Car rides,hotels,and the kids

We had a great time in Florida for Thanksgiving. The kids always love to see their cousins and grandparents that we don't get to see often enough. They were spoiled by their grandparents and had such a fun-filled time. They were able to ride their cousins' horses, go to a light festival at Silver Springs, and even swim. Yes, I said swim... After Thanksgiving, can you believe it? I don't know how Floridians celebrate Christmas. I think if you have 80 degree weather in December, you don't deserve Santa. I mean, you can't have everything, right? It is weird though. Here's some pictures of our trip:

Susanna and Luke with Gramma and Papa at Silver Springs

Home Sweet Home

Well, we are almost done with the house we have been working on and will be listing it on Wednesday. It has been painted, recarpeted, had new fixtures put in, new knobs on countertops,etc... The only thing that is left to do is to give it a thorough cleaning which we will do tomorrow. It has been fun, but we'll see if it sells. We are praying that is sells the first month so that we will not have to make a payment on it. Our house is still on the market. We have had one offer but their contract fell through. So, we are now just showing the house about once a week. It is always fun when they say that they will be showing the house in an hour and our house is a wreck. Honestly, if they ever opened a drawer, I would be horrified. We have had some major rushes where we have had to stuff everything everywhere. Susanna and Luke have become pros at this,I'm afraid. ; )

Flip That House!

One of my favorite shows to watch is Flip That House. I love watching a house being transformed and then hearing how much they were able to sell it for. I feel so bad for them when they put all the time and effort into the house to only lose money on it, but I am so happy for the ones that are able to flip it for a good profit. Well, Jeff and I just bought our own flip house. We are doing it with Holly and Chris. I am so excited and nervous at the same time. I am going to go over there and take pictures of the house before and then take some after pictures when we are done. I really love this house. We almost bought it for us to live in but we got too nervous about renting out our own house. It's a beautiful house and only has minor cosmetic things that need to be done. We got a really good deal on it and are hoping to flip it with some profit that will go towards the kids' scshool., since we will be sending two to Metrolina next year. If it doesn't work out, then we will be homeschooling.: ) No, I can't do homescshooling! I'm just excited that we are doing this and being able to work with Jeff on a project together.

Sam

I am just learning how to do all of the fun images but I haven't quite figured out how to get this on my other blog(where it's supposed to be). Oh well!

A New Leaf

Guess What? I am working really hard at becoming a better cook. There has always been a reason or excuse not to, but my time has come. Much to Jeff's delight, I am getting a little better. I am definitely not a Martha Stewart or even a Rachel Ray but I'm working on it. I will never be a Martha Stewart, her recipes scare me. I have never heard of half of the ingredients that she uses. Am I the only one? Well, in this endeavor, I have found a few good recipes and would like to share one tonight. Here it goes:

Apple Harvest Tart

1c. all purpose flour 1 egg
1/2 c butter 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 c. sugar,divided 3 apples peeled and sliced
2 tsp vanilla extract,divided Garnish with sliced almonds
8 oz pkg of cream cheese


Mix the flour,butter,1/3 cup sugar and 1 tsp vanilla; spread on the bottom of a round pie plate coated with non stick spray. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes. Blend cream cheese,egg,1/3 cup sugar and remaining vanilla together and spread over the baked crust. In a plastic zip lock bag, place remaining sugar and cinnamon and apples; shake until apple slices are well coated. Place apples on top filling mixture. Sprinkle almonds over all. Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes. Makes 8-10 servings.

This is very good and can be made with light butter and light cream cheese. :0

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Today is my Mom's Birthday! I love you, Mom! I just wanted to give you a little top ten list just to show you I care.

Top 10 Reasons Why You Gotta Love Our Mom:

10. She was the only Mom I knew that required her girls to wear hair bows everyday....until high school. I even feel guilty on the days Susanna doesn't have one in her hair.
9. Mom with a brush was a deadly combination. It meant she was either jerking the knots out of our hair or spanking us with the back of one.
8. She hired the best babysitters around. Well, if you don't count the one who stole her jewelry or the one who smacked us with a tape measurer.
7. She taught us all the staples of a good diet: Twizzlers and a Diet Coke.
6. I won't go too much into the details of this one, but my Mom, bless her heart, when she couldn't feed me, she let her best friend help. : )
5. She is pretty, smart and witty. Or was that pretty smart and witty?
4. She set so many fun traditions for our family for holidays that we all get just as excited about Christmas as the kids do. We used to all bounce on the bed on Christmas Eve and yell, "Tomorrow's Christmas!" Chris said that Holly still does it.
3. She has taught us all the importance of being in church. She still checks in with us. Not in a Mom way, but we know that we better be able to tell her that we were at church or we'll get that look.
2. She has set an example of being in the Word daily. She knows His Word and we have always seen her Bible out on her bed for as long as I can remember.
1. She loved our Dad through sickness and health. She set such an example of loving her husband through it all. It wasn't an easy road, but she was so strong.


