Toddler with Curly Hair Ahead

Curly, crazy hair. This is Nina Lorraine's hair - unkempt. Freshly washed, combed and air dried. No bow (gasp). Nutzy, right? Who do you think she resembles most?


Annie? Full of spunk, charm and the musical talents of her mother. 

Zuzu from It's a Wonderful Life? Just in time for the holidays.



Harlow Richie Madden, daughter of Nicole Richie? Fashionable and bound to be famous.

My sweet sister-in-law Bessie? I stole this photo of Facebook. Those tight ringlets are au naturale. Beth, do you think Nina got your gene? Where did you get it from anyway? :)

Have a great Monday!

It's the holiday season!

It's an annual tradition to attend our town's Christmas Parade. This year, I invited over some family for pre-parade warm beverages and post-parade soup of the chipotle chili and butternut squash varieties.

Evelyn was entranced waiting for "Santa"! What a cutie!
Nina loved seeing the pretty lights and listening to the marching bands. Here she looks a little less thrilled.
Happy, happy Christmas, that can win us back to the delusions of our childhood days, recall to the old man the pleasures of his youth, and transport the traveler back to his own fireside and quiet home! - Charles Dickens

Thanksgiving Recap

This past weekend was great fun! Isn't Thanksgiving the best? I think I say that about every holiday. Good fun, time with family, more good food, some great wine... the list goes on. For Thanksgiving this year we split time between both of our sides. In the morning we traveled to the Evans household and spent the late afternoon/evening at my parents house. The rest of the weekend was spent as follows - dinner with good friends, a surprise birthday lunch for my sister-in-law, lots of leftovers, holiday shopping trips, putting up our Christmas decorations and tree, our local Christmas parade followed by dinner at our house and a Packer party, and more! 

Nina (and all of the Evans grand kids) love the family dog Louie. He's 15 and is a gentle giant.
My mother-in-law makes a great feast - salad, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, stuffing, gravy, turkey, sweet potatoes, applesauce, rolls, cranberries, raspberry fluff ... yum.
Mike, Mr. Evans and David drinking on my parent's screened in porch. 
The sunset was beautiful!
Dinner at my parents house - family style. We had delicious food as well... and delicious beverages (a Pumpkin Pie Martini, Orange Italian Liquor and a fun concoction served in a hallowed out pumpkin with ginger ale, apple cider and Captain Morgan). 

Turkey Asian Lettuce Wraps

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving. I'll be posting about our long weekend soon! And if you're still not sick of eating turkey, here's a great recipe I wanted to share. I came across these Turkey Asian Lettuce Wraps here and have already made them twice in the last few weeks (which says a lot since I'm usually one for trying new recipes as opposed to making the same thing over and over). They are easy, quick, healthy and made in one pan. Here's how to make them.

In large saute pan, brown 1 lb ground turkey with 1 medium chopped onion and 2 T evoo. Once the turkey is browned and the onions are soft, add some freshly ground pepper and a bit of garlic salt. Throw in a 12 oz bag of broccoli slaw, 1 small can of water chestnuts (chopped), 1/2 c. teriyaki sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil. Mix together and then simmer for about 15 minutes (or until the broccoli slaw has softened). Serve with lettuce leaves. Yum!


Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enjoy the delicious food, the traditional Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade (my favorite) and company of the people you love the most.


Giving

Mr. Evans and I have had a very blessed year and are grateful for the opportunity to give back to others. Just last week, Mr. Evans's company hosted a food drive. We went to Aldi and loaded up on cans of veggies, boxes of pasta, canned tuna and more! And starting this week, Nina's daycare began its annual Samaritan's Purse Operation Christmas Child box drive. We've filled a few boxes just like last year.

These are just a few small and fairly easy examples of ways to give back this holiday season. Mr. Evans and I were both raised to give how you can. Whether its a donation to church, spare change to bell ringers, giving of your time or just saying an extra prayer for those who are cold, hungry, without shelter or struggling this season... it all is valued. We hope Nina feels the same one day.

Remember to give thanks this season...



** Update: Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful comments on my last post (click here). I truly appreciate reading your thoughts. Know that I really enjoy blogging and don't plan to stop any time soon. Thanks for the encouragement. :)

Blogging


Blogging. Hmmm. Lately I feel like I should do more (or less) with my blog?!

People read it and I never even knew they kept up with little old Rhubarb & Linen.

That's pretty awesome!

But...

It sometimes feels like a popularity contest. I read many many blogs that get tons of comments, sponsors, etc. That's really not my thing.

And that's ok.

Maybe I'll turn my comments off so I don't feel inferior by the lack of commenting on my blog.

Silly, right?

I mainly blog for myself, as a place to record the memories of my life. However, in truth I don't blog about our day-to-day life (the yummy things we eat for dinner, what we really do on the weekends, restaurants we frequent, funny things that happen, not so funny things that happen). It's really just a totally random smattering of whatever I feel like posting about.

