First Thanksgiving

Well, yes, it was Thursday here too, but I haven't really stopped since then. We ended up with only eight people coming to dinner, which was perfect because that's all the china I have! I got out all the fun stuff and Mallory and I set a really nice table. Matthew was overly concerned about the B & B plates. I guess he thought that if the music stopped and that's what he was holding... anyhoo. Michael's boss and her husband came over, though her daughter and her husband didn't make it down from South Dakota. Another reason I'm glad Michael invited them. They are here temporarily and should be going back in January. Michael didn't even think of them until we found out we couldn't go to Grandpa's. Then he decided we'd better figure out something. Only a day or two later, Aunt Betty found herself in a pickle of her own. I guess when you keep going south for Thanksgiving, it can be hard to get your name in any of the pots up here when you stay! Well, we had plenty of room and hadn't done the shopping yet, so we could always add more food.

Michael's boss, Marlys, brought a game with her that the kids absolutely loved. A lot like Aggravation and Sorry put together. After they left, Aunt Betty helped me clean up and then we played around with a Christmas swag. She needed me to "tie a bow." I love that because I think she knows that if she brings all the stuff, I won't stop at the bow! We had so much fun.

After everyone left, I had to start my groom's cake. The groom's step-mom is the one I've been working with on this and she has come over a couple times to discuss it... I don't know why, maybe the coffee's good, but we have a good time. I'm pretty sad it's over! I've enjoyed her so much! Anyway, I'll post the rocket to my cake blog soon, but it was a chocolate rocket with chocolate frosting and a payload! I cut a hole in the front and added a pilot, then put a little acrylic cover over him. So fun.

I've spent the last couple days at work and now I need to spend some time here! My friends were warning me about my laundry chute backing all the way up and I'm afraid that might happen! The kids and I needed one more day in the basement, though, so this will keep us there. We have a drum corner cleared for Matthew, now we need to make my cropping center. You might not think the kids would want to help with that, but right now they have about five boxes marked "toys" where I want my cropping center, so they are pretty anxious to get that cleared out!

Well, I better hit the shower. I've missed church twice in a row now and I'm not missing today. Nobody threw up in the night, so if anyone has to stay home I hope Michael can handle it!

First Snow

This is probably going to show up as a Thursday post instead of Wednesday, because it is a bit after midnight, but I had to post our first snow. It didn't really snow all that much, maybe an inch, but it snowed nearly all day, and we had that excitement around the house that makes winter just almost tolerable. Morgan wanted to go out about every half hour, just coming in long enough to warm up. You notice his problem might be in the number of layers, but you try to tell him that. Trust me, this is easier. Besides, he hates it when his clothes get wet, so this makes for fewer wet clothes. Kinda scary when I understand his thinking. Anyway, tomorrow's Thanksgiving and I'm sure there will be something for me to do, so I'd best get to bed now.

We also got a corner cleared out in the basement for Matthew's drum set. I still have time to prepare myself for this. I really want it for him, but I know how quickly I go from excited to over the edge. Pray for me. Please.

Home again

Morgan and I spent last Sunday home together, and it's happening again today. This time, it's me, too! Started feeling pretty lousy at work last night when Michael and the kids stopped by. Matthew stayed with me to help clean up, then we went home to Michael having supper ready. He's way too good for me. I got up this morning thinking I'd just press on, but heard Morgan with a croupy cough again. No problem, I'm really not fit for the public anyway. So here we are. Thought maybe we could watch the Heroes series Michael got me for our anniversary (I got him new batteries for his drill, so I win both prizes!!), but since they rented Batman and Scooby-Doo last night, that seems to have won out. I tried my best to talk him out of it, but as Batman says, "A caped crusader always gives top priority to a boy and his dog." Guess I should just be thankful that the dogs stay outside. Guess I also forgot what fun adjectives Batman and Robin use. Right now, I'm just trying to figure out if Robin's voice is Casey Kasem or Shaggy. Weird. Oh, well. I guess this is interesting enough. If not, maybe I'll fall asleep. Probably better than tying you up with my ramblings.

Talk about busy...

