Thanksgiving Adventure

We love to get outdoors and make a memories hiking, biking, discovering new places, and finding waterfalls each season. We also went out to celebrate the day that J asked me to marry him! I am so very THANKFUL that he did! There has not been a day in eleven years when I have regret my decision to say yes. We had a good day at this lake-side state park with a fish hatchery and fishing ponds for kids.

Funny Caleb stories...Visiting Dolly...John Deere Boys

We had a great trip to Dollywood to see the Christmas lights, ride the train, all the kiddie rides and see Santa. Dolly had a cute parade and Jeb rode his first roller coaster! The Blazing Fury had him with eyes wide open! I was proud that he was so brave still he didn't really want to go and get back in line-ha! Dolly does a great job putting Jesus back into Christmas and we saw some shows about the REAL reason for the season. We had fun with Nana Mac and Papa D getting geared up for the holiday season.

I had a good laugh when my two-year-old described his hiding place where I could not find him and it involved 2 locked doors and me picking the locks--"it was amazing momma."

Recently, we went to a local nursery and Caleb had eaten a sucker and I looked up and he was "smoking" the sucker stick. Now, it would not have been hilarious has he not held the stick between his tiny little lips and blown fake smoke out the side of his mouth like a real smoker!!!! I looked at him and he said, "What?" and proceeded to take it out and hold it between his finger and blow smoke out...YIKES>..we don't smoke, our family does not smoke...it must have been what he took in at Dollywood last Saturday--who knew he was being entertained by the smokers? I promptly took the cig/stick.

Caleb should still be a red-head I think...he still has the temper to go with it. Today at Blockbuster Caleb was on one side looking at a picture and I moved to the other side to find the M's and he announced...Mama...and despite me saying, "yes, I am right here..." He shouts out so angrily..."Mama YOU LOST ME."

He loves to make up silly things like blabbering non-sense words to songs that he does not know--he still loves music!

He loves to start goofy things like today..."beef".."beef cake" "beefaroni"...he just keeps repeating back to me calling me those things and dying laughing...he is so silly and delightful.

We have had picnic lunches about 6/10 days now and it is so fun!

We were walking in Wal-Mart and we got close to a man in boots/hat and he yells, "look momma, he's a real cowboy." As the man passed me I said, Yes, he's a real cowboy. I know that man was proud of himself. We have been loving reading Cowboy Small recently.

These boys love John Deere stuff. They were proudly posing for me in the backyard for these shots since they were all decked out! Jeb wants to wear his boots everyday and Caleb says his future career is "riding a tractor. working on a skid steer."

Cay had trouble with the time change...yuck...we have been up so stinking early. He can watch an entire "Old Yeller" viewing while I even have time to sometimes cook supper and start laundry BEFORE we take Jeb to school--so depressing. I hate winter and just about everything that comes with it--including the darkness. Oh the darkness. ..it really cramps our families outdoor style.

Still working on trusting God...saw these quotes recently...

You have trusted Him in a few things, and He has not failed you. Trust Him now for everything, and see if He does not do for you exceeding abundantly above all that you could ever have asked or thought, not according to your power or capacity, but according to His own mighty power, that will work in you all the good pleasure of His most blessed will. You find no difficulty in trusting the Lord with the management of the universe and all the outward creation, and can your case be any more complex or difficult than these, that you need to be anxious or troubled about His management of it?

What is needed for happy effectual service is simply to put your work into the Lord's hand, and leave it there. Do not take it to Him in prayer, saying, "Lord, guide me, Lord, give me wisdom, Lord, arrange for me," and then arise from your knees, and take the burden all back, and try to guide and arrange for yourself. Leave it with the Lord, and remember that what you trust to Him you must not worry over nor feel anxious about. Trust and worry cannot go together.

Fun with visitors...and a favorite fall recipe...

We have had lots of guests here on the homestead lately and it has been so fun!

We had our friends' kids here one day while they were having their THIRD cutie and we had fun playing with them on the farm. I find that it doesn't matter how many times we bring city slickers out there they still love petting the goats and chasing chickens with the boys! You can see them petting Elvis and helping us doctor Bella during their visit.


