Thanksgiving Treats

Last Friday was a crazed adventure in mommyhood. First, we had Abigail's Kindergarten program and feast. As the class coordinator, I had spent (too) many days planning the event with other moms. And, I learned my first lesson in having school-age kids: Stay away from the crazy moms. It's hard to tell which ones are crazy, but the truth comes out quickly.

When I listened to a voicemail telling me that if we didn't find someone to take care of tablecloths and decorations for the program, "It would be scary." I'm not kidding. This mom was serious. I calmed her down by taking care of table decorations for all 22 tables. I cleaned out the Party Supply store, and she wasn't scared.

Crazy moms and unnecessary party planning aside, the program was adorable. The kids sang two Thanksgiving songs dressed as Pilgrims and Indians...





I wasn't able to get very good images of Abigail since she was positioned in the back of the group, but I did capture the funniest of sites...



There were more cameras and videorecorders than I've ever seen in one place. Too funny...

After the presentation, we enjoyed a bountiful breakfast with Abigail and then took over in her classroom. Daniel read a few books to the kids (before sneaking out for a deer hunting trip).



And, then I worked with the kids to create a Turkey headband craft. There are no pictures, because I was being crafty instead of taking pictures. Kids hyped up on juice and donuts and cookies and excited about the last day of school before a holiday need much attention in craft time. Trust me on that one.

I finished with Abigail's class just in time to join Cooper's class.





Abigail was able to join me, and we snacked and laughed while Cooper played the part of the Indian.

Once I was finished at the school, I was exhausted. Coincidal timing of class parties is not something that I considered in family planning thoughts five years ago. Whew!

I'm Giving Up Crafts!

I've known about ETSY, an online site for individuals to sell anything, typically handmade items, for quite some time, but never spent the time delving into it. Until last month... I found the most adorable handmade children's clothes and have all but given up on making myself crazy finding time to create and sew for Abigail. I'll consider it my way of supporting other creative moms by buying their goodies.

I started off with some adorable Thanksgiving outfits for Abigail. I don't have an image of the turkey appliqued and monogram shirt, but this dress and legging set is too fun to not share with you!



ETSY - I love you!

Thanksgiving Feast

Cooper's class invited the parents to join them for Thanksgiving lunch last week. What kind of parent passes up pie with their baby?! Not us!



Abigail was able to join us also, since her class meets for lunch during the same time.


Cooper was thrilled to have us all with him.

Chocolate Deluxe

At the beginning of the year, I set out to paint and decorate one room per month. Ha! It's November, and we've completed three bedrooms and one bathroom. Oh, well it's better than nothing.

The first room we painted was the master bedroom. If I had endless free time and energy, I would probably re-paint this, as I wasn't entirely pleased, but that's not going to happen any time soon.

It's probably too dark for most people, but (as if you can tell) I LOVE chocolate brown. And, it serves another purpose of helping Daniel sleep. He works a night shift half the time, so the dark walls combined with the black-out drapes help him sleep during the day even though we have a large window in the bedroom.

This scripture writing on a wooden box canvas was my attempt at being creative.

On another side of the room we have some wonderful family photos to display, courtesy of my friend Allison in South Carolina. She's so talented, and I'm so grateful to her for these images!

Just outside of the master bathroom is a sitting area. I'll be honest and tell you that these chairs are more often used as clothes drying racks than their intended purpose, but it was a nice thought.

Also in the sitting area is a collection of items from our wedding: our engagement photo, my bridal bouquet in a shadow box frame and our wedding guest sign-in book, which was actually a framed and matted wedding invitation. I know the red doesn't even begin to match the room's decor, but it's the sentimental effect that I appreciate.

Now, I'm off to enjoy my clean room!

Showing our Holy Spirit!

A few weeks ago was homecoming at Abigail and Cooper's school, and they followed the usual routine of spirit week with each day having a theme. The first day was completely forgotten by me, and Abigail was sorely disappointed in my memory lapse when she showed up with her usual chapel uniform on Monday morning and everyone else was dressed for Bling-Bling Day. Oh, well. She and Cooper looked a lot less silly than those other rascals. But, I came through the rest of the week.

