I cooked my first turkey!

Is it normal for a 24 year old to not know how to cook a turkey?
I didn't even know where to begin.

I asked for tips, looked on Pinterest, and googled it. Then I texted my dad a bunch while I was preparing the turkey. I had no idea so much went into it.

First I had to take the stuff out of the inside of the turkey. There was a bag of gravy and bag of giblets in mine. Then I had to wash the outside and inside of the turkey and put it on a roasting pan.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees.

Leave the turkey sitting out for half an hour and rub salt and pepper on the outside of the turkey.

The next step that I read about during my research was to put two cups of water or chicken broth in the bottom of the roasting pan and then put the turkey in the oven.

When you put the turkey in the oven, lower the heat to 350 degrees.

Baste the turkey every 45 minutes.

So, super simple, right? Except for the part where the turkey is heavy as he** and you have to lift that bad boy out of the oven every 45 minutes because the oven needs to stay shut (you're not supposed to let the heat out). Thennnn... lift it again to put it back in the oven.

The very last time you baste the turkey, baste it with melted butter instead of the liquid from the bottom of the pan.

That was about it!

Oh, and let the turkey sit for 30 minutes after it's finished cooking before you carve it.

I also seasoned my turkey with rosemary, thyme, and creole seasoning before I put it in the oven.

It was seriously so delicious. Nice and juicy, too! Chris said it was the best turkey he's ever had.

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. 
2. Pull the packaging out of the inside of the turkey.
3. Rinse the turkey in water, inside and out.
4. Place turkey in roasting pan.
5. Rub salt and pepper on the turkey.
6. Season the turkey with whatever seasonings you like. (I used thyme, rosemary, and creole seasoning).
7. Put two cups of water in the bottom of the roasting pan.
8. Place roasting pan in the oven and turn the temperature down to 350 degrees.
9. Baste the turkey every 45 minutes.
10. Use butter to baste the turkey for the very last time. 

I had an 18 pound turkey and cooked it for about 4 and a half hours. 

Let me know how your turkeys turn out!! 

"Buckeyes"

For the past 16 or 17 years the ladies in my family have made peanut butter buckeyes. We make a TON of them (enough for six families plus extras for sharing), so we make an entire day out of it and spend the entire day together laughing, talking, drinking wine & coffee, playing games when we have a down moment, and just having a good time.

It has always been one of my favorite days!! My sister-in-law moved here from Arizona this past year (YAY!) and was able to join the tradition. She is allergic to peanut butter though so we chose to change things up a bit. We love to pass these treats out to friends and family at the holidays and we love to sit them out when people visit so we still wanted to keep the treat sweet and easy to store so that it lasts through the holidays (freeze them!).

My sister hosted our get together and chose to do fudge. We made white chocolate peppermint, milk chocolate mint, peanut butter, milk chocolate with almonds, and just regular milk chocolate. They turned out so yummy. and were so much easier and quicker to make than the buckeyes are. We had even more time to sit and chat with each other (and drink more wine!!) and since we already switched our tradition up, we switched it up a bit more and let my nephew join in! He's going to be 16 next week so it was a big deal (to me!) that he wanted to hang out with us!

I love that we have a new tradition but I will still always call our get together "Buckeyes"! LOL

Fudge Recipe

1 1/2 sticks butter 3 cups of white sugar 2/3 cups Evaporated Milk (NOT sweetened condensed) Stir frequently over medium heat til rolling boil. Set timer for 5 minutes, continue cooking over med heat stirring CONSTANTLY!! Remove from heat Add one small jar of marshmallow creme, 1 tsp of vanilla extract and one 12 oz bag of any flavor chips until smooth. Pour in foil lined and greased 9x13 pan. If you make the peppermint, use white chocolate chips, add 1 tsp of peppermint extract as well as vanilla when you remove from heat.

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You can easily double this recipe and split it up between two 9x13 pans.

One of those days

I have a sick baby.

The older kids are driving me crazy.

My house is a mess.

The laundry is piling up in the laundry room.

I'm hungry and we "have nothing to eat" (that's my pregnancy talking, we have plenty).

I'm emotional and everything is bothering me.

I know that tomorrow will (probably) be better but today I'm just so discouraged. I was up almost all night with Sylas... he had a fever and a terrible rash all over his body. We went to the doctor this morning and found out that it's a viral infection and we'll just have to wait it out. My poor baby is miserable and extra cuddly. The extra cuddly part is great, the miserable part is not so great.

The pictures don't do the rash any justice but you can see it a little! 

Sylas slept with me for the first time ever last night.... he slept across my neck while I awkwardly laid with my head at a weird angle trying not to move so he could get some sleep. It was the only way he could get comfortable apparently. LOL! 

