Thanksgiving 2008

I can't believe Thanksgiving has come and gone. Where in the world did this year go??

We had a nice peaceful family Thanksgiving this year. Just 9 of us around the huge table we set up in the family room -- The Colonel, Lil Major, me, my parents, the 'Rents, my brother, and a friend of hubby's from work. I wanted a sit down dinner instead of a buffet line because inevitably the first person through the line is finished eating before the last person sits down. We sat down, prayed, and passed the food. And then we told silly stories about our childhood, and The Colonel tried to make his mom pass out with all the crazy scary things he's done.

Our turkey was wonderful, and we have LOTS left over from the 17+ pound bird. I got so wrapped up in the preparations that I didn't take a picture of our table, but it looked GOOD. After dinner, we chatted some more, did the dishes, gorged ourselves on pie, and THEN we made homemade cinnamon rolls. That is a tradition that usually takes place the day AFTER Thanksgiving, but my punk little sister insisted we bring some to her in KC on Friday. Spoiled sis...she got what she wanted! =) (Love you, sis!)

Here are some photos I DID take of our celebration and the day after in KC.

Mema on the piano...


The grandpa's watching TV...


My bro and Lucy...


Grammy and Lil Major...


Grandpa and Lucy, who seems to think she's a cat...


The cinnamon rolls just coming out of the oven...


Papa and his boy in their matching hats...in Costco...my mom's very favorite store.


The cousins...who were not allowed to get any closer than this, as Captain had pink eye.


Whoa! There are 4 babies now!

$100!!

Anyone out there think they could use a $100 gift card to Wal Mart?? I sure could1

Head on over to Deal Seeking Mom and sign up for her giveaway...someone has got to win!

Happy Shopping!

One Year

Thanksgiving is tomorrow. Where did the year go??? This time last year, I was only anxiously anticipating the arrival of Lil Major (we didn’t even know he was a boy yet!), and I was on my way to Indy to celebrate the brand new arrival of my nephew. Captain is now a year old! And my boy is almost 8 months old! Wow!

So, here we are a year later, and quite a bit has changed…

Instead of waking up to pee every hour, I’m waking up to soothe a crying baby who refuses to sleep unless you’re holding him (uh oh, I think we’ve spoiled him). My SuperDad hubby has taken to sleeping on the floor of the nursery with the boy until he’s ready to head back to his crib. We pray that this doesn’t continue forever, we’re hoping that it is just because he’s teething and fighting a cold. And hoping my dream from last night will soon come true – that those stubborn top teeth make an appearance and give ALL of us some relief.

Instead of spending hours on the phone with my mom, I can now walk three doors down and hang out with her at her house! And instead of wondering what my little brother is doing way up in Wisconsin, I only need to look down the street to mom and dad’s house. Yes, this is new news…my bro has moved to Wichita and is (for the time being) living with my parents and looking for work.

Instead of sitting around my sister’s house fighting for turns to hold HER baby, we’ll be driving to KC on Friday to steal Sis and her family away from her ILs for a short visit. And we’ll watch our uber-cute boys crawl around and pull up and stand up and hopefully snap some cute pictures along the way.

Wow! What a year! I’m so thankful for my healthy son, my loving husband, my supportive family, my amazing friends (real life AND blogosphere) and The God who knows the plans He has for me and loves me unconditionally. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Full Time

I am about to become a full time stay-at-home-mom. 3 more days of work, and my employer will become my son...and my home.

This was not my decision, but I am excited about it...on one hand.

I've been working in the aircraft industry, and 3 of the larger aircraft companies here have announced layoffs due to the crappy economy. Over 1600 people are projected to lose their jobs in the next year. Probably more because contractors (like me) are not included in that number.

See, I was offered a full time position with my company, twice in the last year, but I only wanted to work part time. They were fine with that, but I had to go through a temp agency as a contract employee. No big deal to me. I didn't need benefits anyway.

Of course, this was all before the economy took a nose dive. When I hired on, my company was kicking butt, selling more planes than we could make, and everyone was happy. Fast forward 3 months. Orders are slowing down, some customers are canceling orders, and contractors are first on the list to go.

When we first heard about layoffs, I started thinking that I WANTED to get laid off. That way, the decision to work or not wasn't made by me, I would just go with the flow. And then my boss told me on Tuesday that my job was safe. They had ranked all the engineers in our department (over 65!), and I was nowhere near the bottom of the list. They had decided to lay off a couple full time employees and keep me. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be staying at home with the boy more, but also thankful that my salary would continue.

24 hours went by. I got a call from the temp agency confirming that my job was safe. Then my boss called me back into her office after lunch. Apparently, HR had yet been informed that contractors were staying while employees were being let go. Once HR was told, they vetoed...and said company employees got to stay first. I understand, in a way. They'll get more TIME out of a full-timer, but those engineers on the bottom of the list? They're probably not doing as much work as I'm doing in just 3 days.

The bad thing is that by the time my boss called me BACK in, I'd gotten used to the idea that I would keep working...only to be told that I'm out of a job. And I was just getting to the point where I felt like I was really contributing. Oh well.

The good news is that my boss loves me. And WHEN things turn around, I think she will call me to come back. And the GREAT news is that I get to spend so much more time with Lil Major. And maybe I'll even find time to do some of the projects I've been wanting to tackle. The scary news is that our income is dropping drastically. I've got some ideas on how to make our $$ go further, but I'll have to dig even deeper. And I'm looking into some other part-time, work from home, type things. That would be great!

