Friday, November 29, 2013

Christmas-ing

My friend Missy used that term on Facebook today, and I love it!  That was what today was all about for the boys and me.  Their dad...well, he shopped until he dropped.  Literally.  I have the greatest husband in all of mankind.    He does this every single year and saves me from the stress of shopping that I hate.  Yes, he spoils me.  I'm blessed, for sure.

While he was gone, we decked our halls.  ;)  I thought I'd share some pictures.


I should insert here that my house will win no prizes for the finest dressed, but I dearly love all my stuff.  All of it almost was given to me, either by family or friends.  Or it was made by my kids, like the two snowmen paintings you see above.  Aren't they precious?


I love this sign!  It's new to me this year.  We had a women's event at church a couple weeks ago and this was our prize for sitting at my friend Barbara's table.  She is super crafty...I might be a tad bit envious.


One year for my birthday, my sister Tricia bought me Christmas dishes.  The next year she bought me these gingerbread placemats.  The other four are on the dining room table.  I love them!

My mom gave me this new, cutie-patootie pie plate sitting in the snowman dish...come to think of it, she gave me the snowman thing too.  (See what I mean?!)


The kitchen, and my beautiful new stove.  :)


Even the downstairs bath got spruced up.  The little arrangement is one my mom made years ago, and the three snowmen are from Drew's kindergarten teacher, from the first half of his kindergarten year...the second half of that year, he got a different teacher.


The back door and the piano~the flower thing you see to the right of the snowman sitting atop my piano is about to go.  The plant is broken and traumatized and will at least get moved to a new home.  See the rejoice sign to the right of the doors?  My favorite!


The boys decorated their room and beds.  I love this...you have no idea how happy it makes me!


The computer desk...this snowman has been around since I was a little girl.  I love him so much!


Here are the other gingerbread placemats.  The angels on my hutch are some that my grandfather made for my grandmother...I think.  I love that my mom was sweet enough to give me these!

The Santa hats get worn daily in the cold weather during this time of year.  Until they're worn, their homes are the backs of the chairs.


 I love my gingerbread cookie-making platter.  We will be making some this year.  Per Noah's request.


Todd's only request: that this Santa be placed in a most prominent place in our home each year.  You can't get much more prominent than the kitchen counter, the room where the heart of our home is.


My sister Lisa bought me this cute little thing for my birthday a few years ago...it's one of my favorite gifts.
Don't you love Drew in the background?

And last, but not least is my very favorite...


our Christmas tree!  I adore this tree and her handmade and passed down ornamentation.  I might have cried while putting up the ornaments today.  Graham had to come give me a hug.  Yup...I'm still an emotional wreck.

Well, that's our home!  Thanks for stopping by and taking the holiday tour with me.  I hope you know I wasn't doing it to show off...I'm not at all, I promise!  I just love all our stuff...all of it is personal to me and has special meaning.  Like I said, I won't win any prizes for the finest dressed home, but to me, it's pretty special.  The most special part of it all is seeing the childlike wonder in the eyes of my kids.  They were so happy to be doing this today~it truly is our favorite time of year.

Love to all.

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just in time for my favorite time of year, I finished a book I had been reading last night.  I spent a couple hours getting some freebies off of Amazon for the Kindle app on my tablet.  But before I started one of those, I pulled this one out its storage place.


I love Karen Kingsbury and this book might be one in my favorite Christmas series of all time.  I started it last night in bed and am about halfway through it.  I love reading Christmas books!

We got up and watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade this morning and headed to Nana's and Big Daddy's at about eleven.

While we waited on lunch to finish, the boys entertained themselves by doing this:


They shot their BB guns, and their Dad's and Big Daddy's.  (Drew is the only one with his own BB gun.)

We ate the most delicious lunch ever (my Mom's dressing ROCKS) and then they all wanted to go into the woods to shoot the real guns.


Drew was patiently waiting.  When he got up from this spot, I laid down on this bench and proceeded to sleep right there, in the sun, for thirty minutes.  It was heavenly.  The bench rocks and the sun was warming my back and I was snoozing.  Everyone was kind enough to not wake me up as they came out the back door to go shoot in the woods.


