Merry Christmas...

I had a wonderful Christmas how about you all?  We enjoyed our time with our family!  My children loved all the gifts they received and loved being with their cousins.  

Christmas Eve did hold a really scary event!  We went to a 4pm church service and came home to eat, once we got home and the ham was removed from the oven the olive bread was put in the oven and then it happened...

All of the sudden my mom noticed Reese (Twice Blessed Mommy's little girl) was laying in the play room on her side motionless, now mind you all of the kids were running around and playing very loudly.  My mom picked her up and ran her over to TBM I came right over and she just didn't look right then she started to look a little blue, I got her to say mama and then she dropped her head and kept closing her eyes.  I took her from TBM and ran into the foyer where there was more light.  At that point she wouldn't stay awake we striped her down to make sure she was breathing, she was and TBM called 911, TBD and HD and I all gathered around her on the floor prepared to do CPR if needed she did start to perk up after the paramedics came and they took her to the hospital.  Her vitals and oxygen were all good so after a few hours they were back home.  With no diagnosis.  On Friday TBM took her to the doctor who feels like Reese had a seizure.

The rest of our Christmas was really good.  We have been playing board games, Wii games, resting and continuing to eat way to many sweets!

I am thinking up a list of resolutions I will share with you all this week.

Our new Church

I few weeks back I shared with you all how we had realized we were in the wrong church....  God has blessed us with the church he wants our family to go to!  We joined yesterday and were welcomed with open arms.  I am really excited to see where God leads us in our journey with this church!  

Now a funny story about some things that have happened in our new church already.  A few weeks ago we had a Sunday school class party and all the kids played really well together, Luke was extremely fond of a nine year old boy who said things like "way cool" and "awesome"  he also informed Luke of how he had a crush on a girl at church.

Now Luke being seven and all really didn't understand what the boy was talking about and Luke told us that the boy was crushing on the black haired  girl, with the "Black Haired Momma" that two girls really liked this boy and they were going to crush him....  HD and I found this to be hilarious, I tried to explain that a crush mean that you really like someone but HD interrupted me and told Luke that that crushing someone really hurts and that Luke should never "crush on anyone"!  We tried not to laugh from the front of the mini van but I was cracking up.

The next night at church the boys were all playing and the next thing I know one of the mom's tells me that Luke told her son that her daughter "Was REALLY HOT"  the mom really thought this was funny because she was sure my sweet seven year old had no idea what that meant and her seven year old son didn't either.  I asked Luke who told you to say that, he told me he heard the older boy say it, I told him that you don't say that, that's something Daddy's say to Mommy's he then became really upset and told me momma I don't know if she is hot, I have never ever  even touched her never!  He then told me she might be hot but I don't know if she is sick or something...

So it begins, boys crushing girls, girls crushing boys and maybe  someone has a fever!  I am going to let Luke think this is what they were talking about and just pray for him to stay more interested in action figures than girls for many more years.

We are opening our gifts tomorrow, so tonight is like Christmas Eve for the Happy Family.  We will be going to Twice Blessed Mommy's for Christmas.  I will try to post some pictures of our Christmas tomorrow!

Happy Monday.

Sincerely Fro Me To You ~ The Christmas Secret part 2

Last week I shared with you a picture I hold dear to my heart, a picture of me at Christmas 2000, just days before I found out I was pregnant with our first son, Luke.  This week I want to share two other very special photo's.  I have had all of our child so far in the summer...

I found out I was pregnant again with our second miracle baby on Nov 22, 2002 you can read about how amazing it was to be pregnant without fertility drugs and to be cured from an incurable fertility problem here.  I can remember very well how exciting it was to celebrate Christmas knowing we were going to have another child.  Here is our family photo from that year.

Notice Twice Blessed mommy in the left corner.  She was not dating Twice Blessed Daddy yet, but by the time Bo was born they were talking more seriously, he even sent us a beautiful gift for his birth.  What I think was really funny is at 6 weeks pregnant I was wearing maternity overalls....

