It's the most wonderful time of the year!

No one can say Bah Humbug anymore! Thanksgiving is gone and now pressing forward to Christmas. I captured a couple pictures of our trees - yes the monkey's in front of them are mine too. :>)

This tree is our "fun" tree full of snowmen ornaments and red beads and balls. The pictures are not doing them justice.
This is our "FORMAL" - "Don't touch this" tree - no I'm not that frantic about this tree, but it is very pretty. Mostly gold ornaments only.
Like I said these photos do not do them justice, you will all have to stop by some evening to enjoy how beautiful they really are.

Thanksgiving, MU, & What's that!

We had a terrific holiday celebration!
We started our celebration at P's parents. P's mom is such a wonderful cook, I think we could have all just ate and ate. And then...it was time for pictures!

As you can tell, little Miss had other plans than taking a picture!

Aren't they just adorable!

And here we are...I know shocking my kids actually smiled! :>)
I did take a picture of PaPa and Grams, but I think my camera ate it. But they were there and we all had a fantastic time. These girls had a wonderful time playing at grandmas!And these boys are two peas in a pod - they are the bestest of friends and I hope they continue to be! And here we have M and Uncle Sandwich - Why she calls him Uncle Sandwich I have no idea, but it's a thing they have going on. And M plays with Uncle Sandwich ANYTIME he's willing.

And then...it was my turn. I was actually quite calm until I took the lid off the turkey and it wasn't the picture perfect golden brown. My mom showed up a little early and she thought it looked wonderful. In the back of my mind I was thinking...how much pizza am I going to have to order? Anyways we let it sit out to continue cooking and cool down, and then we started carving. And the taste test, taken my uncle chuck proved that it was delicious. Anyways, nothing fancy but we did have the fixin's. Turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, homemade bread, gravy, corn casserole, deviled eggs mmmm it was so good! And to top it all off, we had desserts!! (Not all desserts are shown) We had a yummy Reese's ice cream dessert, pies, pumpkin strudel, cranberry strudel. Then we celebrated Ab's Birthday and M was entertained with the box that her gift came it. After all that we got to sit down and watch the BIG GAME! And I'm sure we all know who the WINNERS were!!! GO TIGERS!

Now I am going to have a little GUESS WHAT THIS PHOTO IS game.
Study this picture real hard, and let me know what you think it is.

Happy Thanksgiving

I'm a little behind, I know, but I did want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving. Our Thanksgiving meals are not until tonight and tomorrow, so our Thanksgiving was spent decorating the Christmas trees and we did have P's mom and dad and grandma up for supper. I am a little nervous, this will be the first year I've ever "hosted" Thanksgiving - that means first time I've had to have enough table seating for 18 - first time to bake a turkey - oh my oh my! Anyone have any pointers?
Well I am thankful to have such a loving and close family, cause even if we do have to order pizza, their gonna love me anyways!
Along with my family's thanksgiving meal we have THE BIG GAME!!! For those of you who don't know MU vs KU. Well there's going to be a rivalry at our house. My cousins are attending KU and well most of the rest of us are MU fans. GO TIGERS!!! So no playing football in the snow and cold, we'll just stay inside and watch!
On a different note, I'd like to say to my blogger friends I am so thankful to have such wonderful people like you in my family's life! Each one of you hold a special place in our hearts - even those of you who read and don't comment! :) Yes Carol that means you! :) I have the most WONDERFUL friends a person could ever need. Thank you to all of you!

HEROS

I look at my husband and I see the man that swept me off my feet, I see the wonderful father he is to our children, and I see the love he has for God, family, and friends. I see P. But he is so much more...he is a hero. A couple weeks ago my husband was selected out of several Northwest Missouri Law Enforcement and First Responders to receive a Life Saving Award. Many of you know that last Dec a couple of children had fallen through the ice into a pond near our home. P was the first responder on the scene and saved a little boy that day. Unfortunately the other child was found a couple hours later and did not make it. My husband was devastated, I can remember the look in his eyes...he almost felt as if he had failed. We and several others knew he was taking it hard, and we helped him through it. HE WAS A HERO! Last night he was recognized as that hero! P and I and several officers and firefighters from Cameron attended a banquet to recognize law enforcement officers and first responders who have went above and beyond the call of duty. The little boy was there and thanked P for saving him, and he also thanked the crowd for praying for him and his recovery. P was glowing! I could see last night that P finally understood, he did do his job, and he was a hero. And the neatest thing about this night of valor, was that P was not the only hero out there that was recognized. Andy was recognized for his call of duty above and beyond as well. I am so proud to know these men that are willing to step up to help others before thinking about themselves first. We are PROUD of you!


This is P with his Fire Chiefs and the little boy he saved.

Andy and P with their awards.

I'M IT!

Ok - so now I am considered the tagee I guess, and here you go. I really didn't know what to share, but here are 10 things I am sure NONE of you knew about me!

#1 I've lived in Cameron my entire life (except for the one year of college dorm life). I haven't ever measured the distance, but I'm sure I haven't lived over 15 miles from the house I grew up in.

#2 I've worked for the same company since I was 16! I have went from pe-on to "Office Goddess"! I love State Farm - I couldn't go anywhere else! Been here 14 years and plan to stay another!

#3 I have a bachelors degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from Missouri Western State University. I always dreamed of being an actuary, but didn't get it done.

#4 My favorite food in the world is Chocolate Covered Raisins - and yes Lila - I agree that if heaven is truly made of what we love here on earth - then there will be a chocolate covered raisin fountain.

