February Formal Dinner

I love the kids in our youth group! They continue to show me, time after time, how amazing they are! We have been blessed with a fabulous group of hard-working young people.

Last night's fundraiser dinner is a perfect example. My husband came up with a spur-of-the-moment idea in January to have a dinner (served by the youth) to help them raise money for summer camp. (Believe me, they need the money; we heard how much more camp is going to cost this summer = yikes!)

So, we crafted this idea. The kids would dress in nice clothes and become the waiters in our "candle-light" restaurant. Hubby served as chef, and made a delicious meal of chicken parm, Italian potatoes, herb spaghetti, plus salads and cheesecake. I dubbed it the "February Formal", so it wouldn't be too "couple-y", and the kids really enjoyed getting dressed up.

We had a terrific turn-out! We are so thankful to all the adults of the church who came out to support the kids. Certainly more than we expected. And such a great response -- several people asked if we could do this again soon! :) I think we will, but we need time to recuperate before trying it again.

The best part of the evening, though, was watching the kids serve. They were sweet, attentive, prompt, and just generally showed the Christ-like attributes we try to teach them in church.

We are so blessed to know these kids, and to be part of their lives.

To top it all off, we ended the evening in the sanctuary at the Ash Wednesday Service. Great to see all the kiddos in church being serious, as well as serving others at the dinner. (Proud!)

Thanksgiving

What a wonderful Thanksgiving this has been! First, Dad got to come visit. Then, we spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home. And then, Saturday.

Saturday was a great day. The kids' little cousin got to spend the night on Friday evening, and they got to spend the day Saturday running around together. Then, lunch on Saturday became our big family Thanksgiving celebration! All of my husband's family came for lunch. We made brisket, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, and stuffing. Everyone else brought sides and dessert. The meal was fantastic, and it was so fun to share our new home with the family!

After the meal, we cleared off the dining room table and played Apples to Apples. (This is a fabulous game that you simply must try! Easy enough for young kids, but hysterical when played with sisters-in-law!) Later, we moved the game to my father-in-law's house to "supervise" the kids.

All the grandkids went down to PaPa's house to decorate his tree and hang up their ornament wreaths. This has become a yearly tradition, and the kids have so much fun. The wreaths are a tradition that my mother-in-law began with her children: each year, a new ornament is added to each child's wreath. My father-in-law has continued the tradition with his grandkids, adding new ornaments to their wreaths every year. And they get to pick the ornaments (fun). The funniest part is that PaPa always leaves the tree decorated in whatever way the kids make it. Here is this year's effort:

In the evening, just as everything was settling down and everyone was departing for their own homes, my daughter's friends began arriving for a sleepover. (I know, what was I thinking, right?) My son fled to PaPa's house for the night, smart boy. The girls had a great time! This is the first sleepover my daughter has ever hosted -- we'd never had the space before! She had a great time, and her friends had a great time, and I had a great time too! Imagine my surprise at being asked to participate in a game of Apples to Apples with the girls! :) My poor husband hid in our bedroom the whole night.

All in all, it was a great Thanksgiving. A memorable holiday, to say the least!

Prepping for Christmas? Try reading some of the great Christmas books by Richard Paul Evans!

The Relatives Came

My dad and his wife spent the weekend at our house! They arrived on Friday evening, and left this morning just after breakfast.

It was a great weekend! We ate together, laughed together, walked together, played games together, and just generally enjoyed each other's company.

We bought a new game, Disney Apples to Apples, which we played several times throughout the weekend. It was a great way to spend time together and laugh and laugh and laugh. We discovered that "bugs" are "icky" but not as bad as "dirty dishes"! And that Snow White is beautiful, but not as beautiful as Sleeping Beauty! :)

I had to leave Saturday afternoon to take my library certification exam, so my husband and the kids were left to entertain the company. They decided to load up on the Gator and explore the pasture and surrounding countryside. I'm glad the weather was warm enough for this expedition! It was also warm enough all weekend for us to walk every evening!

I am so blessed to have a husband who is a good cook -- and who doesn't mind cooking for a "large" crowd. We ate well! Saturday evening, we had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving! We enjoyed a feast of ham, scalloped pototoes, corn, and pumpkin pie. Mmm-mmm! Sunday evening, we had an Oklahoma dinner of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, and pumpkin roll!

On Sunday morning, I pursuaded Dad to sing with me in church. That was probably my highlight of the weekend! It was a great moment, one I will not soon forget. I'm so glad he agreed!

So, the house will be empty when we come home after school today. Although it will be nice to have a quiet house, I think it will seem empty without them. But I think we successfully encouraged them to stop over on their way home after Thanksgiving!

My Father is Coming!

There's a little chant repeating in my head: "My father is coming, my father is coming!"

I'm so excited! My father is coming for a long weekend. He and his wife will be here in just a few hours. I am having trouble containing myself.

We cleaned the house yesterday in anticipation of their visit. The kids were great help, even helping clean the bathroom!

We also baked cookies, and shopped for groceries (including an early Thanksgiving of sorts with ham as the main dish).

Now all that's left is the waiting. Hope I can make it until 6:00 tonight!

My father is coming!!

Here are the kiddos raking leaves! They had a great time getting ready for Grandpa's visit!!








A great book about holidays and what it means to be a family: Family Dinner by Jane Cutler.

Church Camp

Had a great weekend with the kiddos. Nine of them went to mid-winter this weekend. That's nine 1st-4th graders. 6 boys, 3 girls. 5 3rd grade, 2 2nd grade, 1 1st & 1 4th.

It wasn't that cold, but it rained most of the day Saturday. Despite the rain, we had a fabulous time! They learned a lot, especially seeing what camp was like (most of them had never been to camp, let alone church camp). The girls got to meet a lot of new faces, and the boys -- well, everyone was just glad to see boys! There were lots of girls at camp. :)

The food was awesome, and we ate and ate and ate!! The best was the last breakfast -- homemade cinnamin rolls plus all the leftovers! So I had cinnamin roll + banana + turkey sandwich + carrot sticks + cake. :) Lots of snacks all the time, had "tea-time", and even had REAL hot chocolate! Mmmmmm!!

We had a safe trip in the church van, and all the worried moms (and DADS) were glad to see the kids. The kids weren't ready to come home.

And mine, especially, were NOT ready to go to school today. My son said, "I thought it was Sunday. What happened to church day?" Cute.

Recommended Reading:
The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien