Nov 19-Good eats

Yesterday started a perfectly lovely promotion from Starbucks....BOGO holiday drinks from 2-5. So after dropping off our recycle (which was much more of a task that it would have been in Bartlett. We have to separate all of the things ourselves and we had 12 garbage bags full of recyclables!!), I rewarded my wonderful helpers w/ peppermint mochas! I bought a venti hot peppermint mocha...
and got a peppermint frappacino free!

Lovely! The promo goes on all wknd long, so I'm sure it won't be the last time we make a run to Starbucks!

Then last evening, I got some gluten-free goodies I'd ordered. (According to a wonderful naturopath I've been seeing, my body doesn't react well to grains. This is not new news to me, I suspected as much. I'm just glad to have someone run tests so I know for sure!)

The flour came just in time because I had planned to have chicken and dumplings for dinner and wasn't sure how I was going to swing that if I'm supposed to be avioding wheat. (Which actually means, I *wasn't* going to avoid wheat on this meal! :-) That would just be chicken soup!)

So the flour came just in time! I opened the bag....

Looks like real flour...I say real flour, I mean wheat flour.

And the chicken and dumplings looks like "real" C&D! The good news was that they tasted good, too! Score! The dumplings were a little dough-y, but that happened all the time even w/ wheat flour. I chalk that one up to cook error, not flour error. Everyone enjoyed them and no one said anything like "WHAT are the dumplings made of ??!!"

I'm thankful for cooler weather that allows for the making of yummy winter goodies like chicken and dumplings!!

Nov 18-coupons and deals...God provides!

Come on, now you HAD to know in the midst of posts of thanksgiving there would be at least one post that involved coupons and deals. I am so thankful for how God provides that way. I guess it's the sign of the season of life that I'm in, but I count couponing/deals as my hobby. Pathetic? Maybe...I think not! Just call it part of my life as a homemaker, which is by the way the BEST job in the world!!

I am also so very, very thankful for the job that the Lord has provided for Michael. We are often greatly blessed by "projects" that he brings home, even when it's just old crackers and cereal that we give the the animals.

This month we set a goal as a family that we would just pay cash for things (except gas) and that we would eat out of our pantry and freezer and not eat out unless it was after football games (which happens to be quite often this month, so don't feel too sorry for us!) I was trying to make it each week just buying fresh stuff, like milk, bread and (gasp!) eggs and fresh produce and then make due with meals from what we have at home.** I have to take a moment and be thankful for all the eggs that our girls have given us in the last months. They are all molting (which means their feathers are falling out and they don't lay eggs) AT THE SAME TIME, so we've been eggless for about 3 weeks now. I must say, you just CAN'T get store bought eggs of any type that are as good as "home grown"! I'm thinking it'll be cheaper just to buy more hens than to keep buying eggs. We'll see how that goes!**

So, I'm thankful for boys who have good attitudes about what we eat even when it's not tacos every night. Or even when it's not something they would even choose to eat. Jeremy especially is so faithful to get a smile on his face and say "OK, mom. That's great!" So, thanks, Jeremy!!!

All that to say, I was interested to see how God was going to provide even the basics for us this month. And of course, he's come through! Three weeks ago, I got milk marked down to $1.50 a gallon. I picked up 5 gallons. Just earlier this week that milk and bread from the freezer ran out and look what God provided in the last three days at the store/from Michael's work...

A total of two gallons of organic milk, a 1/2 gallon of lactose free milk, a 1/2 gallon of soy milk (which we don't drink, but it was free so I just use it in cooking), two bottles of Loreal nail polish, a Loreal lip gloss, two loaves of bread and a bag of vegetarian vegetable soup. We also had a bag of chicken tortilla soup at lunch today, so it counts, it just didn't make it to the picture. I paid a total of $2.50 for all of this!!! Michael brought home the soups and the organic milk, I had a coupon to get the soy milk free, got the l-free milk free b/c I found one on the cooler that was out of date (gotta love HEB!!), the bread was buy the Nature's Own get the HEB free (can I say it again.....gotta love HEB!!) and I used coupons and sales at CVS to get the hair color and lip gloss/nail polish for only $1.04. And YES, I do consider hair color a basic necessity! Right up there with milk, bread and produce! The nail polish will be used at "Toes R Us" , an exclusive mani/pedi spa that is operated by Aunt Jennie when Lauren and Katie are around. Here's a shout out to my two best clients!! Lauren and Katie, I have an appointment for you NEXT WEEK! :-)

And speaking of deals...another thing I'm thankful for is coming up soon. Black Friday shopping w/ my sis! It ranks right up there with my favorite days of the year and I'm nearly giddy with excitement about getting to shop with her this year!! Can't wait, can't wait!! I seriously doubt that there will be pictures of the loot...it is Christmas you know. But I can guarantee there will be a cheap watch in the mix...it is the fast track to the short line at Kohl's! And the weather forecast for next Friday is a low of 40 high of 60....perfecto!!

