Thanksgiving

We had an awesome Thanksgiving. We didn't have any plans, but after talking with my mom about how she invited others to her home, I was praying about who we should invite. It was just a couple days before Thanksgiving and I figured it was just going to be our family . . . when I found out the Booone's were celebrating with their family on Saturday and had no plans for Thursday. YEA! We invited them and they came over with their three sons and we had a great time playing games all day and eating a lot of food! Trish brought a great apple and two pumpkin pies and a wonderful fruit salad. We had the basics and it was so nice to have another family to share the day with=) We are hoping for another game night sometime after the holiday's.

OMNI Christmas Party

Well, no pictures to add so I haven't been in a rush to include this. I am hoping to add some when Omni puts them on the web. Mike and I had a great time at his work Christmas party! We won a $100 certificate and we had a great evening (although we didn't dance). They had an awesome band! It was a great time =)

International Thanksgiving Dinner

Ryan saw a flyer about an "International Thanksgiving Dinner" at our church. He asked me about it and asked if we could attend. My first thought was "no, that's for international students" But then I realized they would like to have international students and people from here attend as well. So I signed us up. There were over 90 people and lots and lots of good food. A very nice family opened their home to us (thankfully it was a large home, but we were still pretty snug). I met a lot of really nice people and we all had a fun time. I met someone from Bethlehem who was in aviation. I grabbed Ryan and the two of them had a great talk. He was impressed with how much Ryan knew about airplanes. Ryan was impressed that he was actually from Bethlehem and I loved that Ryan really got to enjoy and participate in the event. Amber did great too. They let the girls play with "American Girl" dolls (they each had one when I checked on them). It was a fun time =)

The kids played and ate in this area with other kids, then after the meal they played freeze tag outside (literally as it was cold and they didn't put their coats on)

Keeping my baby warm =)

Shelby shakes when it gets cold, her fur just isn't long enough, so I decided to help her out this year. This is my Sweatshirt from college. I was on staff at Dryden as an RA in the dorms and our mascot was a dragon. I think she looks great (and she's warmer too). She doesn't seem to mind. (I just hope she doesn't pee on it =(










Last year all I did was wrap her in a blanket at night (she would tuck her head in). It didn't help her during the day though. The sweatshirt is versatile.

Here is a picture of her last winter with her blanket. I tucked her in every night like a little kid (big kid actually).

YEA!!! It's Saturday!!! and I have nothing to do =)

A friend called while I was making french toast and bacon for Amber and I for breakfast and asked what I was doing. "Nothing" I said =) It's Saturday! Yea, I have all day, all weekend ahead of me and no real plans =) Mike got up early with the boy to go help sort the popcorn orders for Scouts. Amber and I slept in and had a really good, but late, breakfast. Of course I have to do the standard weekly laundry, vacuuming, cleaning, but nothing major planned really.

We ended up taking the boy to the model shop and both Mike and Ryan got models to start working on! They both are finished with the last models they were doing. In turn, we took Amber to Toys-R-Us to spend Grandma's birthday money =) She managed to do some awesome shopping and got a huge Polly Pocket set with several dolls and clothes. The best part was it was buy one get one free, so she got two! Yea! More florescent poop for the dogs (see yesterday's notes).

I had a certificate for Mardel's, a gift for facilitating a bible study that ended last April. I hadn't managed to get down to the city since so I hadn't spent it. We ended up getting a bible and protective (camo) bible cover for the boy. He is always leaving his bible at church and has destroyed the bible I loaned him, so I hope the cover helps. We got Amber one last year for her birthday and it's still in great shape so I am hopeful. We will see.

The boy is working on his new model, Mike is watching football or races on T.V., Amber is playing with her new Polly Pockets and I'm wondering how I am going to get her away from the new toy to work on her spelling words, doing laundry, getting ready to iron a ton of Mike's shirts, still need to vaccum, better start on the lesson for the 4th/5th grade lifegroup class I help with tomorrow, worried about the mouse found (IN) our home, and and hoping this new dog food will solve the gas problem we have been having lately. Okay, I always have something to do =)

We've Got Mice & other notes to self

We've got mice . . . no, not another addition to our family like the guinea pigs, rabbits, chinchillas, turtles and other assorted pet's we've had in the past, but wild mice. First they were in the garage (Mike blames Ryan for spilling dog food when feeding the dogs) Mike killed one with our broom (the broom died in the process and he has been unable to replace it=( ) he caught/killed one with a trap. Then they began stealing the food and not getting caught =( Today we found one dead in the kids playroom (yuck). Mike blames Amber for spilling the cat food when feeding the cats. Good news is, our overweight, declawed, lazy cats are not good for nothing =) I am very proud of them! Mike is going out looking for a better trap . . . . any suggestions?