So, 3 more days, and no more alarm clock, no more driving to work in the ice/snow, no more walking a mile in from the parking lot. My emotions are still a little wacky about all this, but I'm so excited to start this new chapter, too!

The Best Rolls EVER

Ok, I'll give in and share my recipe with you. It originated with my mom's mom, but my uncle has been the primary baker at our holiday gatherings. My practice round went great, so good luck to all of you!

GRANDMA ANNE'S DINNER ROLLS

2 C warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
2 pkgs dry yeast
1/2 C sugar
1/4 C soft butter
1 egg
2 tsp salt
6 1/2 to 7 cups flour

Measure water into large warm mixing bowl. Sprinkle in yeast and stir until dissolved. Add sugar, butter, egg, salt and half the flour - beat until smooth. Mix in remaining flour until dough is easy to handle (I think I used just under 7 cups total). Place in greased bowl turning dough to grease top. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and let dough rise to at least double in size. Punch down dough. Form rolls into 2 egg shaped pieces, place in well-greased muffin cups, allow to raise in a warm, draft-free place until baking size (at least an hour). Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes (watch them carefully - every oven is different!).

If you want to make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate until you're ready to let it rise and bake, then cover it and put it in the fridge as soon you've mixed it and placed it in a greased bowl. I used butter to grease my pans and my bowl. Yum yum!

I hope this makes sense. Happy baking!

Rollin'

Every Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember, My Uncle D has made the most yummy rolls for our dinner. It's actually my Grandma's recipe, but I can only remember Uncle D making them. He makes MANY batches because they're so yummy that you could eat a dozen, easily! And, we HAVE to have enough dough left over to make cinnamon rolls the next morning.

There have been a few years where we couldn't make it to our family Thanksgiving, and Uncle D made sure to try to tempt us with homemade rolls. We begged him to save us some, to overnight mail them to us...but he said no way! You must be present to partake!

And all along I've had the recipe in my family cookbook, but I haven't attempted it...until now.

Thanksgiving is at our house this year, and I decided to make the "Uncle D" rolls. So, my mom, in her infinite wisdom, suggested that we practice before the big day. What a concept! While our boys golfed on Sunday afternoon, Mom and I broke out the cookbook and made the rolls. And guess what? They were AMAZING! They're a bit of work, but SO worth it.

And if we have rolls, then my husband will bounce them on the floor (or at least appear to), and we will all squeal in delight.

Severe Pain

I have severe pain right now. It's the holidays. I love family photos. I have a new(er) addition to my family. And this amazing girl is too far away to take our photos.

While I was in CA this summer, Lorie took pictures of Lil Major and me. And I LOVE them. See my header for one example. But, we don't have any good shots of us as a family, and I want some, NOW!

So, you Kansas readers (all 3 of you), do you have any suggestions for me? I love Lorie's style - she find the most amazing backdrops in just the most every day things. I don't want the Portrait Innov thing where you all sit in front of a blue backdrop. Oh, and I also don't want to have to choose 3 poses from 100. I want a CD of all the images. (I don't ask for much, do I?)

What do ya got for me??

My Kermit

As I'm catching up on uploading all my pictures on the camera, I had to watch this one over and over again. Don't I have the CUTEST little boy???




Now that he's figured out the crawling thing, he's a speed demon all over the house.

I'd love for my boy to enjoy eating things that I don't care for. So, I offered the kiddo some avocado. I think it's pretty obvious that he feels the same way about avocados that his Mama does!

Doh!

As I drove to work this morning, later than I’d planned, I realized that I left my cell phone at home. For a split second, I considered turning around and going back for it. But then I glanced at the clock and decided that I didn’t have time. My next thought was that I needed to call Mom to tell her I wouldn’t be answering my phone today. So, I reached for my cell phone...that I left at home...

What a great start to the day. At least it’s my Friday!

She cooked!

I took FULL advantage of the super duper sales at Dillon's (Kroger) this weekend. My bill before my discounts and coupons was $230...after all the discounts?? $130! I saved $100!! And after looking at my receipt, I see that they jipped me out of one of the $5 rewards...but I still did pretty good.

Anyway, one of my purchases was a buy one get one slab of ribs. Ribs aren't my favorite, but they are The Colonel's favorite, and my dad won't turn them down either. So, I called mom from work this morning and asked her to throw them in the crock pot using a recipe I found on one of the MANY blogs I read these days. And come to find out, it was John McCain's recipe. We liked it, but I think I would change up the spices a bit the next time - it was kinda salty. And mom insisted on basting the ribs with BBQ sauce at the end of the cooking cycle. We cooked them for 10 hours on low, and they were falling off the bone. Yum yum!

We paired the ribs with the yummiest yummiest Gouda mashed potato casserole (Jody - thank you for that!!) The recipe calls for whole milk, which I didn't have, so I used skim milk and fat free half and half. GO MAKE THIS NOW!!

And in an effort to have something without any fat in it, we had green beans as well. I had hoped for a nice family dinner together, but The Colonel got stuck at work late, and my dad had to leave early for his flying class thing, so we ate in shifts. And in between bites, I attempted to heat up squash and sweet potatoes for the boy...too bad one batch ended up all over the counter, cupboard and floor, and I melted the bowl on the next batch. Meanwhile he was screaming bloody murder b/c his little tummy was STARVING! Poor kid. We finally all got to eat, including The Colonel. I guess that was the important thing.

