Our First Holiday Party

I thought the kids might get bored over the long holiday weekend, so I decided to throw them a little party. We made it a count down to Christmas party. We decorated cookies, drank hot chocolate and made an advent chain with all my scrapbooking scraps. It was tons of fun!

Thankful for fire alarms, sometimes

Joseph's Indian costume he made for his little Thanksgiving day lunch at school

I haven't been keeping up very well, lately. I have been working on a Christmas present. I can post about that on Monday! It took so long to finish that I didn't start baking for Thanksgiving until 4 pm. We were invited by a very nice family in the ward. I was getting a little nervous that we might be doing it alone, but then they asked. They aren't big turkey lovers, so they were going to have Prime Rib. In the end the store was out of prime rib and so we had turkey and ham. I was a little disappointed, because what an experience- it could be the prime rib Thanksgiving! Everything turned out really well. I made the pies and the rolls and some jello. The traditional rainbow jello. We love it. I let the kids choose what colors went at what point, though. They chose, red first, then orange, then purple, then yellow. You know how that turned out- sort of brownish. The layers didn't mix, but looking through the jell-o sure made it look a little brownish. Taste great, though. The rolls were fabulous, and so were the pies, except for the whole baking situation. Like I said, I started at 4 pm, which means that there wasn't a lot of time to do Jell-o, rolls and 4 pies. I was up until 1 am doing pies and had to still do one today. Since it was a little later than I was used to as far as baking goes I forgot a few things- Ok one really important thing- some tin foil or a catch pan below the pies. Right around 12 midnight the fire alarms alerted me to this forgetfulness! I then sat in a freezing house as all kinds of windows and doors were open while the fire alarm went off for 20 minutes. The pies had 20 minutes left and I couldn't exactly stop them or they would be ruined! It smoked the entire time and the fire alarms let me know that nothing had changed! About 5 minutes into the fire alarm screeching Sam came down with his ears covered with his little sock hands. (Sam has bad eczema and has to soak his hands in bag balm every night. He puts socks on his hands so that the bag balm doesn't get all over.) He curled up in a ball on the floor with his little sock hands over his ears and just sat there like that. Eventually he came up to me and asked if I could do something. Nope, sorry. Emma came down a little later. The little boys never woke up, thank goodness. At the end of the 20 minutes, I was very Thankful to call it a night and go to bed without anymore screeching.
I am thankful for lots of things.
The number one is my husband and family. I am so thankful my husband is coming home soon- a little more than 30 days!
I am also thankful for wonderful people in our ward- so ready to help us out and invite us to be part of their lives. I even had a guy ask if he could take my burnt out light bulbs out for me and come back with new ones. What a great guy! I have been sort of letting them go. They are all burning out en mass.
I am also thankful for 2 good cars. I smashed the 11 year old one into a fire hydrant the other day and broke out the taillight. Sorry car! It has been a faithful thing for 11 years- nary a problem.
I am thankful for friends- can you believe a bunch of high school friends found me the other day. It was so good to see what they were up to.
I am thankful for my health and the health of those I love.
I am thankful for a wonderful nephew that served an honorable mission who just arrived home last week. What a great example for my children.
I am thankful for traditions. I started a tradition a few years back where I wrote people thank you notes around Thanksgiving time. This year I decided it was just too much and I needed to cut out somethings. That was one that went. But, I received 2 from people I had given them to in the past. What a wonderful thing to get. It made me feel so good! I will have to continue that tradition next year now that I know how good it makes you feel.
I am thankful for my kids nagging me to get them in bed. Got to go!

Spt- Look What Came in the Mail the Other Day!

Thankful

One of the things I have been making lately. This one was for Rob's birthday and he will be getting it soon. Hope he likes it.

