A Christmas Visit

On Saturday we made a trip "over the river and through the woods " literally to Grandmother's house we did go. We celebrated with PaPa and Grandma and had a very nice lunch.

Christmas is Here!!

Christmas really starts for me when we get the tree up. I didn't know how I was going to fit a tree into our house this year. You see I love to buy furniture and God has blessed me with lots of family , so it gets kind of crowded sometimes. So, I scooted down to the Salvation Army and bought a smaller tree. These pictures are of some of the kids decorating the tree. It was a very smooth process this year.

This is the best the tree looked. The next morning Don found it lying on the floor. We have three cats and a kitten in the house this Christmas , I suspect one or all of them. After setting the tree back upright and getting Don to adjust the stand as it should have been in the first place ( I guess I helped the cats out). I tied the tree up with some fishing line. Now all Kitty can do is knock off the bottom tier ornaments and bat them around the floor.

Things I like Thursday

Well, here I go joining a bandwagon. You know what I mean .. the Fabulous Father Friday, Super Sistat Saturday, the Marvelous Mother-in-Law Monday ...whatever. Don't get the idea there will be a new "thing I like" next week. I am just not that reliable. With no further ado.....


I LOVE coffee!! But I also really like these cups from Wal-Mart for $1. Very retro..esp the green one I have.













I love chocolate chip cookies. But these are extra special because I didn't have to bake them. Morgan baked like a gazillion.































I really like brand new white tennis shoes. They are so white for about a half and hour before I spill the coffee that I also like so well. I bought three pair of these. And ,yes, my kids did ask why I was taking pictures of my feet. lol





Dianna

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2008 was by far the least eventful and nice Thanksgiving since 2004 when we started doing foster care and first had two of our three adopted boys home for the holidays. Wow!!! has it been a wild ride!! I wouldn't trade 'em for a barrel of monkeys ...on a day when I could tell which were the monkeys.

We didn't have any company this year per my request. After having the sweet granddaughters for three weeks and Don gone nearly every weekend we needed a quiet holiday. So, here are some pictures from the Thanksgiving dinner.

Morgan is about to turn me out of the kitchen. She can cook pretty much anything needed. Here she is making pie. Can you see the flour evidence.

We gave the camera to someone under 10 years of age so you get Morgan scowling and me eating.


Who had ketchup on my Thanksgiving dinner? KayLynn wasn't present so it must have been Janna!!


Caught licking the mashed potatoes.Yum! Yum!

Janna wanted apple pie. She is learning to core the apples. She was very proficient at the end of six apples.

I asked Don to carve the turkey. I am not sure why I do this each year. I am sure I can do it since , I am always at his shoulder giving advice. It just seems like a man-of-the-house thing to do.

What is up with the air bubble in this pie? I ate this part just to make sure it was ok. lol What I sacrifice for my family.

Thank You, Lord God, for all you have given and kept from our family this year. You are good beyond our understanding. Each day we depend on You for the strength to live in the plan You have made for us and to be You in the flesh to all those around us.

Beer Bread

We really like this bread with soup. The recipe is from "Backwoods Home Cooking"

Beer Bread

By Nathele Graham

3 cups self-rising flour

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 12oz bottle of beer(room temperature)

butter

Mix flour and sugar together. Add beer and mix. Put in a well-greased loaf pan and bake 1 hour at 350 degrees . When done, melt butter on top. Serve warm with lots of butter. Goes well with Minestrone soup.