The next photo is of our family on Christmas 2004, I found out I pregnant with Daisy on Nov. 6, 2004.  I was again so excited about having another baby, I prayed this would be our girl, and God blessed us with a daughter.  By this Christmas Twice Blessed Mommy and Daddy were married, they are standing in the back with my mom and HD.  My poor little Bo was so sick this Christmas, and we had 24 inches of snow in Ohio, everyone had a great time sledding but me because I was pregnant!  I would give up sledding any day to be pregnant again!

Go to We Are THAT Family for more funny and charming pictures.

An award for me

I found this morning that I had been honored with an award.  An award for being an open and honest blogger.  Thank you so much Amanda for thinking of me.  I love this blog, I love how I feel like I can share anything with you guys and I have friends listening.  I feel free to share openly here.  I am grateful!  

With this award I am to share 10 facts about me.  I am also to share this award with 5 other bloggers.

Fact 1~ This last few months have been the hardest time of my life.  I have never really experienced grief and to be honest it sucks!  I have not been myself lately, not that I am unhappy just not myself, I even think I might be slightly suffering from the big D (depression).

Fact 2~ I have found that I have issues with rain, I know you all already know that I hate the rain well I not only hate the rain, I'm not so fond of the winter either, that being said maybe it's seasonal depression boy I hate that word Depression I don't think I am depressed I am truly happy inside lets say I am just a bit off....  That sounds like off my rocker, lets say I want to stay in my pj's all day and eat cookies and macaroni and cheese and watch TV with the kids.

Fact 3~ I always put my makeup on before I fix my hair, I do this because no matter how pretty my hair is, it's not right without makeup.

Fact 4~  On occasion I find a recipe I like, I change a few ingredients add a few things and call it my own...

Fact 5~ I am madly in love with my husband, he jokes and says if I could fold you up and put you in my pocket you would be a very happy woman....  I believe it's true.

Fact 6~ I don't like to be alone.  I love having the house full of people.  Maybe that's why I want more kids, so the house is full.  

Fact 7~ I talk to strangers, I make small talk with people ever where I go, I will tell people how nice a sweater looks or how pretty a color of nail polish is,   HD will say who is that, I will say I don't know and he just shakes his head, because he does not talk to strangers.

Fact 8~ I have been on a diet for the last 20 years, really TWENTY YEARS!  I started drinking slim fast when I was 10.  I have always went up and down with my weight.  I am currently 18 pounds over weight.  I just ate a slim fast breakfast bar.  I do WW, I try really hard to stay slim and then it rains and I eat cookies and macaroni and cheese.  If we move to AZ I will me very skinny.

Fact 9~ I didn't realize home schooling your children was like going to work full time.  The laundry piles up the floor needs vacuumed for day's and it is left undone because I now have a full time job along with all my other responsibilities.   It takes many hours a day to home school, it's hard work, it takes planing and organization.  It is a job.  It is also the most rewarding  job I have ever done.

Fact 10~ I love to sing,  I used to sing in school, I took first place in competition for the State of Ohio in the 9th grade.  I have sang in church choir, I have even lead worship in a church plant for a short time while we were settling in.  In that time I loved the attention, and in being honest with you I will tell you all, that I started not even hearing the words, I no longer praised God with my voice and my words let alone with my heart but longed for the next compliment.  I sadly no longer have a voice, my singing voice is gone.  When I sing or try to sing I can't hit the notes, and then I start to have an asthma attack.  Some times at church I will start to sing an nothing comes out at all, I am left listening to the words and really letting them penetrate my heart.  I have learned a really wonderful lesson, my voice was a gift from God, someday he may give it back but for now I am happy to listen.

 

I would now like to give this award to 5 woman who I feel are truly honest with thier blogging.

I want to award Linda at Growin' with it, Linda is very honest she touches me with her life all the time.

