So much to be thankful for

I bet you have seen these posts everywhere, right?  Sorry to be so cliche with the season, but I really am so thankful for so much this season.   As most of you know, the Midwest was hit heavily with tornadoes on the 17th, the town I live in Coal City/Diamond happened to be one of those hard hit towns.  I drove through the devastated area today, I could not believe my eyes.  In 10 days, the volunteers, home owners and the community has most of the debris out of the area and all that is left are very badly battered homes.  I was almost in tears as I rode through the neighborhood today. This was posted by the church that ran the collection site for the community, it describes this community perfectly. 

Now for my thankful list.... 1. Thankful for the family that I married into, I miss my mom dearly this holiday season and I know that even though I miss my mom they are here for me 2. My husband, he works so hard to provide for us.  I miss him a lot while he is working overnights and is gone 15 hours a day.   3.  My best friend Trisha, she has proven time and time again what an amazing person she is.   4.  My nieces and nephews, they keep me on my toes but I love them so much and am very lucky I get to have them in my life as often as I do.   5.  Thankful to have the support from my family for opening my photography business, I have a long ways to go, but they are supporting me 100%.   6. The group of women that have been a constant support system over the past 2 years; The September 2012 wives group....lobe you all Happy Thanksgiving to all.  I hope you are all able to spend it with family and loved ones. 

The little things

Happy hump day!  The week is half over, only a few more days till the weekend, nothing big planned just nice to know that there is light at the end of the week.   Hump day happens to be one of my favorite days of the week, in the September wives 2012 group I am a part of we do "hump day, bump day" yes you guessed it, all our pregnant wives post their bumps.   I love looking at all the bumps and dream of the day I can participate in this day.  
I was able to spend some great quality time with my nephew Collin, he is my littlest best friend.  

Goofy front camera picture of us

We made homemade hot chocolate tonight and it was delicious.  Collin LOVES to be in the kitchen, so when he found out we got to make the hot chocolate on the stove, he was ecstatic!    Here is the recipe

Ingredients

• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ⅓ cup hot water
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 4 cups milk (Dairy or non-dairy)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Quick and Easy instructions

1. Combine the cocoa, sugar, water, and salt in a medium saucepan.
2. Over medium heat, stir constantly until the mixture boils. Cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute.
3. Stir in the milk and heat, but do not boil.
4. Remove from the heat and add vanilla; stir well. Serve immediately.

We only had large marshmallows, so we ripped them apart! 

My hubby is 32!!

Happy Birthday to my husband Bill, he turned 32 today.  It is hard to believe that I knew and dated him when he was 19 years old and that this is the 3rd birthday since we have been together.  Makes me think how quickly time flies, when you're having fun, in love and enjoying life.

I made him a coffee mug, you know one of the Pinterest mugs that you draw on with Sharpies, then bake?  It looked great, then...I baked it and my colors faded.  My purple turned to grey and my red to a burnt orange.  It is still pretty neat, just not as bright as it was before it was baked.

After it was baked

I bought him a funny card ( I am known for the sappy cards, so I think he was pleasantly surprised by my funny card), some Starburst candy and....

....I made him a homemade, from scratch birthday cake.  

I lit the candles and sang him "happy birthday"

Here is a fun, younger picture of my husband.

It looks like it is a picture of a picture, but he still has those dimples!

Memories of mom

Blogtember topic for today is "a memory you'd love to relive".    I took a sneak peek last night at the topic and thought about it throughout the day.  It had me motivated to go through 3 bins of pictures and old memories from my childhood.  I lost my mom 10 years ago and wanted this memory to include her, of course.  After spending hours going through bins and bins, I decided that I have multiple memories I would love to relive.  

My mom was the hardest working, most loving and dedicated person I knew. But most of all she was an amazing cook, everything was made from scratch, no measuring cups no recipes just from memory and her fingers.  I would LOVE to have my mom's spaghetti sauce again, it is a smell that would fill the whole house, the sauce simmered all day and it was amazing as soon as it hit your mouth.  Her recipes were family recipes, that were a couple generations old and by the time they got to my mom they were no longer on paper, or maybe they were but she never shared the recipes with us.   

She was also the queen of holidays, the house would be decked out for any and all holidays.  The Christmas tree was always in the window, she also would do animated characters in the windows.  The front door was wrapped as a present, the stockings were hung on the walls ( we never had a fire place), the mistletoe was in one of the door ways.  She would cook on Christmas day and it would be a full spread.  One thing I miss dearly is Christmas Eve mass, we did not attend church regularly but every year for as long as I can remember we went to Christmas Eve mass, I hope one day to go back to mass to honor my mom and relive that memory.  

     

I ride with my husband on our Harley Davidson, I probably get my love and joy of riding with my husband from my mom.  She was a Harley Davidson mamma, she did not own a Harley but she rode all the time.  I loved watching her get on the back of the motorcycle and ride off with her boyfriend.