Miss Camille

It's hard to believe that this little thing is going to be 3 in a few short weeks. She is growing SO fast and just becoming a regular little person!!

Speaking of "little." She now refuses to be addressed as anything referred to as "little." Little girl, little angel, little miss crabby pants. .you get it!! It always invokes an indignant "I'm NOT little. .I'm BIG!!" She also has a BIG time estrogenic attitude to go with her indignation.

Her imagination is growing by leaps and bounds!! Thanks to Liz for the handed down dress up clothes. .and to granny for making a few minor repairs. She showed me how she could twirl her "magic wand" or her pom pom--depending on which outfit she is wearing--say "abracadabra" (with most syllabals present)

AND

turn me into. .

a. . .

(if you guessed frog--you were wrong--so was I)

SANDWICH (huh??)

She has recently started going to a preschool one morning a week. .which she loves. .she's quite social and enjoys the concept of going to school, though she is still totally ticked that she doesn't get to ride the bus!!

And has even started attending the new AWANA kids program that our church is putting on after school on Wednesdays.

Her learning ability (and that of all kids this age--not just my daughter) astounds me!! One week after her first trip to AWANA--she was able to remember the verse that her leader Tanya helped her learn.  I started by saying "God"  and she responded by saying "loves us and sent he's (his) Son" which is a shortened version of John 3:16.  When prompted with the word "all" she replies "have sinned"--Romans 3:23. 

How cool is that?!?

To date, she knows one more, but her mother can't remember the prompt to that one. .and our Cubbie paper is at church!

We have had an extra enjoyable week together and I just couldn't resist sharing those little things!

Thankful Thursday

Perhaps it is the season of Thanksgiving upon us, or perhaps it is related to particular scriptures that I have been dwelling on of late that I am drawn to the concept of thankfulness.  Last week I considered the idea of hosting a "Thankful Thursday" party on my blog through the month of November to prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I considered it for a few days and decided chickened out--plain and simple.  But, the idea continued nagging at my heart through the weekend.

I am, in fact, hosting my Thankful Thursday party on this blog for the next three Thursdays.  My change of heart came Sunday during our Sunday school class.  We are finishing up a James McDonald series on the book of Colossians.  In chapter 4 verse 2 (the first verse we started with last Sunday) says this:

"Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a THANKFUL heart."

For some reason, that made the decision in my heart to dedicate some posts on Thanksgiving. .the REAL kind. 

I tried to search out how many times the bible advises us to be thankful or to give thanks.  The answer I found was A LOT.  There are multiple phrases used to mean the same thing. .Giving thanks, thanksgiving, thankfulness, grateful etc.  So at least well over 200 times we are instructed to be thankful or give thanks.  In Ephesians 5:20 Paul advises us "And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

And Psalms 107:1 and 118:1 and 118:29 tell us to

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever."

Today, I am especially thankful for technology.  I find it fascinating that I can search for ANYTHING I could ever want to find. .a particular scripture verse-or the ability to dive deeper into the meaning of a scripture, a recipe, or even old friends. .and have instant knowledge at my fingertips.  I think it is an excellent resource for drawing support and inspiration. .for expanding our minds. .for allowing us to reach out to others. . and is a great way to connect with loved ones far away or with people sharing similar interests or conflicts.  It has helped me create relationships with new friends that I have never met, helped me catch up with old friends that I had lost track of, and assisted me in keeping family and friends updated on the big and little things in my own life.  Granted, as with anything else, technology can be a very bad thing if it is given a role of idolatry in our lives! But that is a whole other post!!