Wilma at Little Toes and Cheerio's is not only my cousin in law but a very funny honest blogger.

Twice Blessed Mommy is my Aunt and very best friend in the world, she has had more put on her plate in the last 2 years than anyone I know she has a lot to share with us all.

Kristen at We Are THAT Family is one of my first blog friends, I love her blog and she is very honest, I can't wait to read some new facts about her.

Giovanna at Giovanna Diaries is a very honest blogger, she is so sweet I love having her as  blog and a facebook friend!

My Country Tis Of Thee

I really love being an American!  I love our mighty Country's traditions, I love our strength.  I love America!  One of my most favorite places in the world to go is to Washington D.C.!  I have to tell you in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in full bloom it is so breath taking!  At Christmas when the cold is in the air and the lamp posts are decorated and the trees sparkle and less fortunate people play instruments on the street corner, playing Christmas carols, it makes you smile you do want to reach into your pocket and give....

We spent this weekend in Northern Virginia, we went on Saturday to see the National tree it was beautiful.  All around the tree they have placed a Christmas tree for each state with ornaments from made to represent the state.  Texas had ornaments with little yellow roses.  Ohio had ornaments with Cardinals and Ohio State memorabilia.  There is a fire pit on the grounds where the tree is set, it is a huge fire pit they use a fork lift to drop logs from large tree's in, like huge stumps.  A band plays while are walking around and a shop sells cocoa.

It was very very cold on Saturday like a high of 37, so to say the least we were freezing!  Twice Blessed Mommy's little ones about froze to death!  They could have had a much better time if the temperature was higher!  I really feel for Twice Blessed, I can remember wanting to take my children even as infants to see sights and visit new places and when they are miserable it makes you miserable.  Even though they were cold I am very thankful we got to be together to see the National Tree!

Here is Reese and Tate, this is when we started our day, they were cold but still happy.

Here is Daisy, we were at a really cool out door Christmas fair.

Here is Twice Blessed Mommy.

HD, look at that cool building in the back ground.

Me and my sweet boys all bundled up.

This is the National Tree.

The Tree sits directly across the street from the White House.

This was a Happy Mommy moment!

As we walked back, this is what we saw, look how amazing, the Capital building.

Look how the street was decorated.

HD snapped this picture of the National Tree as we drove out of  the city.

Christmas Tree Oh Christmas Tree How Lovely Are Your Branches

Today Kristen is having a Tree party, go to We Are THAT Family for more spectacular Christmas Tree Fun!  You can also link up at The Southern Family, for even more.

We have several trees.  I love putting up and decorating the house it is such a joyful time of year!  This is a picture of the Family Christmas tree it is in our Great room where we hang out and spend most of our time.

I just love how the tree looks first thing in the morning with all the lights out!

This is our great big window that looks out over the woods, I love hanging lighted garland.

This is my favorite ornament!  It was on my Grandparents tree when I was little.

This is our family ornament from last year, I edited our names to protect the innocent!

This porcelain nativity is one of my most treasured ornaments.

This is the tree you can see from  my bed (and HD's pj's thrown on our dresser to the left)

Here is my bed, like the Holiday pillow?

This fiber optic tree is in Luke and Bo's room.

This pink fiber optic tree is in Daisy's room, see how she has placed a my little pony with her tree, she likes it like that.

To all my Blog friends~

Macaroni and Cheese

My little bloggy, facebook friend Jodi from my hometown asked me if I had a Mac and Cheese recipe.  Now not only do I have a Mac and Cheese recipe I have the best Mac and Cheese recipe you have ever tasted!  I would love to take all the credit for this delicious master piece but it is actually my sister in law Jess's recipe.  Jess does not have a blog so I will share it with you!

Jess's Macaroni and Cheese

1 cup macaroni 

*All cheeses are grated*

1 cup provolone cheese

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1 cup munster cheese

1 cup sour cream

1/2 stick butter 

2 eggs

Cook your noodles as the box directions.  Melt the butter and mix all the ingredients together.  Sprinkle the top with paprika.   Bake in a greased dish at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.

