Ready for December!

Today I finished buying and wrapping the rest of the books I needed for our Christmas Book tradition ... we are officially ready for the holiday season! You can read more about this fun family favorite here.

The books were wrapped, then I put the numbers 1 through 24 on the outside of the packages and put them under the tree. Tomorrow night we will open the first book - yippee!


The girls spent the afternoon at Grandma and Grandpa's house so hubby and I could go out for dinner to celebrate our Anniversary. When they came home they had made these beautiful centerpieces for us! My FIL cut a log of birch in half, then the girls helped him drill a large hole in the middle where they placed a tall, taper candle. Then they glued on all kinds of pretty things. {pinecones, glittery berries, etc} I love them! I'm so impressed with the girls being able to create something so nice ... I will proudly display them on my coffee table all season long!

Friend Makin' Mondays {Christmas Survey}

1. Favorite website: well there are a ton of blogs I like - but most often I click on Facebook

2. Favorite color: turquoise

3. Facebook? {Post a link or share your name if you want some new Facebook friends!} nah, I would rather not post this for public info, sorry.

4. Favorite Christmas song? Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree by Brenda Lee and Mary's Boy Child by Boney M. {see below for videos}

5. Christmas tree: Real or fake? We have a fake one, but one of these years we plan to go back to a real one.

6. Hottest celebrity? ??? can't say I really drool over anyone ...

7. Favorite restaurant? SolToro

8. Favorite magazine? Creating Keepsakes

9. Favorite thing to drink around the holidays? Eggnog!

10. Favorite Christmas movie. I have a lot of faves ... It's a Wonderful Life, Polar Express ... I plan to watch as many Christmas movies as I can this season!

Blessed

Today is our 13th Wedding Anniversary! I am so blessed to be married to my very best friend. I look back at pictures of our wedding day and think, 'wow, we were just kids!' and in some ways the world would say we were at just 20 and 22 years old. But I love the fact that we got married young and we chose to tackle the world together. We grew and matured and learned along the way and we did it all together.

I am so thankful to have a husband who is:
kind
patient
loving
giving
helpful
listens
puts my needs before his own

This morning I also can't stop thinking of my Dad. My Dad was not a mushy person or a man of many words. Growing up he didn't always say I love you, even though I knew he did love me. For my wedding he planned a special secret - he had a family friend of ours sing 'Butterfly Kisses' to me at the reception. I had never heard the song before that day. I cried. So did the rest of the wedding guests! When my Dad was sick with leukemia he did say he loved me; many, many times. I am thankful for growing up in a loving Christian home with a great Dad who loved me, even if he didn't always say it out loud. I do believe his example led me to looking for a husband with similar characteristics of strength, kindness and helpfulness.

So today I'm thankful and blessed by the two very important men I've had in my life - my Dad {who took care of me for my growing up years} and my amazing husband, Bob {who is taking care of me in my adult years}.

Maybe someday I'll drag out my scanner and show you some of our wedding photos!

1000 Gifts {22-35}

22. laundry - and having more than enough clothes to wear
23. protection
24. electric blanket
25. pumpkin cheesecake
26. helpers in the kitchen on Thanksgiving
27. a baby's laughter and how it lights up the whole room
28. facebook
29. children's motrin
30. heated car seats
31. delivery pizza
32. warm snuggles on the couch with cousins
33. writing birthday cards for Great Grandpa
34. Great Grandpa's who are 85 and 90 years old and have led amazing lives
35. seeing friends we haven't seen in awhile and re-connecting just like old times

Old Sturbridge Village

The girls and my Mother in law and I all went to this really neat place called Old Sturbridge Village the other day. We had not been on a field trip for a while and decided that going here would tie in nicely with what we're learning about 'Building a Village' and the Pilgrims. It was neat for the girls to see just how an old village would have looked a couple hundred years ago and see just how much different they would have lived back then. It was kind of a cloudy, drizzly day so there weren't too many people there - but that was nice, it was almost like we had the whole place to ourselves!

When we first got there, we were greeted by this group of turkeys! They were not afraid of us at all and even followed us for a couple hundred yards!


The first place we came to was called 'The Little House' - the lady inside explained that there might have been a family as large as 12 people living in this tiny abode! wow! We are so fortunate to live in our 'small' house {which is much larger than this one} with only 4 people!
This was inside - this would have been her 'kitchen', 'dining' and 'living' room. Oh yeah, and there was a bed in this room too so some of the family would sleep there at night.
We saw a lot of live animals. The sheep were very 'talkative' baaa baaa baaa!
The town church.
The girls in one of the barns.
The girls had to check out the outhouse and were VERY glad to live in our day and age with indoor bathrooms!

