Happy Thanksgiving!  It is my favorite time of year and I am loving spending it in beautiful Florida this year!  The weather is warm and beautiful and makes us all smile!

This year we did our first Turkey Trot 5k.  It is one of our goals to be more active as a family.  Today we ran with my big sister and 1st grade niece.  We have also signed up our 7 year old to run in his first 5k in Miami in February!  He is really excited to get to race with us next time and has committed to practice and train with us for his race.

I wanted to give a shout out to my big sis for her example of getting her family (and mine!) up and out to do fun and active things!  She has a new blog that has so many ideas on how to get your family outside and involved in projects together.  It is really a pretty awesome and inspiring thing she has going.  Check it out at www.littleyellowshack.com

She even has us signed up for paddle boarding next month!  It is never to late to make a change in your life and make being active together as a family your lifestyle!

I am especially thankful this year to see measurable progress on our goals from where we were last year at this time!  Physically, spiritually, temporally, and financially we have been able to progress and accomplish our family and personal goals!  We love each other and have great blessings for fighting through the difficult times together.  From paying off the car loan this year to transforming our life into a more active lifestyle we have really made some great changes this year!

I am also thankful for our church for pushing us to set family goals in all of these area at the beginning of this year and pushing us meet them.  I love inspiration like that!

Happy Turkey Day!!!!!!!!!!

 

This craft was so fun to make!  I found the idea here.

I think what made it so fun was that we got to hunt down some of mother nature at its finest.  Fall is so beautiful here in Virginia.  We went on a little hunt for all the turkey’s feathers.  Ella (3) was really big into fall this year and “all the beautiful leaves”.  This craft was so perfect for her.

All you need to do for this craft is to take a white cup or any color and paint it brown:

Go out and find your leaves while the cup is drying!

Come in and cut up your pieces (you need red and orange construction paper and two googley eyes):

Glue it on (I used a hot glue gun), and there’s your turkey!  I got called “the best mom ever” for this one.

Happy Thanksgiving!  Hope you have a great holiday spent with family!  Make sure you do this craft before it’s too late!

Seriously guys, this soup is awesome.  It it so perfect to warm you up on a cold fall day!  We had a cold front come though here after Hurricane Sandy and everyone was freaked.  Cold in Florida is 60 degrees by the way. Funny after coming from cold Virginia winters!  You should have seen the sweat shirts and hoodies flying off the racks though!

Anyway, I looked all over for a good potato soup recipe to use and found this.  I picked this one because it is made with cream cheese instead of heavy cream.  I made a huge pot of it and left it in the crockpot for everyone to eat all day.  It was soooooooo good and perfect on cool fall day!  You can’t go wrong with this recipe!

Baked Potato Soup
5 lbs Russet potatoes washed, unpeeled, and cut into 1 inch cubes (I did peel mine… didn’t want to give the kiddos and excuse to turn their nose up)
1 medium yellow onion
5 tsp minced garlic (above 10 cloves)
64 oz chicken stock or broth
16 oz softened cream cheese
1 Tb Seasoned Salt
Garnishes of your choice:  I love bacon crumbles, shredded cheese, and green onions

***Add all the ingredients except the cream cheese to the crock pot and cook on high for 5 to 6 hrs.  Puree the cream cheese and half of the soup in the blender and pour back into crock pot (I admit I did not do this since I wanted my potato soup to be extra chunky… I just added the cream cheese straight to the crock pot).   Stir well and serve with whatever toppings you want.

I think I found the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe.  I found it a few weeks ago when my mom was in town watching the girls so Brian and I could go to a Redskins game (hush it, they actually won this one AND R.G. III ran an 80 yard touchdown).  Anyways, Ella was begging to make cookies with my mom so I quickly found this recipe on food dot com.  I searched through several highly rated reviews and they mostly used crisco.  NO THANKS!  That stuff looks like straight up lard to me and I can’t imagine putting that in my mouth.  So, I found this OVERLY delicious recipe!  They are so moist and chewy.  I promise you won’t regret it if you make these.  Ella and I actually made them again!

Here’s what ya need:

2 cups all-purpose flour (280 gms)
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (20 gms)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm (170 gms)
1 cup brown sugar (packed, light or dark, 236 gms)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk, from a large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk chocolate or any combination, 300 gms)
1 cup walnuts (114 gms, chopped) (optional)- I didn’t have them on hand

All you do is:

1.  Preheat oven to 325°F.
2.  Cover 2 large cookie sheets with parchment paper Mix flour, baking powder & salt in a bowl or bag and set aside.
3.  Mix butter and sugars with with a mixer until blended and smooth, add egg, yolk & vanilla.
4.  Mix until incorporated.
5.  Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
6.  Stir in chips and optional nuts.
7.  Divide into 18 equal balls, a 2″ cookie scoop works just about perfectly, about 60 gms each.
8.  EVENLY space 9 on each cookie sheet.
9.  Bake for 12-18 minutes, rotating front to back and top to bottom after 8 minutes.

**You want these to be chewy so make sure you don’t overcook!  They should just be golden around the edges.

Add this to your holiday cookies!  Happy baking!!!

As a math teacher I saw first hand how debilitating it is when children do not know their multiplication tables.  Multiplication is the building block for everything in math.  It can really hold a child back if they do not get this down pat…  the goal is for them to be able to spout them off without even thinking.  Once they have this down it will be much easier for them to understand and learn higher math.

