Ahoy it's a boy!

We are spending the week in Litchfield beach, South Carolina, with my family, Stribos', Swans, Balfours/Morgans, and Abernathys for Thanksgiving. A few weeks back I decided it would be fun to have a surprise shower for my sister and brother-in-law since our whole family and family friends would all be together. Last night was the night and it was a success! I think we caught my sister off guard. We did a big shrimp and fish fry dinner at the Abernathy/Balfour house. I went over earlier in the day to decorate and finish up the cupcakes and appetizers. Here are a few pictures of the decorations.

And the expecting parents!

We had a great time with everyone at dinner and they got some awesome gifts. Only a few more months until little man Willi makes his appearance. Nice to share the excitement with our family friends that we don't get to see very often. 

More to come about our beach trip and Thanksgiving day in my next post. 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving part 1

This weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving with the Robinson side. Tommy's sister, Beth, came in town from Charleston for the weekend so we started off with family dinner at Marlows Tavern on Friday night. We were all smiles for a break!

Yesterday morning we got everything we needed to make our food for Thansgiving and popped into our friends (The Mitchlers) to meet their new puppy, Sullivan, before we left town for the week. He is nine weeks of cuteness!

Then we headed to Tommy's parents house to finish getting ready for Thanksgiving. It was the five of us and his aunt and cousin, Marsha and Court. As always there was an array of wonderful food, good laughs, and time spent with family. I was in charge of sweet potatoes so I tried making Skinny Tastes version and it turned out great! 

I also attempted making a turkey out of a baked Brie and apples to start. Not as cute as what I saw on Pinterest but it's the thought that counts, right?! 

Here was the full spread! Fried Turkey, honey baked ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, rice, green beans, dressing, gravy, posh squash casserole, bread, and the fluffiest pumpkin pie. We weren't gonna go hungry!

A good time was had by all! 

Tommy and his cousin Courtney

Tommy's aunt (Marsha) and his mom (Courtney)

We called it a night and headed home to get some rest before waking up early this morning to drive to North Litchfield to join my family for the week. We left Cooper with the Robinsons. We are so thankful they are always willing to watch little man. 

More to come from the beach this week! 

Wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! 

Georgia/Auburn weekend

Tommy went to Auburn and I went to Georgia so we always go to the  game each year. This year the game was in Athens so we went up Friday afternoon to join his buddy James and his girlfriend at Terrapin to start off the weekend. Terrapin has really changed since I was in school. Their sales have really taken off and you can tell by the renovated tasting room and yard. We had a great time tasting their different beer. 

bee

After Terrapin we went to Dos Palmas for some Mexican before heading back to James condo. Our friends, Brad and Elizabeth Mitchler, joined us Friday night as well. 

Saturday, we got up early to get our day started for the big game. We set up our tailgate at Fini because we had two groups of friends we were tailgating with. James' parents set up a tailgate at Fiji as well as our high school friend Drew Stelling's parents. It was a big day for the Stellings as our great friends Drew and Caroline had gotten engaged the night before! Caroline is a sorority sister of mine and Drew is one of Tommy's oldest friends from home. 

We spent most of the day at Fiji but also went to my best friends Samantha's parents tailgate. Samantha lives in Orlando and I hadn't seen her since my wedding day! 

It was wonderful to see her and happy she is coming home again at Christmas!! 

We went back to Fiji to finish up our tailgating with Auburn and Georgia friends before heading to the game!

(Elizabeth Mitchler , me and Caitlin Simpson-James' girlfriend) 

James and Claire (my siblings) came by to see us too! They both are sophomores at Georgia.

It was then time for the game! I was so excited we got tickets (even if I had to sit in the Auburn section) because I haven't been in Sanford Stadium in over two years! Auburn scored on their first possession which instantly worried me. Georgia came out fighting and took the lead. The momentum was very much on our side. Georgia played an awesome game and we had a great time! Tommy was a trooper with Auburn losing. He still had a smile on his face!

We left the game a few minutes early (Tommy was over it) so we headed downtown to meet up with some of my girlfriends and my brother.

We had a great weekend in Athens! I love going back and reminiscing all the wonderful memories I have from my time in school. Can't believe this football season is already starting to come to an end. 

Go DAWGS and War Eagle (for any game they aren't playing Georgia)! Our house divided rivalry continues! I have bragging rights for the next 365 days. Til next year! 

Weight Watchers Meals

For the past 5 weeks I have been doing my best to follow the Weight Watchers plan. So far I have lost   11.5 pounds. Still a LONG way to go but happy with the slow progress. I lost a ton the first two weeks but it's been just a little bit at a time since then. Thank goodness for Skinny Taste because she has done all the leg work for me by writing the recipes and telling me how many points they are. She has pictures of each step and you can build a recipe box. Genius! I get emails with new recipes too. I have made a ton from her site and I haven't been disappointed yet.  The best part too is that my husband has enjoyed the food as well so it's a win-win. 

This weeks successful dinners were:

White Bean Enchiladas

Chicken Pesto Kebabs with roasted asparagus

Pumpkin Pie Dip

I plan on making a LOT more of her recipes in the near future. Next on my list are: 

Crab Cakes

Grilled Mediterranean Chicken and Quinoa

I love to cook but I wish I had the talent of creating my own recipes! Luckily there are great foodies out there that want to share their expertise with the rest of us! 