As for the older kids driving me crazy..... telling them to be "quiet" while Sylas naps is the equivalent to telling them to scream in my living room. At least according to them. Asking them to pick up after themselves is definitely a crime. OH, and that jello I made and put in the refrigerator to set? They put their nasty little fingers all over the top of it to "see if it was done" (it wasn't, I could have told them that if they had only asked). Plus, they're arguing... kicking each other out of these great business ventures the other comes up with, which leads to tears from Peyton. Someone stole a string off a handmade boat, which led to more tears from Peyton. SCHOOL STARTS IN EXACTLY ONE WEEK!!! I'm not excited or anything. ;)

Stocking Stuffers

We still have more than four months until Christmas but it is going to fly by!! Seriously, it'll be here before we know it. I am crazy about buying gifts... I lovelovelove it. My kids always get so spoiled on birthdays and Christmas. We aren't rich (not even close), so I have to plan ahead and look for the best deals to give them what they want. I ask for updated lists every couple of months throughout the year. This is ridiculous, I know, but it keeps me excited about shopping and it lets me know what they REAAALLLY want as opposed to random "wants" that they will forget about. I already finished big gifts for our oldest, and now I just have to work on her stocking stuffers. The other three, however, still need gifts AND stocking stuffers, so now I definitely need to crack down and get started.

I started a list of ideas that I have for stocking stuffers for the kids, ages 2 months - 11 years old. I think this part of Christmas is the most fun and definitely the most exciting, so the list is pretty long.

Stocking Stuffer Ideas For Kids

Phone Case

Cool Socks

Hair Bands

Chapstick

Scarf

Temporary Tattoos

Cocoa Mug

Card Game

Cookies

A book

Stuffed Animal

A Journal

Gift Card

Washi Tape

Jewelry 

Candy

Nail Polish

Slippers

Perfume/Body Spray

Minecraft Figurines

Small Lego Set

Ball

Joke Book

Sunglasses

Small Christmas Craft

Cap Gun

Small Lotion

Hand Sanitizer

Hot Cheetos

All-Skate Giftcard (All-Skate is our local skating rink)

Cars/Trucks

Gum

Glow Sticks

Hair Brush

Post-it Notes

Onesie/Christmas Outfit for Baby

Baby snacks

Bath Toy

Teething Toy

Hair Accessories 

Hat

Mittens

Fake Nails

Yo-Yo

Lip Gloss

Crazy Straw

Pens

Lottery Tickets

Toothbrush

Loofah

Selfie Stick

Video Game

Magazine

Blocks

There are so many possibilities for stockings. Many times my best finds are just random ones where I am browsing through a store and find something that I know one of the kids will love. Of course you also have to put candy in the stocking!! 

Do you have any awesome stocking stuffer ideas? 

Free Blogger Template

So I desperately needed a cute template for my blog but I'm so new to this I have NO IDEA how to create one yet!! So in the mean time, I counted on Pinterest to find me exactly what I needed.

I found a cute, simple template that I was able to easily put on my blog with no problem! Who would have thought??? It was made by This Creative Mom.

Her blog is soooo cute AND she gives away free blog templates! Definitely check her blog out. ;)

This picture is from The Creative Mom blog.
http://thiscreativemom.com/free-blogger-template-2/

Positive Reinforcement

Grounding, taking away privileges, etc. will only get you so far with kids. With my kids, it doesn't seem to work at all. I still do it because if they are misbehaving or being disobedient, I will not allow them to get away with it. However, it isn't very successful in helping them make better choices the next time around.

Because of this, I needed something positive. My kids respond best to positive reinforcement and we didn't have a system in place for this. I created one and it's already working wonders.

It's simple... I just used scrap paper and wrote out points. I made slips of paper worth 1 point, 5 points, and 10 points. Then I used more scrap paper to write out rewards that the kids can "buy" with their points. They simply save their points up and turn them in for a reward. They are mostly very simple rewards, but there are some better rewards for more points.

We just started this morning, and already Nevaeh has earned 5 points! She cleaned the living room and vacuumed without being asked or required to do so. I'll take it! I'm sure she's working her way towards a trip to the movie theater or all-skate. 

And I'm having another one?!

This is my feeling about kids today.

We already have 3, and another coming in October.
It gets soooo hectic around here!!

The kids conned us into having friends spend the night last night.
Nevaeh asked first, and we said yes.
Then Peyton's friend Logan from our neighborhood came over and he wanted to spend the night, too.
How could we say no?

THEN, two of Logan's sisters wanted to spend the night, as well...
and how can we say no when their brother is spending the night?
I let Chris make the final decision on that since I had to get my glucose test done this morning.
He said it was fine. His problem, right?

Well, I babysit two of my nephews during the day so they came over this morning at 7:30.
Chris had to make breakfast for 10 kids. HAHAHAHAHAHA.

Oh how funny.

