A complete T-Giving Weekend

As mentioned many a-time the last couple of days, T-Giving Day was great. The day after the Big Day I bravely ventured into the kitchen and cooked an ENTIRE Thanksgiving Day meal so that Chad and I will have plenty of leftovers. Well, I was a bit nervous going into it (because I'm a pretty shaky cook most the time), but it went so great I want to do it again! I can't take all the credit, mother and father Paplia came to our place around 2:00 to help me clean, chop, sautee, and basically help me organize the agenda for the day. I think that my forte from here on out will be to make large banquets, instead of small dinners for just Chad and I, which is awesome, but only rarely does one need to bust out pots and pans for all 4 stove top burners in one day at one time! Here's what was on our lovely menu:

-Fred the Turkey! We successfully brined our first turkey and roasted it just the way Alton Brown told us to :)
-Stuffing! Chad was pushing for this hawaiian bread/pineapple stuffing, which I was skeptical of at first, but it
  turned out fabulously and I'm glad we went the extra mile, compliments of foodnetwork.com!
-Green Bean Casserole! This dish is my all-time favorite and always will be! Thanks Paula Dean!
-Fried Corn! (if you can't tell by the title, this is another Paula Dean delicacy!) It had bacon bits in it and was
  just awesome!
-Mashed Potatoes! I wasn't too big a fan of my mashers but Chad loved them!
-Deviled Eggs! We used the traditional Paplia family recipe!
-Celery sticks with pimento sauce and olives! Another Paplia family favorite compliments of my mama's side!

And that's about it! Chad got home right in time to carve old Fred and the Cisneros bunch arrived at 7:00 sharp with Cheryl's fabulously put together sushi/orange chicken appetizer! It was a great meal and a great night of laughing and wine-drinking with the in-laws!

Moving forward through this last weekend, AMC was having a Star Wars marathon, which sounds pretty terrible to most people but I have a sick obssession with those long, serious movies. You should have seen me when Lord of the Rings came out. On second thought, you probably would have gotten sick of watching the movie with me because I was so entranced by the story line I didn't move the entire movie. So, it was only natural that when Episodes 1-6 was on TV, I recorded every single on of them so we could sit and watch them ALL! I had only seen the first Episode in full when it came out in theaters, and I have no idea why I never went back to see 2 and 3. So Chad and I have watched Episodes 1 and 2, when he gets home tonight we will watch 3 (I'm dreading watching Annakin switch sides! NOOOOOOOO!) and then hopefully tomorrow night we will watch 4 and so on throughout the week. I'm so excited! I wanted to watch 2 and 3 in a row on Sunday, but Chad put the kabosh on that. I'm telling you, I'm one movie away from attending a Star Wars convention in full Jedi garb.........






I mean, how could not be obsessed with these sort of love stories! I'm a FREAK!


So anyway, along with great leftovers, I've had a fabulous time with my boys and I am SUPER excited to just have 3 more weeks of school left. This Sunday is Carter's first birthday (which I should be planning as we speak), the next weekend is Palm Springs with the Cisneros clan, and the next weekend after that is the first weekend without school and Carter's birthday is on the 23rd! We have quite a busy month ahead of us and I'm super excited to get started! Woo!

T-Day Eve! (and some sappy thoughts :)

Welp, it's the day before THE BIG DAY and we here at the Cisneros home are comfortably tucked into blankets and drinking coffee (of course!), except for Chadly who is off at work. Poor guy, I get the vibe he is up to his eyeballs in work and having school before and after work doesn't help much (he has school 8:30-9:45 am then 7:00-9:45 pm every Tuesday and Thursday - bummer to the max). Luckily this week he gets a little bit of a break from the grind since we have no school - Thank you Lord! Chad isn't completely free of waking up early this week though. He is voluntarily lugging himself out of bed this Friday at 3:30 am to rush to Sears to buy the first step towards his man cave dream - a new TV! So that way we can put our current TV back in our bedroom and upgrade our living room. Thank goodness my FIL is going to be assisting in this hooking up of our new TV because there is no way I would ever open my lids before the sun is up, it just never is going to happen. So even though I think it's nuts that he is waking up that early, I feel that if there is one person in my life who deserves a splurge and some validation of his hard work, it's my amazing husband!

In regards to some sappy thoughts, I was reflecting this morning about this year's holiday season. Even though every elemenary school teacher in the nation talks about how important it is to be thankful for everything you have year after year, it really is the truth. This truly is the time of year to take a good look around yourself, smell the roses (or in my case, the coffee), and really say a prayer thanking God for everything he has blessed you with. I've been thinking about how my little guy will never be this age again, and even though it's been crazy with the whole nap schedule and teething lately, I really need to hold him every chance I get, and treasure the goofy things he does because, literally, he will never be in this stage again. I know that's true for every state in life, whether you're a baby or an adult, but from a mom's perspective, it's my job to relish in these moments. So I'm going forth this holiday season with a full heart, and feeling so incredibly lucky I can't really express it through writing, or for that matter, any other way. Those are my sappy thoughts for now, and rest assured, there will be plenty more as we pass my little man's birthday (he's turning 1 December 23!) and through Christmas and New Years!
  

