It's time

Lots going on... lots to do... decorating, cookie baking, spending time with my family, meal planning, gift shopping...to name a few. That's why it's time for me to take a blogger break for a while. I will miss you blogger. Enjoy your hibernation for a while... but when I return, there will be lots to post about!!!

Papa Stroehmann

I am so thankful for so many things....but now I'm sooooo tired to list all those things so I will only list a few...

1. I am thankful for my parents - and getting to spend Thanksgiving together another year.
2. I am thankful for a loving and caring God who provides all my needs.
3. I am thankful to have a father who was a totally awesome baker...it comes in really handy when checking the doneness of tomorrow's pumpkin pie. He loves being the teacher and I love being the apprentice. Even when he's showing me something I already know - and he's referring to himself as Papa Stroehmann! I am just thankful we made pumpkin pies together.
4. I am thankful for my family - my husband and children - and my friends.

HAVE

A

HAPPY

&

BLESSED

THANKSGIVING!!!

This is the prince...

that woke me up at the crack of dawn because they were sooooo excited about riding the bus today at school - the bus that would take them to the big school, to sit in the big auditorium, to watch the play, and have fun all day long!

I am the momma that said "one more minute and then I'll get up".... and to that I heard (very quietly) "one, two, three, four, five..." Because the prince now knows that there are 60 seconds in 1 minute... and he was going to count those seconds for me!

It's a mystery

...since I'm not a queen and all,

but somehow, I still ended up with a little princess!

MY BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS!!!

It's also a mystery how I could put a princess to bed around 8ish but they didn't go to bed until 10ish.

First of the season

I needed a little cheering up today. And I knew exactly what would do the trick.... Belle and I went to the basement and rummaged around a bit until we found this baby

It's a sweet little fiber optic tree I picked up from the Dollar General a few years ago. Belle fell in love...she put her arm around the tree for the picture...she's so cute! We're listening to Christmas music too as I'm cleaning and organizing my room (the room that's been neglected for way too long). The other trees will come out much later.

Salsa

I love the word homemade. I also love the word scratch... as in, made from scratch. I automatically think that whenever I'm eating something homemade or made from scratch that it's going to be healthier for me. Well, at least most of the time.

Anyway, I'm happy to say that my first attempt at homemade salsa turned out pretty good. So here is what I did.

I took some veggies, like these,


Then I chopped them up, added a little dressing, and viola!
Homemade salsa!

By the way, pulsing the tomatoes in the blender doesn't work so well. I will dice them by hand next time. And the onion, garlic and green pepper will be chopped in my food processor.

Do you want the recipe? Well, it's not quite ready yet... I have tweaking to do... But I will post it... I promise!

Favorites Friday

I love all the little craft and artsy things my kids make - from school or at home-

I save every single one of them!

Slowly but surely

Slowly but surely I am regaining my strength. Taking some great vitamins (will post about them later). This picture was taken a while ago. Belle loves the library. I love libraries.

Dear energy,
Please return to me.
There is so much I want to do.
And without you everything is just complicated!

The Chicken and the Ninja

Daddy took this picture... I was on the sofa having just been diagnosed with pneumonia and feeling horrible... I laid on the sofa as daddy got the kids ready for trick or treating. It was really sad not being able to go with them this year... so different from last year.

Daddy said he wouldn't be able to take pictures while they were out so I dragged myself to the window to snap this picture...sigh...

But oh the faces of joy that returned home - It was like getting a big dose of good medicine.

Memo gave the kids their own bag full of goodies... Of course it was just something she did for her grandbabies, but Jack was so cute... He told me: "Mommy, guess what Memo is giving away?" "What?" I said. "An entire bag of stuff!" I laughed. He thought it was just amazing that Memo was giving away (to all the kids) a huge bag full of goodies. :)

Dear children, you are soooo loved!!!!!

Mommy loves you so very much!!!

Footprints

One night I dreamed I was walking along the beach with the Lord. Many scenes from my life flashed across the sky.

In each scene I noticed footprints in the sand. Sometimes there were two sets of footprints, other times there was one only.

This bothered me because I noticed that during the low periods of my life, when I was suffering from anguish, sorrow or defeat, I could see only one set of footprints, so I said to the Lord,

“You promised me Lord,
that if I followed you, you would walk with me always. But I have noticed that during the most trying periods of my life there has only been one set of footprints in the sand. Why, when I needed you most, have you not been there for me?”

The Lord replied, “The years when you have seen only one set of footprints, my child, is when I carried you.”

Footprints

by Mary Stevenson

About 5 minutes

... is all the energy I have to get this post out, and then I'll crash on the sofa again. And that's been my life lately. But it is a good day because I don't feel like I'm dying anymore... so that's always a good thing.

I wanted to share with you what puts a smile on my face - these videos of the kids jumping in the leaves (taken the day before I got sick).

I will post again...

as soon as I'm done with this flu thing!