Week in review

This week has been one full of stress, sickness, friends, family, and football. The work week started out with stressors that only a teacher in elementary school would understand. This time of year is when everyone is tired and ready for a break. Only 10 more school days until we get 10 days off and I think it couldn't come at a better time. This morning at church, the sermon was about fear and what we are fearing in our daily life. This whole school year I have felt from within and from the people around me the fear of the unknown. Education is a hard place to be in right now especially if you teach a grade that is tested. Georgia has made many changes that revolve around testing and haven't informed the teachers to the fullest extent what it's going to look like. This brings about so many emotions for so many people. I'll just leave it as that for now. 

Wednesday, I could feel myself starting to get sick so I did something I haven't done in the past three years and I took a half day just to sleep it off. This made a WORLD of a difference for me.

I was needing some girl time with my college friends, so thank goodness Thursday was girls night at my friend Carly's house. Boy have times changed since first graduating from college. Four of us (we have dwindled because my friends are awesome people and have scattered themselves worldwide but sure makes me sad how far away they all live) sat around her dining room table with water and a little bit of wine, crab cakes, orzo, real napkins, and discussions about weddings, babies, and vacations. I wouldn't trade these nights with the girls for anything. It was just what the doctored ordered. 

For the first time in weeks, Tommy and I had no plans for Friday night so we enjoyed some wine on the porch before grabbing a casual dinner at this place near our house called Takorea. It is a Korean Taco joint. I was skeptical but it was actually very tasty! 

Saturday, Tommy enjoyed his usual golf outing while I spent the morning in the fresh air with Cooper before watching football the remainder of the day. Georgia won against Kentucky (Thank goodness!!) but unfortunately Auburn had a major upset loss against Texas A & M. Best part of the Auburn game was getting to hang out with my long-time best friend Katherine! 

Katherine lives in Jackson, Wyoming, and is home for the next two weeks between her work seasons. She lives far away but we pick up right where we left off every time I see her! It was wonderful to see her and so happy she is home for a few weeks so I get to soak it up while I can! 

Today has been a busy day from the start! We went to the 8:45 service with Bonnie and Brett. Tommy and I then went across to the Sanctuary for the beginning of the 10:00 service to see a dear friend's youngest son get baptized! Gaines Alton Harvard is such a sweet little boy who has wonderful parents! It has been so much fun seeing Lindsey's family grow over the years!

After seeing Gaines get baptized we scooted out the back of the church and headed for Dahlonega for the day with my family. My mother loves to go to the mountains in the fall to see the changing of the leaves so she made a reservation at Montaluce Winery (where my sister got married on June 2, 2012) for the whole family for lunch. The weather was beautiful but more importantly I got to spend the day with my whole family! The twins came home for the night so they were able to join us as well. We enjoyed delicious food, tasty wine, beautiful views, and family fellowship. Was a great way to end the weekend! Looking forward to heading to Litchfield in two weeks to spend an entire week with my family. There is nothing I enjoy more! 

(All the women in my family: Me, Claire, My mother, Bonnie, and my Nana)

Now it's back to the grind!

UGA vs. UF and Auburn vs. Ole Miss

Halloween weekend always calls for the rivalry game of GA/FL. Tommy and I decided with both our teams having big games we would have people over to watch and smoke some BBQ. It was the coldest day we've had since last winter so my plans of people sitting outside enjoying the sun and playing yard games went away very quickly. I decided to set up my tables and decorations inside instead.

We had friends pop in and out all day to enjoy good food, good friends and good beer. Georgia played the most terrible game of the season and lost 38-20. That score doesn't even explain the horribleness we watched all afternoon. Auburn ending up winning 35-31. It was a huge win for Auburn and a huge loss for Georgia. My college friends group text yesterday was rather depressing. Georgia football seems to be a roller coaster of emotions every season. It's hard being a dawg fan married to a tiger fan. Auburn actually produces when they need to. I guess the rest of this football season I'll be supporting Georgia but pulling for Auburn to make it far in the conference and post season. Not ready for the Georgia/Auburn game in two weeks. Hopefully with Todd Gurley back, we will play better! We can only hope!

I still love the DAWGS but they broke my football heart yesterday! 

Halloween 2014

As an elementary school teacher, Halloween is considered "book character day." This year my team decided to do the book The Day the Crayons Quit 

It turned out so much better than I anticipated! I told my students what we were doing and if they wanted to participate with the teachers than they should wear purple. I would say about three-fourths of my class came in purple which made it look so cute! I had a crayola sheet that they colored purple which I taped to their chest then we made cone hats. I had an army of purple crayons!!!! 

My homeroom class! Aren't they so cute! 

Kristan LeFave who is my special Ed teacher and we teach science together. 

Sarah Smith, who is a great friend of mine who also teaches fifth grade! 

The fifth grade team (missing Mr. Browning) after surviving Halloween at school. Quite a feat! (Left to right: Kristan LeFave, Katie Humpherys, me, Amanda Andrews, Owen Goard, Georgia Powell, Sarah Smith, and Amelia Ditzel) 

On to Halloween outside of school...

I am that dog owner who loves to dress up my dog for holidays. Poor Cooper is such a trooper and allows me to do it. Last year he was a taco 

And this year he was NEMO!

Over his short two years on earth he's also been dressed up as an elf and santa so I can only imagine what else he will be in the years to come! 

This year we didn't stay home to give out cand to our (very few) trick-or-treaters and went to our best friends, Ansley and Matt Reynolds, for a cookout. I left a bowl of Reese's cups on the porch and came home to most of them still there. We had a great night of food, laughs, and love with some of our closest friends! Halloween is very different now and I must say I enjoy it! As I walked in their house, Scott was the first person I saw and he was wearing this... 

It gave me a good laugh! 

This Halloween was a success and now to prepare for our day full of UGA (vs Florida)  and Auburn (vs Ole Miss)  football!