has an October birthday as well, but we
celebrated his first birthday at a special party a few weeks ago.

We enjoyed a yummy baked potato and chili supper and my sweet Grandma made several desserts. We had our choice between birthday cake, pumpkin pie, or apple pie! Some had a plate with them all;)! I think we could have skipped dinner altogether and went straight for the desserts ;)!

Sophie sure did enjoy sharing dessert with Grandma!

Dessert is DEFINITELY Riley's favorite part of the meal too!
Riley with Mimi!

After dinner, everyone had a great time chatting, or just hanging out watching football--of course!


Riley with my Grandparents!

Looks like these two could be dreaming up some kind of trouble to get into together!?!?!
What do you think?

Hangin' with just the boys!
We are SO....BLESSED to have ALL our family close by and to celebrate together another wonderful year of birthdays!

Friday Night-- "Family Night"!

Friday night, we headed to Corban's school for their first annual "Family Night"! There were lots of fun, carnival-like, games set up in the gym for the kids to play. Families were encouraged to dress up in their favorite team attire. Our family, of course, sported our Panther pride!!!

They had sack races,

hula hoop contests,


and Sophie's favorite...corn hole!

As you can see... a great time was had by all!!!!!!!!

A little date with my little man...

Today, my wonderful mom and sister came over to keep the babies so
I could spend a little time with JUST Riley!
I truly cherish those one on one moments that I get with my kids. Unfortunately, with the busyness of life, those moments are few and far between. When I do get an opportunity to have some alone time with my kids, I savor every moment! When I asked Ri what he wanted to do this afternoon, the first thing he said was, "Go to the library!". His answer came as no surprise to me. Riley LOVES to go to the library. He LOVES books. Normally, each week when we go though, we are in a hurry to get in and out before one or both babies decided to melt down. Unfortunately, the babies aren't always quiet and patient waiting, while Riley browses up and down each isle picking out his books.

Today, Riley took his sweet time as he picked out his favorite books.

After the library, we headed to Wendy's (his pick) for a yummy lunch. We ate our lunch and then headed over to Learning Express ( Riley's favorite toy store) to pick out a birthday present for his buddy Rhett.

Our little date came to an end as we had to head back home to get Corban off the bus.
It was such a sweet and simple afternoon, but one I will cherish!