family favorite: green bean bundles

If you are in need of an easy side dish for a holiday gathering and want to have it prepared ahead of time?  Got one for you...Green Bean Bundles.  Honestly, I can't remember many holidays without these.  They are super easy and always a crowd pleaser.

All you need is 4 simple ingredients:  Canned Whole Green Beans, Bacon, Beef Broth and Paprika.  Make sure your green bean can says whole...



Sometimes you have to search the self for them.

Drain the green beans.  Cut the bacon in half...



I do mine with a pair of scissors while still in the package.

Lay out a piece of bacon and stack a handful of green beans in the middle...



Wrap the bacon around the beans securing the bundle with a toothpick...



Line up the bundles in a baking dish...



I use my lasagna pan for the depth.

Cover the bundles with beef broth...



Cover with foil and let marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

I take mine out of the refrigerator a few hours before I am going to serve them.  Bake at 325° covered for 45 minutes...



Drain the juice.  Sprinkle the bacon with paprika...



Broil on high until the bacon is browned...



A hit everytime!

giving thanks

Thanksgiving Day was full of eating and visiting with tons of family.  Isn't that what Thanksgiving is all about?  We started the day by watching this video and the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  Love it!  It is one of my favorite parts about this time of year [and Owen is still busting out with lyrics from Sweet Potato Casserole].

We ate lunch with Jody's family.  We only see the majority of the people there on Thanksgiving Day every year.  When I first joined the family there were no children.  Soon we were blessed with Banks and Hal.  Now we are up to eight, soon to be nine.  I forgot to get my camera out of the back of the car...so I have no pictures of all the kids.

That night, part of my family came over for dinner...



Uncle Jerald volunteered to fry a turkey.  We plugged up his nifty fryer in the garage, and the men took charge...



Fifty-two minutes later we had turkey...



[The next day Banks asked why the garage smelled like doughnuts.  I can think of worse and it was totally worth it!]

Then it was time to DIG IN...



We had Apple Lane Farm ham to go with our delicious turkey...



We had mac and cheese, sweet potato casserole, green beans, fresh cranberry relish and Kitty Haney style dolloped dressing...



All the cousins had a ball at their very own table...



Meet them all...



They are kind of loud.  Who else had a High School Musical microphone as a part of their Thanksgiving table?

Mary Reese and her mini me...



Mary Reese and Callen were even dressed a like in their sweater dresses and "Ugg" boots.

Banks and Owen...



Baby Leo...



After pecan pie and pumpkin chiffon pie, we burned some calories playing the Wii...



...dancing, doing gymnastics and wrestling...



...just like every other family in America [and they don't get their dance moves from me].  Never a dull moment!

The next day, Uncle Jerald created a delicious & delightful gumbo with the left over turkey carcass...



...and we watched football and played outside all day long!

So much to give thanks for.

3rd grade turkey bowl

Every year right before Thanksgiving, Banks's school hosts a Turkey Bowl tag football game.  They study football in PE and end the unit with a touch football tournament amoungst other classes of the same grade.  Let me tell you, it is serious business.  The faces in this picture pretty much sum up the seriousness of the Turkey Bowl...



Banks and Sam drew out plays for weeks before school.  They had plays called The Chicken Nugget, The Heart, The Z, The Backward Z and The Shoestring...





All the shirts are tie dyed but each class has a different design...



Mrs. Morris's 3rd Grade Class

We played the first game against Mrs. Boyd's class.  We started the game kicking off to them...



They started off with a bang and ran the kick off back for 6 points.

Mrs. Morris's class getting their game plan together...



Banks played quarterback some...



...and received some...



He even scored all three of their touchdowns...



They ended up losing 21-19.  They missed the first extra point.  To tie up the game after the second touchdown, they decided to go for 2 but missed.  Once you loose your game, you are out of the tournament.

As you can tell by our face, we weren't real happy with the final outcome...



It is serious business I tell you...bragging rights for an entire year!

The best part of the day...they play at the park right in front of LuLu's retirement home.  She got to come see her great-grandson play in the game she loves the most!

After a quick pep talk and a promise to go to the playground until time for the final game...



...the team was over their loss!  Better luck next year.

book in a bag :: the knight at dawn

Banks has to read 2 chapter books this 9 weeks.  With one of the chapter books, he had to complete a book in a bag project...



