Chicken Emergency

JM has a chicken from the Sandra Boynton books. He named her Amy immediately after he got her and it stuck quite well. No one is really sure where or why he picked this name but it's kinda funny. He loves Amy Chicken.
The other night JM came downstairs crying that Amy's leg was broken. I looked at her leg expecting a rip between her leg and her body. Both legs looked fine to me and I told him she wasn't broken.
"But she will if I do this," he said and proceeded to grab her legs in one had a her head in the other and pull quite vigorously in opposite directions. My advice to him was, "Then don't do that!"
Poor chicken. A couple days later she did indeed get a rip in her leg and I had to attempt chicken surgery during nap time. He never mentioned that her leg was fixed but I haven't seen him pulling on her legs anymore either.

Wordless Wednesday

Conversations in the Van

Saturday night on the way to church AJ asked is Puk Puk was 6 and I said yes.
Then he asked if JR was 8 and I said no he was 15.
"Wow," he said, "that is a big number."
"Yes," I agreed.
Then AJ says, "JR is big and he's going to get bigger and bigger until he's big like Clifford. Then he won't fit in the house or the van."
So here's to you....JR Clifford!! :)

We Just Can't Get Enough

Nathan and I have been watching Star Trek Voyager for quite a few months now. We started with Season 1 and have Netflixed all of the episodes. We each love different characters, he likes Seven of Nine. ( Who doesn't??) And I like Tom Paris. I've really enjoyed sharing a similar passtime. I've been a Trekkie since I was in elementary school, although not in the strongest sense of the word. I never wore funny clothes or talked in Klingon. But I've always loved to watch it. Nathan on the other hand, for all his "nerdieness" had never watched Star Trek before we got married. He humored me for my birthday and bought me Season 1 of the original series with Captain Kirk but he didn't get into until I started watch the Next Generation. It's fun to be able to fill him in on the back story of lots of the characters.
When it came to Voyager, I'd seen several episodes on tv. I knew the plot line but I hadn't seen much. It's been new for both of us. This is a clip from one of our favorite episodes. This is Seven and the Doctor, who is trying to teach her social skills, and yes, that is their own voices. Enjoy!

Can't get me......Oww!!

Yes, I heard that sentence only seconds ago. A stuffed animal war is raging violently through my upstairs! Animals are flying in ways that God never intended for large blue frogs to fly. Giggles are flying just as much and I'm very entertained.
Tonight Nathan and I played Candyland with the boys. As I am in the "Queen" of Candyland it was only fitting that I win. :) That is a story for another time though. And no, to those who may ask, I did NOT stack the deck.
Now they are play wildly when they are supposed to be getting ready for bed. Nathan fully started this so I guess he will be the one that has to finish it. What fun!!! Except for the frog, and the duck, and the chicken named Amy.

Thank You!!

Hey ya'll! Thank you for the two awards....I'm not totally sure I'm a blogaholic but I'm certainly a readaholic! :) Especially Pioneer Woman. She's just awesome. And Shaunda, you make me smile too! A lot!!

Wordless Wednesday

Kissing...

After reading this post over at Three Girl Circus the other day over hearing this this morning was pretty amusing. They were busy building roads and playing with cars.

AJ- Did you kiss me?

JM- No.

AJ- Yes you did. You kissed me!

JM- I DID NOT KISS YOU!

AJ- Thank you for the nice kiss JM!

JM- I. DID. NOT. KISS. YOU.

I got a good little giggle out of it.

I actually made it

Wow! I can't believe it! I actually made it to the rec center this morning. I got up at 5:40 and hauled my not so little hiney to go workout. I came home all woken up and ready to go. Nathan was still in bed and not quite so enthusiastic about the morning. Laundry is going, small fundraiser problems are taken care of, and we are on top of it this morning.
Last night one of my friends came over and we watched American Gladiators. Do any of you remember that show from 15 years ago. I used to watch it on Saturday night with my dad. Apparently he blocked out that memory but Tammy and I sure had a great time last night. They have some new challenges and the same old good ones like Joust and Hang Tough. We were way more impressed with the girls than the guys. It was just fun.
Now I'm off to rotate more laundry and find something that needs to be organized.

During our last House Showing

You may know that we are attempting to sell our house in an effort to downsize both payment and space. Our realtor called last Friday and asked if we could show our house on Sunday. I asked what time and she said whatever was good for us. I told her between 10 and 12 because we would be at church. We heard from her on Monday. This is what our conversation sounded like.
Me: How did it go?