It is leaves that I cut out with the letters that spell out Thankful on it tied to Jute. There is also torn fabric, pictures of us in little metal frames and scrolls from each of us telling why we are thankful for Rob. I hope it makes his Thanksgiving and birthday a little more enjoyable. See he has been a little depressed lately. He works from 7 am until 10 pm every day except Sundays where he gets the mornings off to do personal stuff and his coworkers still think he slacks off, because he leaves every day at 10 pm. He sits in front of a computer most days, until his eyes are fuzzy. When he does get to go on convoys or helicopter rides he says there is nothing to see except sand and more sand. Nothing to do, nothing to see, no fun stuff to buy. He sent us this, because he really wanted to be part of our trick or treating and because he felt bad that he hadn't sent us anything from there. When I saw the label of what was in the box, I thought, this has to be code. This can't be what is actually in here, but uh, yep, that was exactly what was in the box. He is too funny! He said he would stand in the lines where the care packages for soldiers come in and just take what looked good. He said that the guys really looked at him funny when he would say things like, "hey, that would be good, give me that Lady speed stick!" He told me he had like 6 more of them in his desk drawer and then he said, "oh man, I just ruined your next surprise!" He makes me laugh and he makes me feel bad, but no one is allowed to pray that he gets more excitement in his life! Got it?!

SPT- Pictures in the moment (no words this month)

Anniversary puts us over the Hump!

Yeah, we had our 2nd month anniversary and are now over the hump. We have less than 2 months left!
So here is a quick update. Rob is very excited that he has gotten the opportunity to fly in all kinds of aircraft while over in Iraq. This picture is in a blackhawk, which he has parachuted from, but he also got to ride in several other aircraft including an Ospry which changes from a helicopter into an airplane. He says that is quite the ride when it changes. Rob and a coworker all ready to go on a convoy run. He slept in these coffins as they call them- because if the bomb doesn't kill you all the sandbags falling on you surely will- while he was with the Brits on one of the borders. This picture was taken just as they got off the blackhawk. Everyone was really nervous because their security wasn't there and actually no one was. The other aircraft refused to land. Everyone started to get into a defensive stance and this is when Rob decided it would be a good time to take a picture. Turns out they had landed in the wrong place and the other aircraft could see the convoy hurrying as fast as they could to intercept them, so they decided to stay up to provide cover fire if it was needed. Apparentely it is a requirement that you have your weapon at the gym. It sounds a little dangerous to me, exercising with a gun on, but I guess war isn't suppose to be safe! We are making it at home and are very excited that we are on the downhill side, now.

SPT- Pictures in the moment (no words this month)

In Which we finally obtain White Trash Status

Joy would be so proud!

We went to the Pentagon on a cub scout outing. I took all my children with me- obviously!

We went to the bathroom just before we left, but by the time we arrived, surprisingly {{wink}} one of them had to go really bad. He held it all the way across the street, through the tunnel and up to the entrance, but then he couldn't hold it any longer. I ran up to the front of the line, but they wouldn't let me in without an escort and told me that they didn't have any public restrooms. We were going to take a tour at 1 pm and it was now 12:51. If I tried to make him hold it just a little longer we would have one pee boy on our hands for the entire tour, or I would have to leave and miss the tour and they would be down one chaperon. So I had no other option. I promise, I didn't. So I took him over to the side of the line by the grass and dropped his drawers. Yep, my boy peed on the Pentagon lawn while the security guard yelled at me, "ma'am, Ma'am, no." And I just yelled back, "Never mind, we' re good, now." Joy of course would have told them how much they deserved it and that it was all their fault that her kid had to pee right where the Generals were coming to check in, but I decided to avoid getting carted off by a guy with a really big gun!
BTW, the tour went really well, the kids were all good, no accidents happened and no one was carted off by a guy with a really big gun, but I think a couple security guards have a great story to tell about some white trash woman!

Halloween Fun

How was your Halloween? Ours was Spooktacular! A gathering of friends before the haunting began. Eating the stash! Sam wanted to pull the cart- sometimes a little too fast. Emma was the little Mama for the little fairies and princesses and one Indiana Jones