Playing Around with Blog Design

Ok, this is totally addicting! But how could it not be, since it is soooo much fun?! I made this banner (just for fun), for a friend's blog. She doesn't have to use it if she doesn't like it, but it's hers if she wants it. ;-)

My husband helped me out with the special effects this morning. I did the layout out, so I am learning a few things. Hopefully, I can play around with the special effects in the days to come.

So here it is!

Dream Guys

My friend at A Cup of Joy, had these videos on her side bar. She is doing a whole series this month of romantic ideas. Visit her blog to see. :)

I thought that these videos were just too funny to not share with those who visit my blog. :)

*Remember to pause the music on my blog before you watch these.*

I've Been Tagged!

I have been tagged by Heather at Being Mrs. Mama. This looks like a fun tag. I had a lot of fun reading Heather's. I hope you'll have fun reading mine. ;-)


Rules:Go back through your archives and post the links to your five favorite blog posts that you’ve written.Link 1 must be about family.Link 2 must be about friends.Link 3 must be about yourself.Link 4 must be about something you love.Link 5 can be anything you choose.Post your five links and then tag five other people. At least TWO of the people you tag must be newer acquaintances so that you get to know each other better.(Readers - don’t forget to read the archive posts and leave comments.)


Link One~ About Family Snow Play

Link Two~ About Friends My Last MOPS Meeting of the Year

Link Three~ About Myself In *Everything Give Thanks*

Link Four~ Something I Love My Curious Georges

Link Five~ Anything I choose Firm Foundations Lesson 1~ Introducing the Bible


Now I am supposed to tag five people. If you want to participate please do this. If not, I understand if you don't. There are some tags I haven't done. But it sure is fun when I do!

Now here are my "victims", LOL!

Mary at Mary's Writing Nook

Mrs. C. at Riverbend Ramblings

Heidi at Ruth's Hands

Deborah at A Cup of Joy

Diane at Tomato Soup Cake

Give Away!!!! Movited Moms Chore Planner

Note~ This post will be displayed at the top of my blog until the contest is over on 2-2-2008. Please scroll down to read other posts. Thank you. :)


1-30-2008 update: I don't understand what I did wrong, but my link was taken off of the giveaway. I was #158. The only thing that I can think of is that they thought that I wasn't buying a new book to give away. I have every intention on buying another book from Motivated Moms to give away. Not the one in my own file.

It is time for another great giveaway and lots of fun! Last giveaway I won two items, and gave away this outfit.

This time I am offering something that has helped me out a lot in my housekeeping. It is the Motivated Moms Chore and Cleaning Schedule. I like it so much that, this is what I am giving away to one winner. I wrote about it once on a Works for Me Wednesday Post. If you would like to read about it. ;-) This is open to international folks too, so please participate! :)

All you have to do is leave a comment and explain why you would like to give Motivated Moms a try. Then at the end of the contest I will randomly draw a name for the winner. I will be closing my contest 11:00 Friday night.

In order to be an eligible entry you must leave a way for me to contact you by email. I will need your email address to send you your planner, as it is an ebook. So start commenting away and have fun!

And then don't forget to stop by Rocks in My Dryer to enter more awesome contests!! Fun to be had for everyone!! Just click on the pink giveaway button at the beginning of my post. HAVE FUN!!!

Our Rainbow

For a few years I have been wanting to get this type of play set for our children. I had been looking at sets from Wal-Mart.com and was really thinking about getting the ones that they sell.

My mom and dad offered to chip in for a play set for the kids as part of their Christmas gift to them. Mom mentioned that my sister's play set that she had bought from SAMS was literally falling apart.

The swing beam was unsafe for the kids to swing on, the wood was splintering and coming apart, etc.

After talking with my sister, I decided to start shopping around. I found one from Play Nation and posted about it on a Internet board I am part of.

One lady posted about her play set that was called a Rainbow, and that it lasted through all of her kids rough play. Her kids are now grown, so they took it down and gave it to someone else.

The next day, my mom called me and told me that they had done some shopping around and found a really nice one called a Rainbow.

The dealership near them had a great sale going on for Christmas, plus free delivery and installation included.