On one day you can see that I discovered that my two-year-old had a callous from all the "work" that he does. They like to dig, hoe, look for worms, weedeat, mow the grass, play in the woods in general and yes, he has a real callous. I could not help but laugh when he showed me his boo-boo. The other set of hands are the tiniest, cutest little hands I've seen lately and I had to paint the little perfect nails my fav color--purple!






We have been letting Sara in the lounge on the couch since it has become colder. The boys think it is so fun to snuggle with her and read books on the couch. The first night we did it we watched "Old Yeller" and Sara was just as interested as the boys. She was barking and growling at Old Yeller... it was comical.


When we play on the goat playgrounds Sherman thinks he is one of the kids. It is so funny how he climbs around with them.


Sgt is a ladies man. Chelsea just giggled when he would try to kiss her on the cheek. Some kids are scared if these big, guardian dogs (and they can be scary at first), but they are really teddy bears when it comes to humans!



























One of my favorite recipes: I don't know why I only get to cooking granola in the winter, but every winter I think about it. I made a batch when my family was over recently and it was going fast! I thought I'd share!

Granola from Becky B, and other lovely Middle MO friends!

8 c. oats, 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp salt, 1 cup brown sugar…those are the basics but I put more or less depending on my mood…
Next you can add if you want to…coconut, your favorite nuts ( I add peanuts/cashews/pecans), nutmeg (a little), and 8c. rice crispies…but if you do use rice you might want to add another cup of br. Sugar…

Then, add wet stuff: 1 cup oil (or more if you want it to crunch well), 1 c. water (or more if you use rice crispies) …
Mix well. Spread in a shallow cookie sheet (or two) and bake on 300 for 45 mins or 225 for 2 hours or so…I have done it both ways—just check it now and again until it is as crunchy as you’d like it to be!

A normal, good day

Today is such an ordinary day...but it has been extraordinary in just that way.

I noticed today that Caleb will NOT stop talking. He is not shy and he talked to my doctor and all the folks at SMS (Nana Mac was thrilled).

I took Jeb to school later today and it was so heart-warming to watch the kids mob him when he arrived. The teacher had to say, "hey guys, let Jeb put his stuff away." It is fun to see that he loves school and that the kids seem to love him. My prayers are being answered that he will FEEL loved, accepted, and be a well-balanced, healthy child that is loving and kind. God you are so good.

I bought a nice mullet-wig to wear for Halloween. I have always LOVED the mullet style. When I was doing PR for a living, I went a NASCAR race and snapped mullet shots and made a nice scrapbook of them that is super-entertaining. It looks like the dude's in the picture. FOR THE RECORD, I DO NOT KNOW THIS MAN.

The pic of Jeb wrangling goats is his newest skill; He is so proud that he can wrestle our "teen" goats.

We got some new library books, went to many stores together, ran plain old errands, and got a lot accomplished. It was so ordinary but since I have been down and out since surgery it felt so good to be normal again....well, as normal as I get.

Jonas has been wanting Jeb to see Old Yeller...so we have an evening of Old Yeller, pumpkin carving and a nice steak dinner planned. So plain and yet so happy. That seems to be today's theme. I am SO GLAD we are not doing much but Halloween this weekend.


These pics are just random funnies that I have not posted!

Free Personal signatures - cool!

TEXTAREA_ID

Mountains, camping, ears, cakes, friends, family and other strange things....

We had a great weekend in the mountains with friends and family. We were even able to celebrate Jeb and his friend Tanner's Bday on Saturday.

As always we made lots of smores, played putt-putt, chased a lot, rode bikes, ate good food, sat by the fire, laughed and got very dirty.

W had great weather up there. Cool in the mornings and evenings and warm and sunny during the days! We caught ONE fish and the kids had a great time one evening going on a "ghost tour" of the campground. Lots of folks had great decorations up like ghosts in trees, pumpkins lit up, talking skeletons, and even a nasty mouse Jeb kissed--ha!

Donna made another amazing cake! A smore! The kids enjoyed a scavenger hunt and a pinata. I found these GIANT marshmallows in GA and Tanner had trouble even eating one of them.

I THOUGHT I would be over the sinus surgery (and I was for about a week)by the time of this excursion, but then I had a setback. Any smiles I have on in these pictures were brought to you by Hydrocodone or sheer determination to do it! I thought I was all over my sinus surgery until Friday night before the Bday campout when I almost lost my mind in pain over what I found out to be on Saturday at Urgent Care at middle ear and outer ear infection. It happened so fast. Nevertheless, I was absolutely determined to take my kids camping as planned and party as planned. Still, when not smiling in these pics I did some crying.

