Flashback Friday - Meet The In-Laws

Back Row: Lisa, Heidi, Steve

Middle Row: Mike, Roy, Myrle, Heather

Bottom Row: David

This is a picture of Steve's family, taken in November 1986. Steve was 19 years old. I know this, not because I'm good with math, but because that is what it says on the back of the picture. Let's see...in November 1986 I was 12 years old. Little did I know that there was such a handsome, uniformed 19 year old hunk of a man in St. Charles Missouri waiting for me to grow up and be his bride.

I have been a part of this family for over 14 years now, and I love them just as much as I do my own family. I am so thankful to be a part of their family.

Monday Midnight Musings - Drawstring Woes

So last night, Steve and I were in bed about to fall asleep and he remembered something he needed to take to work the next morning. Instead of getting out of bed to write a note, he just asked me to text him a reminder and that way when he turned his phone on in the morning, the text would come through and he would remember to take it. So I sent him a text and added a few other choice words. The kind of words that a wife should only be texting to her husband. Then I hit send and it said, "sending message to Steve and Andreas". I started freaking out. I don't know how I sent it to my neighbor and my husband but I did. So I started hitting all kinds of cancel buttons and back buttons in a very frantic manner. I think the text got cancelled. I really hope the text got cancelled. Just a friendly reminder to be very careful when texting.

Last week Steve and I were driving through some construction. We were stopped at a light and right next to us was a sign that said, "DANGER: Overhead Power Lines Boom Down". I kept reading it with a quizzical expression on my face. Finally I asked Steve why it said that. He said it was for the construction workers in the little cart thingys that go up and down. He said that boom down means to make the cart go down so they don't hit the power lines. I was so glad he explained it 'cause I thought the sign was for me and it was saying to be careful because power lines could come booming down. If they are for the guys way up high, why is the sign way down on the ground?

Last Tuesday the girls were in my room and it was almost bedtime. They didn't have school the next day. So I told them if they would hurry up and brush their teeth and get ready for bed they could watch a movie and have a slumber party in the play room. I was just talking to Emily and Aubrey. Well Addy took off. I didn't really think anything about it until I went upstairs a few minutes later to get her ready for bed. She already had her PJ's on and and she was in the middle of brushing her teeth. I told her I was so proud of her for getting ready for bed. She then informed me that she wasn't getting ready for bed, she was getting ready for her slumber party with her sisters. It was so cute. So they all slept in sleeping bags on the play room floor.

Am I the only person who doesn't know what to do with the drawstrings on her PJ's and sweats? I mean really, why is it there? All the pants that I have that have a drawstring, also have elastic. It serves no purpose whatsoever except to annoy me. I really don't know what to do with it. Do you just leave it hanging and have these two strings hangin' down about your nether regions? Or do you tie it and have this bumpy bow right in the middle of your stomach? Sometimes I just tuck it in the top of the pants, but then you can see the lines it makes through some of my shirts. Sometimes, I just take the drawstring out of the pants completely, but sometimes it is sewn in and removal is impossible. I was looking at PJ's at Target the other day and there were some really cute ones and they had this big satiny ribbon tied in a bow at the waist. And the shirts that went with them clearly went past the waist. So yeah, they are really cute on the hanger by themselves, but then when you take them off the hanger, and put a shirt over them, then what? Not so cute anymore! I guess I could tuck the shirt in like this:

Addy Turns 3!

Addy turned 3 today! We had a little party with some of her friends, and even celebrated it on the right date this year.

She was so excited to finally get her Dance Around Dora. I am just so glad she got it too. Now every time a commercial comes on for it she won't have to do her freak out screaming routine and make me come in and rewind the commercial and watch it so I can see what she wants for her Birthday.

Uncle Sam performed a little magic for the troops.

How We Spent Our Day Of Thanks

This is our "Wall of Thanks"  we made for Family Home Evening last Monday.  Everyone was able to write what they are thankful for on a post it note and stick it on the wall.

This is the first turkey I have made in a very long time.  I think it turned out just dandy.

As usual we shared our day with Da Boys.  However I refused to allow them to share the dinner table with us.  That made some people rather unhappy.  I reminded them I had been cooking since 6:30 am and they could pause the dang game (that's what a DVR is for after all) and eat with the rest of us at the table like decent people who appreciate someone caring enough about them to drag her tired booty out of bed to start cooking a meal at such an unreasonable hour.

The sun sets in our back yard and as you can see from this photo, it creates a problem with people trying to sit on the couch and still keep their vision intact.  Sometimes we have to wear sunglasses to watch TV.

As you can see from the above picture, my dear husband solved the sun problem.  Nothing says white trash quite like paper taped to the windows as blinds.

Me mum and Lauren and Aubrey enjoying a little round of Flash Uno.

Zac and Steve refusing to be photographed.

