Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day is here again already. Another year has passed so fast it makes my head spin.
I am thankful for so many things. My family, my home, my friends and most of all my Savior. Today, all over our great country, people will come together with their families and celebrate the fact that even though we have our problems and disagreements, God has blessed this country greatly over the years. A country founded on religious freedom and the belief that all men are created equal. Even though these beliefs are threatened, by God's grace, we still have them. Now I know that I do not normally get too deep on my blog but I am truly thankful that I live in a country where are still free.

Today, my family is gathering at the home of the newlyweds, my BIL and new SIL. They have graciously offered to host our Thanksgiving dinner. So I am getting ready to get busy cooking.
We have been up since 6:30 and I didn't even need to cook that early this year. Apparently my kids decided it was time to get up, you would have thought it was Christmas morning instead. They are really excited about seeing their cousins and the family today and Aunt Dawn is coming over this weekend with Sammy and they are excited about that too. My brother says that his mouth feels fine today which is a blessing. So Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

The neighbors think I'm nuts (this time for a new reason)

Ok, this morning I was reading my peep Lorrie's blog (A really good read, you should check it out! Here's the link www.dnksmommy.blogspot.com) and it brought the following post to mind.
My neighbors think I have lost my mind, I am sure! For the last few weeks, at least once per day, you can find me in my back yard walking around a small tree, with my head down looking at the ground and pushing leaves aside with my shoe. I even occasionally shake the tree, which I am sure looks crazy! I have even seen my neighbor two doors over watching me with a perplexed look on her face. You see, I am not crazy (well I AM but not for that reason). The tree is a pecan tree and this is the very first year that it has produced nuts. It is still reasonably small for a pecan tree (only about 20 feet tall) and it is still small enough to shake. The leaves have all fallen off but for some reason the nuts are still hanging on. I am determined to use my very own pecans this year for baking but they are just not falling fast enough. I now have a pretty good sized bowl full of them and need to shell them for my sweet potato souffle that my family requests every year.
So if you come by my house and find me in the back yard shaking a tree, I have not finally gone off the deep end (hopefully), I just need more nuts for a pecan pie......

New banner....

Hi anyone left out there! I know I have been a sad excuse for a blogger lately. I have been pretty busy with sick kids and school and stuff. I did make a new Christmas banner today. Whatcha think? I made it on this cool website called Piknik. I have been diggin' them every since my friends Tara and Wendy told me about it. Today was another crazy day. My brother has had a toothache since Sunday afternoon and I finally got him into a dentist this afternoon. Hopefully he will be feeling much better soon. With Thanksgiving just a couple days away, it would be a shame to still have mouth pain. Well that is all the updating for now. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Real professionals, thats what they are!

How many times have I told my two kids, "I told you not to do that, if you get hurt, I'm not going to feel sorry for you!" or "Don't come running to me when you get hurt doing that!" But you know what, they still come running to you because they KNOW you ARE going to feel sorry for them.
And why? Because they are professional kids! They have trained 24 hours a day from the moment they born....or maybe even conceived. Kids know that no matter what YOU say, if they are hurt or need something, you will come running. They have trained you well. You are pawns in their little scheme of world domination.....Do I sound paranoid? Am I losing it? Probably! But don't discount the message.
Right this moment, as I type, my kids are doing something totally reckless and one or both of them will almost assuredly get hurt in some way. Now I don't mean the major kind of injury that sends you to the ER or doctor, just a "Boo-Boo" that has them crying like little Indian warriors about to attack. You know that cry, the one that is much louder than the actual injury requires. And I am sure, that regardless of my warnings to stop, I will indeed be sympathetic and get them a band aid to cover that slightly red but not even bleeding patch of skin that has said "Boo-Boo".
Professional children are amazing actors and negotiators and so much more. Somewhere in the 20 or so years that it takes us to become adults (I do NOT believe that it happens in 18 as the law says), we lose some of this skill or at least most of us do. So don't feel bad when you are manipulate by your child, after all they ARE professionals.

Time for a field trip....

Today is our first school field trip of the year. We are heading to a ceramics store with other home schoolers in our group (including my SIL) for a few hours of creativity. The kids will be painting a piece of pottery/ceramics and will get to see the process of firing it and will later get to see their artwork once it is dry and glazed. My SIL and I are hoping for the opportunity to paint our own piece but this trip is for the kids. It should be interesting to see what two three year olds, two six year olds and a nine year old decide to paint....and it should be even more interesting to see if their "anal" moms let them just have at it or if they try to take over......

