Bramell, Party of Five: October 2014

Thursday, October 30, 2014

Blogging With Big Sis

I wanted to do something fun for this post, so I decided to interview Big Sis. She's a smart kid, and usually very entertaining, so I knew this would be a fun task. She's seven years old, and in second grade.




Me:  What is mom's job?
BS:  You work on the computer. (partially true)
Me:  What is dad's job?
BS:  To sell houses.


Me:  What does mom do for fun?
BS:  Blog!
Me:  What about dad?
BS:  Play video games!


Me:  What do you like to do for fun?
BS:  Lots of things...color.

Me:  What do you want to be when you grow up?
BS:  I don't know, maybe a teacher.

Me:  What is your favorite part of school?
BS:  Recess!!  (obviously the best part for teachers, too)

Me:  What is your favorite food?
BS:  Chips & dip.

Me:  What is your favorite vacation we've had?
BS:  Disney!  (not Oklahoma)

Me:  Where would you like to go for our next vacation?
BS:  Disney!  (again, not Oklahoma)

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Royal Gameday Treats

 
 
**Disclaimer: I am a member of the Petit Jean Meats Blue Diamond Club. Through this affiliation, I get to sample products, try new recipes and share them with my readers. Sometimes I give my opinion on new products and packaging. My opinions are my own. I was given Petit Jean product in exchange for promotion in the following post.  **
 
 
 

The original title of this post was Football Fanatics. It's true that this time of year you would normally find me posting about Razorback football and all the fun that goes with it. In  fact, this post was going to be about kid-friendly Razorback tailgating treats. That was my plan...until our Kansas City Royals ended up in postseason play!

 
Suddenly, we found ourselves in the strange position of having a Razorback football conference game and Game 1 of the ALCS on the same day; overlapping times, even. We decided to go with a blue-and-white party to celebrate the Royals' success. My family managed to watch both games and cheer hard for both of our teams! 

I used most of the Petit Jean Deluxe Sampler to create our game day menu. There is so much food in the sampler, that I just couldn't prepare it all at once. And, I have to be completely honest, the bacon never even made it to the table. We had it for breakfast instead of putting it in our game day spread! When it's that good, you just can't wait for it.
 
Lee really enjoyed the Petit Jean Smoked Sausage; it was the first time we'd tried it. I cut it into bite sized pieces and simmered it on the stove in BBQ sauce. The kids like eating anything using toothpicks, so this was perfect for them!
I used Petit Jean hot dogs to make pigs in a blanket. The rest of our menu consisted of bologna bites, mini ham and cheese sandwiches and a snack platter with Summer Sausage, sliced cheese and crackers. All of that, combined with a fruit plate and some fresh popcorn, set us up for excellent game day snacking.
 
With the holidays coming up soon, you can find a great variety of gift baskets and samplers at the Petit Jean Meats website


*This is a sponsored post.



Check out the photos of our yummy game day feast!


















Monday, October 20, 2014

Disney Memories aka Why Our Kids Hate Us

As we traveled to Grand Lake this summer, dear Lee noticed that we were going to be traveling really close to Disney. In fact, close enough that we could take a slight detour on our way back to Arkansas and spend a little time there.  As we packed up to leave the resort, he started to tease the kids about going to Disney on the way home. Now, if you are a parent, you probably spend approximately 70 hours a week listening to your kids talk about Disney: going to Disney, dreaming about going to Disney and begging to go to Disney. Or is that just my kids? Either way, I knew this would not end well.

Here is our family photo from our (very brief) stop in Disney. You can tell by looking who was amused by this little trick. It is not one that will soon be forgotten, thanks to our souvenir photo!




Sunday, October 19, 2014

Family Adventures

I have come to realize something after looking through the files on my camera--I'm really bad at putting everything up on the blog. So, with that said, I now bring you memories of our first trip to Grand Lake in Oklahoma. Since we didn't take a big vacation this summer, we decided to take a few long weekends close to home. Our first trip was Memorial Day weekend; Fergie got to go with us, but we boarded her in Grove. The trip is under two hours for us, so I know we'll be going back.


Grand Lake is definitely a summer tourist place, as it was filled with families with boats, skis and flip flops. We went out to the marina and looked around, attempted to go fishing before the rain blew in, and spent lots of time in the resort's pool.  The resort was very nice and the kids wouldn't have cared if we did nothing but swim in the pool and play in the hot tub. In other words, it was perfect!


We did find the Bernice State Park that was near our resort. There were lots of people camping there, but we found a nice playground and walking trail. The kids threw rocks into the lake and we introduced the little ones to honeysuckle. We went into the park's Nature Center to see fun things like a working bee colony, live box turtles and a few snakes in cages. The kids even got to play some games with the park workers.




This is my favorite photo from the whole weekend! Daddy and his baby girl on the walking trail.








We got a little surprise visitor on our 2nd floor balcony one night--a little frog! 




This is the resort where we stayed; Wyndham Grand Lake. We will be going back for another visit soon!

Sunday, October 12, 2014

Pardon Our Mess...

Thanks for stopping by! Bramell, Party of Five is in the process of a makeover! I'm so excited because I've been trying to get around to it for a long time. While I'm sad to leave the screaming lady graphics behind, I'm looking forward to something fresh that will equally capture my personality. 

Keep checking back and don't give up on me. It probably will take forever, but I'll keep posting in the meantime.
 
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