Nash's First Thanksgiving!

Woohoo! We are finally getting to the holiday celebrations, first Thanksgiving and then Christmas! Nash's first Thanksgiving was awesome, filled with yummy food and good friends! Nash otherwise known as "Hog-Jaws" chowed down on mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, ham and rolls...and he LOVED it all! The only thing missing we our sweet Mas, who is spending a month in Ohio with his grandparents...getting spoiled we are sure! But we will all be together for Christmas and it cannot get here fast enough! 

Nash of course rocked his mohawk for the dinner [he is just too cool for school]! It was so nice to get together with everyone and just be thankful for my sweet family and wonderful friends. 

Funniest moment of the night: Ashlyn [Mas's little 4 year old girlfriend] saying grace before dinner "God you make yummy food, are my best friend...oh and you are great!"

As far as black Friday is concerned...that is for the birds! I am not a fan of crazy shoppers, but I do like a good deal so we did make it over to our friendly neighborhood Wal-Mart and scored an Xbox 360, so we did manage to partake in a few deals this year! 

Now it's countdown to CHRISTMAS! House is decorated, cinnamon candles burning and have already begun wrapping some presents...Nash's first Christmas...yea, bring it on!!!

Christmas in the Harris Household!

Yay! It is time to start decorating for Christmas, it is amazing how much better this holiday is when you have kids. We decided we are definitely not setting up the Christmas palm this year since we won't be home for Christmas but I still want the house to have some holiday feel to it so I decided I would decorate the fireplace only. Of course, I wanted to make everything...so to trustee Pinterest I went to pin away ideas! Here is what I ended up going with, making and displaying! 

I definitely wanted to do something with chalk and I've had this pin for quite a while on how to make your own chalkboard so I figured this was the best excuse to go ahead and try this out! I found this wooden picture at our local flea market [forgive me, I completely forget to take a picture of it before I painted it] but the picture itself was horrible, make your eyes bleed bad! What I was really interested in was the frame, it was a nice wood frame with rich undertones and a few wood imperfections for that extra character plus and the most important quality of this picture was the fact that the back of the picture was supported by plywood instead of that cheap paper like backing that they use now in large pictures or paintings. If I had to guess this gem probably graced the walls of someone's home back in the 70's, which is exactly the type of frame I was looking for [bonus: only paid $4 for it]. In the original pin the author paints the frame, I had every intention of doing that but as I started working on it I realized I was really diggin' the wood so decided for now not to paint it [but who knows, maybe one day in our new home depending on the decor we go with I may end up painting it]. Next, was to make the actual chalkboard paint which is super easy! Here is the blog I pulled the paint recipe from, I wasn't sure it was gonna work but I had no hiccups with it! It does paint on thick but no worries, it drys smooth! 

I am so pleased with the finished product! My plan once the holidays are over is to hang this up in our kitchen for messages, notes, drawings, weekly menu, etc!

Next up is my mini Christmas trees [WARNING: this one is time CONSUMING so I recommend doing this in front of the television while watching a marathon of Friends and snacking on Sour Patch Kids...at least that's how I roll on these projects]. So first thing I did was buy two styrofoam cones from the craft store, they come in all different sizes so just whatever fits you're fancy will work. Then I picked up some mint green acrylic paint, a small sponge brush and a bag of clear glass fillers. 

Using the sponge brush I painted the cones with my mint green paint and let dry, then using super glue I applied the glass fillers. They dry pretty quick and become heavier the more glass you add which then makes them super stable to display!

You can even change up the design it you'd like, instead of covering the entire cone [or if you start to run out of glass filler, like I did and are too lazy to put a bra on and drag yourself back out to the store]!

Then it was onto my block letters! This is another idea I have seen all over the place that I have been wanting to try [leave it to the holidays to give me my excuse to try this baby out]. So....my plan was to use wooden blocks for this project BUT the craft store only have one wooden block [I needed three, guess I'm not the only craft nerd who is making these things] onto plan B, instead of using the blocks I used some square cut pieces of wood. If your like me and you scrapbook then you probably have boxes and boxes of scrapbook paper around you're house...so after spending a good half hour digging through my box of scrapbook paper I found the perfect designs to use as my background! Here is the blog that I got my original idea from, she has a great link to letters that you can print, I went with JOY! Once I had my letters printed up on my scrapbook paper then I cut to fit my wood square and using a foam brush I painted some ModPodge Matte glue to the wood and applied my letters. Once dry, I ran some chalk along the edges and then lightly sanded the excess paper off which also gave the edges a little vintage feel! 

The last thing I made was the "Happy Holidays" sign, here's what you'll need: matte frame paper [I chose a light brown matte color] baby clothes pins, twine and cream color paper to print [I use this because it is a little heavier then normal white paper]. Here is the blog I used to print out the letters! Once you have all your letters cut out then I just cut the frame paper around the letters to create a border, then using ModPodge Matte glue I applied the letters to the frame paper border, hang up your twine and then clothes pin the letters up! It was seriously one of the easiest projects I have ever done and even though my husband thinks the sign looks like one of those banners you see at a car dealership [does his opinion really even matter? I think not.] I LOVE it!

So happy with the way the fireplace turned out! Even if we don't have our tree this year at least it can still feel like Christmas around the house...debating on whether I want to make some snowflakes for the front door with my leftover frame matte paper...hmmm...maybe! Hope you like and that it gave you some cool ideas for you're home!

Caramel Apple Cinnamon Cake!

Mmmm...trying out some new recipes [well new to me at least]! First on the list...Apple Cake! Of course I couldn't just go with the Pinterest post....which claimed this is an easy "two ingredient" recipe of plain old apple cake...no no I had to spice it up a little bit! So...here is my version of this cake [it has a few more steps and ingredients, but TOTALLY worth it]. 

