Photo Friday: Oh Christmas Tree!!

OK, so I know I promised pics of the lights in our front yard,,,,but it has just been to cold for me to sneak out there to take a pic this past week...so I have decided to take a pic of a few of the lights inside!  Enjoy!

Our Tree!

Out Mantle!

Happy Birthday Fletcher!!

I can't believe that a year ago today, I became an auntie!  While I have not had the privilege to get to spend as much time with my nephew Fletcher as I would like (because we live so far away)....he is always close to our hearts!  I was so thrilled that I was able to make it to NC the night he was born and I am so thrilled that his first year of life has been so full and so fun!  I can't wait to spend time with him over Christmas this year, but until then I get to live vicariously through the pics that were taken at his 1'st Birthday Party today.....it was a Dr. Seuss theme! So Fun...I just wish I could have been there! 

Happy Birthday Fletcher!  Uncle Joe and I love you so much and treasure every picture we have of you and every moment that we spend with you! We can't wait to see what God has in store for you this next year!

Checking out the smash cake!

One fist in!

Double fistin it!!

Shiney and Bright!

One of the favorite things about Christmas are all of the pretty lights that everyone uses to decorate for the season. We personaly put up Christams lights at the Corbett's house....this is a tradition I have personaly observed since i was a little girl. I still remember the first time dad got colored Christmas lights and put them in the tree in the front yard! It was so exciting!

Joe says that women love all things that shine and sparkle so he is not surprized about my love for Christmas lights! I will post a pic of our house in the next few days, but today I thought I would post some pics of a few homes that take christmas lights to a whole new level! Enjoy!

Photo Friday: The Reason for the Season!

This is my nativity set!  And I LOVE it!  This is my favorite part about decorating for Christmas each year!  It is the first thing that I put up because without Jesus, this time of year means nothing.  I am so greatful for his birth and for his death ....all that I might have eternal life!  Praise the Lord!  So here is my nativity, set up in the main part of our house. I think it should just as big of a feature as the Christmas tree...even bigger!  I have been working on collecting all of the pieces over the past several years and now they are all here!  So happy to be able to have it all up!

Thankful!

So I know you all must think that I forgot Photo Friday last week, but that simply isn't the case....truthfully I just didn't have time to get it up here!  But what I did do was take a few pics that day since that is the day that Joe and I celebrate Thanksgiving at our home!  I was busy cooking dinner for 14 people, needless to say I was stuck in the kitchen all day!  My efforts in the kitchen did pay off however and I did manage to grab a few pics if the meal and of those who joined us to celebrate....I will post those at the end of this blog. Our Thanksgiving tradition started a few years ago when Joe and I spent the holiday going from house to house eating turkey and while I was glad we saw everyone we did that day, I was very sad because it didn't "feel" like Thanksgiving to me.  We started early so I missed the Parade on TV, there was no lounging around snacking on chex-mix watching football and there were definitely no leftovers which was very disturbing! So began our tradition!  We still go and see everyone on Thanksgiving and as of late we spend most of the day with the Brannan family. Thursday night, Joe and two of his buddies go and have guys night and my friend Charity comes back to my house to spend the night and help cook the next day. Then on Friday, we start the day off by watching the parade that I recorded....praise the Lord for DVR!  And then we head into the kitchen and begin cooking!  I really do enjoy cooking and I love all of the leftovers we get to eat on the week after.  My favorite part about the day is that each year I have done this our table grows and grows!  This year we had 14!  It is so nice to have everyone gathered around the table eating a yummy meal and it is such a good reminder to me that while I might be far from my family on this holiday, God has been faithful to fill my life with a new family of friends here in CT!  And for that I am very thankful!

Some of the yummy food!

The Second table of yummy Food!

Joe and His Dad!

Some of the friends that stopped by!

Chickens in my Yard!

Last week at the Corbett's we had a first happen....I was inside the house cleaning away and Joe was outside working on raking up leaves...he came inside and told me to come out because he had something to show me and  I wasn't going to believe it.  Well he was right, I walked out the front door and walked around to the side of the house, and there in our side yard were about 7 chickens just hanging out!  It was so funny!  They were pretty friendly and let us throw feed out to them.  They would come right up to us, it was sooooo crazy!  They ended up staying all day and then as the sun was setting they headed home I guess, because we haven't seen them since.   Of course being the picture nut that I am ran inside and grabbed the camera and took a few pics! I have to say that chickens in my yard is a first for me and this was probably the closest I had ever been to one that wasn't one my plate for dinner!  Here are some cool pics that I took!

Here is a little video action of our visitors!

Photo Friday...Red Cups!

Yes this is me all excited about a little red cup!  I love this time of year when the red cups at Starbucks come back and I can enjoy all of the yummy Holiday drinks!  It is one of those silly things that gets me all excited and in the mood for Christmas!  This pic was actually taken today because they were having a buy one get one free on all of their Holiday drinks...so I just had to go! It was so yummy! I highly suggest that you go and get one and see if it doesn't get you in the mood for some Christmas fun!

All Treats and No Tricks!!!

So this blog is a few weeks late but I didn't want to miss sharing our fun night at the Corbett's house!

Growing up we didn't really celebrate Halloween in my family, which is fine by me because the holiday kind of freaks me out. The one thing that I do love about Halloween is all of the cute kids in their costumes. We don't really live on a street that kids would trick-r-treat on because we live out in the country. In order to see cute kids in costumes we have to call our friends and ask them to bring their kids by our house.....this still means that only five kids stop by...but the up side is that we usually have a bowl full of candy left at the end of the night and you know what that means! More for us!!! We took a few pics of the kids that stopped by this year they were so fun!

Here is the front of our house ready for kids to stop by!

Our good friends son Sean!

Joe will Bridget (Bridie as we call her)

And Jeremy!