Her: Great! The lady really loved the house. There was just one little problem.

Me: What's that?

Her: Well your ceilings are only 8 feet 10 inches tall.

Me: Okay?

Her: Well the lady has some antique furniture that is 8 feet 11 inches tall so she absolutely has to have nine foot ceilings.

Me: Are you serious?

Her: I suggested she just cut a couple inches off the legs but she didn't seem to go for it. Oh well, we'll try again.

After all that, I wasn't even sure how to respond.

Thursday Thirteen

It's been a long time since I've done a Thursday Thirteen. I thought I would do one to start off the new year. Here are thirteen things I'm thankful or excited about for the new year.

1. Everyone is at home and getting better, including Grasshopper. Checkups are still going on but we're getting good reports.
2. There are 362 days left to achieve my goals.
   
3. My husband has a good job, we're praying for better.
   
4. My new business is very exciting to me. I'm thankful I have a great team leader who's always encouraging me.
5. Jay Leno is back on the air after the writers strike. :) We like his monologues.
   
6. AJ goes back to school today, and starts kindergarten this fall.
   
7. On his birthday, in Dec, JM will be having his first day of preschool! Maybe then I'll finally get Peanut to the library for story hour. :D
8. In August, all of my children will be over the age of 1. Even if I'm pregnant then all children outside the womb will be over 1.
9. The Call-08.08.08 A chance to come together with a million other Christians passionate about impacting our government and our society. Nathan and I are so ready to go!!! and of course our church family too. This one will be held in Washington D.C. on the Mall. Bring your water and your sunscreen!
   
10. I've been elected to the county Republican Women's Club officers. I'm going to be the secretary for the next two years. I get sworn in on Tuesday....you're all coming right?
11. Speaking of elections....it's an election year! How exciting!
12. Nathan and I got to see a great movie over the Christmas break. National Treasure-Book of Secrets. It was awesome.
    
13. I'm thankful for my great friends that I'm getting to know. Nathan and I are hoping to spend more time with them this year.
    

Wordless Wednesday

The icing is gone? Why is the icing gone? This cupcake does not meet with my standards...I need another one!!!

Happy New Year

I've been thinking some about a New Year's Day post and what kind of goals I wanted to set for myself. Each time I thought about it I hesitated to put anything in writing thinking that I would just be setting myself up to not succeed fail. I have many goals for the new year, some great big ones, and others just little tiny things. Then I read my sister Mama Lily's post today about her goals for the New Year and how she feels similar to me in her mindset.
I often get behind in my goals and wonder if there is any use in trying to keep up. I'll just try again when I'm done raising my kids is something that I've thought before. But at this rate it could be a LONG time before then and I don't want to put my life on hold. I want to be a good example for my kids. I want to show them how it's supposed to be done.
So in that spirit, I'm going to post some of my goals for the coming year, starting with the mundane.

• wash my face, morning and evening. Yes, I did say mundane. It's something I neglect because I feel that I just don't have time. But, when I take the time, I feel much better so in reality it is worth the time it takes. Besides, I really like the new Mary Kay tinted moisturizer. WORKS GREAT!
• pray daily with my husband. Often times, Nathan and I neglect our time together as a couple with God. We really want to focus on doing this together.
  
• work out at the rec three times a week. This is really going to be a HUGE undertaking for me. With four small children it's too expensive to put them in the daycare at the rec. $16 an hour for four of them. My extended family is also busy with their own schedules as well. I'm going to have to get creative with my times. I'm determined to get back into shape. I want my next pregnancy to be less struggle on me physically and I'd like to keep up better with my children.
  
• more organized. I don't want to be forgetting doctor appointments, WIC appointments, and all those other things that I tend to forget until it's too late. I want to be more on top of what's going on with our family. This will require cutting back on some activities.
  
• really pump up my Pampered Chef business. I signed up to be a consultant in November right before Thanksgiving. I had five parties scheduled for Dec. Thanks to Grasshopper's little vacation in the hospital I only got to do one of them. I'm hosting an open house this month to get things jump started again. I love Pampered Chef and I really want to do well with it. It's a great opportunity to earn some extra income for our family.
  