I am telling you this is one amazing mac and cheese!

Sincerely Fro Me To You ~ The Christmas Secret

When I think of Christmas it just puts a smile on my face!  I love all things Christmas, its the time we celebrate and honor the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  The lights and decorations are simply beautiful.  I have been known to play Christmas music all year long....

The Christmas of 2000 well the whole month of December 2000 HD and I were on pins and needles.  We had been trying to have a baby our first baby for over a year and I was praying for a Christmas miracle!  Early on in the month I had taken a fertility drug called Clomid, I took 5 pills in all, I took them every other day.  So toward the end of the month I could take a pregnancy test every other day for 10 days.  

This picture was taken on Christmas Eve at my Aunt Jan and Uncle Luther's house were our large extended family gathered for many many years to celebrate together.  I had taken a pregnancy test the day before and it was negative but I was still very hopeful, tomorrow was Christmas!

The next morning, Christmas morning I took a pregnancy test and it was negative.  I was so upset, I was just sure I was pregnant.  Again on the 27th I took a test and again it was negative, by this point I was just so sad I am pretty sure I was ruining our trip home to Ohio with our family and my attitude sucked!  The morning of the 29th we were having a nice breakfast with Zack and Jess and our little nephew R.  I will never forget making the walk down the hall to take the test, it was the last test of the month and then on to more fertility treatments, I was filled with uncertainty and was really scared I would never have a baby of my own.  R crawled into the bathroom while I was watching the stick for any sign of a pink line, then it happened it slowly came into sight!  I had waited years and spent a small fortune in pregnancy test only to have them all be negative and finally all my prayers had been answered!  I yelled for HD to come here, we hugged and kissed and we both scooped our little nephew up and kissed him he just giggled.  

When I look at this picture it makes me so happy.  Hidden deep inside my body was my baby, My first born son, Luke.  I am very thankful for the way it all worked out!  I was able to be with my family and tell them face to face that our prayers had been answered.  

Go to We Are THAT Family for more Fro Me To You.

Better Much Better!

By last night Luke and I were feeling just fine!  I was so hungry I could have eaten a whole 12 inch sub from Subway.  HD brought us home subs last night.  By this morning I was back to my self.  I whipped up some cookies for Daisy's homeschool  party and we have had a pretty good day!  I am praying that Daisy and Bo don't get sick because we have been to homeschool co-op and Walmart oh and to Toys R Us so we have pretty much given the flu to 5000 people if they come down with it in the next day....

Now lets talk toys, I went to Toys R Us with one mission in mind I was buying a Cozy Coupe for Tate and Reese (Twice Blessed Mommy's little ones) I was very disappointed to find that they no longer sell the old Coupe but a Pink and Purple girls model or a Fireman's boy model.  Did I mention this is a gift for both of them?  Now yes I do know there are woman firemen/women but when you buy a fireman toy it's not normally a girl you have in mind...  I did go with the firetruck coupe because it would just be wrong to give Tate a pink coupe for Christmas.  What happened to the old red and yellow one?

Have any of you started wrapping yet?  I really need to get busy!  We are going to visit Twice Blessed Mommy, Daddy and Kids this weekend to see the National Tree and have some fun together so I have to wrap all of our gifts to go up there, I will be wrapping all day tomorrow!

I look forward to sharing my tree with you on Friday, Kristen is having a little party where you can post pictures of your tree and Boo Mama is doing a Tour of Homes on Monday.  So stay tuned for some tree pictures.

I feel really bad yall'

Yesterday went like most others, school in the morning, rush rush rush.  Monday's are ballet days for Daisy.  As I drove across town Luke started to complain that his stomach was hurting.  Within minutes of arriving at ballet Luke started throwing up.  I hurried to my mom's house she lives really close to ballet, as I cleaned the car I felt a little nauseous but who wouldn't while cleaning up well you know....