So I guess now I am offering a challenge and an invitation.  First, I challenge all of you to look at being thankful in a new way this month.  I am planning on taking my own challenge too!! Be thankful DAILY in your prayers to our Lord--even before we get to the part about asking him to meet our needs.  Don't be thankful only for the GOOD things, but also be mindful about being thankful for our challenges and our hardships. .for those are what truly develop our character.  Second, I invite EVERYONE who happens along this post to place a comment, whether you believe and pray to Jesus. .or you don't--because we ALL have things to be thankful about.  The comment should address something or a few things that you are thankful for. .big or little!! My little tracking widget on the side bar tells me there are lots of people who pop in but never comment.  If you have never left a comment, just hit "comment" at the end of this post, and leave your item or items of thanksgiving, sign your name if you like, and check the anonymous circle if you don't have your own identity.  That's it.
I hope it to be a very enlightening experience to all of us, and I know that I will enjoy the opportunity to be able to be thankful for and with all of you too!

I look forward to reading about everything we have to be thankful for. .Hope you can check back too. .

November Blooms

The weather has been so wonderful, that it doesn't even seem possible that Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away.  I usually have some of my snowmen out right after Halloween (just cause I love 'em!). But I can't get motivated to make the change yet.  This morning I took a stroll around the yard before the wind came up. Here's what I found!!

Jupiter's Beard has made a comeback since the weather cooled off.  The purple salvia behind it is re-blooming as well. 

The new corner garden continues to do well.  The mums that I transplanted last spring all survived and are now blooming--yellow, white, and purple.  The orange snapdragons didn't bloom really well until about September.  If you look closely, behind the snaps is a red twigged dogwood. His leaves are turning crimson/purple and the stems are transforming into the characteristic red twigs! 

Here's a close up.  I have purchased 6 of these little devils.  The one that has done the best and got the biggest started dying mysteriously late this summer.  I noted that the twigs just came loose at ground level. Not like rot, and not like some little heathen took my cool snippers to it for a haircut either.  There were some termites in the cotton seed hulls at the base--but I don't think they did it either. I'm scratchin' my head--the other two along that same area have just flat gotten too hot and too dry.  The dirt is poor there too, and that may be the whole problem. However, the one above is looking great--I hope it lasts!! 

Double knock out roses are still putting on new blooms. I couldn't believe it!! We got patchy frost last week, and the morning temp was 27.  I thought these girls would be goners!! 

Hard to believe that I was so worried about this Hidcote lavender plant last fall that I dug a small root and overwintered it in my greenhouse.  This one survived the winter, so I gave the overwintered lavender to my friend Becky.  This sucker has quadrupled in size over the summer and I love, LOVE it!! Some day I will learn what to do with the dried stems to make nice smelly things. 

I just love the tiny blooms on the lavender plants.  I am hoping that the two new ones do as well as this one has.  I took a cutting of each a couple weeks ago and put them in soil in the greenhouse. So far, so good there! 

These tall pink snapdragons have lived for the last 3 winters. They stay green at the base all winter long, and put out the prettiest blooms late summer/early fall when the temps cool.  Crazy little things! 

This shot is in front of the west deck. There is a gallardia, one of the Denver daisy plants, and a couple of mums planted many years ago.  They should be divided next spring I think! 

Here's the new tomato soup coneflower planted last spring.  I bought three sale coneflowers at that time, and I am waiting on the last one to bloom. It FINALLY has a bud on it--so there's a chance we may get to see it bloom before the weather gets it! 

Seriously. .this is a slightly confused hollyhock ;-) 

The petunias in the old washing machine are still bloomin' their little 'ole hearts out! 

Purple mums bordering the pond 

The planters on the deck look great. .finally!! Container planting is NOT my forte. . . at ALL! 

Here's a picture of my new little spruce bought when I went to my sister's a few weeks ago.  It is a dwarf Colorado blue spruce called Baby Blue Eyes.  I LOVE him! With any luck, he will get to be about 15 feet tall, but only 6 feet wide--so should accent the front of my house and the pond perfectly.  

This little $2 mum from Lowes turned out beautiful! None of them were blooming when I got them--I went based on the tag as to which color they would be. I am totally thrilled with this one because I don't have yellow mums that look like this.

When the container mums are finished, I will transplant them to the bigger garden beds.