That's five. And for now I think that is enough. They are my main goals for now. I would like to revisit them in a few months to see how I'm doing. I hope you all are enjoying your New Year. And if you need a little motivation for you weight loss goals, tune in to NBC tonight for the start of the new Biggest Loser season. It looks like it's going to be a good one.

Day 22

Grasshopper is doing good today. No breathing treatments last night. He's still not back to his old self but he's doing better. The doctors haven't done rounds on him yet so he isn't nursing. He's getting breastmilk through his feeding tube. We've had some cuddle time. I'm really looking forward to coming home.

Yea for Grasshopper!

Update on the little man. They took out his tube just after 10 am. He's resting peacfully now. He's doing good. They are going to start his meds back up this afternoon. They want to wean him off cause the meds are pretty heavy duty and they don't want him to have nasty side effects from going cold turkey. He's got a little oxygen tube resting in his nose for pressure since his lungs have had regular pressure for almost two weeks. Here's a picture I took after we had some cuddle time.

Thank you for your prayers. Please continue to pray that he will continue to improve. We would like him to pass tonight (an assesment to move to a regular room) so that he can move to the 7th floor. Once there they will talk about releasing him. Home for Christmas is definitely in reach. :)

Prayer Request

There was a couple about mine and Nathan's age staying in the room next to us at the Ronald McDonald House. They had a 2 year old little girl and a little boy Grasshopper's age. They are from the Mansfield area. About the same time Grasshopper came here the Mansfield ER sent their little boy here because he had been choking. When they got here the doctors discovered that the little boy had a hole in his heart...this was completely out of the blue for them.
He was stablized and then they had to wait for surgery. He was opperated on yesterday and afterwards they were given a good report. The surgery went fine. Then yesterday afternoon the little boy died. I wasn't able to say goodbye before they left this morning. I would appreciate your prayers for this little family. The mom was really sweet and I can't imagine what it would feel like to go home without your little one.
Please pray for a spirit of peace over Grasshopper in the morning. We're still scheduled to get the tube out. I can't wait to hold him and nurse him. I'm so ready to see him awake again.

Purple Nightgown

Today Grasshopper has clothes on for the first time in a couple of weeks. They put a purple infant hospital gown on him this morning after his bath. How cute!! Only he's not a girl. :)

Update...at 4 am tomorrow morning they will stop his feed line and start IV fluids. They will switch his meds over to some different ones and get him ready to be excabated. (take out the breathing tube) They are going to do it in his room. Please pray for peace for Grasshopper. We want him to remain calm through a breathing treatment and give himself time to adjust to not being on the ventalator. We are hoping to be home in time for Christmas....my brother-in-law Sam's present isn't quite finished. Don't worry Sam I'll make sure it's done.

Grasshopper Update

Here's the latest on little Grasshopper.
Yesterday there was a cancellation in the morning so they took him for surgery at 11 am. The surgeon wanted to do scope before the procedure to see what he was working with. He found that the swelling was going down and was able to put a bigger tube in than had been in before. They put his tube back in and put him back on steriods.
They are going to wait until Thursday and try taking out his breathing tube and let him try on his own again. They aren't scaple happy here and I'm thankful for that.
Pray that my milk supply keeps up. And pray that Grasshopper will stay calm on Thursday and breath well on his own. We would love to be home in time for Christmas.
I have internet access and a computer in his room now so I can check my email frequently and update my blog.
I had some serious catching up to do on all my blogs.

Update on the Grasshopper

Friday Dec. 7.
The night before they started changing his sedation meds in preparation for removing his breathing tube.
At 11 am they took out his tube and everything sounded clear. Once he was fully awake the chest retractions, wheezing, coughing, and everything else came back in full force. He had two breathing treatments and the heli/ox combo mentioned earlier.
At 10 til noon they put his breathing tube back in and sedated him. His breathing returned to normal.
His surgery is scheduled for Monday at 4 pm.
I'm home for the weekend to attend my sister's musical and to go to our church Christmas dinner. I'm also spending some time with the kids. The surgeon gave me a rundown of how the operation will go and said that there would be at least 10 days afterwards in the hospital. So, we're looking at Christmas in the hospital. It's not what we would want but we're getting the problem fixed. I will be coming home on Christmas Eve morning and then going back to Akron on Christmas night. We should be able to cram all our festivities in that time frame.
Thank you all for your prayers and help during this time.