We can right home and about 6 last night I started getting sick too.  So far it has only been Luke and I.  I guess we should have gotten our flu shot....

Hope you are having a better Tuesday than us!

Fro Me to You~ Open your eyes

This is my fruitless attempt at teaching my Grandma how to keep her eyes open for a picture.  

"see Grandma open them really wide like this!"

"No No that's not it"  Open your eyes...

"Maybe if I look up here they will stay open"

"Oh Forget it!"  We will just blog it!

For lots of fun with photo's go to We Are THAT Family.

Pictures from Thanksgiving 2008

HD snapped my picture while I was cooking and I turned and gave him a great big smile.  How does my hair look curly?  I love big hair, Ruby Wife will say she loves it curly.  HD loves it strait.

This is my Grandma's side of the family.  There is a whole lot of us here but not all of us...  Do you see Little Toes and Cheerios on the top right and Twice Blessed Mommy in the middle.

HD and I right before we left my Aunts house.  I remembered, oh, three minutes before we walked out the door that we had not had a picture with each other all day, or with our kids....

This is a picture of my Dad and my sister Molly and I.  We went over to my Dads house on Saturday for a few hours for an amazing breakfast.  Have I ever told you all that I got all my cooking ability from my Dad?  He could open up a restaurant, he is that good!

This is Jess and I, I sat just high enough in the chair to look like the tall one.  I am a good 4 inches shorter that Jess!

This is HD with both of his brothers, Zack and Travis.  Looks like Travis is a bit taller than his older brother Zack and a bit shorter than his oldest brother HD.

Regan and Luke snuggling up together!  My boy will be singing All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth,  for sure!

This is my nephew R.  We exchanged presents while we were back home for Thanksgiving.  Our boys played so well with each other!

This is my niece C, she and Daisy had such a good time while we were in Ohio!

These are a few of my favorite pictures from last week.  Have a great night!

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving was wonderful!  We had really great food and the family was nice too!  Just kidding!  I loved being with our family.  I had such a great time visiting with our extended relatives, my cousins are a lot of fun to hang out with.  My cousin in law at Little Toes and Cheerios gave me the most amazing Christmas gifts, she had a Happy Mommy apron made for me, and she had a puzzle made for my kids, its a our last years Christmas photo, the last family picture we have of my Grandpa.  I can't even begin to tell you how surprised and Thankful I was.  Thank you so much "Wilma" I love you and getting closer to you on our blogs has been great!

Our time with HD's family was so much fun!  I am really really blessed with my Sisters in Law!  Jess and I had so much fun, we stayed up talking until 3 am all but one night.  We also shopped and ate and played games, we played Taboo, have you all played Taboo?  We played boys against girls and we had a blast!  Now I will say that when HD was describing things his brothers just knew, I think it was a brother thing.  When Jess was describing things her sister Jodi, helped us beat the boys every time!  I am going to go buy the game this week!  We got to spend time with Regan who was on leave from the Army for Thanksgiving.  Regan stayed with us at Jess and Zack's house, our kids are just crazy about her, she is an amazing young woman and we are all really proud of her!  We didn't get to spend much time with Travis, HD's younger brother, but we did drag him into a game of Taboo on Saturday and it was so much fun!

On Friday, I had a sister movie party.  Jess, Regan, Molly and myself all went to the movies.  Guess what we saw.....  Twilight!!!!  It was so good!  We all have read all the books and we had to see the movie together.  The movie was pretty true to the book for the most part which was great.  I can't wait for the next movie, I'll have to drive to Ohio to go see it with my girls.

We are trying to get back to normal this week, I am starting school with the boys now and better go get busy.  I will post some pictures of our trip later today.

Happy Tuesday!

COMMENTS!!!

Just so ya'll know and understand....

Comments are like CRACK for the blogger!

We write with the thought that someone, somewhere, will read and like what we say!

