Thanksgiving Dinner

We had a fun dinner with my mom and dad and sis. It was fun to cook all of the fixin's..... and yummy, too!

Shortly after they arrived, Isaac woke up from his afternoon nap. He sat and loved on grandma for quite awhile.... it was so sweet.... and I'm sure, warmed grandma's heart!

Isaac rubbing his hungry tummy!

A few hours before.... prepping the turkey! I did a trial and mixed olive oil with McCormick chicken rub in a bowl. Then, I peeled the skin away from the turkey, rubbed the mixture directly on the turkey breast, on top of the skin, and inside the cavity.

And it turned out quite yummy! I love it when an experiment turns out well!What a handsome carver!

The highs.... good family times!

Aaron ate nearly the entire turkey leg... and had fun doing it, too!

Our littlest turkey!

The highs and lows and realities of life....

It's been an eventful two days.... a little summary:

High: I had all of the ingredients necessary for a yummy Thanksgiving dinner when my mom, dad, and sis decided to come a little bit earlier than originally anticipated and make it in time for Thanksgiving dinner! When my family heard that we weren't coming to Indiana for Thanksgiving, they SO generously offered to make the drive here to celebrate with us. It was HUGE to us to be with family for the holiday.... so thankful for that.
Low: Scott and I tackled our first turkey together. Thankfully, he helped me "find" the neck and giblets (ooh, gross....) but we had a dilemma when trying to determine which side of the turkey was "up".... thankfully, we guessed correctly! :)
High: Mom, Dad, and Deb arrived safely from Indiana, and we had a wonderful dinner together. Everything turned out wonderfully (except for some weird dessert potion that I tried.... but thankfully again, I had made other options!).... and the turkey was juicy and browned perfectly! Hoorah for oven bags and the wonderful, HUGE pan that I borrowed from my friend, Beth.
Low (the BIG low....): My dad called home after dinner and found out that my Grandpa had died 5-10 minutes earlier. He had been struggling for awhile, but they had just called in Hospice last week. Everything went very, very quickly at the end. We had no idea that it would go quite so fast. My heart is very, very sad. I've been so blessed to know and have a relationship with all four of my grandparents for 32 years of life.... yes, yes.... I know how very blessed I am by that. But my heart continues to be very sad.
High: Thankfully, when dad talked to my Grandma last night, she was doing pretty well and was thankful that Grandpa is no longer suffering and died peacefully. I'm sure that there will be many hard days to come, but I was thankful to hear that she was in pretty good spirits last night. Dad, Mom, Deb, and I ended up staying up pretty late last night.... connecting deeply, loving deeply. It was good.
Low: My Mom and Dad left to head back to Indiana this morning. We were all sad to see them leave.... especially Aaron.
High: After good naps, we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for some FUN therapy.... with Aunt Debby even (she stayed and will be heading back to Indiana with the four of us on Sunday). It was good to get out and just enjoy our kiddos.... and some pizza, too.

I do hope that you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, full of friends and family. I was reminded that the holidays are not always happy for all.... if that includes you, know that I'm praying for you this weekend. I love you.

Have a blessed day!

Today, I am thankful....

1) For God's abundant love and grace.
2) For the love of friends and family!!!!


In honor of Thanksgiving, Aaron's class had a little feast yesterday. Hope that you enjoy these pictures of our little Pilgrims and "Native Americans" (I slipped and said Indians and was quickly corrected by my little Squanto!)

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to yours! Hope that you have a fabulous day!!!

Please, please pray....

.... for Christians living in India. Read more here.

Sometimes, little ones "get it"....

.... more than WE do!

Such a cool story.... I may not get all of the details exactly right, but this is the story as I heard it:

Friday night, we hosted a big Family Ministry event at the church (specifically geared towards families with 1st - 4th graders). It was great, and I think that the families that were there were very blessed (I know that I was!) Every month, we focus on one specific virtue with our kids.... this month has been gratitude.... and Friday night, the team introduced December's: Generosity. As a means of introducing the virtue as well, they called it "Give Away Friday" and gave away TONS of great stuff.... autographed Bills stuff, Sabres tickets, Darien Lake Family Passes, AND a Wii.

This is where to story gets VERY cool.... I think that everybody wanted the Wii. The family that won was excited..... AND on the way home, the daughter of the family said, "I think that we should give it to a family that doesn't have one."

Seems simple enough.... I assumed that they already had one.

But NO. They didn't.... BUT this girl "GOT IT." She understood generosity. While other people will be knocking each other down on Black Friday to grab a Wii, She GOT IT.... and WANTS TO GIVE IT AWAY! Did you hear me?! She wants to GIVE IT AWAY....

What an example.

If only we would all learn to hold our "stuff" loosely.... with open hands....

In honor of Thanksgiving....

....enjoy a laugh. Click here.

(thanks for sharing, Becky!)

What a difference 3 weeks makes!

Wow! We just took another trip to The Falls today, only three weeks after our last trip! Woa, woa, woa.... what a difference three weeks can make....

November 1

November 22

November 1

November 22

He's lucky that he's so cute!

