Merry belated Christmas!

Isn't this just the cutest Christmas present you've ever seen?!?

Slumber party!

This weekend, we fortunate enough to host the Thomas' as they were on their long road trip/journey north to Minnesota for Christmas. They made their first pit stop in Nashville, and then drove to Des Moines on Saturday. It was soooo fun to spend time with them - all 4 of them (Emily, Bud, baby Claire AND their dog Lacey)!
Here are some pictures from our slumber party!
Look at me I really am sassy!I love my Uncle Jed!
Lots of smiles!
Check out my ADORABLE hat!!!!!!!

The BEST cookie you'll EVER eat!

That's right.
This is a FABULOUS, easy and delicious recipe. I don't know where my mom found it years ago, but it really is the BEST recipe for Peanut Butter Blossoms. They always turn out perfect. Every single time! It's like a Christmas miracle.
I tackled one batch of these on Wednesday night and have the fixins to make another before Christmas. Good thing Jed's nickname is "the cookie monster" because otherwise, I'd be the one eating all of these cookies.
Here's the recipe and some photos of how to make these cookies!


YUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!

An afternoon project...

Jed went to the Drake basketball game this afternoon and I got hit with a cleaning bug... my greatest accomplishment among the vacuuming, dusting and scrubbing was this...
The before...
Embarassing. Poor, poor neglected linen closet.
The after...
You can even see the full garbage sack on the floor. Wow! That felt good. Do you have any sad closets or cupboards that could use some attention? This really only took me about 15 minutes!

2.5 weeks...

until I get to see this little beauty (and her Mom and Dad)! :)

Stuffed.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Jed and I made the best out of an unfortunate situation today. We had planned on heading to northern (and I mean NORTHERN) Wisconsin to visit Jed's parents for Thanksgiving. Sadly, a big freezing rain/ice/snow storm hit pretty much all the way up 35 N from northern Iowa to Duluth. Tuesday night we thought we might need to change our plans and I had Jed go out and buy a turkey, just in case... not that I knew anything about making a turkey!! So, Wednesday night we knew we'd be staying here in Des Moines so we headed out to the stores to pick up a few things for all of the essential Thanksgiving foods.
Word to the wise: Don't go to the grocery store the night before Thanksgiving. We must have lapped HyVee 3 times looking for stuffing. Not just any stuffing, but a verrry particular kind of stuffing per the request, no, demand of Jed. :) Who knew the man had such strong feelings about stuffing? And fruit salad? Wow. I've learned a lot about my husband in the past 24 hours! :)
So, this morning I may or may not have had to drag my lovely husband out of bed (cough::@ 9 am::cough) so we could get started...
cooking, baking, mixing, basting, spreading, mashing, boiling, simmering, etc.
Here are some pictures from our day of fun. It sure was a lot of work but we were able to have a special guest (shout out to Kelli) over for lunch and it was really fun!
All of the ingredients! (Note the stuffing debate)

Super pumped.
I made this reeeeally awesome recipe I found on Iowa Girl Eats for cranberry chutney. You can find the recipe here. Seriously, it was maybe my favorite part of the meal.

Ahhh. Cooking away!
Time to come out!
The table is set!

We each have our own post Thanksgiving meal traditions... His:
Mine:
Speaking of these crazy Black Friday ads ... I better get some sleep! We are heading to Kohl's @ 3, Target and Younkers at 4 and then home to sleep shortly after! :)

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It's Thanksgiving Eve!

Jed and I (mostly me) did some decorating for Christmas last weekend BECAUSE we were SUPPOSED to be in Minnesota right now hanging out with my mom and then leaving for Wisconsin in the morning. Unfortunately, northern Iowa and pretty much all of Minnesota (at least along I-35) got blasted with some ice and snow so we decided to stay in Des Moines. It's our first Thanksgiving as a family and we are excited to spend it together. Jed's parents will be down sometime this weekend so we will get to see them and Jed's sister, brother in law and our niece too. Yes!

Anyway, here are some fun shots of our decorating. I really love Christmas and the holidays and I was so excited to decorate some in our first house. Especially thankful for my fabulous fireplace! :)



Bo and I had a crafting afternoon last Saturday. I turned my fall wreath into a Christmas wreath by adding some green felt and then some red and white berries ghat I got at Hobby Lobby for 50 cents! I love it!
These are hand painted carolers that Jed's great Grandma painted and I think they are SO cute!
Leftover wedding centerpieces + 50 cent Hobby Lobby berries = Mantle decorations!
This is another gem from Jed's Christmas box. This is a super antiquey looking advent calendar that Jed's grandma got somewhere in Europe. It's the sweetest thing with the little pop open windows! I need to find a better spot for it.
The mantle in all it's glory! I love my stockings. My Aunt Barb bought them for me one year on our girl's Chicago trip!
This is a lovely ceramic tree that my Grandma Carey gave me a few years back. It is probably my favorite Christmas piece. It's so fun to take out of the old box and put all of the little lights in it. It's like a light bright! And then you flip it on and it's sooo pretty!
My cheerful helper!




Final product. This picture does not do it justice.

I will be sure to mentally document all of the hilarity that is guaranteed to ensue tomorrow as we make our first Thanksgiving meal together and update the blog again soon!