A whole new grocery shopping terrain......

Now that I'm semi-comfortable in the kitchen (emphasis on "semi" - the only meals I feel 100% comfortable cooking always involve some sort of pasta, which Chad is pretty dang sick of), I've decided to embark upon the mother of all meals: THANKSGIVING DINNER! For the actual day of Thanksgiving, we are going to bake pies with the Cisneros family in the morning, then head over to the Paplia side for dinner, so I won't be cooking on the actual day (which I'm sure family members are happy about, considering turkeys can accumulate bacteria easily, something which would probably happen to me), but I will be cooking a full meal on Friday so we can have leftovers! I've already planned my menu and the times I need to put things in and out of the oven, when to start the stove top meals, and so on. Chad is super excited about it since he is always dropping hints that I should be more outgoing in the old heart of the home, but, I'm telling you, my Italian heritage has limited me only to products that involve lots of pasta, and MAYBE some skills in the wonton department (which I know has nothing to do with Italian cooking, but nevertheless a staple in our home - even though they are fried).

So these plans brings me to the inevitable task of buying all the ingredients. Thank the good Lord that mother Paplia is helping me out with this, considering I have no idea where the heck to find "candied ginger" in the super market. So wish me luck, and bid me farewell, just in case I don't return due to the insanity of the grocery store a couple of days before the big T-Day!

Slap some make up on!

Being a stay-at-home mama about 95% of the time (I teach at the fabulous Purebarre 3 hours a week and go to school on Mondays for 3 hours, which, as I mentioned, is coming to an end soon) is beyond awesome, but it can seriously make a person WAY too relaxed about their wardrobe. I mean, I spend about 1/3 of the day in my PJ's until the little man goes down for his first nap, usually around 10:30ish, then I lug myself into the shower and put on my "casual wear" which basically is nicer version of PJs! This is usually a cute sweatsuit or black pants with a work out shirt. This is what I go grocery shopping in, visit the Paplia family in, and maybe go on a walk in. After spending my day in spandex, hahaha, I decide to throw on my PJ's once again around 9:30 pm.  Ridiculous!

Well, today is the day where I'm choosing to change this horrible cycle. I own jeans, damnit, and I intend to put them to use once again! This inspiration came from my lovely sister Gina, who gets up every morning and puts on a stylish work suit and drives herself to good old Wells Fargo. She looks cute every single day, is it so hard for me to throw on a shirt and slap on some make up?

So, when the little man woke up unusually early from his first nap, I closed my bedroom door so he can crawl around without getting himself into trouble, took a shower, and picked out a cute shirt, put my make up on, and slipped on some closed toed flats! Now I feel fabulous, and I'm about to head off to the grocery store! Shopping in style is my new mantra! So don't expect to find me looking like I have 10 kids anymore! I have one very stylish little boy and I am joining him in the ranks of looking good!

And that's that! Woo!

Three's For Me!

Hello! Well, if you couldn't tell already, this is my very first post on my very first blog. I decided to start blogging because now that I'm almost done with school (my undergrad will be complete in just a few short months and I will be walking in May at CSUF, woo!) my workload is winding down, and I found myself needing to do something when my little man (Carter Richard Cisneros) is napping! Of course cleaning my apartment is always a priority while the hubby is at work bringing home the bacon, but I've been doing that so routinely the last 7 months I could do it with my eyes closed and in a smooth 30 minutes if I'm feeling motivated enough. Hopefully this blog will motivate me to get through the cleaning quickly, so I can write about whatever I want and have some productive "me" time.

Here's some background on myself!

I grew up in the fabulous Mission Viejo, went to MVHS and went on to CSUF in Fall 2006. I joined Alpha Chi Omega (woot woot!) and met my now-husband, Chad Cisneros (a SigEp). We dated for about two years when we tied the knot and welcomed our perfect little bundle of joy, Carter, to our lives. He is now 11 months old (it went by WAY too fast! What happened to my little cuddle bug??) and he is an EXTREMELY easy baby. I can honestly say it surprised me at how easy those first few months were for me, but I truly believe it's because I have the world's easiest little man. He was never too demanding, his nap schedule has always been pretty darn perfect (except for recently, we are in the process of transitioning from one nap to two), and he has always been a great eater. So, all in all, I have to say being a wife and a mommy have been the best experiences of my life, and I'm so excited to move forward with my little family!

Oh, I just realized I titled this post "Three's for Me!" which basically means my little family of three is for me! Hahaha very simple, but a great explanation for my life!


Anyway, it has been a great first posting experience, and I'm going to try and post everyday! So WOOHOOO!