We bloggers are opinionated people with an opinion to share.

With that said I will let you in on a secret, I am an only child and I like to talk. (and be heard)

I like to be the center of attention and I REALLY like knowing people are reading me!

SO COMMENT WILL YOU?!

ITS BLOG CRACK I SAY !

My Car and Shame, Shame people!

*This is one of my very favorite posts and it is very fitting today, we are traveling to Ohio and I have to clean the car!  While I am away I hope you all enjoy some of my favorite old posts.

So y'all know we are leaving at 2 am on Saturday for vacation and today was clean the car day, Daddy will not ride for 2 hours in the mess we call car/van more or less 14 so I promised to clean the thing up.  Now I must say I was feeling very organized with my packing techniques and I had no idea the hidden dangers awaiting me in my minivan.  Now this is one of those moments that I pray the Child's Protective Services doesn't read my blog because they might send someone for a home study after I tell you all the toxic situation in which I have been driving my beloved children in.  I really have no idea how we fit with all the mess and am very thankful we have not been over taken by bugs of some kind....  So here goes the Shame!

1 temporary tattoo

3 stickers

5 Ponytail holders

2 used band aids

16 army men

8 ink pens

19 game pieces (and they don't even  go together)

2 toy keys

plastic cat

12 candy wrapper

2 marbles

2 ninja turtle swords

Cheetos

9 barrets

2 sea shells 

play coin

pop (soda) top

3 M&M's

5 books

17  action figures

plastic bat

spoon

2 drink lids

6 feathers (birds may have been here)

marker

marker top

12 gum wrappers

2 sucker wrappers

smashed chewed gum (very old and hard)

ice tea packet

mashed penny from Smithsonian

18 french fries (very old and very hard)

4 yo go's fruit snacks

dried up strawberry

gummy bear

13 sticky penny's

9 used Kleenex's

broken slinky

plastic soda cap

tic tac toe board

sun glass lens

2 pairs of sunglasses

plastic egg

plastic Gary the Snail (sponge bob)

plastic hat

battery AAA

receipt

7 straw wrappers

bouncy ball

toy skeleton

coffee cup

plastic rock

large rock wrapped in shiny foil

mega block

bouncy frog

ear phones

sucker stuck under seat 

2 dimes

dried flowers

20 CD's

auto touch up paint

barbie shoe

fortune cookie

magnet

gift bag

diaper bag (my baby is going to be 3 she has no need for a diaper bag)

1 size 2 diaper

2 tooth picks

dental floss

toy cape

3 pull ups

2 pairs of socks (not matching)

child harness

prescription

2 business cards

Atlas

chain from broken necklace

twisty tie

5 cheerios

drinking straw

2 towel racks (I need to return)

1 toilet paper holder (also need to return)

stroller attachment (I don't even own the stroller anymore)

4 pretzels

plastic dog

jumper cables

bag of silk flowers

1 shoe

french fry container

jewelry box

umbrilla

5 sucker sticks

2 corn dog sticks

6 fishy crackers

1 sippy cup with moldy juice

1 sippy cup with milk cottage cheese

broken Styrofoam cup

paper from Sunday School

price tag

baby doll sock

little people hay stack

toy purse

pop top

toy ax

medicine spoon

medicine cup

9 plastic dinosaurs

mesh bag

bible study book (lost and now found)

daughters short's

daughters pj's

3 pair of underwear

eye patch

coupon

Lego's

1 dried black olive

3 lip glosses

lotion

more crumbs than one person can count

hand gel (after sitting in this car we could lick the cart handle at Walmart and be fine!)

1 raisin (it probably started as a grape)

and one blanket......

So we could feed a small country with the remains of this nasty minivan, we can change clothes and even touch up our makeup not to mention my kids could entertain themselves for hours on the toys in here!  I am really surprised, it's almost embarrassing but I know you all love me and I am just to busy painting my nails and educating my children while organizing our clothes to clean out the car.  But I can promise you this if Daddy sees this list he will never buy me a new car, never ever!

