Happy Thanksgiving

I have only been away from home on Thanksgiving 2 other times. The first time I was in Sydney, Australia celebrating with my best friend, Abby. The second time Matt and I were in St.Louis and I was very pregnant with Emma Caroline. This was #3 and we are in Wichita Kansas celebrating with the Tappans. We may be in Kansas but we at least celebrated with Southern friends who make cornbread dressing. All jokes aside, we have been so blessed by our friendship with the Tappan family. God has always been faithful to provide us with good friends wherever we have lived and he has done that again with the Hugh and Beth. As Hugh prayed before we ate, God gave us new friends who have become family. The 3 little monkeys
A spread even my mama would have been proud of. There was so much food for only 9 people, we hardly put a dent in it.

New Haircut

Well, I have had it. I can't take it if one more person calls my little boy a girl. No matter how much blue clothing with trains, footballs, and animals I put on him, he is still called a she. So I did it and I didn't cry...... at least not at the salon. He looks cute, just so totally different. He aged before my eyes. OK, I need to stop typing before I start crying.

Great Big Turkey

So, I am rather proud of myself. I made these cookies for EC's Thanksgiving party and they turned out cute if I do say so myself. But if you ever decide to do this, buy your candy corn at Halloween. Because if you go looking for them the week of Thanksgiving you will be out of luck. Thanksfully, my kids had some left over and it was just enough. I also thought I would share a little song with you that I grew up hearing my mom sing. It is a family favorite:

There's a great big turkey on Grandpa's farm and he thinks he's very gay.
He can stretch his tail into a great big fan and strut around all day.
You can hear him gobble at the girls and boys
cause he thinks he's singing when he makes that noise.
He'll sing his tune another way
up on Thanksgiving Day.

Hot Apple Cider

A lady from my Bible Study brought a crockpot of cider one morning and I think I had 2 or 3 cups. It was wonderful. I LOVE cider but am always let down by the packets or store bought jugs of cider. This recipe is great. I actually half the recipe. Then after Matt and I drink a cup or 3 I pour the leftovers back into the apple juice jug and store in the fridge. Then all I have to do is warm it up a cup at a time in the microwave. Enjoy!!
1 gallon apple juice
2 cups pineapple juice
2 cups orange juice
6 Tbs lemon juice
7 whole cloves
2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup sugar
-Mix and simmer 20 minutes

Dragon Tales

So ever since Halloween, Knox has wanted to wear his Spiderman costume everyday. His "sissy" has about a dozen costumes to wear but unless he wants to be a princess he only has the one, Spiderman. I was telling this to a friend of mine and so she surprised me with this cute dragon costume for Knox. He wanted to put it on immediately. So what is up with that face, you ask? I have no idea. But he had the most pitiful look on his face the entire time he was wearing it. I kept asking if he wanted to take the costume off and he insisted, "NO". The next day he wanted to put it on again but this time no sad face. Who knows what goes through the mind of a 2 year old. Thanks, Julieanne, for the costume.

Oh, The Things They Say

So, I'm walking into Walmart this morning with Emma Caroline and Knox when we pass a place in the parking lot where someone had spilled an entire can of white paint. Emma Caroline saw it and loudly said, "Mommy, that is the biggest bird poop I have ever seen!" Oh my.

Another EC Update

I realized today that I never did post the final diagnosis on all of Emma Caroline's tests. After having CT scans, MRI, blood work and an upper GI she was diagnosed with Cyclical Vomiting Syndrome. I can't quite explain the range of emotions that went through me when I was told that. My first thought was "no duh". But that isn't nice to day to a doctor (right, Jonathan). I am, of course, so glad that it isn't something terrible. There are no tumors in the brain or tears in the stomach. But to go through all the pain, time and expense to find out that she just throws up from time to time is, well, a bit frustrating. But we got some new drugs and plan of attach for the next time it happens. If that doesn't help we will consider a daily medication. The best hope given is that this is not something rare and crazy. Our doctor treats other kids with this. Plus, she should grow out of it.

