HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Dear Sisters,

This Thanksgiving was significant in so many different ways. First off, this was my very first major holiday away from home and second, this was my very first Thanksgiving I'd be cooking all by myself. Don't get me wrong, it was very nice and enjoyable, but it just was not the same without you guys there :0(

I am so proud of myself. I really think I deserve a pat on the back and a medal for the dinner I put together :0) Preparing a holiday dinner is very labor intensive and I can't believe I was able to pull it off! I'm hoping one day I will be able to master the art of Mass Cooking for 45+ people just like Mom. Cooking this dinner is just a precursor for me! So anyways, this is what I made for the special occasion:

1. Brined Roasted Turkey
2. Cheesy Garlic Mashed Potatoes
3. Broccoli Casserole
4. Baked Mac N Cheese
5. Sweet Potato Casserole
6. Sugar Glazed Carrots
7. Homemade Cranberry Sauce

Stuff I did not make from scratch:
1. The dinner rolls
2. The ham which Bryan brought over
3. Stove Top Cornbread Stuffing
4. Brown Gravy (which came in a package)
Please note: I will attempt to make the stuffing and gravy from scratch next year :0P

Other stuff I made that I did not take pics of:
1. Spinach Garlic Dip served w/ crackers
2. Cheesecake Cups
3. No Bake Oreo Sheet Cake
4. Pumpkin Pie
**I have to stress that the frozen oreo cake was phenomenal! It tasted just like an ice cream cake (and is waaaaaaaaaaaaaay cheaper, too) and I will be making this for Archie's birthday next year!

The one thing I ran out of time to make:
1. Apple Crumb Pie (which I will be making tomorrow)

The turkey was out of this world! The white meat was so juicy after bathing in a brine bath (salt and sugar solution) for 24 hours. I soaked the bottom side for the first 12 hours and then flipped it over to soak the breast for another 12 hours. Once you try this method, you'll never cook your turkey any other way!

Mmmmmm, check out our dinner and please click on the pic for a closer look :0) I think Mom would be so proud of me if she was here!

Here are the fellas enjoying their dinner :0)

Here are the rugrats always goofin' around.

Here is our "Happy Family" pic. I have no clue why lil pumpkin is making that face :0P

The kids love Bryan. Archie and I have nick named him B-ryan or B-roni after the show "The Family Guy "

Here's my poor lil girl eating lollipops for dessert because all the ones I made are milk based and because I was unable to make her apple pie :0(

We have PLENTY of leftovers and you know what that means..... I don't have to cook until Monday, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!! I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving!

Love you guys sooooooooooo much,

Joy :0)

P.S- Arlene, please thank Matt for his lil pep talk about cooking Thanksgiving dinner. I think he really calmed my nerves down :0)

PERDIDO KID'S PARK

Dear Sisters,

I have discovered another neat place to take you guys whenever you all come down to visit. Perdido Kid's Park is by far THE best park I have EVER been to! I can't wait for you guys to see this place because it is gianormous! It is literally a small wooden village for kids!

You see, few weeks ago the kids and I went to this park for Mar's end of the year soccer party and when we arrived there, I took one look at the entrance and I was like, "Fudge!!! I didn't bring any money for admissions!!!" So, we headed towards the gates and I come to find out this freakin' place is FREE! Holy cow, I wish I knew about this place when we first moved down here! It is a bit out of the way though..... approx. 10 miles away from our house, but it is worth the trip. Since our first visit to the park, the kids have been back 3 other times (thanks to their uncle :0P).

This is the front entrance that almost made me crap myself!

My lil pumpkin is so funny! I told her to pose for me and this is what she did :0)

The pics I took does no justification for this park! You have to see it with you very own eyes to believe how grand this place is! There is sooooo much to this park too that is not pictured in this blog: a picnic area for bday parties, tons of slides and swings, a special designated area for toddlers, public restrooms and a small nature trail across the way. I am absolutely in LOVE with this place and I can't wait to bring you and the rest of the rugrats here!

Miss you guys so much,

Joy :0)

OUR FIRST HALLOWEEN AWAY FROM HOME

Dear Sisters,

Yes, it is almost December and I am just now posting Halloween pics. I guess I am just plain ole' lazy :0P. So finally here are my pics for our first Halloween in Florida.