This is pretty much where they spent the entire day.  Oh yeah, except for that one time when the Wicked Witch of the West made them sit at the table and eat Thanksgiving dinner.

Around 8:30 that night Addy brought out the cheese ball palooza.  That's pretty much what we ate for dinner.  That and pie.

Addy the human cheese ball dispenser.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

I have so much to be thankful for this year. I could type forever and would probably still leave something out. I am grateful for my life. I am grateful for my husband and children. I am grateful for my family and friends. I am grateful for my faith in Jesus Christ. I am grateful for this blessed country in which we live. I am grateful for all the Lord sees fit to bless me with, but the before mentioned are the most important to me. What are you thankful for this year? Click the link below for a Thanksgiving video.

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

WebCam Wednesday - Incredible Ironies

A friend of mine posted this video on Facebook today. I think it is interesting that this is from a talk given in 1978, and look where we are right now, today.

"...We have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!"
-Abraham Lincoln

Monday Morning Musings - THERE WILL BE NO LAUGHING AT MY BREAKFAST TABLE!

It has been one year since we moved into our new house. In some ways, it feels like we have always been here, but in other ways it is hard for me to believe that a whole year has passed us by and we have been able make the house payment every month. I told Steve for our one year house anniversary we should take all the construction covers off the smoke alarms to celebrate. Oh, and then there's that thing about them actually being able to detect smoke....

Just in case you are curious, I am feeling completely at home in my brunette shoes. I might just stay this way. I was looking through old posts yesterday to find some for my 600th post (Thank you Kristy for being the only one to notice my milestone) and I saw some really blonde pictures of myself and thought "What the heck was I thinking?"

Steve and I went to see 2012 on Friday. We originally set out to see New Moon (what a nice honey, it was even his idea), but couldn't get tickets to that or whatever that one with Sandra Bullock is. So we settled for 2012. And when I say settled (sigh) boy do I mean settled. I really had no idea what it was about when we first entered the theater. It didn't take me long to figure out that, well, it was about absolutely nothing. After the first speed through the caving streets and make the car jump out of a toppling building scene, I turned to Steve and he turned to me and I said, "Oh. This is one of those movies". Awesome though to know that when the whole entire earth is destroyed, we can still get cell phone calls!

This morning my kids were really on one. They could not be serious for two seconds. It was all laughing and playing and joking around. They wouldn't stop and they wouldn't get ready for school. At one point I found myself yelling, "THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME HAVE TO YELL LIKE THIS BEFORE EIGHT O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!!" I was really, really, REALLY getting frustrated with them. And then my neighbor came to pick them up for school and I am trying to get them out the door, and they were still goofing off. At one point I said, "AUBREY! Stop doing a comedy routine about your socks and just put them on your feet! Lori is sitting out front waiting and you are doing a bit about your socks!!!!" While I was trying to get Aubrey's socks on her feet, I looked out the door to see Zac getting into the car with short sleeves and no coat. There is snow outside. So I gave Aubrey a jacket to take out to him. Then I am trying to shove Emily out the door, and the next thing I know, Zac is back in the house bringing me the jacket. At that point I didn't really care what neighbors heard me. I screamed, "GET IN THE CAR! YOU ARE MAKING EVERYONE LATE FOR SCHOOL!!!!!!" Then I didn't want to send them off to school with my screaming in their head so I also added an "I Love you. Have a good day." as they were walking to the car.

I don't want to be that nasty screaming mother who won't let anyone make a peep at the table while they are eating, but this morning was ridiculous. Usually they are fighting at the table, so it was hard for me to try and squish their good mood they were in this morning when they were getting along and laughing with each other. But they can't shirk their responsibilities. I don't know what to do. But I do know this one thing for certain. When they get home from school today, there will be no funny business. I have been saving up a LOT of work for them all day long.

The Big 6-0-0

600. That is a big number. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the number of this post you are reading. Yep. You heard me. 600 posts. Who knew I had so much to talk about? Who knew you had so much time to waste reading 600 posts? But here we are. Here's a little look back at some of my favorite posts. Click on them to read 'em.

Walgreen's

D*** Business

Trash Eating

Potty Pics

Mouse in the House

Rubber Bands

Summer Vacay

Flashback Friday - Just Grand

These are some of my favorite pictures. The above is a picture of me with both of my grandpas and below with both of my grandmas.

This is a picture of me with my mom's dad.

How To Swim In November

Last week, Addy found her swimsuit, put it on, then demanded that I fill up the wading pool that is in the garage. I tried to explain to her that it is freezing outside and that the water in the pool would be freezing too. Well, you can't explain anything to this girl. She just wanted to swim. She went out in the garage and found all the swim toys too. She brought them to me and then demanded again that I fill up the pool for her. How can you not want to give in to such persistence? So I filled up my bathtub instead. She had a delightful time swimming. And the whole of my bathroom was soaked when she was through.