About the same time as all of these tests, EC had a new speech evaluation. That went really well. We have seen such improvement over the last year and she is doing really well in school. The speech therapist recommended 3 to 6 months of therapy just to "tweak a few things". But thinks that may be all she needs. We then had her parent teacher conference and it couldn't have gone better. All in all she is doing good and we are so happy to see her growing into such a sweet young lady. Thanks to everyone for your prayers and words of encouragement.

It's a boy!!!

For those of you that I have talked to about this baby, you will know that today was a shocking day for me. I have been so sure that this baby was a girl I even told people that I was going to have an ultrasound to confirm it was a girl. Imagine my surprise when we are told it is a boy. Matt actually spotted "it" before the lady told us. My first response was, "what"? I am thrilled to be having a boy, just surprised. Emma Caroline on the other hand was not so pleased. She has been saying since day 1 that she wanted it to be a girl. When I asked her if it would be OK if God gave us a boy and not a girl she said simply "no". But she enjoyed seeing the baby today and was easily appeased with the promise of going to Panera for lunch and having Sprite.
One of the coolest parts was getting to see the baby with the 3-D ultrasound. It was like looking right at him. That is the picture above. The ones below are the regular ultrasound. Sorry these aren't real clear but I don't have a scanner hooked up.
All in all the ultrasound went good. He looks to be healthy and growing as he should. Now the hard part starts...... deciding on a name.

Pumpkin Muffins

I got this recipe off the blog of a friend of mine here in Wichita. It looked too easy. My kids love muffins and EC keeps talking about pumpkin soup, pumpkin pie etc.... The problem is, Matt does not like pumpkin in any form or fashion so I thought this would be a great idea for us. The kids and I can eat the muffins and then I don't have tempting pumpkin pie sitting around my house calling out to me to eat it. So here is the recipe:
1 box yellow cake mix (or butter or whatever you feel crazy enough to try)
1 2/3 cups of Pumpkin Pie filling (NOT plain canned pumpkin)
-Mix the DRY cake mix and the PP filling together. The batter is thick, just keep stirring to get it all incorporated. Then fill muffin tins 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.
Makes about 18 muffins.
THAT'S IT!!
If you wanted to jazz them up even more, you could add nuts or a cream cheese frosting. The other great thing is that the can of Pumpkin Pie filling has enough to make this recipe twice. We will be having these again next week. Thanks again for the recipe, Sharon!!

Fall Family Festival

This past Sunday was our church's Fall Family Festival. There was a car show (for those reading who don't live in Wichita, rebuilding old cars is a big thing here), face painting, pony rides, a petting zoo, lots of inflatables, a hay ride, prairie surfing (another one I should explain but won't do it now), a chili competition, bonfire and smores. It was a lot of fun and the kids (I'm including Matt in that - see below) had a blast.
You can't see it but this is EC and Knox sitting on a pony. EC took a ride and Knox said he wanted to do it too. I doubted him so when EC got back we just sat him up there. He immediately started yelling "no Mommy, no". So we got a quick picture and moved on.
Here is Matt in an intense competition with 2 other men in our church. If you want a good laugh, click on the picture to enlarge it and take a good look at their faces.

Trick-or-Treat

Here are my 2 cuties dressed up for some Trick-or-Treating. I was thrilled that EC wanted to be Snow White again (one less costume to buy) and that a friend gave us the Spiderman costume for Knox. Am I cheap or what? Actually, Knox was not at all interested in his costume and a little freaked out about the mask when we first got it. So I put him in front of the full length mirror and helped him put it all on and then wondered if I would ever be able to get him to take it off. I thought he was going to try and eat dinner with that mask on. He LOVED it. Honestly, I don't even know how he knows who Spiderman is. I think little boys are just born knowing that stuff.It was a fun night. Probably my best Halloween as a mom yet. We went to a friends house and ate dinner together and then the Daddys to all the crazy kids out while the Mommys stayed at the house to hand out candy (sitting in comfy chairs, eating candy, and having uninterrupted conversation - it's a tough job but someone had to do it.). But I am glad to report that the kids had a great time, were polite to other trick-or-treaters and said thank you. I'm so proud.

