Veteran's Day and stuff

The day before Veteran's Day, the third grade at Annamarye's school had their Patriotic Program. It was fabulous! It is usually put on in February. the children were asked if anyone in their family was a veteran.


Each Veteran was recognized and the student -relative presented them with a flower. I just knew Annamarye was going to want the flower back from Granddaddy, but she didn't! My father in law was in the National Guard.
Here's James' class in his school's science lab. Each group had a long list of activities to complete using their pumpkin.
Below on the right in blue is Clara. I'm not sure what they found that she is so surprised about, but don't you just love her expression!!
All of the kids did a great job, estimating seeds, weight, sink or float, lines etc.. I was shocked that our pumpkin floated!!
Here's the kids, or should I say Annamarye. James is hiding behind popcorn. We went to Disney on Ice. We all thought it was great - even James liked some of it.
We celebrated Johnny's birthday with what else, but a Edgar's cake!! Roll Tide!

More Pumpkin Patch Pictures

I am finally working on uploading all of my pictures! It always amazes me how many pictures I take.

Here is James' flag football team at the season end party. It was a great season and the kids had lots of fun. I always enjoy flag football. It is very competitive, yet low key at the same time. The kids have a blast and it is only one practice a week and the game on Saturday morning.

Here's some more pictures from the Pumpkin Patch:

We went to the Grand Ole Pumpkin Patch in Clanton. It is great! The kids still love it!
James is my social one. Actually my extra-social one! Annamarye is very social, but not a big phone talker. She takes after Johnny and me. Neither one of us are big phone talkers. James on the other hand LOVES to talk on the phone!

They are sooo big! Yes, I had to promise a snow cone to get this picture!

Christian Atheist

When someone joins the Methodist church they stand before the congregation and take an oath. In that oath, they promise to support the church "with our prayers, our presence, our gifts and our service". A few years ago "witness" was added. It caused quite the stir, let me tell you. Everyone had to re-commit to the church. I was a little nervous too. Was I going to be expected to get up and speak in front of people?! I am one of those that fears public speaking more than death. I think most people felt the same way. I have no trouble teaching Sunday School (kids that is), VBS, Children's Church etc...

Recently I have thought about about witnessing. It is easy to talk with other Christians about Christ. Does that count as witness? Time passed and I really hadn't thought much more about it until Johnny and I visited a Sunday School class and they were reading and discussing a book called The Christian Atheist: Believing in God but Living As If He Doesn't Exist by Craig Groeschel. It is a fabulous book! What do you do in your everyday living for God? I know I don't do enough!! I think in some ways I am a Christian Atheist. It is so easy to get caught up in everyday life and our wants. I don't want to spoil it for you by telling you too much. I highly recommend this book! It really gave me lots to think about.

One area it talks about in the book is missed moments. You have to be aware and take opportunities to share God's word when you can. Don't miss them. You may never get that chance back.

I think God was reminding me about this "witnessing" stuff the other week. I had taken my car in to the shop. It was going to be a while so I started to read. I was reading on the iPad and a lady next to me asked me about it. I told her that I loved it because I had my Bible, daily devotion and books to read all on one easy to carry device. We chatted a minute and that was that. Then I heard the words "Jehovah's Witness" and cringed. She was very nice and really not pushy at all - thank goodness. I have to say as I sat there and I watched her quietly get up and go around to others in the room and pass out a flyer/brochure and talk to the others in the waiting room, I started thinking, isn't that what we are called to do? To witness to others? I wasn't getting up and talking to others. I wasn't sharing my faith. Do you?

Just something to think about.

I'm Itchy!

Some of you know exactly where I am headed with this! I hate to even say the word... Lice! My blood pressure is rising as I type! Let me begin by saying about 3 weeks ago I got the phone call that Annamarye had lice. There were 4 kids in her class that had it. I went and got her, treated her and checked her hair strand by strand. I sectioned it off and even had James hold the flashlight for me! Let me tell you it was quite the sight! I followed up with the treatment, bought some kind of zapper comb (that costs $30) and checked her regularly.

Well, I got a call the other day from the nurse again that she had it. I couldn't believe she had it again!! Everyone had told me it is very hard to get rid of and once it gets in a class, it goes around and around.

