Goodbye 2009!

Well hello there! I have been a total slacker and have neglected my blogging all month! New Year's Resolution #1- blog more!

Here is a run down of the month of December:

Week 1: Casey turned 28.
Week 2: Decorated for Christmas... sort of.
Week 3: Last week of school in 2009. Kids had a BLAST at our class Holiday party and I had a blast seeing how excited they got. Here is a video of the kiddos opening their gifts from me!




Week 4: Spent the day baking delicious Ginger Bread cookies with my friend Amanda's daughter Autumn and helped her make gifts for her family (Gingerbread cookies in a decorated back with the recipe!). Enjoyed days off, then headed to Longview on Christmas eve. Spent Christmas Eve with my mom and stepdad in Gilmer. Ate way too much, got way too many wonderful gifts. Got up on Christmas day and went to Daddy's in Longview. Spent the morning opening gifts (WAY too many) then went to Aunt Patti and Uncle Clayton's for Christmas Lunch/Dinner. After Christmas Lunch/Dinner headed out to Meme and Papaw's house to visit with them. Had a great time catching up and enjoyed listening to Daddy and Papaw play guitar and bass together. Went out with some high school friends on that Saturday night and had a blast!





Week 5: Spent the first half of the week with my family relaxing and shopping. Got adorable outfits for engagement pictures. Watched Up and Julie & Julia- obsessed with both. New Year's Resolution #2: COOK MORE!!! (and not easy boring stuff either- push my limits!)

Which brings us toooooooooooooooo: NEW YEAR'S EVE!!! I cannot believe how quickly this year has gone by. Seriously though - This year I have been to Los Angeles, North Dakota (and every state in between), had 4 jobs, became a teacher, absolutely LOVE being a teacher, got engaged to the love of my life and my best friend ever, and am now planning a wedding. Can you believe that all happened in ONE year? I cannot...

Okay so that was 2009... what will 2010 bring?

Yummy Soup!

Today my handsome hubby-to-be turned 28! We are getting so old! This morning we slept in until 10 and then did house work before Casey went to his weekly meeting with Pastor (he's learning Biblical Greek!). While Casey was gone I decided to clean out the refrigerator and pantry and found the acorn squash that we had bought for Thanksgiving but ended up not cooking so I decided to look for a recipe to use it up. I found a recipe on Allrecipes (one of my favorite sites!) for Acorn squash soup and spent the next 2 hours cooking it. It was not in vain because that was some of the best soup I have ever had! The flavor was so unique and had so many dimensions. If you're looking for a yummy way to use acorn squash here is the recipe:

ACORN SQUASH SOUP

Ingredients

• 1 small onion
• 1/4 cup chopped celery
• 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon granules
• 1/2 teaspoon dill weed
• 1/4 teaspoon curry powder
• dash cayenne pepper
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
• 3 cups mashed cooked acorn squash
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, saute the onion and celery in butter. Stir in flour, bouillon, dill, curry and cayenne until blended. Gradually add broth and milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes. Add the squash, salt and pepper; heat through.
2. In a blender, process the soup in batches until smooth. Pour into bowls; garnish with bacon.

The only thing I changed is the evaporated milk. I didn't have any so I just used about a 1/2 a cup of heavy cream and it turned out so creamy and decadent. Yum!

After the soup making, I cleaned up around the house and we went over to Casey's parents house for his birthday celebration. We had baked ziti - his favorite - and ice cream cake (his other favorite) and hung out with his family and watched football. Overall this has been a pretty nice weekend- and we're 90% done with Christmas shopping- yay!! Now if we could just get that darn tree decorated.....

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

IT SNOWED IN HOUSTON, TEXAS TODAY!!! Yes it's true, Houston, Texas, the hottest, muggiest, most gross weather having city in America, got snow ALL day long today. On Monday when the weather reports about Houston getting snow came out, I was thinking "Yeah, right- it never snows in Longview and Houston is WAY hotter!". The kids in my class kept assuring me that "On/In/At Friday it's going to snow!" Well today as we were doing morning circle and calendar, I looked outside and it was actually snowing! I could not believe my eyes. It was hard to see but the kids were so excited anyway. Since many of them had never seen snow before I decided that I would take it upon myself to let them go on a "mini-field trip" outside to play in the snow. So I bundled them up and instructed them that they could do whatever they wanted except scream and that if they screamed we would have to go inside immediately. Of course as soon as a snowflake hit their skin they all started screaming with excitement and I had to take them inside, but they really liked it. Later during the day when it started really coming down I took them out again and they really got to play in it and I didn't have to worry about them screaming because there were 3 other classes full of screaming kids outside too. The day was pretty chaotic with parents coming to pick their kids up early for fear that the roads would get too bad, but other than that it was a great Friday! Here are some pics of the kiddos in the snow while we were loading the buses and also one of Riley in the frosty grass!