"My God shall supply ALL your needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus our Lord" Philippians 4:19 It's so true and I'm so thankful!!

Nov 17-The sights and sounds of the season

I do love fall!! It's the beginning to my favorite time of the whole year! I just adore the holiday seasons and there are so many sights and sounds associated with them. Regardless of the fact that most store skipped right from Halloween to Christmas, I still love seeing the decorations and hearing the music. We have been listening on our TV to Christmas music for a number of days. Love it! I'm not putting up Christmas decorations yet, but I just love the sounds of the holidays. We have a Thanksgiving CD that we've played off and on, especially in the car. It's hymns of Thanksgiving....they never get old!

Here's another fun sight of Thanksgiving...

Our "12th dog" sporting his jersey and giving thanks for the big Aggie wins! :-) (And, truthfully, also for the big Longhorn losses!!)

Here's some shots of the fall decor around the house. If it hadn't been for Tony and Gin-gin's visit, this stuff..um I mean decor....would still be sitting peacefully in the garage. So, thanks to T &G-g for coming. I just love looking at all the beautiful colors. I don't see it out my window, so it's nice to see it in the house at least.

Jeffrey put this one together all by himself. Nice job, Jeffrey.

I'm thankful for the years we spent in a climate where it gets really nice and cool in the fall and the leaves really do turn lovely colors. Fun memories!

I'm thankful to live back in Texas, even if the fall weather isn't as delicious as places farther north. Texas is Texas all year round....I'll take it! :-) And it's NOT 100 degrees....for that we ALL give thanks!!

And with a very full heart, I give thanks for the year round sounds of my home...

of boys giggling, lots of giggling, of Jonathan and Jeremy calling out Latin words to each other, of piano songs being plunked out on the piano, of band music coming from the back room, of Jackson howling at the band music coming from the back room, of hearing Jeffrey and Josiah playing and singing in the shower together, of hearing Jonathan and Jeremy talking football to each other, of Jeffrey talking in his wierd "silly voice", of the boys telling each other "I love you", of the boys telling me "I love you", of hearing the boys pray, of hearing the boys encourage each other...there are so many. The noise that fills our house is something I'm so very thankful for. I know that one day, all too soon, these sounds won't echo at the same volume and that makes me very sad! So, today, I'm thankful, so very thankful for those special sounds!!

Nov 16-It takes US afar.....

Well, so much for my blog-a-day deal...turns out that when we leave at 2:00 on Friday afternoon and don't get back home until 5:00 on Sunday afternoon, that not much blogging happens! Not much of anything happens except football and driving...and more driving and a little more driving. So, today, my thanksgiving shout out goes to Ole Faithful...

I'm seriously sooooo thankful and grateful for the reliability of our van. Sure her driver's side sliding door needs a little boost every now and then, but otherwise she's the picture of faithfulness! Not only has she taken us back and forth to many states, this fall she's taken us a lot of miles courtesy of FEAST Patriot football (and Classical Conversations, and Living Water Christian Fellowship, etc, etc, etc,)! I can't tell you how very thankful I am to not even give a second thought to getting in the car and going somewhere. Several times during this past week I've recounted to different people some of the cars that I had in high school that would randomly die...you never quite knew where or when. Not fun! Not fun as a high schooler in Bryan, TX....much LESS as a boy-toting mom who has places to be in San Antonio! So, thankfully this doesn't happen AT ALL, EVER with our van! Thank you, Lord!!

I'm also thankful for the Patriot's winning their games! So far, they've made it to the second round of playoffs! A win this weekend sends them to the championship game. Stay tuned for that!

I'm also incredibly thankful for mom and dad living in Bryan and being so willing to let us come and crash at their house (which is closer to the games over the last several weeks than our house in Castroville) and for their coming to the games to cheer on their grandsons!

11/12: They came from afar....

