So much to be thankful for!

We had a quiet Thanksgiving at home, enough food for an army, and much to be thankful for!!!

The past year and a half has been extremely stressful for us. Damian finally found a temp job as a claim rep which has temporarily taken some pressure of of me. His boss is trying to find a way to keep him and has already promised him that he will be kept on a while after the person he is covering for returns. Honestly, with the money he saves companies, he pays for himself- just saying! I really don't know how we have made it financially. I am amazed that we have been able to keep our home!
All I want for Christmas is for him to keep this job, and a clean house!

Damian recognizes he needs to continue treatment for his eyes, but they are stable for now which is a blessing!!! I am just hoping we can work something out and be able to head back to UCSD to start up treatment again. We are too nervous to have him take off time at a temp job he'd like to keep.

This month I have had tons of photography opportunities which has allowed for us to provide Christmas for the kids. As crazy busy as I am, I feel blessed to be able to earn extra income. Praying I can keep up and and to process everyone's photos by the first week of December!

As much as I want to be a sahm, I know it is just not in the cards. I am thankful to be teaching. It has been hard to like teaching these past two years because of some of the crappy politics going on at my school, but the kids are great this year and that is a blessing!

I am grateful for the yummy kick butt dinner we had! I must say, Damian and I can REALLY cook!!! Check out this yummy, gorgeous bird!!!







I am most thankful for these guys and their Daddy!!!



Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Chocolate Pumpkin Pie

This is not the best picture in the world and is a total disgrace to my picture taking skills. I took this picture about three years ago, so obviously this was taken during my "learning year". Your thinking "Jen, there is this thing called white balance!", right? I will replace it this Thanksgiving with a new one! I so digress!

I get asked for this recipe A LOT! You'll never eat regular pumpkin pie again! I love chocolate and I love pumpkin. I love them together!!! This pie is so good, it should be illegal!! My mouth is watering as I type!!!!!!!

Make your regular pie crust (I prefer an oreo crust, you can buy it at the store).
Make pumpkin pie filling according o the directions on the back of the can. I usually use Libby's.
Reserve 1/4-1/2 cup filling.
Melt 6 oz.chocolate chips and the reserved pie filling together. I use the microwave. It melted for me in less than a minute. I use the Pampered Chef micro cooker. One of the best kitchen items I've ever purchased!
Pour chocolate mixture into center of pie crust. I added a little more pumpkin pie filling to cover the top of the choco-pumpkin mixture at this point. Swirl with a knife to marbelize. It should look pretty.
Bake pie according to directions on the can. Allow to cool.
Carmelize 1 C pecans or walnuts with 1 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of butter. Pour on top of cooked pie. You can also top with whip cream.

I had a lot of pumpkin pie filling left after making two chocolate pumpkin. I am going to see how it freezes this year and use it for Christmas pies.

A Quick Halloweekend Recap

Behind on blogging!! Wanted to quickly share our Halloweekend before going into November.

Pumpkin Jars-Lots of them!! Not quite done! Lisa, I say we finish them up over Christmas vacation!


Cute, huh?

Pumpkin carving and pumpkin boobs






Trunk or Treat






and...
the big night!


There you have it!! Our Halloweekend in a nutshell!