I posted this on Instagram and the caption said, "According to the man-child I'm married to, nothing beats Thanksgiving dinner, football and the smell of gunpowder."  :)  I love when all my boys are happy.

The boys played some football in the backyard and told me to come look at the sky.


God outdid Himself tonight.  The sunset was glorious on this cold night.

We stuffed ourselves one last time and came home.  Well, kinda...we dropped Graham and Drew off with a friend at Target.  They're spending the night with him and will be coming home bright and early in the morning to help pull decorations out of the attic.

It was a wonderful, blessed day.  Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  Love to all.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

thankful

I'm grateful for my helpful kids with their willing spirits.  They're not perfect, and there are times when they consider everything a competition, but when something needs to be done, they jump in and do it.  Especially if I'm not feeling good.  

This afternoon, Jonah wanted to help me cook dinner.  I was trying out a new recipe for baked homemade macaroni and cheese, and he did all the work.  I grated the cheese, and he measured out all the ingredients, made the roux for the cheese sauce and whisked it all together for five minutes.  

It was so good, and he was proud of himself for how yummy it turned out.  That, along with the French onion soup was a perfect dinner for this cold night.


I'm so thankful that we got our new oven in today!  I love it already, and I've used it four times already.  Twice for the stovetop and twice for the oven part.  


Isn't it pretty?!  And yes, that is what we had for lunch!  I'm telling you, it's my kids' favorite thing on earth.  

I'm thankful that today I didn't have to take quite as much medicine.  I took a muscle relaxer before bed last night and it knocked me out.  I don't think I've slept that good in months.  I didn't wake up at all in the night, for the first time in ten days.  I plan on taking another one tonight, for a repeat of last night and today, hopefully!

I'm so thankful for my family, who has not asked me to bring one little thing for our Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow.  They're pretty awesome that way.

I'm thankful for my second teen-aged son who would not let me get out of my car to pump gas tonight.


He never gets the chance because Graham always wants to do it, but tonight it was just Drew and me.  :)  Sweet boy.  He was wearing my bright purple gloves and looked pretty cute standing out there in the cold.  

I'm thankful for a husband who does tons of little things to save me from getting out~going to pick up our countless prescriptions, putting gas in my car~little things like that are huge things to me.  I'm thankful that he loves me through the good times and through the bad times.  He's very patient, God love him.

I'm thankful that, thanks to my great kids, my house is clean and sparkly tonight.  They dusted, straightened, put things away, vacuumed and cleaned the tops of everything in this house today.  This helps us be ready for Friday, the day we decorate our house for Christmas.  If everything is already clean, that's one less thing for us to do that day.  

I'm thankful for our health, our family, our friends, our home, our cars, our furry kids, but mostly I am thankful for God, Who gave me eternal life the day He was crucified on the cross.  

If I don't write tomorrow, I pray you all have a wonderful, happy Thanksgiving.  Take some time and thank the Author and Creator of life.  All these wonderful things I mentioned are all gifts from Him.  

Love to all.  

pictures



We've been doing lots of this~the medicine that I apply for their poison oak has benzocaine in it and makes them freeze.  Noah couldn't warm up the other night, so Todd wrapped him tight in a blanket and let him cuddle up in his lap.  The benadryl they're taking makes them sleepy...the bottom picture is Drew asleep on the couch.  Of course Crash takes any opportunity that comes his way to snuggle with them.  He's a great snuggly little dog.

Well, not little, but you get my drift.


Jonah's arms~he woke up this morning and they look so much better!  He keeps on slapping himself...it's pretty funny, actually.  I told him when they itch to slap the spot instead of rubbing or scratching it.  He just did it again.


