T stands for a Terriffic Thanksgiving

Hello and Happy Tuesday! Hope everyone had a good week and Thanksgiving if you celebrate it. Ours was wonderful, the whole long weekend was better then I could ask for. Will be sad to see it end and for the quiet house again. I'm sure the kids will miss me, lol, I know Rich will at least.

 

This is what we woke up to Thanksgiving morning, isn't it pretty! Thankfully it didn't do much more then this and it melted off the next couple days when it got warmer. Hope it keeps doing these warm ups through winter, makes it much easier and not as long. We don't want a repeat of last year.

Say hello to our 22 pound turkey, it was so good this year. We our still eating leftovers as of Sunday. Rich was up at 4:15am to get it in the oven with the hope of eating at noon. Of course, our plan didn't go that way and we finally ate at 1:00. All the food came out just right, we've had years of burning something or forgetting to even cook something but I'd say we are pros now on this day.

Rich's mom came to eat with us this year, so nice having her with us. Even Sam who doesn't like this holiday or the food this much did great today. Thank goodness he doesn't whine and cry all day like he used too. Notice my cleaned off table, it lasted till we were done eating. I had all my stuff back on there and was a happy girl again, lol.

Tuesday wouldn't be right without a photo of a cup or beverage. Today is when we stop by Elizabeth's to share what we are doing. There is always something fun and crafty going on in this group. Happy and thankful I could link up again this week.

I didn't get any good pictures at my mom's later that day except for this one. When I got there everyone had their electronics on the counter, I laughed about it. My mom made them into a mandala, YAY!! We had a good time over at mom's, yummy food and laughs and love!

 

The only thing missing from this day was Kristin, she was missing us too. We go to face time a little and text her. Thankfully they were invited to dinner with some other Americans there on a trip.

The rest of the weekend went by with us being at home and just enjoying the break. We played cards, watched movies, tv, played wii and had lots of leftovers. I almost want to rewind and do it again.

 

We also said good bye to fall and hello to our new Christmas tree. Will share that for next time.

Have a good week and thanks so much for visiting. I have a AROUND here post below if you want to read it. Thanks again and Happy December!

AROUND HERE

                                                  AROUND HERE

around here we are watching lots of movies from the library and on tv

around here Rich is home for 4 days so it's nice to relax and just be

around here we had a great Thanksgiving and loving the leftovers

around here my sister Annie got a kitten, she named him Flynn

around here it's cold and only a dusting of snow on the ground

around here we are getting our tree tomorrow, so excited to have it

around here I can't wait to sit by the tree lights and read and just sit

around here it's time to pack up fall decorations and get out the Christmas ones

around here I can't wait for my cousin Jennifer to come back home again

around here Sienna will be having basketball games, YAY!

around here time is flying by way to fast

around here Summer put up their pink mini tree and loves it, this makes me happy

around here Sam got out the wii and is playing again, yay

around here I'm ready to get out my Christmas puzzles and do them

around here I'm getting my December Daily ready, a little mini

around here I'm catching up on my PL still and so ready to start a new one next year


Hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving had a nice day, even if you don't have it hope it was a nice day. I will be back on Tuesday to share our actual Thanksgiving day with photos. Have a good weekend and thanks for visiting.

T stands for almosT Thanksgiving and Project Life

Hello and Happy T Day a little early. This is my favorite week of the year, Thanksgiving week! I got to have turkey and fixings already at our church Thanksgiving dinner last night. Look how pretty the table settings are, Joyce does a great job on our tables for parties. The food was amazing, tons of it and so good. That will keep me for a few more days till we cook our big 22lbs. turkey on Thursday. I'm using the photo above for my beverage (punch) at Elizabeth's for this Tuesday's link up.

I have most of our fixings, will buy the fresh stuff on Wednesday and get a little of it ready Wednesday too. If you remember from past years we really do love this day and the food, the leftovers, the smells, BEING THANKFUL, the leftovers and just being together.

Something else exciting happened this week, Sienna completed her first scrapbook album. She was soooo excited and really got into it. She wanted it all done that day, 16 pages in an hour. I found an old kit of the girls that they never used and was perfect for her. I didn't get any pictures of her pages, by the time she was done it was rush hour of big kids home and going outside to play time. She has already requested another album and to make lots of them, YAY!!!  A girl after my own heart.