Mom gave me the catalog that they picked up from the dealership. Inside was a promotional DVD. The girls and I sat down and watched it. Of course after seeing that, they wanted one too. ;-) On our way to Michigan we stopped by the dealership to drop off papers to complete the transaction. The girls saw all of their models and were excited and thought we were buying one. I told them that Daddy was talking to the man, and we would see how much it would cost.

When Daddy got back in the van, he said it was too much money. Sweetie began to cry. :( While we were in Michigan we had it installed.

We arrived home late at night, and put the kids right to bed. The next morning, I went about my day like I always do. Opening blinds, straightening up the living room etc.

I was on the computer when Sweetie shouted, "THERE'S A PLAYGROUND IN OUR BACK YARD!!!!" Bean hopped up from what she was doing and ran over to look out our glass sliding door. She started jumping up and down, "THERE IS, THERE IS!!!!"

I pretended I didn't notice what they were doing. They came running over to me, shouting and jumping up and down. I turned and listened to them, and said in a skeptical tone, "No there is not, your telling me a story." Bean said, "There is a Rainbow in our back yard!" I said, "I don't believe you!"

"Come and See!!!" They both said. So I get up like I am somewhat annoyed, and go over to the door. I then said, "Now how did *that* get here?!" Sweetie says, "Maybe the Rainbow people brought it?" I then said, "But how would they know we wanted one?" Bean then pipes in, "Maybe Daddy told them?"

I then smiled and explained that Nana and Papa, help Mommy and Daddy buy it for them for Christmas. Also, Grandma and Grandpa gave mommy and daddy some money to help us buy it.

They got dressed real quick, and played on it until lunch and rest time. Then went out and played on it until it was too dark to see. :)

It comes with a rock wall too!
Tiny Boy trying out the slide
Tiny Boy on the Swing

Bean Checking out the binoculars, and Sweetie climbing up the ladder.

Thanks for visiting my show and tell. To see what others are showing and telling about today, click on the Show and Tell button above. :)

All Dolled Up

Last Night was My husband's work Christmas Party. This is the first time that my husband and I have purposely tried to match each other. :) It was alot of fun shopping with DH trying to help him find the right shirt and tie.
The party was held at some fancy hotel; but the food wasn't five star that's for sure. But it was still tasty enough! This party was very fun, because we played games to win raffle tickets to win some great prizes.

My husband did well, because we won three prizes. One of which was this bike! However there is a story behind how he got this bike, because it wasn't the original prize that he won.
There were five groupings of prizes. My husband put all, so he thought but one of the raffle tickets into a group of prizes that had a video camera. That was what he was going to try to win. The other ticket he put in for this bike which was the last grouping of gifts.

Well, we won something from the group of prizes that the video camera was in. Guess what it was!???? A $100 gift certificate to a spa. Guess what I get! A whole *hour* of deep tissue massage. My husband was happy with that prize, because I kill his hands when he gives me a massage. Of course I will be getting a lady to do the massage. ;-)

The next grouping of prizes, DH told me he didn't put any tickets in the box. So we were waiting until the group of prizes with the bike. We were enjoying seeing what everyone was winning. Then the XBOX 350 was next in line. This was a *highly* coveted prize. *EVERY* man, it seemed wanted this. The number was called, and I was looking around seeing who would win. All of the sudden my husband got up, and walked up there! I was like, "Where is he going?" He won the XBOX! He tells me he does *not* remember putting his ticket in that grouping. I guess he did though somehow. And that is what he won!

So as we sat there discussing his prize didn't know what he was going to do with it, because our TV is so small. And he likes computer games mostly. He said he didn't need another time waster either.

When the bike came up, we looked at our tickets, but another man got it. But when he went and got it, he yelled out, This bike has J's name on it! So J went over to him and traded the XBOX for the bike, *and* guess what else?.........

1/2 karat diamond earrings!!!!

We really came up on top with our winnings. I wish I could post a picture of the earrings, but I can't get a good close up of them. Wow, real diamond earrings! I am soo excited. I am not a big jewelry person. But I like simple elegance; and that is exactly what these earrings portray!

It was a very fun evening!