We've been pretty lazy this week.  Even the dogs have been lazy!  This was while I was cooking Monday night's dinner.  They do love each other.  Sometimes.  ;)


Winter has arrived!  I love this cold weather...it makes it feel so Christmas-y and I love it!  We've been bundling up in lots of layers and I've been wearing my fuzzy boots and sweatshirts to stay warm.  Hopefully tonight we can have a fire...I'm going to see what my hubby can do about getting us some wood for one!  This picture above is from yesterday afternoon~they were all outside playing and I invited them all in for some hot chocolate.  I could almost see them defrosting as I watched.  ;)

Today we're staying home and watching Christmas movies!  Todd has to work, but we're going to invite the neighbors to come watch with us.  I'm going to offer more hot chocolate and popcorn while they watch.  My new oven is coming today!  Sometime between eleven and three.  I'm so excited about it and can't wait to play with it.  I hope you enjoy your day~if you're local to me, bundle up and stay warm!  The high today is thirty-five.  Right now it's twenty-five with a wind chill of fifteen.  Brrrr!

Love to all.

Tuesday, November 26, 2013

tuesday

I had this great idea for a blog post earlier, and I forgot what it was.  Oh well.  It's been a good day!  I am scheduled for outpatient surgery on Thursday, December 5th.  Woohoo!!!  If you want to pray, you can pray for the insurance stuff to get worked out, and you can pray that I am able to control the pain.

(I've been having female issues, you know that part, but to help the issue the doctor put me on a  double dose of birth control pills.  The amount that I am on is causing my uterus to contract constantly...as if I were having a baby.  But with no drugs to help with the pain.  I've been suffering with this since last Monday, which is why I kinda feel like I'm losing my mind.  I am taking insane amounts of ibuprofen and acetaminophen, plus a muscle relaxer at night.)

Thanks be to God for them quickly scheduling me!  I feel better now that I have a light at the end of the tunnel.

And I literally feel better, thanks my precious doctor who sent me home with a tinge unit yesterday.  

I am a happy camper.

Now if we could just get this evil poison oak under control, I would be near perfect.  (We found it on Jonah last night.)  It'll be okay, we're just taking things one day at a time.  I have a yummy comfort-food type dinner planned for us tonight and I am armed with two Christmas movies.

I am thankful for my cozy little home to stay huddled up in...I love this freezing cold weather!  It makes it feel so Christmas-y!  The only thing that would make it better would be if I had all our Christmas decorations up.  We won't do that until Friday, though, unless I can sweet talk the hubs.

Well...speaking of my most favorite man, he's home.  Hope your day has been wonderful!  Love to all.


Monday, November 25, 2013

Thankful

"Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Gosh, I can't even type that without crying.  It's been a week, y'all...I'm not even gonna lie, but God is so good to me.  To my family.  I'm so thankful for His provision and His strength.  We've had weird things to deal with this week, horrible poison oak, awful stomach cramps for me that medicine won't help, that kind of thing.  And in that time, it is so hard to pray!  

But I managed to still read the Bible each day, and even though I didn't have a lot to say to Him (not because I'm mad, because I felt the most awful I have ever felt in my almost 37 years), I managed to eek out a "Thank You, Lord."  Because even in these things, I am so thankful for Him!  And for friends who fill in the gaps for us with their prayers when we can't.  I'm thinking of a friend from our home-school group, who is an intercessor.  You talk about a prayer warrior...if ever there were one, my friend Angela fits that description.

I had an instance last week when I kinda felt like someone made light of what we were going through that hurt my feelings.  Even if it's not as dire or critical as her circumstances, to me at that time, it was!  I needed a sympathetic ear to vent to and I didn't get that.  I felt like I got condemnation from her and a reprimand for not saying the exact statement that she wanted me to.

I don't mean to vent on here, but this did lead me to a thought~all of us have our junk.  We all struggle.  Your struggles look different than mine and mine look different from another friend of mine, but instead of criticism and judgmental thoughts, how about a sympathetic ear?  A compassionate word?  A prayer uttered on their behalf?

I have a friend I graduated high school with, whose two year old son was just diagnosed with diabetes.  Thank God her oldest son is perfectly healthy!  Can you even imagine?  

