Thankful for friends

It was such a blessing to get to see our friends, the Partens, on Sunday. I really cannot believe they've been gone for a year already. It was great to visit with them and to get to see the kids play together again...but sad in a way because the kids have all grown and changed so much in just one short year. It was such a nice afternoon that we met several friends at the park then went to dinner together after playing. (Dinner was a little wild, but still fun.) :)

The kids...growing up too fast!

(Thanks to Brian for getting them all to laugh!)

Just the little girls:
And the grown-up girls (+ Crosby):

Stacy, Ali, Lianne, me & C

I'm thankful for the friends in my life!

"We'll be back..."

This evening we drove out to the Christmas tree farm to choose/tag a tree. We got our tree from this farm last year, but didn't know to go early. We were pleased with the one we found...can't wait to decorate it and enjoy it during the holiday season!

Lane scouting out the different types of trees:

Found one that's just right! Wrapping it with our name tag:

As we were leaving the tree, Rhett called out, "We'll be back for you after Thanksgiving!"

One of the guys offered us a hay ride. We were about the only people there, which was nice. Rhett took this of me, A & C.
Enjoying the ride!

Thanksgiving Program/Breakfast

(RGG--middle row, left)

Yesterday Rhett's Kindergarten did their Thankgiving program, and it was so cute! They were dressed in hand-painted Indian vests and feathered headbands. They'd made up their own Indian name, and R's was "Fast Deer". Here they are singing one of their songs (it was crowded and dark, I was holding Alexee on one hip and I was behind several people, so my pictures aren't great.)
After the singing, the class had Indian pancakes (apples for feathers, bacon for headband, raisins for eyes, cherry for nose and icing for a mouth).
Hungry "Fast Deer"
Alexee was mad about me giving her a PopTart rather then a pancake. I knew that was going to happen. Rhett waiting patiently for the icing.
Alexee and a friend.
I always think these are funny--the kids' descriptions/recipes. His teacher put together this little keepsake "cookbook".

Rhett's recipe:

Some of the other kids obviously have hunters in their families. Some were a little more graphic than R's "go to the market".

This one made me laugh: "If someone is selling turkeys"
This one sounded good to me--it includes popcorn, sugar, gumballs and icing.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby milk carton

A few days ago I poured out some old buttermilk from a cute little carton and decided I'd rinse it out and keep it (don't know what for, but it was just cute and I thought it might come in handy some day.) I had it on a towel beside the sink to dry and Alexee saw it and said, "I'm going to put this back in the refrigerator with its Momma". :) I loved that she thought of that and took a picture of it later.

Other kid-stuff that I want to remember:

--I gave Alexee a few choices of cartoons to watch one morning last week, one of them was "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast". She thought for a second and then chose to watch "Maggie and the Roast Beef".

--When Lane and I were leaving for dinner out last weekend, I wast telling the kids goodnight and that I'd check on them as SOON as I got home and that they'd have fun with Miss Chloe. Rhett looked at me really serious and said, "Mom, everything is going to be FINE."

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At Wonder Place after school today:

Seems like things have been extra busy lately. I can't believe the holiday season is here. I might try to start decorating this weekend (unless someone drops by and offers to get everything out of the attic and do the decorating for me!?). I bought my first five Christmas gifts today, and I also bought a stack of holiday stamps for the Christmas cards. Gotta start somewhere!

Community Group Thanksgiving

Last night our Bible Study group had a Thankgiving meal at Lee & Melody's house (thanks, L & M for hosting!). They had everything decorated so pretty. I loved the centerpiece and turkey plates:

The guys--discussing football, I'm sure:
My cornbread dressing:

Back: Lee, Phillip, Lane, Jamie, Bobby (Charla, we missed you!), Leslie & Brad

Front: Melody, Tracie, Kyla & Tony

I'm thankful for this good group of friends--what a blessing!

My Birthday

I celebrated birthday #33 earlier this week. Lane and I went out to dinner over the weekend. We tried a new restaurant, and we both liked it. Chloe came over to watch the kids for us, and she snapped this picture of us before we left:

Me at the restaurant--still 32 in this picture:

Lane had a steak with some sort of layered potatoes on the side:
A yummy salad:
After dinner we stopped at Starbucks for coffee and dessert. For some reason I was kind of sad about getting older this year. I almost started crying in Starbucks!

On my actual birthday, Rhett really wanted me to come have lunch with him at his school. They eat at 10:30 a.m. so Crosby and I just went to hang out with him. This is the best I could do on a picture of all three of us (Alexee was at MDO).
He wanted me to stop by his classroom after lunch. They usually go to the playground after they eat, but it was rainy that day so they had to watch a movie in the classroom. He was just beaming--I thought it was cute and sweet that he was so excited to have us there as guests.
We went straight from the school to meet my sister and nephew at Old Mill Bread Co. Lane doesn't like to eat there, so I'm always looking for someone willing to meet me there! :) After lunch we went to Hobby Lobby to grab supplies for the kids' nursery rhyme costumes for Family Literacy Night at the school that evening (yes, a good early start on the costumes). Mic brought me cupcakes-yum!--and the new boots that she and Mom got me for my birthday--THANKS! I was so excited that I failed to notice that the box contained two left boots. I got home and went to put them on for Literacy night and realized what I had! ha ha! Mic called the store and sure enough they had two right boots there, so we were able to get it all worked out today.
Me & sweet nephew Jeryn:

I didn't get a picture of me with Micaela :( Thanks guys for coming to visit me on my birthday--it was fun!

When I got home that afternoon I had a package on the front porch--this cute gift from Mary Katherine--thank you, too! I have the towel hanging on the oven door and I love looking at it!

I regret not getting a picture of our whole family together on my birthday, but Mom has promised me my annual Red Velvet Cake next week when we're home for Thanksgiving, so I hope to get a belated group picture then.

After school we had about 45 minutes to make king and spider costumes. Alexee left hers on for all of 45 seconds, so I guess it was wasted energy. Rhett liked his king's crown and cape though. Here they are listening to R's teacher read about the Gingerbread Man:

(Lane & Crosby stayed at home.)
Craft time:
After the school event and getting the kids in bed, Lane and I ate popcorn then I got to work in the kitchen on my first-ever Thanksgiving dressing attempt. Silly me volunteered to make it for our Bible Study Thanksgiving feast. My Grandmother usually makes the dressing for our holiday meals, so I called her for help. She wrote out her recipe (as best she could...she usually doesn't measure things, but hers always turns out great!) and mailed it to me in my birthday card.

I found dressing to be time-consuming, and it seemed to dirty a lot of dishes.

Getting started:
cornbread and onions:

I love hand-written recipes. It's so special to have it in her writing--I'm really happy that she wrote it down for me to have.

See "Community Group Thanksgiving" post for a picture of the finished product. I was a little nervous, but I actually thought it turned out good!