The boy was extra fussy today as he's still trying to get those 2 top teeth in, so he went to bed early. And instead of conquering one of the many things on my to-do list, I sat my big butt in front of the TV and caught up on The Amazing Race. I have to say - I'm SOOOOO glad those chicks, the divorcees, got kicked off. They are complete idiots. How many times did they neglect to follow the directions and get screwed up? They deserved to be gone. I hope that Kenny and Tina win it - they're the most down to earth, help others, nice people on the show.

Now, it's off to bed for me. The Colonel and I are both off tomorrow to celebrate our 8th anniversary as well as Veteran's Day. The plan is to take in the movie Fireproof and have an early dinner, sans the boy. Let's hope for better weather than we had today!

Another Loss -- football, that is...

Our annual trip to KC to watch our beloved (we've got to love 'em to stick with them through the last few years!) Chiefs was a little different this year. We had a little person tagging along.

The Colonel wanted to leave Lil Major at home, but I was intent on taking him with us. I didn't want him to feel left out. =) We only had to stop one time on our drive north, and besides me riding in the back of the car with him, there was nothing exciting in our drive. This was a MUCH better trip than our ride to Indiana back in June.

We spent Saturday eating BBQ, looking for train/hobby shops, walking and walking and walking around the Plaza, taking naps, and trying to keep a little boy from crawling on the NASTY hotel floor.

waiting for our BBQ...


playing at the fountain...


people watching...



Lil Major and I fell asleep early Sat night while The Colonel stayed up to watch Texas Tech surprise everyone. And we were hoping to be pleasantly surprised ourselves at the Chiefs game. We were hopeful for a while...and then it happened...what always happened...they threw it away, and we lost again.

We got to the stadium early and pretended to tailgate in the parking lot. I say pretended b/c we didn't have any food. We just got there early so we wouldn't sit in traffic on the freeway to get in. The boy crawled around the back of the car, and the big boy and I people watched.




The guy sitting next to us (in our totally AWESOME seats given to us by my sis's in-laws) said that Lil Major was helping the team play better. We should have listened to him b/c every time I left our seats to walk around with the boy, something bad happened -- kickoff return on the OTHER team, fumble, not good!




the view from our seats...


We still had a blast, though. Arrowhead is the best stadium to watch a game in, and the club level where we were sitting is the best place to sit. It was our second year being there near Veteran's Day (which also happens to be our anniversary), and they did great things to honor our Vets. There was a great flyby, like always, and a HUGE flag during half time (it was only half open here).



Not to mention that The Colonel and all the other Vets stood up to be recognized.

I had forgotten how loud it was, with the announcers and everything, but Lil Major still managed to get in a couple short naps. And he loved looking at everything around him. It was more work than I anticipated to have him with us, and it was frustrating that the only changing table in the stadium was in the first aid office which was a 10 minute walk away...but I'm glad we took him. Besides, he looked SO cute in his little jersey.



Since we were so tired, the boy offered to drive us home...

Halloween 2008

So, this Halloween post is WAY late, but since I already posted pics of the boy in his costume, and since I've had such a crazy week...I didn't really rush it.

We had a pretty laid back Halloween. The plan was to hand out candy for a bit, trick or treat with our neighbors for a bit, and then come home to get ready for our trip to Kansas City.



We did all of those things...but the "bit" part turned out to be VERY short.

I think we gave out a handful of candy before we headed out with our neighbors. We made it almost around one block in our neighborhood before Lil Major, aka the best looking fireman EVER, started getting really tired and fussy. I mean, who can blame him - all he did was ride around in a stroller and get NO candy. I had to beg some chocolate from Macey, our neighbor's 9 year old. =)

We did enjoy the time with our friends, who will soon be moving away, and all the costumes of our neighbors. One of the parents out with their kids had the BEST stroom trooper costume. It was so cool!

Here are the cutest boys on the block...can you believe Seth is 2 months younger than Lil Major??



I had anticipated handing out more candy after we got home, but since the kiddo was so zonked, I put him down and turned out all the lights because I didn't want the doorbell and the dogs to wake him up. We had an early morning call to head out to KC...more on that shortly...

A Taste of Fall

I have fallen in love with soups the last couple years, although I am a bit of a soup snob. I prefer bisques because everything is chopped up and smooth - I don't like chunky vegetable soups. I like chowders, but nothing with fish. I'm only KINDA a picky eater.

Anyway, I made a butternut squash bisque yesterday. There are tons of recipes out there, but I wanted something easy that I could make in my crockpot and that didn't take a ton of ingredients.

This is what I tried:

Ingredients
2 1/4 lbs butternut squash, peeled and cubed
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can chicken broth
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 tablespoon fresh ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
sour cream (to garnish)

Directions

1 Place squash cubes, garlic, nuts, and olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.
2 Cover and cook, stirring occasionally until squash is soft (about 25 minutes).
3 Place garlic, nut, and squash in a blender or food processor pulsing until pureed.
4 Transfer mixture to crock pot and add the cream, chicken broth, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, salt, and pepper.
5 Stir to combine.
6 Cook on low heat 3-5 hours.
7 Garnish with sour cream and a few remaining nuts.

Now, here's what I did differently...
1. My squash was already cooked (I cut it in half, placed it cut side up in a pan with 1/2" water in the bottom, covered it in foil, and baked it for 45 minutes on 350), and I probably used about 2/3 of a very large squash. I have no idea how you know you have 2 1/4 pounds of squash, I just eyeballed it.

