September Goals

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All of my September goals are all going to be focused on getting involved, plugged in, exploring, and meeting friends in our new city.  We are working on important things like potty training, regular household duties and preschool type learning activities, but I want to try really hard to establish ourselves in our city.  We know from experience that we are happier when we get connected with people and start branching out a bit.  We have gotten the basic lay of the land, can get around without getting too lost and I’m eager to find fun things for our family to do and get involved in. 

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1. Get a library card and start going to the story time/events regularly.  They all start after Labor Day so I’ve already penciled them on our calendar for the month.

2. Have lunch with Kevin 2 times.  Pick up something fun for a little on campus picnic.

3. Try a few new local restaurants.  We have a running list of good and bad places we've tried so far.

4. Take Olive to the park 1-2 times a week.

5. Find a pediatrician and dentist for Olive

6. Kevin won season football tickets for our family this year so we'd love to tailgate and go to games any weekend we can.

7. Attend a faculty picnic in the park and a game night with Kevin's co-workers

8. Invite family to watch at ND game with us and fix delicious food

9. Start the church search process.  We’ve got a short list of churches we’d like to try so we need to start working through those and finding a church home.

10. Get a babysitter for a date night

11. Get involved in the local moms group and get Olive plugged in with playgroups so we can both make some new friends

12. Go for family walks in the evenings

13. Eat a few meals and get to know people at the country club.  We just joined and there are tons of families at our same age/stage in life so I'm hopeful we'll make some great family friends there.  Kevin will enjoy the golf, they offer parents night out options for date night, host events for every holiday and have family dinners once a week.  It sounds like a really promising option of fun for our family.

14. Go to the downtown farmer’s market one Saturday

15. Plan a little day trip to Target, meet up with a friend or to have dinner in Indy

Are you making any fun goals for yourself this month?

Linking up for Thoughts on Thursday

Breakfast Buffet

I shared some really great breakfast casserole recipes yesterday and wanted to show you what else we served on our breakfast buffet.  The mom-to-be loves breakfast so it was an easy theme to go with.  We tried to choose food items that wouldn't be too complicated to make, some things we could make/buy in advance and make sure we had a fun variety.

Cinnamon Roll Monkey Bread is always a good idea :)

 Coffee Cake

 My dad cut wood circles to use at another event so I borrowed them for this one.  That's the best thing about hosting a party with my mom.  I can borrow all of her pretty serving pieces, warming trays and party supplies without having to buy them.  She's a great partner :)

I made mini blueberry muffins

 bought donut holes

 We served water in mason jars, juice in small cups and coffee.

I loved throwing the shower for Sarah!

 My friends from high school.

We hadn't all been together in years so it was a fun reunion!

 Couldn't have pulled the shower off without my mom and sister's help.

 The mom-to-be with the Grandpa-to-be :)

 Looking forward to meeting baby boy in October :)

Woodland Creature Baby Shower

One of my dear friends from high school is having a baby boy and we got together last weekend for a woodland creature baby boy shower.  She invited family & friends and the day was lovely.

We had a breakfast buffet for the guests.  

My mom and I made tons of food and I recruited some help.

We held the shower at my mom's house because it's the perfect spot for parties.

My sister came to help the morning of the shower and we all had a great time.

Photo credit goes to Haley for the vast majority of these pictures :)

I'm dividing the pictures up into two posts.

Decorations in this post and food in the 2nd post.

DINING ROOM

ENTRY WAY WELCOME TABLE 

The guests signed the guest book/children's book for the baby

and filled out a name tag.  I used the book The Sleepy Train by Mark Marshall and it was perfect.  The train goes through town picking up all the sleepy animals & kids and sends them off to sleep.

FAMILY ROOM

KITCHEN TABLES:

 We played Baby Bingo - everyone filled out their bingo board with gifts they thought would be opened and the first to get 5 correct gifts in a row won.

We also played name that baby animal game.

 The mom-to-be brought her favorite truffles as favors for the guests.

They were delicious and everyone loved them.

SHOPPING LIST

Hobby Lobby:

 Woodland creature pom poms, pom poms, confetti, squirrel, 

acorns, fox name tags, wooden letter blogs

Wal-Mart:

napkins, plates, fresh flowers

Tuesday Morning:

orange and white striped wrapping paper

Target:

paper straws

My sister made all of the burlap buntings & shared her mason jars

Didn't everything turn out cute?!?!

Let me know if you have any questions that I didn't answer :)

Tuesday Talk: Breakfast Casseroles

I've developed a new love for BREAKFAST CASSEROLES!  They are so good and easy to assemble (sometimes the night before).  I hosted a baby shower a few weekends ago and we served a breakfast buffet.  It was delicious so I wanted to share some favorite recipes with you.

I tried a new recipe for
Sausage & Pepper Hashbrown Casserole

It was delicious and most of the prep work can be done the night before.
The red/green peppers and onions are really mild and are cooked so they just add some great flavor to the casserole.

Ingredients:
1 lb breakfast sausage
1 small white/yellow onion
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
6 eggs
1/3 cup milk
1 20ish oz bag of frozen hashbrowns thawed
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Leave hashbrowns out to thaw.
Brown sausage.
Remove from pan and cook diced onions and peppers in sausage grease.
Cut them fairly small so they cook quickly.
Add the sausage back in once they are cooked and add salt/pepper.

Mix together hashbrowns and sausage mixture.
Add salt and pepper and then refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, whisk together eggs and milk.
Pour liquid into the bowl with the hashbrown mixture and combine well.
Add in a 1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese and stir.

Pour entire mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.
Top with the remaining shredded cheese
and a little salt and pepper.

Bake at 375 for one hour.
30 minutes covered with foil
and 30 minutes uncovered to brown the cheese at the end

Serve warm and it reheats really well!!


My sister made a
 Sausage Biscuits and Gravy Casserole
She shared her recipe here

My MIL made a
 ham + egg + cheese casserole
similar to this one
My MIL says her secrets for this recipe are to line the bottom of the pan with slices of white bread and to buy Cracker Barrel diced ham for it.
It's one of my favorite things she makes.

They were all really tasty and almost every bite was eaten.
I bet your family would enjoy them.
Do you have a favorite breakfast casserole recipe?
I'd love to try it so leave me a link in the comments.

Linking up with my favorite ladies today.

Come join us with your best post from the week!!

(Starting from the upper left:)

Beth - Our Pretty Little Girls ~ Michelle - Grammie Time

Keri - Living In This Season  ~ Christina - Waltzing In Beauty

Tara - Mrs. Coach Sims ~ Lauren - Simply Free

Jess and Katie - Sweet Little Ones ~ Whitney - Polka Dotty Place

Becky - BYBMG ~ Elizabeth - All Kinds Of Things

Sarah - Abiding In Grace ~ Amy - Go Forth and Mother

Emily - Morning Motivated Mom

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