Merry Christmas!

I finished a project!

I've been on a kick to knit lately. I feel badly about the amount of yarn here, just sitting around...when I could be turning it into useful items. So, I made this little vest for Cadence, using up some green bulky yarn that I think my Aunt Karen gave me a few years ago. It's based on this pattern here, but I changed several things to make it fit Cadence, and to use exactly the amount of yarn I had.


Best action shots I could get.

Deals of the Week (from last week)

This week was strangely busy so these are actually all items I got last Friday shopping in Asheville. Due to coupons I got:
The Tinkerbell sticker set (going into Cadie's stocking) and two of those candy bars (one had already been consumed when this picture was taken) at Hallmark for $1.02. I had a $5 off a purchase of $5 or more coupon.
The lotion was $.49 at Target, because they let you combine a manufacturer's coupon with a store coupon.
The conditioner was $.36.

Wait until you see what I got for free this week!

Snow Day!

We had a good amount of snow this weekend and the temps have stayed frigid so Matt didn't have school yesterday. Yesterday morning, Cadence got to go sledding for the first time. The sled was one of the many things we found left by the previous owners of our previous home (including two christmas trees, a box of toys, and frozen yogurt in the not-turned-on freezer, among other things). Anyway, she loved it! The snow doesn't look great in these pictures but because it was so cold, it had frozen to a nice crust - good for sledding!


Our yard has a lot of little hills, perfect for toddler sledding.


When we were done, we came inside for hot chocolate.

Watching the tractor and red shoes

We've been busy around here, shopping for gifts, decorating our tree, hosting playgroup yesterday and nursing poor Matt who has the stomach flu (he hasn't thrown up today though, as far as I know).

Wanted to share some pics I took of Cadence today. We ran to the laundry room to get the best view of the tractor that delivers some food item that's not hay to the cows every afternoon. I don't know anything about raising cows - Cadie calls it their snack, which is fair enough.
Anyway, I thought it was cute that she brought her farmer girl to the window, so I took a pic and that turned into a photo shoot showing off her red shoes. I picked up these shoes after last Christmas at Target. They were on ridiculous clearance - I know they were less than $3. The same style is back there this year going for $12 or more, I think.
She really likes these shoes! The last two days I went in her room after nap/quiet time and she had gone into her closet, gotten them out, and put them on her feet. They were on the wrong feet, but still!
Speaking of pictures, I'd really like to send out photo Christmas cards this year, but I'm worried we are too late. We don't have a good Christmas-y picture of the 3 of us. I thought I might just try for one of Cadence, but she does not like to stand still for pictures - getting these was pretty amazing, especially since she's sort of smiling here (and, I think, attempting a Rockette-style kickline move. She confirmed it was like the girls we saw on TV on Thanksgiving. We will need to get her in dance classes.)

Thanksgiving Week, in some pictures

Well, since I last posted my aunt and uncle came to visit. Then we went to my parents' for Thanksgiving. And I had a birthday. Sadly, I don't have very many good pictures of any of this fun stuff.

I can show you that there was lots of turkey (including a really cute one on Cadie's jumper which I - again - sadly did not appear to capture) and we ate and were satisfied.

A Toddler Friendly Thanksgiving Art Project

When we moved here, and I knew I was going to become a stay-at-home mom, I made a weekly schedule for myself with different things to do each day in different areas of my life. I knew I needed some structure to add variety to our days and make sure things got done. We've loosely followed the schedule for the past few weeks, but I started really trying to achieve everything on the schedule this week. It hasn't totally happened (surprise for all you moms out there - the area that keeps getting left out is me time), but I did pretty good.

Anyway, on Fridays, my "special" activity with Cadie is arts/crafts. Last week, we painted, but I wanted something a little more interesting this week. Of course, I didn't think about this until yesterday morning. I've also been wanting to help her understand Thanksgiving. So, I grabbed a bunch of my magazine from October and November (I get a lot of magazines - Real Simple, Better Homes and Gardens, Woman's Day, Ladies' Home Journal, and Parents - they were all gifts or free, and I love them)and started cutting out pictures that have to do with Thanksgiving/Fall, hoping she would be into making a collage.

She loved it! I let her pick which pictures she wanted to glue.
She really did it all herself. She was very methodical. She would pick a picture, put it in the top left corner of her desk, apply the glue, put the lid back on the glue stick, then stick the picture down.
We got to talk about some Thanksgiving things - most of my pictures were of food, but that was okay.

She was very proud of the finished product - we put it on the fridge right away.