Happy Birthday Matt

Yesterday was Matt's birthday. I don't think I took a single picture to document the day. I am really slacking on the picture taking lately. But anyway, I was leaving the house with the kids to go eat lunch with him and I looked down, on the garage floor, and saw this. It was so tiny I thought it was an earthworm. Then I poked it with a leaf and it raised it's head up and I could see it's little tongue hissing at me. No doubt this was a gift left to us by our cat. Thanks a lot, Aubie. I wasn't sure what to do (besides take a picture so I could post on my blog about it). Then I remembered it was my sweet husband's birthday and if there is one thing he HATES in this world it is snakes. So I grabbed the spade and wacked the little snakes head off. Happy Birthday, Honey!!!

I Love Fall

I just love Fall!!! Maybe it's the beautiful colors. Maybe it's the pumpkins. Maybe it's the food - soups and hot drinks. Or maybe I love Fall because it is the end of the God forsaken season called Summer. For whatever reason, I love Fall. So here is my post to toast Fall. The below picture is for my mom. This is what you see when you look out my kitchen window. While my mom was here she said, in a few weeks you will have a beautiful view. She was right and since she isn't here to see it I thought I would post a picture. Just think, if one season can be so beautiful, what will heaven be like? I can't wait to see it.Honestly, I have been a bit surprised at how cold it has already gotten. No snow YET but we had a freeze last night and tonight it is suppose to go into the 20's. So a few nights ago we had our first fire in the fireplace and a big pot of some scrumptious (EC's favorite adjective) chili.

Did I mention that I really like Fall???

God - Our Great Provider

Sorry for another post with no picture but the only picture I could think to add to this story is one of my already big belly and who really wants to see that.....NOT ME!!! So, this is pregnancy #3 and you would think with the 2 big bags of maternity clothes that I moved here with that I would be in good shape. Well, I have taken them all out and washed and sorted. Granted I have a lot of hand-me-down clothes which I have been so thankful for BUT Sunday I am trying to find something to wear and I have nothing.....NOTHING. I realized that all my clothes are stained, very dated, stretched out, have holes in them, or are too big. I was almost in tears by the time I got to church. Being pregnant is hard enough. I get big, my skin looks like the average 13 year old's and my emotions are all over the place and now I have nothing to wear and frankly can't go buy a bunch of clothes. The very next day I get a card from my sweet Mama in the mail with money inside for maternity clothes. Being the prego that I am I immediately burst into tears. I also realized that I had not even prayed about it, just worried (which is what I do). So I decided to start praying about it. Today I get a card from a couple in my church with a gift card to a maternity store. Yes, you heard me. Our God is an awesome provider. I had not said a word to anyone (except Matt) about what I needed and yet God moved in them to provide for a need that I had. Don't you just love it when that happens? I hope this has encouraged y'all like it encouraged me.

Curtain rod

OK, let me begin by saying this is one of my very random posts but it is such a good tip, I had to share it. So does anyone out there buy those 8 ft wooden curtain rods from Bed, Bath and Beyond? You know, the ones that cost $40 to $45 dollars. I have bought several in my day. After this last move I lost all my curtain rods because leaving them was part of the sale. Well, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Designed to Sell, the other night and they said you could buy an unfinished rod at the hardware store for $10. I couldn't believe it. So I headed to Lowe's (which I could spend forever just walking around) and found the "rods" in the lumber section. They were back with the crown molding and hand rails for stairs. You can buy them in various lengths. I bought an 8 ft piece for $12. Then you can either stain it or spray paint it. That adds on another $2 to $5 depending on what you do. Is that not AWESOME!?! So, since I saved so much I decided I needed to get the word out to anyone else out there who spends WAY to much money on curtain rods.