June Hannah

I am kind of late getting up my show and tell today. Things are kind of busy around here. I also had company from a good family friend come last night and we have been talking and visiting. :)

Today I would like to show you my *original* Cabbage Patch Doll. This was my ninth birthday present. Ever since the first time I had visited The Baby Land General Hospital in Cleveland Georgia, I had so wanted to adopt my very own *original* Cabbage Patch Doll.

This little girl is named June Hannah. She was born on June 9th, 1990. So she is now 17 years old. ;-) The funny thing is that my first born was born on June 9th, so they share the same birthday. :)

Adopting a baby from the Baby Land General Hospital is quite an experience, and I vividly remember adopting June Hannah. First you go into the waiting room of the hospital and tell the nurse that you would like to Adopt a baby. She will take you through all the rooms showing all the babies available for adoption. She then informed us that there were many Cabbages in labor at the moment, and we could wait for one and watch one be be born.

That is what I decided to do, because I thought it would be exciting to watch a baby being *born*.

Pretty soon it was announced that a mother cabbage was in labor and that she was six leaves dilated. ;-) The nurse was working on the cabbage and pretty soon she a a full ten leaves, and out came June Hannah.

After she was born she was taken to the nursery to be cleaned up. I got to watch this process as well. The nurse "cleaned" her up, put a diaper on her, a T-shirt, a baby hat, and then wrapped her in this cabbage leaf blanket that you see her in now.

I was then given my June Hannah, and we headed into an office and signed the adoption papers. I took a pledge that I would always take care of her. Then we went into the gift shop where there was all sorts of things for sale to help take care of her. I bought her some more diapers and an outfit.

I named her June, because she was born in June, and Hannah which was name that mom liked and she convinced me that I should name her Hannah. :) I like the name Hannah to this Day. I have met many Hannah's since then and they have all been wonderful people. :)

There are rumors that Cabbage Patch Dolls are not *safe* toys for children. If you know what kind of rumors I am talking about, I am just not sure if it is true or not. Sometimes I wonder if people make a bigger deal about things than they should or not. If you don't know what I am talking about, comment about it, and leave me away to contact you and I will explain. Otherwise it is best to not invoke arguments over. ;-)

If you would like to know more about Baby Land General Hospital, click here. It is kind of fun to read about.

To see what others are showing and telling about, click on the button above my post. Have a wonderful day!

Christmas Blog Look

Here is the template that I played around with and came up with this Christmas Blog look. How do you like it? I am still working on it a bit. I lost a lot of stuff, when I made the switch. Nothing important. Just stuff that blogger calls widgets. Now I need to remember which websites I had listed. I posted the ones that I most frequent, but there are others that I need to remember.

I need to go to bed. It is past 2:00am! Yikes! Goodnight. :)

Christmas Meme

I found out about this Meme from Mary, at Mary's Writing Nook. I thought it would be fun to participate in it. I am making plans on decorating my blog for Christmas, but I don't like jumping from one holiday to another. Saturday is the day for decorating! Anyway, here is the meme.

1. Christmas is Family Togetherness. [fill in the blank with ONE WORD] (sorry, couldn't do it in one word! ;-) )

2. In memories, what was the best part of your Christmases past? Well, I think the best Christmas was when we went to visit my Grandma who lived in New Jersey for Christmas. My cousins also came, and my Grandma's family were there. It was a HUGE affair, and so much fun! Everyone dressed up in their nice clothing for the occasion. My cousins and I played games like Hide in Seek in my Grandma's HUGE house. My grandma was the best grandma a grandchild could have. She never lost her patience with me, and bought me red lipstick at the tender age of 7!

3. Was Santa ever good to you? [describe how and what] Santa was always good to me! I thought in my mind, I deserve coal, but why do I keep getting really nice gifts? Looking back, I think Santa created a self righteous spirit in me. After all the wonderful things Santa gave me after being naughty so many times, I assumed, I must not be *that* bad.