Well, it's 6:45 AM, and I am wide awake! The more interesting news is that I've been awake for over an hour already. It's official: Isaac is an early-bird.... an early, EARLY bird (did I mention that I am a night owl?!!) Anyway, thought I'd share a little clip of his sweetness.... this is what he yells EVERY time he wakes up. If I don't answer quickly enough, he does switch to the "daddy" version....

In case anyone wonders or is feeling like lecturing me..... no, we don't put him to bed at 6 PM.... he's usually a 8:30 - 8:45 bedtime guy. And no, I am not willing to give up naptime yet either....

But he is lucky that he's so cute at 5:45 AM..... :)



(sorry about the freaky "night vision" eyes.... I promise that he really is still his cute, adorable self!)

Thankful Thursday...

Today, I am thankful....

1) That I won a FREE meal of stuffed shells for my family at MOPS this morning. It was fun to win something! But even more fun.... GREAT conversation with my table of women today!
2) For my family's health. Three of my precious neighbors are really struggling with some really tough stuff.... it has reminded me that we never know what our days and our future will hold.... but FOR TODAY, I am thankful for the gift of health, and I will choose to not worry about tomorrow or the day after that!
3) That Aaron continues to love kindergarten. He is always SO happy to go to school and that is a blessing!
4) For Vetriselvi and Melkamu.... our Compassion kiddos in India and Ethiopia.
5) That God is messin' with me on many levels. I am so thankful that He is a gentle God and GENTLY nudges us towards growth. I am continually in this season where I feel challenged to wrestle, really wrestle with being obedient.... with having open hands and an open heart.... with being abundantly generous with all of the blessings in my life. A good reminder.... check this out:

Footie Jammies!

I love that my boys both love footie jammies.... and it's even better when they BOTH are covered in glow-in-the-dark dino jammies! Hoorah!

The softer side of our boys...

A crazy thing has happened at our house in the past month.... we've started noticing a softer, more nurturing side in our boys. It all started about a month ago when I was visiting with a friend at her house.... a house that includes girls. Isaac found a baby doll and LITERALLY sat in a rocking chair, loving on that baby, for nearly 45 minutes. If you've met our boys, you know that for either one of them to stay in one place for that long is nothing short of miraculous!!! I told Scott that night that we should buy a baby doll in order to get Isaac to stay in one place.... daddy's opinion trumped mine as he declared that as a "no go" for our boys and stated that they could work on their nurturing skills with their stuffed animals instead (come on, Dad!) Anyway, Isaac has declared this little lion to be "baby".... and Aaron has actually followed Isaac's lead on this one. It hasn't happened every night but has been so sweet when it has! Yea.... I'm raising future DADDIES! :) Maybe SOMEDAY we'll have lots of pink and baby dolls in our house (NO, that is NOT an announcement!), but for now, sweet little lion will do the trick!!!



Tonight when I came downstairs, I discovered that Isaac had put his doggie to bed, too!

Yes, we have snow....

.... but not that much! Probably just a couple more inches tonight! It's funny, I've gotten three different calls from friends and family from Indiana checking to make sure that we are not snowed in as they hear the words "2 feet" and "Buffalo" in the same sentence. Well, that all hit in the "southern tier"... south of Buffalo. We live in a window where we don't usually get nearly as much snow as that! Hoorah! But NOT "hoorah" for Aaron.... he would love to have a whole foot daily, I think! He even played outside with friends after school today even though we only had about an inch at that point! Welcome Winter!

Unbelievable....

Just saw this news.... unbelievable what a lawsuit can do....

Another reason why I love my church....

.... seriously, thank you King's World volunteers! Scott and the team couldn't and wouldn't do it without you! You're the BEST!!! Love ya!

I'm lovin' it....

This song is a regular at The Chapel.... I love it....



(I'm not crazy about this video.... but I still love, love, love the song!)

Advent Conspiracy, Part 2

I love that our church is on board with this for 2008! I love that people are inspired to make a difference. If you're a regular on my blog, you may recall that in 2007 our family jumped on board with The Advent Conspiracy.... we're excited to make a difference in bigger and better ways again this Christmas! Will your family join us?!!



Thanks to Amy for finding and posting this video!

Flashback Friday, part 3

We had a great visit with Cathy during her fall break. I was on Facebook and noticed that she was starting break.... I talked her into hopping on a train that night, headed for Buffalo! Very fun and spontaneous!

She was here on Halloween.... here was our attempt to get Isaac in his giraffe costume. Yeah, no go on that one! This picture cracks me up because it looks like I'm torturing a giraffe and a 2-year old at the same time... a little fishy! Yikes!

So, silly Cathy wore the giraffe costume instead....

Flashback Friday, part 2

Aaron enjoyed his Halloween party and parade at school. It was crazy to see around 700 kids, all dressed up, parading up and down the halls of the school (and even outside!) I was glad that I was there to hold his hand when he got a little scared about halfway through.... because I am a room mom, I actually got to walk with the class (but no, I didn't dress up!)

Here he is with his new friend, Erin

And Harry Potter, um, I mean, Jack

All dressed up in the classroom

And with Mrs. Gervase

Lots of yummy treats after the parade!