Anyway, the nurse said Annamarye had nits all in her hair so I am thinking she has stuff crawling all over head! I get there and the nurse couldn't even find one to show me. Now she did have a bug that was in her hair so I called Johnny and got a prescription treatment this time. (A nice perk having a husband that is a physician). I checked her and the "nits" the nurse saw were flakes of her scalp from all of the treatments. To say I was a little perturbed is an understatement. On a side note the prescription treatment costs $156.95!! And that is generic! Thank goodness insurance covered it and it only costs me $10. I would have paid the $156.95 though. When Johnny got home he checked her and found no nits either. I called the pediatricians office the next day and they said if I did the prescription she is good. They recommend a treatment called "Nuvo" using Cetaphil facial soap. Because I am tired of this I kept her home and did that treatment too. I plan on doing another one Wednesday night since the kids are out of school on Thursday.

I had my hair done on Friday and had Jackie, my hairdresser, check me and I'm good. I also had her check Annamarye and she found nothing either.

My biggest concern now is keeping her from getting it again! I have talked with so many moms who have had or are going through the same thing right now!! I don't think the school is doing a good job checking everyone and keeping it away. One student in Annamarye's class had several nits in her hair was sent back to class!!

I make Annamarye wear her hair in a braided ponytail now and I spray it with this lice preventative spray, which stinks to high heaven!! I also spray hairspray on it. Keep us in your prayers!

Happy Halloween

Friday the kids got to dress up for school. James wanted to be a football player again! And Annamarye wanted to be Fancy Nancy again this year! I guess I shouldn't complain since they are easy costumes to put together. Annamarye didn't even wear everything we had for her to wear.

Saturday while Johnny was cleaning out the gutters, I dropped James off at a friend's house and picked Hope up on our way home. They played and helped me clean out one of the pumpkins! Sorry the picture is dark, we were in the basement.
We gave Johnny the job of carving it!
Sunday night we went to Trunk or Treat at our church. Here is James with Mrs. Julie, one of his Sunday School teachers.
Here's Annamarye and Elena and Elena's cousin.
Annamarye and Audrey
James and Alan
After trunk or treat we went to a neighborhood get together and here is just a small sampling of the kids!

We finally made it out to trick or treat! We had a great weekend, but for some reason it seems as if Halloween lasted a week this year!!

Be careful for what you ask for

Why do I have the need to begin each post with "It has been a busy week ..." . It is always a busy week around here it seems. Is it that way in your homes or is it just me? I titled this "be careful for what you ask for". I have only myself to blame. When school started, I thought to myself, I hope I stay busy this year. Well, I can say that I have! With the kids in 3rd and 4th grades and the volunteer needs decline I was a little worried. Not anymore!! Between volunteering in both schools' libraries, my Bible Study, household stuff, sewing/monogramming... the list goes on.

You may remember we gave our snail "Darth" to some friends because they wouldn't stop laying eggs? Well Sunshine, the yellow one we kept, died. So we now have Blueberry:

And we learned that snails are technically both genders. Kind of gross to me. So unless you want more, only have one snail at a time!

Annamarye received her 3rd grade Bible at church. Sorry that it isn't a great picture. I tried to snap it quickly with my phone. I have this thing about taking pictures during church. It bugs me when people think of it as a photo shoot. I know people want pictures of their children being baptized, but some go overboard. Last week the family friends had 5 cameras all out taking pictures of a baby being baptized!! A little crazy to me!

Anyway, the afternoon after getting her Bible, we attended a Bible Workshop for the 3rd graders. It was a lot of fun. James got his last year. Johnny and I both still have our Bibles we got in 3rd grade.
Another thing that has kept me busy is both schools had "fun runs". I am very blessed and thankful that I am able to do and go to school events!! Sometimes it gets crazy, but I love it!
Here's Annamarye with some friends at their run!
Last Thursday was Parenting Day. I started out at Annamarye's class and went to lunch and then headed to James' class and lunch. Then I had to go back to Annamarye's school for my library duty. Anyway, here is James and his friend Ken. It was also pajama day for them. Why they would schedule pj day and Parenting Day the same day is crazy to me!
Friday night, James went with his friend Carter to Boo at the Zoo. They had a blast!! Can you tell?
Saturday night, Annamarye went to a Halloween/Birthday party. She is Fancy Nancy. Annamarye is so funny, she loves dressing up at home, putting on make-up, jewelry, etc.. But when it comes to dressing up for parties she isn't that into it.
Johnny went on Annamarye's field trip to DeSoto Caverns, but unfortunately the disc in the camera I gave him didn't work so I have no pictures. I will get some from her teacher and will post later. We have also been to the pumpkin patch, I just haven't had time to load the pictures! They will be coming soon!

