Happy Thanksgiving to All

I know many of my blogger friends have expressed this same sentiment for today. But I also want to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know some of you out there will not be celebrating this holiday because you aren't in the USA but I am thankful for getting to know you too throughout this past year. May those of you who are here enjoy the time together with friends and family. In spite of the complaints we may have, we have much to be thankful for. They are predicting some snow for tonight and tomorrow, so stay safe.

Michael W. Smith cd

I won a new cd of Michael W. Smith. It's his new Christmas cd. Check out the link in my sidebar. There were 150 free cd's that were going to be given away. You can take a listen to some of the songs that are on it too. I'm sure it's going to be one of my favorites!

TIme for the Holidays!

We went to a holiday parade on Saturday. It was a bit chilly so we went to McDonalds and got Mocha's to drink. We've gone to this parade every year and it's usually quite a bit of fun - unless it's snowing or rainy. The route ends at the fire station where they serve hot chocolate, coffee and doughnuts. Here's some of the highlights.





Shaelyn, Katelyn and her friend Erin. Staying warm before the parade started.














Here comes Chelsea's band. Don't they look nice?














Chelsea is the shorter one in front. They played "Joy to the World"














Shaelyn loved the little ponies














Here comes Santa Claus (and Mrs. Claus)














Live reindeer at the fire station













At the fire station, enjoying hot chocolate

Who's turning 5?

Happy Birthday Shaleyn! (alias bunny herman, kiersten anne leigh, linseed,
sparky, gloria, rain, jane - it's amazing all that we've come up with through the years and I think there's still more)
I cannot believe you are 5 years old already - even though you think you're older than that. We thought our family was complete with your two older sisters but God had planted a seed in my heart since I was 10 years old. I wanted a special little girl from China, even back then. It was a long wait to get you but you were the one God chose for our family. What a lot of joy and laughter you have brought into our family. Even though you are a boundless ball of energy and you wear me out - I can still smile over what you say and do. We love you so much! Have a great birthday!

I apologize for the quality of some of these pictures. I do not have them on disc so I had to take a picture of the picture. This is Shaelyn's referral picture to us. She was about 3 months here.

















This was in her crib in China - what a huge smile!














I took this picture when we got home for her adoption announcement.















She always loved baths. This was after eating spaghetti. I think you can still see some in her hair.



















Look at those baby rolls of fat. This was about 1 and 1/2 months after she came home!














Sweet innocence!

I've been Tagged

This is what you do. Link to the person that tagged you, that would be Karen and post the rules on your blog.

Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself.
Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

Here are my 7 random things:

1. Katelyn, my oldest daughter, was born 5 weeks early and only weighed 3 lbs. 9 oz.

2. My ancestry comes from the Netherlands in Holland.

3. I love cappucino's in spite of the fact that I do not drink coffee. Must be
because there is chocolate in it!

4. If my Mom had her way, my name would have been Michelle.

5. I have always lived within a 10 mile radius of where I grew up.

6. My poor husband is the only male in the family. We have 3 daughters and even
our 3 cats and 2 dogs are females. (We tell him that he's just very blessed)

7. This may be hard for some of you to believe but I used to pick on my sister, Cheri when we were younger. I would tell her
that a bug named Ben, (who I could talk to) would go in her ear and eat her brain
if she didn't do what I wanted her to do. We love each other a lot now!


Now I'm supposed to name 7 people to tag but I'm leaving this open to those of you who would like to participate. If you do, just link back to me.

The proper way to lose a Tooth

Shaelyn and I were heading out this morning and I told her to brush her teeth good. She had to go to the dentist today to get her cavity filled and I explained that she probably had that cavity because she didn't brush good enough. A few kids she knows have lost teeth lately, and she wants to also. So she asks me, "So my teeth will come out if I don't brush good?" like it's a good thing. I can just see the wheels spinning in that brain.
Sometimes, I know she's thinking way too much.

By the way, the dentist said she did great. Hopefully we won't have to be back for another 6 months.

Bonnie's Giveaway

Bonnie is having a special giveaway for her 200th post. If you have any daughters or nieces, this would be a great book for them. The winner will be drawn on Nov. 22 so head on over and check out her blog.
She's got a lot of great things to say and photographs to show.

When it rains.. It Pours

Here's a quick update on my life lately.

