Our Thanksgiving and More

Life has been so busy and eventful the last while, where do I start? The Holiday season started out a little on the wrong foot when the doctor ordered me to the couch to try and prevent a miscarriage that was threatening to happen. With Thanksgiving less than two weeks away, that was hard to do, but I did it anyway. I was couch bound for a week, but I did go ahead and miscarry. It was a first for me and was disappointing, especially for the kids. Their bed time prayers consisted of asking God to take care of our baby and to please send us another one. Since we are hoping to move this summer if all works out, I said they might have to wait awhile.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a houseful of family. David's family came for 4 days. We had a great time together!

I have been finding it hard to get into the Christmas Spirit this year. Not sure if it is because of all the events that go with it when I find going away unhandy with schooling, or maybe its the 75* weather (although snow and cold is anything but appealing), or perhaps its thinking of all the cookies and candy that will be a temptation to me. Whatever the reason, I am going through the Season motions and started mixing batches of cookie dough today.  This year we had the kiddos draw names for giving gifts to each other. They think this is the most fun thing and keep begging to go Christmas shopping. As our kids get older, we are finding it fun to start our own Christmas traditions to hopefully make fond memories for them. (:

David's family (all except his brother and family in Honduras)

David's family all came the night before Thanksgiving. About 10 minutes after they got here, our front door came bursting open and in ran his sister Amanda, from Honduras, yelling surprise! Some of David's siblings flew her here as a surprise to us and David's parents. It was a great surprise. Treyton didn't remember her from the last time we had seen her a year ago, but he eventually warmed up to her.

Jennifer had a birthday November 15. She turned seven. We had a little belated celebration for her while everyone was here.

Treyton enjoyed being Grandpa's buddy. No, that is not snow on the picture. We had a campfire and it is ash. Although it did feel cold enough for snow.

Everyone had fun together. Here they are playing "Andy Over" around the camper. (we borrowed the camper for more bed space)

There seemed to be an endless supply of food around. This is our Thanksgiving feast.

Guess what is going on here?! They are retrieving our Thanksgiving turkey! David's brother wanted to try a 'turkey in a hole' for something different. The thing roasted in a hole in the ground over night.

The prize turkey! It was very good!

The kiddos never got tired of the endless supply of attention. They went through a few days of withdraw after everyone left!

We did squeeze some work in among the fun and did my applesauce.

Jenny's birthday was a week before Thanksgiving. We had a little party for her with some of her friends. [the cake is a princess crown, in case you were trying to figure it out(:  ]

Gift time

She wanted a pinata at her party.

Game time was fun

They even got David in on the games!

And as always, the best part of a birthday is a date with Daddy to the place of their choice!

A Glimpse of Whats Been Happening

I figured its high time for another update on how life has been treating us. Well, we are in my favorite time of year. We had our first frost the other morning, so I had to go and winterize some of my plants.

School is going the same. Still just doing 4 days a week which is very nice. About 10 more lessons and we will be half way through our lessons.

A couple weekends ago, Davids cousin and his family from Tennessee were in the area for another family gathering, and they stayed at our house. We all managed to pack in the house somehow! The kiddos really had fun playing together!

Amber and Rissa are my lizard lovers. I feel sorry for the poor lizards always being hunted down so they could be held, very much against their will I might add!

The other Sunday night we decided to have a camp fire for the kiddos. They thought this was the greatest thing!

Waiting for dark so the fun can begin

Daddy's little shadow 'helping' to get sticks ready for the camp fire

Enjoying a hot dog

Treyton thought the fire was the coolest thing! They had fun roasting hot dogs and making smores.

Nick wanted in on the fun too. The girls fed him some cheese curls that he actually liked!

Multi-tasking

I found the kiddos this neat little bug magnifier. You put a bug inside then you can view it, magnified, from all angles. Well, I wished so bad I had the video camera handy the first time they used the thing. I sent them out with a little container to find an interesting bug. Of all the things to catch, they got a huge, fast, ugly, and mean looking spider. Getting the spider from the container into the viewer proved to be very dramatic to say the least!! In the process of transporting the spider from the container to the viewer, the spider managed to escape! They were trying to accomplish this task on the desk you see pictured. Well, poor Treyton was sitting on the desk seat watching. When the spider escaped, the air was filled with ear piercing screams, the containers went flying, and the spider ended up on the seat with Treyton! All he knew was that the spider that caused such a pandemonium was on him and he could not get out of his seat fast enough and got stuck. I by now decided it was time for me to step in and save the day. To make a long story short, they caught the spider again and had fun viewing it. As sorry as I felt for poor Trey, I could not help but have a good laugh at how the whole thing played out, a little like I kind of expected it to! (~:

Amber and Nick

I think poor Trey needs a brother to help balance him out a little! His sisters are rubbing off on him! He was so proud of this princess get-up!

As a motivator for the school kiddos, they work towards a monthly big reward by keeping their work area neat, sticking to their work and being good. The last reward they earned was an afternoon at Monkey Joe's. A place with indoor inflatables to jump and slide on. Their Daddy surprised them by taking the afternoon off work and going along too!

Life for the Last Month or So

I guess you discovered by now that doing this blog has become low on my list of things to do! Plus, I figured you would get tired of me always putting on school pictures since that is about all life consists of, so anymore you will need to be patient with me till I have time and enough pictures to post, sorry!

Fall has come in the South, my favorite time of year! We still get 90* weather, but it is not humid, so it actually feels good! I have managed to get my Fall cleaning done, including renting a carpet shampooer, it was a slightly unhandy one that caused me to scrub my carpets for 7 hours straight, and my house is small. They do look cleaner and since my muscles feel normal again, I can say it was worth the effort!

Treyton loves his 'pet' Alligator

Treyton found out the hard way that Fire Ants don't like him standing on their house! Those little critters may be small, but they sure have a nasty bite!

Rissa is tracing Treyton with chalk. I was surprised he actually stayed still long enough to let her!

I thought this was cute; and yes, the flowers were for me! (~:

Rissa loves to do school work, when I actually get to it. She is the type who expects perfection, so her first day she kept a tissue handy for the tears that were shed when she ''can't do it right''!                                                                                I guess now is a good time to add a school update. Well, it is going. Somewhere between the time of being newly married 9.5 years ago and adding four kids to the family, I lost the ability to handle stress!!?? I am not sure where during that time that ability fled, but it did. So, I struggle with handling everything, but, I manage! /~:

Here is Jenny very patiently cutting fresh beans for me. I am actually getting some garden goods again. My green beans have started producing, being my favorite fresh veggie, I am thankful for that! I have never had tomatoes last this long either. Once I dumped Epsom Salt on them, they grew taller than me!

I tried my hand at making Salsa with my tomatoes and peppers, it actually turned out good! I also had some 'been in the freezer too long' fruit that I turned into jelly... It was a simple recipe that only used fruit, jello and sugar. Simple and good!

Storytime at the library is going again. There usually is only one or two other kids, so we are the majority!

Amber thought she is getting too old for pre-school storytime, so she was glad to be used as a helper.

A couple weeks ago, David had the fun of going with a group of guys to an Atlanta Braves game in Atlanta. We 'left behind' Mommy's met at the park to let the kiddos play together and help pass the evening!