Hope churning some butter.
Joy scrubbing some clothes.
An old woodstove in the town bank.
Trying on bonnets in the store.

Drawing water from the well.
Riding in the back of a wagon.
Having their portrait taken.
Oh yeah, I was there! I rarely get in the pics, I'm always the one behind the camera!
Trying on the old fashioned clothing.
The girls got to make a tin candle holder. It was a great little hands on workshop. They had fun and were so proud of what they had made!


A bedroom in one of the larger, fancier homes.

The girls danging under the arbors - I bet it is really pretty here in the summer, there were lots of gardens!

The blacksmith's shop where they got to see a real blacksmith working. {Can you spy a little peeking child in this photo??}
The saw mill - my artsy shot of the day. =)
At one of the farm houses this lady was making real baked goods in the 'oven' just the way they would have many years ago. Made me very appreciative of how simple it is for me to assemble ingredients, put something in the oven, put dishes in my dishwasher, and keep food cold in a fridge!

The man was the potter. It was almost the end of our day when we stopped in his shop. Hope could have easily spent ALL day in there - she was totally mesmerized by the way he made things with such ease. We watched while he made several pots, cups and dishes, then he gave the girls each a piece of clay to take home so they could try their hand at making something.
This is just one side of his shop with 100's of items waiting to be fired in the kiln {that is on site}.
When they are fired, they turn this lovely reddish color - then the potter coats them with a clear glaze and they are sold in the shops on the property. They were really beautiful!


All in all we had a wonderful day. We also came home with a greater appreciation for all we have and all that we are blessed with - including being born in this age and living with so many modern conveniences! There was so much to see and not enough time ... so I'm sure we'll go back someday, maybe in the spring.

Happy Thanksgiving Friends!

Just wanted to wish a very happy Thanksgiving to all my friends and family. We have so many wonderful blessings to be thankful for and hope that the day is a good chance to reflect on those things and thank our Father in heaven who provides these good things every day!

Many blessings to all of you!

Kids Have Bad Days too

Yesterday Hope had a tough day with her schoolwork. She does her two core subjects - math and language - on the computer. Most days she does it all independently and needs little to no help. She is also a bit of a perfectionist and always excitedly comes to tell me when she gets an A, 100%. This isn't pressure that we've put on her or high expectations we've established - but rather her very driven personality.

So yesterday was tough - the lesson was especially hard and she was just frustrated that she couldn't understand it. She came to me crying about halfway through saying she already had 17 problems that were wrong. She didn't even want to finish the lesson! We talked, we took a break, then we went back and looked over the lesson together and I helped her understand what was going on and what was needed.

Then later in the day I came across this great article on Heart of the Matter ... it's SO worth reading so I hope you'll take a couple minutes and be encouraged!

Blessings, Kathy

A Thanksgiving 'Plan'

A friend from church posted her plan for Thanksgiving the other day on Facebook. Basically she shared her notebook full of menus, plans and a schedule for the big day. Being a list maker myself I loved her idea. It's neat to see what other people do or eat on a major holiday.



So here is my Thanksgiving 'plan' ...
Guests ~ 10 adults + 5 kids = 15 total
A schedule for the day {which may change or be adapted at ANY time!}

Morning
~ breakfast for any that are here already
~ Some of the guys are going to watch a local high school football game
~ I plan to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while I start prepping the turkey & side dishes and getting the table set. The kids will prob run around, play with toys, and hopefully spend some time outside if it's a nice day.

Midday
~ serve appetizers when the men get back from the football game
~ go for a walk in the woods at a local park ~ nice to get out of the kitchen and get some fresh air!
~ come home and continue food prep / and I'm sure we'll all have coffee

Around 3pm
~ serve the main meal
~ we like to go around the table and have each person say something they are thankful for. last year we did a fun twist and you had to go by the letters of the alphabet - so the first person had to say something they were thankful for that started with 'a', the next person 'b' and so on. it was really fun! I'm trying to think of a new twist for this year but so far have not come up with anything unique - ideas are welcome!