4. Do you open gifts on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or both? Sometimes on Christmas Eve and Sometimes both. It just depends on our schedule for that Christmas. We stay pretty flexible

5. Is there something you make each and every year? I try to make those roll out sugar cookies and decorate with icing. It depends if I am getting too stressed out with other preparations. Then I just buy good ol' pillsbury boy dough! ;-) [craft or recipe]

6. What is your favorite five[5] Christmas songs/hymns? 1. O Holy Night, 2. Away in a Manger in the alternate tune, 3.Let it Snow,4. Sleigh Bells in instrumentals, And of course Jingle Bells!

7. Is there a new tradition for Christmas since your childhood days? I don't quite understand the question. I think it is saying is there any new traditions that I do that I didn't do when I was a child? Yes, I have a little manger for the kids. Each day of Christmas we put a piece of straw in the manger. On Christmas day, before the children wake up, I try to put baby Jesus in the manger. Some years it doesn't happen because we might be in another state.

8. Describe one of your Christmas trips. [whether it's across town or across country] Last year we went to Michigan for Christmas. It is about a 1,000 miles away from where we live. We have an older van, that *sometimes* (cough, cough) has problems. Especially on long trips. It is also very tiny. We have three children. Last year my children were four, two, and one years old.

I bought those huge zip lock baggies (the ones that you can fit balls into) and packed the kids clothing in that. I stuffed them under the seats in the van. We had packed the van very tight; so much so that everyone was pretty much hidden.

The kids did really well on the way up. We stopped twice to sleep. Once at my sisters house, and once at a friend's house. This friend was the person that introduced me to Jesus.

When we left our friends house, all of the sudden our heat stopped working. We didn't know what was going on. Thankfully our friends only lived about four hours away from our destination, and we weren't too cold for too long. When we finally were able to see what was wrong with our van it was the water pump. $600 dollars later it was working just fine! :) This year we will be riding with my brother in law in his nice new Suburban.

9. Do you have a special Christmas outfit to wear for the day? When I was a teenager, I made a Christmas dress, but it doesn't fit me anymore.

10. Have YOU or any of your family members sat on Santa's lap? When I was a kid I did. But we don't do Santa here. Even if we did, there are too many creeps in this world. I don't trust a strange man dressed as Santa and have my kids sitting in his lap. Besides, I look at all those poor babies that scream their heads off. Why put the poor thing through so much trauma? ;-)

11. What is/or will be on your Christmas tree this year? A Hodge Podge of ornaments. I don't do a theme on the tree. I like all the different individual ornaments. My mother in law gives a new one to each of the children each year. I also have white lights on the tree. I think white lights look so romantic. Colored lights look too commercial and junkie to me. Now that is my own personal taste and opinion. If you like colored lights, please don't take offense. :)

12. Do you/or have you decorated your yard for Christmas? Not yet. Planning on doing that on Saturday. :) I keep things pretty simple. A Christmas Wreath on the door, and Candles in the Windows.

To participate in this meme, click on the meme button at the top. Merry Christmas!

I got a blog award!

Being Mrs. Mama blessed me with this blog award. I found her blog through the Thanksgiving Meme, and discovered that both she and I home school, and like to use learning folders in our homeschooling adventures.

I would like to pass this award out to some of my bloggie friends also. :)

First off, I would like to give this award to my sister in law, Proud to Be A Mommy. She just started blogging, and so far she is doing great at it. She is also a real life friend, and a sweet person to boot. :)

Second I would like to give this award to Mary at Mary's Writing Nook. She was the first person to add me to their blog roll, and was a real encouragement to me in my blogging adventures. She commented on a post that wasn't apart of a meme; it just tickled me to death that a complete stranger would like to read my blog. :)

Third Person I would like to give this award to is my new blog friend at A Cup of Joy. I "met" her also through the Thanksgiving meme at Kelli's House, and later found out that we had a lot in common. We both know some In Real Life people that we are friends with, and she also knows my Mother In Law's cousins that were missionaries with New Tribes Missions. Meeting her brought me much encouragement. We both have an understanding of the importance of giving a clear gospel message.

And the fourth person I would like to give this award to is Mrs. C. at Riverbend Ramblings. I knew Mrs. C. from a church that we both attended before we both moved away. Mrs. C. was one of the first people that knew about my blog. Unbeknowning to me, she also had a blog. I emailed her letting her know I had started a blog. So she has been reading my blog from the first post.

