So much to be thankful for

The last couple of weeks have been full of friends, food, family, food, fun and food. We hosted several holiday events at the house. One included 9 overnight guests. One involved a craft night with my girlfriends. It was a busy couple of weeks, but one full of rich blessings and quality time with people we love. And did I mention that there was some yummy food involved? Thanksgiving is, by far, my favorite holiday.

I've been knocking some crafts off of my TO DO list. My favorite creation is THIS:

My new planning center. I love having my grocery list, calendar, TO DO list, and menu all in one pretty little place. I covered the backboard of the frame with a fabric scrap I had laying around and printed the calendars and things off the internet. eventually, I'd like to replace them with a little bit cuter ones, but I was anxious to get this finished. <3

My old planning center looked like this. argh! mess=stress. :) now, it's all nice and tidy.

I also created this nice little graphic to hang somewhere, yet to be determined. It has all of our family's important dates. now there is no excuse to forget :)

My upcoming projects include refinishing a table that has bothered me for 4 years, and reorganizing my garage. I want to make it kid-safe so that we can play out there in the winter. i see many painting sessions, bike-riding, and other fun winter activities taking place out there! My brother's wedding date is quickly approaching as well, which means I need to get busy! I have bouquets to make, flower girl dresses to sew, a brunch to plan, and lots more fun projects! 

Although the holidays are here, as well as the busyness that comes with them, I cant help but take a step back and be thankful for all the many blessings in our life. Although 2011 has been a very challenging year, it is one for which I will be forever grateful. I hope each of you found much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving as well. 

ready to bake!

Maybe it's the colder weather that will surely be approaching, or maybe it's just my own laziness, but I've been wanting to get my freezer stocked with meals that I can just pull out and throw in the oven this winter.  I have a plan. We'll see how it works. I am planning to cook a meal for my family, eat 1/2 that night and put the other 1/2 in the freezer for a later date. That sounds doable, right?

The other day, I decided I was going to make some homemade cookies. I rarely make homemade for a couple of reasons. I am in love with the Simply Chocolate Chip cookie dough that you just plop on the tray and bake. Also, my mom's recipe that I love and grew up with makes a million cookies. Obviously, I could cut the recipe in 1/2 or something, but that's too much work. However, the other day, I was really craving Momma's cookies and I really wanted an excuse to use this beauty:

So I decided to make my own plop and bake cookies. I used my handy dandy cookie dough baller (best invention ever) to make these trays full of goodness. 

I flash froze them for 30 min or so, and then put them in a freezer bag. 

Now, I can just grab a few out whenever I want and have hot, homemade yumminess. mmmm. 

I also did this with my turkey sausage balls. I can grab out 6 or 8 and bake for a quick breakfast for me and the kids. 

Hopefully one of these days, I can show you a picture of a nicely organized and stocked freezer. Full of meals and ready to cook snacks. In the meantime, I should probably go clean out my freezer so that there is actually room in there to put something :)  Hope you are all having a blessed day!

-Mica