Another friend of mine has two autistic children~two out of four, and everyday of her life she thanks God for them!  Because of what they have taught her and because God gave them to her.

Another friend from school was diagnosed with breast cancer.  She's the wife and mom to a beautiful family with five children.

Still another friend suffers from a possible ongoing, life-long battle with cancer.  As a single mom to three amazingly beautiful, talented and precious children.

My husband and now two kids are suffering with poison oak, and me...well I am (FINALLY!!!) being scheduled for some outpatient surgery in the next week or two.  All these past seven days I have had debilitating stomach cramps and today I finally got some relief from what has made me unable to even move on some days.

I'm not complaining, just making a point~we all have our junk.  When someone's struggles look different than yours, lend an ear, offer (in a nice way) an encouraging word.  Be strong for your friends and when they are too weak or tired or sick to pray for themselves, fill in the gap for them!  We are here on this earth for one another~to pray for and encourage and love on our families and our friends.

If we did more of that and less comparing our situations, can you even think of how better our world around us would be?  As much as we sometimes love to think it, this world does not revolve around us.  

I am preaching to the choir here.  (Myself.)  

We could all stand to focus more on others...think more highly of others...to honor one another in brotherly love.  

Needless to say, in my own little family, I have much to be thankful for.  Much, much, much.  Every good and perfect gift is from above (James 1:17) and I am thankful for each and every moment.  I am thankful that my circumstances aren't permanent, but am prayerful for the ones I mentioned above that are.  I pray that God gives them supernatural strength for their days ahead, and I know He will.  I pray that I can be an encouragement to them...I pray that all of us can be that for our family and friends who are going through a stormy gale right now.  

What are you thankful for?  It's a good time to reflect over the next few days...I didn't do it on social media, but I've been trying to keep up in my journal.  I am a few days behind, though and plan on getting caught back up.  

Love to all.  

Thursday, November 21, 2013

~Thursday~

It's the day I go see the new doctor!!!  I'm excited about this appointment, and feeling at peace with everything.  God is so good to hear our prayers!  I know there are times when it seems like He's far off, but I promise you, He is not.  One of the passages in Scripture I memorized this year is from Psalm 139...I'll share it with you.

"O LORD, You have searched me and You know me.  You know when I sit and when I rise; You perceive my thoughts from afar.  You discern my going out and my lying down; You are familiar with all my ways.  Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely O, LORD.  You hem me in~behind and before~You have laid Your hand upon me.  Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain!  Where can I go from Your Spirit?  Where can I flee from Your presence?  If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast."

Those are verses 1~10 that I memorized early on in the year.  I never really thought about them having much to do with me until just now.  He does hem me in~behind and before~He goes with me in all that I walk through.  In fact, He's already gone before me.

I guess I'm feeling really reflective this morning.  Have you ever noticed in the Old Testament, the word "Lord" is sometimes in all caps?  Like in the above passage?  Do you know why?  I learned this in Bible study this Monday night.  It's because that word in the Hebrew is YAHWEH.  Or YHWH.  Do you know what is so special about that word???  That word is so mighty, so powerful, so holy and reverent that it is almost unable to even be uttered.

Whew.  Cold chills.  That same God walks with me today as I go to this appointment with a new doctor.  How awesome is that?  How awesome is He?


Yup.  That same God.  I wouldn't be me if I didn't stop here and encourage you in your relationship with Him...do you know Him intimately?  Do you cling to Him and His word?  If the answer is no, you are missing out!  If I only say one thing on this entire post worth "taking home", let it be this: get to know Him!  The closer we are to Him, the less we worry and fret about the world going on around us.  In fact, did you know that the direct opposite of faith is fear?

It is.  And discouragement?  It is straight from the enemy.  I'm not saying we'll never have discouragement again~but the enemy knows if he can get a foothold in any area of our lives, it will be in this area.  I consider that spiritual warfare~all I know is the more I focus on God and His attributes and on being thankful in all my trials and tribulations, the less concerned I am with me and my health!

Moving on now, have I told you lately how horrid poison oak is?


