What a Week

Whew!!! Last week was like a whirlwind! It started out on Sunday with Aunt Paula coming to stay for the week. Monday morning Gracie has an ear infection, thus she isn't very happy for the week. We celebrated Thanksgiving this past Sunday and that is why Aunt Paula was here. To prepare for the occaision. Her favorite thing to do is cook. She loves to include the children in this process. So she comes out here with big plans!! My big plans include surviving every day.

A side note: This Thanksgiving was a very special one to us all. Especially my Mom! I am going to condense the story. This summer we found out that we had a brother we didn't know about. My mom had a son at 16 and her dad made her put him up for adoption. She had asked Paula to try to find him and she did. Bill and his wife, Diane, came and spent this weekend with us and we celebrated Thanksgiving.

And now, page 2. We had a great time the whole week with Aunt Paula, just really busy. She had the whole menu planned out and ready to cook. Monday morning Ryan and Caroline helped her make homemade cheese biscuits. They were yummy!!! Then Monday afternoon they made some sweet potatoe/cranberry cookies. They were yummy as well!! The next exciting thing was on Thursday night. Our friends the Mims, Hamiltons, and Burlesons and cousins Laila and Chase came over to make pilgrim hat cookies. It was a riot with so many children passing through, but I think they enjoyed it! I know Aunt Paula did and the moms enjoyed visiting.

Things start to become a blur from here. At some point we were ready to brine the turkey. Well, once again Ryan and Caroline were in the kitchen with Aunt Paula, this was to gross for Ben. They got to rub the "bird", as Aunt Paula calls it, with butter and oil and spices. They had to go under the skin and thought this was great fun. I am with Ben, I can't stand raw meat of any kind. Aunt Paula ended up getting tickled and falling in the floor. I know it sounds bad, but she was laughing harder than anyone. The turkey turned out great and so did everything else! We are very thankful for the opportunity to spend time with family, old and new alike!! Welcome to the family Uncle Bill and Aunt Diane! ...and Millie Mae (the puppy)! I am going to sign off for now and I hope that you all have a blessed Thanksgiving as we did.

Kim

Ben's Birthday

Today is the 9th birthday of my "baby" boy. He is such a blessing to me. He loves to snuggle and he is very tenderhearted. As he grows older, I see him struggle with just how to handle that and I pray that he will look to Jesus for the answers. It was a pretty lazy day as the children chose to do today's school work yesterday. We started the morning out opening a present before Dad left for work. Then Ben helped me fix the breakfast of his choice--Monkey Bread. Yummy!!! I had 3 little monkeys bouncing off of the walls, since it was raining outside. They did manage to bounce on the trampoline this afternoon. After breakfast, he finished opening his presents. They played and watched "Little House" all afternoon. Dinner was easy, we had breakfast for supper. I say it was easy, but I suffered through a little pain. As I was frying eggs, grease popped in my eye and burned my eyeball. Now there is a banana pound cake waiting on the stove with a little wax added. With the normal chaos around here, I managed to put the candles in a hot cake. They melted from the bottom up and fell over. I don't think Ben even knows it yet. They are watching the new Star Wars movie that his big brother gave him for his birthday. Well, I am going now since my baby girl is behind me begging for dinner.

Friday Night Football

I know it is a little late, but surely you didn't expect more than that here. Our family went to a high school football game this past Friday night and we really had a good time. We saw lots of friends that we haven't seen in a while. The most fun was watching my little girl and her friends attempt to do a cheer and dance on the field before kickoff. They had attended a mini cheer camp the previous Saturday and this was there time to shine. It was sooooo cute and funny!!! I don't think a single girl was doing the same thing, but they had fun!!

I haven't been to a football game in so long. I told my friend that I wasn't sure if I was feeling young again or really old. Guess it doesn't matter how I felt, we all know that I am pushing the old side. Thank you Lord for the many years I have had and what is left too come!!

Kim