After I got some meds Sat, we ended up going on up to the Picklesiemer Rockhouse in NC on Sunday and letting the boys have a great adventure in this cave. We were really hoping to find a bear, but all we found were the remnants of the bear. You can see the scat in the picture that that boys HAD to have me take. They love to read a book called, "Who Pooped in the Park" and so this poop had to be documented.























Back on the Home front:
One of the best parts of staying home with our kids has been to sit down and eat lunch with them (not that I do this every day...but most days). Today at lunch we had a funny conversation. He likes to be told stories and he likes to make other people's stories his...and now he is adding making up stories to his repertoire. So, after we finished with our normal conversation he was eating his eggs (which he wants for lunch every day...and he has to sprinkle and mix in his own salt)...I told him some stories about my pig Shug. Well, he liked those and got a kick out of Shug in the water trough and shug eating and snorting and Shug letting me rub her belly till she fell asleep standing up and then flopped down. Then, he told me..."you know what happened one time...ONE TIME...Daddy and me went fishing....and Papa D went with us...and an alligator bit us...an alligator came on the boat and we had to poke them with swords...Daddy shot them...then Papa D went down in the "house boat" (I am guessing this is an allusion to Dad's sailboat and going down where the beds are) and it got dark and he went to sleep....I then replied with a stunned look--is this story true? He replies as seriously as can be---"IT'S SAD." I said, Yes, that would be sad....were you guys okay and he said yes, because you just went down in the house boat???!! Then, he asked me for a chip ...so I gave him one and he said very adult-like and I want some of that sauce (hummus) and I said okay I'll dip it in for ya and then he said, "No, I will dip it in the sauce myself." I said...okay...of course, in 2 year-old fashion he dips and then passes it back to me and says, "I don't like dat stuff." But, he does apparently like dipping for himself. I never want to forget the funny things we discussed at our lunches together.

Caleb has really started blooming since Jeb has started school. I notice that is so so funny and says so many smart things now that I am with him alone. He is also getting to be quite thankful. I opened the front door for him today and he said, "thank-oo mommy." I love to hear him say it so I have been oooing over it and...then while outside today he said, "thank-oo mommy for des clothes." So funny.

He can make letters with his fingers (l, v, w, x, y, a, m, c and o so far) ...the only way I find that I can teach him is to have him use his body--kinesthetic learner-man that he is. HE likes running to his shapes outside and listening to alphabet songs with animals (only animals are acceptable) on Youtube. He has always enjoyed music. This one is his fav: . I like the bluegrass sound of it myself.
While he was pottying today he told me a potato joke..".Knock, Knock...who is there...potato...potato who...potato I am going to eat you" heee heee haaa haaa....I am sure that is not the joke...but he thought it was still quite funny. I still can't believe that he made that up...no one (and I have asked) has told him a potato joke?

As many of you dear readers know Caleb is TOUGH to keep up with. I am most often heard saying, "Where is Caleb?" Jeb was the kind of child that stayed by my side and engaged with whatever was going on with me...Caleb is in his own world. If an idea comes into his head--he executes it--not caring what anyone else is doing or if he is going off by himself to get the job done. He has been lost at home (down at the shop/barn) while I was up here, at the baseball field (wandered to the playground), and one day a friend and I were looking for him (thought he was in the house) when it was time for her to load him and her kids up to leave...and low and behold he was in the car already with his head poking out of the sun roof. The latest shenanigan that I can't get over was not an incident where I lost him, but something that shocked me all the same and made me mad and made me laugh all at the same time. I was in the camper making all the beds for camping and he was playing the mud just outside the camper with his tractor, shovel and wagon. When I came out of the camper he had dug up 5 newly-planted shrubs and had them loaded in his wagon. I was so frustrated because Jonas and I had just put those in the ground (with his "help") 2 days before. They were jerked up as pretty as can be. I proceeded to explain that he should not dig up plants...they need to make roots and grow. He replied, "well, I have to work." Yes, the man loves working outside as much as his father. Still, I am going to have to get some REAL work for him, which I am sure he will not be interested in. How much longer till these guys can mow my grass or spread mulch?