Christmas for us included lots of family time

David's parents from South Carolina and his brother Mark and family from Hobe Sound, Florida came and spent Christmas with us this year. Christmas eve found us over at David's brother Philip's house across town where we had a delicious meal, lots of laughter and gifts!

This is the guy cousins minus Curtis. We missed you Curtis.

And the girls minus Jennifer. We missed you too Jennifer.

Hmm...

This is what our Santa looked like eating the cookies and milk left for him by 3 excited children in Greenfield...

What did yours look like?
David was so full already and was heading off to bed when I reminded him of his duties as Santa. Sarah Brooke was in bed when she realized that 3 carrots was not going to be enough for all of the reindeer. We started trying to list the names of them and she knew where they were in a book. We came up with 9 so we added just the right amount of carrots. Somebody shouted (we had family staying with us) that santa was in Indianapolis and she fired off to bed and we never heard from them again till morning.
We woke them up to have our family Christmas. The night before we offered for our overnight guests to join us or they were welcome to sleep in.

When Mark (chose to sleep in) greeted us Christmas morning he said "let me guess what you all got for Christmas...a mega phone and a flute recorder". How on earth did he know!!! When I talked to my Dad on the phone later that morning he said that he thought this was a good year for him to be there and our family to be here. Good times!!!

More memories to post later.

A little cheer going on around here...

Christmas stuff 2008

Cameron and the girls built the Christmas tree this year. I can't wait for them to learn how to do lights. I must admit that I was not particularly in the mood to start the chore of decorating for Christmas. I set the Saturday after Thanksgiving as the day to get it done and I finished up late that night. Now I'm really enjoying it. Worth all the effort :-)

Need a laugh....

or wanting to feel like you aren't alone in your angst for decorating for Christmas? Go on over to my friend Heather http://theloperhouse.blogspot.com/ and check out her December first post Putting up the tree. Absolutely priceless!

Pilgrims?

No!!! This is a dream come true for 2 big hearted and giving people. They are my parents and this is Silver Dollar City in Branson, MO.

Daddy out admiring the horses and probably on his way to visit the blacksmith or the potter. Mother and Daddy helped their basket teacher, Robbie, with her booth at the City. They packed up her van in Kansas one weekend, helped her set up in the City the next and went back later to help Robbie with her booth and to take it all down. Here Mother is giving a tutorial to whomever wants to wander by the booth. Getting to watch crafters at work is one of the charms of the City. I think Mother said that Robbie sold around 200 baskets. 4 of which were ones Mother had made. Those are genuine smiles! Silver Dollar City is a charming place that holds good memories for me.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

Friday night fun!

Pizza night 2008

David was gone for the evening so I decided to let the kids make their own pizza. They loved this idea. I forgot to take pictures while Cameron was making his. He was done first. There aren't many things that I love to smell more than bread dough. Thanks to Jiffy we had pizza crust in a jify :-) The pizzas tasted delicious!

All Sarah Brooke wants for Christmas is...

her 2 front teeth. It was definetly time for them to come out.

Moments after the teeth came out.

She was very happy after the fact. I had a grip on the one and when it let loose it went airborne. There was a struggle in pulliing the first tooth so I'm still not exactly sure how the second tooth came out. She seems to loose teeth by 2's. Her new ones are already on their way in so we are crossing our fingers for some beautiful straight ones :-) I remember Cameron's wish was for really big teeth and it was rather shocking to watch very large teeth come in. ha They look really nice now.

Halloween weekend

Mother and Daddy came to town to go trick or treating with the kids. Out of all the holidays that we have been together they had never come for Halloween. We sure enjoyed our time together.

Corn maze 2008

Halloween night we hosted our church's harvest party and trick or treating. It was a great time of being silly, eating lots of food and laughter.

Our very own log cabin

Cameron had a project due today. He was required to make a log cabin.

It was a fun project to do but something tells me that they only get harder from here.

Seconds before we dashed out the door :-)

We worked hard and had fun at the same time!

We did it!! It was a fairly calm event too. As they get bigger they can do more of the "project" themselves which makes it a little easier. Sarah Brooke drew the faces on her and Ashley's pumpkin. She copied her idea from a book at the library. She got happy with the permanent marker so they look a little busy with her idea of decorating. Cameron is the perfectionist and ended up being relatively happy with the end result of his pumpkin.

Pumpkin carving 2008

We still need to roast the seeds. More fun to come. ha

Weekend project...

It's that time of year again...the pumpkins have been purchased and are sitting around enticing the (not so tiny any more) carvers. October 2007

The decision has not been made as to carving a happy face or a scary one. The mess has not been made or cleaned up yet. The camara batteries have not been charged only to run down too quickly. The stomach turning slim that must be extracted from the inside of the pumpkin still remains inside the pumpkin. The pumpkin seeds have not been roasted per the perfect seed roasting recipe only to have them sit and mold in a baggy because we got the recipe wrong and didn't bake them long enough. Oh the tradition to maintain and the memories to be made! I wonder what this year will be like.