The weather gurus are forecasting some much needed water for us later this week! It looks like the temperatures will be decreasing as well which is alright because today it is 81 degrees outside!! Hoping to get some Christmas lights up this weekend, before it gets really cold and windy!! Wishing everyone a beautiful week!

Monster Munch (better late than never)

I haven't had time to get this post up yet, but we found a recipe so yummy that I wanted to share it with you, and to be sure that I can find the recipe when I want to make it next fall. We like snack mixes at our house. .you can imagine how much snack food 4 growing children consume.  While not particularly healthy, this snack mix was especially delicious, and it would make great Halloween gifts or handouts for ravenous tricksters.

Our higher level cooking kids were scheduled for a meeting last Friday.  The plan was to make pumpkin rolls.  I decided that we needed another easy project to work on while waiting for the pumpkin rolls to cool enough to put filling into.  I was actually searching for another recipe I had seen years ago--but found this one instead!  We loved it.

The recipe started with popcorn (did you know that October is national popcorn month?? It is, and I can share TONS of other popcorn snack recipes that our cooking groups have made over the years!)

Of course, as usual, much food landed on the floor.

We added peanuts, candy corn, and reeces pieces to the popcorn and drizzled it with almond bark.

MMMMM. .GOOD!

Monster Munch

1 lb of white almond bark

12 cup popped popcorn (1/2 cup kernels)

1 cup candy corn

1 cup dry roasted peanuts

1/2 cup Reeces pieces (we added a little extra--cause really, how could you have TOO many of those!)

Place popped corn into a large bowl (larger than you think you should need). Add the peanuts, candy corn, and Reeces pieces.  Melt almond bark in your microwave, stirring after every 45 seconds. Drizzle bark over the dry ingredients.  Pour onto baking sheets covered with wax paper and let cool. Break into chunks and savor each bite!

Have a GREAT weekend!

Halloween Photos Deluxe

I know that Halloween is so yesterday now, but I just couldn't resist showing some of our fun party pictures.

Sometimes we just have to put the parents to work on our relay teams.  The kids truly enjoy watching them do the events too! This was our balloon relay.  One must take their stuffed balloon to the end of the course and sit on the balloon to pop it, retrieve their treat, and run back to the line.  Not sure that the nurse actually sat on his, but he did get pretty close to the ground before taking off for the line.  However, you will see that Sara made it to the ground. .and was still able to get up quite quickly to make it back to her spot!

Here's one of the all time favorite events. .the worm eating contest.

We used to do it seated at the table. .4 kids racing each other to find and eat the "worms" hidden beneath the pile of whipped topping.  The caveat was that they couldn't use their hands. .mouths only.  A few years ago we put a little twist on the game.

Each kid picked a partner and then proceeded to be "wheel-barrowed" down to the plate of worms.  Still not being able to use their hands, they ended up with faces that looked a little bit like. .

THIS. .Go Micaela!

This year we tried a new relay in which they had to walk like Frankenstein to the turning point and back as fast as they could.  It worked fair. I'll do some more thinking about how to improve that game if we use it again.

Contrary to what this photo looks like (when I pulled it up I initially thought it looked like the nurse was relieving her bladder. .but it was the just the back lash of the punkin launcher.  I had to show it, because I loved the way J and Roy were watching the punkin fly through the sky.

We found a water balloon launcher a couple years ago in a water sports catalog. It has worked perfectly for launchin' little gourds.  I believe that some of the punkin's launched across the highway this year, which is probably about 75 yards out.  The kids (and the guys running it) always have a blast with that game!  Our launcher went to school this week too, to use at the kids' reading party. You might notice Shelly in the background of the above photo (right behind the guy in the orange shirt). She came as a water skiier wearing her wet suit and life jacket! Great costume!

The little guys are never too impressed by eating worms with their faces, so we try to do some other games with them. Cami was doing a candy toss.  They are each given candy to throw at the cauldron--throwing it until they make a basket. Then they get to choose a treat.