#5 Anymore, I don't open myself up to really close friendships -- the reason is cause all of you MOVE away just when I can't live without ya! Trisha, Tracy, Marianne, Kara, Rhonda, Cindy - I would love for ANY of you to move back!
And Kim, Grace, Lila, Michele - I don't want ANY of you to move away, EVER! :>)

#6 I hate to admit this one, but I'm a Stephanie Plum adict. Every year when the new one comes out, I just can't WAIT to read it. This series is written by Janet Evanovich - thank you to Sheryl B for getting me hooked.

#7 I strive to be like my dad, but I can't even compare. I would love to grow older - no offense dad - with wrinkles that define my smile! No - I have dark circles and those worry lines between my eyes - like I have just ate a sour pickle. Any of you who know my dad understand those smiling wrinkles!

#8 I think I've had 4 concussions all BEFORE I turned 16. So any of you who ask me about my childhood, I really don't know. My mom usually fills in all the blanks for me.

#9 I remember the beginning of my Senior year in High School - declaring that I would go directly to college, never look back at Cameron, forget having a boyfriend, never have kids, be successfull, yada yada yada. Well one year later I was back home and MARRIED and NOW I'm still here in Cameron with 3 kids! God had his own plan for me!

#10 My favorite Holiday is Christmas! I love to decorate the house, make cookies with my dad and kids, give gifts, go sledding, drink hot cocoa, celebrate the birth of Jesus, you name it, I think it's GREAT. In fact, I started decorating last weekend. :>)

Generation to Generation

This weekend was a big weekend for all the deer hunters of Missouri. I remember as a kid when deer season came, my brother and sister and I were not allowed to play in the field or the timber, in fear that someone might accidentally shoot us. We never had any AVID deer hunters in our family. My uncle might get one every now and then, but I don't think he "showed it off" per say, unless it was a "BIG ONE". The opposite side of that spectrum is that P was RAISED a deer hunter. I even think he would skip school to go deer hunting. Now, I will not let my son do that FOR SURE, but P has been able to pass down the sport to G. They went out this weekend and as you can see, G was so proud of his dad, and those two were able to spend some time with each other. As I sat back and thought about this, I thought: P and I come from two different backgrounds, (I mean REALLY different) but the one thing that we have in common, is that our families taught us our spiritual beliefs. God brought us together, God has a plan for us, and we know that God will take care of us through EVERYTHING. P and I have had ROUGH times and I mean ROUGH, but it makes us stronger, and it makes our relationship with our Lord so much stronger. My point is that our kids see that, and we are passing this trust and belief down to our children, and it comes from the BOTH of us. So as I share these photos, which some of you think is disgusting, I know, I've been there, you eventually get over it - remember we all have things that we pass from generation to generation and this is one of ours.

Is it going to be Summer yet?

Yesterday, M asked me if we could open the pool cause she would really like to go swimming. Well M it's winter and we can't do that cause it's FREEZING outside. No it's not, she proceeds to argue. The sun is shinning and I'm warm. And then she says I really only want to sit on the side and soak up the sun. I try not to laugh, because it hurts her feelings, but she is so darn funny! I tried to bargain with her that she was more than welcome to go outside and lay in the sun, but she could not wear just the swim suit. As many of you know M has wore a swimsuit 24/7 for a couple years now and I was hoping that she had grown out of that stage since starting kindergarten, but NO! She was back in her swimsuit last night just like the years before. My only saving grace this morning, was that this summer when we visited with her teacher, she told her she could not wear her swimsuit to school. Whew! Thank you Mrs. J for that comment - it stuck in her head! But I'm thinkin' it will be back on as soon as she gets home!

I know it's only November, and we have a long winter ahead of us, but I thought I would post a few photos just to let us all feel a little warmer! AHH can't you just feel the warmth?

Are we supposed to burn after dark?

That was the question that came up at about an hour after sun down. Oh well, it was innocent fun and besides we had a fireman and a trooper on scene, right? But for some reason they each had an escape plot planned just in case. I guess you can never really trust those that are supposed to defend and protect!
Thank you Steve & Grace for hosting such a wonderful burning - we had a GREAT time!


P "the fireman on scene" & M "Could you make that hot dog just right for me Daddy?"



Lila keeping Ava warm! She was so cute and cudly!




Sticky Grace - Can I have another SMORE!!!



T & Lu - "Don't flash that at me!"

We had a great time, thanks again Steve & Grace, we had a great time!

Beautifully & Wonderfully Made

Wow! As many of you know I teach 10th - 12th Grade girls at our Church. I LOVE these girls. They are truly postive girls who love God, family, and friends. Not to metion their babysitting skills! ;>) These girls made it their mission to reach out to not only Freshman of our church, but the entire school. They each personally invited girls to attend a day of pampering and dress up. They were then served by men of our church at a Banquet. I was a little stressed, but the volunteers were wonderful and made it so easy!! Thank you to all of you!!! I cannot express enough how proud I am to know each and every one of these girls, and how blessed I am to have them in my life. Here are a few pictures - Borrowed from M :)!

An Army Dude, a Snow Princess, & Dorothy

What do you get when you mix an Army Dude, a Snow Princess & Dorothy? A whole lot of Halloween Fun!!! The kids got dressed up last night to attend the Fall Festival at Church. They had a blast! Matti is still terrified of ANYONE in a costume that she is unable to recognize. Cubbie Bear, Clowns, and Fire Pup to name a few! But she still had a good time! And for some reason she was not at all bothered by "Pumpkin Head"; maybe that cause that's how she always views him!!! :)