A Thankful Thanksgiving

We met converged at the lake

The guys cut down a tree, the little guys watched... well they stood close by the action anyway.

Games were played and football watched.

A bet was lost, so Rachel had to wear an Aggie shirt.

Happy Thanksgiving from Louisiana and the rest of my family.  And the big news of the weekend, we finally can tell the world.... another Grand is on its way.  See Melissa in the black and white jacket and Sean in the picture above.  Grand number three will be here the end of May!  The Fox family will become three.  

2nd generation baby bed

We used a Williamsburg Jenny Lind bed for the twins when they were born 28 years ago.  I kept one all these years in my MIL's attic.  When I knew my girls were ready to start their families, we brought it to Texas from Louisiana.  Then it stayed in the garage for several years.  

Now that the grands are here,  it has been refurbished.  I used Versailles, Annie Sloan chalk paint and a clear spray varnish.  I made a muslin dust ruffle and went with just a simple khaki bed sheet.  Then to top it off, I placed my grand-mother's blanket she knit for me as I left for college on the side. So that makes the blanket for my grands to use a family heirloom from their great, great Maternal Grandmother.  Wow, Veronica McKee never realized how far that blanket would go.  Thanks Grammie!

Oh, a little trick I learned on Pinterest.  The rubber band around the can helps to dip the paint off our brush onto the rubber band instead of the side of the can.  Makes for easier clean up of the can and the lid doesn't stick to all the paint dripped in the rim if you use that to take paint off your brush.  

Here is the bed before....

Let me tell you all these million little rings and bumps were not fun to paint.  Two coats and I probably could have done a third.  But, I was done. 

And here is the result...

Tadaa...

The Versailles paint is a dusty sage green.

Great, great Grand-mother McKee's knit blanket the perfect accessory.

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Debbiedo
Cedar Hill Ranch

Shutterfly cards

Shutterfly cards have been my go to place every year.  They have a wonderful selection and you can catch some great sale prices often.  Here are a few of their designs from this year's selection.

 Right now 40 % off, but offer ends soon.
(downloaded images a bit blurry, viewing better at the site here.)

The best way I have used Shutterfly recently has been to send pictures of the Great-Grandbabies quickly and easily to their Grand-parents.  They love having hand held photos to show their friends. (They haven't figured out the phone photo option on their cell phones yet)  I just load my photo's onto my Shutterfly account and can send them to the nearest Walgreen's or CVS.  They can pick them up one hour after I have sent them.  Since they live out of state they greatly appreciate this feature.  

And over the summer I created two family albums from our summer vacation.  Shutterfly makes it an easy and simple process.  Storage of my photos on Shutterfly means they will never be lost or destroyed.

Here is the link to start creating.  Click Here.

Meeting Great Grands

They got loved on, held, fed and burped.  Hadley and Layton have met all six of their great-grandparents now.  Nickie, Norene and Karl made it in for a short but sweet visit.

Hadley ~ Nickie ~ Layton

Hadley ~ Norene ~ Layton

Layton

Karl and Layton

Norene ~ Hadley ~ Karl ~ Layton

Layton

Hadley

Layton

Oh, they got swaddled a lot too.  

Rum Glazed Sweet Potato Cakes

I made these completely from scratch, boy did I feel like a baker.  Every inch of my counter space was full with ingredients, my mixer, my food processor, a huge mixing bowl, chopping board, measuring cups and wire racks for cooling and glazing.  It happened to be a rainy morning and a cool front had just swept in and chilled the temperature outside a bit.  Great day to bake.  

I would adjust some things if I ever want to bake these again and use every single cooking item I own.  I needed extra pecans, but I always need extra pecans.  I also ran short on the glaze.  But my daughter liked them better without, so she ate all of those.  

I used a mini-bundt pan and a couple of mini-loaf pans.  Tip - three medium sized roasted sweet potatoes purees down to about two cups.  I also threw some chopped pecans in the batter.  If the glaze tends to cool and thicken and you can't dip anymore, just pop the pan back on the heat for a few seconds.

Southern Living recipe here

A surprise inside these yummy little cakes are rum soaked golden raisins.  I froze a dozen for Thanksgiving.  Just saying, they are really great with a dollup of whipped cream on the side.

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Cowgirl Up!  Cedar Hill Ranch
Wow Us Wednesday - Savvy Southern Style
My Romantic Home
Inspiration Friday

It was still a fun weekend

We started off in New Orleans...

Waited in line to eat and listened to the guys above sing.

We ate some more and the next day some more and then headed to Baton Rouge.... 

My sister scored tickets to the LSU - Alabama game...

Lynn and I partied with Rachel, Jill, Daniel and Chris....

On a gorgeous day in November that was in the high 80's. 

and we joined 200,000 other fans to cheer on the Tigers...

The game was great until the last 50 seconds.   Tense, fun, loud, my ears are still ringing.  The stadium isn't full in the picture below, but not a seat empty once the game started.  We broke the old record with attendance above 93, 300.  

College football, there ain't nothing better!  Well, beating Bama would have been better.  I'm still sad.

But on a happy note, LA Tech Bulldogs are ranked at 20 in the BCS! Go Dawgs!  So proud of my Alma Mater.

Kittens

First Halloween and a new mommy and daddy tip.

Layton and Hadley were two little kittens this year.  Great Michael, working kitchen detail in the background.

Lynn holding Hadley, Ann Marie has Layton.  (years from now I will be glad I wrote that)

See that plastic thingy next to Hadley.  It makes a gentle vibrating movement.  Ann Marie and Michael took it off the pack and play bed and the twins seem to like it.  Helps them go back to sleep after eating.  Smart new parents I say.  

I love this real life picture with babies, Papa, blankets, stack of little hats, burp pads and bibs.