Thanksgiving Break

We made it to break...it took some motivation and reminding ourselves that we were so close to seeing family and hanging out with friends to keep us going BUT HERE WE ARE. I love that I was able to run with my girls this morning, come home and take a looooonnnngggg hot shower (of which it took me the whole 20 minutes to get warm) and then actually sit down and eat breakfast....instead of taking it with me to school and eating it as we scatter kids to classes and I answer a plethora of questions for students about hw or art projects due that day :).

We also got out the Christmas decor yesterday. Since we aren't going to be home from Tues-Sunday we thought this weekend would be perfect. Its always fun to see our kids "remember" our decor and talk about it importance and traditions we have. We also got lights on the house and  some presents under the tree.

Later on today we are taking family pictures, which will hopefully lead to a great christmas card...we are also meeting up with friends for lunch and packing to go stay with Aunt Micah and Uncle Chris for a few days in Arkansas.

The kids all had a great last week in school. Baby Boy had a thanksgiving feast where we he recited  a poem about the pilgrims with cute movements and ate turkey roll ups while dressed like a pilgrim. He also DARTED into our room one night and said "I had a bad dream"...I said "go snuggle with sister then"...he immediately responded with "sister was the bad dream"!!!!! Baby Boy also had a field trip to the zoo. He clung to his best friend Collins, a sweet little girl, and her parents. He talked about their magic car and all the animals for the rest of the weekend. I am so blessed to work at such a close knit school too....you see, neither Adam or I could go on this field trip and by the end of the day I had 4 moms texting me pictures and I knew everything that little boy did...including PETTING A SNAKE!!!

Big Girl also had a thanksgiving feast where she sang 5 songs and recited a thanksgiving prayer from the book of Psalms. We sent turkey roll ups for that party but they never made it out of the fridge...oh well, that is all the kids have wanted for meals since Friday..fine with me..they are super healthy as I used greek yogurt cream cheese, turkey and light mozzarella cheese on a whole wheat tortilla!!!

Big Man had a field trip as well to the "Nutcrapper"...as our family adoringly calls it. He liked the part with the wolf but other than that he wasn't impressed..I can't blame the guy, unless you have studied it or are a die hard fan it doesn't appeal to most 11 year old boys :). He also got to visit with some pastors from Uganda and is now stuck on helping people there and watching the Samaritan purse refugees...thus our packing of 5 shoeboxes on Saturday to send off to Operation Christmas Child.

We took this picture after Auburn beat A&M....we are in the middle of Aggies here and we have to celebrate as they torture us all year long!! Yes, we did wear all orange and blue to church.....it was very mild though...pssshh

I am so proud of my students this semester. I took a picture of the upstairs display  cabinet right before I unloaded it to haul a bunch of pieces off to a competition. They are so talented!

I made lamb gyros one night for the family and to make mine lighter I did half lamb, half tilapia ...a whole grain wrap instead of pita and lots of spinach with tzatiki sauce.

Leftover became a salad the next day for lunch!

My 9th graders will never be the same. We just finished two paintings..one using only palette knives and painting outdoor scenes, another using watercolor to paint self portraits. Then we watched Bob Ross....they WERE amazed and glued. We are now planning a Bob Ross night...that should be hilarious!

This was big girl's contribution to her classes discovery list about Thanksgiving...yup, that girl has some redneck blood in her veins!

My favorite "stoup"...stew.soup. I bake butternut squash and carrots. Blend them with ginger and hot and sour broth and add light sour cream. A huge bowl is right around 150 calories and its so stinking good!! Rice cakes dipped in as chips is also really good!

We now have two kiddos who require breathing treatments....it takes about 10-15 minutes every morning and night but boy does it break up a cough and keeps that cold from turning into bronchitis every time!!!
We will do anything to stay healthy of our trip to Uncle Chris and Aunt Micah over the break!!

Thinking out Loud

Friday night was our annual action at our school. Daddy raised 3800 with his "Buddy the Elf experience"!!! We are so proud of him!

He was so stinking hilarious..I was crying and sweating from laughing so hard.

