Thanksgiving

We had a very nice Thanksgiving. Be on the lookout for tons of pictures next week. Brianna is still at mom and dad's. I think they were ready for Alex and us to leave so they could start their day. We shopped a little this afternoon and saw some interesting things. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Brianna Funny

Brianna came into the kitchen this morning and saw me putting a Band Aid on my finger.

Brianna, "What happened?"
Me, "Knife in the sink."
Brianna, "You said you weren't going to do that again. When are you going to learn?"

Nothing like your 8 year old correcting you!!

Thanks

What are you thankful for this Thanksgiving? Here's my list and I will probably leave something out, just like yesterday, Brian left a comment that I forgot Momma's dressing. That stuff is GOOD!

These are listed in no particular order:

Brian. He accepts me for who I am. That's a lot to ask from anyone, but he does it and still lives here, so I haven't driven him crazy yet.

Brianna and Alex. They just make me smile. Brianna is beautiful, smart and will tell a joke when you least expect it. Alex is just funny and is learning more and more everyday. I am truly blessed that I get to watch them grow.

My parents who have supported most of my decisions and let me be who I am. I will always be a Daddy's girl who desperately needs her mom's advice.

Sonya and Amos. They are so funny. Brian and I both know that they always have our backs. I couldn't have picked a better husband for Sonya than Amos. Sonya and I have the typical sister relationship, but as we get older, we get closer.

Nana. I haven't seen her since Bri's birthday and miss her. What can I say, she's my Nana?

My girlfriends. There are too many to list, you know who you are. I know these girls would drop whatever they were doing if I needed them. And I will do the same for them.

Friday Night Lights. I really don't know what I would do without them. They are part of our family.

Family. The many aunts, uncles and cousins.

Our many friends. There are also too many to list here, you know who you are.

Our adopted "kids." I put kids in quotes because Liz says that she is a young adult. We have been given the opportunity to get involved with the youth at church and just love it. I love it when they come over to the house to hang out. I hope they know that we will drop whatever we are doing if they need us. We also have two kids that I babysit in our home that seem like our kids.

Our home. It's small, but it's home. Both our kids learned to walk in this house.

Full refrigerator, freezer, and pantry. Some are praying for their next meal, we could probably live for three weeks with just what we have in the house.

Heat/AC. The day after we moved into this house the ac went out. We were miserable.

The knowledge that we can worship God in our way and not be persecuted for it.

R2C2.

Project 252.

Quiet time.

Chocolate, sometimes it's necessary for my daily survival.

Be thankful not just today or tomorrow, but everyday.

I made a new recipe last night. It was really good.

Turkey Enchilada Casserole

1 pound lead groun turkey
1 medium green pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 16 oz jar salsa
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1 14 1/2 oz can Mexican stewed tomatoes
1 tsp. each onion powder, garlic powder, and ground cumin
12 corn tortillas (6 inches)
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, divided

In a large skillet cook the turkey, green pepper, onion and garlic over medium heat until meat is no longer pink. Stir in the beans, salsa, tomato sauce, tomatoes, onion powder, garlic powder and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer uncovered for 10 minutes.

Spread 1 cup meat sauce into 13x9 inch bakin dish coated with cooking spray. Top with six tortillas. Spread with half of the remaining sauce; sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Layer remaining tortillas and meat sauce.

Cover and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Uncover; sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake 5-10 minutes longer or until bubbly and cheese is melted.

I bet you could make the sauce the night before, put it in the fridge and use the next day. Wow, this was longer that I intended it to be. If you are traveling for Thanksgiving, be careful. We are going to Momma and Daddy's and will be back on Friday. Brianna will be back Sunday, she is spending some time with Momma and Daddy. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Random Stuff

Today is the last day of school for Bri and the last day of work for me. Yes, I work, I babysit a 3 year old and a 7 year old after school. Bri and I are excited about lunch and walking around Concord Mills.

The kids and I made a really good Peanut Butter Cake last night. Thanks for the recipe Robin. (The recipe will be at the bottom of the post.) It was Alex's first time helping me cook. I think they both had a good time. Tomorrow we are making Lemonade Pie.

