Happy Thanksgiving #2!!

On Saturday, we spent a nice day at home. I finished helping Becca in her room and thankfully, Jessi, was able to work in her room and finish without much help from me. I will post some pictures tomorrow of their rooms. Rebecca's room was just a wee bit unorganized and it took just a little bit longer than I had anticipated, but it is now clean... mission accomplished(translation: for those of you who don't know this about me...I can be a wee bit sarcastic at times)!! Around 2:00, I made my third sweet potato souffle, two of which were double recipes. Adam was kind enough to clean the kitchen and he cleared the counter tops so they are now ready for Christmas decorating!! I will start my decorating tomorrow, I can't wait!! I have gotten so good at making the souffle, that this time I didn't use a recipe, really, at all and it turned out the best. From now on, I will do it the "dump some in and then taste it" way...it seems to be a better method for me than a silly 'ol recipe....recipes are for the weak.

We headed over to Dad and Denise's house for our Thanksgiving Meal. They are pretty good about working around family schedules and I have always been thankful about that!! I showed off Jessi's cheerleading pictures that were taken at last week's competition. This one is so cool of her doing her 'scorpion' pose - even sounds cool....Denise and her crazy self said, "I can do that!" and so I put her up to it and said it was definitely going on the blog!!

Her first attempt... she claimed it failed because she hadn't studied Jessi's picture of the the pose long enough... so she studied the picture of Jessi's scorpion pose again....

Here she is!!! Yep,looks just like Jessi's.... Jessi you just got showed up!! Go Denise!! You are a nut and I love you for it!! Crack me up!!

Denise made the little kids a "little kids table" Prestin, Caroline, Lauren, and Becca play with play-doh until dinner is ready...

Me, Dad, and Natalie... are we related or what?! I can really tell in this picture how much the three of us favor....

Micheal started something when he picked up Prestin and Caroline... they didn't want him to put them down and begged to be held... Caroline, kept saying..."you are holding two little babies.." and then Michael would say..."no, you are both are big.." and then Caroline would say more sternly than before..."no, we are little babies.." I took advantage of the situation and told Caroline that I would hold her and she went right to me ... she is so cute... it seems like yesterday mine were that big... I don't get to be around little ones that much anymore so I was happy to give Michael's arm a break :)

When it was time to eat, Prestin said the blessing. It was so precious!!!! (this picture is actually a re-enactment of him praying so I could post it) ..His actual prayer: "Dear God, Many, Many Blessings; Many, Many, Blessings (this part was sort of sung and had a rhythm) then he paused ... and then, "Amen!!" and then as part of his prayer he praised himself with a "Good Job, Good Job" and lots of lots of clapping and a cheer "Woo Woo!" So then all 20 of us chimed in, "yeah! Good Job!" and clapped too. It was a great thanksgiving prayer for a great Thanksgiving meal!!

By the time it was my turn to go through the line of food, I had worked up quite an appetite. I had worked so hard today finishing Becca's room that I really had forgotten to eat. The only thing I had eaten before this 5:00ish meal was a handful of nacho chips and a cup of coffee... When Denise saw my plate, she said "they ain't no way you are gonna eat all that..." and laughed... I said, "oh yes, I am!!, are you daring me?" and she said, "yep. I dare you" So I dug right in. The food was so so good. The creamed corn, butter beans, and the collard greens were right out of their garden and they were to die for!! The dressing was sooooo good!! And then I also had piled on turkey, ham, crockpot mac-n-cheese, a roll, sweet potato souffle, 2 deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, and chicken and dumplings. I ate and I ate and I ate... I knew I had only eaten maybe 200 calories the whole day, so I knew I could just eat to my little hearts desire... at the beginning, with the vegetables and dressing, I would say... um ..oh yes... but as I worked through my plate, I began to feel my belly growing and growing until... I had to hang my head in shame and admit......

defeat.... this was what was left when I could no longer eat another solitary bite... I did, however, sacrifice myself and eat some banana pudding before I left....

I nabbed this picture of my two horsing around together.... They are buddies...

Nat, Bridgette, and Jessi ....it was nice to see them twice in one week!! I really need to make time for my sis more than I do... I get busy and before you know it, it has been weeks since our last visit...

The pants of the Christmas operation get out the almighty calendars and figure out what we should do about Christmas... we set a date and synchronize our watches. Now all we have to do is to tell everyone else when they will need to show up :)

Like sands through the hourglass.... Here is the newest member of the family, Kristy, with Brandon.... so are the days of our lives.... Brandon and Kristy, we wish you all the best!! Life is too short so live, love, shake it off, and grow....that is what I think, an I am sticken' to it!! Welcome to the family!!

Destiny and Beverly holding Beverly's niece(cutest baby, but I can't remember her little name..oops) Beverly helped Denise alot today with the meal ...did alot of the chopping ...thank you, it was yummy!!!

Granddad holding Becca and Jessi....Smile Pretty!! The camera loves you, Granny!!