Akron...Day 8

Monday Dec. 10

Due to his little nickname "Wild Man" they have given him a rather strong muscle relaxer. The sedatives were just not cutting it for him so now they don't have to give him so much of that. Every hour or so he would start kicking and moving his arms and arching his back. They didn't want him to move his tube because it would further irritate his throat. They will let it wear off tomorrow and then put him back on it for another 24 hours. Last night he developed a leak around his breathing tube meaning that some of the swelling was going down. However, this morning the leak was gone. If he can develop a leak and keep it then they might not need to do surgery. But if it doesn't come back then they will need to do the surgery. For those of you who like to look up things on line the surgery is called a cricoid split. I think that is spelled correctly. We still don't know if it will be tomorrow or on Wednesday. I'm praying it will be tomorrow because AJ's first school program is Wednesday night and I'd really like to be there for it. With the muscle relaxer he doesn't twitch at all which means mommy can kiss him a little and hold his hand and talk to him more. His temperature dropped pretty low this evening so they are doing some blood work to make sure that he doesn't have an infection. He also got something in his bed called a snuggle bear. It's like a warm air mattress that goes under him and keeps him warm. Thank you all for your prayers. My sweet friend Allison came for a visit this evening. We had fun driving to a local mall with her two girls. We had Chinese for dinner and then did some shopping. I got Nathan's Christmas present...but it went home with her so he will never know what it is. :) I got out of the hospital for a couple hours and it was a nice break. Tomorrow is our MOPS Christmas party and it's the first time I've missed the Christmas meeting since I started going to MOPS. My thoughts will be with you all.Pray that my milk supply will stay strong. So far I've been able to pump enough to keep him supplied continuously but pumping is not as effective as nursing. Pray for the other kiddo's...they have been having temperatures and throwing up and my mom and Nathan are taking care of them.

Adventures in Akron

Hi ya'll. This is my no frills update on Grasshopper.
Friday night 11/30 ER trip and diagnosed with croup. Given a breathing treatment and steriods and sent home.
Saturday night/early Sunday morning. Breathing treatment and at 7:30 am taken to the ER.
Sunday morning- Breathing treatment in the ER transfered me and him to Akron Children's Hospital in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit. He was put on a helium/oxygen mixture and given an IV in his forehead.
Sunday night/Monday morning- Taken off heli-ox and IV taken off at noon. He was transfered to a regular room. His dr. wanted him to go 24 hours without a breathing treatment.
Tuesday 5 am- another breathing treatment. Great day and good night.
Wednesday 5 am- another breathing treatment. Great day and good night.
Thursday 5 am- another breathing treatment. Great day and good night.
Friday 7:30 am- another. breathing. treatment. an okay day.
Saturday midnight, 4 am and 9 am.- breathing treatments. They brought in an ear nose and throat dr to look at him to see what else could be going on. They did a scope at 3 pm and discovered that his little throat is too small. Instead of 3.5 millimeters it's only 2.5 millimeters in diameter. It's call subglottic stenosis. They immediately put in a breathing tube and feeding tube and transfered him back to the P.I.C.U. He's fully sedated and will be having surgery on Monday or Tuesday. After the surgery he will be sedated for 7 days with a breathing tube and feeding tube. He's getting breastmilk in the feeding tube so we will still be breastfeeding when he's better. Once he's done 7 days they will let him wake up and nurse and then when he's stable transfer him back to a regular room and finish his recovery. Please pray that we can bring him home for Christmas. You can call my cell and leave me a message. I'll call with updates as to how he's doing. He's only on 25 % oxygen right now so he's doing most of the breathing work himself. Thank you for all your prayers.
In his regular room with the IV hookup on his forehead.
Dad and Grasshopper sitting out an antibiotic treatment in his IV with his little seal from the nurses.
In the P.I.C.U. fully sedated with breathing and feeding tube.

