Shepherd Story

Yesterday I took the boys over to see our neighbor’s nativity scene. I was quizzing Luke on the different figures in the scene. He was going through and naming them, but when he got to the shepherd holding the staff, I could see a moment of confusion. Then he said matter-of-factly, “He’s the one who cooks the marshmallows.” I guess that shepherds staff does look like a pretty good marshmallow roaster!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Wow, where has this week gone? Where has this month gone for that matter?

This weekend has been packed full of fun events.

Wednesday started the food prep for Thanksgiving...lots of cooking and cleaning.

Thursday was a nice day. Steve and Judy hosted about 20 family members for a Thanksgiving feast and fellowship. I realized at the end of the day that I hadn't taken a single picture while all the family was here. Whoops! I managed to snap a few shots of the food prep, but after that, I forgot to pick up the camera and capture some Thanksgiving memories. At the end of the day, we were also able to webcam with my family too, so that was very nice as well.

After the kiddos had been snuggly tucked into bed, I set about making out Black Friday Shopping lists. Chris, though not excited, was willing to help me brave the Black Friday frenzy. We had decided to hit the midnight Toys R Us sale, come home get a few hours of sleep then head back out for the 5am sales. It sounded like a great plan in theory...but we realized the sleeping part just wasn't going to happen when the line stretched well beyond the store as we pulled up to our local Toys R Us store. We managed to snag most of what we were looking for...(many of the items being the last ones on the shelf!) and saved about $100.00 and only spent $50.00. Of course we stood in shoulder to shoulder crowds - spent 3 hours standing in line...but we did save a ton of money...and the kids will be getting some things they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. So, in the end it was worth it.

After we left Toys R Us at about 3am, we decided to head on over to Wal-Mart and get in line for the items we wanted most. Chris went to one line and I went to the other. The wait was long and tiring, but we got everything we wanted. When the lady came on the loud speaker to "start the shopping" insanity ensued and people started ripping pallets open and grabbing items like it was life or death. It was a bit...frightening! =) We got what we needed and hit the checkout line. We had to wait longer at the beginning, but we got out of there QUICK! After that we made quite a few more stops getting most of what we had on our list...though some of it was gone by the time we got to the other stores. We finally drug our tired old bodies into the house at about 8am Friday morning. We could pull all nighters in college, but now that we're a bit older...it's much harder to rebound! Thankfully Steve and Judy took the kids out shopping and for lunch so Chris and I could grab some ZZZ's.

It was a crazy experience (our first doing any Black Friday sales) but we really did save a ton of money. So, though we're still exhausted from the whole experience - I'd do it all over again. I can't wait to see the look on the kids' faces when they get their gifts!

And finally, today we hit the road early to help with the church float, play/watch the annual Turkey Bowl at church (Chris played, the kids and I watched if anyone wants to know) and then we got bundled up again to watch the boat parade on the river.

So, to sum up this Thanksgiving: We had a nice holiday weekend with so very much to be thankful for. It was so very nice to have Chris home this year!

Here are the few pictures I did manage to take of the Thanksgiving fun.

Wednesday night Judy started making pies. The boys were more than happy to help!

Luke and Will even got to make their own pie of sorts...

The finished product!


Thanksgiving morning, Chris helped the boys with a little food project. He did most of the work...ok, he did ALL the work, but the boys enjoyed eating the finished product. I think Chris made about 15 of these cookie/candy gobblers.

A closer look!



I had to take a picture of the homemade banana pudding...Yum!! It's a super easy recipe and so rich and tasty!

I'm posting these next two pictures for my family. My mom makes these great butterhorn rolls. We have them every Thanksgiving and Christmas, so I thought I would try my hand at them this year since I was miles away from my mom's butterhorn rolls! These weren't as good as hers, but they were pretty good!

And this is the point I should have a lot of family photos to share of the whole family enjoying Thanksgiving day. But, like I said earlier...I didn't manage to get any of these pictures. =)

So, here's the next picture in the line. A very tired Meme and Will ready for bed!

I hope you all had a very nice Thanksgiving!

Warm Day at the Beach

We are trying to take advantage of any warm day that God sends our way. Today was a beautiful day! We decided to spend the day outside basking in the sun. This lead us to…the beach! The boys LOVE the beach! It’s the biggest, best sandbox ever! The water is mesmerizing and the boardwalk is always fun to meander.

This little baby sea turtle washed up on the beach. We kept trying to put him back in the water, but the tide kept bringing him in. I had to take a few pictures of him - he was so cute! After we had tried a few times to get him back into the water, a nice couple walking by took him out on one of the piers and put him in the water there. Hopefully he was able to swim out to the ocean after being put further in the water!

Chris and I attempted to build a sandcastle. The boys kept trying to destroy every attempt, but we managed to get this one done before...

...they got past the moat and conquered the castle!

even Chris got into the destruction!


There is nothing like falling face first into the sand!

Happy Halloween!

I promise I have an update in the works. I even have it all written...it's the uploading pictures that's slowing me down. In the meantime, here is a more recent post...Halloween!

The boys were cowboys for Halloween. I have to admit I wanted them to be cowboys so we could buy them cowboy boots.=) Since Luke seemed to be on board with being a cowboy…and Will didn’t care either way, we went ahead and deemed them cowboys for Halloween.

The boys were excited to get in their costumes and get candy! We participated in the Trunk-or-Treat event at our church (this is where you decorate the trunk of your car and pass out candy in the parking lot.) Since the boys were cowboys, we had planned to make our mini-van into a covered wagon. We had a fake fire in front with a pot of candy “cooking” over the fire. Out of the “wagon”, we were serving chili. Well, it all worked except for the covered wagon decorations…the wind was too strong for the cover of our covered wagon…but we still served the chili (and candy of course) and people seemed ok with that. =)

The boys enjoyed going around to all the other cars in the parking lot and filling their little pumpkin buckets with candy. They also got to enjoy hot dogs and a hay ride. All in all, it was a fun Halloween!

Will insisted on putting on his Nemo swim trunks...it's all the rage in cowboy fashions!

Here is his completed costume...

We went to Uncle Joe and Aunt Marge's house as well as our good friends Mr. Ron and Ms. Joyce's house before we headed over to the church for Trunk-or-Treat. The boys were excited to get candy! They had to sit down and eat the very first piece right away!

Cowboy Luke with Cowboy Uncle Joe!

These are some serious cowboys!

Howdy partner!

A cowboy and his horse...

"Home, home on the Range..."

I'll take any excuse to dress up. I went along with the theme and dressed up as a cowgirl!

Yehaaaaww!

Chris didn't really dress up (he was the "cook" of our chuck wagon and served up the chili to those who visited our campfire...) However, I do have an evil expression that seems appropriate to post for a Halloween post…

Chris and Randy posing at Trunk-or-Treat...

We are ready to pass out some candy!

Cook and Cowgirl...

I forgot to get a picture of our little campfire with the candy pot. Whoops!

The boys had a great time on the hayride!

Posing in front of the BIG frog!

Eating some grub...

More pictures in front of the frog...

Luke wanted to try on my wig after we got home. I think we'll keep his hair short!