2. Since the squash was already cooked, I just sauteed the garlic and nuts in oil. If I were to do it again, I'd use less oil and throw in the ginger, too.

2. I pureed my butternut squash, nut/garlic/oil mixture and chicken stock in my blender, then poured it into my crock pot. (I used the chicken stock in the blender b/c it was too thick to blend otherwise).

3. It was REALLY thick, so I dumped in a second can of chicken stock.

4. It was really creamy on its own, but I felt like I NEEDED to use some cream...but I only added 1/3 cup. It really didn't need any.

The bottom line? It's good. It tastes better today than yesterday. It's not quite as sweet as I expected, but that's ok. I'd make it again, with my modifications.

I have one more squash to use, so send me your suggestions for how I could do it differently...or ideas on what else to make with my squash. Agnes...send me your recipe!

Stupid DVR

You would think that my DVR (which I program to record a show, not for a certain time) would KNOW when the football game ran late and 60 minutes started late, and it would not start recording The Amazing Race until the show actually starts...so that I could watch the end of the show. But, NO! It's too stupid.

Thank goodness for full episodes on the internet, otherwise I wouldn't know that Kenny and Tina are still in the race. Whew!

Stay tuned for the rundown on Halloween and our exciting weekend in KC.

Life is fragile.

I’ve always known that, but sometimes it hits harder than others. When The Colonel and I first got married and moved far away from everyone we knew and loved (besides each other, of course), we had to completely rely on each other for everything. It was a good way to start out a marriage – there was no running to mom or dad when we had a fight, we had to start our own holiday traditions, and we spent A LOT of time together. I clung to that time – sometimes in an unhealthy way. I had this crazy fear that I needed to spend as much time with him as possible because what if he didn’t come home one day, what if the world ended, what if??? And it went on and on. I turned down activities with new friends b/c I wanted to be at home with my new husband...even if we were fighting, even if we NEEDED time apart.

I just felt like if something bad were to happen, I wanted to know I’d spent as much time as I could with him, that I’d told him I loved him and that he KNEW I felt that way. As time passed, I relaxed and realized The Colonel DID know I loved him and that it was GOOD for us to spend time apart.

So, 7 ½ years later – enter Lil Major…and enter my fears again. But add to it that I can’t get enough of cuddling and kissing that cute little boy. AND, add to it that tragic things happen all around me. I KNOW God is in control, and that He has a plan, but I want to have the perfect little family where nothing bad happens to us. And maybe we will…only God knows. In the meantime, I will continue to fawn all over my boys – big and small, and I will continue to pray and praise God for giving them to me.

But, sad things are happening to others even though my little family is living in bliss right now.

My next door neighbor passed away this week. He was 62. He battled cancer for the last year or so, and he was finally relieved of his pain on Tuesday. He leaves behind a loving wife and 2 children and 2 grandchildren. We didn’t know him very well, but I’ve gotten to know his wife over the last couple months. She bought Lil Major a cute outfit a few months ago and called to say she was going to bring it over. Then things got hectic. She had to get hospice care for her husband, and Lil Major outgrew the outfit that he never got. So, she went out and bought him another outfit, and brought it over. She didn’t have to do that – she had enough to deal with. But, my son’s smile and giggles and hugs brought her a little joy in a scary time.

My dad is training to be a pilot. He used to fly when I was a kid, but he has to recertify since it’s been so long. What better place to do it than the air capital of the world, huh?? Anyway, he was scheduled to take a class a few weeks ago about an hour away from home, but it was postponed to last weekend in a different town about 70 miles away. But, he’s out of town visiting my sister, so he missed the class. He had been planning on riding up with the instructor. The instructor was killed in a car accident on the way to that class. My Dad could have been in that car...but he wasn’t. That gives me the chills.

A vibrant adorable sweet little boy died last week after his battle with cancer. He’s been an inspiration to many, but I can NOT imagine losing my little boy at such a young age.

I don’t know what my point is with this post, other than a reminder that LIFE IS FRAGILE. We can’t control it, we can just love others as we go through it, thank God for giving us each day, and rejoice when someone we love is called home...even though it makes us sad...for now.

In the latest Karen Kingsbury book that I'm reading right now, one of the characters was just reminded not to worry about anything, and to give everything to God. I think that God is reminding me about that right now...through this post, through things happening around me right now. Here's a passage of scripture that talks about that.

Phillipians 4:4-7
4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always! Again I will say, Rejoice!

4:5 Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

4:6 In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

4:7 The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.

Our Monday

Whew! What a day! Lil Major and I sure accomplished a lot today. It feels good, but I'm exhausted!

Here's a rundown...we got a slow start, in part due to the fact that it stays dark til 7:30am (how weird is that??) and in part due to a teething almost 7-month old. So, it wasn't until after a short nap that we really got going. When I went in to check on the boy, I found this...him sleeping on TOP of his giraffe. Poor giraffe!



After naps, we got up, got dressed and headed out into the frigid morning (the news said wind chill was 24 this morning!!). We went to the post office and then to a discount grocery store where we ran into my hair stylist (of course, I hadn't done my hair - it was in a hat!) and a friend from church. Then we went back home for another nap...for the boy.

