{quick look back}

Happy New Year to you all from my family and me! But, before we get too far into 2012 I realized that I wanted to take a quick second to let you know what I was thankful for in 2011. So here are my 11 thankful moments from 2011.

1. Celebrating the twins' 3rd birthday. I'm thankful for everyday with them!

2. Celebrating my 5th anniversary with my husband. We didn't get to take that trip to New Orleans, but we'll get there soon!

3. Having our Baskin Robbins next to a doughnut shop. If they had not come in at 4am to make the doughnuts, who knows how much damage the fire would have done.

4. No one was hurt during the fire. Buildings can be (and were) rebuilt.

5. Getting this opportunity with lobotoME. If I didn't have such an amazing support group, I never could have pulled this off.

6. FaceTime!! I love that my kids can talk to their grandparents so easily. Which reminds me, we need to do this again tomorrow. We even talked to my mom when she was in Paris celebrating her 60th birthday!

7. Aggies win the Meineke Car Care Bowl!! Hey, it's a big deal to us Aggies. :-)

8. Getting to see so many family members over the holidays. Not everyone made it this year, but I'm thankful for the ones who did.

9. Being able to leave a job that made me unhappy, and doing it on my terms. I knew I needed to leave for awhile, but didn't want to jump to another job that would be more of the same. I knew I needed out of the office.

10. Discovering my CSA. I can't honestly say that no food has been wasted, but we're getting better. Looking forward to the spring season.

11. Ending the year with a family full of healthy people. Even my 84 year-old grandparents are still going strong and coming with us to Disney World!

image by October Dawn

{current obsessions}

I pinned this, which is quite frankly laughable. I don't know how to sew. How can I convince my grandmother to make this for me??

I am obsessed with this idea. I would put one on my cat, but he's an indoor cat who spends most of his time hiding from my twins. I would end up with pictures of the stuff under my bed. Wait. That might be interesting...

I love this for a kid's birthday cake. But only if Baskin Robbins cakes aren't available of course!!

Today we got another spaghetti squash and more sweet potatoes from our CSA. I'm saving the spaghetti squash for Saturday since my husband will be hunting. He's not as big a fan as I am!

I really don't understand why I don't own this. Other than the fact that I live in Houston where today's high was in the 80s.

Image from here.

{random weekday thoughts}

I just found out that we're getting more eggplants this week from my CSA. Luckily, I had this recipe saved in my favorite tweets! Thursday night dinner it is!

If you want to stop eating processed foods, may I suggest following FoodFacts.com on twitter? I believe they're on Facebook too. They'll pretty much ruin any processed food you eat, so click with caution!

Three year-old boy/girl twins bring all sorts of challenges. It's so hard when one struggles with something while the other gets it so easily. We went through it with potty training, and now it's riding tricycles. My daughter never had a problem with it, but my (very athletic & coordinated) son just can't get it. I think he gets distracted after the first pedal or two, and then the trike stops. Then it's frustration.

I encourage everyone to visit missrepresentation.org and sign the pledge. Also, set your DVRs to record the Miss Representation documentary on OWN this Thursday. Raising a daughter can be intimidating!

Our preschool's Fall Festival this Friday and I'm excited because it gives me an excuse to bake! I'm thinking my grandmother's famous Snickerdoodles and these. I've also heard that the Barefoot Contessa makes some awesome cake mixes, so I might do one of those too! (It doesn't count as cheating since the cookies will be from scratch).

I wish I had the motivation to try to make these, but I'm trying to keep it simple! What are your favorite treats to take to school?

image from here