Definition of Negligience......

Apparently it is when you suck people in by blogging about your life on a regular basis and then drop it cold to waste time on facebook. Or so I've been told. I am such a bad bad blogger! Apparently my multi-tasking abilities does not extend to being able to juggle computer websites.

So.....what to blog about.....Well, let me see! The kids, my brother and I have had nasty colds for the last week or so. It has been SO much fun! My DH has also had some sinus issues too but hasn't been too bad off. We had a nice family today since the guys were off. We got some work done around the house and my ds had someone to keep him occupied while his sister and I did first grade "STUFF". We are trying to get plenty of schoolwork done the first 3 days of the week so that we can take off Thursday all day. We have a field trip schedule with our local home school group to a ceramics/pottery place. The kids will get to paint a project and then it will be fired in the kiln and we will get to pick it up another day. My niece and nephews are going too so I am sure the kids will have a blast.

Anyone still there?

Now that I have alienated all my readers by my post yesterday, I thought I better check!
On a completely different note today though, I am now dealing with two munchkins with nasty little colds since our time out in the lousy weather the last two days. Is it ever going to stop raining? We have tons of sneezing and nose blowing going on in this house! On the other hand, they have been a little less active than usual since they are feeling a little under the weather but the whine has been flowing more than usual too.
I was reminded today on my facebook page, that we are only 49 days away from Christmas! This year has just zoomed by. I now must soon start the madness that is Christmas shopping. It should be a little easier this year. Both of the kids want a nintendo ds lite and since these are a little pricey, I have informed them that this and a game or two will be about it. This is my intention and I am planning on sticking to it.....praying for strength in resisting the temptation to buy more. My dh and I both need new cell phones pretty badly since neither of our hold a charge very long anymore so that will be our Christmas.
Well, better get going, gotta get this girl back to school work. Her 20 min break has lasted almost 45 instead. Have a great day!

Happy November 5th!

Since it is finally over and the people have spoken and the choice has been made, does this mean that I can finally watch something on TV that is not related to the election and this nastiness and bashing that has been going on for what seems like forever. I will go on record here and probably upset some of my readers in saying that I am glad that McCain did not win. I will also go on record in saying that I am concerned and a bit worried that Obama did. I actually considered not voting at all yesterday but then I realized that it was my honor and privilege to vote and it was a right that was fought for by many women (if you want to really see this in action, watch the movie "Iron Jawed Angels"). I am thrilled with the fact that man of color has won the election, I think it was about time that our country has been able to move past the color of a person's skin in chosing it's leader. I just wish it could have been someone that had the same beliefs and voted on the moral issues in a way that did not draw us further away from God. But unlike some people, I do not think that Mr. Obama is an evil person or "the Antichrist". That is just ridiculous. And if by some reason I am wrong, well, it is part of God's plan and that just means Christ is coming soon and we all need to be ready.
I spent a lot of time in school yesterday talking to my girl about what an election is and how important it is. I explained that it was our responsibility as adults to get out there and have our choice counted. I still had no clear word from God or idea which way I was going to vote when I was standing there marking my ballot. As a matter of fact, my daughter asked me several times who I was going to vote for as she waited to feed the paper into the machine. I knew that I should vote my moral values and not my finances but that was the where the dilema came in, I could not vote for EITHER if I voted based on my values. I was truly between a rock and a hard place. So I did vote my morals and chose neither. I know my write in vote was lost in the count and it was as good as voting for no one BUT I can honestly say that I did not compromise what I believed to vote for either candidate. It was kind of humorous when I walked out of the polling center though and the "supporters" standing there waiting to pass out stickers with your candidate on it to wear proudly throughout the day. An Obama person offered me a sticker and I declined, saying sorry, can't wear that one. A McCain person heard me and immediately handed me one of her's and I smiled at her and said "No thank you, can't wear that one either'"
They both gave me strange looks as if to say, "well what else is there?!"

Happy November!

Most of you know that my computer security conscious husband has requested that I do not put pictures of our kids on the blog. This band does not apply to our fur-child. So do not be surprised to see pics of Lulu on the blog often. Isn't she cute?