I've been working on my Project Life, always a continued work in progress. Since winning a spot in Project Life Catch-up at Big Picture Classes, I've been doing more and learning so much. In this photo, I'm sorting through my kits and getting them organized, soon I will take a few favorites from each kit and put them together as a quick mini kit to make pages faster and less stress.

Here area few my pages I got done, pages I never thought I'd get done.

Wish the color was better, orange and pink together. Took me some time but I figured out how to make it work and like the results. YAY! Sticky notes were part of the tips in class.

This is another one I couldn't figure out. I kept seeing the 9/11 photo and blue and no other blue on the page but still wanted this photo on here. By using a timer, another tip in class I got this page done in 18 minutes. YAY!!! Click on image to see better. The journaling is done but no picture of it yet.

Here is a whole spread I got done that I didn't think I would either. Lots of those were my issues this year. Too many photos being squeezed in and not flowing nicely. Last year I was always making collages so I didn't have that problem so my plan is to pick photos and make sure they work together before ordering them. Looking forward to a new year and new album to fill up!! Click on image to see better. The gorgeous October images are not mine, they are from my IG posts.

 

I will share more with you later and when there's more light I hope. The snow has melted and the temps have been warm all weekend. So nice to see grass again and wish the leaves were still here.

 

Happy Thanksgiving to the ones celebrating it this week. Have a great week and thank you for visiting today! Just realized this will be our last T day in November, time is flying.

P.S. Nancy I made sure to post early so you wouldn't have to wait :)

T stands for no cup Today

Hello and Happy Tuesday! I'm joining Elizabeth and friends today as we share what's in our cup or in my case no cup. I thought these cuties (pun intended) would be more fun then a cup/mug.  Does anyone else like these? We can't get enough of them, each day we eat at least one and sometimes two, perfect size for a snack and could count as orange juice for my beverage today at Elizabeth's.

 

Thank you so much for the birthday wishes and comments last week for Sam's 13th birthday. Can't believe it's been a week already. Now we are getting ready for Thanksgiving and old man winter decided to come early this year to our neighborhood. Sam got his birthday wish, sadly for most of us.

Look at the winter wonderland, last Thursday is when it came in. A bit more came over the weekend and this morning. Might even have snow all week and winds, which is no fun. I have to say that first snow is always magical and so pretty to me though. I love seeing the white in the trees especially.

My pumpkins are hiding under the snow. Hoping the snow stops and gives us time to put out our Christmas lights, I love lights!! I'm itching to get my tree up already too, more lights!

You can see more snow pictures in the post below if you'd like.

Doing some major Project Life catching up right now too, Colt is my new art buddy now during the days. If you look closely my phone is in front of him playing Christmas music. Yep, broke my own rule about no holiday music till after Thanksgiving. He loves it too and lets me sing off key.

Look at that smile, he loves smiling for pictures!! YAY!

 

So what are you up to today? Any snow for you? Sunshine?  I will be visiting tomorrow as long as the kids have school. Fingers crossed they do, we do not want a repeat of last year.

 

Stay warm Nancy!!! See you on Sunday!

Let it snow, let it snow.. in November

We woke up to snow Thursday morning, just a light dusting. I love seeing it on my pumpkins, not ready to say bye to fall but that first snow every year makes me happy. Hoping it doesn't mean a repeat of last year's long cold winter. My sister, nieces and mom were flying out of the snow this morning to Disneyworld and are happy they missed the snow. I'm sure they will not want to come back now either if this is what's waiting.

here's a peek at the back yard with a  sprinkle of snow

I had no idea that the sprinkle of snow was going to turn into this. WOW, in just hours it started really coming down and piling up outside. So pretty and magical to me, again, not ready for it nor do I want it but decided to be happy about it. I knew a certain boy would be happy too.

Of course now, you can't see the pumpkins, lol.  Look at all that snow, we must have gotten 6/7 inches. The roads were bad, took Rich 4 hours to get home that night, accidents and slow moving traffic for a ride that usually takes 45 minutes. Thankful he made it home safely. I shoveled the drive too, only had to do it once.

I had the little ones yesterday and was excited to get them outside in it. They love the snow too, Colt plays so well in it and doesn't seem to feel the cold. He looked so dang cute in his winter attire, reminded me so much of Sam at that age. We had Lucky out there too but I didn't get any photos of him. Colt just kept making snowballs and throwing them in the air, so cute.

Once the big kids got home, they all went out to play in it too. My camera battery died right after this so I only got this picture. If you look closely you can see them. They had so much fun out there.