What kids learn

I have come to realize recently that what children learn is sometimes very different from how they act or what they do. For those of you who don't know, I am mother to 8 children ages 21-6. I love them each and everyone ....but ( you knew that but was coming) they have all made me crazy with their actions in one way or another over the years. And I have wondered why they still do wrong when I have so clearly pointed out the right way to them and most of the time shown them by example. Sometimes the example is by me doing the right thing and sometimes it is from me making a poor choice and receiving the consequence.
Take as an example a hot iron. I myself remember clearly being cautioned by my Grandma as a child "Don't touch the iron . It is hot. " probably she added something like "Burny" to this advice as is her way. And I remember clearly touching the iron and realizing that it was very hot. Ouch!! I have seen all of my children do this same thing or a variation of it after receiving the same warning. Recently, I had the privilege of caring for my grand daughters. I had some napkins to iron and when I was done I admonished KayLynn " Don't touch the iron . It is hot.", whereupon she walked across the room and did the very thing. Well, so much for getting smarter through the generations.
Chores are another example I bring forth for your consideration. When I give any of my children a new chore I explain or an older wiser sibling explains how the chore is expected to be done. You know you have to have a standard. Inevitably after doing the chore right for maybe a week it then becomes sloppy. I then trot out the hated axiom "When you work , work with your might . Things half done are never done right." This too was a gift from my Grandma who used it so frequently that it plays on a loop in my head as I work. My variation on it is " When you work, work with your might . Things half done are done over again".
So, some days I wonder "What am I doing here? I should really get a different job! Maybe something with a paycheck and a vending machine." But what I am coming to see is that just because they do not always do what I have taught them does not mean they do not know. Can they get my voice out of their heads? Can you get your Mom's voice to stop playing when you least want it but maybe most need it? Occasionally, I hear one of my children say something or maybe do something I know I did or said and then I know that I am not speaking to hear myself talk. It is the long term experience of parenting that shows what you have done not an instant when you may doubt your ability. I am responsible for what I teach them not what they do with it. So, I think I will keep this job for awhile and remember this lesson when the day is difficult and I start dreaming of vacation pay and sick days.

Dianna

Kitty

How do you stop a kitten from doing this? I really like "my" kitten. Her name is Kitty. But I really don't like her to sleep on my keyboard. About all you have to do to get her to sit in your lap is to sit down. I guess when she runs out of laps she uses the laptop.

Dianna

Janna is 17!!!

Janna was 17 on the fifth. We celebrated with cheese cake and McDonald's per Janna's request. The fifth was an election day in 1991. She will get to vote for President on her 21st birthday. Maybe she will get to vote for the first woman President that year. Go Sarah!!!!

Ya Ya's House

We went to visit YaYa and Pappy!!!!

What happens when you stay at YaYa's House? Well, you eat a lot of cookies.

You get hugs from your Tanta when you miss your mommy and daddy.

Sometimes you help your Uncle Seth move the Legos.

You stay behind the gate. LOL

You sometimes get to look at books that don't belong to you if Tanta is busy.

What more does a two year old need than her Pappy or YaYa, her thumb and her "blankey heart".

Sometimes , when climbing you hit Aunt Bacon't last nerve.

We like sitting on our Aunts and Uncles. Even if Uncle Ethan isn't sure he likes it.

We looked at lots of books at YaYa's.

Mostly we liked being together.

Freak Flag Flying

I usually save the hip lingo for embarrassing my children in public but my oldest daughter, Brittney has requested that I list some of the random weirdness that I have probably kept well hidden for all of these years. Many of the things that she listed I also do (not the imaginary pony riding....thank goodness) genetics being what they are. But I will try to come up with something individual to myself.
Long finger nails on guys creeps me out. I find myself staring into their eyes wondering "Do you own nail clippers? " "Are you an axe murder?" "How does your wife/girlfriend put up with you touching her with those" Great now I am grossed out just thinking about it.

I can't talk about animals and eat at the same time. It makes me queasy. I guess I have cleaned up too many pet messes in my life.

I like to drive fast but don't. I would love to drag race. That is why I drive a mini-van. My kids would have to start a bail Mom out of the pokey fund, if I drove something I think is cool. For those of you too young to know the "pokey" is jail.

I don't like to cook. I never did but I became pretty good at somethings because I used to love to eat way too much (well I still really love to eat but after losing 70 pounds I have to fight that).

I guess that is enough self revalation. A girl has to preserve some of her mystery and that is probably more than you really want to know anyway.

New arrivals

I had forgotten how much work kittens are. We adopted two little ones this week. They are both supposed to go to Brittney's new house, but...... well Jack and I are scheming to keep the puffy gray one we call " Ashes". Shhh ... Dad might hear. The striped one is full of energy. She reminds me of a cat Brittney had a few years ago named Tabby. I am calling her Cinders for now. She is a food thief and can climb everywhere. They are very well socialized except when they eat together. Then there is much growling and ear scratching.
Morgan of course loves the kitties.
Jack is still not sure. He is learning to play with them .

A weekend well spent

There is always a good deal of wrestling fun when the family is all together. Don, Jack and I made a trip to Iowa this past Friday and Saturday to take care of our house there. We had a lot of cleaning and mowing to do but there was plenty of time for fun.