Flashback Friday, part 1

I'm attempting to catch up on posting some pics from the past couple of weeks! I've been busy organizing real, live pics, getting ready for a couple of scrapbooking weekends, so I have not been quite as attentive towards my blog!

These pictures were from the end of October, when my parents came for a visit over my mom's fall break! We had a great time.... and even got a project finished, too!

Movie night!

My mom and I tackled "panel blinds" for the sliding glass door in our kitchen/dining area. They turned out really well, thanks to my mom's expertise!

More snuggle time!

"Just in time!"

When Aaron got off the bus today, I started the normal routine, asking him if he had a good day and covering his cute little face with kisses (have I mentioned how happy I am to see him at the end of the day?!! And YES, he is cute.... did you notice the pics in my last post?!!)

Anyway, after he said that his day was "good", he proceeded to say,

"Our toilet overflowed in our room today. I guess _____ used too much toilet paper when she wiped and it plugged it up, but we had art class, so we got outta there just in time."

Oh dear, the joys of kindergarten.... poor lady, he had a sub at school today! :(

Wordless Wednesday

A fabulous get away!

I met my dear friend, Angie, in Cleveland at the end of last week for a visit to catch up! It was INCREDIBLE.... relaxing.... refreshing.... encouraging! I am so thankful for the time to get away! Scott had given me a "weekend away" as a Christmas present two years ago, and I finally used my gift! We stayed up late, slept in a little, had some great meals out, and even pulled out our scrapbooks for a bit, too! I even enjoyed the quiet drive-time.... fabulous, fabulous! :) I am so thankful that my hubby is more than willing and more than able to take over with the boys so that I can get away and then come home as a refreshed and renewed mommy!

Hey, moms (part 2)....

Woa, two in a row!!! I am stealing this from Amy's blog.... after getting up with the kiddos at 5:50 AM this morning (that's been a normal thing this week since DST!) I NEEDED this video this morning....

Hey, mommas.... have an awesome, God-filled day.... you have THE most important job in the world!

Hey, moms....

.... do you need a laugh?! Check out this humorous look at all the different hats that we wear as moms! I saw this sketch at my very first Hearts at Home Conference in Illinois when Aaron was about 5-months old and loved it!

Thankful Thursday...

Just a quick one....

Today, I am thankful....

1) To have been given the privilege to speak at MOPS today. My prayer was that God's heart would be revealed through me and that the women would leave feeling encouraged and hopeful.
2) That I am leaving in an hour or so to go see Angie in Ohio!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! We have a hotel on the west side of Cleveland for the next two nights, and I think that it will be some good sisterhood therapy for both of us!!! Gotta run.... must go pack!!! :)

So, where have you been?!!

I've had a pretty eventful week.... much to blog about.... but not a ton of time to sit down and hash it out on the keyboard (hence, I've just been linking to other people's posts instead!). Since last Wednesday, we've had a farm field trip (yea, I did get the pics up from that!), a Halloweeen parade/party at school, XFM at the church, running to Best Buy the day that the ad came out to purchase a Wii (hoorah!), a trip to Niagara Falls in the fall, and a visitor from Indiana (yea, Cathy!) Now, I am preparing to speak at MOPS tomorrow morning on "Connecting with God" (please pray that my mouth would only speak HIS words.... and that the ladies might have open hearts!) and I will be leaving shortly after that to meet my dear, dear, dear friend, Angie, in Ohio for a couple of night (I can't wait!) So, that's a quick update.... many pics to come!!!

Blessings and love! :)

What now?

Okay, I do vow that this is my last post on politics for this season.... it generally is not me to focus on such things, because I'd rather focus on my family's part in the mission of God. However, I thought that this pastor's blog post (Nov. 5, 2008) was fabulous and summed up a lot of things that have been brewing in my heart. I think that all believers could benefit from reading it, regardless of which side of the aisle you stand! :)

Beautiful encouragement....

.... from the keyboard of Beth Moore. So timely and yes, so encouraging!

Today, I am thankful for the men and women who have earned freedom for me today.... the freedom to cast my vote.

But more importantly, today and every day, I am thankful for THE ONE who has given me true freedom.... He, alone, will always win my vote! I am grateful to have a personal relationship with THE KING of the kingdom!

"The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases" (Proverbs 21:1).

Voting Wisdom from a 6-year old!

Aaron just got off the bus, and he has a sticker on his shirt that says, "I voted, Election 2008." When I asked him about his sticker, he said that everyone in his class got to vote today on the computer, and he was very excited about it. When I asked who he voted for, he said, "John McCain." And when I asked him how he picked John McCain, he said, "From his picture. McCain rules.... And Erin C. voted for him, too."

Huh, I wish that the decision was as easy as looking at a picture to decide.... you'll be thankful to know that I'm putting a lot more thought into my decision than that.... :)

(side note: when I cleaned out Aaron's backpack, I found a paper that referred to this website.... okay, it makes sense to me now.... he really did vote on the computer!)

You also might be interested to know that the NEXT words out of his mouth were, "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells, Robin Laid an Egg...." Ahh, the joys of learning new songs on the schoolbus!!!