Late afternoon
~ watch football
~ talk / visit
~ play games

Around 5 or 6pm
~ serve dessert

Evening
~ anything goes! eat leftovers, relax, hang out, whatever. some people will be going home and for those that spend the night here we will probably all be tired and will just relax.



On the MENU
Appetizers:
~ Shrimp with spicy cocktail sauce
~ Keilbasa cooked with pineapples
~ Cheese, crackers and pepperoni
~ Raw veggies and hummus

Main meal:
~Turkey
~Gravy
~Stuffing
~Green Bean casserole
~Mashed potatoes
~Rolls and butter
~Cranberry sauce
~Cooked carrots
~Homemade applesauce
~Pickles

Dessert:
~Various pies {I don't even know what kind yet b/c I asked some of my family members to bring dessert - so we will see what delicious creations they bring!}

Breakfast on Friday:
~Egg and sausage casserole
~Pumpkin bread

Lunch on Friday:
~Leftovers or fend for yourself!

As far as the plan for the rest of the weekend ~
~I want to get my Christmas cards completed so they can be mailed the first week of December. ~We will also bring out all the Christmas decor and the tree and spend the weekend decorating the house.
~We plan to visit some friends on Sunday.
~And otherwise just relax and enjoy a quiet weekend at home.

1000 Gifts {1-21}

Today I'm trying something new ... this month I have pondered the word 'thanksgiving' quite a bit. I think it only comes natural at this time of year to think about thankful things. {try saying that 10x fast!}

So I've decided to link up and join in with Ann Voskamp's blog where she counts 1000 gifts. From her blog:
"Want to drink the joy elixir? Become a Joy Finder? Consider joining the Gratitude Community-- just jump in with your own counting!"

So here we go ... {FYI, this will be an ongoing list - there is no way I'd have time to write out 1000 gifts today!}

1. a loving husband
2. two vibrant, healthy, little girls
3. my mom
4. my in laws
5. our extended family
6. a warm home
7. a {new to us} car
8. good doctors
9. internet
10. our church - the place itself and the community of believers
11. friends - so many wonderful friends!
12. photos
13. books
14. the Word of God
15. good food cooking in the crock pot
16. electricity
17. yummy coffee
18. clothes
19. a holiday to gather and be thankful
20. funds to buy Christmas gifts
21. more food than we need

"Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good, for His love endures forever!" Psalm 118:1

"Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:4-5

Want to know how to start your own 1000 gifts list? Or simply read more of Ann's blog? Go here and be refreshed!

Friend Makin' Mondays {Thanksgiving}

You guessed it, it's another Friend Makin' Monday at Amber's blog.

This week, it's all about Thanksgiving.

1. Turkey or Ham? Turkey
2. Favorite side dish. Cranberry sauce
3. Favorite dessert. Pecan Pie
4. Black Friday: Are you going or not? Probably not.
5. If so, what's on the top of your list? We already know what we're buying and have bought most stuff already so I don't think it will be worth it to do Black Friday and deal with all the chaos.
6. Going out of town or staying close to home? Staying home
7. Hosting or helping? We will host! I love entertaining!
8. Name one family tradition at Thanksgiving. We go around the table to say what we're thankful for.
9. What do you do after dinner? Go for a walk in the woods, play games, watch football, hang out, talk, visit, etc ...
10. What are you most thankful for this year? Good health!!!

Go check out Amber's blog for more posts about what other people do for Thanksgiving!

Show us your life - Pets

I'm excited today to be linking up with Kelly's 'Show us your life' post all about pets.

Our pet is our Golden Labrador named Casey. She is a girl and she is almost 11 years old. We got her after we had been married for 2 years. I grew up with dogs and loved dogs and knew I always wanted one when I got married. Then I married my wonderful husband who did not grow up with dogs and did not like dogs and did not want a dog. *grin*

So we talked about dogs and I even dragged him to stores to look at dogs, and there were times we left those stores with me in tears because I wanted a dog so bad but he just wouldn't agree. And then one day we talked about a compromise. He wanted a motorcycle and I wanted a dog. So we agreed that we could each get our wish.

One day I saw an ad in the paper for pure bred lab puppies for sale. So I told Bob that we should take a ride to just go 'see them'. Well as you can imagine we took one look and fell in love ... and we came home with an 8 week old puppy that day. She was the most adorable little thing when we got her. We had so much fun playing with her and snuggling with her. Bob even began to love her and she quickly became his 'baby' - who woulda thought that he could love a DOG so much?!