In between naps and giggling with my son, I made bread (in my breadmaker), made my lunch for tomorrow, cooked some chicken for salads, did some laundry and put the groceries away. By then, Lil Major needed a distraction from his sore gums, so we bundled up and went for a walk. Even though it was cool, it was gorgeous, and we had fun scaring the geese into the pond (we DID NOT have fun walking through their nasty poop!).




After Daddy got home tonight, we carved our pumpkins. Lil Major wasn't too excited about it, but he put up with us.

Before...


After...


Unfortunately, our masterpieces don't hold a candle to Terri's family. I'll plead small-child-getting-bored syndrome, so we rushed through it. All that matters is I have seeds that I can bake now. Oh, I also cooked a butternut squash during all of this -- some I'll use for Lil Major's food, and some I'll use for a butternut squash bisque. I'm still looking for a good recipe - anyone have any ideas??

My kitchen was quite the mess after all this, and I still had laundry to fold and the boy to put down. So, here I sit at 9:18pm with a clean kitchen, one more load to fold, clean hair and an exhausted body. I think it's time for bed!

Fireman of the Year

The Colonel had big plans on Saturday - work and then golf (what's new?!), so Lil Major and I made plans of our own.

We headed to a craft fair first off, where the only thing we purchased was some yummy cookies. Lins was selling her wares, so we hung out with her for a while. Then we headed over to Jayme's town to see their new place and take the kids trick-or-treating...we hadn't seen them in 2 months!

When we got to Augusta, Lil Major changed into his costume in the back of the Pilot. Have I told you that I LOVE my car??? The back of it is perfect for changing diapers, nursing babies, or in this case - changing into a Halloween costume, er, I mean The Fireman of the Year!



It was a beautiful day - a little cool to start out, but it warmed up to a wonderful fall day. We met Jayme and the girls and wandered the streets of Augusta, KS, trick-or-treating at all of the shops.



Lil Major scored some candy even though I tried to abstain (I'm serious - those shop owners insisted!). He was the perfect angel in his stroller. He just sat back and took it all in - all the kids and costumes and craziness. I didn't hear a peep out of him for over an hour! And he was awake! As soon as I pulled him out of his stroller, he broke into a huge smile and gave me a hug.

We went to see Jayme's new place after we'd collected all the candy we could. The girls had a blast playing with their cousin, and Jayme and I got to catch up a little bit.

The day was exhausting for Lil Major, and he slept the whole way home in the car and for 12+ hours last night!

And now, we don't have to go out in the cold on Friday night. =) Well, maybe just for a little while.

College logic?

I did it. Finally. My house is clean. BUT, I didn't clean it myself (heavens, no!). I hired someone. And I have never been so happy to hand over my money to someone else.

I love a clean house, and while I KNOW how to clean, and I'm pretty good at it, I hate to clean. I LOVE the results, but I hate the work to get there. Therefore, my house has not been properly COMPLETELY cleaned in 2008 (until now). Don't gross out - it's all been clean many times, just not the entire thing...all at once...at the same time.

So, use your college philosophy and deductive reasoning skills to draw the correct conclusion/solution to the above statements...

Of course, the only reasonable thing to do was to hire someone (thanks Heather for planting the seed!). So I did. And Tuesday after work, I walked into a clean house for the first time in a LONG time.

I've had help cleaning in years past, but not since we moved to Kansas. I was trying to save money, and especially since I'm only working part time, I didn't think I could justify it. But I just can't keep up. And I don't want to wish for Lil Major to sleep longer just so I can clean the bathroom - I want to enjoy all of his awake time. And I was tired of being stressed because I had a dirty house.

So, I rationally and practically put together my argument to present to The Colonel.

I told him that it would cost LESS for us to pay someone to come clean our house twice a month than for me to quit my job and stay home and clean.

It makes perfect sense, right? I think so...and now I have a clean house, too!

Swing low...sweet Chariot!

We spent some time in our backyard this weekend, hanging up a swing for Lil Major. A friend of ours gave us their baby swing when their son outgrew it, and we've been meaning to get it hung for weeks.

Daddy, aka The Colonel, used his mad knot tying skills to hang the swing and make sure that the boy wouldn't hit the ground. After inspection by Mommy, we hung the swing and loaded up the kiddo.



I knew the boy would love it. He swung in a friend's swing when we were in CA, and he LOVES to be outside. And the weather was perfect. Cool, with a light breeze. Blue skies, green grass, big tree. It was gorgeous! We'll have to spend some time out there every day before it's too cold



On our way back into the house, I turned around, and all of a sudden I saw Gomer Pyle in my backyard. So weird!



Can you tell these two are related, or what??


The outfit Lil Major is wearing in the above picture is the outfit The Colonel bought for him last Christmas. He wore it for the first time to church today. And get this - it's a 3-6 month outfit, but it's the same size as the 12 month shirt the kid wore yesterday. I'm getting so frustrated with baby clothes and the wacky sizes!

Punkin Patch

After much whining and crying - from the BIG boy in my life - I was finally able to drag my family to the pumpkin patch to start a fall tradition for us. There are lots of pumpkin patches around our area - a lot of them with petting zoos and slides and hay rides and corn mazes - most of which we didn't need this year.

We chose a family dairy in The Colonel's hometown. They have the petting zoo and hay ride, and they invite school-age kids out during the year to learn about the dairy world. They also grow pumpkins. We just went for the pumpkins...and a good photo opportunity.



It was close to closing time by the time we got there, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. Before we picked out our pumpkins, we plopped the boy down in various places to shoot some pictures. How I wish I had a big fancy camera so I could get some REALLY good pictures.





