Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had a great day with family and friends. Lowell and Donna came to our house from Michigan to share in our feast. This year I bought a fresh turkey....19 pounds! I have never had to wait longer than the time allotted for a turkey. This was a stubborn turkey! But it was o.k. because I kept busy making some new side dishes I had read about in Rachael Rae's magazine. Everything turned out very good! If I do say so myself! :-) We are so thankful for all that God has blessed us with. I always get kind of sappy around the holidays. But this year it seems especially noticable. We have some friends and family that are going through some crud right now. As we pray for them we are drawn to each other and very appreciative that our marriage is solid. We have many other things to be thankful for but without a solid marriage and stable home for our children, life would not be the same. I am very Thankful for my God and the strength He gives us to live faithfully in so many areas of our lives.

Happy Birthday to my Hubby

Whoa! My wonderful, loving , protective, affectionate, fun, smart, husband is now 39-years-old! Lowell said he didn't want me to post about him on my blog but how can he argue with that? :-) Yes, it is true. Lowell is now one year away from the big 4-0. He says he still feels like he is in his 20's. That's a good thing! In some ways he has changed since he was in his 20's which is also a good thing! One thing that has not changed is his love of cars. I think it is in his blood. I could really care less about cars. I prefer them to run and not smell bad but other than that I can cope with a lot of things. This is one thing that we will never agree on 100% but I actually think it is kind of cute. The poor guy has been mourning the loss of his Mustang for several years. So he found a new toy. I did put down one stipulation....he could only have one car. So it had to be one that he would be willing to drive in the winter. Here are some pictures of Lowell's b-day and his new toy.

In case you are like me and don't know cars by sight...that is a Dodge Charger RT...Oh yeah, it's got a HEMI!

Livin' On a Prayer

I was just thinking this past weekend about how glad I am that I have a daughter. I remember really feeling "in the zone" parenting my two precious boys. I could handle worms without freaking out and I have learned to throw a football. I enjoy all the things that being a mom to boys brings. (although puberty is not all that fun) God knew that I needed a girl to keep me company in this testosterone filled house.
Allie is at an age that is so fun! Not that Kyle and Jake aren't, but it is very different. I get notes handed to me out of the blue that say things like "I love you because you tuck me in at night!" Or she'll want to style my hair with her little pony holders. She loves getting girly and going to the nail salon with me. Allie usually picks some crazy combination of colors. She'll do a French manicure with orange and blue. :-) She loves to sing and dance. She's always very fair, and takes turns being Troy when we play "High School Musical." One new one I heard the other day was "Wow, Mommy, I didn't know you could shake it like that!" Too funny! (I'm quite sure I wasn't shaking anything on purpose! :-) )Allie is just now getting the point that she really likes music. Not just because it's fun to listen to, but also because she has an appreciation for it. I remember having that epiphany when I was about eleven years old. Though I did have "Rhinestone Cowboy" memorized at age six, it is nothing like Allie and her friends.
Did you know that Allie has a band? It's called "Best Friends" and it is with our neighbors, Sarah and Rachel. We did a photo shoot a couple months ago and I thought I would share. Allie's favorite song to sing with the band is "You better Shop Around." I also found out that Bon Jovi has a praise and worship song. We were driving home from dance with two of her friends and they start shouting to me that they want to hear the Bon Jovi praise and worship. HUH? Turns out that they thought that "Livin' on a Prayer" was a worship song. Well, I am praising God for my little girl! ooooohhh, oooohh livin' on a praaaayer



I told them to act cool! LOL

This is an action shot!
Cover shot for the "Best Friends" CD ;-)

Apple Orchard and Pumpkin Picking

Here are the kids at the Center Grove Orchard a few weeks ago. It was COLD! Probably the coldest day we've had this fall. But we accomplished our mission and found three great pumpkins and picked lots and lots of apples. We then hit the corn and hay mazes. I almost got lost in the corn maze. It brought back memories of "Children of the Corn." Freaky! Luckily, my child with a great sense of direction, Jake found me and led me out. We also got to see the animals in the petting zoo. Jake chased a turkey around. That was quite a sight. They also had a little one room school house. Allie is one bossy teacher! Kyle, of course, pretended to be bored the whole time. You gotta love those tweenagers! I think he did enjoy himself, though. We did manage to get a smile in the below picture. That is one huge pumpkin! (we did not purchase that one!) I later taught Allie and Jake how to make apple crisp, apple dumplings, and pumpkin scones. We had a baking fest! Pumpkin scones were the biggest hit.