Beaujolais, Chili Cook-off and More

Happy Thanksgiving week!

We're in full Turkey Day mode here at our house giving we're hosting 12 people on Thursday.

No Christmas decorations to be seen around here, but instead more Fall decorations have come out!

Of course, on Friday all the Christmas stuff will make its way out.

I had big plans to get our house ready for the holiday over the weekend but we were just too busy, then the weather crapped out today.

As to what we've been up to?

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Well, on Thursday night I attended the local Beaujolais Festival.

It's an annual thing for me since one of my old friends is the event planner for it each year.

Tons of great wines, entertainment, and food.

 LuLu and Sara joined me for the first time, and I think they enjoyed it as much as I did.

(or at least I hope so!)

 If you're not familiar with Beaujolais, then Google it, the new batch is released every 3rd Thursday in November.

The French go nuts.

There were 7 different varietals for us to try.

Delish!

 There was also silent auctions items for purchase, but I lost..

 Alexis did a great job as she always does.

Can't wait until next year!

 Friday night we laid low.

Picked Shelbs up from school where she was getting her groove on, then we went home and enjoyed pizza and wine.

 Then Brad's best friend from college was in town from Northern Va, so he and another friend partied down while I went to bed early.

 Saturday, I let the guys sleep in and Shelby and me enjoyed a fun, festive breakfast in anticipation of Thanksgiving.

 I LOVED doing this and already have another fun treat planned for Thanksgiving morning.

Believe it or not, she ate the entire thing!

 In the afternoon, we had our first family photoshoot.

(stay tuned for that)

Then, we finally got to meet our friends Katie and Josh's 6-week old little boy Jack.

What a cutie!

 I thought Shelby might be jealous, but she was really good!

 I was in bed by 8:30pm and today we did all of our shopping for the holiday.

Shelby was adorable with the turkey.

She said..

'Ohhh..wooww.wee.. TURKEY..Mommy!'

 Then, we got ready for a chili cook-off we went to tonight.

Shelby loves helping and watching us cook.

 The cook-off was a blast and probably more fun for the kids!

Anni and Jay have a great place for little ones.

Ultimate playroom!

 And, a bowl of snacks!

 I think there were 8 chilis in all.

 I decided to be different and went with a white cream cheese chicken chili and it was awesome. 

 We came home with zero leftovers.

The winning chili was a spicy veggie one, that I even voted for.

I was told it was even a WW recipe.

I'll have to get it and share.

 Such a great time.

I think Shelby might have even found a boyfriend!

How was your weekend?

What are your holiday plans this week?

Shelby's Great Escape

We're just around 3-weeks until Shelby's 2nd birthday and I knew we weren't far from it, but girlfriend escaped from her crib sooner than thought.

This morning, just as I was finishing getting ready for work, as was Brad, we heard a big THUMP.

I looked at the monitor to discover an empty crib.

No toys, no blankets, no books, no Shelby.

I grabbed my phone and opened her door to snap this photo.

As if she wanted sympathy, almost on the verge of tears.

'Mommy... Fell. Bed..'

HAHA!

I asked her why she got our of her bed.

No answer.

I honestly think she was scared and shocked all in one.

I went ahead and got her dressed for school and went on with the routine as normal.

I'm just wondering where we go from here??

Not going to lie, I'm really not ready for a bed transition right as we enter the holiday season.

We have get togethers scheduled here, she'll be left with grandparents and sitters.

It's just not the right time.

I'm going to try and postpone it until after New Years by putting her in a sleep sack at night and putting it on backwards so she can't unzip it.

Someone mentioned dropping the mattress to the floor, but I'm not sure that's going to work for us.

We're thinking we would have to put it on blocks or something.

Her crib converts to a toddler bed, but again, I'm just not wanting to go there until after the 1st of January.

Advice?????????

The Family Turkey

I know a lot of people are already thinking Christmas and have already decorated their houses for the holidays, including putting up their trees and so forth, but I'm holding out for Thanksgiving.

It almost seems wrong to me to decorate before you eat your Thanksgiving turkey.

So, over here in the Stephens' house we're celebrating each and every day that leads up to the day that marks the Pilgrims coming over on the Mayflower.

I plan on doing a 'Thankful Turkey' craft with Shelby each year starting next year when she understands more about the holiday and is able verbalize, but this year I left the Thanksgiving crafts up to her teachers.

This year, they asked each student/family to decorate a turkey feather to add to the school turkey.

On Sunday we did just that with glitter glue, markers and pom poms.

She loves art and crafts!

On Monday they added her feather to the rest of the grouping!

Exciting!

 Ours may not be the most creative but we had fun in making it!

Not sure why it's hung upside down either, but Brad said they let her hang it that morning, so I'm guessing it was her doing.

I know this is a simple cheesy post, but it's little things like this that I want to remember.

She didn't do anything like this last year, so for me it's pretty exciting!

The countdown to Turkey Day is ON!!

Friendsgiving and Other Weekend Tidbits

It's so nice to be home.

While all of our Fall adventures were tons of fun, we are over it and are so glad to be home for the rest of the year.

We're super lucky that all of our family lives in driving distance and we don't have to travel for the holidays anymore.

This weekend was the start of a long stretch of being home and we were so honored to be invited to a Friendsgiving to kick it off!

Keith and Lulu hosted it at their home and Lu thought of everything.

I brought an appetizer and it was a hit!

I found this pumpkin cheese ball on Pinterest and had no idea what to expect, but it didn't disappoint.

Cream cheese, shredded cheese, salsa, a few spices, rolled around in crushed Doritos.

I doubled the recipe and laughed at how big it turned out to be, but I was pleasantly surprised how the thing got devoured.

Family photo opp.

 Actually, an everyone photo opp!

I bought this little Thanksgiving dress last year for Shelby and I'm determined to have her wear it more than once so get ready to see more pictures of her in it over the next week.

:-)

  We didn't do traditional Thanksgiving food.

Instead the fare was heavy apps.

Wings, lamb, and we brought flank steak.

 Good times with friends!

Today has been super low key.

We got a lot of stuff done around the house including cleaning out closets.

In doing so, Shelby discovered this miniature Annie doll of mine.

She was all about it so I took it as an opportunity to introduce her to what was my favorite childhood movie.

I think I was Annie 3 Halloweens in a row.

 Then we went shopping to give us a reason to get out of the house on a chilly day.

 Then back home to do an art project for Shelby to take to school.

This girl loves crafts and cooking.

 So proud of herself!

The rest of our day consisted of making 2 loaves of pumpkin/banana bread and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a pot of chili.

Shelby helped some then felt the need to clean up.

YAY!

I'm exhausted and ready to head to bed now. 

Busy week ahead!