Easton had it figured out. .he just walked up to the cauldron and dropped his candy in.  Kids are so smart aren't they??

It's not easy being green!! And Natalie was SO gracious to take a "friend in need" photo with yours truly! I have to admit that I was finishing my makeup when Cami came in as she was getting up from her nap.  She looked at me and I could literally see her eyes get bigger.  She looked for a bit and said "Mom, that looks REALLY bad. .take it off!!"

I did find a little leftover green paint on the medial side of my upper arm Monday when I went to donate blood. .so I felt obligated to explain it to the phlebotomist!! A bit embarrassing!

Here's our group of spooks!! A few of them wouldn't stay still long enough to be in the photo. .and I have another picture with at least three little kids headed out of it.

Eating is always the best part!! We had a long table full of fun goodies!! And I always appreciate the moms who help out with serving and getting things ready!

Kids are all quiet with their mouths full. .so it's time for the big kids to do some tasting!

Kids scatter everywhere with their goodies.  Both decks are usually full as is the living room. This year some landed on the trampoline and the near the basketball goal.  I LOVE a full house! Not sure if that relates back to my childhood. .but it gives me a great feeling to have lots of happy, satisfied people around! These pictures of contented people enjoying each other are my favorites!

And a lone army guy sits by my pond, enjoying the weather and the fish!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays of the year. .I suppose because it is just fun. I'm thankful that we enjoyed beautiful weather, good friendships, wonderful food, and a safe time.

Behind the Scenes

Welp, we survived another Halloween!! I'm sure that many of you regular viewers are sitting on the edge of your chairs waiting for the moment of truth eluded to in yesterday's post, and you won't be disappointed.

In addition to the regular trick or treating festivities yesterday, our annual Halloween bash took place.  I may have shared the story with you last year--but I will re-tell a little bit of it again.  Approximately 8 years ago, several of my girlfriends and I were talking.  We thought it to be SOOO sad to buy these cute little costumes (because 8 years ago, we had LITTLE costumes to buy) and go trick or treating in the dark. .where no one could see our little monsters darlings.  At that time, we usually tried to meet at someone's house to view everyones appearance during trick or treating.  We decided it would be a lot of fun to have a small halloween party.  Everyone could dress up, we'd play some games, and then eat some spooky food.  You might say it was a hit.  We had around 20 kids that first year and everyone had a great time.  A few of the same original families still have kids young enough to enjoy it!  But each year it seems that we add some families with kids that would enjoy the fun.  This year we had 55 kids that came (though some of them were too OLD to play the games) and 34 parents that stayed around to watch!  We were so thankful for the beautiful afternoon--last year it rained--and I'm not sure I could have gotten 90 people in my house!! Over the years we have tried different goodies, different games, and different agendas for the party.  I usually have tons of pictures--and I will share some of them with you this week.  But the post for today happens to feature what happens around here BEFORE the party starts!!  We still have one game that has been played at every party since the first one.

It involves wearing blisters on the inside of each thumb. .a small fact that I forget each year until I have stuffed at least 5 balloons. We have used witches warts, nerds, eyeball gum, and various other treats to hide in the balloon.  This year we used gum.

It takes a LOOOOOT of air.  Thankfully, these two still like to blow up balloons--and they can even both tie them shut too.  I will recall many days of having small children blow up the balloons only to hand them off to me, dripping in saliva, because they just can't get it tied right.  All of my children have learned to tie balloons while helping get ready for the Halloween party!!

So here is the mountain of balloons tossed over our heads onto the floor of my room.  They get placed into trash bags. .lots of trash bags. . to wait for the relay game in which they are the star guests.  Be sure to stop by Wednesday to see who can pop them by sitting on them!! You may be surprised!

Hey, has anyone seen my hat??? I got a new one this year--one that was a little more. . . Feminine!! Didn't stop my clean up crew from trying it out.  That is what Halloween is all about isn't it?? A good excuse to be anyone but yourself.  Ok, OK. . .maybe I don't dress TOO out of character!!