Deals of the Week

I got some good deals at the grocery store this week because of the Thanksgiving sales (cheap stuffing and Campbell's cream soups, in particular), but I got free stuff this week and that has to count as the best deals. The Yakisoba noodles were free at Ingles with my $.50 off coupon doubled, and the deodorant and toothpaste were free samples that came in the mail. I'm wondering if between coupons and sales and free samples we might never have to pay for deodorant and toothpaste again!
P.S. I finally upgraded my blog look when I has some free time the other night. I changed up the layout (which I'm still working on) and added a pretty background and header from ShabbyBlogs.com.

Dassa and Pa-Pa came to town

Matt's parents came to visit a couple weeks ago now, but I'm just now getting the pictures off my camera. Here's some of the highlights of their visit.




In other news, we converted Cadie's crib to a toddler bed on Sunday. I think this means she is giving up naps entirely, which she has not been great at for awhile now. I'm still putting her in her darkened room with her sound machine on, but from what I can tell through the monitor, she gets up and plays the whole time. She goes to sleep really well at night though. The first night she rolled out, but from then on, no problems.

Oh my goodness!

I just won a necklace from Rhonda Michaels Jewelry thanks to a giveaway over at A Little Knick Knack!

Candied Almonds

The candied almonds turned out YUMMY and super easy. I got the recipe from my trusty Better Homes and Garden cookbook, but I changed it up some, so I'm going to share it here! This would be perfect for the holidays.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups raw almonds
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
scant tbsp pumpkin pie spice (I added this part and didn't actually have any pumpkin pie spice, so I made it up with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves)

Line a baking sheet with buttered foil or parchment paper (doesn't need to be buttered). In a skillet, combine nuts, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Cook over medium high heat till sugar starts to melt (no need to stir). Turn heat to low and cook until sugar is golden brown. Add spices and stir until almonds are well-coated. Pour mixture onto baking sheet and cool completely. Break into clusters as needed.

Yum!

Today we:

*went to playgroup.
*ate eggplant pizza bites for lunch. (Well, Mama did. Cadie had cheese and sweet potatoes, and pretty much didn't acknowledge the fact that the eggplant was on her plate.) We're eating up the eggplant Dassa left for us last week.
*made candied almonds. If they come out well - we're waiting for them to cool - I'll share the recipe.
*found a new way to entertain ourselves on the potty.
And it's only 1:30! Now, to the mailbox!

Deals of the Week

We got to get out of town this weekend, spending two nights at my family's cabin, which Cadence calls the "mountains house", and surprising our friend John at a great surprise party. On the way home, we tried to take advantage of civilization and went to Target. They had just marked all their leftover Halloween items 90% off. Thankfully we were there early enough to still get something decent - and there was quite a crowd of eager ladies digging through the costumes. The pumpkin was $1.50, the snow princess $2.50 (I got this one in a child's medium - should fit Cadie when she is 5 or 6 and cares more about being a princess), and the zookeeper for $1.20! The snow princess includes the dress, hooded capelet and muff, and the zookeeper includes a hat. For just over $5 - three great costumes for Halloween or playtime.

Halloween festivities

There was much debate among parents around campus here (and much debate in my head) about how/where to celebrate Halloween here. In a rural area like this, going door-to-door is completely unreasonable. The church we've been attending here wasn't doing anything, and I could hardly find details about any other events. A lot of families with older kids drive half an hour through the mountains to trick-or-treat in downtown Highlands, NC, but it was far away and at night. I finally managed to get some details about Hay Day put on by the Rabun County Chamber of Commerce and we went with that - we especially liked that it was on Saturday morning. Some of the games were a little beyond her, but it was fun; she liked wandering around and seeing all the costumes. All that said, here's some pics.


She was not about to put her hand in the "boiling" cauldron, even if it was for a prize. Daddy did it for her.
Bowling for a prize at the McDonald's booth. (They were super generous with the gifts - coupon for free coffee for grown-ups and a whole bucket of candy and prizes for the kids. Cadie got a my little pony that she loves.)

Taking a break to eat some raisins in front of the department store. Note the deer hunting rifle behind her. Yep.
Also a big hit - the train table play set at a favorite bakery/coffee shop where we stopped for lunch.
Maybe she'll grow up to be a ballerina/train conductor?

Halloween 2010-Cadie as Ballerina

Before we went to our Halloween festivities yesterday, Cadie showed off her ballerina moves for me.

Note how her left foot has just started to go...




I made the tutu and hair flower; the ballet slippers were from the Target Dollar Spot awhile back - found and purchased by Dassa.