O'Christmas Tree & Some Beef Stew

We spent several hours on Saturday putting up our Christmas tree and decorations.

It thrills my heart to have our girls helping with this!

With putting up the 20 layers of branches it is nice to have some helpers :)

We always get excited to see our ornaments every year!

Almost finished!

Holly LOVES nutcrackers.

She always has and always will I am sure! These were the first things to be unpacked this year.

Here is the final product!

We've got a couple of burning bushes in front of our house and Brian trimmed them back a few weeks ago. So this year they look a little sad with their lights strung around and around and around them....ha!

Today I made my very first batch of Beef Stew. I thought I'd made just about everything in our 14 years of wedded bliss, but nope not beef stew. It turned out pretty good - I am sure it will be better tomorrow! :P

Hope you all have a great week!

We've got a busy one planned and Brian is off until Saturday - Yay!

Thanksgiving Week

Our Thanksgiving week started out with Brian making us waffles last Saturday morning! He's getting pretty good at making them. Sissy spent the night with us Friday night and she got to enjoy them too!

Holly doesn't like them at all. :o)

Sunday afternoon we took Pam, Amber, & Bella to the airport. They headed to Florida for the week to visit Aunt Pat (Pam's sister) and enjoy some sunshine!

Sunday night we had a baptism service and this has to be one of my favorite pics of Bro. Kenny! He is a wonderful pastor and we are truly thankful for him.

This year Brian was scheduled to work on Thanksgiving so we decided we'd eat at our house on Tuesday. Even though we go to different family's homes we've always wanted to have our own meal at home too. I started cooking on Monday afternoon after our homeschool co-op and didn't finish until Tuesday afternoon. Not really. But I did enjoy fixing all the fixins' for our family. We were blessed to have Don Pinson come and eat with us. His wife and daughter were celebrating in Plymouth with Joel, so we invited him over.

These following pics are strictly so I'll have documentation of what I actually fixed. So next year I can look back and compare.

d. Eggs (I dislike their "other" name)

Cranberry Salad (new recipe that was awesome!)

Banana Pudding

I didn't get a picture of all the food before we ate on Tuesday, so I snapped this one before we ate the leftovers on Wednesday! :)

We had turkey, cornbread dressing (my Mama's version:), mashed potatoes, gravy, baby carrots, corn, green beans, d. eggs, cranberry salad, sweet potato casserole, mac-n-cheese, pecan & apple pies (homemade!), and rolls. Lots of work, but it was yummy!

Tonight (Thanksgiving Day) we went to Dad's house to eat. I caught all the kids in Dad's garage playing on the treadmill and made them do a line up!

Here is Dad with Chris (his girlfriend's son), Anna, Baby Katherine Reese (Mikey's baby), Madison (Mikey's oldest daughter), Lauren (Mikey's middle daugher), & Holly.

We were sure missing our family from Texas and Arkansas. :(

Here is Dad with the newest addition. Miss Katherine is so precious!

Hope you all had a wonderful week full of thankfullness!

Last Year's Tea Party

I was curious to see what we were doing a year ago today and I found these pics that I never posted. I would love to post daily about stuff we do, but with our homeschooling and life in general that is not a possibility. So I try to hit the high moments and post about those for our memory. When I saw these pictures I was shocked that it had already been a year since we attended Anna's fancy "Tea Party"!

We bought some ink and a quill pen last year on our trip to Massachusetts and she used those for her invitations.
Here is our official invitation.

She set the table up all by herself!

I had made chili that night so we combined her tea party with our dinner! :)
We all got dressed up and it was a sight to behold!

Time flies by way too fast! Can't believe that Thanksgiving is next week! Saturday we are helping with an event in our town where they feed about 1500 families from surrounding counties and also give them a cart full of food. It is always a great time and our girls love helping out too!

Show Us Your Life - Laundry Room!

This week for Kelly's Korner Show Us Your Life it's all about the extra rooms!

Here is our laundry room in all it's glory....haha!

We use this door as an entrance, because it is right off of our carport.

So although it usually smells good in here - it's not always neat :D

I've always loved my rooster :D


And here is the "other" side to just keep things real.......

We were going to have some cabinets made for the other side of the room, but that keeps getting put on the back burner of the priority list!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a super blessed weekend & Thanksgiving!!!

Mouse in the House

Over the last couple of weeks we've had a bit of a rodent problem. About 3 weeks ago the girls came running downstairs saying - "I think we just saw a bat in our room!"

Brian and I went up to their room all prepared with weapons (read: yard sticks). We searched that room over and no bat was to be seen. So Brian told them if they saw it again for one of them to keep an eye on it and the other one should come and do the reporting.

About 30 minutes later here comes Holly - "We just saw it and umm.....we think it's a mouse. Anna is watching it."

Sure enough it was a mouse. It took a few days, but with the help of a peanut butter covered candy corn and a testy mouse trap our mouse drama was over. Or so we thought.

The girl's room is a huge loft type room that has a door with access to the attic and we think that is where they are coming from.

Long story short. We have removed THREE deceased mice from the girl's room over the last 3 weeks. They, of course, have been sleeping on the couch since our spare bedroom is a classroom. So far we've gotten half of the room cleaned and sanitized. Tomorrow after school and lunch we plan on a complete room cleaning venture.

As the documentor of all things I just had to take a picture or two of our former friends. So if the sight of a dead mouse is too much, you can stop reading now.

