Holiday Happenings

Oh boy.  Have we ever had the good times since last time we chatted.  Goood times.  And lots of food.  And lots of family.

In fact, here they are now...

Anthony's twin brother, Andrew and his wife Rachel and their kiddos Alayna and Hannah all came from Ft. Worth, Texas.  Anthony's mom, Leslie came from Houston; and Anthony's sister Angela and her boyfriend Luke came from Pensacola, FL.  Oh, and Angela brought her two huskies.  Our house was at max capacity.  And max awesomeness.

Andrew and family were able to stay with us for a full week.  Everyone else came through just for a few days.  Here is the pictoral recounting of our time together (or, an excuse to post pictures of my super-cute nieces):

This is the day we went to the park.



This face is because she did NOT have a fun time walking a very hilly half mile to the park.  In her boots.

Someone thinks she has to be a part of the action...

Rachel and I put our cooking skillz together for the big day.  Oh, and Mom Johnson personally took care of the giblet gravy.  She had a mild fit when she saw us trying to throw away that cute little bag of turkey innards, so we told her if she wanted them she could go for it.  I don't really like gravy, sooo giblet away, Mom.  Giblet away.



Andrew stepped in to turn the turkey at the appropriate time...

Here's the bounty we ended up with

 (You can thank hungry little Alayna for the gash in the middle of our picture-perfect turkey)

 We have so much to be thankful for.  Not the least of which is finally getting to sit down and eat!

Here we are at yet another park...

What a photogenic little group of people.  I'm not sure these pictures accurately describe the great time we had, but I'll just tell you...it was pretty great.  We were sad to see them all go.  And boy is our house quiet.

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

I'll be the first to admit that I'm no fitness buff.  I like food way to much to allow myself to be too thin or overwhelmingly fit.  But a few days ago I was coerced into attending a spinning class.  I don't mind running.  I'll do pilates.  I've even been known to swim a few laps.  But spinning is a totally different monster.  I attended another spinning class a few weeks ago and loved it...turns out it was the spinning class for weak-hearted losers - the "Endurance Class".  We sweated and pedaled away for forty-five minutes.  Done and done.  No problem.  I'm not exactly sure what this class I went to most recently was called, but I think it was something like, "You're-About-to-Poke-Your-Eyes-Out Class", or maybe the, "I-Hope-You-Weren't-Planning-to-Sit-Down-Again-For-a-Week-or-Two Class".  It was super hard.  I drained my water bottle in the first twenty minutes.  At one point I think I may have been having some sort of asthma attack. 

I'm getting off subject.  What I'm trying to say is that when I got home, the microscopic portion of spagetti that was left over was simply not going to cut it.  That's when I remember this pin on my Pinterest food board.  The woman swore it tasted like ice cream.  Sign me up.  Her pictures are much more beautiful, so you should go check her blog out, but I followed her recipe to the T, and ended up with something magnificent.  It really did taste like ice cream.  All peanutbuttery and banana-y and delicious.  Here's the recipe:

2 Bananas, pre-cut up and frozen

(the more ripe they are before freezing, the better)

1/4 cup whole oats

1/4 cup peanut butter (I used natural, chunky pb)

3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)

Blend the oats first, until they are powdery.  Add the remaining ingredients and blend 'er up!  So.  Incredibly.  Good.  Especially if you think you may be starving to death...

Go try it out!  Fantastically good AND pretty great for you.

Weekend Happenings

This weekend was pretty low key. 

Friday night we went to a gender reveal party for an expecting friend.  And yes, that is a legitimate sort of party.  Any excuse, y'all, any excuse...

We all wore pink, guessing she was having a girl, and we were right!  Whoop!

Saturday I made a measly offering to my friend's yard sale.  I didn't make a bunch (because I didn't bring a bunch), but I DID get to hang out in perfect weather all morning, talk to my awesome friend and drink Santa's White Christmas coffee.  So yeah.  Good morning.  I didn't mean to, but I came home with a couple garage sale finds...

Oh yeah.  VHS baby.  We still got one.  And that's Anthony's Brook's Brothers polo he snagged for fifty cents.

Sunday afternoon my genius husband invented a way to pick up our leaves (quite possibly my least favorite part about this wonderful season we call fall).  He got a piece of thin, flexible plastic and kinda just scooped them up like a giant leaf taco.

 You'll notice my face is all squinched up here...there were little gnats swarming around my eyeballs at this particular time.

We hauled them over to "the woods" and dumped!  Then, we slid back down the hill on the plastic.  Yep.  That's how it's done at the Johnson Casa.

We also paused for a few obligatory Darcy-Frolicking-In-The-Leaves shots.  Those are always a win.

 What a cutie pie.

So that was the weekend.  How was yours?

I call it art

If you're far too fancy and cultured for your own good, you may call it scrapbook paper cut into shapes and glued in a frame.  It's true!  Your 1st grader could probably do this, but I happen to like it.  And if YOU happen to like it and you have a first grader handy, you're set!

You'll need: scrapbook paper, scissors, glue (any ol' kind will work), a shadow box and that kid aforementioned (I used myself in lieu of this item).  Minus the kid, you will need to harken back to your first-grade-valentine's-day-card-making-skills...and start cutting out hearts!  I made a template so all my hearts would be the same size.

Then, I wanted to make some smaller flowers, so I downsized my large template.

Just cut out as many heart petals as you like.

 Now, start gluing!  Mine (obviously) was far from exact.  Once it's behind glass it'll look like a masterpiece.

Now let it dry.  Pop it in the frame.  And display it proudly! 

 

See?  Glorious, eh?  Well, it's cheap anyway...