Happy Birthday, Mom! We love you! You know that I do since I didn't post that picture. I had such a great witty caption for that picture too. It would have been hilarious.

My God

Jeff and I have been hearing a great series on prayer by Andy Stanley at Ridge Church. The main focus of the series is about when the disciples asked Jesus how to pray and He responded with this. He also said that God already knows our needs before we ask of Him. The first sermon was about how we address God and calling Him our Father or our God. Well, I have been thinking about the many times that I have been shocked when someone has taken the Lord's name in vain. While it is wrong to take those words and not really acknowledge Him, I am learning that there are times when those words can be used to call out to Him. I was always taught to never say the words, Oh My God. I hate even writing those words but I have learned that we can cry out those words when we are calling to Him. I was telling Jeff that I can remember two instances when I have said that. I was so shocked that the words came out of my mouth, yet that was all I could say at the time. The first time was when Sam was in the hospital and I thought that he was going to die. He was having such a hard time breathing and was connected to so many machines and monitors. The whole scene was so hard to bear seeing him there struggling to breathe and eat. I remember staying up so many nights just saying, Oh my God, Oh my God. His presence would soon surround me with comfort and I knew He had heard me. The other time was the night that my Dad had passed away. We had just gotten to Mom and Dad's and Dad was unconscious in the bathroom. Holly and Jeff did the CPR and everyone else was just crying those same words. The night was a horrible, horrible night. Everyone was just crying out to God. None of us had ever prayed that way before. At least I don't think. I just remember saying that phrase outside as I waited for the ambulance and the whole way to the Hospital. It was the only thing that I could say. No other words seemed to form in my mouth that day and the following days. I don't know how we have made it this far without Dad, but I believe that He did hear us that night when we said those three "forbidden" words and He has helped us all. His presence was never felt more or ever been so sweet as in the days after His death. I am learning that maybe what I say in my prayers or the length of them is not so important as is the acknowledgement of Him as My God and the One who is ultimately in control. I thought about my Saviour, when on the cross, in human form, cried out this. When we feel the most forsaken, we recognize so quickly the need to call out to Him, our Father.

Halloween

The kids had so much fun on Halloween. We went to Mom's neighborhood because it has so many houses and well, we are serious trick or treaters. Susanna was Belle with blond hair:), Luke was Spider man, Sam was a monkey and Eli wore the good old faithful giraffe costume. That costume is on its third round. All of the boys have worn it. Our cousin Max was the Man with the Yellow Hat and Jack was Curious George. They all looked so cute. We had the normal trick or treat meal of Chili and cornbread with hot apple cider. Luke even walked into a house and yelled, Hello?, when they didn't answer their door. Then, I gave them the opportunity of picking out 10 pieces of candy and selling us the rest. We are trying to be a little healthier and I had heard of this idea from another blog. This worked out really great. Tomorrow, they will go to pick out something small in exchange for their loot. I think that they are going to pick out a DVD for their trip to Florida coming up. They still have some of their 10 pieces left and are so excited to pick out something. I figure the 10 dollars will be a better exchange than the many dentist bills that we may face.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great time at the pumpkin patch with our family and friends, Jeff and Diane and their two kids. They were able to feed some animals and watch a cow being milked. : ) They also went on a hayride and picked out a pumpkin. It was a fun day!

Luke and Max... The Adventure Continues...

Luke and Max were on their way to preschool with their favorite chauffeur. This is their conversation:

Luke: Hey Max, Let's shoot the cars with our spider web shooters.

Max: Ok

They pretend to shoot the cars with the pretend web shooters (their hands)

Luke: Max, your web shooter just broke.

Max: My webshooter is not broke. It's working!

Luke: No, Max, it's not working. I'm sorry Max.

Max: (begins to cry)

Luke: Ok, I'll fix it. Max, It's working again.

Then, they are back to shooting. Luke is such a stinker!

It's Time to Catch Up!

I am not doing too good on this blog. I now have so much to update it with that it seems a little overwhelming. I'll start of with Susanna'a birthday. This was a couple of weeks ago. She had a party at a place for princesses. No boys were allowed. They had so much fun. They do everything for you. It was nice to relax and enjoy the party. We have always hosted the little parties and this was a nice change. I really enjoyed it. Susanna did too. I found out how shy she was during the runway show though. My sisters said that she reminded them of me. I love you Susanna!