I know I have won the award for dirtiest car but you can still head over to Rocks in my Dryer and see what others have found in their cars.

The Upcoming Week

I will be taking a week off of this blog of mine, not that I haven't taken off a lot lately, I sure have.  Sorry.  We are going to Ohio tomorrow for Thanksgiving.  We will be staying with my brother and sister in law and their family.  We are going to my Aunt Brenda's house on Thanksgiving day where I will be spending Thanksgiving with some other bloggers you may know, Twice Blessed Mommy who is my Aunt and my best friend and my cousin in law Little Toes and Cheerios.  We will be eating and having lots of fun for the next few days.  

Yesterday at church we heard a sermon on Thanksgiving, we learned that so often we are thankful for the things we have forgetting that it is all about what God has given us and our thanks should really be directed at what he has done for us.

As hard as the holidays are going to be for me this year, I am thankful!  I am Thankful for all the years I had my Grandpa, I am even Thankful that God took him home in his time without pain and suffering.  I am Thankful for my wonderful husband, that I don't just have a spouse but a best friend.  I am Thankful for my three healthy children, each one a blessing!  I am Thankful that God knows whats best for me and even though I am saddened monthly by my lack of pregnancy He knows when and if he will bless us again, and his plan is greater than I could ever imagine.  I am Thankful for Tate and Reese, they are a miracle, many families have lost a their child born way to early (25 weeks) and we have not one healthy baby but two.  I am Thankful for my salvation, I will never deserve it, but Jesus came for everyone one in the world.  I am Thankful for the daily encouragement and friendships from this blog.  Happy Thanksgiving!

I will be posting some of my favorite post while I am away so you will be reading reruns...  Enjoy!

Some Answers part 2

I am really enjoying answering your questions.

Anonymous asked me how my day is set up, and if I have an advice on being a good wife and an marriage advice for a couple with young children~

I set my day up like this- We get up at 6 each morning, I set the coffee pot the night before so when we get up we have hot coffee waiting.  HD and I spend a few minutes reading the Bible and then I pack his lunch and make breakfast.  The kids get up between 6:30 and 7.  We eat breakfast together as a family and HD leaves for work at 7:30, We pray together as a family before he walks out the door.  I start school with the kids when he leaves.  I am teaching 2nd grade and Kindergarten so I alternate, Math with one and then the other, phonics with one and then the other.  I do some pre school with Daisy in between Math and phonics with the boys.  We have lunch around 1pm each day and Daisy takes a nap at 2pm.  I start dinner around 3 and when HD gets home at 5 its ready.  We sit together at the table and share dinner.  We will sometimes play a game after dinner sometimes we read books or even watch tv together.  The kids go to bed at 8.  I love to read so I read a lot in the evening.  HD and I sit together by the fire or on the couch and read or watch tv or just talk....

My advice on being a good wife is very simple, if your husband loves to eat make sure you feed him after a long day of work, if he hates a mess, then spend a few minutes cleaning up before he comes home.  My husband loves to eat and he likes me to be fixed up so every day at 4:45 I touch up my makeup and dinner is ready when he gets in the door.  The very best marriage advice I can give anyone with kids or not is pray for your husband!  Our husbands are faced with many challenges each and everyday and the best thing you can do is pray for him.  Pray together and if you have a husband who does not like to pray out loud ask him if you can pray with him and take his hand and just pray for you both.  Take time to be with each other alone also.  I treasure my time with HD in the evening when our kids are in bed, lets face it babysitters are expensive  so we have dates at home often, after the kids go off to bed I try and set the stage for a nice date sometimes romantic sometimes just fun.  

Little Toes asked me if I had an easy cake recipe for Christmas~  

I will give you my favorite cake recipe, its called Neiman Marcus Bars

Crust-

1 box of butter cake mix

1 stick of butter

1 large egg

Filling-

1 package of cream cheese 8 oz at room temp.