Thanksgiving Recap

Our trip was wonderful. We got to visit with family that we haven't seen in awhile. We got to visit with Granny. She broke her hip the night before we left and had surgery the same night. When we saw her on Wednesday she was doing really good. She's in rehab now and doing great.
Here's a recap in pictures. The kids all ready to take off. They did excellent in the van, both there and back.Here's the only shot of me from the whole trip. I'm a wonderful photographer if I do say so myself.Nathan drove almost the whole way there and the whole way back. Who says I never let him drive?AJ and JM got to ride on the tractor with Uncle Michael. Here is cousin Tom holding Grasshopper.On Thanksgiving Day there was lots of food and lots of family. Including my nephew Tom getting beat up by Grasshopper...the big one. :)This is Little Peanut's new best friend. My cousin Paul kept feeding her pumpkin pie and the quickest way to that girl's heart is through her stomach.On Saturday brother shot a turkey. He was hunting deer and none appeared so he got a turkey instead. It was quite tasty.I was very ready to get home. Can you tell by how fast Nathan was driving??? I like 70 mph speed limits. :D Apparently the van needs a little dusting as well...that's bad!!!I'm glad to be back and have so many new things coming up on our calendar that I feel like I'm spinning out of control. I will make it through. Soon there will be lovely house pictures to post. I like to decorate. This year I'm not doing it all in one fell swoop though. I'm going to enjoy it.

On the Road Again

Happy Thanksgiving....a little early. Nathan and I and all the kids are traveling to visit my extended family this week. I'm so excited about seeing some of these relatives that I haven't seen since before we moved to Nigeria. Some it's been 5 years since I saw them. Nathan, of course, has never met them. My brother is going to be there as well and they all come cause he's there. Which means for us that it's the best time to go. We wish you all a wonderful, thankful, (haha I just typed tankful...) and a tankful day. See you next week.

Wordless Wednesday

Musical Stylings of JM

The other day after buckling JM into his carseat he told me he wanted to sing for me. He doesn't usually interact with us like that, he's too busy playing Buzz Lightyear. This day however, he was the only one in the van with me which doesn't happen very often. I think he was enjoying my undivided ears if that makes any sense.
This is what I heard.
"A B C D L M N O P how I wonder what you are...next time sing with me. "

For the last several weeks our neighbors have been getting a new roof put on their house, new siding, and doing some painting. They've hired this one guy to do the job. He's out there almost every day and he's close to being done. The boys have been interested a little but not as much as I thought they would be unless it's convenient to their goals.
For example, today I told JM to go up stairs for naptime and he promptly sat down on the steps by the window and said, "I'm watching 'worker man'!" I thought it was funny. Anything to get out of a nap.

Happy Birthday AJ!

Last week was AJ's fifth birthday. I'm amazed by how time flies. He's gotten so big and so smart. It seems like only yesterday that Auntie was cutting his cord and I was just getting to know him.
AJ is an amazing kid. He's friendly with everyone and has such a sweet spirit. His teachers say that he's a joy to have and that they were glad they would get him back this year.
We had a wonderful party with our huge family, though some were sadly missed. We had cake from Auntie Linda too. Here is AJ on his special day with the awesome Lightening McQueen slippers mom and dad got him. Here's a lovely self portrait of the photographer and her daughter. Lincoln Logs from Grandma and Grandpa. I'm not excited at all mom.

Fall Y'all Giveaway Winners

And the winners of the Fall Ya'll giveaway are as follows.
The random numbers for the hairbows are 13 and 82. The winners are Carrie at Three Girl Circus and Meg at gmail. :) They each get the color they wanted as well. Congratulations ladies!!!!
And the random number for the cute burp cloths is 115. And the winner is Amanda at Mandigirl Musings She will get the green, pink, and blue ones she chose. Congratulations!!!

Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to all the winners. Now I'm off the email the winners their good news. :) Happy Fall Y'all!

Aren't They Cute???

Halloween has always been a bit difficult for me due to all the differing opinions people have about 'to celebrate or to not celebrate.' As a kid my family never ever celebrated it in any way. My husband's family on the other hand did dress up for school and different things. The other night my husband and I were sharing memories and he told me about the year he dressed up as an x-ray. Yes, my husband is a nerd. I don't have any memories like that. We had really discussed how we would handle it with our kids because we hadn't needed to yet.
This week AJ's preschool class is decorating trick or treat bags and going to the assisted living facility to trick or treat. I decided that Nathan and I needed to decided what we were going to do. After reading this post by KC we decided that we would let our kids dress up and go trick or treating. They are just not allowed to dress up as anything scary.
That being said, last night in our small town was trick or treat. I had no costumes for the kids. I sat wracking my brain trying to think of who might have something we could borrow. Then I remembered Heather has a box of costumes. I called her up and she loaned me some things for the kids.
JM was so funny. He kept looking at me and saying, "I'm getting candy!" He really got the hang of it. Little Peanut rode in the stroller most of the time but she kept a close eye on her little bag. AJ wanted to tell everyone that he was a fireman and that Grasshopper was a little pea pod. It was nice to get out in our neighborhood as a family and introduce ourselves to neighbors that we don't ever see. Nathan says he's just glad we have some chocolate in the house now. Our wonderful neighbor next door knew this was the kids first time so he went earlier and got BIG candy bars for them. They were really excited about that. They had one piece last night and we'll be dolling it out for a long time.
Our brother in law came over last night. Someone who knows my husband and knew him called and said we'd been out trick or treating so he came over for some candy. Here's what the kids looked like last night.

