Today we are CLEANING the house! It is not a fun place to be in right now and I am going crazy. Everywhere I look there is clutter and unwrapped presents and mail and just STUFF! I would rather play on the computer all day, but if I don't get this taken care of it will continue to drive me insane, and that is a very short trip these days :D.

So far we have:
Eaten breakfast
Cleaned the Counter
Loaded and run the dishwasher
I have showered and gotten dressed

We need to:
Clean off the other counter
Clean off the kitchen table
Get kiddos dressed
Sweep kitchen floor
Pick up toys in family room
Take rest of garbage out before the trash man comes
Straighten up living room
Clean all 3 bathrooms
Laundry
Have kids straighten their rooms
Make lunch
Make supper
Pick out which movie the kids get to watch for New Years Eve
Vacuum
Empty Dishwasher

If I can get through the whole list before Chris gets home from work it will be a miracle, but that is my goal. I am hoping having a clean house will motivate me to start getting things ready for this new little one that is joining our family soon. We have a lot to do so I better get a move on.

Christmas Baking?

What are you baking for Christmas this year?

I am making:
PB Blossoms -done
Oreo Truffles -in process
Gingerbread cookies (per the kids request)
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies (per Chris)
Cherry Cordial Bells (maraschino cherries with a sugar cookie covering)
Peppermint Bark
Sugar Cookies (maybe)
Fudge

I am still trying to think of a few other things to make, so I might use some of your ideas!!!

WOW!

I got Chris to join Facebook and he is starting his own blog!

Dinner Prayer

Tonight:

Chris: Eli, will you pray for our supper tonight?
Eli: Sure, daddy.
Dear God, Tank you for only me tonight. Amen.
Me: (trying not to laugh) I think you should pray for the food too.
Eli: ummm, ok
Dear God, tank you for me and the food. (long pause)(sigh) Tank you for Abby and Reagan and Daddy and Mommy and Daama and Daempa and the food and unca Jay and aunt Missa and unca Andy and aunt Tacia and the food. Amen.
Chris: Thank you, that was a nice prayer to God.
Eli: I forgot someone.
Me: Who?
Eli: The baby, and Finny and Tash. And auntie Den and unca Tane. (pause) and the food. Amen.

All of us: Amen

A couple of minutes later as we are eating:
Eli: Tank you God for the food and the baby and mommy and daddy. Amen.

Chris and I again trying not to laugh, and this went on several more times until he was done with dinner.

Gotta love a boy who wants to pray.

Abby's gymnastics Meet

Abby's last gymnastics meet of the year was yesterday. She did great!


She got 5th on the bars!



Waiting to warm up on the bars





















Vault

Warming up on the bars.

On the podium!

99 Days and Counting!

Today is Sunday November 23rd 2008.
Your due date is Monday March 2nd 2009.

167 days have passed since the conception,and you are 99 days before your due date.

You are 25 weeks into your pregnancy,and you have 15 weeks to go.

You are in the 2nd trimester.

63% of your pregnancy has passed, there is 37% left to go.

My gangster kids

1st speech therapy class

Eli had his first speech therapy class today. He finally talked at the end. They were working of the -ts sound (ants, pants, eats) and he couldn't say it at the beginning, but by the end it was almost correct. We will work on it this week, and hopefully he will catch on to it quickly.

His class is every Friday from 11:30--12. There are 3 other little girls in it right now. He will be having therapy for at least a year probably, but time will tell how quickly he picks things up. She thinks that maybe by the time he is 5, he will have caught up with all his sounds.

Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon

Tip Junkie is having a 12 Days of Junkie where there will be 2 winners announced each day for the next 12 days!

It's to help promote the women who are selling their products in the Mom-preneur Shop-a-thon. So be sure to head on over to Tip Junkie and enter the contest and check out all the amazing gift-giving possibilities in the shop-a-thon!

God is in Control

This is borrowed/copied from a friends blog (http://hopefullytrying.livejournal.com/), and it really puts into words what I have been thinking and feeling the past couple of days.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=82-84EKIaqE

Romans 13:1. "Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there
is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God."

While I might not be doing cartwheels over the winner of this election, I do believe that God is in Control.

I also believe that God has ordained for Obama to be our President, for whatever reasons......God is perfect and He makes NO mistakes!!

And for me to be upset or devastated would be a waste of my time and energy. So instead, I will pray for President-Elect Obama, and his family, that he will be able to lead our country in a positive way, and make positive changes......and that he will even come to the Lord!!!

I will pray for his wife, to be supportive and loving and understanding when this big job takes him away from their family, and I will pray for their daughters, that they will still be able to have time with their father, and know that he loves and values them....I pray for them as a family, that this will strengthen them, and not draw them apart.

I also pray for everyone who did NOT vote for Obama, that their hearts will not be bitter, that they will join me in prayer for our nation's leader,and for the morality of our nation.

As Christians, we are not to give in to a spirit of Fear...instead, let us accept that what is, IS....and just do what we do best--live for God and be SHINING EXAMPLES of His love and acceptance to the world. Now, more than ever, we need to SHINE JESUS to the world!!!

HUGS to you all!!! May God bless each and evey one of you today and in this next 4 years of our

FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT!

Pretty cool/interesting/wow to be living in part of history!!

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Election Day

The day is here, it is time to vote for the next president. The kids and I will be off in about 1/2 an hour do vote, it is a great way to show the kids how the process works.

Get out and VOTE!

Some pictures of Halloween

Chris carving pumpkins with the help of Abby. The boys weren't that interested in getting their hands dirty.
But Abby helped, although she thought it was GROSS!



Reagan is not happy that I am taking pictures and making him wait to go Trick or Treating.

The kids did have fun with the pumpkins once they were done!

Three happy kids, ready to go get some candy!

Daylight savings time!

Amazing how adding an hour to the day makes things run so much more smoothly. We were actually on time for church today!!!! YAY MALLICOATS!

She did it!!!

Abby can do her back handspring!!!! She still thinks she needs the 4 in mat underneath her, but with a little more practice and confidence, she has it! We went to lunch bunch today for her to practice some more, she is so excited!

Now she has 4 practices left before her next meet, so she should be doing the floor, bars and vault. Only that pesky dismount from the beam and she will be able to do all 4 events!

Apples and Pumpkins

Today I made apple sauce from all the apples we picked yesterday at mom and dads. It is really yummy. No sugar or anything added, just basic apples. I guess you might call it organic ;)

The kids also got to carve their pumpkins tonight. We had a lot of fun, although we did most of the work and they mostly watched. Abby did help with hers, and Reagan picked out his design that he wanted. Eli played with the toy robot (which totally fell apart and is now probably not repairable). But they had a good time, and that is what really matters.

Grandparents House and Pumpkin Party

Today we went to my parents house. Well, really last night, but we got there at bedtime, so they woke up there this morning and played all day. Abby did some school work with Grandma. Then we all went out and picked apples from the trees and the kids messed around with the horses. They even got to ride bareback for a little bit, until the horses got tired of them.

Late afternoon we went in to see Grandma Great and Aunt Nancy in their costumes. Abby was a princess, Reagan was a cowboy, and Eli was Tigger. Then we went to the Pumpkin Party at Grandview. The kids had so much fun, there were tons of games and we had walking tacos (Reagan didn't like his.)

Then we went over to the hospital to see Grandma Stroud, but since she was still in the ER being admitted, only I got to see her.

It was a very busy and fun day!

Kids blog

This is a memoir to my children.