He sent me a text while I was sitting in the waiting room at the hospital that said,
"only one friend per kid is allowed to spend the night from now on".
Oh he had a good time, I'm sureeee.

Baby Girl Bedroom

Well, Peyton is all moved downstairs so that we can prepare our Princess' bedroom. I wanted her to be right across the hall from us but NOT share a room with Sylas (two babies in one room, no thanks!!). We haven't gotten anything else done yet but I plan on going to pick out the paint colors this week!

My vision: SUPER GIRLY!! I don't want a "theme", I just want her space to be cute, elegant, and absolutely gorgeous. I want pink walls, and then lots of lace, frills, and anything else that screams "girl".

Soooo, of course I have been scouring Pinterest in search of ideas. I plan to do quite a bit of DIY for her decor to make it more personal and to save money.

Click on the pictures for their original location! 

I can't wait to get started!! 

Summer Time Adventures

The summer struggle... 

The kids seemed to be getting restless ALREADY and it's only July! 

I was desperate for new things to do with them so I checked out the library that is literally a 3-4 minute walk from our house. It turns out they offer a TON of activities for kids of all ages. Thank God. 

Yesterday we went to a minion party. I took my three kids and my niece and they all had a blast. Sylas couldn't really participate in any of the activities but he had a blast interacting with other kids and watching all of the excitement going on. The other 3 just had a blast in general. Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of the actual activities because I had my hands full.

The first activity was making minion bookmarks. It was so easy but required the kids to do a little thinking WHILE being creative. They turned out really cute. The next activity was pin the eyeball on the minion. I DID get pictures of that. I'll post the pictures at the end. The third activity was bowling. Minions were made out of 2-liter soda bottles and the kids used miniature soccer balls to bowl the minions down. After that, they made minions out of toilet paper rolls, construction paper, and eyeballs that were glued on. How creative! Then the kids all went outside, broke up into groups based on age, and played a silly game that I didn't really understand. They got to run around, burn some energy, and have fun with other kids, so it was a success.

Today we went back to the library for a thing called Birds of Prey. A woman came in with a hawk, a bald eagle, an owl, and I believe one other bird. These birds had been injured in the wild and so they were unable to survive in their natural environment. The kids got to see them all and learn all about them. It was really great. Peyton lovedddd this while Nevaeh didn't so much. She bailed half way through to go and choose some books to check out. Win, win. 

I am so relieved that we found these activities. It's good for them to get out of the house and the library is the perfect place. Peyton and Nevaeh aren't big fans of reading so it's usually such a chore to get them to sit down and relax with a book but today they both signed up for summer reading and chose a few books to check out. Peyton chose a book about sharks and a book about snakes. Perfect!! As soon as we got home, they both sat down to read while I made lunch. I sent Chris a picture of them reading and he was literally shocked. I hope they keep it up! I hate forcing them because then how much are they really going to enjoy it? Thank God for the library's huge selection and excellent children's area. 

What have all of you done to keep your kids busy and occupied this summer? I need more suggestions!! :) 

What a surprise!! Peyton ran into his best friend at the minion party!! They are holding the minions made from toilet paper rolls.

Sylas had to get in some nuggle time with his sissy while he ate his snack.

Babies!

My pouting little man. He was standing on the glider and I told him to sit down on his butt.... he didn't like that. He's only 13 months old and he's already throwing tantrums and pouting. What in the world am I going to do?! <3 

26 weeks pregnant with baby number 2! This pregnancy has been soooo different from my pregnancy with Sylas. In a good way, for sure. I can't wait for my princess to have a name!

Blog Lovin'

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Basement Under Construction

With another baby on the way, we need another bedroom!! Our four bedroom house is too small for us already, so we are finishing our basement to add a bedroom. Peyton will be moving down there. He is so excited because he gets to choose his own paint colors and decorations this time.

I have been working on my Avon business today during all of the noise (Sylas sleeps like a rock) and afterward decided to look on Pinterest for ideas for Peyton's new basement bedroom. I found so many cool ideas!

Kids Stuff World

There was no source information for this one! 

Boredom Led to This

Buzz Feed

The Gunny Sack

I love looking at new ideas for the kids. They get so excited seeing all the possibilities for their space. Next will be Nevaeh's bathroom. ;)

Guess who......

Did you guess me?

If so, you're correct!!

This is my current littlest man, Sylas.

Sylas and his little brother or sister will only be 17 months apart (about a year and five months).

When I found out, I was in shock. Seriously.

We hadn't planned on this, but NOW I'm excited!! 

This picture here is the little set up I left on Chris' nightstand the day I found out. 

He didn't even get it... 

He saw the pregnancy tests and said, "I know, not pregnant!", and then continued getting ready for bed. I told him to check again and he was still a little confused but obviously figured it out. Men....

I am having a gender reveal party on Wednesday, and I cannot wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl. I feel like it is a girl, so lets see if I'm right!!