Tuesday was Tacky Day when everyone dressed in mis-matched clothes. Fortunately, I checked out the week's agenda in the school newsletter instead of following Abigail's interpretation that she thought it was Khaki Day, which sounds similar to Tacky Day, but doesn't pan out to the same type of outfit.

Wednesday was Cartoon & Superhero Day. Thanks to our plentiful collection of dress-up clothes, Abigail and Cooper jaunted off to school as Dora the Explorer and her cousin, Diego. I couldn't get Abigail to wear the wig with her costume, but the two of them were pretty cute.

Thursday was color day, with each grade level assigned a color and the kindergarten class was assigned red. Abigail opted out of the boring red t-shirt that we saw on most of the kids and just sported her cutest red outfit.

My favorite day of the week was Friday, which was Spirit Day. We're new to this school and don't have any school t-shirts yet, so the kids opted to show their best Longhorn spirit. But, it was my favorite day because of another interpretation that went awry. When I told Abigail it was Spirit Day, she replied that she should wear a shirt with a cross or Bible on it because she didn't have anything with the Holy Spirit on it. Oh, my goodness, that gave me the biggest laugh I've had in a long time! I had to explain to her that spirit can refer to many ideas and not just the Holy Spirit.

Annie, Get Your Gun!

Last weekend we celebrated my father's birthday. We've lost count with what year this was in honor of, but suffice it to say that I know he's older than 40 and younger than 80. That leaves you with a good estimate, right?!

Aside from the steak dinner, we gifted him with a solution to one of his problems to honor the day of his birth. No, it wasn't a hearing aid or man girdle...

Dad has a squirrel and bird problem in his back yard that has become too much of a task for his dog, Spice. We gave Dad a bb gun so that he can more successfully tackle the problem.

Cooper, being a true Texas boy was very interested in Grandad's gun, and Grandad had no problem sharing with him. (Believe me, we're going to have to set down some boundaries for Grandad after this experience.)

Rest assured, it is just a bb gun and it was firing nothing but air. But, you can be very afraid in that the first thing Cooper did was take off chasing his sister with the gum aimed at her until Daniel grabbed him and put a stop to the chase. Very, very, very stern words were spoken, and the gun was placed back in Grandad's hands.

Pumpkin Patch 2009

I told you I would be back! I apologize for the unbelievably long absence, but this month has run over me like a freight train. I'm hoping to get some semblance of a normal routine soon, which includes getting back to daily blogging. I have a lot to catch you up on! For starters, my parents came to visit last weekend and we spent all of Saturday at a pumpkin farm in Marble Falls.

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We kicked the day off by posing in many of the stick-your-head-through-the-fake-scenery walls. The kids thought they were so silly! I wish I had known they were so easy to entertain. I'll start buying posterboards and cutting holes in them and letting them paint on their own scene of fun and just take pictures after they create. It will be much cheaper than traipsing all over Central Texas to experience all the fun. Ha!


But, the hands-on fun is more my style. We got our hands dirty by painting pumpkins. Poor Kelly Ann ended up helping a random kid seated with us at the table. I think she little girl thought Kelly was an adult just observing, but she was really there to paint her own pumpkin alongside the other kids.

Abigail and Cooper were especially excited when they took off on a hay ride to the other side of the farm. They told us all about going through the wooded area and seeing the many scarecrows and ghostly decorations.

While they were on that side of the farm, they stopped at the flower fields to pick a cup of flowers.

Unfortunately, Abigail is not a future flower bouquet arranger, but instead took interest in only the sad flowers. I was looking forward to having a fresh flower arrangement like I saw the other kids coming back with. Instead, she came back to me with this pitiful arrangement of wilted and dead flowers.

Ma and Pa Kettle joined us in the fun as well!

We did get some cups of goat food, but Cooper was more interested in getting the poor goats to eat leaves and sticks off the ground. Every time I turned around he was sticking something else through the fence.

Fortunately, we did get to feed our own faces and it wasn't with leaves and sticks. We feasted on some delicious homemade pumpkin ice cream. It was soooo yummy! It was the first time I've thought that the pumpkin blizzard at Dairy Queen may not be as disgusting as it sounds.

Before heading back home, the kids took in one last adventure on this train pulled by a tractor through a corn field. Too fun!