Today has been a whirlwind Saturday and not because we had our usual 5000 things to do..in fact Goober was the only one who had anywhere to be and that was a birthday party at 2. However, my day began with a headache and a 5 o'clock run....that everyone but one other girl bailed on me for. SOO, we changed plans last minute to run in a higher traffic/more light area and ended up getting in 5 miles before the sun ever came up.

From there, I went straight to a yardsale that a friend of mine had told me about. Her aunt had recently died and they found that she had TONS of clothes, shoes and jewelry that all had price tags on it still! So, for $47 bucks total I got 5 dresses, 17 tops, jackets and skirts, bras, tights, 5 sets of jewelry, 4 scarves, a cute wooden sign and a plate rack..it was crazy. Many people left with boxes full of clothes...I am always weird about sizes though and I tend to over think everything. I tried on everything when I got home and out of everything only found 3 things that didn't fit that well that I am going to give to a friend who is similar in size. Good thing the lady only wore size 7-8 shoes or I would have come home with a lot more. I dug through clothes for close to an hour there, took just as long to resort my choices and pay and then I had a hair appt at 8.....all with a headache, and popping advil .....I was in a total cloud!

From there we have watched a lot of football, taken naps, watched old videos that the kids found on the iPad while trying to be sneaky and download games. We are all showered and warm finally and are cuddled on the couch to watch a masterchef junior before bedtime.

Highlights from our week have been:

1-no one is sick, well Baby Boy has a very dry cough but everyone went to school all 5 days
2-Baby Boy decided to donate his "veggie straws" to the can food drive at school. He said " I donated my vegetables"..hehe
3-Goober played his last baseball game of the season and they won....he even got in a double!
4-Ribbit had two art pieces chosen for a local competition....this art teacher momma may have shed a tear or two. It was a blind competition so the judge had no clue they were picking two pieces from the same student ;). She is so excited.

Getting out all the crazies before school starts!

Mom's extra closet comes in handy on sick days!

Our little artist made a countdown until we go to Arkansas

He was so sad that I sent him cheesy veggie straws...until he tasted one :)

Bring Bring...she was answering her sandwich phone :)

One of my 9th grade student designed a henna tattoo for my  hands that went through the life of Christ..its beautiful...I still have it!

Interview with Big Man

It's Big Man, also known as Baby Boy's turn to make his debut. Keep in mind he is 3 and quite the character. He also coughed, sneezed, snorted and climbed on me the whole time I was asking him questions.

1. Describe yourself in one sentence.
"Describe yourself in one sentence, thats all I know, one sentence." (but tell mommy good things about you) "I did not die".

2. What is your best quality?
"Nofing" (There is nothing good about you?) "No". (Are you sure about that, Think about who Baby Boy really is)." I am bad "(cough cough) "boom, tackle the football player".

3. What is your favorite thing about school and why?
"Birdies, because can I tell you something? My favorite thing is when I see the birdies and they fly in a V.  V is for Violin, va va violin.

4. What is something that God is currently teaching you?
"Birdies, cough cough, Can I tell you something? We was going to go to the zoo but he couldn't.
(How is God teaching you that?) "He say No".

5. What is your favorite song?
Looonnnnggg thought with finger raised to his chin. Singing "W X Y Z, W X Y Z"

6. What is your favorite hobby?
"Playground"  (Why?) " Because when I play on the playground....um, Mommy I am firsty (thirsty).

7. What are your favorite meals?
Breakfast-"Sandwich, Hot Dogs"
Lunch-"Birdies" (No), "I tell ya birdies"
Dinner-"I don't know, eh the kind of sandwich that taste awesome".

8. What is the craziest thing we have ever done as a family?
"I don't know...Playground time? Daddy takes us after school".

9. What is your favorite family of our family?
"Oh! Probably going to the zoo. We did that. I think so."

10. What does adoption mean?
"Check out?" (Were you adopted?) "Uh huh" (How?) " In my grandmas tummy".

11. What do you want others to know about your adoption?
"I don't know, that all I know"

12. Who has had the biggest impact on your life?
"God" (Why?) "Because when he made our house, he build it big"

13. What is your favorite TV show?
"The little one that has a birdie, when he rolls down with a lady bug, saying mommy mommy".