Time to fix my share of snacks.  After 8 years of fixing mummy dogs, you would think that I wouldn't still have to look up the oven temp and bake time. .but I do!!  I typically make about 60 mummy dogs.  Sometimes they are gone in nothing flat, sometimes there are leftovers.  Tonight for supper we are having leftover mummy dogs and macaroni and cheese :-)  Parents always impress me with the spooky food they fix for the party.  Most of them are VERY creative!! We had some extra hearty foods yesterday, since it was likely to be everyone's supper before heading out for the REAL Halloween fun!

You just take canned breadsticks and wrap them around a hot dog--mummy style. The first year I was really careful to get it just right. Then you dot 2 eyes on with mustard.  The mustard doesn't stay on warm hot dogs too well. .and the kids just really didn't care what they looked like anyway.  So now I quickly slop them together and call it good!!

They're ready for the oven--you can easily get a dozen on your cookie sheet by turning them to this angle (PS--it took me EIGHT years to figure this out. . .so run with that tip!) Bake 'em at 375 for about 14 minutes.  I also fix punch.  This year we had green punch using lime sherbert, pineapple juice, and 7-Up. And we had an icy orange punch using orange and peach jello and pineapple juice.  That got frozen overnight and gingerale added to it before serving.  Sometimes I fix tea too, but I forgot yesterday--and we just had punch! Hey, it was a BUSY weekend!  Sorry!! That menu got supplemented with little smokies, smoky fingers, sausage balls, spinach/dressing balls, chili, creepy eyeball (cake balls) cookies, caramel popcorn treats, spooky finger cookies, graveyard brownies, little monster sandwiches, chips and dip, cupcakes, puppy chow and probably some other things that I am forgetting!! YUM!  It's the best part of the party!

Time to get ready!! Costumes everyone!! Not sure WHAT Camille was doing THIS for. .but I watched her for quite a while before I figured out that she was trying to get her fingers in her mouth to make this horrible face. .and I just thought she was trying to get hair out of her mouth.

Oh, here she is.  A shining, sparkling Tinkerbell Princess. .who did NOT want to have Tinkerbell hair (AKA a little bun on top of her head) But thoroughly enjoyed getting real makeup to wear.  She was finished wearing her dress BEFORE the party started, and again BEFORE all the party guests left.

The bloody scream mask made it's way into our parade of costumes again.  Dev did NOT have spikes coming out of his head. .I just noticed the draecenia plant sticking out of his head in this picture!!  Jeremy asked last week how many years we were going to have to see this costume. .My reply was something like "as long as someone likes it AND it means I don't have to buy another costume. .Until it breaks!!"

Big kids are so BORING!! They don't believe in Santa. .and somehow they even stopped liking to dress up!! BAH HUMBUG! $3 bubba teeth and an old wig made this "near" teenager's outfit! And don't he look excited about it too!! 

I didn't even SEE this kid until the end of the party.  He snuck in with his friend sometime after it started!! He also got bubba teeth.  This was their first year to be allowed to hang out with their friends on Halloween.  SOOO SAD!! I did advise them that I had better not catch wind about any tricking or vandalism going on! And I think they were good.  Any one see them Halloween?? Let me know.  Hopefully they could at least remember to say thanks without their mother standing there!

AND

SOOOOO. . .

The moment of truth for the red head in the pictures yesterday!

Isn't he SO precious?? 

He was a great sport about it. .and surely impressed many of his friends!! If any of you know Jeremy. .this was TOTALLY out of character for him--which makes my heart smile. .cause I know that he was dressing up just for me. .and hopefully he didn't like it TOO much. .cause I really prefer his everyday "manly" look!

Places. .Places everyone. .the party is just about to get started!!

Come back in a couple days. .I have a ton of pictures left of our party games and guests!!

Guess what. .today is the official start to the Thanksgiving season!!

Give thanks with a grateful heart!