My garden

I brought some of my plants from Timpson back with me. I am so excited about planting them! I brought my Cannes, spider lilies, day lilies, another lily that I forgot the name of and some plants I found in Becca's backyard. I still left a bunch back home. It was so funny trying to fit four boxes of plants in the van with 5 kids, 2 adults, and 3 suitcases! Once we got home me and Donna got busy planting them. I had planted some plants that I got for free on craigslist by our front steps so we added the lilies with them. I planted Becca's plants and the spider lilies by our front door and the Cannes in the back yard by the shed. I am surprised how much I enjoy gardening. I cant wait to watch them grow.

Home for Thanksgiving

We had a great time celebrating Thanksgiving with all our family back in home. Me and Shane realized how much we miss our families! And how much we miss our house and our tree. I drove Shane to work Tuesday night so that we could leave early Wednesday and hit the road for home. Well, Shane called me about 4:15 in the morning saying to head to Bowie to pick him up. I already had the van loaded and ready to go so I threw the kids in the car and hit the road! We made pretty good time, only got lost once, and made it home before 10:00 a.m. The first thing I noticed was my chrysanthemums blooming!

Me, my mom and my sister, Becca spent all day baking together. It was sooo nice! We made 6 pumpkin pies, 4 pecan pies, a chocolate pie and a double batch of fudge!My brother LP and his family came over for a visit and then that night me and Shane went out to eat at Rancho grande with some friends of ours. That night Noah and Hannahh (Becca's kids), and Jake (my brother son) spent the night we made the kids pallets on the floor and put in a movie. Lacey, Lily and Kyle had such a great time with their cousins. They all fell asleep watching home alone.

Noah, Hannah and Lacey

Hannah, Lacey, Jake, Kyle, and Colton

Thanksgiving Day we all got together to stuff ourselves on turkey, yams, mashed potatoes, brocoli and rice casserole, rolls,salad and all the desserts we made Wednesday!  After dinner we went out to my Aunt Sherry's house to visit for awhile. 

Donna and Ricky

 Shane, my brother LP, his wife Laura, their little girl Ally, Becca and Ashley

We also had Thanksgiving with Shane's side of the family. Noah and Colton came with us. I'm surprised how much the kids missed each other. 

Noah, Kyle, Colton, Lily and Lacey
sitting on Shane's grandmothers( E.E.) porch

Ashley at E.Es

Kyle and Colton playing

Lacey and Lily with EE

After a long day it was time to go home. We were sad to go and even sadder knowing it would be a long time before we could come back. The drive back was quiet, partly because the kids slept most the way and partly because Shane and I were both lost in our thoughts of home. This year, probably more than any other, I was thankful for my family and my home. I miss both.

Why do kids do the things they do? Part 2

Why do kids do the things they do? You may remember me asking this question before, but really why? I am mystified. Where do they get their ideas? Are they trying to drive us completely crazy?

I know everyone is wondering what the little monsters darlings have done now. Well Lily, Lacey, Hannah and Colton were outside playing very nicely when someone *cough* Colton *cough* had the  diabolical brillant idea to paint the tree. We look out the window to see four kids covered in paint painting the tree! Of course that is the exact moment that visitors arrive. Aaaah aren't the holidays exasperating  great!

The culprits kids.

Volunteering at the food bank

I have wanted to get involved in some kind of community service with the kids. We have tried to do a few things before, but never really found something the kids could get involved in. I don't know if the opportunity wasn't there in Timpson or if I just didn't know where to look. When I heard the homeschool group was looking for people to work at the local food bank getting boxes together for Thanksgiving, I was super excited. We immediately signed me, Ashley, Kyle, Lacey and Lily up. Donna of course is still in Timpson.

 Kyle helping to unpack boxes. Notice the boxes are from Walmart. Everyday Walmart donates boxes and boxes of food to the local food bank. Yummy food, not junk that nobody wants- cakes, pies, bread, cookies, all food about to expire. Instead of throwing it out it goes to feed the hungry.

Lacey also helped unpack boxes but she also helped stack and fetch more boxes.

Lily mostly just ate the food that the workers kept slipping her on the sly. LOL. I think she is eating muffins here. I think she was actually a little too young for this.

Kyle and Lacey waiting for our supervisor to give up another project to work on.

The best thing about this experience is that it is something we can do anytime, not just around the holidays. I would like to volunteer here at least once a month. I put in on my list of real-life experiences I want for the kids.

Tree Cupcake-by Kyle

 

This is everything  I  made at cookin class I shared some with my family but I ate

most of  it. It was gooooood.

                                                                                                            

The Rock at holiday hanger

I thought I would post a little update about what is going on at The Rock United Pentecostal Church. We have been really busy this month and its not even half over! Our goal was to make 350 bags of peanut brittle to sell for holiday hanger. This in usually the one big fundraiser the church has. Well, we made 383 bags! Now that is 2 big or 3 small patties in each bag. That is alot of candy! We worked on it all day Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, it was alot of work, but so much fun. We were able to spend alot of time getting to know each other. They are really good people with a heart for Jesus.

I had never been to holiday hanger so I had no idea what to expect. It was huge! There were hundreds of people milling around a airplane hanger at Shepherd Air Force Base. Vendors were selling everything from toys, purses, candles, food, clothes and lots and lots of Christmas decorations. I took Lacey and Lily with me, which probably wasn't the smartest idea but we had fun. We sold all the candy and made a very good profit.




Sister Prince selling candy.



Sister Teresa and Sister Davis.

  Brother Mark.

                                                       Bro. Mark with Santa

                                                   



The holiday hanger didn't just have vendors it was held at Shepherd Air Force Base so there were plenty of planes also.

Me with Lacey and Lily.

                                                               

      Lacey and Lily in front of a plane.

      

Lily

                                                                            

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DONNA!

I cant believe Donna is 17! Wow! I am really getting old! I thought I would post some pictures of Donna through the years. Sorry for the poor quality of some of the photos, she was born back before digital cameras, so I had to scan some of the old pictures.

She has become a very beautiful, funny, opinionated young woman. Happy Birthday Donna! We love you!

The cake

I got home from work today and found the kids had made this cake. It says we love Dad and Mom.Very sweet, I thought.

Shane should be going on days soon! Yay!

Shanes boss told him that they were planning to get him on days by the middle of December! Yay! Praise the Lord! Please keep praying for him. Sunday mornings are so hard on him.