Right before we leave, I realize that Skyler hasn't been in a picture yet and would notice that all the other girls had their picture on the blog and not her... so I tell Jessi to go upstairs and get a picture of Skyler... this is it!! I can just hear that cutie, "Look what I can do, Jessi".. oh, to be that limber!! I would never be the same if I tried to that!!

The last of the little ones... but Ethan wasn't so excited about having his picture made.... I think he was just upset because his Bulldogs didn't fare so well against another team today whose name we choose to not mention... sorry, they were really cute in their matching Georgia sweatshirts, though... it was a real blow... I know, Ethan, I understand!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We began our Thanksgiving with our church family helping with our community Thanksgiving lunch where we get to have great fellowship and serve the community at the same time - Here is my two turkeys with John who is obviously a turkey poser.... just kidding... John was a great sport and John, you so pull off that Turkey headband.....

I was so excited to find out that Adam was going to be able to come over for 30 minutes while on shift and eat with us!! It is such an honor to know I am married to a firefighter. He truly is a servant to the public and he sacrifices days like today to keep our community safe... thank you, Adam. I don't tell you enough how proud I am of you and how much I appreciate what you do for others...

Lawanda and I man the drink station. She is my group leader and I look up to her so much!

Okay, this is funny... I don't care who you are, this is funny.... my children purposefully planned out their outfits to accommodate eating. They changed clothes and put on their "eating pants" - they are wearing jeans that are loose!! Becca got this idea from another one of her friends, Lindsey, who actually took her dad with her to American Eagle and bought a pair of jeans one size to big ...just for Thanksgiving Dinner... and they were her "eating pants"...

Look at all of the food... Yummy!!! It is almost time!! I am so hungry!!!

The 'kid table' - the famous five... I ended up taking two of these home with me :) I am so thankful that Becca and Jessi are close with their cousins. They love each other and that is a wonderful thing!! We had such a good time eating and then after dinner, we sat around and just got a chance to talk.... I missed Adam, but it was still an awesome Thanksgiving :)

I meant to take pictures of my plate before I ate it and also to take pictures of everyone while we ate and take pictures of everyone who was there...but I got so distracted by my plate of food, that just didn't happen... but I did make a happy plate... and it was soooo good!!

Pooh Bear rubs ToJo's shoulders after dinner... we are such a lovey dovey family and I like that about us.... we give good hugs, rub shoulders..... Becca spent the better half of the evening in my lap... and that is a good thing!!

Here is my future sister-in-law, Bridgette. I am so glad that she was able to just come in and feel at home!! That really means so much.... Bridgette just fits right in ... my girls love her too!!

Natalie brought me and mom a gift. (Yes, mom came to the church lunch and to dinner at Avril's house, but I can't put up the pictures...) She brought us a cardinal ornament for our tree and these life saver pops. They were in memory of Grandmother. We had a good cry. Natalie was so thoughtful to bring us those gifts and remember her that way. My Grandmother loved Christmas and ornaments and cardinals and she always kept these special suckers in a Santa candy dish on her t.v. It was a special moment... I miss her so much!! It was hard making my sweet potato souffle without calling her... it was hard not talking to her today!! I love you, Grandmother and when I hang my cardinal on the tree, I will think of you... and when I am feeling like I miss you so much it hurts, I will take out a swirled lollipop and smile and remember you....

This picture was taken AFTER we ate... we ate and ate and still there was so much leftover...we are so blessed!!

More food AFTER we ate... you know what that means... Whoopie!! Leftovers!! I love Thanksgiving leftovers!! Yay!!

1 Thes. 5:16 "Be joyful always;pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."

An email came to work last week that Lauren's in-laws were in a bad wreck. She had slept that night in the ICU waiting room... I called and checked on her and as she asked me to just pray, the tears came. I promised to pray and to have my church group pray also. The math dept. sent a care basket...so as you see our care basket, stop and pray for my fellow math teacher friend, Lauren and her family. Right here at Thanksgiving when we are all thankful for our family and our health, unfortunately, some are just praying that their loved ones will live to see through the day... Stop and pray for Lauren and her family!!

These are my silly girls!! Becca and Jessi have a hard time remembering to bring things in from the truck and so when I put a box in one of the back seats to take to Sandra at boot camp, the girls had to sit two to a seat the whole way home because there was no more room in the back!! They had me laughing the whole way home!! Girls, take your crap in from the car, why don't you for goodness sakes!!

Boot camp last Tuesday evening was frickin' freezing!! I don't usually enjoy the cold, but the night was so peaceful to be outdoors with my boot camp girls, I was glad I went!! When I got home at 7:00, Bo was ready to be kennelled up for the night and was so thankful to come inside!! The girls took this picture of me because I wore my sweater cap on backwards...oops..it got a big laugh from the girls :) Bo was waiting patiently for bedtime while the girls made me pose :)

Every Tuesday after work and then an hour of Boot Camp, I go to group from 7:00-9:00. It sounds like I have some addiction therapy thing, but really it is my church group. It really is like therapy to me and I guess my addiction would be hmmm... well right now my personal goal is my issues with "self control" (imagine that) - my mouth seems to get me into trouble or so I have been told:) - anyways, I took this picture of one of my group member's jacket, Mr. Bowman. He is one of the smartest men I have ever met. He has sayings embroidered on his jackets and shirts and they are totally original... Mr. Bowman knows the Bible 'up one side and down the other' - and he is just the coolest...