Sunday night, I went to our freezer in our garage (where I store all my extra meat and such) to get something for supper. I felt the ice cream and it was soft. I told Dave to go and check the breakers. So he flipped them all and went out there again. They were all working. So now I'm wondering if the fuse was tripped or if the freezer was a goner! I went out there Monday morning to find my ice cream still soft. This freezer is over 30 years old - we bought it from Dave's parents when we got married - so we did get our use out of it. I managed to salvage all my meat and just had to dump my ice cream and popsicles and things. I loaded it all into my van and took it to my Dad's and am storing it there for now. I headed to the appliance store and bought a new freezer which came this morning. Now that problem is taken care of.

Yesterday was a day care day and I was watching the 3 boys I take care of. There is a baby and a 2 year old and a 3 year old. They were running around in the living room. I just tell them to stop running and be careful or someone will get hurt and I turn away for a second and hear a cry. The 3 year old had tripped and fallen and landed on my glider rocker chair. He has cut his eyelid and was bleeding. It immediately starts to swell up. After settling him down for a while, he turns and says that his owie is all better. I'm thinking to myself, "yeah, right, go look in the mirror" I wasn't really worried about telling his Mom. (She knows these things happen and she was fine with it.) Then I put the baby down for his nap. When he woke up he was crying. So I pick him up and he's soaked through all his clothes. I start to change him and realize that it was a dirty diaper, BIG mess! Can this day get any worse? I picked up Chelsea from school and we delivered the papers. Actually, that went okay.

So Dave comes home from work and I tell him that we need some bread. So he says that he'll go to the store. He takes MY van. I finish getting supper ready and wonder what he's doing outside. He comes in and explains that he drove over a bolt and it's stuck in my tire. He can't get the spare down to change it. He wonders if I need the van tomorrow. "Yes, I have to take Chelsea to the store to get a birthday present for Shaelyn" He says that I can probably make it to the tire store with the bolt in the tire because it's stuck there. Fine! So I have to take the grubby truck to my volleyball game. Apparently, the defrost does not work well in the truck at all because everything was frosted up and I couldn't see. At least we won all 3 games!

After waiting for my freezer to come this morning, I head to the tire store. I can hear the little clicking sound of the bolt on the tire. As I'm coming to the light, I notice the clicking sound is no longer there. CRAP!! I go through the light, which is a beautiful pink color because I'm not going to stop. I'm thinking, "get out of my way people, I've got to get to the tire store before I'm flat!" Someone pulls nicely in front of me and then proceeds to try to turn left. Of course, they have to wait for someone else!!! I manage to go around them on the right and get to the tire store. I look and yes, the tire is pretty much flat but at least I'm here. I go into the store and explain the situation. "Which tire would that be Ma'am?" I think you'll be able to spot it. "Oh yes." They were able to plug it and I didn't have to pay anything for it. Thank goodness! But they did explain that these tires will make it, at the most, to April. Yeah, yeah, I knew that. Now I have to go out with Chelsea this afternoon. I'm hoping that my "bad luck" has run out. I want something good to happen to me next. So much for my pity party!

The Christmas Shopping Tales

What a great weekend I had. Here's a bit of what happened on my yearly Christmas shopping trip with Mari and Cheri! We started out around 8:30 - full of energy!! We had our lists all made and coupons sorted. I know that Cheri has a list up of the stores we went to but I'm giving out what I can remember too.
Toys R Us
Woodworking Shop
Harbor Freight
Hobby Lobby
Meijers
Target
Kregels Parable Store
Best Buy
Bed, Bath and Beyond
Gander Mountain
Lowe's
Kohl's
Icing
Rue 21
Payless Shoe Source
Jewelry Store
Hallmark Store
Sears
Bath and Body Works
Celebration Cinema
Old Navy
Fields Fabrics

We did make it to a lot of stores. The men think this is all fun and games but as you can tell from the list of stores - it's a lot of hard work!


Mari and I worked hard throughout the day!















See what Cheri was doing while Mari and I were working hard packing the van!


















Here is a picture of our bags when we got back to the hotel. My bags are on the bed on the left. Mari and Cheri's are together on the right. Now I have read that I had a lot more than they did but I think it looks pretty even. We are always ready to get back to the hotel. We made it there around 8:00 I think, with very tired feet.
















Part of the shopping tradition is to go to Olive Garden for supper. Mari & I tried some stuffed mushrooms. They were delicious. Then Cheri & I split some chicken fettucino. Nobody can beat the Olive Garden for that. There was quite a bit of laughter during this meal and for you southern gals - We had diet cokes and lemonade to drink, so we couldn't blame our slap happiness on anything else!! We always get dessert for takeout back at the hotel. Here is the Black Tie Forest Cake and Pumpkin Cheesecake. I'm not usually a pumpkin person but this was soooo good. We couldn't eat it all which is so disappointing but we enjoyed what we did eat!