Big changes are happening at church. I am normally okay with change, but one is really bothering me and I just can't let it go. I know there are a few options to be discussed, so I am trying to focus on the solution not the problem.

I am looking forward to heading up to Momma and Daddy's for Thanksgiving lunch. Really looking forward to fried turkey, chicken and dumplins, and whatever else is there. Some of my family is a little crazy, but they can cook!

GMA is doing a series this week on thanking people in your life. Who would you thank? Who has made a big difference in your life and didn't know they had made a difference?

I am a Facebook addict. Yes, I am confessing my addiction. I love getting on there and chatting with friends. I have found a lot of people I went to school with. One guy posted our 8th grade graduation picture. On the front row of the picture is Brandi, she died the day after the picture was taken. That was such a weird time for me. It was, for most of us, the first time we had dealt with the death of a peer. We were also excited about graduating and heading to high school, but sad.

Peanut Butter Cake
Super Moist yellow cake mix made according to directions, add a peanut butter cookie dry mix. Cook until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. I really don't know how long it cooked. I thought it would be a dry cake because of the added dry mix, but it wasn't. Maybe the super moist mix helped. Robin said hers was thick, mine wasn't so bad, I did use the mixer to mix the ingredients.

More Things

Sorry, I forgot to tell you about some things this weekend:

Appalachian beat Western, so all is right with the world. The Mountain Jug is where is belongs for another year.

I took the kids to McDonald's for breakfast yesterday. The McD's near our house is awesome. They have two TVs in the wall with touch screen games. Bri and I played one game for about 45 minutes trying to beat the high score, and we did!!!!!!!!! I told Bri we would, but she didn't believe me. Anyway the McD's at the intersection of 49 and 601 is so cool! Take the kids and play Coco Loco!

Brandon is leaving our church. He will no longer be our worship pastor. He got an opportunity at another church and feels led by God to take the job. I am so excited for both him and April. We will miss seeing them every week, but they are not moving to the moon, we will still see them.

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend.

Friday night was Rock Group (read post before this). Jason and Charity joined us for Rock Group and I was so happy they decided to come over. After that, Candice, Liz and I put on our black shirts and headed out to see Twilight! (I don't know why we all had on black shirts. Candice just happened to have one on and Liz told me to put one on.) It was a good movie. Of course, the book was better but the movie was good. My vision of Edward was not exactly the one in the movie and Jasper cracked me up. He kept a terrified look on his face the entire movie.

Saturday we had an interesting meeting at church. After that I went to get a pedicure. If you need/want a manicure, pedicure or nails head over to Utopia in Harrisburg. Those ladies are SILLY. I had a great time sitting in there and it did not seem like I was in there over an hour. They really pamper you in there too. One of the ladies even made Amos an apple pie one Saturday when Sonya was in there getting her nails done. Brian needed new work boots, so we went to get those for him. Then went to buy groceries. After supper we headed out to Rocky River Coffee for Tony's Ice Cream. The original Tony's is in Gastonia and they have the BEST vanilla peanut butter ripple ice cream.

Sunday was church and after church we had a BBQ lunch. It was so good. Then, we did nothing for the rest of the day. It's so nice to have those days.

Brianna is looking forward to going to school only two days this week. She wants to go walk around Concord Mills after lunch on Wednesday. We can't go in the morning, she wants to take her time getting up and getting ready for the day.

The Best

I have the absolute best Rock Group in the entire world. Last night at our meeting, I was trying to get things together, Becca and Kaylee had been in and out the back door a couple of times. I was getting something out of the oven, turned around and the back door was opening and in walked......my mom, dad, Sonya and Amos. My Rock Group had emailed them to see if they would come down last night to surprise me for my birthday. People, let me tell you the water works were on! I was crying. I'm crying right now writing about it. We only live about 2 hours from each of them, but sometimes I miss them so much. It was great to see the 4 of them walk through the door. We all had a great time, it was like all of my family was sitting in my living room and kitchen. I am truly blessed! Thanks Friday Night Lights!

Several Things

I have several things to update on this morning:

I went to Rocky River Coffee last night with Jenny and Robin. It was such a great time. I love spending time with those two.