October 2006

Fall colors

Have you ever had a friend that you couldn't out do? Well I'm blessed with several like that. One of them came for dinner last evening. She surprised me with a hostess gift bag filled with the goodies pictured below

I love kitchen linens! These fall leaves are going to be a fun addition to our home. Can you already taste the pumpkin shaped cookies or bisquits? Thank you so much, Diane!!!
Are you curious what I made? Here's the menu
Crispy Parmesan Chicken strips
Herbed roasted potatoes
Colorful Veggie bake
Homemade Challah bread
Brownie Goodie bars

Our guests were very complimentary of the meal and the kids were talking about it when they woke up this morning. Cameron said he wasn't hungry yet after eating so much last night. I guess it was a success :-) It sure was fun. If you haven't had company for dinner lately put it on the calendar. It is very rewarding and fun!

Fall is here!

I believe Monday was the official day of fall. I decided to celebrate by changing up the decorations.

Fall is my very favorite time of year. The air is crisp and rejuvenating. The colors are rich and deep and yet some are bright and vivid. I think the weather has been such that it looks like it will be a beautiful Fall.

I hope that you are enjoying this time of year as well.

A basket case....

Have you missed me? Well I have been a bit of a basket case. I'm into week 6 of school. What was I thinking when I signed up for this!!! I had a 5-7 pg research paper to write and do I need to remind you how old I am and how long it has been since I have been in school. It is actually very good for me but it has kept me more than busy. The paper was turned in last friday. Yeah! I think I should get an "A" for effort. ha

The last time I was home (Mother and Daddy's home) we gathered up their baskets around the house to see just how many they had. I think it was 40 some. Several were discovered after our photo shoot too. Alot of these are functional but some are just for their beauty.

Here are the weavers themselves. From the look of things they have been on the motorcycle more than they have been weaving. They were given an awesome opportunity late summer to help their basket teacher with her booth at Silver Dollar City in Branson. I will try and post some pics from that adventure soon.

Okay, it is back to the text books and keeping my nose above water or do I mean laundry pile.

Karla honored me recently with the I Love Your Blog award! Now it's mine turn to pass it on. Here are the rules:1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.

2. Link the person you received your award from.

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.

The seven blogs I nominate are:

Penny

Kim

Tara

Crystal

Ronda

Bette

Angie

The first 3 blogs are pure eye candy because of their great sense of style. I owe all my saving skills to Crystal. The next 2 are dear friends of mine. I have never met Angie but I love her sense of humor and I'm sure you will too.

Weekend recap...

Saturday we attended the Mt. Comfort Air Show. David was given complimentary tickets. We spent all day there and really had a good time inspite of the heat. It is an awesome show and some incredible displays of our bombers.
This is the pilots view of the airport. Can you imagine? Our tickets included a pass to the Precedent Chalet which was under one of these tents. They served barbeque chicken or beef sandwiches, veggies, fruit and cookies. They had cans of pop and bottles of water in a big tub of ice. The Chalet offers seats as well. We walked around after lunch some and then came back and set almost within reach of the runway. It was a scorcher of a day but I had sunscreen for everybody. We drank lots of water. Later that day I poured the melted ice water on the kids head to cool them down. We had a great time! Thank You, Precedent!!!

Ashley wasn't lonely today.

Cousin Tiffany stopped by to play and to eat lunch with Ashley. They have had alot of fun. We walked (they rode their bikes) to get the bigger kids from school. I sat outside for awhile and read my textbook and listened to little people conversation.

playhouse 2008

Have I lost my mind????

You might be wondering what is going to keep me busy now that Cameron and Sarah Brooke are back in school? Well the laundry, food purchasing and prep and general up keep of the house is the same but I thought I would take some college courses. Aaaak!
The opportunity has come up for David and I to take classes through Liberty Universtity's Distance learning program. Our first 2 were recommended by the advisor as being good first time classes. Contemporary Worldview and a computer class. It is looking a little daunting but we will do our best. The classes started yesterday so here we goooo!!!
It's back to school!!!

Meet the teacher night....

Last evening we went to the school to meet our kids teachers. Sarah Brooke is sitting at her desk

Sarah Brooke with Miss Chambers. This is Miss Chambers second year to teach. I guess Sarah Brooke is just going with her first name this year. I'm kinda sad about that but I do know it is longer to right and it is her choice soooo....

Cameron at his desk. He is in a group of 4 students. His class has 22 kids.

Cameron with Mrs. Riegle. I think we are really going to like her. She said she has been teaching since before dirt but we noticed that she is willing to try new things. Great sense of humor it seemed like.

It's back to school today......

Today is bitter/sweet for me. It is a way of life and a realization of how big my "babies" are.

Sarah Brooke is in first grade and Cameron is in third. They woke up excited and nervous.

Today felt like a test run since it was only a half day. Sarah Brooke came out very calmly and whispered in my ear that it was the best day ever. She must have been jumping up and down inside. ha Cameron was pumped because with good behavior he can earn the privilege of the teacher buying him lunch from his choice of fast food place.

We have one more year at home with Miss Ashley. She has been on a home movie marathon today. One of her favorite things to do. Tomorrow night we get to meet the kids teachers and I'll be snapping pics with them. David took the day off to be able to take them to school and pick them up. We noticed that alot of the kids just came on their own. It's back into a routine for me and I'm happy about that actually.

I'm the winner...

This weekend I had opportunity to see a fellow blogger Karla and she brought me some things that I had won by commenting on her posts. What a fun surprise it was! She made a dish cloth and matching srubby in a delightful yellow and white. Then I also won a copy of this Gary Chapman book "Love as a way of life". Thank you so much Karla!!! I'm a happy blogger today because of your generosity.