Cousins

Every Year

For the past few years I've had to clean my refrigerator at Thanksgiving and Christmas when the turkey leaked all over -- gross, gross, gross. This year I made it through both holidays unscathed by the turkeys, thanks to the use of the cafeteria trays to catch the drips. (Thanks, Mom, for those!)

However, I've noticed bright red drips on stuff the past few days --- and today I investigated enough to find a tipped over jar of marichino cherries and the juice all over the back, in the crispers, etc.

At least it wasn't turkey blood.... And my refrigerator is clean for another year. Well, most of it is....

We Wish You A Merry Christmas!

Straight from the Headlines

Another example of D incorporating events from the news into his life:

As I was making food for breakfast at church tomorrow, D was working on a craft at the big table in the kitchen. He made a mail satchel, and went to deliver letters to Daddy and E. When he came back he apologized for not having a letter for me, and told me he delivered letters from Red Lobster to Daddy and E. (Red Lobster is the restaurant the two of them go to on special Daddy/daughter occasions, as E and I don't like the smell.) I asked what the letters said. "They said that Daddy and E are not allowed in the restaurant again because they took baths in the sink there."

Cracked me up!

Another :)

Foum E to Mom,
Der Mom. I love uoo so muhc.
Love, E

Makes my heart melt!!!

Home School Group Christmas Party

The Grinch & His Reindog

The mean Grinch and his sad reindog:

Our Angels

Before the Christmas production at our church:

Snow Day!

What a great day of fun in the snow!

A highlight is as follows:
E, to mom of neighbor son: C threw snow in my face!
This mom: Well, throw snow in his face.
E: That's not right! C, the Bible tells us do to others as you want done to you. Don't throw snow in my face! That's what the Bible taught me!

Way to go, girl!!

Our log cabin in the snowy woods:The neighborhood kids:

Sledding:

D can snowboard!

:)

Note from my son:

To Mommy,
You what dreamed of you ar who I love. you ar what I want. and you are who I care for.
Love,
D

... What could be better than that?

Family Jam Session

D plays Redwing

E plays Twinkle Twinkle (sort of...)

You Think She'd Learn

I told her she did this her first Christmas with us and she just had to do it again...

Too Much News

I think my kids have seen too much of the news with me lately.

Here is a story D wrote in school yesterday, with the related news stories in parenthesis:

Once upon a time there was a boy and his Mom. His Mom was not nice to him. (Caylee Anthony killed by her mom.) When they went swimming she held him under the water. (Groom who drown his wife scuba diving on their honeymoon.) The End

Good as Gold - NOT

D, my SIX year old son, just got his first American Express Gold Card application! Disgusting!

Niece Adoption Day

My nieces were adopted four years ago today, although my sister has had them for a lot longer than that!

Stay at Home Days

I love days where we can stay and home and not go anywhere but the mailbox. We usually get the chance on Mondays and/or Tuesdays, and I am so thankful for those breaks! No makeup, lounge clothes, crazy hair. Time to play games, watch a movie, cook something together.... Today was one of those great days!

There and Back Again

This is D and me after our 9 mile bike ride this morning. It was a great experience!

I'm Thankful For ...

... my family and friends; the health of my family and friends; our dogs; our church; my husband's job; the fact that I can stay home and home school my kids; our country; my favorite time of year (fall) and holiday (Thanksgiving); the kind deeds I witnessed while Christmas shopping yesterday; birth mothers; our home; soldiers; Bunco and coffee nights with moms;

Me, Almost 2

Wocket Potch

D's reward for learning to tell time, and things like "what time will it be 10 minutes later" was to pick out a watch with hands (not digital.) For weeks, as he's been getting really good at telling time, he's been talking about getting a pocket watch. Sure enough, that is what he picked out -- a really fancy one. Only he keeps getting tongue twisted and calling it a wocket potch. Cracks me up!

Creation Celebration

We celebrated Adoption Day with a family trip to the Creation Museum. (http://www.creationmuseum.org/) It was AWESOME! The displays are as good as any museum I've ever seen, the videos are incredible, the employees are friendly, the content is priceless! We were there for 7 hours, inside and out, even in the 35 degree weather. We got to pet a Zorse and a Zonkey, which I didn't even know existed. We even got to speak Russian with some employees at our hotel! (The thing sticking out of E's jacket is the cat she picked out at the museum store, not some growth.)

ADOPTION DAY!

Five years ago today:
D is 22 months, E is 12. Both wore size 6-9 months clothes.

Meow - My Latest Project

I made a yarn cat with my grandmother 30 years ago (the one in the back.) I gave it to E recently and she's been asking for more. I couldn't find my cat pattern, so I did my best to remember the concepts and make a kitten pattern. I've made some in a variety of colors -- grey, calico, white, brown -- and even got creative and made the tip of a tail white. I also got the time down to 45 minutes a kitten. I just need to find more kitten eyes so I don't have to use scrapbook brads for eyes!

E, D, S, and Fred

Cousins & Fred the turtle pinata....

Alfalfa

Suits Me!

D has been looking forward to cold weather so that he could wear this suit we got it at a consignment sale in August! E is pleased with her dress, too!

Lovey as TinkerBell

Six Years Ago Today

Please say a special prayer today for E's birth mother.

My Little Thrill Seekers...

... and their side-kicks (the dogs,) on a beautiful fall day.

Adventures with Grandparents

The Biltmore is awesome and pretty kid friendly. We also visited a 99-year-old covered bridge.

40 Years Ago Today

Well, the photo is more like 39 years and 4 months ago, but you get the idea....