It is.  This poor baby is still suffering so much from his.  My mom brought some Burt's Bees poison ivy soap to us, and I think it's working better than the topical cream the doctor prescribed for them!  Both Todd and Noah were getting worse yesterday, they both found new spots with the poison oak.  They used the soap last night, and already, I can tell a huge difference.  Thank the good Lord for that!

It took me sweet forever to get dressed today.  I have been told to take it easy, so while getting dressed, I kept having to go stop and sit.  In doing so, I folded some laundry while I was sitting down and noticed this cutie:


He was laying his little head down on Todd's folded laundry.

One last picture, and it's one I found on Instagram last night.  I love this verse and thought it pertained to the passage I wrote above and applying it to my life right now.


Well, I need to run~I need to finish cleaning my kitchen before I leave.  My mom-in-love is coming at one to take care of the littles while I'm gone, then when Graham and Drew get home from their school this afternoon, she's loading them all up and taking them to her house.  We're eating dinner with them tonight.  :)  I'm so glad because I am so out of options to consider that don't require an oven.

My mom is coming at one fifteen to be my chauffeur...in the whole "taking it easy" instructions they gave me, that involves not walking excessive amounts.  And everyone knows that when your doctor is in a hospital, lots of walking is required.  Man will I ever be glad to return to normal.  I've almost forgotten what it's like.  Love to all!

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

just some things

I thought I would share a picture of my kids on the new toy:


Don't you love the look my man is rocking?  Long sleeve tee, scrub pants and boots.  ;)  I told him he should wear that every day.

I tried to remove the Facebook app from my phone last night, but apparently it's a built-in app.  It only gave me the option to uninstall updates.  Hmm.  I feel like I need to get rid of it for a while, but since I couldn't really figure out how to uninstall it, I'm going to hide it from my main phone screen.  Yes, it's bugging me again.  I cannot take all the bragging!  Maybe some people don't realize they're doing that, but that's how I'm taking it.  Or maybe it's just my bad mood...either way, I feel the need to at least hide the app.

Speaking of my bad mood, I am going to a new doctor tomorrow!  This morning I prayed for wisdom on how to handle talking to the nurse today.  I've never been in a situation that I couldn't trust my doctor, and as much as I love her, that's kinda how I feel~that I can't trust her judgment.  I'm extremely frustrated over my problems, and that I haven't just had any kind of procedure done already.  I have friends who haven't suffered as long as I have (since June 30), who have already had a hysterectomy!  And here I am...still having problems, with no possible date of surgery in sight.

Please don't think I love the thought of surgery...I don't and it scares me.  I'm just so tired of being this way and frustrated at my doctor, whom I normally love.

Anyway, God heard my prayers this morning~He took the situation right out of my own hands.  Before I could even get around to asking the nurse what I had planned on asking, she suggested the name of another doctor.  It's still a doctor in their practice, but it's a new one to me.  So tomorrow at two o'clock, I am seeing a new doctor.  Praise God!  If you want to know what you can do, you can pray!  Pray as God leads~first and foremost, but also will you pray that she just hears me?  I feel like I'm not being heard, and that is extremely frustrating.

My oven repair guy came this morning~they're having to order the part, but hopefully it'll be here tomorrow or Friday.  The older gentleman just so happened to look exactly like Mountain Man from Duck Dynasty!  Even Noah thought so~he was sitting at the table doing school work and got up to go tell that to his brothers.  I couldn't help myself and kept staring at the man.  Ha!

Well...laundry is calling me.  I'm taking it easy today (doctor's orders, woohoo!) and the kids are wrapping up their school work.  I hope your day is great.  Love to all!


Tuesday, November 19, 2013

poison oak & other fun things

When it rains, it pours.  This weekend, our trampoline bit the dust.  Luckily, my husband found one at a steal on eBay and ordered it promptly.  It's here today and they are putting it together as I write this.

Graham is cutting the front yard one last time this year, and after that, aside from the leaves being raked, our yard work will be done for 2013.