She also has been a big help to me in learning how to do special things to the blogger template. And she has been a great encourager in my writings. She is really good at English. I am not, and for her to compliment my writing meant a lot to me. :) .

So those are the lovely people I would like to pass this award on to. Enjoy!

My Favorite Thanksgiving Memory

A few days ago I posted about a favorite Thanksgiving tradition that we have have. Now I would like to write about my favorite memory.

It was the Thanksgiving that I was 16 years old. I will be honest in saying that before, when we had Thanksgiving, it was sort of boring. Just having turkey, and boring adult conversation. That year my sister was newly married, and my parents decided to break the mold, and we didn't do the usual Thanksgiving.

I was allowed to invite my best friend who lived a few hours away for the WHOLE week. I had horses at the time, and we both had fun riding and playing with my horses, and just doing "girl" stuff.

My parents also invited our good family friends, the M's to eat dinner with us. Mr. M is now gone to be with Jesus, and Mrs. M is the same lady you saw sitting with me at the picnic table at our camp fire.

We ate dinner as usual, but then we got really bold and daring. We broke molds that had been built over the years. I wouldn't say "traditions" because they weren't fun for me or anyone else in our family. It was more like the "expected" thing of what you did on Thanksgiving.

After dinner, My friend Amy and I got a video Camera and made my parents, sister and brother in law, and the M's play the "Newly wed, and not so newly wed game." Amy and I came up with some bazaar questions; I held the camera and Amy was the hostess. What fun we had! Everyone was laughing their heads off to the point where we had to take breaks and get fresh air. :)

The next day we got the idea to make a silly video by doing a News Cast. We came up with our stories. My sister and her husband were the anchors, and Amy and I were reporters. My brother in law and sister were also reporters, but they would change costumes and make themselves look different.

My friend Amy tried to make herself look like an Asian reporter by taking black eyeliner to her eyes and wearing bright red lipstick. She reported a traffic jam on our infamous interstate. We lined up all of our cars, and each of us each got into a car; honking and throwing our heads out of the windows and shaking our fists! The funny thing was, it looked pretty real!

We reported about an abandoned dog that needed a new home. We did a sports cast, and a weather report.

It was sooooo much fun. And after we put it all together, we watched it laughing our heads off. It was great!

That was the "best" Thanksgiving I have ever had. And this year as I read about the history of the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving, I saw that they too just didn't have a feast, but they also had fun and games. I realized that our out of the mold Thanksgiving wasn't exactly "nontraditional" Just a bit more modernized. :)

See what others are writing about Thanksgiving at Kelli's by clicking on the Give Thanks Button at the beginning of my entry. Have a wonderful day! :)

Turkey Cookies and Relish Turkeys

I got a little long winded yesterday, so I am going try and make this short and sweet today. ;)

On an online message board that I am part of, someone posted these turkey cookies. Maybe some of you have seen them before because they are Pillsbury's idea. Just take a look for yourself. :)

I am going to try and make these with the girls once I can get out to the store and buy the needed ingredients. And another idea that I thought was sooooo cute, and also a bit more healthy are "Relish Turkey's. One draw back is that it does take a lot of time to make.

Green olives stuffed with pimento

celery

carrots

Jumbo sized black olives

colored tooth picks

I don't have any pictures to show, and I can't find any on the Internet, so please bare with my directions.

1. Shave/slice the carrots into little feather shapes, and beak shapes.

2. Cut the celery in about two inch wide pieces

3. Slit the black olive towards one of the ends horizontally

4. Pull the pimento out of the green olive slightly, this will be the turkey's little wattle! :)

Now that everything is sort of assembled:

Stick the tooth pick into the middle of the celery piece. The celery acts as the "base" of the turkey, so you want this resting on a flat surface. Put the black olive through the tooth pick all the way down to the celery. Sick the beak shaped carrot into one end of the green olive where you half way pulled the pimento out.

Stick the green olive on top of the tooth pick on the end where you didn't make a slit. This is the head. Now take three of the shaved feather shaped carrots and stick into the turkey's back where you sliced it on one end.

