Little Fingers

This is what it looks like for a big brother to be tied around a little sister's finger

Just home from work and classes, Josiah is tired and has homework to do, but he complies and puts on the hat.

He chatted with me for a bit while Stacia disappeared. She came back (unclothed AGAIN) and said, "Wanna play?" She carried a floor puzzle.

Cy said, "No, I need to do school."

Stacia smiled, cocked her head and said, "wanna play, Cy".

"Ok".....he said.

Life is good around here. I'm content.

Food Bible

I make a point of saying things such as "Let's see what the Bible has to say about this" or "How does the Bible say we should do that?"


Today Zander brought me this and said, "Where in this food bible does it say how to make pancakes?" ::snort::

Sisters - Sisters

Our sweet girls. I love to see them growing closer as Stacia ages. They play "happy cake", Stacia runs for Arielle when she falls (as she did today), Arielle plays puppy with Stacia and shows Stacia how to wear a doll in a sling, Stacia tries to cook with Arielle....it's all so precious. Here they were just cuddling in the recliner - Arielle had been reading a chapter of Bobbesy Twins to Stacia. Not that Stacia FOLLOWED the story, but she wanted to be with Arielle and Arielle wanted to read. ::snort::

Watching them is bittersweet. I remember two other little girls that were "bestest" friends at 4 and 2....it's seems like just yesterday....and now they are gone from our nest and are 22 and 20. Wow. It makes me mindful to stay engaged with these little ones. BreAnne and Krista miss watching the little ones grow - and so I post lots of silly photos here...and we all dream of the sister fun they'll be having at Christmas....mabye they'll let Grandma, Mom and Dad join them a bit too....and can't forget all the boys........

Loose Ends

We finished our first unit last Friday. We are tying up loose ends this week. We SHOULD be finishing our writing assignments for the unit - but these two were working on their lapbook. Ah well, there's plenty of time for writing.....Here they were "laminating" the cover with packing tape. I think we learned that trick from Beth or maybe Jen - both have darling samples of lapbooks on their blogs. They actually finish their lapbooks. I have great plans of assembling all the little Christmas booklets into a lapBOOK this year. You know maybe I came up with this packing tape laminating on my own....I know I forgot to check to see what was on the back side before we tried to fold the tape over. ::snort::

"Just say NO! - How?"

How do you say no to darling Boy Scouts on your step? Or Girl Scouts? Even when you KNOW you don't eat this stuff any longer....it's just impossible. I said yes.....and I knew it was a splurge and more money than I would spend on popcorn.....but I thought I was getting those big tins you see in the store....

You can't tell in the photo but these babies are about 1/2 the size of the ones in the store - and were $18 each. I must learn how to say no - I really must. Mike made me quit answering the phone at night because here in TX it seems that all sorts of charities call and I was giving to each one of them....I couldn't say no....how do you tell the narcotic officers no?

Wednesday and Thursday

I was having a great day yesterday. I got errands done. We tied up some loose ends from our last unit. I put in a produce co-op order. I got dinner going and then :::drum roll::: a headache began. It wasn't bad. It was at about a 3-4 on the pain scale. BUT everyone had told me to quit being stubborn and take the maxalt right away. I took one. I was NOT prepared for it to literally knock me on my hiney. Good GRIEF. What a strange feeling. It was God that Jared and Jamin were home. I had called Mike and thought he was on the way home so figured I could take a pill and finish dinner. Jamin had to finish dinner. I fell off my chair. ::snort:: BUT the headache did go away....and I'm at about a 2 today so that is GOOD.

Before the head thing Sherri stopped by. It's always fun to have an impromptu visit with a friend. I had picked this up earlier in the day at Sam's Club.

I've wanted one since Deja's baby shower. I had great plans of Thanksgiving Dinner. Sherri saw it and commented on how fun it would be for the Ladies Tea. I told her that I have wanted one for some time but now I had an excuse to try it out at Thanksgiving and then use it for lots of different things. I explained how you could use cheese and ranch and BBQ sauce in it too....but really it's about the chocolate....and as we talked I had a VISION...of Zander and Stacia bellied up to the Thanksgiving table with forks and chocolate flying all around my house....maybe this is best to save for a grown up event?

I know some of you must have one of these. I know Cindy does. What has been your experience? Are they workable for young kids - do you just do children's treats for them? What have you found to be good combinations? Have you used anything but chocolate in them? I think I need two - one for sweet and one for savory - but I tried to be responsible and bought one.

I spent quite a bit of time on paperwork today. ANYTHING you do in connection with the military has a lot of paperwork. We had a Ladies Day Out and a Project Night this month. We have another Project Night and a Ladies Christmas Tea in December. I have paperwork to do. I must not get behind or the Senior Protestant Chaplain gets upset with me. ::snort::

I cleaned house. I started 6 trays of apples drying. We went out to dinner - evidently the threat of magic loaf was too much for my family. I told them it will show up as sandwhich filler next week. ::snort::

DINNER

This is a fun link I found on Dorothy's blog. You simply click here and it will take you to spot where you input ingredients you have at home, spices etc and bingo - out pops a recipe for you to try. You'll make a vegetarian Magical Loaf. The possibilities are really endless. I plan to try the recipe it generated for me tonight.

My recipe uses brown rice, cashews, mixed beans and all sorts of Italian seasonings.