2 large eggs

1 tea pure vanilla extract

1 stick of butter melted

3 3/4 cups of confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for the first step mix the ingredients together for the crust, it should come together in a ball.  With your fingers pat it evenly into a 9x13 pan.

Next for the filling mix the first 4 ingredients together until smooth and then about a cup at a time add the sugar, mix until incorporated well.  Pour the filling on top of the crust mixture.  Bake in the oven for 45-47 minutes it should be well browned on top and just slightly jiggle when you shake the pan,  Place it on a wire rack to cool for about 30 minutes, cut and serve.  This is one  of my very favorite deserts ever! 

Growin' with it asked me three very good questions, What did I want to be when I grew up, If I was a superhero what would my powers be and what is my favorite color and why~

I had two career aspirations, I always and I mean always wanted to be a wife and mommy!  My mother and I lived with my Grandparents from the time I turned 5 and the only really good relationship I ever saw was that of my Grandpa and Grandma, I would dream of how my husband would sweep me away and we would have 7 children, I even had all 7 names picked out -Carlotta, Calliope, Collette, Christian, Justine, Jasmine and Sky.  I wanted a house full of girls.

My other dream job was to be a famous singer, not just a singer but a famous one, I wanted to be the next Reba!  Now being that I am from Dayton Ohio and with no hint of southern accent, this is a problem...

If I was a superhero I would totally have the power to be invisible, I would use my power to listen in on conversations and rid the Christian world of Gossip!  You would never know when Superhero Happy Mommy would be listening in and bust you for talking about your friends behind their back, so all Christian Woman everywhere would be kinder and way more careful about what they say, creating unity in the church like we have never known before!  Hey God's invisible and always listening, that should make us think.....

My favorite color is red!  I love red because I look good in red, red clothes, red lipstick, red shoes, and of course red nail polish.  I think red is a powerful color and when you where red you get noticed, not in a "your hot way"  but in a you know what your talking about way.  I don't think I ever walk by a woman dressed in red and don't look twice.  And all red food is yummy!

Sincerely Fro Me To You ~ Thanksgiving

Over the last few years I have had so much to be Thankful for!  We prayed and prayed for God to bless us with a daughter, and he did.  We have 3 healthy children.  We have been really blessed to have our family travel to be with us almost every other year.  HD's brother Zack and his wife Jess come with my niece and nephew.  My sil and I have grown into such great friends, she is one of my best friends in the world and when anything good or bad happens in my life she is one of the first people I think of, one of the first people I call.  She is a great support in my life and I am so Thankful that God blessed Zack with her, I am sure most people have civil relationships with their sil's but I love Jess deeply and she is such a wonderful part of our family.  These pictures were taken on Thanksgiving 2005.

We had a very small Thanksgiving in 2006, we stayed home and had our friends the "D" family come for dinner, they have 3 boy and one little girl.  I am very Thankful for my friendship with Mrs. D, although we rarely get to see each other, I enjoy talking to her on the phone.

This Thanksgiving was not only memorable because we spent it with our friends, it is memorable because only 20 minutes after they left Daisy started throwing up and Luke, Bo and HD started the next day and me the day after that.  Nothing like the flu over Thanksgiving.

 

I am so Thankful that my Mother and Grandparents moved here a year and a half ago.  I am even more thankful for the picture of my Grandparents sitting at my table, last year was hectic, we had 20 people for dinner and I am not even in one picture.  But at some point I took a picture of my Grandparents, this was the first Thanksgiving they had ever been at my home, I am really Thankful I got to cook my Grandpa such a feast.

We had Zack, Jess and their kids, Aunt Stacey and Aunt Ruth Anne, Dana, Joe and their kids as well.  

I am also very Thankful for this Blog!  I am always encouraged by you all.  Thank you for taking these journey's with me.  For more old pictorial fun go to We Are THAT Family.