Now you have a "relish" turkey! If I made these (I did once at a church meeting for ladies) for my Thanksgiving dinner, I would make a relish tray as usual, then make enough of these to place all around the tray on the edges or circumference.

OK, I sort of found a picture that *might* work to give you a visual:

Just imagine the melon being the black olive, the head the green olive and the carrot shavings shaped like feathers as the the feathers. If you want to make that turkey pictured that's OK too. ;)

However, when you make a bunch of those little turkeys and place them around the relish tray it looks so adorable! It gives something for your children to do also.
Although, I would try to pre-assemble the beaks and feathers for them. The pimento wattle can be a little tricky too, so you'll have to work with that.

Look at me, I am getting to long winded again! For more Thanksgiving related topics be sure to visit Kelli's. Just click on the "Give Thanks" button at the beginning of my post. Have a wonderful day!

In *Everything* Give Thanks!

I Thessalonians 5:18

In *everything* give thanks: for this the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Today I may get a little long winded with this post, but it something that I have to remember to remind myself constantly, and something that God has blessed me because I have given thanks to him.

So, I will tell a little story. :) To make an extra long story short with too many details to bore you with, my husband and I finished up our last college credits after we married about six months into our marriage.

We sold our little home, and moved back into a college dorm with no air conditioning. When we did this I was four months pregnant. This was fine at the time. I wasn't overly huge, and the weather was nice. But as the months progressed closer to the summer, and as my belly grew, the heat became uncomfortable. As graduation neared, and temperatures sored into the low to mid 90's it became *very* uncomfortable. The mornings were not too bad, as I was in class where there was air conditioning. :)

However, the afternoons were pretty bad. So I got this wicked idea in my head to ask the Lord to have someone take pity on me, and have them offer me a cool place to stay (like their home) while they were at work. That way, I could do my homework in comfort and relax. My legs were beginning to swell from the heat in the last stages of pregnancy, and it was just plain hot in my dorm. So I prayed, then I hung around in the afternoon hoping someone would ask me how I felt, and I could tell them all my woes, and hopefully they would take pity and offer me a room.

I was pretty disappointed that no one did so. Discouraged, I went up to my hot room. As I was sitting on my bed with only the bare necessities on me, in front of my fans, after I had taken a cold shower; I *decided* that instead of dwelling on the uncomfortable, I could be thankful for what I did have.

So I began to thank the Lord for the cold running water, for in some countries you have to walk a long distance and carry the water. Then I thanked the Lord for the fans that were blowing on me, because I could have no electricity for fans to work!

I fell asleep, and forgot all about my prayer that the Lord would have someone take pity on me. One day, when the heat was especially bad, I stayed in a school building and sat in a comfortable chair, and tried to take a nap.

A teacher walked by and asked how I was doing, and I said fine. She asked me how my feet were (because they were really swollen) and I said that they were fine. Then she asked me if I would like to have a dorm room that had air conditioning. A few students had left during the semester, and there were rooms available. I said Of course! So I went and choose a room that had really cold air.

As I got in that nice and cold room, I realized that I had given God Thanks despite my circumstances, and He probably took pleasure in that. He probably won't do that every time we are in a tough circumstance. After all, there are more problems people face than not having air conditioning. But it showed me that God does care about our comfort and all the "little" things in our lives. I didn't complain about my circumstances, and He blessed me in a way more above than I could think. Instead of staying in someones house and having to leave, I could sleep overnight in a cold room!

So this Thanksgiving remember to give God Thanks for everything, including your tough circumstances. As I have progressed into our marriage, there have been much more "important" things come up, besides having air conditioning. And I must admit that I haven't responded to each situation as I did above. I wish I could say that I have; because it is so freeing when I do!

With that said, I would like to list some things that I am Thankful for.

#1. That Jesus died on the cross and took my sins and placed them on himself. I should of died, but He did instead because He loved me. The only way that I could pay for my own sins is death. I have sinned against a Holy God, and he cannot let me into Heaven because of this sin of mine. His justice wouldn't allow it, even though God is compassionate and does not want me to go to Hell, his perfect justice demanded it. God would not be God. I broke the law, I must pay for my crime.

