Daddy's Girls

  Is fresh, bacon wrapped back strap on the grill! I've had lots of posts lately about Matt's deer he's gotten so far this year.  If anyone questioned whether or not we ate it, there is now no doubt! Lilli loves it too.  It's one of the few meats we can put on her plate that she will eat most of.  Doesn't get much better than this!

Although I'm not sure Matt would have agreed with that after work yesterday afternoon.  He got home and immediately started putting the lights up on the outside of the house.  He may not have thought it was the best time of the year as he was working on them but I'm pretty sure that changed when Lilli screamed "Yay Daddy!!" as they were lit.  

I absolutely love Thanksgiving.  Getting to be with the family and relax at the deer camp is one of my favorite things to do.  But I also love it when Thanksgiving is over because it is time for my FAVORITE time of year.  Christmas!! Lilli and I left the deer camp early this morning to come home and decorate.  We were home about 10:30 and it is now 3:15 and I am sitting on the couch writing this and looking at my decorated tree.  I couldn't wait to get home to do this and Lilli was right there with me and even more excited.  Most of my family thinks I'm a little nutty because I also have most of my Christmas shopping done.  I will say it's easy when you really only buy for the kids but I do it for two reason.  1) so that I don't have to brave the store during the crazy holiday shopping and 2) because I love to have presents to wrap to put under the tree the day it goes up. As we played Christmas music and decorated, Lilli  kept saying "Daddy is going to be so

Matt and I have spent every Thanksgiving with the rest of the McCormick Family at the deer camp but this year was extra special.  It was Austin's first Thanksgiving and all of the girls stayed for 3 nights so we had extended time together.  The boys always kick off Thanksgiving week the weekend before with the opening of duck season.  They spend that weekend, go home for a few days and then go back Tuesday or Wednesday for the rest of the week.  The girls and the kids all got there Wednesday and stayed until Saturday.  It was so relaxing to hang around and visit, EAT (way too much) and watch football.  My favorite part about this new camp is that we were all able to sit around a table and eat together.  That's the first time that's happened since I've been around.  The guys did a lot of hunting too of course so it made it the perfect week for everyone. Lilli was so excited that Daddy got a deer Uncle Josh reading his old Berenstein Bears books to her   G

Matt, Lilli, and I secretly went to Stork Vision in Shreveport last Friday to find out if she was going to have a brother or a sister.  We didn't tell anyone about our appointment because we wanted to surprise them with the news. I ordered these from Etsy.com (I wish I would have taken the time to use my real camera) Our original plan was to mail these to my family in Baton Rouge and Texas and have them open them on Thanksgiving Day.  Then we were going to get all of the McCormicks in the same room and have them scratch them off at the same time that day too.  Well, it didn't quite work out that way.  I was too excited plus I knew there was no way we could see Hailey and Yaya this week plus be at the deer camp for a whole 24 hours before we told without Lilli spilling the beans.  So... it took all of 5 minutes for me to change my mind and have Matt call his Mom and I sent a text to Rachel, Hailey and some friends.  I still mailed them to my family in Baton Rouge and they g

And I bet 3 years ago Cap'n never thought he'd be doing it.  She had a blast though.  She told me when she got home about their tea party.  Yaya and Cap'n kept Lilli last night and I think everyone had fun.  Yaya said they brought a blanket outside to watch the leaves fall and I also heard from Lilli that they "read lots of Bernstein Bears books, watched a movie and baked cookies."  Yaya sent this picture this morning and said she'd been waiting a long time to have a little one help in the kitchen.  Lilli always loves to be a "big helper" every step of the way.     

  I'm so excited to get to share the news that Josh and Hailey are going to have a baby! They are due mid July so our kids will only be a little over 2 months apart! How fun is that?! And we get to be pregnant together! They are both over the moon and we couldn't be happier for them.  Congratulations to both of you!

Lilli's ballet studio had an open house today.  Me, Matt and Yaya all got to sit in on a class to see what she's been doing the last 3 months.  It wasn't always the most organized with a class full of 2 year olds but it sure was cute! She was super excited we were all there and so proud to show off her moves.  We also talked about the recital that will be in June and got to see what their costume will look like. I wish I would have taken a picture but it will be all frilly pink. Can't wait to see all of them in that!  

And that means soup weather.  I've been waiting for a month to make my Mom's recipe for corn and shrimp soup and I decided yesterday that wait was over.  It's a super easy recipe that I will share. First you make the roux: 2/3 cup flour and 2/3 cup oil.  This is the only time consuming part.  It took about 25 minutes but luckily I had a little helper that was willing to stir for me while I chopped.  She stood there for about 15 minutes so really she did this part.  Once the roux is brown you add 2 chopped onions and 2 chopped bellpeppers and saute until those are tender. Now the really easy part: You dump in 2 cans of whole kernel corn, 2 cans of stewed tomatoes and 1 can of cream corn.  Season to taste.  I used Tony's (always!), black pepper, garlic and parsley. Let that simmer for at least an hour and then add 2 pounds of peeled shrimp.   And your done! Add some bread and you have a delicious, hearty meal.  Hope y'all enjoy at as much as we did.  I

Matt got 2 deer this weekend! And Cap'n got 2 too! I know me and Yaya are both very happy to have some deer meat coming to our freezers soon.  Matt was so excited and Lilli had to call him to tell him she was "so proud of him." It was pretty cute.  Opening weekend is traditionally a guys weekend at the deer camp but Lilli and I didn't mind because we got to spend whole weekend with Hay Hay.  Friday night she came over and I cooked and we played with Lilli until her bedtime and then watched a movie.  Saturday morning we met at the Boardwalk for some Christmas shopping and she took Lilli on a few carousel rides while I got my hair cut.  Lilli decided she wanted Fuddrucker's for lunch after and I was just happy something sounded good to her. She has had tonsillitis all week and barely eaten anything since Monday.  I guess her throat is finally feeling better because she ate pretty much all of it.  Saturday night we went to the North Bossier park in our nei

The whole McCormick family spent the weekend at the deer camp.  Chad, Rachel and Austin got in on Thursday and the rest of us met them out there on Friday.  It was so nice to all be together.  We got up Saturday morning and went down to the garden to get our vegetables for dinner that evening.   We ended up with a meal of fresh peas, turnips, mustard greens, kale, and lettuce for a salad.  Matt got 3 rabbits on his way to the deer stand that morning (that Lilli helped him clean) and Cap'n fried and smothered them in gravy.  He also fried some duck breasts they had in the freezer.  Talk about living off the land! It truly makes you appreciate it when it takes work to get the food on the table.  And a meal never tasted better! The girls after we finished shelling the peas