We were so thrilled a couple of weeks ago when Tony and Gin-gin called on Tuesday and asked if they could come for a visit on Friday! Of course we gave a hearty and resounding "YES!!!" So, off they flew from sunny Southern California to well, sunny Southern Texas. Not a bad tradeoff! And actually the weather while they were here was a lot like So. California's weather is year round. Cool in the evenings very pleasant in the daytime. NOT like So. Texas weather is mostly (even though we don't tell them that because we really want them to move here! We keep weather news happy! :-) ) Over the short, 36ish hour, visit, T&G got to see everyone play football and even got in a trip downtown to Hemisfair park. We just so love being around them and wish it could happen so much more than it does. California is just so stinkin' far away!! But we are thankful for airplanes and Southwest Airlines, especially!!

This is after Jeffrey's final game. He scored a touchdown in this game, and his team scored almost as many points in this game than in all their other games put together! (I'll let your mind formulate it's own opinions about the strength of his team from that fact!)

Jeffrey being the statue from Hemisfair park.

Josiah, with his typical dirty, bare feet, playing at FEAST before J&Js game.

J&J after their game, which they won. Jeremy scored a touchdown in this game. Unfortunately, Tony had just gone to the car to get a sweater for Gin when it happened. Gotta work on that timing a little!

Jeffrey before his game!

Thanks again, Tony and Gin for making the trip out! We had sooooo much fun, even for a short time!So, today I'm so very thankful for family that we love (and LIKE!) both near and far!

Days of Thanksgiving - 11/11

I thought about waiting until tomorrow to do a new blog post, just to make it an even TWO months since my last post...but decided against it. To say that this fall has been busy would just be an excuse, everyone's busy. Let's just say that blogging has fallen to the bottom of the barrel, unfortunately along with exercise, meal planning, pleasure reading and early dinners. But alas, there is a light at the end of the tunnel....actually it's more like the early dark at the end of the day. Fall is rapidly coming to a close along with Patriot football and Semester 1 of Classical Conversations...the two big time drains this fall. So, as we head into November, I'm going to copy a great idea and post one thing each day to be thankful for in my life. I thought about "A new blog post" as being #1...but there's more to be thankful for. I'm already 11 days behind, so I need to get with it!

I think hands down one of the things that I'm most thankful for this week is...

an early sunrise and early sunset. I remember in years gone by that the "fall backward" was my least favorite of the time changes because you can't tell a 1 or 2 year old "Honey, look at the clock, it's 5:30 NOT 6:30". But now, all my boys can tell time!! And the sun comes up at about 6:15 now, so we are all up and going by 6:30 or 7:00. Admittedly, it's easier to "rise early while it is still dark to provide food for her household" Prov. 31:15 when the sun rises at 7:45. However, (big confession alert!) I almost never did. So, I'm so thankful to get up with the sun and still have a lot of morning ahead of me! Since we still have to be leaving to do things at FEAST by 2 or 3 most days of the week, the extra time in the morning is really wonderful. Equally wonderful is the fact that everyone is wiped out and eager for bed at 8:00 at night!! Since it's dark earlier, football has now been moved from 4-6, so dinner is even earlier!! Horray for standard time!!!

"It is good to give thanks to the Lord and sing praises to Your name, O Most High. I will declare the lovingkindness of the Lord in the morning and His faithfulness by night"! Ps. 92:1-2

Sunday night football-middle school

Yeah! I found some middle school pictures! The Patriots lost their first game, but won their second. Jeffrey is #12. Here he is running in his first game. He plays QB for the B team.
He's running in this one too. He's got the football, the fourth player from the left. EDIT:: The football critics sitting next to me (alias J&J) told me that there is NO WAY Jeffrey is on offense because the down field blocking is non-existent. "Upon further review, the ruling on the field" is that they are right. Jeffrey is playing defense on this play.

At the first game, he was selected to go out for the flip at the beginning of the game. What you can't see is the face of the ref reading the flip. It was Michael! Due to a miscommunication, the refs didn't show, so Michael and a dad from the other team agreed to ref so the game wouldn't have to be forfeited. What a guy!!

Here's the "tunnel" at the end of the game. All the players get to run through. It's always fun...win or lose.

Here are the teams praying after the game. Jeffrey is #12.

Here's the team running through the banner. Jeffrey is SURE that he is the one on the far left with long white socks. (He recognized his cleats....hmmmm I guess I'll take his word for it!)

Both the middle school and high school team photographers have put their photos up on a shutterfly website which makes it very nice and easy for those of us with a lame camera (or having a very nice conversation on the sidelines!) to have access to great photos. Yippee! Good clear shots! Makes for nice blogs!