I'll pay $5 for that one!! hee hee


And just to prove that we DO live in Kansas, and we were out near Small Town, USA...my boys standing in a milo field...

Another milestone!

It seems as though Hudson taught Lil Major a bad habit while we were staying with him a couple months ago. And the boy practiced it this morning when he crawled for the first time!

Something to think about

As the election draws near, and my mailbox is FULL of junk, er...I mean, propaganda, and TV is full of debates...I have managed to ignore most of it. I've made up my mind, so I see no reason to aggravate myself by listening to lies on TV. BUT, I'm also afraid for our nation's (and our world's) future, so when a friend passed on the below article, I read every word of it.

It's written from an interesting perspective and has a lot of information in it. I think most people have made up their minds (even though they probably feel they're choosing the lesser of 2 evils), but I really hope that the info below is not ignored when they go to vote in a few weeks.

And by the way, the article below was in fact written by Huntley Brown. I checked it out on snopes. There's an additional note at the bottom of the snopes article that offers even more insight.

One more thing - I can't leave this alone - how can ANYONE support partial birth abortion??? Read about it below, and then tell me how anyone can vote to elect an official who supports it! It absolutely outrages me!


This article is from Huntley Brown - he is a fabulous concert pianist, man of God and is a black man. I appreciate so much his reasoning for not voting for Obama. I would like to see this article published or spread out via Email to as many as possible.

Why I Can't Vote For Obama

By Huntley Brown

Dear Friends,

A few months ago I was asked for my perspective on Obama, I sent out an email with a few points. With the election just around the corner I decided to complete my perspective. Those of you on my e-list have seen some of this before but it's worth repeating...

First I must say whoever wins the election will have my prayer support. Obama needs to be commended for his accomplishments but I need to explain why I will not be voting for him.

Many of my friends process their identity through their blackness. I process my identity through Christ. Being a Christian (a Christ follower) means He leads I follow. I can't dictate the terms He does because He is the leader.

I can't vote black because I am black; I have to vote Christian because that's who I am. Christian first, black second. Neither should anyone from the other ethnic groups vote because of ethnicity. 200 years from now I won't be asked if I was black or white. I will be asked if I knew Jesus and accepted Him as Lord and Savior.

In an election there are many issues to consider but when a society gets abortion, same-sex marriage, embryonic stem-cell research, human cloning to name a few, wrong economic concerns will soon not matter.

We need to follow Martin Luther King's words, don't judge someone by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I don't know Obama so all I can go on is his voting record. His voting record earned him the title of the most liberal senator in the US Senate in 2007.

< http://nj.nationaljournal.com/voteratings/> NATIONAL JOURNAL: Obama: Most Liberal Senator in 2007 (01/31/2008)

To beat Ted Kennedy and Hilary Clinton as the most liberal senator, takes some doing. Obama accomplished this feat in 2 short years. I wonder what would happen to America if he had four years to work with.

There is a reason Planned Parenthood gives him a 100 % rating.
There is a reason the homosexual community supports him.
There is a reason Ahmadinejad, Chavez, Castro, Hamas etc. love him.
There is a reason he said he would nominate liberal judges to the Supreme Court.
There is a reason he voted against the infanticide bill.
There is a reason he voted No on the constitutional ban of same-sex marriage.
There is a reason he voted No on banning partial birth abortion.
There is a reason he voted No on confirming Justices Roberts and Alito.
These two judges are conservatives and they have since overturned partial birth abortion. The same practice Obama wanted to continue.

Let's take a look at the practice he wanted to continue. The 5 Step Partial Birth Abortion procedures:

A. Guided by ultrasound, the abortionist grabs the baby's leg with forceps. (Remember this is a live baby)

B. The baby's leg is pulled out into the birth canal.

C. The abortionist delivers the baby's entire body, except for the head.

D. The abortionist jams scissors into the baby's skull. The scissors are then opened to enlarge the hole.

E. The scissors are removed and a suction catheter is inserted. The child's brains are sucked out, causing the skull to collapse. The dead baby is then removed.

There is a reason Obama opposed the parental notification law.

Think about this: You can't give a kid an aspirin without parental notification but that same kid can have an abortion without parental notification. This is insane.

There is a reason he went to Jeremiah Wright's church for 20 years.

Obama tells us he has good judgment but he sat under Jeremiah Wright teaching for 20 years. Now he is condemning Wright's sermons. I wonder why now?

Obama said Jeremiah Wright led him to the Lord and discipled him. A disciple is one in training. Jesus told us in Matthew 28:19 - 20 "Go and make disciples of all nations." This means reproduce yourself. Teach people to think like you, walk like you; talk like you, believe what you believe etc. The question I have is what did Jeremiah Wright teach him?

Would you support a White President who went to a church which has tenets that said they have a

1. Commitment to the White Community

2. Commitment to the White Family

3. Adherence to the White Work Ethic

4. Pledge to make the fruits of all developing and acquired skills available

to the White Community.

5. Pledge to Allocate Regularly, a Portion of Personal Resources for

Strengthening and Supporting White Institutions

6. Pledge allegiance to all White leadership who espouse and embrace the

White Value System

7. Personal commitment to embracement of the White Value System.


Would you support a President who went to a church like that?

Just change the word from white to black and you have the tenets of Obama's former church. If President Bush was a member of a church like this, he would be called a racist. Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton would have been marching outside.