While at the coffee shop a friend of mine, Maria, came in. She and her family are in the process of adopting a child from Ecuador. This has been a very long process for them. A couple they know are currently in Ecuador with their newly adopted girls. This couple told Maria that in the orphanage every night the children are taken into the chapel and told to pray for parents for them. How sad is that? Honestly, it has been weighing on my mind since she told me about it. It hurts me that there are so many unwanted children in this world. Also, what makes me mad is that great parents like Maria and her husband are put through the wringer just to adopt. They are in the last steps of the process. Join me in praying for them over the next weeks.

Before Jenny and Robin got to the coffee shop I called my mom to check on my uncle. She was actually in the hospital with him in Charlotte. His jaundice is back. The doctors had to push the tumor out of the stint they previously put in and put another stint in. Sounds very complicated to me. Please continue to pray for him.

I tried something new for supper Wednesday night. I put some frozen chicken breasts in the crockpot and sprinkled rotisserie chicken spice over them. It was so good. The chicken was bone in and had the skin on, so it really took them all day to cook.

We have Rock Group tonight. I am very excited. We are doing our Thanksgiving meal. Then Liz, Candice and I are headed to see Twilight. I haven't been to the movies to see a movie that wasn't rated G since I was pregnant with Brianna.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Follow Up

Here is a follow up to a post last week about the American Humanist Association's ad campaign. Their bus ads will read, "Why believe in god? Just be good for goodness' sake!" A radio station in Asheville is answering that question. They want their listeners to tell the American Humanists why they believe in God. The radio station will then forward those emails to the AHA. They don't want any scolding or arguing, just educate the unbelievers about our faith. I encourage everyone to go to http://www.1069thelight.org/ and answer the question, "Why do you believe in God?" What a great opportunity to share God in the upcoming Christmas season!

Tuesday

Okay, so yesterday was my birthday. Why is that adults don't make as big a deal of their birthday's as kids do? Well, I don't have just a day, I like to see if I can use it as an excuse for an entire week.

My day started with Brianna singing to me. Then Alex told me I smelled,"freaky fresh." That boy watches to much Hannah Montana. I got Bri out of school early and we went to eat Chinese for lunch. That girl can put some Chinese away, especially the crab rangoons. Then we just relaxed at home for the rest of the day. It was nice to take a day and do what I wanted to do. I should do that more often. When Brian came home he had flowers.

He did a really good job! I love to get flowers from him. I know he thinks they are a waste of money cause they die, but I LOVE them. Saturday I am going to get a pedicure, thanks to Sonya and Amos. I am also going to buy some new stamps the next time we have stamp class, thanks to Momma and Daddy. All in all it was a pretty good birthday.

Weekend Update

Friday morning The Littles and I went to Brianna's A Honor Roll Assembly.

She got a certificate, ribbon and pencil.
Friday night we went over to Joe and Ellie's to take pictures of Joey and Liz getting ready for the fall dance at CCHS.

Alex had to get in on the picture taking action.

Saturday I had stamp class. I fell in love with the project. I can't wait to make a bunch of them for Christmas gifts. Then we went to Ruby Tuesday for supper and went to Concord Mills. I hate going over there on a weekend. It's so busy! But we went and I got a new paper punch and two Cuttlebug folders.

Sunday was church. Jimmy started a new series on Jonah. I could not get this song out of my head.

I did listen to him over the song in my head. He said this, "We are uniquely created to make a difference in this world." That hit me upside the head. I am still processing it.

I have a tooth that is bothering me. It woke me up at 5:30 this morning. I'm hoping some Advil will help.

Just be good for goodness' sake!

Brian told me about this story and told me to Google it. The American Humanist Association has started a new ad campaign. What's the big deal? They are atheists. Their new ads will appear on the sides of buses in Washington DC during the Christmas season and will read, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake." A spokesman for the group said this, "Our reason for doing it during the holidays is there are an awful lot of agnostics, atheists and other types of nontheists who feel a little alone during the holidays because of its association with traditional religion." Hello, what do they think CHRISTmas is about? A similar ad campaign in London read, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." PROBABLY is the word here people. What happens when you are wrong? Come to R2C2 this Christmas season and we will give you something to believe in. Here's a link to the CNN story: http://edition.cnn.com/2008/US/11/12/godless.holiday.ap/index.html There are a couple of other links for related stories that just made me mad.

