New Hair Dos

I usually cut everyone's hair. It saves money and considering usually it is just buzzed, its not too difficult.  Lawson is the first one though that has fine enough hair that we actually want to keep a little length on it.  That causes a bit of a challenge for me.  Although I always wanted to be a beautician, I don't know exactly how to do all of their little tricks.  I will keep trying and just take them to an actual hair salon every now and then.

I had seen an add for a kids hair place and wanted to check it out.  They have the fun seats, cartoons, and all sorts of toys.  I guess it went well for us, but not sure we will go back again.  Bargaining with Lukas to get a hair cut ended up a hair cut and a new train on the way out.  I'm a sucker for his "please" and smile.  It was fun though and the look good!

Birt Baby.... Boy or Girl???

Over the weekend we had a little gender reveal party for Christy and Mitch and the baby on the way.  Jana and I had decided to throw them a reveal party because it was something we had never done before so would be fun to try.

We had all sorts of ideas (mostly from Pinterest) that we put together to make it our own.  We had everyone wear the color of their guess.  It was a pretty split party of pinks and blues.  When they arrived they put their name in the jar of their guess.  Once it was reveled, Christy picked a name out of the correct jar and the winner got a gift that they brought.  Erin ended up winning the prize :)

Since all of our their family couldn't be here we decided to do a "Votes from Afar" thing.  This way we could include those that couldn't be here in person.

  I always like to read all of the wives tales and see how it compares.  Christy though was pretty split on these as well.  We did the key test, palm test, and ring on a string test at the party.  The key and palm both said boy and the ring on a string said girl.    

We had different snack type foods to pick at throughout the afternoon.  It must have been good because we didn't have much left over.

We let Christy decide how she wanted to do the reveal.  There are so many ideas out there now with the cake, silly string, confetti, and the box of balloons.  She decided to go with the box of balloons.  Mitch and her found out the gender on Wednesday at their sonogram, so she was able to get the balloon box taken care of without anyone else finding out.

How cute are these two!

Smiles all around for Grandpa and Grandma Keeley

 These two little ones were excited about the pink!  Reese could not contain her excitement :)  Lawson was probably just loving the balloons.

Me and the Momma-to-Be

Some excited uncles and aunt

We are all so excited for another little lady to arrive in March!  

Halloween

We did Halloween a little different for us this year.  A coworker of mine told me about the Trunk-or-Treat their church was having the weekend before.  Since the weather was nice and it gave an excuse to dress the kids up another time we decided to check it out.  Christy was watching Cade and Reese for a bit so she brought them up and we made it a family affair.  It worked out great and the kids got started on their collections of candy.

Cade and Lukas had it figured out

On Thursday for Halloween Erin's team had their last game of the season.  We had some friends in the neighborhood I wanted to go by before so we got an early start and took a little wagon stroll through the neighborhood.  Everyone loved my little Minions!  We went ahead and wore the costumes to the game.  They would help keep them warm so I figured why not.  It was a lot of fun and the boys got too much candy!

Ready to head out into the neighborhood

Happy Halloween :)

Table Talk

I have become a huge fan of soups.  I think they are easy, lots of flavor, can do in crock pot, and great leftovers.  So many positives for this mom.  Most soups I make are really for Erin and me.  This one however both my children LOVED!  Both of them followed me into the living room with my bowl and stood there just waiting for their bite.  It was adorable.

This recipe came from our holiday soup supper last year.  Amanda brought it and I could not get enough. You have to try it out.  I am looking forward to making it many more times as the weather gets colder.
(sorry no pictures this time)

Hamburger Soup

1 ½  lb. ground beef

¾ cup chopped onion

¾ cup shredded carrots

¾ cup diced celery

1 tsp. dried basil

1 tsp. dried parsley

4 T. butter

3 cup chicken broth

4 cup peeled & diced potatoes

¼ cup flour

2 cup cheese ( I use Velveeta )

1 ½ cup milk

¾ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

¼ cup sour cream

Brown ground beef; drain and set aside. In same pan, sauté onion,carrots,celery,basil and parsley in 1 T. butter until vegetables are tender, about 10 min.. add broth, potatoes and beef, bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 to 12 min.. meanwhile in a small skillet melt remaining butter. Add flour; cook and stir 3 to 5 min. or until bubbly. Add to soup; bring to a boil. Cook and stir for 2 min. reduce heat. Add cheese, milk, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until cheese melts. Remove from heat; blend in sour cream.