Snapshot Saturday

Last weekend my mother-in-law and father-in-law came down from Maryland and visited. It was so great to be able to see them again. I only see them about once or twice a year. They brought down Christmas presents for the children and it was fun seeing Trista open her presents. Last year she was an infant so she didn't quite grasp the point of Christmas and couldn't open her own presents.

Zachery opening his present. Robotic dinosaur!

Trista loved her LeapFrog puppy that reads.

Trista and her Pop-Pop Carlos.

Trista was an unwrapping pro.

My mother-in-law and I.

Snapshot Saturday

Snapshot Saturday is a weekly meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

This week I haven't really had much to take pictures of. I haven't read much either, sadly! It seems like I had an abnormal amount of superfluous things to do. But, here's two pictures I took this week of my daughter, Trista. The hair on top of her head is finally long enough to put into a tiny ponytail! She's 16 months now and it took her almost a year to grow hair.

Snapshot Saturday

Snapshot Saturday is a weekly meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

This week we celebrated Thanksgiving. It was just me, my mom, and the children. We made Turkey, green bean casserole, backed mashed potatoes, rolls, stuffing, and rum cake. We also bought a pumpkin and apple pie from Publix. Everything tasted really yummy... however, it's Saturday now so I'm over the Thanksgiving food!

The Turkey!

We actually tried a new recipe for the Turkey that my best friend uses. Instead of stuffing it with stuffing (which is gross anyways) you stuff it was stuff that gives it flavor and creates juices like lemons, lime, orange, carrots, onion, and a few other things. The top is just seasoned with Adobo and Cilantro. The turkey was very flavorful, but not overwhelmingly so.

The Rum Cake waiting for its turn in the oven

The rum cake is also a new addition to our Thanksgiving table! This is my first time making rum cake and I found the recipe for it here.

My mom prepping the baked mashed potatoes

The baked mashed potatoes were another new recipe. Usually she just makes stove top mashed potatoes, but we used a recipe from Framed Cooks. The only thing that I found about this recipe (too late) is that it lacks flavor. Next time we'll add some sort of flavor to it.

Go home rum cake, you're drunk.

Okay so the rum cake didn't turn out so well. About ten minutes before it was supposed to be done, it started burning on the bottom really bad. I took it out of the oven and portions of the inside didn't cook. I put it back in on low to try to cook up, but it still didn't turn out that good. It still tasted okay, so portion of burnt and uncooked pieces :/

My plate was so loaded! We definitely use paper plates on holidays... just keeping it classy.

Trista sleeping after her meal, she fell asleep while everyone was still eating. Now, I know turkey is the nap time trick ;)

Green bean casserole was her favorite food!

Trista waiting for her food to be ready.

Snapshot Saturday

Snapshot Saturday is a weekly meme hosted by West Metro Mommy Reads.

These are a few pictures of the St. Augustine Lighthouse from my one of my trips to to the historic town. St. Augustine is the oldest settlement in the United States, beating out Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. St. Augustine is about three hours from Orlando, on the northeastern coast of Florida. The lighthouse has been featured on the show Ghost Hunters, where the ghost hunters believe to have found evidence of paranormal activity. St. Augustine itself is quite a spooky place with lots of historic sites reputed to be haunted.

View from the top of the historic district.

View from the top of the coast line.

Lots of winding stairs!

Snapshot Saturday

Snapshot Saturday is a weekly meme hosted by West Metro Mommy.

This another picture from our day at Lake Eola back in January 2011. We go to Lake Eola a few times a year, but this is one of the few times I took pictures. This is a picture of my son, Zachery, and my little sister, Chloe, walking towards the pagoda at the east end of the park.

Snapshot Saturday

Snapshot Saturday is a weekly meme hosted by West Metro Mommy.

I took this picture in January 2011. It was a cold day at Lake Eola in the heart of Downtown Orlando. Lake Eola is known for it's swan population and feeding the swans and other ducks and birds are a favorite past time of my son, Zachery, and little sister, Chloe.