Hodge Podge

I have started this post several times and just never had the time to finish. I am determined to finish this morning. I can't believe it is Thursday already! Since my last post lots has been going on here. Not that I ever really considered it, but there is no way I could ever be in real estate!! I am a very organized person and everything has been so rushed and always last minute with the sale of my Dad's house. We got a contract on it in August and they wanted to close by September 30. Great! We were excited. I got a call one day in September we were closing the following week so we had to rush and make sure all of the paperwork was done etc. I went to the bank one day 3 times in a matter of hours. Only to get the call the next morning we weren't closing then! Found out late in the day on September 29th we weren't closing by the 30th. Last Wednesday late afternoon found out we were closing on Monday afternoon. Thursday mid-day that was changed and we were closing the following day at 2:15! Crazy! I just couldn't deal with all of the uncertainty on a regular basis. As I have said before, I like just hum drum kind of days, routine, nothing dramatic. Anyway, we did close and it was a huge relief and burden off my shoulders!!

Praise God for the rescue of the miners in Chile! I have been glued to the TV the past couple of days watching the rescue! I am extremely claustrophobic and cannot imagine what they went through!! (my post says Tuesday, but it is actually Thursday. I told you I had started this post several times!)

Saturday my friend Jeanne called (they were traveling out of town) and said she needed a favor. This was the favor:

That is James crawling through their doggie door!! She had accidentally left some type of electronic device (I'm not sure what it was) in the charger and didn't want to leave it charging for 3 days. So, James went through the doggie door, opened the garage door and we went in and unplugged it.

The kids were out of school on Monday, so we packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the van, picked up Daniel and headed to the park. We met some friends there and had a fabulous day! The boys played football just about the entire time.
Annamarye and Hope played on the playground, did cheers, gymnastics, and twirled!

Wordless Wednesday

Alabama Football

Last Saturday after James' football game we headed to Tuscaloosa for the Bama game! We met up with Johnny's cousin, Pat and his wife Leslie. Here's the picture James took.

They both went to Auburn and are big Auburn fans. Here is their daughter, Shelby with Annamarye and James.

I'm not sure if they have completely converted, but it is a start!

This is Shelby's 2nd year on the flag team at Alabama. Last year we weren't able to meet up with her to get a picture. I was determined to get one this year.

All of the band members were super nice! Shelby asked if the kids wanted a picture with a large group of girls. One quick snap and the kids were surrounded!
They both loved it! In fact this morning on the way to school James was showing this picture to Matthew and Tucker and I heard him telling them he hit the "jackpot"!

Flag Football

James was a team captain this morning at his football game! Here he is on the field before the game for the coin toss. They played hard, but lost the game. The Cowboys are now 2-2.

It's Friday!!

Yea It's Friday!! Although where did the week go?

Last weekend Johnny went to see our friend Wes in Oklahoma. He flew up early Friday morning. With our Alabama ticket order we ordered two Arkansas tickets. Johnny and Wes went to the Bama - Arkansas game. It is about a 1 1/2 to 2 hour drive from Wes's house. Anyway, the kids were going to have spend the night company while he was gone. Because James got sick at school and several other things that just didn't happen like we planned. Annamarye did spend the night with her friend Hope. She was excited about that and they had a good time!

So Sunday afternoon, everyone was well and so the kids had friends over. The boys were going to play football in the wet and rainy yard but played inside and in the driveway instead. They did that one Sunday and loved it!

Hope and Annamarye made chocolate chip muffins.

Tuesday I took some chicken out of the freezer with no plans as to what I was going to do with it. After thinking for a while, I decided it had been a long time since we have had chicken and dumplings! So that is what we made!