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
"Uh, Spiderman, Batman, Ironman" (anything besides a superhero?) "Probably Eagle-Man....EEAAAGGLLLEEE-man, E is for Eagle, eh eh Eagle".

15. If you could eat dinner with anyone in the world who would it be?
"Uh, babysitters." (Why?) "Because they are so awesome, they name sound like babies".

16. Any closing thoughts? 
"Uh, going in the shower, hahahahahaha, I'm just
kidding".

October Review

We have had a great October and today was pretty fantastic as we all got an extra hour of sleep last night.

Some memories from the past month are...

Baby Boy yelling " I LOVE YOU TOO" to us as we leave, even if we haven't said I love you yet, he automatically throws in the "too".

Baby Boy and Ribbit blowing me kisses until I am completely out of sight as I drop them off for school every day. They also catch my kisses that I blow and slap them on their head.

Goober coming in every Wednesday night to tell us about what he learned at church.

Stuffing 6 extra legs for Ribbit to wear for her Octopus costume...then watching her hobble down the street with a  sway so that she wouldn't get tangled up in them.

Listening to Ribbit read and sound out lots of words. Today during the sermon anytime he said "circle this word" she would write the word and then draw a big circle around it..she is getting so good at sounding words out and the best part is she loves to read now!!

Watching Ribbit raise her hands during worship..she may not know the song but her hands are lifted and she knows that we are worshipping the living God.

Both of my boys got Daniel stickers this month...Baby Boy for being reverent during chapel and my Big Man for being committed and taking notes in chapel without being told to. He has taken his new bible to school daily and I think its safe to say all of his teachers have been told about it 2-3 times.

A not so great parenting moment happened yesterday at a Halloween party. Big Man isn't used to seeing can beer and so he saw the can, saw the word BEER and thought it was Root Beer. I walked by a big group of guys, including Adam, watching TV and saw him drinking it and about came out of my skin. He said it didn't taste that bad....geesh.

All in all the kids have had a very busy month full of soccer and baseball games, going to watch our school's football game (including one time in the press box), attending birthday parties, jumping on the trampoline, riding scooters and playing with friends at parks.

Mom and Dad have been pretty productive this month too. Adam got all of the tile laid in the front foyer, almost all of the new cabinets sanded, the wainscoting up and some of the finishing trim up in the kitchen.

I was still able to get in 100 miles this month even with being sick for a week with the stomach bug and having to stay in on the treadmill at least 3x on rainy days. The treadmill runs go by much slower than running with my friends but at least I have it and I am able to do interval training on it which gets my heart rate up!!

Mrs. Octopus and Mr. Sharky..both of them loved the fact that it was raining on Reformation Day at school so that they could "live". We made Ribbit's costume out of tights that we stuffed. Baby Boy's costume is a sweatsuit from Target that I hot glued felt teeth, belly and fin on. He can wear it all winter!

Shaking his fin!

Doughnuts with Daddy really early at Cougar Pride Day at school.

Its hard to PR on the treadmill as every time I get back on from weights I have to work back up to my speed.

Up in the press box watching the football game and eating candy with his buds!

Back outside I got my time back down...however, this was a very slippery run in the rain...I slipped several times even with my trail running shoes on..I HAD TO GET IN AT LEAST ONE OUTDOOR RUN THAT WEEK THOUGH!

One of my favorite projects that our pre-grammar/grammar school art teacher does every year. Check out what this little man had to say. "Tiger's blood" is a snow cone flavor by the way :).

One of my favorite meals this month, pan seared Salmon in coconut oil .I added hot sauce to it and snow peas.

I will post Science Night and Halloween pictures later. Time for some Master Chef Jr. with the kids and then bed time..Monday's are always hard but add a 4:45 5 mile run on one end and a baseball game to the other and it becomes EXHAUSTING!!!