Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving.....

We are spending this holiday with our friends (and old neighbors) Lara and Rodney, their kids and her sister and brother in law, Leah and Rohan. So, no turkey cooking for us. However, Ms. Lara gave me a list of things to bring to even things out. I made a chocolate cake yesterday, my spinach and artichoke dip and this morning I am working on green beans and mashed potatoes. I decided to do fresh green beans this year. It's been a long time since I've cleaned and snapped these. My mom and I used to pick our own green beans and I would sit on the porch and clean and snap them and then we'd can them, so that's brought back some nice memories. We used to pick lots of our own veggies and I even remember making our own apple sauce! Good times...

Taylor came down Tuesday night, I'll post more about this later, but she drove her new car down...and yes she made it in one piece and with no help from anyone. I guess she'll be driving herself down from now on. Maybe we'll get to see her more often now, it's just a 3 hour drive door to door.....

This year, like every year, we are thankful for our health and the health of those we love, our family, which we miss dearly and wish we were able to be home with for the holidays, and our friends, who always bring us so much joy.

We love and miss everyone and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

A comfy place to rest our heads...

So, you know our anniversary was in October. I haven't been sleeping very well and when Steve and I sat down and thought about how long we'd had our bed, we were going on almost 13 years on the same mattress. So, we got ourselves a new bed, which we love. Then, I was able to sweet talk him into rearranging the furniture in our bedroom and get a new set for the new bed. Below are the results of what I was able to do....I've always loved the blue and chocolate together and now I have it! I think it turned out pretty well and it actually makes our room look a lot bigger and brighter. It's nice to wake up to this every morning.

Izabella's first book report!

So, Izabella got this assignment 2 weeks ago. She had to pick a book, read it twice and then do a book report on it. She had 3 choices for how she wanted to present her book report. She could make a T-shirt, do a shoe box type of thing or make her own book. Which ever she chose she had to include the title and author, the setting of the book, 3 words from the book and their meanings and then she had to write 3 sentences about why someone should read the book she chose. Well, she chose to make her own book. She chose the book "The English Roses" by Madonna. Excellent book I have to say. It's about a group of 4 girls, The English Roses, that all hang out together but there's one little girl, Binah, who they tease, make fun of and do not include in anything they do, just because other people comment on how beautiful she is. A fairy visits The English Roses one night and let's them see into Binah's world without her knowing about it. They come to find that her mother had died when she was very little and she has to do all of the chores, cook the meals for her and her father and get her homework done each day. They come to find out that they shouldn't judge someone based on what others say about them and jealously is a big ugly green monster.....It's a great story, especially for this age because kids can be so mean and nasty to each other. They never realize how it feels until they get the same treatment in return. I was happy that Izabella picked this story for her report. Below you will see the report that she turned in and Steve and I couldn't be prouder of her. She did everything all on her own with NO help from either one of us! (if you can't see the pictures or want to see more detail, just click on each on and they will enlarge)

LOVE that last sentence!

Star Student...

Izabella was chosen as *Star of the Week* in her class. This is the 3rd time (since starting her school career) that she's been chosen for this. Each time, she fills out this poster so that everyone in her class can learn about her. She was out sick with strep last Thursday and Friday but when I checked online for her class' weekly newsletter, we found out it was her week. She's very excited!

(if you click on the picture, it will enlarge so you can read some of the smaller stuff)

Signs of fall...the best time of year!

What a beautiful family!

Taylor came to visit for her fall break and brought her friend Jessy with her. We tried to do as much as we could since we haven't seen her much this year. It was beautiful weather and we had fall festivals to go to and we decided to do the Cagle's Corn Maize again this year. What fun! Enjoy! This is absolutely my most favorite time of year, between Sept and April....love it, love it!

Happy Halloween

Momma's sweet angel!

After we went Trick or treating, I had a sleep over at the house for all the girls. I think I'm crazy! 5 little girls all on a sugar buzz! They watched movies while all the mom's and dad's sat in our garage talking about everything from politics (yuck!) to scary movies, etc. Always a good time!