Fall Ya'll Giveaway...Burp Cloths

*Updated~ Will leave open until Saturday Nov. 3rd. at 10 p.m. est.
Hi, welcome to Mom of three...and more. Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer is hosting the Fall Ya'll giveaway carnival. I'm hosting two giveaways. This one is super cute homemade burp cloths. Made by yours truly. The lucky winner will receive their choice of three burp cloths. They can choose from two green, two yellow, two blue, and two pink. They are gingham with coordinating ribbon. Here's how you can win.

• Leave a message in the comments saying which three you would like, I must be able to contact the winner so make sure your profile has your email link or leave your email in the comment. You can spell the (at).
  
• Head over to Rocks in My Dryer to enter more drawings.
• On Friday Nov. 2 at noon I will use a random number generator to pick one number and that comment will win.
  
• The winner will be posted on Friday Nov. 2.
  
• This contest is NOT open to international participants due to shipping costs. I'm sorry.
  
• HAVE FUN!!!

Feel free to visit other posts on my blog and check out my other contest. Oh yeah, I learned how to make these beauties from Barb at A Chelsea Morning. Just giving credit where credit is due.

Fall Ya'll Bloggy Giveaways....Bows

*Updated~ Will leave open until Saturday Nov. 3 at 10 pm est.

Hi, welcome to Mom of three...and more. Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a fall giveaway carnival. This is one of two giveaways I'm doing. For this one, two winners will get their choice of a set of hair bows. My mom and I made these bows this summer. You can choose either the green with white polka dots or the red with black polka dots. Here's how you can win.

• Leave a message in the comments saying which ones you would like, the red or the green. I must be able to contact the winner so make sure your profile has your email link or leave your email in the comment. You can spell the (at).
  
• Head over to Rocks in My Dryer to enter more drawings.
• On Friday Nov. 2 at noon eastern time I will use a random number generator to pick two numbers and those two comments will win.
  
• The winners will be posted on Friday Nov. 2.
  
• This contest is open to international participants since I got so many comments from those outside the States last time.
• HAVE FUN!!!

Feel free to visit other posts on my blog and check out my other contest.

Welcome....

Hey everyone....go over to my nephew Thaddeus's new blog and welcome him to bloggy land.Be sure and leave him a comment.

Wordless Wednesday

It took me all day for Blogger to let me post this . AJ was 2 when this was taken.

It Doesn't Stop

In our house Buzz is the coolest toy and the most played with toy. (thanks to a yard sale he was only 50 cents.) They also love to watch Toy Story 1 & 2. Our Buzz is the full-sized version with the laser, the talking buttons, and the wooshy helmet thing. :) His buttons say things like, "Buzz Lightyear to the rescue." "There's a secret mission in uncharted space." and my personal favorite. "To infinity. AND BEYOND!"
It's this particular phrase that causes me to write today. JM has been saying this for months. He holds out one arm just like Buzz and runs around the house shouting at the top of his lungs. "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!" He does it first thing in the morning. He does it at bed time. Any toy he plays with flys and says this. He even has been heard talking about Buzz in his sleep. This has been going on so long that I pretty much tune it out. Although recently I've notice Little Peanut says something awfully close to that when she sees Buzz laying on the floor. And she says it just as loud. It's rather cute. I guess JM is rubbing off on her. I must say though she is definitely more gentle with her baby dolls that JM is. It's interesting the things they pick.

Who Doesn't Like Free Stuff?

Once again,Shannon at Bloggy Giveaways is hosting a fall giveaway carnival. Last time over 500 people gave things away. Head over there to see the details but I will certainly be giving something away again. I had over 200 comments. I wanted to give everyone something. I will post my giveaways on the 29th so get ready to comment. And it will be open to bloggers and non bloggers alike. You just have to have an email address. See you then!!!