Well, if you've never seen it before, you have to check out my cake blog this morning. (There is a link on the side over to the right.) I had nine cakes for the weekend, and Michael had a 4-H event he was leading up for Saturday night. I was very nervous as to how this would all play out, but never dreamed that Monday Juli would call and say that they couldn't do their prep work at the church. It all moved to our house where I already had kitchen plans!! We were both a ball of nerves over the mess, but the whole thing turned out to be one well-oiled machine! All of my cakes turned out great and the 4-H Dinner was amazing. We're such a team!!

Is it over?

By the looks of this blog, you'd think that October was the most boring month! So not true! We have been so busy that I just haven't had time! Finally, Monday looked like it was going to be a true "day off." One that I really didn't HAVE to do anything. Well, then that changed to a trip to the zoo! I'd been promising the kids and I heard that it was supposed to be sunny and nice, so we just decided to go. So much for enjoying the day off! Oh, well, at least we enjoyed the day! We took Grandma with us. Grandma and I were pretty shocked at the end of the day when we were trudging up the long hill to the car and the boys are still running back and forth, in circles, for no reason. Energy is so wasted on the young.

Scrapbooking

Pictures just got posted of our Maranatha retreat. This is Mallory and Jaymi's daughter, Kendall. We really had the greatest time! But anyway, that's on another post! Just thought I'd pin the photo here!

Thought I'd post a shot of my Cubbies, too. These are the leaders I had this week: Raven (so totally amazing!!!), Kristi (quite gifted and picking up all the tricks!), Dad (the REAL expert!), and my newest addition, Mallory! She's filling in while Elizabeth is at play practice. She only gets to help when she passes two sections of her own, so that has certainly spread enthusiasm in working on her AWANA verses!!

My poor dad...

I got a call from my dad this morning. Mom had already gone to work and she forgot to shut down the computer before she left and storms are on the way. No problem; I'll walk you through it. Press the start button. Nope, no good. Okay, try using the mouse to press the start button. Oh, that whirlygig thing?... So lesson one begins with the mouse, the cursor and the mouse buttons. It has to be on the desk to work, no, don't point with it, move it around on the desk... on the mouse pad. See how the arrow moves? Oh, wow. Mom learned so much while I was there and is now moving right along without me. Dad? No way. Would it have killed you to watch a couple things? He wants his own email account for his super secret deacon messages, but what good is it if Mom has to print it out? Would it be so tough to learn how to retrieve your own email??

Anyhoo... since it's been so long, I should probably tell any readers I have left what we've been up to. It really hasn't been much but life in general, but with AWANA back on Wednesday nights, life in general gets a little hairy. My cake business has also picked up since we got in the house, which is good, but it forces school to be a bit more flexible yet! Fortunately, I have a reporting teacher who is very encouraging about school working in and around life. She's really fun. She has a son just like my Matthew, so she knows how challenging it can be. She came to our crop at the church on Saturday, too. Good grief!! Now I know why she understands Matthew's attention span!! I thought she'd focus more when her granddaughter went to sleep... nope! Of course, our church van blew up so the youth group descended upon us, which gave her something else to do. I lost Mallory to them, too. Oh, well. Jaymi and I were moving right along. We just returned from Maranatha Bible Camp and a weekend of cropping, so we were motivated and excited!! I finished 2004!!! Then, this weekend, I got up to Easter of 2005!! Mallory had a lot of fun at Camp. She received prizes for being the youngest cropper there, and also did her darling act and also received several "Here, dear, I'm never going to use this" items. She can't help it. She is darling! She entered two pages in the page contests, but actually figured out on her own that it really depends on how many friends you brought with you to vote for you! She really amazed me, though. I did a couple dramas out there, and it takes everything I can muster to get behind the microphone. She was working on a page which really needed a pink button, so I told her to go look around for one. There were 99 people there, for crying out loud, surely one has a pink button. Next thing I know, she's on the microphone asking if anyone has a small pink button. Wow. Not me. Not unless I have to. But we've already found that none of these kids are me. Too funny.

Okay, I still have a cake to do for this afternoon, along with school and Cubbies! Have a great one and hope to be back again in October!!