Happy Birtday

Today is my Daddy's birthday. Happy birthday, we hope you have a great day!

Tuesday Stuff

I am so excited that Twilight comes out in 9 days! I can't wait! I am rereading the series, two down, two to go. I am also watching the trailers on YouTube, some of them are pretty stupid, others are really good.

Took the kids to Chick-Fil-A yesterday. It wasn't too crowded, we got there early. There were two boys flirting with Brianna, which means there was a lot of showing off. Thankfully she didn't notice them! I am so not ready for that mess. Alex found "gorgeous Morgan," that's what he calls her. She helped him down the slide.

We had a great supper with Liz and Joey last night. We made pizzas with Flat Out bread. We just talked and laughed. I really like hanging out with those two. Ellie came to pick up the kids, they walked over, and I got to talk to her for a while.

Brianna has a field trip to Patterson Farms today. She was very excited. They are going to play in the dirt all day. They just finished a science unit on soil.

2 Favs

Here are two of my favorite recipes.  They are also super easy!

Saute onion, yellow squash and zucchini until tender.  I love this one, it's much better with fresh squash and zucchini (tip: buy them at Aldi in the off season!).

Pumpkin Muffins:

1 15oz can pumpkin

1/2 can water

Spice Cake or Chocolate Cake mix

Mix all ingredients and pour into muffin tins.  Bake until toothpick inserted in muffin comes out clean.  

Proud Momma

I am so proud of Brianna. I am always proud of her, but today a little more than usual. She got her first third grade report card and she made straight A's. This is the first year she has letter grades. She did a wonderful job and is such a wonderful student.

Weekend Update

We had a relaxed weekend. Friday night was Rock Group. Mr. David shared a great nugget with us. We ate chili, I love chili!

Saturday morning we got up and took the kids to the N C Zoo in Asheboro. I prefer to go to the zoo in the fall or early spring, before it gets to hot. The animals are more active and the walk is not too bad. I think I remember reading that the walk from one side to the other is 5 miles, so we got a good workout!

Brian wanted pictures of the kids on this rock. They turned out really good. Alex has started giving this goofy smile when you tell him to smile.

All Alex wanted to see was an elephant. We got over there and here this guy was eating grass. The zoo has done a lot of work on the rhino and elephant area. I like what they have done.

This chimp was tired. We got to hear a little bit of a speakers lecture. She had studied and observed the group of chimps at the zoo for about a year. She knew who was who and their personalities. It was interesting to hear.
Brian thought this sign was funny!

This little seal was such a ham! It would swim close to the glass. A lady was tapping her finger on the glass and the seal was following her finger! Brianna tried to do it too.

Alex called this bear, "Pooh."
Brianna sitting on a sculpture.

This gorilla was just sitting there scratching his bum. Brianna and I decided that it was a boy!

Napping on the way home.

Pitching a fit because I didn't take him into Food Lion and Brian was taking his picture.

Sunday Brianna had Christmas play practice twice. She seems excited to have a speaking part. She said they read through the play yesterday. I am also excited about things that are happening around church, especially with the kids, anyone under 18.

Tomorrow is Veteran's Day, and that means no school tomorrow. I am going to take the kids to Chick Fil A for lunch and let them play. Maybe The Littles will take a good nap. Brianna will only go to school one full week the entire month of November.

For the last two weekends I have heard Christmas music on the radio. I'm tired of Christmas being marketed right after Halloween. I don't start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving, I have to give thanks first.

I am so excited about the Twilight movie coming out the 21st! I really can't wait to go see it! 11 more days! I am starting the official countdown.

Facebook/Myspace

Did you know that colleges and potential emplolyers are checking the Facebook and MySpace pages of their applicants? I heard this on Bob and Sheri this morning. If there is any inappropriate content on the pages, you will probably not get accepted to colleges or get that job. I think that is awesome.