And maybe that's ok, too.

Here is a question I'd love for you to take a minute to answer. What kind of posts on this blog do you enjoy the most?

Nina? Recipes? DIY projects? Photos of everyday life? Or, maybe it's just that you're nosy (trust me, I am tooootally nosy too)? Maybe you just want to keep up with my life?

I would love to hear from you. Thank you. Thank you.

(It's ironic that I talked about removing comments when now I am asking you to comment... I know. Maybe comment as anonymous?)

p.s. I am totally scatterbrained. Again, I know. Try asking my husband how he feels. :)




Be thankful

On the way to drop Nina off at daycare this morning there was a good song on the radio, I had nice cup of cider and the sun was shining. Don't you just love bright mornings? It sure is a nice time of year to reflect on what blessings we're given. We can wish for health and happiness in general, but oftentimes it's the little moments, gestures, sights and sounds that make life beautiful. 

"If you aren't thankful for what you GOT, after a while you won't be thankful for you GET" - Rev Run

Nina loves to look out the window at her bright surroundings as well!

School Paperwork Organization

Recently at daycare, Nina had her first class photo. Hurrah! I have a small pile starting of little projects she makes as well so I thought now might be a fun time to develop an organization system for all the inevitable projects, report cards, class photos, etc.

I came across this post on IHeart Organizing. To all you moms out there, it was easy, efficient and inexpensive. Perfect.

Here are a few terrible photos of my super fun finished product. Click the link above to get the printables!

P.S. If you're thinking to yourself - "What in Cheesuses name does she need this for... her daughter is only one and is not even in real school yet?" Well, boo hoo to you. I like fun projects and time will fly!! :)



Calm

Looking to reset and recharge after a potentially stressful evening (if you stayed up that late) or morning (if you couldn't stand watching the election coverage anymore)?

Visit calm.com and make sure your volume is on. I came across this site some time ago on Swiss Miss.

P.S. As much as I have the same pit in my stomach, I liked what Stephanie has to say here. Just had to share.


Go Vote!

Go Vote! Doesn't it feel good? It should. Remember that thousands of men and women have fought and died for us to have this freedom.

Around here, we're crossing our fingers for a favorable outcome... :)

via

Evans Family Dells Weekend

This past weekend, we went to Wisconsin Dells to stay at the Wilderness on the Lake with Mr. Evans's immediate family (minus Beth and Nick who live in Montana - we missed you guys). In total, there were 13 of us in one large condo. It was perfect for us all to be together. The weekend was full of conversation, laughs, pool time, delicious food, wine and quality time together. Here are just a few snapshots.

All of the cousins loooved pool time!
Mr. Evans, his Dad and two sisters ... I swear my father-in-law was squealing in the pitch black all the way down! Carla and Katie sure had some great laughs, too!
Nina's curly hair gets so wild! Her mommy and daddy sure love it though!
I just HAD to post this photo of Nina and her cousin Evan getting ready for bath time.  I love their little tushies!
Happy Weekend!!

Halloween

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We celebrated on Sunday instead of yesterday. This is ideal in my book because then we have the entire day for fun instead of just a few hours after work. 

The first part of the day started off in Wisconsin Dells. A post on our fun trip with the Evans family will come in the next few days! For Halloween fun, Nina's Meemaw and Grandbear gave the kiddos nice treats during our Sunday morning Halloween fashion show. 
Nina and her cousin Evan are exactly three months apart! How cute are they? They crack me up.
First, I love little tights on baby girls. Second, I love the added cushion in her booty. So squeezable! :)
The Evans cousins rarely take a perfect photo - too much excitement! At least Elsa and Ethan (dressed as a Thundercat) are looking at the camera!
After we drove home from the Dells mid-day on Sunday, we prepared for trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood.
We must live in a popular neighborhood for trick-or-treaters. We ran out of candy within the first hour. Yikes! Luckily, we were headed to an annual party anyway. P.S. One family gave jello shots in exchange for candy. What a nice way to make friends! :)
My parents stopped by to see Nina in costume. Her trick-or-treat gift from Grandma was a McDonald's gift card - hehe! If you know me well, you'll know what that means!
Mr. Evans and I didn't dress up this year. Boo hoo - I know.
I mean seriously. I know this is not the most creative or original costume, but aren't kids so adorable when they dress up?
Nina LOVED seeing the kids come up our driveway. She was equally fascinated by the pumpkins.
Later that night, we went to a family friends annual Halloween party. It's perfect - chili, mummy dogs, wine, candy and cute kids. :)
Little Amelia and Nina just love each other. I think Amelia gave Nina a million "huggies"!!
Hope you had a great day too! What did you dress up as?

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