11/26/2007

Oh how I love Thanksgiving.....

.....let me count the pounds
oh my word I just had the BEST ThanksgivingS! First I want to tell you how absolutely BLESSED I am to have such great friends and I know that. My SIL was going to come into town for Thanksgiving Day but plans changed at the last minute so my friend, Jesica, canceled her plans to cook us dinner...how sweet is that?? So not expected but really appreciated! I wasn't stressing because we knew we were going to celebrate on Saturday with our "family" during the game....BUT instead of just one day we got to celebrate TWICE:-) Jesica has a gift of hospitality and is the friend I can call and say "add 4 more for dinner tonight" and she can do it without batting an eye...trust me that is a HUGE gift and I have called when it was getting late and I was on her side of town and didn't feel like cooking. I do love you Jesi and not just for your cooking lol She IS Martha Stewart in the kitchen and made a HUGE spread...We got there before noon and stayed till after dark and spent most of that time eating. I am talking fruit trays, pickle and olive trays, veggies and dip, sausage and cheese trays AND thanksgiving dinner. It was THE BEST TURKEY I have ever had and that is saying a lot since I don't like turkey:-) We even ate the leftover turkey on Friday because it was SO GOOD. Then on Saturday we went over my favorite persons house for her family Thanksgiving. It is so sweet of her to include us in with her family. Talk about feeling loved! My kids even told my Mom on the phone that we were having "our real family Thanksgiving" on Saturday. She is my heart and I consider her my sister even if we aren't really related..Our kids think we fight like sisters anyway but only because we are both stubborn lol I SOOO love you Merci:**) She is also an AMAZING AMAZING cook! Oh my word I ate enough dressing for a whole family! I was down 13 lbs but I probably regained it on her dressing alone. Oh my word when she took it out of the oven I was GIDDY!! Food makes me that happy lol Oh but let me tell you when she pulled it out you could see the butter on the top! That stuff is AMAZING!! Her dh also smoked the turkey and who doesn't like smoked turkey so I was in food heaven. We ate those leftovers on Sunday so we have had turkey for FOUR days straight and enjoyed every single bite. I also had a WHOLE plate of dressing yesterday by myself. You can keep the pies because her dressing is a dessert all by itself. Most of all though it was SO nice to spend Thanksgiving with people who love you unconditionally. I know I am blessed and I pray I can be a blessing too. I love you ladies!!

Wow I am so lovely lol

If you have seen my car you will understand this:-) I have children that like to draw so the floor of my car is covered in books and papers. My trunk is also full of things I haven't put away yet like a carpet cleaner and box that should have been unloaded by now SO this morning when I NEED my ice scraper I can't find it....So I did what any Floridian would do and I find a spatula;-) I am seriously working hard to make a small hole to see out of so I can drive to the bus stop. See I am not just lovely I am safe too:-P When I get there I am working on clearing the window some more when a neighbor asks to borrow my "snow scraper"...imagine her surprise when she sees I have a spatula instead lol Lets forget that I am still in pajamas because I am cleaning my window with kitchen utensils! I hand it to her and start looking for my ice scraper so I can help her and I finally find it under a bunch of junk...thank God because the other wasn't working well lol We clean off her window and another neighbor asks to use it because apparently I am not the only one who wasn't prepared...my defense is I am from Florida but what is theirs? :-D

11/21/2007

Happy Thanksgiving!!



Happy Thanksgiving!!! I can't even begin to tell you all the things I am thankful for this year!! Not only would it take forever but I really don't have time to be sitting at the computer lol This will be my second Thanksgiving in Oklahoma...Our second Thankgiving away from my biological family and once again we won't be alone. Tomorrow we are going to spend it with new friends and Saturday we will be celebrating with my favorite person in the whole world. I couldn't be more blessed. I may be single and raising my kids alone but I have the best friends in the whole world! God has truly blessed us:-)
Thank you Father for another year of Your mercy and grace. Thank you for just being there for us in so many ways. I AM so thankful and You bless me beyond measure...Help me to be a blessing to others..I love You!!

11/06/2007

My Kids

This is a first for us and I had to share because it made me laugh:-) My boys have had a hard time readjusting to our busy life and schoolwork....ok they have been lazy in turning in their homework:-P My youngest is a girl so this doesn't apply to her....she just LOVES school! Anyway, I had this deal with my boys....My oldest is an A student so I had told him he could keep his hair long unless he came home with a C and that C would mean crewcut :-D I honestly didn't expect him to do that but I thought it would be enough to keep him on his toes...the other son would lose tv and that includes FridayNightSmackdown if he brought home a C....So I had conferences with the two youngest ones teachers and I find out that my middle child has been goofing off and his grades weren't the honor roll grades that I expect from him so he has consequences and that included losing TV. My oldest son hadn't even gotten his report card and he went ahead and grounded himself!! I am not kidding! This child was convinced he was bringing home a bad grade and asked for a haircut and took away his cellphone and tv from himself! For the past two weeks he has been a model student and yesterday he calls me and says "Mom I don't have to be grounded anymore because I got my report card and it was FINE! I didn't get a bad grade" I am laughing because *I* didn't ground him! I do think this was a wake up call for the boys though because grades have never been an issue for them and both have been putting in extra time to do homework...My younger son even turned in his book report early. I am enjoying the fact that the tv hasn't been on in over a week and they don't miss it. My oldest ungrounded himself yesterday and still hasn't watched it lol Silly kids! In other news I have been trying to figure out a way to give my kids a little spending money without it being allowance because I don't believe in paying my children to be citizens of the household...BUT I also want them to learn how to budget and they have to have money to do that...see my dilemma?? SOOOOO I came up with something that seems to be working for us...I have offered the children $.50 a Bible verse and they can earn up to $5.00 a week. They jumped all over that and the best part is I am not picking the verses so it has been interesting to see what they come up with! Please don't email me and tell me I shouldn't bribe my children to learn scripture because I don't care lol I was a buskid that ONLY went because someone offered to swallow a goldfish and it worked:-) It is also cute to see the different ways they learn. My oldest decided to pick an entire passage and put it to music. My middle child seems to have my memory so he just reads it and remembers. My youngest wrote hers down on paper and quizzed herself till she knew it. Of and they can't just tell me ONE time they have to still know it whenever I ask and they get paid on Fridays after they tell me the verse and location one more time. I guess the very best part is not only are they learning scripture but I am too because I have to know if they are right or not:-D