1 (Box) - Yellow Cake Mix
3 - Eggs
1/2 (c) - Water
1 Can - Apple Pie Filling
Cinnamon
1 Can - Frosting Creations [Yes. I am lazy. No. I do not make homemade frosting.]
1 Packet - Caramel Flavor for Frosting

Mix together the yellow cake, eggs and water. Make sure you get all the "lumps" out then add the apple pie filling until completely mixed together. 

That's right...I cook by candlelight!

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees, while that was baking I mixed my packet of caramel into my frosting and added some cinnamon [to taste]. 

Once baked, let cool then added my frosting and sprinkled some more cinnamon on top [in my opinion you can never have too much cinnamon]!

Bonus to this recipe is that it makes the whole house smell like apple pie [even if this recipe was a total disaster...the smell would have made up for it]!  

I also FINALLY tried that Marshmallow Caramel [I was in a caramel mode] Popcorn recipe that has been all over Pinterest last night for our family movie night: showing The Amazing Superman Batman Spiderman ..I can't keep up [it was horrible by the way, but my 4 year loved it]! The verdict on the popcorn: as quoted from a friend who also tried it "SWEET BABY JESUS it was A-mazing!" Will definitely be something we make for movie nights in the future!

'tis the Season...

Yay! We are FINALLY getting into the Holiday season! I am so excited to celebrate this year, we will be with good friends for Thanksgiving and with both of our families for Christmas! I can not wait to take like a billion gal-zillion photos! Plus as an added bonus we get to welcome a new family member in late December [I'm gonna be one proud aunt to little Wesley] due December 24th! Christmas music on the radio [cuz it's never too early for that] and spicy eggnog in the Keurig! 

We decided not to put up our Christmas palm this year since we will be in Florida for Christmas  [Yes. You read that right, a Christmas palm not tree. Being a Floridian myself and my husband loving the sunshine state, came up with the brilliant idea our very first Christmas together that we should decorate a palm tree instead of a Christmas tree! It totally fits our family and Mas gets a kick out of it every year!] ...but I am debating on just putting it up anyways...it just doesn't feel like Christmas without all the decorations around the house. Mason will be away visiting Vince's side of the family up in Ohio for most of November and all of December so it's just Vince, me and THE NASHATOR [new nickname for Nash that seems like it might be sticking...even though Mommy is not very fond of it, but it is better then Mas's first nickname for him...Nashio!]

There is so much to be thankful for this Holiday season, God has really blessed our little family throughout this past year.  Vince received numerous scholarships to help him complete his bachelor's and master's degrees, which will only help in him providing more for our family and hopefully one day giving me the option to be a full time stay at home Mommy! Our son Vincent Nash Harris was born healthy with no complications on February 29th 2012! We purchased our first "family" vehicle, a Honda mini van [this may not seem like a huge achievement but for my husband...who finally got me to agree to it was a huge deal for him]. Mason started Pre-K online home schooling which so far has been a success! We join a new church which has been awesome for not only Vince and I but for the kids as well! There are so many exciting things on the horizon for us and I cannot wait to see what this new year brings [hopefully another baby...hint hint!]

We are looking forward to a great fall with friends and family! Nash's first Christmas and the boys getting to meet their new baby cousin! Remembering to be thankful for everything that we have, that we share as a family and what the future holds. So, with all that being said...it is time to start testing out some of those yummy looking Pinterest recipes for the holidays! Blogs on some recipes to follow [if I don't mess them up too badly]!   

Halloween...Muahaha!

By far one of the best holidays EVER! I was super excited this year to celebrate Halloween since my little snuggle bug is at the perfect age to dress up as cute as I want! Unlike Mas...who wanted to be a "bloody" pirate...not a cute little fireman or giraffe or maybe even a superhero...nope...bring on the blood! He is totally into the scary thing now...which is cool cause that can be fun too but you can't deny the cuteness factor! We of course being the corny family that we are, came up with a family themed costume idea for all of us [my husband is already pitching ideas for next year]! Mas is a bloody pirate and Vince is his parrot [Yes. He has a full size parrot costume - scary thing about that is he owned it before I even met him]. I am a normal, non-bloody pirate [mainly because that shit is hard to come off and all I need to do is show up at work the next day looking like I may have been beaten to an inch of my life with faded blood stains on my face] and Nash is my little parrot! This may be bias on my end but I have to two cutest kids in the world...with or without the costumes! 

We've been pretty much celebrating all week! Mas ended up going to two different "trunk or treats" as well as the fall festival at our church! We even ended up at the bowling alley Halloween night [which I think we will make a tradition for our family every year...so fun]! Mas officially has enough candy for Mommy and Daddy to raid nightly while probably going totally unnoticed by him due to the sheer amount! We also decorated our pumpkins and put up our "scary" stickers [per Mas we need even MORE scary decorations for the house] and there is now a nice and noticeable chill in the air which makes it feel even more like fall is here!

Vince and I got in a little Halloween action as well, we attended the Boos & Brews Festival [free beer...that's all my husband needed to know] but it was pretty funny to sit and "costume people watch"...whew! Some of the costumes were pretty crazy scary hilarious! We had a good time and per my husband "I was the sexiest pirate there" [it took a little coaching to get him to rephrase his previous statement to include sexiest chick there, but eventually he can around to my side of the fence].

Here are some pictures of us! It was a great first Halloween with Nash, guess I better enjoy it while it lasts! I have a funny feeling with the way he is already copying Mason's every move plus the fact that he will be 20 months next Halloween that he will want to be something "bloody" like his bubba [Nash's nickname for Mas]...sigh...so I probably am going to only get one year of cuteness overload...ol' well boys will be boys!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

from the Harris family