Ruffled Tree Skirt

Every year its the same thing, we cut down our tree, decorate and I then realize we don't have a tree skirt. I always end up going to Walmart and buying one of their really cheap ones because their nicer ones are always not my style. Then Christmas ends and the cheap skirt is thrown out with the tree.
This year I decided I need to put an end to this ridiculous cycle, I decided it was time to sew one. I found many tutorials for tree skirts online; most quilted, scalloped, velvet (yuck!), or just not at all me.   I finally found a no-sew one that was amazing (click here)  and instead of using hot glue, I decided to sew it. If something is going in my home it needs to be washable; with two boys and a dog if its not washable its disposable.
So I started out just like her tutorial the only difference is I hemmed the circle base to keep its shape. I then sewed all the strips on the lowest tension on my sewing machine so all of my ruffles were uniform. Then I sewed them all on starting from the bottom and layering them up. This project was super easy but very time consuming. Expect at least 4 hours of time. I am excited I now have a tree skirt and a really cute one at that.

*My brother is doing really well since being stabbed (click here for his story). He is healing up nicely and has been staying with our Mom until he is ready to be home again. I am thrilled he is going to be coming here for Christmas too! Our family has a lot to be thankful for this year. Thank God for watching over our family and Thank you all for your prayers and well wishes.

My Brother

Anyone who knows my brother Chris knows he is funny, smart and caring he is a great brother and loves his friends and family. Last night in Down-town Bakersfield a gang member attacked Chris from behind while he was walking to a bar. The man stabbed my brother four times in his neck and ran away. Chris went into the bar and they called the cops and got him to the hospital. The knife missed all the major areas thank God. Chis is in the hospital in ICU being monitored to prevent infection. I am so shocked that this could happen, out of all the people in this world this man chose to stab MY brother. This should never happen..ever to anyone. I am angry yet so completely thankful at God for protecting his life. Chris is injured but he will get better and I feel so blessed for that. Thank you to everyone who has reached out to my family to support Chris and all of us, it really means a lot.

A Morris Thankgiving

Its been a hectic few weeks with Thanksgiving and being sick. I was in pain for over a week and went to the doctor to find out a cyst had ruptured on my ovary, its very painful and doesn't seem to want to get better but I am trying to rest as much as I can with two kids.
Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! Now that Sam's sisters have both moved to the Pacific Northwest we can once again have holidays as a family. Thanksgiving was hosted by Shannon and Ryan this year and we will be hosting Christmas (my fav). I made my secret enchiladas, a apple pie and a pumpkin roll.

 My brother-in-law Elijah made an amazing turkey with the stuffing rolled into it...AMAZING! We all sat around eating, chatting, drinking; it was a great holiday.

Sam and I went Black Friday shopping together this year, now that we finally have babysitters ;) It was a great reminder of the fact that I'm getting older, we were exhausted by 3 am. We started at Toys-R-Us at 7:30; it opened at 9, then went and stood in line at Target, which was insane! After Target we hit Macys, then went home got some sleep and went to Joann's Fabrics and Walmart. I have four presents left to buy and stocking stuffers but we are pretty much done and its not even December yet..YAY!
I really love decorating for Christmas its my very favorite holiday. I love how excited Ethan is this time of year and his amazement of Santa and everything else this season holds. I just can't wait to cut down our tree next weekend and decorate. Anyone have ideas on how to keep a baby from destroying your Christmas tree?

Halloween Happenings

I have been in kind of a blogging funk lately. I have just been really busy and haven't felt like writing at the end of the day. So Halloween was last Monday and making Luke's costume was one of the things that was keeping me busy. Luke was Jabba the Hut this year from Star Wars. You may ask how this came to be; well they were out of any decent baby costumes at the costume store and since Ethan wanted to be a "Clone Trooper" I wanted to stay in the Star Wars theme, so making a costume was the only way at that point. I took pictures as I sewed, painted and stuffed his costume, for you to enjoy. It was a beast to make and definitely put my sewing skills to the test.

Halloween night we went to the Olympia mall for a event that a church here puts on, we go to their Halloween events every year. It was INSANE! There were massive amounts of people there but Ethan had such a blast...Luke was tired and cranky.

After the mall we went Trick-or-Treating a bit, then off to our yearly tradition; dinner with our favorite friends at......Applebees! I am still not sure why we go there as their food isn't anything to write home about but we have been doing it now for years, why change it. By the time we got home around 11 both boys were seriously passed out, like drooling. I have eaten a total of 5 Halloween candies of Lukes and last night at the gym I made myself pay the price for it. They were yummy and chocolaty though sooooo worth every step on that treadmill.

Low-Carb Cobbler then Pizza

Oh what a busy weekend! I am exhausted and trying to re-coop from all the happenings. Saturday was a wonderful rainy day here in Thurston County. I woke up early with the boys so Sam could get some sleep. Sam is a programmer so often times he will stay up all night on weekends working hard on his businesses, Fri/Sat he stayed up until 7am so sleeping in was much needed. So I got up with the boys and made breakfast. I decided to experiment with some pears that I bought that were needing to be consumed. I have never had nor have I made a low-carb cobbler so I didn't know what to expect.  I have been a low-carb eater for about 5 years now on and off (off when pregnant or on cheat days), I have made many pastries in a low-carb version and let me say not all turn out fabulous; some aren't even edible.


Low-Carb Pear Cobbler
Filling:
3 pears
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup Splenda
1.25 tbsp Splenda Brown

Topping:
1/4 tbsp melted butter
1 egg
1/4 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup finely ground hazelnuts and walnuts (chopped works too)
11/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp french vanilla extract
1/8 cup Splenda Brown

Preheat oven to 375
Peel and slice pears and put in pan, add cinnamon, and sweetners. soften until tender. Transfer pears to a baking dish.

In a seperate bowl add dry topping ingredients together and mix thoroughly. whisk egg then add all wet ingredients to the dry ones. Mix well. The batter should have a thick consistency. Spoon batter over pears.

Bake for 30 min check often, you want it to brown but not burn. Remove from oven and cool for 5 min. I broke up the top of mine so it was more "cobbler like." Then enjoy!

The recipe turned out really great; it wasn't the most beautiful looking cobbler but very tasty. Sam really liked it and hes a tough critic when it comes to my low-carb experiments ;)


Later in the day; we tried out a pizza place we found on Yelp called The Rock Wood Fired Pizza. Immediately upon entering the decor was super different, it was like walking into a pizza place ran by Metallica. The service was excellent, some of the best service we have had. Its almost amusing that I am so use to bad or just mediocre service at restaurants, that when I have good service I am like in awe at the experience. So, we ordered the "Wild Child" pizza the discription was "Brushed garlic butter on our hand tossed dough then topped with mozzarella, bleu cheese, sauteed spinach, marinated mushrooms and whole oven roasted garlic cloves." and we added chicken. It was by far some of the best pizza I have ever had. It was rich and flavourful and yet light enough and not greasy. I almost forgot to feel bad for eating carbs.

We also ordered their beer sampler, Amazing Dark Ale called Jump'n Jack Black being my favorite, it had a slight coffee undertone and was smooth and yummy.

After our early dinner we went to Toys R Us or as Ethan calls it, Toy For Us and let Ethan pick out a new and bigger bicycle. Ethan picked the Cars 2 bike and as soon as we got home was riding it all around our downstairs, he is very proud of it. In the picture you can see the awesome cardboard fort we built too! I will post about Sunday when I get the photos off my camera.