Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

In our area, tomorrow, Mother Nature is planning on dumping a whole lot of snow. Possibly up to twelve inches! For my friends and family up North and out Mid-West that doesn't seem like a lot...but for us Eastern shore folks it's quite a bit. I HATE to drive in the snow. BUT I LOVE being stuck inside safely with my hubby and little boy.

I've decided to do some cooking this weekend since my house is nice and clean, and we'll be stuck inside anyway. I wanted to make a soup... so I think I'll make my Lobster & Crab Seafood Bisque. This with shrimp appetizer, some bread and cheese, and possibly even a little glass of wine will be the perfect dinner for a snowy night!

Bobbi’s Lovely Lumpy Lobster & Crab Bisque Soup
Serves about 8.
3 cans of Bookbinder’s Lobster Bisque Soup
3 tablespoons of butter
3 - ½ cans of milk
¼ cup of light cream
3 lump crab cakes any flavor, chopped up into small bits
1 dash or two of crushed red pepper flakes
1 dash or two of parsley flakes
1 pinch of cayenne pepper
Salt and Black Pepper to taste

Directions: Add three cans of soup, butter, milk, cream, red pepper flakes, parsley flakes, cayenne pepper, salt and black pepper together in large saucepan. Heat but do not boil. Once warm, add the crab cake bits. Allow to simmer for at least one hour.

For variation: Cook 2 cups of Rice (directions on package – do not use instant), after it has finished cooking stir in a tablespoon of butter to keep from sticking. Spread cooked rice on plate, server warm bisque overtop.

Also - I sometimes like serve it alongside a nice grilled cheese sandwich - DELISH!

Lighting Up The Night

I am so proud of my husband. Each year he sets out to make a holiday light display that is bright and festive - but also looks nice. He works really hard getting them all up, and making sure everything is not only working right, but looks good, and is secure for whatever the seasonal weather may bring. In other words...we don't just slap on some lights, throw some blow up "decor" on our lawn and call it a day. We plan it out, and each year we create our own decorations using wood, paint...and power tools! (This year's theme was Charlie Brown's Christmas - cute right!!) The light count this year came in just over 17,000!!! Amazing!
While I do have this picture to share with you...it doesn't do the lights justice. I had to stand across the street in my neighbors' garden just to get in most of the house and lights. Tony's already joking that next year we'll have to set up the camera on a tripod on the neighbor's roof just to get it all into a picture. I'm pretty sure he's joking...but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
We had a nice little party last weekend with pizza and coffee, hot chocolate and cookies, where good friends of ours came with their kids and we enjoyed turning the lights on for the first time - all together. It's a great night, and I am so happy to share it with them.

I'm really very proud of my Tony. The house looks amazing honey...great job once again!

Fun Wintry Decor

This year I wanted to decorate my home to look like a natural winter wonderland. Of course I couldn't go too wild with the theme since I have a little munchkin running around the house, but I really like the way the interior of our house turned out.

During the summer and fall Tony collects the large branches that fall from the trees surrounding our backyard into a pile. I decided to take a bunch from that pile, spray paint half with white glitter paint, and use these branches as a way to bring the outside in! Also - we cut down a small tree in our yard, so I used the branches from that to also decorate with a little extra green around the house. The pictures don't do it justice. With candles lit and the lights turned low, it looks quite festive and pretty.

I placed little baskets of cheer all over the house, which added an extra little sparkle!

Originally I planned on putting out my Christmas village on the shelves above our entertainment center...but once I got started with this year's theme, I just rolled with it. I created the "lanterns" in the middle out of paper using tape, funky scissors, and a hole punch. Tommy and I made white lanterns for the dining room table using the same idea, and dipping the bottoms into glitter. I love the way it turned out and they look so pretty when the battery-operated tea light inside is glowing.

I carried the "natural" theme to our Christmas tree this year. I hung ornaments in silver and gold, and white lights. Then Tommy and I painted pinecones which we collected at a local park and let dry (GREAT Toddler art project!) and we hung those as well. I LOVE the way the tree looks.

The last thing I made this year was my interpretation of a decor idea that I saw in the Better Homes and Gardens Magazine. I LOVE the way it turned out...so simple to make too!!

The above welcome lantern is just outside on the landing to our front door. I also hung some holly branches to our porch lights...another easy thing to do which took about two minutes but added a little extra festive touch! More on our outside decor and lights in the next blog. ;)

Halloween....yeah, I know I'm late.

I know I know... but I wanted to make sure I shared these pictures. They are my favorites from Halloween. The first ones are Tommy...he went as Spongebob this year and LOVED knocking on doors for Candy. I made Tony take the candy into work...no need for that sort of temptation! :)

The other pictures are from the wedding we attended on Halloween night. I LOVE this black and white one I took...wish it hadn't been so fuzzy. Congratulations again to Pat and Anastasia...we had a wonderful time...the dessert table was AWESOME!! (Couldn't totally avoid temptation when they had tiramisu AND every cake I could wish for!!) Yikes!! YUM!!!

Hope I'm Not On The Naughty List

I have been a very bad blogger lately. I always WANT to update my blog, but with the precious minutes I get to myself, it has just been easier to update facebook (I've even been behind in that). *Sigh* At some point I'll catch up. I'm planning to update more during december...some fun things are in store this upcoming month!

I missed most of November, and on this - the last day... I's like to share just a few pictures from this month. In the beginning of the month I took some pictures of Tommy and his little friends playing in the leaves in our backyard. I liked this one of Tommy.

Also - my parents adopted a new little puppy. Scooter is so so cute!! He's always on the move and loves to climb all over you....he certainly matches his given name. Tommy absolutely loved scooter, as did I... Mav, well - not so much, but it is funny to watch scooter chase Mav around.

I took Tommy to a local park one day. It was such a beautiful day I had to take advantage and get some pictures of him exploring. He's getting to be such a big boy. He's using more and more words everyday, growing taller by the week, and losing the last of the "baby" face. It's bitter sweet for us. We love that he's growing up, communicating with us and making minor decisions for himself. He's such a character - loves to be silly and will do anything to make others laugh. BUT - I miss my cuddly chunky little baby.

We had a bit of a scare the week before Thanksgiving. One day Tommy went to bed with what I thought was dry skin across his lower back, by the following afternoon he had begun to get hives across his belly...which then spread to his entire body. We aren't 100 percent sure what he had, we're thinking it was an allergic reaction to something new he ate...but there is no way to be sure unless I reintroduce it...and I don't plan on doing that ANYTIME soon. It was scary for all of us. He couldn't sleep, he wouldn't eat, and was obviously itchy. The hives lasted about 4 days, and finally the last of them faded away the day before we went to Virginia for Thanksgiving. Doesn't this picture break your heart? Poor baby.

Thanksgiving we spent in Virginia Beach with my sister and her husband. He had a great time visiting. Tommy really loves his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Brett. We were thankful we could spend some quality time with them.

The sunset on the drive down.

My little pilgrim and his daddy. Tommy painted his hat himself!

Getting ready to feast.

Tommy and I on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.