Photos of the Month

Halloween Before and After

If You Can Read This, Thank a Teacher

I went into E's room during quiet time yesterday to give her something. Found her reading Go Dog, Go to herself! She knows the story well enough to figure out a lot of the words. What a great moment!

Organized!

I love to be organized! Having home school stuff in places all over the house and the in basement was driving me crazy. I am SO happy to have a new cabinet in which to put all our school stuff!

Travelling Adventure

We had a neat trip for our grandson's first birthday! He is a really cute and really good little boy, but was not feeling great since he'd gotten 6 shots at his checkup. I was not feeling great either, and am still not (time spent in a house with a cat, allergic reaction, reduced lung capacity, migraine, throwing up....) We drove at least 700 miles, spent one 40 degree night in a double wide with no heat, fed goats and quail, rode four-wheelers, ate pickled boiled quail eggs, went to church, ate at favorite restaurants, let the pet squirrel crawl on us like a tree, went to the duck pond, enjoyed the company of friends and family.... We went to visit my husband's "other mother", who just left the hospital/rehab after a four month stay post brain aneurism. Praise God for the progress she's made, and pray for more recovery! Here are some photos:

Diet Coke

After we put the kids to bed the other night I could hear D talking on the monitor. I turned it up to hear, “D-I-E-T. Diet. C-O-K-E. Coke. D-I-E-T-C-O-K-E. Diet Coke.” I sent my husband in to see if he had his light on and was reading something. No, he was just spelling Diet Coke in the dark. Why? We’ll never know….

Money, Money, Money, Money...

E saw something she wants that costs $30.

The next morning she asked me if I like her art work. I told her yes, of course, and then she told me she was going to sell it to me for $30. Ha ha!

I gave her the American Girl catalog we got in the mail and she has spent some time cutting out the pictures and glueing them on paper as an art project. She sold one to me, one to Daddy, and one to D. However, she decided she wanted the one she made for him back, so he sold it back at a 5 cent profit to him. She sold one to Grandma and Grandpa on the phone -- it is a masterpiece of four pages of dolls taped together.

Yesterday she decided to write the Tooth Fairy to ask when her teeth would fall out. I think she is hoping for the $ the Tooth Fairy gives you!

She is doing more extra jobs around the house for income.

I wonder what she'll be selling next.

(If you'd like a piece of art, the going price for adults is $1, kids pay only 25 cents.)

The Power of God's Spoken Word

A Mom in our home school group taught a lesson this week on the Power of God’s word. It was really thought provoking so I thought I’d share a bit of it with you.

Consider Genesis, and all the times God spoke to create the earth:
And God SAID, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
And God SAID, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” …. And it was so.
And God SAID, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place and let dry ground appear.” And it was so.
Etc….

If you’ve ever had a doubt about how the earth was created by God’s word, consider how sound can make things take shape in these youtube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuyQSZX8HMI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yp1wUodQgqQ

Family Hike

We enjoyed a hike with Daddy today, which was extra nice as he usually misses out on that kind of stuff with us due to work and work travel!

Pow Wow

New Do

E has been growing her hair long for awhile. Because her hair is fine, it gets kind of stringy, but I've let her pick. Every once in awhile she talks about cutting it for all of two minutes. Well, she brought up cutting it again a few days ago and kept talking about it, which was a first. When I took D to get his cut, she still wanted to do it. I finally understood her motivation when she said she wanted it cut like M.K.'s, a 5th grader at our church whom she adores! It turned out great and she loves it!

Words

Rombo, rombo! = Bravo, bravo! (according to E)
Hugantic = Huge & Gigantic
Butcept = Except (makes sense to me!)

Hand Washing

Doing laundry by hand with a wash board was D & E's favorite activity at Harvest Days. Who would have thought?

Perspective on Gifts

I spend time pondering the gifts of my children and how I can nurture them. I guess that got my brain in gear for this revelation:

While my (9th and 6th grade) nieces were here this week we flipped through my old photo albums. They were very interested in the ones from high school and school pictures of friends. They would ask questions about the girls, and things like "did you go out with him?" about the boys. It was a brain strain to think back to that time and how naive I was!

The youngest pointed to one photo and asked, "why didn't you go out with him?" I paused to think. He wanted to go out with me at one point. He was nice, there was just no connection with him, nothing "special" about him to me.

While that was the answer I gave my nieces, I kept thinking about it. He wasn't the smartest guy, or the most athletic, nor do I recall him being the leader of any particular club or team. I thought about the fact that many people have not discovered their gifts at that age, and as teenagers most of us didn't take the time to consider the gifts of others. I started thinking back about the things I did remember him doing at that time, looking for his gifts as I did. And very quickly the fact that he was a really good coach/teacher to our Powder Puff (girls) football team came to mind. He explained and demonstrated, joked around and made it fun, and offered encouragement.

And then it hit me! Did the bio he wrote for our reunion a few years ago say that he was a teacher??? I found the bio, and not only is he a teacher, he is a special ed teacher!! I bet he shows the same kind of patience with his students that he showed with our girls football team. I thought that occupation was an odd choice for him when I read it two years ago, but now it makes perfect sense!

While this doesn't mean that I wish I'd gone out with him, it does make me want to work that much harder to look for the gifts of all the people around me and nurture and appreciate them NOW, not so many years later.

May God give me the grace to do that.

KDU

Kentucky Down Under is really fun!

Cousins Coming and Going

Flies and Vinegar

You may get more flies with honey than you will with vinegar, but you'll get more gnats with vinegar (and a little dish soap.)

Cousins

Fall Break with cousins M & M.