This was when Cheri was still being friendly to me - before we went to sleep at night and she wasn't bothered by the noise! You'll have to head over to Cheri's to get the full story on that!

Shopping anyone?

I'm going to be gone tomorrow as well as Mari and Cheri. We're doing our annual Christmas shopping day. We go for the whole day and then stay in a hotel for the night. And no, Leslie and Dena, the police will not be called when we are together. We usually go to Olive Garden for supper. I love it because my husband won't eat there. It's the most fun ever. Lots of laughing and good times. Hopefully, we get a lot done. I'll let you know, come Monday!

Shaelyn's Fall Festival

Shaelyn had what is called "fall festival" at her school on Saturday. What you could do was buy a game card for $5 and then for those 2 hours in the afternoon, play as many games as you wanted. I was in charge of the cake walk. There was also pumpkin bowling, pencil tree, sucker tree and many more. There was an animal walk which was similar to the cake walk and she won that. She picked out a stuffed lion.
You could buy popcorn and balloons too. When you were done playing games, you went to the redemption room and turned in your game ticket. There you could pick from all kinds of different things. Shaelyn picked some littlest pet shop toys. But there were also markers, basketballs, barbies and much more. What a lot of fun!

Wordless Wednesday

How do you spell LOVE? Put Katelyn and Missy together!

Is that a Candle I Smell?

Heather of Heather's Brain is hosting a Giveaway. It's a free candle and I know many of you love them.

This month's candle is just right for the holiday season....
Winter Candle Apple.
Autumn Apples wrapped in a hard sugar candy with sweet caramel.
Click here to enter and be sure to follow the rules!

Memory Verse Monday

Last week, Karen started Memory Verse Monday. I memorized and dwelled on Psalm 19:1-2. That talked about creation speaking about our great God and Creator. This week I'm choosing to focus on Psalm 90:1-2

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.
Before the mountains were brought forth,
Or ever You had formed the earth and the world
Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

God is our refuge and security in all times of life. With this in mind, I'd ask you to be in prayer today for Mari's daughter, Heather. She is in surgery this morning for an appendectomy. I know this is not a major surgery, but unexpected and still a surgery. Heather will now be missing some days from college and it's just a little "bump" in the road of life.

A Menagerie of Thoughts

It looked so pretty outside this morning. It froze last night. I don't know if you can see how cool the grass looked, but the frost was all over it and it looked beautiful.















The sun was coming up so brightly. Maybe the grass looks "frostier" on this picture.

















The tree looked so pretty with the sun just shining partly on it.




















Shaelyn's conversation with me the other day - and no, she wasn't in trouble or anything. She was just thinking. Keep in mind that this is just a 4 year olds thoughts.
Also, Halle is her cousin who is 1 year older than her.

Shaelyn : Mom, when everybody else dies, then Halle will be in charge, right?
Me: Sure
Shaelyn : It will be nice when everybody dies.
Me : I'm not really thinking so, why?
Shaelyn : Because then I won't have to follow any rules and nobody will tell me what
to do.

I wonder what she's always thinking about because she constantly is!








Karen has awarded me with The Friendly Site Blog Award. There are many of you out there who deserve this. So I am going to do what I've seen others do. If you are listed on my sidebar, I consider you to be friendly. Go ahead and take this for yourself. You all deserve it.

Go check out Karen's blog today because she has a give away going. She has a book on How to Strengthen Yourself in the Lord. You can enter by going to her blog!

Our Halloween Night

Here's some pictures of our halloween night. Shaelyn just did some trick or treating by my dad's neighborhood. When we got to my Dad's house, it was still pretty nice weather. She got some candy from Grandpa and Ann, we left the van there to walk across the street to the development. Around the 2nd house, it started to rain. Not a lot but sprinkles. About 1/2 way, it started to rain harder, which made her move a little faster. We were done in about 20 minutes. After getting back to the van, Dad was coming out, getting ready to look for us.




Here's the little princess before getting wet.

















Shaelyn after we were home. You can see her hair's a bit wet.
















The sky was looking pink on the way home.













We spotted a rainbow in the sky when we were leaving Dad's house. I got a picture of it just before it disappeared. It was beautiful. I love rainbows.