This kind of church is a racist church. Obama did not wake up after 20 years and just discover he went to a racist church. The church can't be about race. Jesus did not come for any particular race. He came for the whole world.

A church can't have a value system based on race. The churches value system has to be based on biblical mandate. It does not matter if it's a white church or a black church it's still wrong. Anyone from either race that attends a church like this would never get my vote.

Obama's former Pastor Jeremiah Wright is a disciple of liberal theologian James Cone, author of the 1970 book A Black Theology of Liberation. Cone once wrote: "Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. "

Cone is the man Obama's mentor looks up to. Does Obama believe this?

So what does all this mean for the nation?

In the past when the Lord brought someone with the beliefs of Obama to lead a nation it meant one thing - judgment.

Read 1 Samuel 8 when Israel asked for a king. First God says in 1 Samuel 1:9 "Now listen to them; but warn them solemnly and let them know what the king who will reign over them will do."

Then God says

1 Samuel 1:18 " When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the LORD will not answer you in that day." 19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel. "No!" they said. "We want a king over us. 20 Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and fight our battles." 21 When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the LORD. 22 The LORD answered, "Listen to them and give them a king."


Here is what we know for sure.

God is not schizophrenic

He would not tell one person to vote for Obama and one to vote for McCain. As the scripture says, a city divided against itself cannot stand, so obviously many people are not hearing from God. Maybe I am the one not hearing but I know God does not change and Obama contradicts many things I read in scripture so I doubt it.

For all my friends who are voting for Obama can you really look God in the face and say; Father based on your word, I am voting for Obama even though I know he will continue the genocidal practice of partial birth abortion. He might have to nominate three or four Supreme Court justices, and I am sure he will be nominating liberal judges who will be making laws that are against you. I also know he will continue to push for homosexual rights, even though you destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah for this. I know I can look the other way because of the economy.

I could not see Jesus agreeing with many of Obama's positions. Finally I have two questions for all my liberal friends.

Since we know someone's value system has to be placed on the nation,

1. Whose value system should be placed on the nation.

2. Who should determine that this is the right value system for the nation?


Blessings,

Huntley Brown

Who knew...

that sweet potatoes and carrots could be so funny!

A New Blogger

"Just a minute mom, I need to check my blog..."

$2.57

That's how much I paid for a gallon of gas today. It seems so cheap! And it's so crazy that just 5 days ago I paid $2.93, and I was thrilled...it's dropped that much in 5 days!!! I can't believe that it's going to last, so I keep filling up once I get to half a tank. I've missed out on these "cheap" prices before...they won't get me again.

Of course, if I would have waited until I NEEDED gas, I wouldn't have bought it 5 days ago for $2.93, and I would have gotten a WHOLE tank for $2.57/gallon. I'll never learn!

Eliot

One of the most amazing videos/stories I've seen in a long time. Makes me want to go wake up Lil Major from his nap and hold him and never let go.

Watch the whole thing...to the end...

My Gram

Last year I wrote a post about my Gram. Today is her birthday, so I want to link back to that post again.

I'm so glad I have these memories of her! Happy Birthday, Gram!

It Figures!

Not that I'm surprised that the donkeys would do this...but I am outraged by it. This can't be legal, can it???

Ohio Homeless Driven to Polls to Vote Obama

CLEVELAND — Volunteers supporting Barack Obama picked up hundreds of people at homeless shelters, soup kitchens and drug-rehab centers and drove them to a polling place yesterday on the last day that Ohioans could register and vote on the same day, almost no questions asked.

The huge effort by a pro-Obama group, Vote Today Ohio, takes advantage of a quirk in the state's elections laws that allows people to register and cast ballots at the same time without having to prove residency.

Republicans have argued that the window could lead to widespread voter fraud because officials wouldn't have an opportunity to verify registration information before ballots were cast.

Among the volunteers were Yori Stadlin and Vivian Lehrer of the Upper West Side, who got married last week and decided to spend their honeymoon shepherding voters to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections.

Early today, Stadlin's van picked up William Woods, 59, at the soup kitchen of the Bishop Cosgrove Center.

"I never voted before," Woods said, because of a felony conviction that previously barred him from the polls. "Without this service, I would have had no way to get here."

New Friends and Baby Bath Time

In my last post, I forgot to mention that at one of my girly get-togethers, I got to meet another blogger!! Heather dropped by for one of the parties...where we were choosing super cute personalized purses. I met Heather through another blog AND THEN realized that she was the real life friend of my friend Lins. Crazy, huh? Anyway, Heather was super fun and beautiful and Lil Major and her daughter played while we chatted and spent money and ate junk food. Does it get any better than that??

Here are the bloggers...Heather, Lins, and me.


And much to the dismay of The Colonel, I broke out the camera for bath time last night. I couldn't resist...he's so stinkin' cute (well, The Colonel is cute, but it is Lil Major's bath time that I'm talking about!)

Too Much

My blog has been boring and lonely lately. I haven’t had time to post about all the normal, but fun or silly, things that we’ve done lately. I’ve been reading all of your blogs and posting comments when I can (i.e. when there’s no baby on my lap or a breast pump attached to me, meaning both hands are free for typing), but I haven’t been posting much of my own. I’m also trying to get some other stuff done online – creating photo books, uploading photos, buying football tickets, booking hotel rooms…and not much of that is getting done either. Not to mention I have a HUGE stack of books I want to get on half.com or some other similar site. Ugh! And my sleep is too important to me to stay up late working on all this. Add that to a relatively new job where I don’t have time (or feel comfortable enough) to tackle some of this from there. How do you guys all do it???