 

How is the weather where you live? Stay warm or cool depending on where you live and Happy Weekend. See you back here Tuesday for T Time.

T stands for Teenager

Hello and Happy Tuesday, it's the day we head over to Elizabeth's and Bleubeard to see what everyone's doing. Sam is officially a teenager today (Monday) can't believe it. We just had his party, a little family celebration for this special birthday. Sam made is traditional birthday banner and helped me decorate while Sam was at school. We did a lot of green which is Sam's favorite color, he was so surprised when he got home and loved it. YAY! Makes all the work worth it to hear that.

See how festive and colorful, it looks a bit dark in this picture but the sun was shining. Rich thankfully did the streamers and balloons since I hate climbing on chairs and I did the table.

Here's some of the family, like that you can see a bit of the balloons still in this photo.

Notice all the cups and the can of pop. Most of us were drinking ice tea except for my nieces who love water. Sam had a lemon cake that had Sprite in it and a can of sprite just for him to drink.

Happy 13th Birthday Sam!!!

This was going on outside during the party, my mom and I kept taking peeks at it. So pretty!

He got a few gifts which reminded me last year of his wanting to get an XBOX. Everyone chipped in and added it to his saved money and we went and he bought one. A whole year since then already, time really does fly. He got some gift cards, fake snow and snow ball, cash and treats this year.

Happy Mandala! I finally got some red leaves to use, YAY! These are on the strawberry patches in the garden, not many red but just enough to make this with. The yellow berries are growing around the garden too, not sure what they are but happy to have something to add to the mandala. So nice to use a mix of old and new goodies to make a mandala.

 

The weather is warm today and will be tomorrow so Sam's wish for snow again this year didn't come true, YIPPEE!! But, I hear we might get some later in the week, hoping we won't.

Thank you so much for your sweet comments last week, my cold is better and I'm still enjoying a working computer. Hope you had a good week and thanks for visiting.

Week In the Life: Wednesday and Thursday

Hello there, I have more WITL photos to share today. This is Wednesday morning, Renee and her pretend baby again, so weird seeing her carry this seat and bag around. He kept her up a lot last night, she was tired and took a nap each day so far to make up for the late night crying and fussing from Rico. Thankfully the rest of us except Summer haven't had to hear him. Summer got smart and put on headphones when she went to bed so she got a bit more sleep this time. Renee is doing so well with him though, patience and loving each time he needs something.

Summer has been packing healthier lunches this year, so proud of her. She always takes two veggies and a whole wheat PB sandwich and fruit and water instead of a juice box. GO SUMMER!

Today I wore Kristin's mission shirt because she traveled to her next country. I always wear this on that day to be close to her and keep her in prayer thru my day for her safety and for the new people she will be meeting. This week they changed teams too, she is so happy with her new team, YAY! She will be in India now for the month, already loving it as I write this.

That night we went to Heather's for dinner, took my sister Annie with us. We had a great time and the kids were so good. Heather made a yummy dinner and the kids ate it up. We need to do this more. Plenty of cups here for me to use this picture again for  T Time this week, lol.

Hello Thursday, a babysitting day. Colt loves to play this Hullubaloo game we have, captured him here so good. It's about finding the shapes/colors/theme and doing what it tells you to do. This one is a called a stretch where you have to touch three or more things at once, using your hands and feet. He does these so good and takes them serious. Today he chatted all day and was so good for me, really enjoying this age and time with him every week.

Today I actually worked on my PL a bit, still needs the journaling. I actually won a class this week, called Catching Up on Project Life, perfect for me wouldn't you say. Hoping this does the trick and that I will stay caught up.

I called the cable company today to see about getting a new modem thinking that was what my computer issues were. Rich took a half day and came home and talked to them later on when our new modem still didn't solve the issue. Turns out they had to come out and it was just the old wiring needed replaced inside and outside on the lines. YAY! With this good news and my new monitor from Nancy, being on the computer this week has been so nice again.

The rest of the day went by quickly and I didn't take any more pictures. Still feeling good about doing this project and wanting to pick up my camera more and get stories to remember.

Tomorrow will be Sam's 13th birthday, can't believe it and am so excited for him. Will be back on Tuesday to share those or the wrap of my WITL photos. It's going to be another cold day here for us and spent watching Sam play in two soccer games, YAY!!

