88/101 -- Fill an "Operation Christmas Child" Box

If you are not familiar with Operation Christmas Child, go check out THIS link. It will probably make you cry. Just warning you.

To sum it up, an organization called Samaritan's Purse has this program called "Operation Christmas Child", where folks just like you and me fill regular sized shoe boxes up will all sorts of goodies for kids in third world countries. They have 3 age ranges and you can pick which age range you want to fill your box for, and also if you would rather shop for a girl or boy. These boxes get collected at collection sites and then sent to warehouses for inspection. From there they get passed on to kids around the globe so they will have the blessings of Christmas. They even have an "EZgive" now, where you can print your labels from home, pay your shipping donation of $7 online, and you can track your box! You will get an email letting you know what country your box ends up and give you information about the children in that country.

It's such a touching program, and I encourage anyone who is able to send a box! We are so blessed and there are so many children around the world who don't have the things we take for granted every day; like toothbrushes and toothpaste, soap, washcloths, pencils and markers, candy, toys, and paper to draw on.

I belong to a wonderful mom's group called MOPS and we filled boxes for Operation Christmas Child at this weeks meeting. When I found out we were going to be doing this there, I told my family about it and we all agreed to do one as a family as well. My MOPS table ended up filling 3 boxes instead of just the 2 we planned on due to overflow of goodies. It was really awesome. I couldn't wait to sit down with my kids and do it at home.

My 7 year old was really excited to do this and she picked to send a box to a girl her age (age 5-9) and carefully chose each item to go in the shoebox. It was really cool. This is what we stuffed in it:

• a Barbie Doll (who we had to take out of the box due to space issues)
• drawing pad
• markers
• crayons
• glue sticks
• pencils
  
• fun erasers
• pencil sharpener
• fun bear shaped note pad
• modeling clay craft
• toothbrushes
• toothpaste
• bar soap
• washcloths
• hard candy, gum, mentos

We had to re-pack it a few times to make it all fit (and we'll have to replace the toothpaste we got with a smaller package) but we did it! A new family tradition.

Our first family Operation Christmas Child Box

12/101 -- Try Something New at the State Fair

Ahh the annual NC State Fair. The crowds, the people, rides of death and food. What's a state fair without the miles and miles of food stands? My goal this year was to try something new. Now, I was going for something a little more crazy, but due to looming rain clouds, a mission to get a 7 year-old on rides before the 18 month-old melted down, and trying to navigate though a maze of people, it just didn't go exactly as planned.

Every year I get a ginormous bag of kettle korn and a chocolate frozen banana. That is standard. I have had some typical fair food, such as giant turkey legs (yes, and I love them. Judge all you want.) Philly steak sandwiches, sweet potato fries, fried onion blossoms, cotton candy, funnel cakes, pizza, etc. This year I had a gyro for lunch. I was still looking for something new to try when low and behold, the Wisconsin Cheese stand stood in front of us as we parked at a picnic table to shovel the rest of lunch down before the rain came and the baby started screaming. (Again.) My mother, a fellow lover of cheese, immediately thought they were cheese curds, something she obsesses over. She went to check it out while I shoved a gyro in my face. She said it wasn't what she thought and we continued with lunch. A few minutes later a lady sat down at the picnic table next to us with the most delicious looking fried balls of goodness. My jaw hit the table and I thought out loud, "what are those, I want them?!".My mom got all excited and told me they were from the cheese stand and ran off to grab some.

HOLY. MOLY. Talk about a paper tray full of cheesy goodness. Apparently they had a few different kinds of cheese and she opted for our favorite, jalapeno jack. OMG. As Rachel Ray would put it, YUM-O.


So, it wasn't chocolate covered bacon or deep fried Oreos, but it was heaven. And not just your ordinary "fried cheese". It was FAR from that and completely delicious. Thanks Mom!

4/101 -- Visit a NC Winery

While we were at Biltmore this past weekend, we headed over to Antler Hill Village to the winery. Wine tasting and a tour of the winery is included in the price of your admission tickets to the estate, so we took full advantage. We did have my 18 month old daughter with us, who bless her heart was worn out from the house tour, so we opted to skip the tour and just do the wine tasting. The set up was really great. They grouped about 6-8 people together and were assigned to a station. That way you were given undivided attention and were able to ask questions about the wines and taste them in a relaxing environment and not feel rushed. They also gave you a brochure on all the wines you could taste so you could mark your favorites. It was great!

***DISCLAIMER*** For those who know I am pregnant and are gasping that I would let wine pass these lips, it was cleared by my doctor. And the sips I took totaled to be about one average glass of wine, if that. It was not a lot by any means, and declared perfectly safe and acceptable by my OB. So stick those fingers back in your pocket and zip up your lips. :)

The wine we tasted was great and it took some self control to only buy 3 bottles to take home. I couldn't take any pictures, but we had a great time!

2/101 -- Visit the Biltmore Estate

After living in North Carolina for over 5 years AND having made countless trips to Asheville to visit my husband's family, I finally made it to Biltmore for the first time this weekend. I have always wanted to go at Christmas, but it was really fun and I'm so glad we got to go.

We spent a wonderful long weekend (Thursday--Monday) up in the mountains enjoying the cooler weather with the company of our good friends. We all went to the Biltmore house on Friday and had a wonderful time. We saw the house, went to the winery (another 101 goal!), and had lunch at one of the restaurants there. It was a gorgeous day and really interesting. The house was amazing. The history behind it is really awesome as well as the architecture. How cool it must have been to grow up there! You should see the size of the indoor pool! The rooms and hallways seemed to go on forever. Hide and seek would have been AWESOME.

I would like to go back one Christmas and just see everything lit up. I hear it's amazing. Photography is not allowed inside the house, but here is a shot from the outside.