Message for Aunt Sonya

Sonya called Alex yesterday to hear him say, "I'm tired of this crap!" They were picking at each other Saturday and he was telling her that. One time he looked at her and said, "You pick your nose." It was kind of like a your momma thing, a total insult.

Thursday Thoughts

I am not feeling better today. My throat/ear still hurts. That sucks, cause I really need to clean my house. I know my rock group won't care if the house is clean or not, but I will. So, I am making myself get off the couch and clean the kitchen and dust. I cleaned Bri's bathroom yesterday. I also looked for my New Moon book. I can't find it anywhere. I thought it was under some cookbooks beside the bed, but no luck.

I slept really good last night. I don't even know what time Brian came home.

Brianna was upset yesterday because she did not finish her 4 multiplication test. They have one minute to do the test. She missed five of them. She will have to take it until she passes, and is not used to not doing things at school right the first time. She asked me if I know any tricks to learning the 4's. If you know me, you know that I did not learn my multiplication tables until I taught third grade. I have an aversion to flash cards, they bring back BAAAAAAAAAAAD memories. Sounds like a Brian thing to me.

There were four boys playing in the street when I came home this morning. The bus was late and these guys were left unattended. They were all over the place, I had to stop to make sure I didn't run over one. Why can a parent not be up there with them? I just don't get it, I know that one of the parents does not work.

I am going to watch Joey in his Bible play tonight.

Alex is excited that Ms. Robin brought apples to us last night. He got out of the bed asking for one this morning.

Brian is on second this week. If he had to work an off shift, I think second would be my choice. I don't know what his would be. Other than the fact that he doesn't get to see Bri, it's not so bad.

Looking forward to a weekend with not a lot to do. Actually, other than church I don't think we have anything to do.

Who cares what Michelle Obama wears? As long as her husband does a good job, they could both walk around in jeans and a t-shirt for all I care. I wonder if they wear jeans and t-shirts, just a thought. I think I would like to see them dress down some times.

Election

No, I am not going to say anything about who won and who didn't. I am going to rant about not having to show any kind of ID. I voted early and all I had to provide was my name and address. I could have voted as many times as I wanted and just kept providing different names and addresses. Brian voted yesterday on the actual Election Day, and he also did not have to show any kind of ID. Why? How did they know we were who we said we were?

I'm not feeling good today. My throat started hurting last night. My ear started this morning. I am so tired, I can barely hold my head up. My kids were up early yesterday and Olivia was here at 6 this morning. If people could let me sleep until 7, I might feel better. I think tonight I will take a Benadryl and see if I feel better tomorrow. I really need to feel better tomorrow, Rock Group is meeting here on Friday and my house is a wreck! I need to clean tomorrow and Friday.

Happy Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday. Happy Birthday, we hope you have a great day!

Weekend Update

We had a really good weekend and I took A LOT of pictures.

Here's a picture from the truck of the line to vote on Friday morning. Robin and I got there early and only had to wait in line about 45 minutes, but when we left the line was MUCH longer.

This spooky guy was at the door at BJ's. Olivia said she wasn't scared of him, but look at her hiding behind Alex. Alex wanted me to press his button so he would talk to us.

Sharpay ready to go to Trunk or Treat. Brianna was so excited about her costume. She was the only Sharpay at Trunk or Treat in this costume. She also went on the Haunted Hayride and said it wasn't scary. But, when she got off the trailer she was sitting in the floor, not on the hay around the sides.

Frankenstein ready to go also. Alex had the best time scaring people. April was such a good sport, she let him chase her all over the pumpkin patch!

Alex found him some gloves so he could help Mr. David cook hotdogs. Alex loves Mr. David.
Alex and Joey in the bouncy house.

Saturday the youth from church went to play paintball. There was NO WAY I was going out there, so I got to stay with Ms. Bria. I was afraid I would get hurt or dirty.

We went to Frank Liske Park on Sunday. It was such a beautiful day, it would have been a crime to stay inside.


Brianna thought this root was cool. She said it looked like a claw.

Brian showing Brianna how to walk on the balance beam on the fitness trail.