He chose The Magic Tree House's The Knight at Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne.  He had to decorate the front of a bag.  Then he had to write the story grammer [title, author, main characters, plot, setting, climax, main problem and solution] to glue on the back...



He had to put the book and 5 objects that represented the book or characters from the book inside the bag...



He chose a armor helmet, a flashlight, a trapdoor, a knight and a bookmark...



He also had to write about each object on notecards.  Then he used his bag and the objects in his bag to do a book report to the class.  A creative twist on a standard book report!

gobble wobble 2011

Ben Davis/Leon Sheffield held their 1st Annual Gobble Wobble 5K/Fun Run Sunday afternoon.  The event was to raise money for the school as well as to kick off a new incremental mile program for the children.  The kids have been challenged to run 25.1 mile before the Delano Park Mile Run in the spring.  That mile run will be the last mile in their marathon challenge.

The day was not the best for the inaugural run, but their were tons of participants who braved the rain.  Banks and Mary Reese originally where going to run the mile fun run.  When it came time, Mary Reese backed out and opted to stay with Debbie to play Family Feud on the iPad.

I told Banks I would run the mile with him until the rain set it.  I backed out myself.  Thankfully he said it was fine if I just cheered him on at the finish line!

The mile runners set to run with the instructions not to trample over each other...



I looked up and Banks was almost to the finish line...only 2 runners crossed in front of him!  I was so proud he was the third one across...



His friend and classmate Sam coached him along the finish line.  [Sam and his dad ran the 5K.] Sam and Banks also finished the Delano Mile Run side by side in the spring.  They finished that mile in 8:28.  His Gobble Wobble time was 7:47.  WOW!!!  Can't wait to see what that time will be in the spring after his marathon miles have been ran.  [He definitely would have left me in his dust.]

He even got a medal for his finish...



Owen was super proud of his big brother...



Mary Reese was slightly jealous when I told her about all her friends who had ran.  She was even more jealous when she saw the medal Banks won!  I am not sure if she is going to finish her miles for her incremental marathon but I think they are giving medals to the finishers.  Maybe that will be incentive enough!

turning seven

I can't believe my baby girl turned seven.  It seems like just yesterday we were checking in the hospital to have her...now she is a independent first grade with her own fashion sense who has grown 3 inches since turning 6...



Her birthday celebration spanded several days. She started Thursday (11/10) taking cupcakes to share with her class...



She picked Princess themed liners for the girls and sports liners for the boys. 

Mrs. Propst and several girlfriends were in the room when we arrived...



[Anna, Bella, Mrs. Propst, Mary Reese and Ella]  Mrs. Propst said they had been counting down the days until her birthday for weeks.



She had her birthday crown ready.  Birthdays apparently are a big deal in 1st Grade.

Earlier in that week, Mrs. Propst asked me if Mary Reese could do a book report on Thursday.  She wanted some of the children whose older siblings had Mrs. Propst to start the class off.  We thought If You Give a Cat a Cupcake would fit in perfectly with her cupcakes.

Mary Reese read the book, gathered up all her props...



...and practiced on her family.

She was over the moon when she read her report...



She is already planning her next big review!

Thursday night, we ate at Nanny Nan and John B's house to celebrate Mary Reese turning 7 and her great grandmother [LuLu] turning 90!
 

 
It is not a birthday without a Judi Moore cake!
 
They gave Mary Reese her first American Girl doll who looks just like her...
 

 
Meet Kate...who has become my fourth child.  Mary Reese and Kate got several matching outfits for her birthday.
 
Kate has a friend Molly who has also come to live with us from Debbie's attic...
 

 
Molly is Aunt Stacey's American Girl doll.  She is on loan.
 
Finally it was Saturday [11.12.11].  Her real birthdate.  For breakfast she chose K May Doughnut shop...
 

 
We got a mixed dozen for the family.  Mary Reese got her ry own bag of holes...
 

 
...that she didn't have to share with anyone!
 
Popsy and Gigi came by and surprised her with a gift certificate to the American Girl Store.  It is already burning a hole in her pocket.  Plans are in the works for a winter trip to the one in Atlanta.
 
Debbie treated her to lunch at the new hot dog restaurant near our house.  She also outfitted her for the winter...
 

 
Tons of new leggings and long sleeve shirts to go with all her skirts.  Debbie even made her a new skirt!  She has been loving coming up with new combinations everyday!