Welcome To My Life

May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
And your pies take the prize,
And may your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off your thighs!

-author unknown

If your looking for a tasty sweet potato recipe, here's one from the Barefoot Contessa.

4lbs sweet potatoes (about 6 lrg)
1/2 cup orange juice ( I like to use only 1/4c)
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp ground nutmeg (I only use 1/2)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp kosher salt (it calls for 2, so add more if you like)
1 tsp ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375*. Scrub potatoes prick them several times with fork or knife, and bake them for one hour or until very soft when pierced with a knife. Remove from oven and scoop out the insides as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Place sweet potato meat into a bowl and mix with an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and add the oj, cream, butter, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Mix together until combined but not smooth and transfer to a baking dish. Bake the potatoes for 20-30 minutes until heated through.

YUM :)

Shaye and I went on her fourth grade field trip yesterday. We had a lot of fun once we adjusted to the cold air off the James River. This was Shaye's second time there and my fourth ( 2 other times with Brayden's class). Shaye took pictures of the original church building and gravemarkers on the island they originally had the settlement. But they found this site was not a good place to live. They did not have fresh water, the water was brackish. They had been drinking the salt water for a year and were getting very sick before the Powhatan's showed them how to get fresh well water. We also saw the glassblower make bottles. The bottles are made from sand, ash, and limestone and when done are a beautiful green color. The settlers made the bottles to sell back in England, but the English didn't care for them because they wanted clear color glass. So they turned to growing and trading tobacco. We also toured the replicated ship, the Susan Constant, the Powhatan Indian village and the settlers fort. It is a great history lesson.
I'll post pictures later, once I figure out how to transfer them from my camera/phone.

the kids and I spent the whole day baking pies and between baking the kids created their own blog page. They put a lot of work into it and are very excited for everyone to see it. If you want to take a peek it is...culdesacclub.blogspot.com. They both love to read and wanted to post info on books they've read.

Brayden's little snowman

look close...you might be able to see the snow

Yikes....just picture me pulling my hair out and SCREAMING. I deleted my blog and have to start all over again. I did mention I am a beginner blogger, right? Hopefully I can get all those pictures back up....soon.