The key is to make sure your  child understands the ideas behind multiplication before starting to memorize the tables.  Conceptual learning should always be the foundation.  It takes a bit more effort to learn on a conceptual level rather than to just memorize math algorithms and formulas, but conceptual thinking is a skill that will benefit your kids through out their academics.

Steps to Teaching Multiplication:

1.   Teach them what multiplication is.  Example:  4 x 3 = 4 + 4 + 4  or 3 + 3 + 3 + 3.  Do not have them start memorizing until you are sure they conceptually understand what multiplication is and how it is used.

2.  Make it fun!  Turn their memorization into a game.  Make or buy some flash guards and give them points or rewards.  Time them and have them compete against their own time.  Have them memorize all the way up to 12 x 12.

3.  Go in order so they are not overwhelmed.  Start with 2’s, then 3’s, etc…

We decided to do an ice cream cone.  Each time my little guy can quickly shout out each answer from the flashcards he passes that “scoop” level.  Once he has earned all 12 scoops the whole family will go get ice cream together.

In order for him to pass a new “scoop” level he also has to have retained all the previous “scoop” levels.  Basically this means that I mix in the current “scoop” flash cards with all the previously passed ones and make him pass all of them in order to get a new scoop on the wall.

My niece decided to make a turkey and put in a new feather for each new multiplication table she passes.  You could also make snowballs on a snowman, pepperoni on a pizza, etc..  whatever you think will motivate your child and make it fun for them.

“You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take country out of a girl.”  I’ve always loved meatloaf.  Even the slap-on- your-plate kind of meatloaf.  Recently, I’ve found a cute and stuffy nice looking way to make it.  Instead of baking it in a loaf, bake it in a muffin tin!  You still get the same delicious taste, but you feel a little more prim and proper eating it.  You also get more of the crunchy feeling.  So yum.

I’m giving you one of my closest friends mother in-law’s recipe.  It was also from my recipe party.

Here’s what ya need:

The meatloaf:
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
1 cup cracker crumbs
1 onion, chopped fine
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 egg, beaten
Salt and pepper to taste

The sauce:
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup water
2 tbsp. vinegar
1/4 cup worchestire sauce
1 1/2 tbsp. prepared mustard

How you make it:
Preheat oven t0 450 degrees and lightly spray muffin pan with pam.  Mix the sauce ingredients together separate from the meatloaf ingredients.  Put meat mixture into muffin pan so it’s just to the top.  Take a big spoon and make a dent on top to pour the sauce.  Pour sauce on each section of meat.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Pour more sauce when it’s done because it’ssodanggood!  Yum yum yum.

Happy Meatloaf Making!  Here’s one more close-up!

Looking for a quick and cute Halloween snack for the kiddos?  Try these witch hats!  They take seconds to make and are adorable.  I am bringing these to my son’s school Halloween party tomorrow.

I go the idea off pinterest like everything else.  Ha!

All you need are some Hershey kisses, Keebler Fudge Striped Cookies, and frosting.  I am sure it would look better with Halloween Orange frosting, but hey it is 930pm the night before Halloween and I am just throwing this together.  Last minute planners miss out!  I blame it on tonights soccer game… which we sadly lost 5 to 1.

Here is the perfect meal for the cold fall and winter days.  This cornbread is so amazing!  It’s so moist and sweet.  Mmmmmmm I’m drooling right now.  I’ve had so many compliments on this recipe, so I guess the secret should come out.  This is thanks to my mother in-law who got this from a sailor.

Here is what you need:

2 boxes jiffy corn muffin mix
6 eggs
16 oz sour cream
2/3 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of oil
1 can cream style corn

Directions
Preheat over to 375 degrees
Mix together
Pour into 9×13 pan
30-40 minutes until done

 

Wahhhhhhhlaaaaaaaa…. It’s finished (after making sure the knife comes out clean).  Cut it into cute squares and make it look pretty on your plate!

 

Lately I have been in search for the best crock pot recipes… with four soccer games a week I sort of have to!  Anyway, I love love love chicken tortilla soup.  Maybe it stems from my love of ALL Mexican food, but either way I was on the hunt for the best tortilla soup recipe!  I have tried several different varieties and finally found a recipe I LOVE.

I cooked this recipe three times changing it just a bit each time until I was satisfied.  The original recipe is from here, but I changed it a bit to what it is now.

Doesn’t it look awesome!  So good with a little part skim shredded cheddar and sour cream.  I try to do low fat sour cream, but I just can’t.  I love it too much.

 

Chicken Tortilla Soup

1lb chicken
32oz box chicken broth
2 handfuls of chopped cilantro
one squeezed lime
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 can green chilis
1 large yellow onion
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed.
2-3 Tb tomato paste
1 can sliced olives
2 pacs of chicken taco seasoning

***Throw the chicken in the crockpot (you can use frozen chicken if you want).  Sprinkle taco seasoning packets over the chicken and let cook in the crock pot on high.  After 2-3 hrs the chicken will shred easily with a fork without much effort.  Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook for another 2-3 hrs in the crockpot on high (or low if you want it to be done later).  Serve with cheddar cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips if desired.

Some of my fondest memories with my mom are making sugar cookies at Christmas (mostly because I loved using cookie cutters).  I’ve started to do this with my three year old as well and I believe she loves it just as much.  I love Halloween, so I bought the ghost cookie cutter (@ A.C. Moore) a few years back to make some for Halloween.  I guess these really aren’t called “Boo Sugar Cookies”, but I thought it was appropriate for Halloween coming up.  I use Alton Brown’s recipe because I’m sure he’s searched and found the best scientific way to do it.  They are so.dang.good.

Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon milk
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough

Directions