Thanksgiving...

I love, love, love this time of year! Finally, I figured out why...it is like Christmas in that you get to eat alot and spend time with your family yet you don't have the pressure of buying gifts for everyone.

We had a great Thanksgiving! We woke up Thanksgiving morning and I made Pigs-in-a-Blanket for breakfast. We normally have a cold breakfast so that was a nice change. After we got ready, we headed over to my mom's house close to noon and visited with all of our family. We ate around 1pm and when I say it was good, I mean it was GOOD! So good I just ate some leftovers, yep, I am probably verging on getting some bacteria in my system from the leftovers being too old but it was worth the risk. They were still good!

After lunch, Chad went back home to watch the Cowboys win (and become 10-1) in peace. We stayed at Mom's and the kids played quietly (for the most part) and we looked at the sales papers, one of my favorite parts of Thanksgiving. We headed back home around 7pm. It was a fun night!

The next morning Michelle Jenkins and I planned to go shopping. My morning started off when my alarm went off at 2:55am. I was gone from my house by 3:15 and was at Kohl's at 4am. Why? I don't know. There was nothing I really had to be there for but we were having a fun time so it didn't matter. By 3pm I had gotten all of Hayden and Parker's Christmas bought and a few things for Chad, too.

Saturday we celebrated Thanksgiving with Chad's family, which meant more eating and family fun. We had a great time and wish we had more time with our families. It doesn't seem like there is ever enough time to do everything.

29 Days til' Christmas!

Thankfulness...

Chad challenged the church to use the alphabet to come up with 26 things we were thankful for. This is my list and I would love to see yours, too...

A…Air conditioning, I can’t live without it!
B…Babysitters, so I can go out on a date
C…Chad, my beloved
D…Dishwashers-when mine broke, I cried…see why I am thankful
E…Ears, I love to hear
F…Family-I’m so blessed!
G…Grandparents-God knew what he was doing when he made these special people
H...Hayden, my first born
I…Ice, especially from Sonic, love that crushed ice
J…Jesus, without His sacrifice nothing on this list would be important
K…K-LOVE, a whole new worship experience
L…Lip stuff, CARMEX!
M…Mexican food
N…Nertz, and the girls who play that with me
O…Oil City-the church, the people and all that are in it
P…Parker, my baby
Q…Quiet times
R…Royal Caribbean Cruise Line…what great vacations we have had
S…Sugie, my grandma…she gets her own letter, because she is that special.
T…Trees-beautiful and provide shade
U…Umbrellas
V…Vacuum, especially my Bissell Wet Vacuum
W…Water-good, cold and quenches my thirst
X…Xylophone, one of my good friends in high school played this, it is beautiful.
Y…Yearbooks, we all need a good laugh occasionally
Z…Zucchini, love it, especially at Shogun

He also reminded us that it is not only what we are thankful for but WHO we are thankful, too. Praise the Lord!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wal-Mart in the morning...

is quite pleasant. Yep, I'll never go with the boys during the day again, unless I just have to do so. After two different times of going to the grocery store with the boys (this week), who did good for a while and then got grouchy, I decided I would go in the morning before Chad left for work. I got up this morning at 5am and was out the door (looking awful) by 5:22. I was there before 6 and had such a peaceful time browsing the isles and not having anyone ask me for snacks, popcorn chicken or gum. Try it...hey, I've got an idea...instead of girl's night, let's have girl's morning at Walmart. Okay, maybe I'm going too far :).

Pockets in little boy's pants...

Should they really put pockets on little boy's pants? I mean, it might look a little weird but we would get used to it.

Right now, at 10:43pm, I am washing a load of clothes for the 3rd time because Hayden had a blue ink pad in his pocket. Fortunately, it only got on 4 things but unfortunately one of the things was one of Chad's new and really nice dress shirts.

We have found a lot of things in Hayden's pockets...crayons, gum, paper, rocks, money, little plastic toys, etc. This has to be the worst!

I guess this momma better get used to checking pockets since my little boys like to put things in their pockets.

God knew what was ahead...

When Chad and I were moving we found a letter Chad had typed. I guess it was kind of a diary entry and I want to share a portion of it with you. It is dated March 18, 1993...

"...I've been having alot of fun lately. Met new, and exciting people, that I have really begun to like. We all need change in our lives. It's all a part of the progress. One of the new people that I have met and became close friends with is Angela Pine. She is a very sweet, intelligent, compassionate, understanding person. We have much in common. She brings out the good qualities in me. She brings out a side of me I never really knew I had. She is just what I would want in a girl or companion. She's fun to be around. I could go on forever telling how I feel about her, but let me just close by saying I would say she is my "Dream Girl"- the perfect wife. Maybe I've gone to far."

March 11, 2000, 6 years and 51 weeks later, we became husband and wife.

Thanks to Michelle Jenkins Photography for the beautiful picture of us.

Almost free of our plumbing problems!

After not being able to use the sink and dishwasher for five days, we have finally found the problem and solution. Wednesday a plumber and some guys from church are coming to fix our problems. I am so excited and wish they didn't have to wait until Wednesday but you have to wait 48 hours before you can dig so you don't hit some other lines buried underground.

I'm thankful that our problems haven't involved more than just the sink and the dishwasher but it is still quite an inconvenience for a girl who likes modern conveniences. We have been trying to use paper goods mostly but there is the occasion when you have to use stuff that needs to be washed. One of my sweet church members stopped by last night and picked up two boxes of dirty dishes and brought them back straight from her dishwasher this morning. It feels good to have most of the dirty dishes cleaned and put away!

Talk with you all soon!

You know you need to get out when...

your happy to go see the gynecologist! Yesterday I had a day to myself and it was GREAT. It started with that aforementioned visit to the gynecologist, a short trip to Target, lunch with Michelle and her kids at ElChicos, and then some shopping with my mom.

Unfortunately, I came back to 6 guys at my house working on different things. First we had a painter here painting the carport area and it looks wonderful. Then there was the plumber who came because we were having some SERIOUS plumbing problems...let me make that WE ARE having some serious plumbing problems. The only things we can't use currently are the sink and dishwasher but the washing machine has been rigged so the water flows into the backyard because that pipe is backed up, too. I haven't seen the bathtub spit back up dirt in a few days so maybe that part is better but it is CRAZY around here. Then there was another guy here working on the toilet in our bathroom because it is not been on since we moved in. The other guys were here for moral support and knowledge. Anyways, after they left the kids and I ran to Wal-mart for milk and things got back to normal when we got back home (as normal as you can be with no kitchen sink or dishwasher).

I'm trying to look at the positive side, at least I don't have to cook any meals. We'll be eating frozen dinners until the sink is fixed. :)

Hope you all have a super weekend!