But God had a plan. He is a loving God. He doesn't want us to go to Hell. Just as much as God is a God of pure justice, He is a God of pure love. So He sent His Son, Jesus Christ (God himself) and placed our sins upon Jesus. Jesus died instead of me. God's Justice was satisfied in behalf of my sin. I do not have to work for my salvation. I do not have to be good enough. All I must do, is agree with God, that I have sinned against Him, and trust that Jesus has made the complete payment for my sin. Jesus has paid for my crime. I don't have to go to Hell! Jesus will credit his righteousness to me if I just believe and bet my eternal soul that that is true! What a wonderful God!!!!!

#2. I am thankful for my husband. Here he and I before we began our courtship at the Christmas banquet at our college.

I was pretty young when I got married. I was two months from turning 20. Marriage is a big decision is life. I was pretty picky about men. My husband was the first one that I "dated", the first one I gave my heart to, and the first one I kissed on our wedding day.

But as I sit and think about our marriage in hinds sight, I am soooooo grateful for such a wonderful husband. He isn't perfect; neither am I. But of all the guys out there that do what they can to "catch" a girl, and then turn out to be crazy lunatics afterwards, I am very blessed indeed! ;)

This Thanksgiving I am especially thankful for him. I am going through a tough time with various issues, and he has been there right beside me. He has been the "strong" one in the family. He listens to me with an understanding heart, and tries to make me feel better by bringing me my favorite flavor of ice cream. :)

God knew what he was doing when I choose this man and allowed me to marry him. My husband has caused me to grow in more ways than I could of imagined. He is my best friend, and I cannot imagine life not being married to him. Being married is tough work for sure! But it is a good work. I love and respect my husband so much!!! Look at what he did for me on his day off.

He cleaned my van from top to bottom! He took the seats out, and vacuumed the floors, he took upholstery cleaner and cleaned the seats. He got all the sticky juice spills out of the cup holders. He worked on the van for about six hours!! If anyone knows my husband well, they know that cleaning isn't one of his specialties; although he has many other great ones.

Yet he did it, and I didn't even ask! When Sweetie saw it she said, "Our van is clean! I have never seen such a clean van in my life! I just can't believe my eyes!" That shows you how bad our van was. I tried to clean it as much as I could, but with three children, it is quite difficult. So anyway, I am thankful for such a wonderful husband!

#3. This will be my last thing I write about what I am thankful for. There is so much more to list, but this entry has gotten way too long. I am thankful for my children. They bring so much into our lives, that I can't begin to write about it here. That was one of the main reasons I started this blog; so I could write about my adventures with them.

I am going to post their baby pictures, because this is how I received them from the Lord; as babies. :)

This is Sweetie I don't have any new born photos on the computer. She was about six or seven months here. This is Bean
Here is Little Tiny Boy.

I told you that today was going to be a little long winded. If you have read this far, be sure to stop by Kelli's and see what other's are writing about Thanksgiving.(If you have the time after reading mine!) Just click on the "Giving Thanks" button at the beginning of my entry. Have a wonderful Day! :)

Thanksgiving Campfire Tradition

Today is the second day of Giving Thanks, hosted by Kelli at There is No Place Like Home. Just click on the button above to find out more.

For the second day I would like to share a tradition that began when my oldest, Sweetie, was just a baby; about five months old. My parents and other family were gathered at their home for the "usual" Thanksgiving weekend. My parents at the time lived on about two acres of beautiful wooded property.

By Friday, I was getting stir crazy cooped up in the house with too much turkey, so I persuaded my dad and the men to build a campfire. As they went to build the fire, my mom and sister also got a bit inspired, and we found some hot dogs, marsh mellows, chocolate, and Gram crackers.

We made our way out to the fire that the men had built, all bundled up, and stood around the fire making our food, telling stories, singing, and laughing.
The older children (my children's cousins) thought this was so neat that they wanted to do it the next year. So we did. And the year after that, and the year after that. This will be our fifth year doing the campfire after Thanksgiving.