And she was {and still is} spoiled - slept on our bed, allowed on the furniture ... just spoiled!

Then of course our kids came along. Casey definitely took a back seat once babies arrived. I admit that we didn't pay her much mind and didn't play with her and give her attention like we once had. It's hard when you have a baby!

She's getting pretty old now. She has a lot of health problems, she has more and more accidents in the house, she gets more sickness and infections and we think she might have cancerous tumors. But she's old. So we take care of her, make her comfortable and make sure to medicate her when needed. But we won't be paying for surgeries and biopsies and things like that. It's just too costly when she's already so old. Sorry if that sounds too harsh but it's the reality for us for now.

But we do love her. She's the sweetest dog ever. She was always VERY gentle and protective of the girls. She still loves to jump on our bed and snuggle up. Someday when she is gone I know we will be very, very sad.

Here are some pictures ...
This is pretty much what she does about 99.9 percent of the time - SLEEPS! Basking in the sun in our yard ...

Oh yeah, did I mention that she loves water?? Walk by a stream or lake or river and she will jump right in - doesn't matter if it's freezing in the winter. She loves to swim. Here we were on a hike and once she saw the water Hope could not hold her back!


Go check out Kelly's Korner to see more adorable pets!

These are a few of my favorite things!

Melissa from 320 Sycamore, is hosting a "My Favorite Things" Party today. It's like a virtual Oprah show - except you just get ideas, not gifts. But still so much fun! The emphasis is on things that you can actually go out and buy ... thank you to Jessica for blogging about this - I am all over this - what a fun way to see what products are out there that other women really love!

So here is my list of my current favorite - can't live without - things!

Amazon.com - seriously my best friend. I love books and love to read - with free, fast shipping I can have new books on my bedside in a matter of days. And they always have a fair price! Love it.
Avon. I tried selling it once but failed b/c I bought even more stuff for myself - haha ... But seriously I love their makeup and it's always a great price. My fave is their 'Wash-off waterproof mascara in brown/black' - have tried lots of other mascaras and I always go back to my fave from Avon. I also love their 'Glazewear' lipgloss. Great colors and it stays on!
My Canon camera. I've tried other brands and then came back to what I knew i loved - Canon. In my mind there is no better. I could not live without my camera - I use it almost every day.
A new find - Chobani Greek Yogurt. I have always loved yogurt but this stuff is thick and creamy and delicious with just enough sweetness.
Can't live without my Coffee Mate liquid creamers. I could care less about saving calories when it comes to this stuff. I can't have my coffee without it. And for the holidays you can have your own little taste of Starbucks right in your own home with their 'Pumpkin Spice' and 'Peppermint Mocha' flavors - I swear it's ALMOST as good as Starbucks.
My fave singer/ CD right now is Chris Tomlin 'See the Morning'. Can't. Stop. Singing. The. Songs!
My computer - much like my camera I couldn't live without it. It's old, dying and we need a new one - but I love being able to keep in touch with friends and family through it and love gaining inspiration from other blogs too. I would feel so cut off from people if I didn't have my computer.
Our DVR - don't know how I ever watched TV shows without it!
Our {new to us} vehicle. No more minivan for me ... I now have a {used} Ford Explorer that has all the bells and whistles and I get an excited little shiver every time I get in it!
Jergens Natural glow lotion - love the way it keeps my arms and legs looking a little bit tan even through the long winter months. I've tried their face stuff too but don't love it as much as the regular body stuff.
Kohl's - I'm always looking for a bargain and Kohl's always seems to have some. Love their clearance racks and extra coupons they send me. And I almost always seem to find something I love to wear from there.
Lee jeans - for real Moms. With real hips. And real bums. Yep, I love 'em.
When I do occasionally get a 'treat' from a coffee shop ... I really do enjoy Starbucks. Yes, they are expensive but it's only a once in a while treat for me. They have one in my grocery store so I save it for the times when I get to grocery shop without kids and then enjoy my coffee while I food shop in peace ...
Venus razor - I can't shave with anything else. Everything else cuts me up but Venus works so well. Now if I could just get hubby his own Venus so he'll stop using mine!
I know I've already blogged about this but this is hands down my favorite book series of this year. I've read a lot this year - but these 7 books changed my life! And I'm now reading the spin off series and continue to be challenged by them. Best Christian fiction I have ever read!

Wanna join the favorite things party?? Hop on over to Melissa's blog ...