Before we adventured out to go trick or treating, we stopped by Archie's work and the kids were able to go cubicle to cubicle for candy. It was imperative that I bring the kids to his office because a lot of his coworkers are like, "You have kids??? Yeah right!" So here are the kids @ daddy's work. I don't have to explain what they are because as you can see their costumes are pretty much self explanatory.

Here we are posing w/ Archie's coworkers. Check out Bryan w/ the melting face! You can click on the pic for a closer look! The kids were too scared to approach the poor guy :0P

After our field trip to Archie's work. I had to cook dinner so Archie and the kids headed out in the van in search for a neighborhood to trick or treat in. I wish the kids could've stuck around the neighborhood but there was not one kid in sight! So anyways, the kids came back 35 minutes later w/ an almost empty bag and I was like, "WTF happened Archie??? Why don't they have candy in their bags?!?!?" I guess Halloween is not a big holiday over hear because they went to like 4 different neighborhoods and no one was passing out candy :0( I felt soooo bad for the kids because they came home so disappointed, so I reloaded the whole fam into the van and drove to a neighborhood (which is on the other side of the city) that I knew was passing out candy.

Man, I miss the old neighborhood. Adam Shore is THE best place to go trick or treating no doubt. I hope next year I'll be able to find a neighborhood closer to home where the kids can go treak or treating.

Hope all is well and miss you all,

Joy :0)

ANOTHER ENJOYABLE WEEKEND....YESSSSSS!!!!!

Dear Sisters,

The kiddos and I have really been taking advantage of the nice weather. This past weekend Ray took us and smelly Daisy to BayView Park.  This is another place I would love to take you guys to whenever you all decide to come down.  It has a nice playground and picnic area, docks for fishing and also to stroll on, a fenced in doggie park and it even has it's own lil doggie beach :0) I wish I took pics of the whole place because the facilities was quite impressive. Anyway, I got some pics of the kiddos playing w/ their uncle......

Oohhhhhh, to be young again......

This boy is FOREVER hangin' on his uncle!

Smelly Daisy had a great time @ the park as well =0P

Such a nice time we had..... I wish their Dad didn't have to work that day :0(

So that was on Saturday afternoon.  Sunday was even better because I got to have the WHOLE afternoon aaaaalllllll to myself.  First, I brought Mar and Jr. to church.  After church, we rushed home and I made sandwiches for lunch.  After I inhaled my sandwich, I said my goodbyes to the kids and their father, ran out the door, jumped into the minivan and sped off to the beach. 

That day I decided I wanted to go to a different part of the beach. I usually go to Casino Beach ( where that ginormous pier is located),  but instead I drove 2 more miles down the road to the beach that is next to the Fort Pickens entrance.  The beach area is sweet, but the public bathroom is gaud awful.

Doesn't this pic make you wanna visit me ASAP!

This is the view facing east towards the condos.

And this is the view facing west.  There is no residential development on this side and it seems like you are on a deserted island.  I decided to walk westward in search for a whole sand dollar.  I have been on this quest for the whole summer and I have always came home empty handed :0(

No luck in this pile.......

and no freakin' luck here either.

I keep on finding half dollars...... it's too bad I can't super glue these two together =0P After an hour of walking, I just simply gave up.  I went back to my beach chair and just......

C  H  I  L  L  E  D

It was nice.  I mean really, really nice to just be able to lounge on my trusty beach chair, just reading my book while listening to the waves and not have a care in the world for a good 5 hours =0P. Don't get me wrong, I love going to the beach w/ them, but there's no relaxing there cuz they are  in the water 92% of the time and I can't even turn my back on them for a split second.  Well, that sums up my weekend!

Miss you guys a whoooooooole bunch,

Joy :0)

P.S- Oh and btw, as I was slowly dozing off in my chair, I heard a little girl screaming w/ delight in the water and you know what she found ........  A WHOLE SAND DOLLAR....... UGH.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ALYSSA!!!

Dear Sisters,

I just had to post this pic!  This is my most FAVORITE pic of my lil Alyssi taken @ my going away party.  I miss her soooooooo much and I wish the kids and I were there to celebrate her 2nd birthday.  Please do not forget to send me some pics from her birthday party and please give her and big hug and kiss for me!

HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY MY LIL ALYSSI!!! I MISS AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!

Miss and love you guys,

Joy :0)

IT WAS A GREAT WEEKEND!!!

Dear Sisters,

I had a fabulous weekend!  Lately I've been feeling down because I've been jobless for a while but that is all going to change.  Yesterday I finally took my CNA exam and I passed both my written and clinical!  The written test was pretty easy because it was all common sense, but the clinical was the part I was very worried about because most of the people  who took it before me (I was the last in line to take it) failed :0(  There were about 15 people there to take the clinical test and only 5 of us passed.  I feel bad for the people who failed because half of them were on their 2nd or 3rd try.  But yeah, I passed and I should have a job in a couple of weeks (I'm hoping).

Today we all went to the seafood festival in Destin (which is an hour away).  Ray felt bad that I missed the one in Pensacola last weekend so he took us to this one.  I've been waiting all summer for this and it was definitely worth the wait :0)

Here's my lil pumpkin sleeping on the way to Destin and yes she still likes to "eat" her blankie.

This was the food section of the seafood fest. The smells coming from this section was so intense that you can taste it! There were 4 other rows of tents which I did not get to visit because we got there an hour before it closed plus I was too busy stuffing my face.

I got the jumbo shrimp skewer and crab fritter platter from this booth.  Stupid me did not take a pic of my food because I dove right into it :0)

Ummmmmmmmmm..........

look @ all of this fried goodness!!!

I did however remembered to take a pic of my second plate which consisted of fried crab legs, sausage gumbo and seafood jambalaya.  Man, that gumbo was insane!!!!!

Daddy had a headache, but he was still able to enjoy his food :0)

Shown in this pic: a very happy me after committing gluttony.  Not shown in this pic: my stomach busting outta my pants ;0)

Poor kiddies, I was not paying attention to the time and they were only able to go down the slide once (which is shown deflated in the background).

After eating, I wanted to check out the beach because I heard the beaches in Destin are gorgeous.  Man, the beach we went to was SWEEEEEET.  The sand felt like baby powder on my feet and the water reminded me of light blue sea glass.  I can't wait for my next visitor to come down because I will be taking you to Destin!

And again more beach pics. At least the children are wearing something different ;0)

I wish we had our bathing suits because the water felt really nice.

The brats got their shorts wet..........

especially this one here and that is why she is not wearing any pants in this pic.

So, I hope you guys had a nice weekend as well.  I really wish I was home for Alyssi's bday party.  She must have been so cute blowing out her candles.  Please send me some pics of her bday party via Kodak Photo Gallery or something like that.

Miss you guys sooooooooo much,

Joy :0)

UNCLE RAY, THE HUMAN JUNGLE GYM

Dear Sisters,

It is again soccer season for lil Miss Mar and she seems to be enjoying herself.  I think she has a lot of potential, but the poor thing is still a little timid when she plays.    You see, she is so scared of the ball hitting her face that she practically lets the other player take the ball from her! Geeezzzz, I have to help her get over her fear cuz she's just letting the other players fly right by her.  I think I'll do some dodge ball sessions in the backyard to show her the ball doesn't hurt that much, plus I think it would be lots of fun throwing a ball @ my child ;0)

Ray has gone to a couple of games w/ me and the kids. He's been really patient w/ them and I just don't know how he does it because you guys KNOW how loud and obnoxious they can get! When he's home, the kids tend to swarm around him and I always tell them to let their uncle breath but he always says it's okay. Anyway, here are some pics from her first game, including pics of the kids smothering their uncle ......

Here's my super star player in the making posing in her soccer dress.

These are the Jaguars ladies and gents.......

I told Ray to put them down for God's sake, but he never listens to me!

This has got to be one of my most fav. pics of my lil pumpkin :0)

And of course the boy had to have his turn, too.......

My gosh, patience can only go so far and I just don't know how he does it!  I can only imagine what is going through his head when the kids are attacking him. I hope you enjoyed the pics..... I  just had to share them w/ you guys because they are just so ridiculous!

Love you lots,

Joy :0)