still thankful

Hello December! We're back home, unpacking and decorating for Christmas. I already miss my sisters. We started our black friday shopping at 10pm on Thanksgiving night. They are the funniest, most precious gals in the whole wide world. Here are a few more highlights from my mother's pretty Thanksgiving feast...

Happy Tuesday! Egg nog in your coffee. Do it.

crooked letter crooked letter i

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm blogging from my old bedroom at my parents' house in the great state of Mississippi. It smells good and makes me feel all warm inside. I like my sisters. My sister Valerie is great with child... she's awesome. There's a handsome little boy named Nolan in there... he's coming soon. My sister Amanda is too gorgeous for words and we laughed so hard last night that we could not breathe for a few minutes. The boys don't know what to do with us.

Click here to see my guest blog on an adorable lady's site. Happy Black Friday! Be a champ and support locally owned businesses today.

happy little trees

We're headed to Mississippi to spend thanksgiving with my family. My students have been working hard getting ready for our "Christmas Spectacular" that will happen after the break. Here's how to make Christmas trees by recycling cardboard boxes and magazine pages... 

owl clothes

Take a little peek at what I've been working on for a few weeks now...

Thanksgiving clothes for the kids! I like sewing clothes for them, aaaaand I like when they look snazzy at Thanksgiving dinner at my parents' house. Baby Stella Belle has a dress with an owl pocket (pants to match will be finished as soon as I'm done typing this blog post). Millie g. has a skirt with a big owl (she's slightly bitter that her owl is for decoration only and not a pocket. sad.) Little Dean might get a homemade owl t-shirt if time doesn't run out.

O.K. more sewing and cleaning to do! Make something with an owl on it today... just for fun.

fall scavenger hunt

Sometimes Charlie works late, or has meetings that run long. When I see these days coming up on our weekly calendar, I usually enter into mental/emotional panic mode. What is it about the 5pm - 7pm hours that is so very exhausting? If I fail to plan activities or entertainment for these evenings without Dad, the result is a dramatic meltdown (from the kids... and me). This week I decided to have a little scavenger hunt for the kids that included games, dinner, clean up time, bath, and bed time...

I gave them clues that they had to find around the house. The first clue led them to a new bag of bird seed to fill our bird feeders with. The next clue was to find food for themselves... a taco picnic hiding under a blanket!

We cleaned up and found a clue in the dishwasher...

After bath, they found new pajammers under their pillows (you would've thought they found gold!) and new toothbrushes.

They got to eat a little ice cream with their new pajammers, then brush teeth and off to bed.

I read them a book, kissed them, and sat down just in time for Charlie to get home. Have a scavenger hunt today. It will make you happy.

zoo trip

We took a field trip to the zoo today. It was so amazing to watch my bright shiny students explore all the beauty. I took my own three children along for added entertainment. We had a perfect day...

Hope your weekend is filled with squeals of excitement!

the smile list

Here's what made us smile during the last three days...

The Cheneys came to visit for a few days. We really like the Cheneys. They took us in when we lived in Louisiana. We miss them so much. Their daughter, Sara, is talented and artsy and cool. I'm a little jealous of her. We ate good food with them and laughed and took almost 300 pictures and played music and talked. Our hearts are happy to have friends like them.

This picture of Little Dean is my favorite. Sara Cheney snapped it right after she beat him at trouble. He's saying, "YOU CHEATED!" Hope your weekend was happy. Make something with pumpkin today!

all i ask

And so we begin another year of multiple family photo shoots in attempt to get one (just one) picture suitable for a Christmas card. All I ask of my nice husband and three smart kids is a picture with everyone looking at the camera. Do they have to smile? no. Do they have to be still? no. Do they have to enjoy themselves? no. I just need them to LOOK at the camera. Not hard. First photo shoot was no bueno...

Take two will happen this weekend. Perhaps everyone will be slightly more cooperative. That would be super. Happy first weekend of November!