Joe and I with the kids from next door, Sam and TJ!

Photo Friday!

 A day at the office!  These two pics are of the kids that I get to spend my days with.  Please meet Moliie Engel, who just turned 2 and Jacob (Jake) Engel who will turn 1 in December.  These two kids bring so much joy to my everyday and they just happend to be some of the cuttest kids I have ever seen! 



Snow....what!!!????

Yes it is true we had the first snow fall yesterday here in CT...mark the date November 8th! Doesn't it seem a bit early for snow?!! I woke up and looked out the window and I just wanted to cry! Some people love snow, I am not one of those people! (this southern girl just isn't cut out for snow....I am more of a beach kind of chick ya know?) 

While there wasn't much of it, there was enough to remind me that winter is well on its way and that the seasons are changing yet again. Last night at my bible study,  much of our discussion fell on how the glory of God is shown through His creation and just how we can't escape Him because his splendor is in the everything we see. How true are the words of Psalm 19 "The heavens declare the Glory of God, the sky proclaims the work of his hands"....oh how they do show us his glory, even if snow is falling from the heavens!  What a wonderful God we serve who has created all things to his glory that we may know him more.....even snow!

Here are a few pics of what I woke up to yesterday!

Photo Friday! (Girls Weekend Part II)

As I promised here are some of the pics we took the weekend that the girls came to visit!  These pics are of the beautiful sites we saw while I took them on a tour of New England! I hope you enjoy the beauty of Gods creation as much as we did while they were here!



Photo Friday!

So I am going to try something new.  One of my fellow friends who is great at blogging has inspired me to be better at getting on here, so from now on I am going to have "Photo Friday"!  Every Friday I am going to post a picture of something or someone!  I hope you like this new addition to Corbett's Corner!

 Today's picture is of someone that I love very much and I don't get to see very often!  This is Fletcher my nephew and he is just the cutest thing you have ever seen!  I miss him all time so I covet every picture that I can have of him!  This is one of him at the pumpkin patch taken just last week!  Enjoy!

The Big 30!!!

This past week my wonderful husband turned 30!!! Joe is such and amazing man and I am so excited to be able to be apart of this milestone in his life!  Joe has accomplished many things over the past thirty years and I am so proud to see what the next 30 will hold for him.  We were blessed to be able to celebrate his birthday last weekend with about 40 of Joe's closest family and friends.  We had a wonderful party here at the house and everyone had a great time with tons of food, drinks and ended the night with a fire pit in the back yard making smores!  I would be happy to post pictures however I didn't take many!  I was so busy hosting and cooking food for everyone that I didn't remember to snap any pics. I was able to snap a pic on my phone when Joe went to blow out the candle of his cupcakes so I will attach that at the end of this post.  The big surprise is that Joe was given a pretty cool gift by his wife for his birthday.....at kitten!  He has been asking for months if he could have this one cat from his gramps house and for his birthday i caved in and said yes. I might be crazy, but Joe loves his animals and has for his whole life....all 30 years! I know that his love for animals is one things that will never change.  It is that same love for animals that makes him such a loving and compassionate person and i am so glad that I get to spend the next thirty years with him.  Happy birthday Joe...I love you so much!  Welcome to your thirties...your gonna love it!

Happy Birthday Baby Brother!

Happy Birthday to one of the most amazing men I have ever had the privilege of knowing...Billy Hawks!   Today my baby brother is tuning 22!  That makes me feel super old!  I am so glad God gave me a little brother to love and who loves me back! I am so proud of all that he has done in his young 22 years and I know that he will continue to do much much more!  Here are a few pics of the handsome young man taken recently while he is living in Spain and working on his MBA.  I have to say spending you B-day in Spain isn't a bad way to go! 

Delish!!

Zesty Slow Cooker Chicken BBQ

6 frozen (or not) Boneless skinless chicken breast.

1 Bottle of BBQ sauce (your choice)

1/2 Cup Italian Salad Dressing

1/4 Cup Brown Sugar

2 Tbls. of Worcestershire Sauce

Place chicken in the slow cooker. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl and then poor over the chicken.  Cook on High for 3-4 hours.

The chicken will fall apart when it is done.  We shredded it and made pulled BBQ chicken sandwiches!  They were awesome!

Thanks for the recipe Lynsey....your the best!

One of my friends posted this recipe on her blog a few weeks ago.  I decided to try it out and OH MY GOSH was it GOOD!!!  I would recommend it to anyone and it makes so much, you could feed and army and people will think you spent hours cooking!

Girl Just Wanna Have Fun!

A few weeks ago I was so lucky to have one of my best friends Meredith and her sister Mary-Kathryn
(who is like a little sister to me) come to CT for a weekend get away! (both girls are pictured above)  I was so excited to have two southern girls to spend time with.  We were determined to have a weekend full of fun and boy did we! We were able to pack in allot in 48 hours.and didn't stop until they were dropped at the airport Monday morning! We started the first day by shopping at a local flea market, then headed to the shore for some relaxing time walking and talking. We ended the day with a yummy home cooked meal and made smores in a fire pit in our back yard.
The next day we took at little road trip to VT!  It was just perfect!  The leaves were changing and we had a ball stopping to look at everything and eating all things maple!   God is so good to give me such good friends to spend time with! He knew I needed some girl time boy did he deliver! Here are some of the pics from the weekend!

All three of us at the shore!  My friends so pretty! We are all wearing our new sunglasses that we got at he flea market and mere got a new hat too!

                    Smores time!

            Overlook in VT!  So pretty

            The three of us hanging out around the fire pit all cozy in our App hoodies!

 Me and mere hanging out with a moose in VT!


I will post a few more pics of the beautiful scenery that we saw while we were in VT on a follow up blog!  Stay tuned for some beautiful sights!