I didn't get to snap a picture of the first one before Brian took it out.

But here is #2:

This little fellow just killed right over in the middle of the floor after dining on some delicious d-con (enhanced with peanut butter:).

I know this one is a little graphic. Sorry.

But Brian was at work and I was NOT about to remove that thing.

Obviously this wasn't our first rodeo with the varments, but I'm just hoping it is our last for a while.

I really-really-really despise cats, but to be honest a feline friend is looking very tempting about right now.

2 Chronicles 7:14

We have had a very exciting week around these parts! We had our fall revival at our church and it has been such a blessing! The message of the week was all about praying for revival. How we as a body of believers need to cry out to God to send a revival to ourselves first, then our home, church, city, county, state, and our nation. Our evangelist used the same scripture all week form James 4:2b "Yet ye have not, because ye ask not." If we get right with God and line up with His will, then He will send revival when we ask for it.

The Lord sure dealt with me this week on some of my issues and for that I am grateful! I've learned that I don't need to hold on to things of this world, because they are afterall - only temporary. The more we hold on to material possessions the harder it is to help others when the time comes.

Our country is long overdue for a great awakening and we as a nation take for granted the way God has and is continuing to bless us.

2 Chronicles 7:14

"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

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I was also hired this week for a photo shoot for some very special clients.

Here are some previews from my session :D

These make my heart smile :)

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth."
3 John 1:4

On this day in 2000, Brian and I lost a baby when I was at 7 1/2 weeks. It is so hard to believe that it has been 10 years since that day. Losing a baby was a very hard thing to go through and I praise God that he gave us the strength and peace throughout those days, weeks, months, and even now. I also praise Him that two days before what would have been my due date with our baby in July, we found out we were expecting Holly. One day we'll get to see him or her and I am so thankful we can have that hope because of Jesus!

Happy Veteran's Day!

Thank you to all the veterans that have made our freedoms possible and secure! Your sacrifice is so very much appreciated and our family honors you! May God always bless you!

Truly every day should be veteran's day!

Best Friends

My best friend Nina's, mother-in-law Donna, was put in the hospital Saturday evening from some complications from her chemo and they have found out since then that she's been having some mini strokes. She has battled cancer on and off for about 5 years and has fought so hard for such a long time. Her inspiration has just been amazing and she has always given God the glory in whatever her body was going through. Nina and her hubby Greg came home before Christmas last year after serving on the mission field in South Asia for two years to help take care of his mother.

While they were overseas Nina homeschooled their kids and I was so happy that when they came back she decided to continue. Nina and I have been best friends since high school. In fact, she and Greg are who set Brian and me up back in January of '94! Brian and I went on our first date with them and we have all been so close ever since. They are who kept our girls when we went to Panama on a mission trip this summer, if that is any indication on how much we love and trust them :D Greg was a pastor before they left for about five years and now he is a full time pastor in a church in our association. Nina is a wonderful pastors wife! I tell her all the time that she is a one of a kind! She has been a trusting, compassionate, caring, loving, & selfless friend for so long. We always praise God for Him putting us together!

Yesterday, before our homeschool co-op classes they dropped their kiddos - Sissy, Logan, & Eli off to stay with us for a little while so they could get to the hospital for Donna. Sissy is at our house all the time with the girls, but the boys hardly ever get to come over. I think they all had a lot of fun playing. After cooking some breakfast I walked into the living room and just about fell in the floor laughing at this sight:

They were all playing a game on their DS games, together. They weren't having to do any school before our co-op so they made the most of their free time! I love these kids almost as much as our own. Please join me in praying for Donna, their mamaw as she is still fighting this cancer.

We have peace in knowing that our God is able!!!

Election Day Traditions

Each election day we get up around 5:30 A.M., throw on some clothes, and head to the polling place to stand in line for about 15 minutes until they open the doors. Then we exercise our right to vote for the individual that we feel should be holding a public office. Of course, we are all accountable to God for not only IF we vote, but also WHO we vote for!

Here are the girls after we got back home from voting.

*Please note that the sun still hasn't risen at this time.

Our election day tradition includes stopping by Mickey D's on the way home to pick up some pancakes!

Then directly after our pancake celebration we all go to my bed and take a nap! :D

We got to keep Bella again on Tuesday night, so today on our way to take her home we stopped by to see the new sheriff! :D

Here is Poppy and his grand-girls!

New Sheriff in Town!!!

Congratulations to my father-in-law Jerry!!!

He WON the Sheriff's race in the general election tonight!!!!!!!

I am proud to be in this family and look forward to Jerry being our next Sheriff. He has worked very hard in law enforcement his enire life and he truly deserves this!

Brian and his dad

The girls are also super excited that Poppy will be our next Sheriff!

Go V-O-T-E!!!

Tomorrow is the big day! Please go vote!!! We'll be up bright and early to cast our vote for the ones that we feel should be holding government offices. We are accountable to God to make sure we vote and also who we vote for! Make a difference and please VOTE!!!!

"Let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is not making a present or a compliment to please an individual - or at least that he ought not so to do; but that he is executing one of the most solemn trusts in human society for which he is accountable to... God and his country."
Samuel Adams, The Writings of Samuel Adams

Quite Possibly the Funniest Picture Ever......

Teehee!

Our neighbor's horse must of been exhausted - poor thing was yawning his head off :D