Thanks for your visits on my last post and hope you enjoy this one too. Have a great day!

 

WEEK IN THE LIFE: Monday and Tuesday's pictures and words

Hello, couldn't wait to post again now that my monitor is working. Wish I knew what a difference it would make and would have taken more pictures during Week In The Life last week. Happy I got some though and will share them with you today. Some thoughts first on our week:

 

1. It was a great week, we had things go on that normally doesn't which made it a perfect week to document.

2. With the dark mornings it was hard to take good pictures in the morning. In my past WITL there was always a sunrise picture to start my day, YAY!

3. A noticeable difference in the kids ages and differences now, even the little ones

4. I stuck with it all week, usually by Thursday/Friday I start to get tired but kept it up.

5. I LOVE LOVE this project, all the work and stress or no stress is SO WORTH IT!

6. It made me love taking pictures again and seeing stories that are there if I look harder.

7. Thankful for the awesome Ali Edward's who is the brains behind this project. LOVE!

8. The kids were great this week, about the pictures and just life in general, a good week.

9. I am torn between making a mini album or adding it into my PL, or both

10. I'm blessed and thankful for the memories this week gave me. Really and truly!

11. I woke up Monday with a scratchy/yucky throat that lasted all week

12. I want to remember driving Summer to school in the mornings, that is totally new for us

 

Now I will share our pictures of our day on Monday and Tuesday.

 

The one above is a gorgeous sky and day we had on Monday. I never tire of taking outside photos. NEVER. I know in a month it will look so different so I treasure each day and each season.

Here is the Monday morning don't want to go to school look, lol. Remember it is dark out so this kinda fuzzy. Thankful that Camryn got to be here a lot this week and she let me get her picture. We thought she wouldn't be here this year since my sister and girls moved but Heather makes the drive out here so they can stay in the same school, YAY!!

This is how Lucky spends the day while kids are at school, tough life isn't it.

Started a collage journal and had to put some leaves in it

The afternoon and night got away from me with busyness and going to bible study. I did get this of the doll/baby that Renee has to care for the next 3 days. This is Rico, my first pretend grandson, lol. He cries, coos, screams, burps, nothing comes out of him or goes in him, thank goodness. Renee did a great job with him and woke up during the night and lugged him all around school with her. We loved him but were ready to give him back.

 

Next up are Tuesday's pictures, probably my favorite day of this week:

Today I had this sidekick with me till the big kids got home. LOVE this boy so much and these times with him. We are best buddies now finally and he tells me he loves me every day he is over. No prompting or anything, he just says it and means it and that makes my day so much! He is growing up so much and doing so good at school and talking and loves to jump out and say BOO to me every chance he gets. He also talks about his "family" and loves them and that he has a "family" so cute!

He is my art buddy now that Sienna is at school all day too. Love seeing him draw faces and he talks constantly while he's drawing and telling me not to look it's a surprise. He also is sitting at the table more now, which reminds me big time of when Sam was big enough to sit at the table. With Lucky here now we work it in slowly and they both do pretty good. I told Colt to be still in this picture that's why he looks this way, not the best but I got it.

I used the self-timer for this one, don't like how I look in this one but it's the story that counts. I'm waiting for Sienna and my nice Ryan to come home on the bus. YAY for cousin time!

There's my girls, thankful I got to capture these two today. They are so good together and love being together, especially riding the bus to my house. Sienna sat quietly and colored so Ryan could do an hours worth of homework, YUCK!

Now the big kids are home, extra laughs and fun and love!

Then these 4 went out and ran around like crazy!! Love that they are old enough to all play together now, cousin time is the best! Colt can run and keep up with them too, he swings his arm so mighty and cute! Sienna and Ryan were doing their best to keep ball away from Sam.

This was the last one I took that night. They all came in and just hung out still doing SO GOOD together. See Colt looking at Rico there, he was so excited and wanted to know everything about him, confused that he wasn't real too. Sam is the chair next to Summer, first time I've had 8 kids in my room if you count Rico. So thankful I picked up the camera this week just to have these shots.

 

Another thing I realize now too is that by dinner time I was done taking pictures, either we got busy or just wasn't into it. I did get some on my phone too, so I will have plenty to pick from.

 

If you hung in there, THANK YOU! It was so good to share with you and post again. Thank you again Nancy for this monitor. SO NICE! Will try to come back Friday and share a few more days again, figure its easier then cramming them into one looooong post.