Our Family Grows by One

Have I mentioned I have a new nephew? His name is Braylon and he is PRECIOUS!!! He will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday and honestly, I haven't gotten to know him very well yet. He mostly sleeps. But he is cute as can be, and I am finally sitting down to show him to you!

I also have a new "niece". My best friend is now a mother =-) And I couldn't be happier. Emily is already more fashionable than I am, and she has her mothers gorgeous big eyes. What a sweetie. I was so happy to have our first lunch date on my days off a few weeks ago.

And finally, here is a picture of my sisters and I, and my niece Madilyn, at my cousin Ragan's wedding. (Jenina, can you believe Ragan got married??? She was beautiful!!!)

I am thrilled that Thanksgiving is this week. I love Thanksgiving. I am ridiculously thankful for the blessings in my life. I'm one of those people who can't talk about her family without tearing up a bit. I would probably be embarrassed by that if I didn't share that trait with the greatest lady I know, my mom.

We had "Thanksgiving Feasts" at the school on Friday. Each class has a feast where the school provides turkey and parents sign up to bring everything else. The teachers get to eat the leftovers for lunch =-) So on Friday I had a plate with a bit of mashed potatoes, a bit of green beans (the only vegetable available), a bit of stuffing, a bit of mac and cheese, and a small slice of the best pumpkin pie I have ever had in my life! I wish I knew who made it so I could ask them how they made it so tasty!

Tonight was Thanksgiving #2. We celebrated with Brett's mom. She made pork roast, mashed potatoes, asparagus and crescent rolls. All totally delish. I made the dessert (a Cooking Light Apple Crisp), and in typical Kim fashion, I messed it up. Here's what happened:

I was planning to make this dessert after lunch, which we were going to eat at home after church. I thought I would probably start around 2:00. Well, today is my sister Jenna's birthday. Happy birthday, Jenna!!! So instead, after church I dropped Brett off and headed over to Laura and Jenna's house to enjoy a delicious brunch! It was totally worth hanging out with my sisters, brothers-in-law, niece and nephew to get home a little later. But when I got home at 3, I felt like I needed to hurry a bit. We had to be at Margaret's casa at 5:30.

This was not my first time to make the apple crisp. I made it a month or so ago. It was easy and delicious and my favorite part of making it was slicing the apples. So when I got home, I was eager to get slicing. But guess what I forgot to do? Um, you're supposed to peel the apples first. I didn't even read that part of the ingredient list. The part where it says "7 cups of PEELED sliced apples". Because that was the ingredient I knew! Apples, 7 cups. Duh. It was everything else that I didn't remember amounts for.

I also mixed the walnuts into the apples instead of into the topping. Hehe. I just totally read it wrong.

It tasted okay, but the apples looked like squash and the peels were hard to cut into with my spoon. Oh Kim. Slow down next time! Read the stinkin' directions! It takes 5 minutes! Brett's mom was super nice about it though.

Moving on.

We will have an afternoon lunch with my family on Thanksgiving Day. My favorite. I am going to wake up early and run out to get a paper. We get paid on Wednesday and we have a few big bills to pay, so I don't know how much shopping we are going to be able to do on Friday, but I will do whatever we can.

The most exciting thing about Friday is... wait for it... WE ARE BUYING A NEW CHRISTMAS TREE!!! I can not tell you how excited I am that we are going to have our very first full sized (fake) Christmas tree!!! And the reason we are doing so is because we are living in our first (rented) house. Which I love. I am so ready to deck the halls! We have been using my 4 foot tree on our dining room table since we got married. I had that tree for 8 years. It gave it's all. Last year, I couldn't put it back in the box. It was time to let it go. That sad little tree. I also threw away some ornaments that were peeling. I bought them at Walgreens mostly. For super cheap. They just weren't meant to live that long. So on Friday, we will definitely be buying a new tree and hopefully some ornaments for it. I'M SO EXCITED!!!

I hope that everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving. Be safe, all you travelers. Eat too much, laugh too loud, and sleep too late. Now is your chance =-) Happy Thanksgiving.