Sadly the cousins won't be around this year. However, I have invited my pen-pal who moved to the same state as I live, and now only lives a few hours away! (Yippee!) She, and her husband, along with their children, Lord willing, will be coming and doing the campfire with us. We will also have my mom and dad, and our good family friend. Perhapes we can persuade my husband's brother to join us also. (hint hint) It is something that started four years ago, and I would like to continue this tradition as long as we can

This is the campfire from the year 2004 up at my parents place. After they moved away from their property, they moved into a very nice trailer park that allows camp fires in an outdoor fire place. Those are my nephews and niece pictured there.
Me with Bean and our good family friend enjoying good conversation. Bean was about 10 months. Look at how long my hair was! After seeing these pictures, I am debating if I should let my hair grow that long again. What do you think?

Well thanks for reading and have a great day. Please stop by Kelli's and read about what other people are doing for Thanksgiving. :)

Happy Slip Comercial

This is a commerical that Happpy Slip did for an online money transfer company. But it is so halarious! I just had to show. :)

Fall Ya'll Bloggy Give Away Winnings!!!!

For today's show and tell, I get to show my winnings from the Fall Ya'll bloggy give away! I must admit that I got really carried away with entering all of the contests. :) But my efforts paid off, because I won two nice and beautiful prizes!
The first thing I found out that I won, was this beautiful bag made by Melissa. What a beautiful bag! The pictures do not do it justice! I can tell that it is made from some very quality fabric, and there is not a flaw in it anywhere. Thank you Melissa for giving this bag away. You are very talented! :) I will enjoy using it very much.
I will be using this as my new purse. To tell you the truth, I have had the same purse since I got married six years ago, and this will be a fun and nice change! A million Thanks again! :)

The next prize I found out I won was a subscription to Family Fun Magazine. This prize was given away by Seis. The neat thing about this, it is a magazine that I really enjoy reading. I even have a link to the website on my sidebar. :) I get so many great and fun ideas from this magazine.

Anyway, I just ran out of my subscription, and I won another year for free. It was *perfect* timing. Thank you Seis for giving away such a great prize! Please know that I am going to thoroughly enjoy it!

To see what other's are showing and telling on their blog, please click on the button above at the beginning of my post. Have a nice day! :)

A Day At the Park

Yesterday was such a nice day here! We went to a local park, that has many amenities that are wonderful.
It has a dog park, side walks, nature trails, bicycling trails, horse trails, a nice playground, a huge grassy field etc. We live on a dirt road and riding bicycles is kind of hard to do, so I loaded up the girl's bicycle and scooter in the van, and off we went for some fun!

Sweetie and Bean on their bicycle and scooter. Sweetie did really well with coordination, but poor Bean! Here little legs just wouldn't work like her brain was telling them to; she kept falling off trying to keep up with her big sister. She was doing really well; as long as she concentrated on what she was doing. But as soon as Sweetie got too far ahead, she would go too fast for her level, and fall off. Finally she just decided to walk and drag the scooter along with her.
Tiny Boy is being Camera Shy.
All of the kiddos swinging. One nice thing about having smaller than the average child is that Bean and Tiny Boy fit in the baby swing. One goes in one way, and the other goes in the other. They both think that this is great fun! Especially Tiny Boy. He would swing all day if he could. :)
Stopping for a snack. All that walking, riding, swinging sliding, makes a kid hungry!

Bean spotted this little squirrel on our walk, so I had to take a picture! :)

We Have A Winner!

CONGRATULATIONS mommyof8blessings!!!!!
What fun this was! Mommyof8blessings won the custom boutique outfit! I am very excited for her too. :) I can't wait to send the outfit off in the mail so she can use it for one of her eight blessings! :)

Fall Ya'll Bloggy Give Away

It is getting closer! My comments have been closed on the give away. Pretty soon, I will be drawing the winner randomly using Random.org.

Please stay tuned to see who wins! This is so exciting! So far, I myself, have won two prizes; and really nice ones too! (of course. ;) All the prizes offered in this give away were superb!) I will be blogging about my winnings as soon as the contest is officially over which is on Monday.

Till then, my comments have been disabled on the giveaway post, I have unstickied it, and I will be drawing names in about four hours. See you till then! :)

Need A Laugh?