Note to self: Just because Mike is done mowing the yard for the winter does not mean my job of picking up dog poop is done =(

See above note: three large dogs can make a lot of poop in a week . . . don't wait a week before picking up poop =(

See above note: Poop picking up is slightly more entertaining after Halloween as I try to figure out what candy they ate based on what's left of the candy wrappers . . . . .well, you get the idea. I have to say, the neon colors from Amber's Polly Pockets are still prettier.

Another note to self: Don't ever put the boy's pants in the washing machine without first checking the pockets . . . . EVER!

See above note: when checking the pockets beware of broken glass chips . . . . lots of broken glass chips!

See above note: ask the school why there is soooo much broken glass chips on the school playground!????

See above note: when taking care of the neighbor's dog noticed the same glass chips on top of her dryer obviously pulled out of her son's pockets . . . . I am not alone.

A final note to self: Buy the boy two more belts so he has a belt for every day of the week since he always throws his pants in the laundry with the belt still attached. This now explains why his pants are always falling down come Friday's =(

Freedm's Fall Family Festival

We went to Freedom's Fall Family Festival on Sunday. I crashed after church, but Ryan woke me up saying "it's 2:30pm and you said you would go help with the festival." I had a headache and was tired after last night, I grumbled "Amber hasn't finished working on her spelling words". In my foggy mind I heard him coaching and helping her along. A few minutes later "come on mom she finished and now were going to be late". I rolled off my bed mumbling "how can we be late when we're going early". Both Ryan and Amber love to go early to help with events, or to stay late after church. Not a bad thing . . . =) The festival was great! And the weather was perfect!

Our Pastor takes on his son's . . . .


He got some good hits in . . . .


So did they . . .

But Andrew went down both times

We had some great entertainment


They loved the inflatables



Ryan went on a hay ride


We had a huge bon fire!

The bon fire was too big so Amber ate a smore "raw".

Amber and I went on the hay ride =)

What a great way to end Amber's birthday =) It was a bummer dad had to work =(

Amber's Birthday Party

For Amber's birthday we agreed to let her have a sleepover this year. She invited six friends and all were able to make it =) We had Papa Murphy pizza for dinner and cake and ice cream for dessert =) I think it will be a memorable birthday!


Everyone wanted to help Amber open the gifts








The cake was the easiest part of the whol party. Amber made it, frosted it, and decorated it herself (with help from Ryan). She even picked out the faries to go on top of the cake and gave one to each friend. It was beautiful!

They all slept in the playroom. They wanted to watch Amber's new Tinker Bell DVD but we don't have a DVD in the playroom. So I hooked up our portable DVD, both screens, and they were still crowded around to try to see . . they didn't seem to mind too much.

What excellent timing to have a sleepover on daylight savings time so we get an extra hour =) Maybe they will all manage to wake up and get ready for church tomorrow without too much trouble . . . . . maybe

Ryan wanted to do God's work! So we all did!

We were at Walgreens getting some last minute things and Ryan commented on a local church that had been standing on the corner near our home with signs telling people about God. He said "I think we should go over there and help them, they are doing God's work". I agreed, so we went over and he grabbed a sign and introduced himself to everyone there. He talked with the first person to greet us, then moved down the street with his sign so he could meet all of the people out there. I just followed after him. He loved it! Said it was the best time and wanted to go back again on Saturday because it was their last day. On Saturday we were heading to Wal Mart to get balloons for Amber's birthday party and they were still there so we stopped and Amber got to join in too. It was a kick! They were glad to have us join and thrilled with Ryan and Amber. They said more kids waved when Ryan and Amber were out helping =)

They had a hot air balloon. Before we left Ryan went over to check it out and they let him climb in and even took his picture. They used their cell phone and e-mailed a copy to me.