Thanksgiving

The friends we were going to have over for our Turkey feast on Thanksgiving ended up having a sick child, so we exchanged food with each other, but ate alone. The food was wonderful though. James is our resident poultry expert. He seasons the bird and stuffs it with the cornbread stuffing made by Kathie from Karen Olson's recipe. Lots of people complain that the white meat on a turkey is dry, so we cook our turkey upsidedown, so the juices can run into the white meat. The trick is always flipping the bird in the end. Here is our Turkey, that has been flipped, and is ready to carve. [I probably should have taken a picture before we turned it over, but here it is...]



We have so many blessings, and are truly grateful for this time we had to be together as a family. We've each been making our thankful lists naming something each day we have gratitude for. There are too many things to name here, but we are thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the time we have between now and Christmas to focus on the wonderful gift of our Savoir's humble birth.

Quite the harvest

This past Summer in AR was Super HOT and Humid from early June until forever. For some reason some things in the garden could NOT grow in these conditions. Tomatoes were one of those items. But, in September, when tempertures finally reached bearable levels, the tomatoes finally became more than just plants. Tomatoes broke out all over. The problem is that there were not enough days for them to fully ripen. We took measures to cover the garden on nights it was going to be really cold and they kept on growing. On Thanksgiving day, we decided it was time to pick them. Some are close, but others are really green. So we will have fried green tomatoes and hope that most of them will be able to ripen now that they are off the vine.

Crazy Kid

Here's TMI (Too Much Information)...My little Spencer doesn't always put underwear on if left to get dressed all by himself. So, I've been checking lately to see if he has them on or not. The other day I asked him and he whipped down his pants to show me that he had none on. I sent him back to his room to put some undies on and he did and then proceeded to head outside withOUT pants on. I sent him back to get his pants on and this is how he came back...



At least he's wearing underwear, right???

A finished Quilt

I used the method of taping each layer of the quilt to the hardwood floor with masking tape and then pin basting it together with lots and lots of safety pins. Then I was able to get to quilting. (It's been a while since I stippled a quilt and it was fun.) It turned out mostly okay. There are a few places in on the back where the fabric bunched up a little bit. But here is the end result. Sid is excited to have her new quilt on her bed. She actually sleeps in the covers now and not just on top. (Which is good, because it has been colder here lately.) It's fun to accomplish a quilt and see the end result.



Now on to Kam's...

Christmas Dress from G-ma

Karen G-ma made this dress for our little one and we got it in the mail on Monday. Sidnie immediately had to put it on. Here are a couple of shots, so G-ma can see how it looks.

More Family photos

I purposely did NOT post this photo on the blog because I wanted it to be a part of our Christmas card this year and I wanted everyone to see it then for the first time. But, with the way the photo was going to be automatically cropped, James was going to lose part of his head. We opted instead to use a family picture where no one would be headless, so I'm posting this picture here now.



And here is the other picture that used to be featured on the blog, since I changed it to the one above.

Funny Girl

My little 3 year old Sidnie is definitely a Girly Girl. In the mornings when I am getting ready for the day, she is right there putting on lip gloss and any other make up that I will allow. And she is serious about her lip gloss. She puts it on two or three times before she is "ready." And shortly after she can be heard saying: "My lip gloss came off. I need to put on more." We are in for it when she is a teenager for sure.

Anyway, last night while getting the 3 little ones out of the bath, I said to Spencer: "Guess who is going to be your primary teacher tomorrow?" His response: "Who?" Zack yelled from his bedroom: "Mom!" Spencer said: "Really?!" Then Sidnie got a concerned look on her face and asked: "Will you still be our mom?"

Here's our S with a red leaf from our tree in her hair.