I mentioned that the younger boys and Todd chopped up a tree for firewood Saturday and that they seem to have gotten into something~well, it turns out that Todd, Noah and Travis (our neighbor) all have poison oak.  The wood will all need to be thrown away~if you burn wood that has that on it, the oils will release into the air and you can catch it that way.  Yikes.  And no thank you.

Todd and Noah have been miserable.  I cannot stress to you how awful this stuff is~and as much as I am dying to show you a picture of what my youngest child's face looks like, I promised him that I wouldn't.  I can, however, show you how horrible his arms look.


You should see his face.  He looks a little like a zombie, and I cannot stop staring at him.  Poor little thing...he's been a trooper, though, and hasn't complained a bit.

In other news, as I was cooking dinner last night (not really cooking, but warming up), our oven went out.  It's been warning me for about a week and a half that it was about to go on the fritz, but I could always make the error code that would flash on the control panel go away.  Not anymore.  The stove top works fine, but both ovens are out.  Praise God we have a home warranty insurance~they're coming out in the morning to see if they can fix it.  If not, they will replace it.

Do you know how hard it is to cook without your oven?  It is.  I see lots of electric griddle cooking in the next couple days.  (We even use our oven as a toaster!  It has that really cool feature on it, and we do not own a regular toaster...and for someone whose kids eat toast of some kind for breakfast every single day...well, you can imagine my dilemma.)

I had to place another call in to my doctor's office.  :(  I really thought I had been healed of my illness, but it doesn't look like that's the case.  I'm trying to not be discouraged, but it's been a rough couple of days.  Add to that the fact that God's design for marriage does NOT include a husband and wife staying home together all day, everyday, and well...you see how things have been fun in our house!  We do love one another, but we also love our time spent apart.

I am grateful he was home today~for the first time this homeschool year, Graham had major problems with algebra.  Turns out my teacher's manual isn't as current as his student book, so we thought he had all the answers wrong.  The sweet lady at the company that we ordered our math through was ever so helpful, and sent me a link to all the answers he'll need for these two chapters that have been added to.  I love nice people.

Please note that if these are the worst things that happen to me, I am blessed.  God is so good to us, and praise God that He works all things out for the good of those who love Him.  He's providing our needs~and above and beyond that even.  Even if things are much worse than what I'm writing about~He is still infinitely more good to us that I could ever imagine!  I should be careful writing posts like this~I don't want to come off as a complainer.  I am just sharing what all has been happening in our lives since Sunday, because to me, it's almost comical.  I need to maintain somewhat of a sense of humor~it helps me handle life's trials that are thrown at me.

Sometimes, life seems overwhelming...and my problems are minor.  I cannot imagine how someone must feel who really has something substantial going on in their lives right now~sickness, divorce, the death of a loved one.  In times when I'm overwhelmed, I remember the words of John in chapter 16, verse 33:

"I have told you all this, so that you may have peace in Me.  Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.  But take heart, because I have overcome the world."

I pray that if you're facing something serious (more so than the piddly little things I've written about), that you will find comfort in those words.  I know I do~and will continue to, no matter what I may face with my health.  

I hope your week has been great.  Love to all.


Sunday, November 17, 2013

week at a glance

Our week started off with us celebrating Veteran's day.  We went downtown with my dad and my sister Tricia.  We also took Jonah's and Noah's friend and our neighbor, Alex.  



It was beautiful outside!  The parade didn't last as long as it has in years past, so we went to the Amtrak station and then to lunch at The Arcade.

After lunch we rode the trolley around downtown...always a favorite thing to do for us!



