Thanksgiving

Wow, did I have a ton to be thankful for on this Thanksgiving! My beautiful sister drove up from Texas with her two boys and one rascal dog named Sydney. The cousins had a great time. We celebrated Suzanne's birthday the first night. the funniest gift we got her were "lake shoes." They are fake crocs that are lined in fleece. We use them at the lake to walk around the woods, walk the dogs, and tramp through mud. Who cares if you ruin $8 shoes?
Our Thanksgiving day was so fun. We had friends over, drank wine, ate like pigs and spent lots of time outside at the firepit. We were exhausted by the end of the day but were ready at 4 am to go to Walmart. One of Sue's friends did something cute. Sue had to buy an item to prove she had been to Black Friday. It was a fishing lure. We loved the thought that we are planning for next year's item to have the badge of honor for going to the store and not hurting anyone but getting what you wanted.
Sue and I did so good that we had everything on our list at 5:12. Truth is, it was just luck that we started down the right aisle.

It was a fabulous week at the lake for us. I hope it becomes a tradition even though it wasn't very traditional.

Abandoning books!

I hate to abandon a book I start. I can feel like such a failure. I read reviews, take suggestions, go to the library and am so excited when I find a book I have wanted to read. I start it and it ends up being a huge disappointment. I have to give credit to my friend Kelli. As a teacher, she has been a huge encourager to read what you love and not to feel bad about putting a book down. So I am returning A Confederacy of Dunces to the libraray. I don't care about the characters and am not the least bit curious about what happens. So there. Now if anyone tells me I just have to finish it, that it will change my life, I might reconsider.

I am moving on to another book I find more interesting. A Walk In The Woods is by Bill Bryson who is a travel writer. He writes this book about hiking the Appalacian Trail. Having grown up near these mountains and spending some time in them around the Gatlinburg area, I am interested to hear what he thinks of hiking the mountains. I remember hiking a few times in Tennessee but nothing more than day trips. As I read his account, I can pretend its an adventure I am not too old to take on!

Suite Francaise

I finally finished this book. It has taken me over a month to finish. Not sure why, I guess there were too many nights I just went straight to sleep. Then I'd pick it up again and be totally lost and have to re-read passages to remind me of who certain characters were, etc. The cool thing about this book is it includes the authors notes in the back of the book. She died in a concentration camp and this book was just published recently. The back story of the author and her writing process was almost more interesting than the story. Although the book itself was good.
I look back at this past month and realize it has been very busy with sports, homework, scouts, afterschool clubs. Its finally calming down now. Soccer season is over, its the end of the trimester for the kids and flag football is over.
I have to give a shout out to the Upward Flag Football program. We have never done an Upward program before and it was awesome. I love the mission statement that every kid's a winner. The gospel is shared, the kids are prayed for and Jesus is always present at the games. Last night was the end of season celebration. Anthony Munoz was the guest speaker (famous Bengal football player) and there was a juggler. The juggler is known as The Juggler for Jesus. How cool would it be to have your mission to be a juggler? This guy was awesome at sharing the gospel while he did these really cool tricks. The best part was he had a very sarcastic sense of humor which I of course love. It was lots of fun and if you ever have a desire for flag football for your son or daughter (yes, girls play and are good, I can't recommend it enough!

No tricks, lots of treats

What fun Halloween is when the kids are older! I sent Erika out with girlfriends. Ron went with Matt to Jake Bechard's neighborhood. Our neighbors put a firepit out in the cul-de-sac and set up tables. We had baked potato soup, hankie panks and lots of other appetizers. We had some Witches Brew wine. We sat, talked, and although warm at 6:00, it quickly got cold enough to enjoy the fire. It was so nice watching the other parents with their little ones. While we sat and chatted the night away without a care. It was great doing something that required little work and allowed everyone to be nice to strangers. The best part was that by 9:30 we were all tired enough to head inside. It was a very laid back evening.
Oh, the kids have about 30 pounds of candy. I am not kidding. There is no way the kids could ever eat all this. I am going to have to start throwing out a handful a day to get rid of it all. Well, after I eat my favorites!

Sleeping at the Zoo

Tonight Matt gets to spend the night at the Cincinnati Zoo as a field trip. I think they are sleeping with Manatees. How cool is that for a field trip? I am very excited and wish I were there....sort of. Sleeping on the floor with 50 5Th graders who plan to stay up all night isn't exactly appealing. But I think it would be so cool to have access to the zoo at night and with no other visitors. Ron wanted to chaperone so badly but Matt didn't want us to come. It is hard watching kids want their independence. I think it hurt Ron's feelings. I wouldn't mind for Matt to have a little parental supervision. We have always been so involved in everything he does that maybe its time to let him do some things without us around.
I certainly do not intend to be a helicopter parent. But I am not sure I want to raise self sufficient children. Isn't it good to need others? I want them to have a reliance on God first but I also want them to know there is value in others. So, somehow I need to find that balance of not being a hovering parent but let them know that as a parent, I am available. I want them to know that our heavenly father is available always and eternally. He is faithful and will not make a mistake. As humans and as hard as we try, we will disappoint, make mistakes, etc but there is still value in relationship. I just pray God shows me the right amount of involvement.

Cool address stamp

I was doing some Christmas shopping online. Yes, I realize its not time yet but I used to get mine done before Thanksgiving so I am giving it a try this year. I came across a great deal on those beautiful address stamps that I think look so elegant.
At www.expressionery.com they are having a 40% off and free shipping. I have always wanted one of those return address stamps. So I ordered one for me. Then it hit me how permanent that makes this address. Just one more way I am blooming. I am really accepting this is my home and am willing to pay to have it stamped on my mail!

corn maze

This weekend we struggled to find a reason to get out and about. Although the weather was beautiful, the kids had already played soccer and football by Saturday afternoon. I suggested a pumpkin patch/corn maze. No one was really excited but we went. Stood in line for 30 minutes to ride a hay wagon out to the fields. I was getting cranky but we decided to do the corn maze. Its like a 9 acre corn maze. I have never done this before and was a little freaked out. Luckily my son the genius could just look at the map and had no trouble guiding us all through. It was really fun. The best best part was if you found some hidden spots, you could redeem a coupon for a free doughnut at the bakery. We skipped picking out our pumpkin from the patch and found one near the store. We bought our pumpkins, ate doughnuts and drank apple cider. The doughnuts were warm and cinnamon sugar, the best doughnuts I have ever eaten. It was a great day! They also had farm animals around including peacocks, emu, and llamas. Weird farm animals, huh?
Check it out at www.ironsfruitfarm.com.