James helped some with the dumplings, but he was in charge of the rolls. It turned out great, but neither one of them would eat the dumplings! They love the chicken though!

We did a lot of cooking and eating this week! These are cookies I made for James' class as a special treat for Thursday. The school had their fun run that morning.

I helped mark t-shirts during their run - the Zoomathon! It is really a lot of fun and the kids have a blast!

Ok that's it for this quick update. Have a great weekend and Roll Tide!

Words for Wednesday

Men are like fine wine. They start out as grapes, and it's up to the women to stomp the snot out of them until they turn into something acceptable to have dinner with.

Donuts and Spaghetti

Yea, its Friday!! This has been a busy week! Here's just a few blurbs about our week.

I went for the second week to a yoga class (laughing now I know). My friend Angie teaches it and I have really enjoyed it. 90% of what we do are the same exercises I did with the physical therapist last fall when I had my herniated disc.

Monday night Annamarye and I went to a Heritage Girl meeting. Heritage girls are the "girls" of Boy Scouts. I always thought Girls Scouts were part of Boy Scouts, but they are not affiliated at all. Annamarye was a little timid at first, but then saw a couple of girls she knew from school. I think we will give it a try. I like the Christian beliefs and the community service projects that they do.

The snails are driving me crazy!!! We had more eggs on Thursday and Friday! This time they weren't on the inside of the lid. We suspected it and so I looked and this time they were under the edges. Today I had to remove the entire lid to get to them. We are going to have to get rid of one of them. Anyone want a snail?

This morning we started our day with a little breakfast trip to Daylight Donuts! It was the happening place ~ we saw three teachers there. Here's the gang:

Everyone enjoyed their donuts, but on the way to school James said his stomach hurt. He said he was fine when I dropped him off. But, three hours later I got the phone call from the school nurse. James had gotten sick. Neither one of my kids are sick very often. I picked him up and we stopped by Publix and got some Sprite and soup, then headed to Blockbuster and got a few movies and a wii game. So far he is fine! He never had a fever and hasn't been sick or felt sick since. Thank goodness! We are enjoying our Mom-son time together!

On a completely different note, I wanted to share this spaghetti sauce recipe. It is sooo good. I got it from a friend of mine and it is actually her Grandmother's recipe.

1 pound browned ground beef

1/2 chopped medium onion (brown with the meat)

1 can diced tomatoes (can use Rotel if you like it spicy)

1-2 garlic buttons or 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 small can tomato paste

2T Worcestershire Sauce

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. chili powder

1/2 cup water

2 bay leaves

Mix all ingredients and put in a crock pot. Cook on low all day or a minimum of 4 hours.

It is yummy!

Words for Wednesday

Truth is not determined by the volume of the voice.

Chinese Proverb

Snails!

Happy Birthday to my dear Father in Law! His birthday was Thursday so we celebrated with an Edgar's cake of course!

James had his 2nd flag football game this morning. Last week he played OK. His team, the Cowboys lost. Today they won and James played great! Get this - they won 1-0! I sent a text to a friend and she thought I meant 1 touchdown. No, I mean 1 point! James plays on defense and he pulled a ton of flags! The other team didn't get one first down! It was 0-0 at the end so it went into overtime. Each team has a chance to score and go for 1 or 2 points. The other team tried first and failed. The cowboys went for 1 point and made it!

I meant to introduce you a few weeks ago to Sunshine

and Darth. Can you guess who named who? or whom? not sure. Anyway, these are two snails that are suppose to help clean the tank. Now, I admit they do help keep it clean and are fun to watch. However about 2 weeks ago I noticed Darth literally chasing after Sunshine. Then I saw a little suspicious activity going on.

Wednesday this is what I found when I went to feed the fish:

The lady at the pet shop said it was possible and they would lay their eggs near the top. She said just scoop it out and flush it, which is what I did. I don't know why, but I thought it would be hard, but it was soft and squishy - yuck!

Then....

when we got home today from James' game this is what we found:

More eggs!! I can't believe it! Can you have a snail fixed?


Going to watch football - lots of great games on today!

Roll Tide!!