"Christmas" Pictures

For those of you who are so lucky as to get a Christmas card from us, here is your preview. Yes, I already have gotten my Christmas card pictures made. If you are impressed, you are not nearly as impressed as I am with myself. I am that mom doing the mad scramble mid December trying desperately to snap just 1 good shot of the kids in a cute outfit in the back yard or in front of the tree. This year, being way past due for some family pictures, I decided to take them with Christmas cards in mind. I love Portrait Innovations because just when all is going bad, they some how manage to get 1 or 2 good pictures. Here were some of my favorites. Sorry the white background is not showing up good on the blog. If you want to see a larger version, just click on the picture.

Christmas CD

So EC has a CD with 2 Christmas songs on it that she needs to learn for the Christmas program at church. We have now been listening to this CD for a few weeks, 2 songs over and over and over...... you get the picture. The only thing getting me through is hearing my 2 kids sing, sometimes at the top of their lungs. One of the songs sounds like this:
Jesus, Jesus Oh what a wonderful child
Jesus, Jesus so lumpy (lowly) meek and mild......

Then Knox chimes in on the chorus:
Bory (glory), bory, bory to the newborn King

I hope I never forget these times. OK, maybe I could forget some of the things.....

Visit from my mom

I looked forward to my mom's visit for a while and now it has come and gone. We had a great time and it was wonderful having the extra help. We didn't do anything touristy except eat out a few times. Mainly we sat around and talked and played with the kids. I think it was exactly what she wanted to do. Thanks again for coming, Mom. Wish it could have been for longer.

The Andover Parade

One of my favorite things in Greenwood was the annual Christmas parade down Grand Blvd. I will probably cry the first Friday in December this year since we will not be there. But here in Andover they have what is called Greater Andover Days. It is a weekend full of activities including a parade. No, we weren't bundled up drinking hot chocolate in front of the Smith's house but it was fun just the same. We met up with the Stout family who had scored a great spot under a tree and we enjoyed the cool breeze of the morning. EC was ready and excited since she remembers the Greenwood parade and it was also one of her favorites. Knox on the other hand wasn't so sure. When the motorcycles started us off he jumped in my lap and put his hands over his ears and said "I scared." But once the parade started and he realized they were throwing candy from the floats all fear was gone. And boy do they throw a lot of candy. We came home with a big bag, Halloween came a month early as far as I'm concerned.
One of the things we always had in the Greenwood parade was a really big tractor (or whatever it was. I never was good with the names of farm equipment.) Well, we had tractors in this parade too.
But NEVER in my life have I seen a military helicopter in a parade. This picture does NOT do it justice. It was HUGE. Very impressive and definantly the highlight as far as I was concerned. And yes that is a very big gun the nice man waving is sitting behind and it didn't shoot out candy.

Mommy in Training

So, last night I am laying on the couch with the usual nausea that I have been battling for what now seems like forever. EC wanted to play tag and I was trying to explain that my tummy hurt but she kept asking. So I reminded her that when her tummy hurts and she is lying on the couch we don't ask her to get up and run around. We let her just lay there. This explanation worked. She walked out of the room and came back with a bowl and said "Mommy, when you need to throw up, just throw up in the bowl." Then she walked back to her room and brought me her newest favorite stuffed animal. "You can have it. It will make you feel better" she says. Then she brings me a book and says "sometimes I like to look at a book". This went on until I had most of her favorite things around me. Then she said, "Mommy, I need to look in your mouth......yep, you have a red throat. I need to look at your tummy.....yep, it looks like it has a baby in there." By this time I have almost forgotten the nausea and am trying not to laugh. A little later I am struggling to get them ready for bed when she says "Mommy, I will sleep with you tonight to make sure you are OK" (Either Matt or I always sleep in her room when she is sick to help her during the night). This was the best to me. It is so obvious that she has picked up on every thing we say and do and I was so touch that she wanted to show that same love to me. It made my day.