Tuesday was so cold, that most of us stayed in our pajama's all day.  At one point in the day, Graham noticed something on his bank account online that didn't add up...so he called them and they explained it to him.  I'm so thankful for nice people like the lady who helped him understand.  I thought it was neat that he did that and documented it by taking this picture:


Wednesday was a long day of school for us~we were getting caught back up and they worked really long and hard.  That afternoon, when all the work was completed, they rewarded themselves by spending an hour doing this:


This trampoline officially bit the dust over the weekend.  A brand new one is on the way!  We had to bite the bullet and get one ordered~in the colder months, this is what my kids do outside.  Not just my kids, but also the neighbor kids.  When they found out a new one was on its way, they all cheered.  ;)

I'll explain here that it was a strange week for me~my hormones are all over the place because of what my doctor has me taking and I've been super impatient and kinda mean.  :(  That's partly why I stayed off all forms of social media all week~I uploaded some pictures to Instagram, but other than that, that was all I did.  I kinda felt like I was having to work through some things.  

On Wednesday afternoon when I went to check the mail, I got this from a sweet friend I graduated high school with, and it totally brightened my day.


My week did end up getting better, too...I realized that I have to just pray my way through these crazy mood swings...otherwise I will be biting everyone's head off until I'm off all this medicine.  The Lord led me to some really great Bible verses during these tougher days, and I wrote a LOT in my journal.  I figured that was safer than getting on social media!

We had our homeschool group on Thursday, and on Friday, we spent the afternoon with my Dad.  

 
Crash was keeping him warm.  ;)

Friday night found us with just two kiddos~Graham and Drew went to see Thor with some friends, so Todd, Jonah, Noah and I went to Starbucks and Harbor Freight.  Woohoo!  

My drink was delicious~I ordered Butter Beer from Starbucks...it kinda tastes like butterscotch.  So yummy!

This store is my husband's dream:


It was an eventful night, in more ways than one.

Saturday found us split up again~Graham worked, Drew had a social thing with the middle schoolers from our homeschool group, so he stayed home with me.  Todd and the younger boys went with our neighbors to cut up a fallen tree for firewood.  


I'm so excited we have all this wood for fires this winter!  What I'm not excited about is what Todd and Noah have all over their arms: they either got into something poison, or they have ring worm, which is not actually a worm but a fungal thing.  They're going to the doctor tomorrow.  They've been taking Benadryl all day, and Todd has slept all day because of that.  

So that's our week in pictures.  Hopefully I'll write more this week, but if not, I hope yours is great.  Love to all!

Monday, November 11, 2013

our weekend & Veteran's day

Friday night found us sitting by this lovely fire.  Drew's friend was here with us, and we had a grand time of roasting our hot dogs for dinner and the marshmallows for our s'mores.  Fun times were had.


Saturday was spent around our house, until we left to go to my mom's and step-dad's for dinner.  Below is a picture I took while waiting to go.


Sunday was spent at church, then we came home and split up.  Graham stayed at church, Drew and Todd went to Costco and Jonah, Noah and I stayed home.  Jonah and Noah left at three for a party, Graham and I left at 3:45 for a bonfire with the high school youth, and Drew went to his bonfire at 5:30 with the middle school youth.  

Here's a few pictures from the high school bonfire:


These girls above rode with me out to Moscow, where the bonfire was.  I love them.  :)





The bonfire was held at the beloved Mr. Ronnie's farm~he works at Collierville Elementary school and now the middle school, and he was always my most favorite person to work with.  It was so good getting to see him and hug him!

Today is Veteran's day, and for the first time in two years, we're going downtown for the Veteran's day parade.  My sweet Daddy is going with us, along with my sister Trish, the boys and our neighborhood friend, Alex.  I can't wait!  After the parade, we'll eat lunch, maybe ride the trolley and take a walk through the Amtrak station.  

Memories.  :)

Here's a couple pictures from four years ago:



I cannot even believe how fast time flies, and how much they've grown up since this picture was taken.  In this, Graham was in fifth grade, Drew was in fourth and Jonah and Noah were in first.  

I have much to be thankful for today~but I also have much to pray for: my friend Sharon, who acknowledges today as the third anniversary of when her two sons were killed in a plane crash, and the people suffering loss and devastation in the Philippines.  Please join me in praying for them.  

If you see a Veteran today, don't forget to thank them for their service.  Love to all.

Thankful Thursday

  Happy Thursday, friends! I'm so glad you're here today; thanks for joining in with me from time to time. If you're anything li...