Shannon's World

Libby looked so cute in this dress and heart tights that I asked her if I could take her picture before she headed out to the library. When I asked she was standing near our wine rack and touching a few of the glasses that hang above the wine bottles. Libby indicated I could take her picture then pointed to the lady bug wine glass and said “can I carry this in the picture?”. You’ll see the results below (and I haven’t quite figured out what this says about Mike and I as parents )

the cranberry sauce! Love this stuff:

Homemade Cranberry Sauce
1 bag cranberries
1 small (tuna fish sized) can of crushed pineapple
2 c sugar
3/4 c water
1/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t all spice

Mix all ingredients together and bring to boil. Boil/simmer until thick. Place in mold or container and refrigerate.

If you’re looking for a good appetizer, don’t forget this cranberry salsa recipe – it was excellent! I’m going to an ornament exchange in a few weeks and plan on bringing this.

I made these a few years ago with my niece and nephew and they turned out great. I’m thinking about making them with Libby this year.

An instant message popped up on my screen the other day demanding “favorite Thanksgiving side dish. Go.”. This was the first thing to come to mind:

Sweet Potato Souffle (aka Mom’s Sweet Potatoes/ aka no marshmallows here)
3 c. sweet potatoes (2 cans)
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. melted butter
2 eggs
Mash potatoes and mix in all ingredients together. Spoon into pyrex/corning ware dish.
Topping:
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. pecans
1/3 c. melted butter
1/3 c. flour
Mix together & add to top of sweet potato mixture.

I’ll be making this and bringing it to Thanksgiving along with homemade cranberry sauce. . .YUM

Mommy and Me ballet has been great; Libby loves it and is doing a great job. Mike and I asked her the other night if she wanted to keep doing ballet or if she wanted to go to Lil Kickers Soccer again. First she indicated she wanted to go to school and liked school. A LOT. After we explained she could still go to school but we were asking about soccer or ballet – Libby said she wanted to do ballet. Here are a few pics from our last class:

getting ready!

leaping over the puddles!

listening to the teacher…so serious!

Blogging about these here because I don’t want to forget them. These would make fun teacher/friend gifts this holiday season:

Cowgirl Cookies in a jar I did not see the pink breast cancer M&Ms this year; I always buy a few bags at Target but was sad that I didn’t find any this year. I did see individual bags of different colored M&Ms at Michael’s and Factory Card Outlet that would be perfect for these.

S’more Kits

Libby’s full of character and surprise these days – I’m constantly surprised by her vocabulary and the complex sentences/thoughts she’s putting together. She’s also very funny! Here are a few things I wanted to document so I don’t forget:

- Fast foodie: we pass two fast food restaurants nearly every time we leave our house and Libby shouts from the back seat, “there’s Taco Bell….there’s Hamburger King”.

- The other night Libby told Mike “you cannot take my candy. If you take my candy, I will know it and you will have to go to the naughty rug.” The girl is quite serious about her Halloween candy. . .she’s got her Daddy’s sweet tooth.

- Libby is fascinated with Denny’s! We have never been to Denny’s and I have no recolection of talking about it but we pass one on the way to Costco. Libby always says “There’s Denny’s – I want to go there”. Last week I asked her what she wanted to get at Denny’s and she said “waffles”….one of these days we’re going to have to take her!

Sadly, neither Mike nor I work for companies that throw fancy holiday parties. My company does slightly more than nothing. Mike’s company hosts a fun casino night/awards event. Sadly, neither require a fancy dress and our New Years plans don’t seem to either. **sigh** If I did have an event, I’d love to wear something like this. I saw it in person and it’s even better!

The 1/2 Street has a Houston recap. I didn’t bring my camera with me, so I left the recap to her. If you need any Houston restaurant recommendations, we’re the ladies to talk to!

We had a great Sunday. We joined our friends the Pfister’s at Turkey Run State Park and it was beautiful. After an early start to the day (gotta love turning the clocks back) we headed out for a hike and picnic lunch. The weather was gorgeous and Libby had a blast in the back pack and running around.