My Graduation Present ...Finally

When I graduated from high school 8 1/2 years ago very dear family friends gave me a beautiful present, a quilt top in a wedding ring pattern made out of Nigerian materials. It was really lovely but unfinished. My sister wanted to quilt it for me but with her large family it just never happened.I got married 3 1/2 years ago and the subject was brought up that we should do it together. That never did happen either. I've asked about it occasionally and even looked into having it professionally done but that was going to be really expensive.
About 3 weeks ago my mother called and asked me to go with her somewhere on Oct. 11. She wouldn't tell me where, not even this morning when she came to help us get ready. Even as we were driving to another town near us she wouldn't tell me. We got to a church I was very confused. She made me bring the camera but said we wouldn't be very long. I was really confused. We walked into a large room and there were six older ladies there working on a quilt. I still was confused. They said they had something for me and it finally clicked. They finished my quilt! I. WAS. SO. EXCITED. They are a small group of women who finish quilts for a fee. They take the money they make and donate it to a mission organization that buys blankets for people in other countries. Mom had it done for me and its beautiful. I love it. Thank you mom and Aunt Delores. :) This is me 8 1/2 years ago with Uncle Frank and Aunt Delores.And this is me this morning with the ladies who finished it for me. p.s. for those of you with small children you need to check out this link It's about infant cough and cold medicines being withdrawn from the market.

Holiday Cooking ~Sweet Potato Souffle~

Overwhelmed with Joy is hosting a holiday recipe exchange. Since I love the holidays I just had to join in. I love this recipe. I'm always looking for an opportunity to have it but I usually only get it at Christmas and Thanksgiving. It's almost good enough to be dessert. Here it is.
Sweet Potato Souffle
3 cups of mashed sweet potato (3-4 large baked sweet potatoes, or canned)
2 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2/3 cup of milk
Mix all of that together and put in a casserole dish.

Topping
1 cup of chopped walnts
1/3 cup of butter soft
1 cup of brown sugar
1/3 cup of flour
Mix together and sprinkle on top of casserole.
Bake @ 325 for 35-40 minutes.
YUMMY!!!! In fact I think I need to go get some sweet potatoes cause I just can't wait till next month. For more tasty ideas head on over to Overwhelmed with Joy and look around. I'm sure you'll find something to taste. :)

Spabeggi

Spaghetti has alway been a family tradition, only when I was little I called it "spabeggi." When I was growing up we had it every Sunday for lunch when we came home from church. My mom would make the sauce from scratch on Sunday morning and leave it cooking while we were at church. I can remember walking in the door and the whole house smelling of spaghetti sauce. It makes my mouth water just thinking about it. All we would have to do is set the table and make a salad. Mom would boil the spaghetti. If we were having company there would be garlic bread to go with lunch. Occasionally, whoever came over would bring dessert. No matter how simple or elaborate. Every Sunday was spaghetti.
My mom would use different spices in the sauce and she always used a bay leaf. She would leave it in the sauce and whoever got the bay leaf on his or her plate was responsible for doing the dishes. Guest or not this rule stood. Now there have been those who tried to get out of it. Some have eaten it whole. And others have sneaked it into their napkin and flushed it down the toilet. Others, like me, have tried unsuccessfully, and sometimes successfully, to sneak it onto someone else's plate when they aren't looking.
Now, Sundays are difficult in our house. Between lots of people to get ready for church and sometimes long services lunch doesn't always come out well planned. I do feed my family spaghetti regularly though. Unfortunately I haven't taken the time to make it from scratch, I just use a bottle. Here is the next generation enjoying a family tradition.

Girls Soccer

My niece Belle, Mama Lily's girl, had a night soccer game yesterday. Its always fun for the girls to play under the lights. And this game was particularly fun because they beat the rival team 9 to nothing. Belle made a beautiful goal. I have very awesome pictures but they are stuck on my brother-in-law's camera. I borrowed his very expensive camera and the very cool telephoto lens. So alas, the great action shots will have to wait til later in the week.
After the game Belle and the other girls had a cake fight. Instead of eating their reward they used it as a weapon. Here are her mug shots. All she needs is a number now. She wanted to go show Doodle Bug who's in the hospital but she didn't think they would let her in looking like this. So she settled for pictures. Here you go Doodle. You were missed.