Anyway, a quick update on our family. Lil Major is as cute as ever. He’s a pro at sitting up by himself now, rolling all over the place, and rocking on all fours. I’m just waiting for the day he takes off across the floor in a crawling frenzy...I know it’s coming soon! He loves real food, and so far we’ve tried bananas, mango, carrots, sweet potato, and broccoli. The Colonel is mad that I am making the boy eat broccoli, but he can just deal with it...the kid seems to like it. So far, I’ve made all his food myself, and I’m really enjoying that. I hope I can keep it up. The freezer is full of enough to last us for a while.

I’m in the middle of planning our 8-year anniversary trip to KC. We’ll take in a game, stay in a new hotel, and argue about which of our favorite restaurants to eat at. Hopefully the weather will be great, and all 3 of us will enjoy it. Yes, we’re taking the boy. I want him to experience his first game at Arrowhead – even if we’ll probably lose, and he won’t remember it anyway.

I’ve also had a couple get togethers lately – y’know, those parties where girls eat junk food and shop. Both have been fun, and I even started a little holiday shopping. I love to host things at my house, and I haven’t done much of that lately.

My babysitter, aka Mom, is getting ready to head to The Seester’s house for a while, so starting next week I’ll have to shuffle the kid around to my “back-ups”. Should all work out fine, though.

Oh, update on the insurance ordeal – I finally got someone competent on the phone yesterday, and she told me that I can request a rate review after I start nursing and everything (hopefully) gets back to normal. The idiot I first talked to said I’d have to wait 2 years. So, I accepted the policy, and we’ll see how things go in the coming months. Thanks for all your comments on that!

The Colonel

Mama Bear did this meme this week, and I thought it looked like fun...it's all about my hubby, The Colonel.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV; what is on the screen?
Well, first of all, there are 3 screens, and football is on one, golf on another, and some old Clint Eastwood movie on the third.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
Ranch...always and only Ranch

3. What's one food he doesn't like? only one?? mushrooms, hummus, broccoli, peppers

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? A beer - or nothing, he's not a big drinker

5. Where did he go to high school? Small-town Kansas

6. What size shoe does he wear? 10 or 11? i don't know

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? He does collect things...golf balls, matches, cigars, train stuff.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Does a burger count?? He loves burgers!

9. What would this person eat every day if he could? tacos

10. What is his favorite cereal? rice chex

11. What would he never wear? a suit...unless he was forced

12. What is his favorite sports team? KC Chiefs

13. Who will he vote for? The RIGHT guy

14. Who is his best friend? Well, me, of course.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? complain, ever.

16. How many states has he lived in? 6, I think.

17. What is his heritage? not sure - he's adopted

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? chocolate (but more because it's my favorite, he's not a big cake person)

19. Did he play sports in high school? Football, golf, basketball

20. What could he spend hours doing? building up his train set

It can't be!

My boy is almost 6 months old. Where did the time go?? On Sunday, he will turn 6 months old, half a year, 26 weeks. I can't believe it. I'm more in love with him every single day. I run out of work at 3:26 pm (it's only 4 minutes early) each day so that I can beat the traffic and get home to him as soon as possible. He's so fun, and he's changing so fast. He started sitting up a couple days ago, and he's still practicing on all fours for crawling. He has 2 teeth now, and he LOVES his new bathtub that we just got (it's an inflatable rubber ducky, it even quacks!!). He's started this silly thing where he growls at people, just this cute little growl. We've tried to catch it on video, but haven't been able to yet. He's more and more fun every day. I'm SO glad he's mine!

Scooter

I have some new super cute pictures of my boy, but I have to tell what I just finished doing first.

My mom was sitting on our front steps with Lil Major enjoying the gorgeous fall weather (imagine bright blue cloudless skies and 75 degrees) when I got home from work. I went out to join her just as my next door neighbor, Verna, came over asking if we'd seen Scooter, their 10 month old lab. It appeared that Scooter had gotten out somehow and run off. I had just driven through our neighborhood and hadn't seen him. As mom and I sat there talking, we saw our neighbor get in his truck and go driving to look for him, and his wife started walking through the neighborhood yelling out Scooter's name. Mom decided to go home, so I walked out into the yard to see if I could see Scooter.

Then I saw my neighbor, the one who's moving away, out in her yard and her husband was pulling out of the driveway...on his way to look for the dog. I stood there and chatted with her for about 20 minutes...long enough to see both her husband and Scooter's Dad drive by about 3 times looking for the dog. A few minutes later, The Colonel got home, so the boy and I went over to say hi and tell him what was going on.

Next thing you know, The Colonel and our dogs are out looking for Scooter. Still nothing -- no one saw any hint of him! We'd looked everywhere and been outside for over an hour, so we all headed inside for a while.

About 5 minutes later, our doorbell rang, and there was Verna. She said that they'd found Scooter, and he was fine. When we asked where he was, she sheepishly told us...in her closet!! He'd gotten in there somehow and closed the door behind him! Ha! Stinker dog! All is well, and even though Verna's husband complained about wasting $80 in gas driving around looking for the dog, who was in their house the whole time, we're all glad that he's safe and sound! =)

Look for some new pics in another post...very soon!