Here's Mr. Bowman - he is smart and funny and I can say whatever I need to say and he never judges - he is the greatest - God really uses him to talk to me at group each week and I find myself listening.... I never would have thought, but it is true...

Here is 'messy Jessi' starting her Christmas list. She was so thoughtful and helpful by taking the time to fold down all of the corners of the Ulta magazine of things she would like... funny how the price of the Chi straightener she wants isn't listed in the magazine.... I wonder why....she then pleads.."please, m0mma.... I really need this straightener!!" I don't understand the deal with the straighteners - for goodness sakes, Jessi's hair is naturally, oh I don't know... oh yeah, STRAIGHT!!

I took Jessi to get her cheer pictures made on Friday. They turned out really good. Jessi was disappointed that she didn't think to take one shot of her 'scorpion' pose... so I told her to do it so I could blog it.... the child is a limber as they come. The fact that she does this in the air with a bunch of little girls holding her up above their heads is just crazy!! Their new GA Heat uniforms are the half tops - am I the only parent who thinks full tops look better....I just want to go in their and yank down that top...

8:00 am on Saturday, I was up early to meet with my boot camp group for a hike out at Britt's house!! It was very cold, but we all dressed for it and it turned out to be a sunny brisk day for a hike through a mile or so of woods. Laurie, was still recovering from foot surgery and did the hike in flip flops - now that is dedication!! Not pictured is Leigh (taking the picture) - We came across this mini dock on the other side of the lake but were not brave enough to all stand on it to have this picture made (a boot camp inside joke..hah!!). Also, notice my coffee - the boot camp girls get a kick out of my coffee that I just can't seem to put down during morning workouts. I can run, hike, lunge, run bleachers...all without spilling a drop - yes, all with a cup of coffee in my hand.... let's just say, I am not what you call a morning glory....

After our hike, it was another boot camp finale ... the six weeks is up.. and one thing I like about boot camp girls, we always look for reasons for a celebration... yeah! We made it through another six weeks of boot camp... it is time to celebrate :) We had a wonderful brunch... we had breakfast casserole, homemade bread, spinach quish(sp?), edimame(redneck translation: soybeans), mimosas(redneck translation: orange juice and champagne) ...oh and hot tea... Lois made some hot tea with honey ....yummy!!

We made a toast to friends, fitness, and health!! Leigh and Melanie are new to our group and I hope they keep coming - they are just fun to be around - Leigh made the good point about how our exercise really helps with being happy and loving life... I totally agree!!

Sandra gave Britt a gift for opening up her home to boot camp a couple of time lately... I need one of these signs!! I need one that says, "I don't cook, I heat."

One reason that I was so excited for Thanksgiving break to come is because I was on a mission. A mission to get in my children's room and clean them!! Woo Hoo!! I went out to Target and bought every white hanger they had and some new storage containers with drawers for their closets. I made them take all of their clothes and put them in the den and I made them go through each item!! This is how we spent our Saturday after my good Saturday of Boot camp. We spoke in lingo as the items were held up or tried on ..one by one.....like "delete" "keep" "Grandma" "uh no!" "dirty" "Jessi's" "Becca's" "uh, no" "seen it's better day" "too tight" "too baggy" and so on and so on until every last item had been touched.... whew!!

Becca, did not want her pile of clothes photographed... sorry, Becca. I will blog the "After" pictures this weekend... we are almost finished...let's just say that I have already had out my label maker and Becca's closet does actually have a floor.... cool... it is like one of those HGTV shows..."Clean Sweep" - we ended up with about 10 bags of give away clothes...Yippee!!

This is Becca not very happy about going through her clothes... I am digging the boots with the sweatpants, Becca... she wears the craziest things around the house...

I am the "drill sergeant"!! My job is to keep my two focused on the task at hand... a Mountain of clothes... I am taking no prisoners - no tv and no phone calls!! You wanna eat, well then fold!!

Jessi gives the "delete" to a pair of black corduroys...and doesn't want to try them on...

Becca, on the other hand, wants to try on everything. Even if she knows she wants to keep it, she tries it on and models... she also enjoyed standing right in front of the tv and annoying her dad while Adam was trying to play on the Wii. She said that in this dress, she looked, "Valumptuous" - I laughed for days and then I said, "Becca, the word is voluptuous." - she said, "oh, I was sure it should have the word 'lump' in it...like in the song about lady lumps" My child is hysterical... she is just funny ... she can't tell a joke to save her life...but I tell you ..she can have a good time even if it is sorting clothes... the girls made it fun - valumptuous... gotta love her...

Here is Adam - he was so much help!! Thank you, Adam for playing the Wii while I slaved over your children's clothes and folded and hung up and folded and sorted and bagged and washed and dried... you are so kind to help..... I think he was just scared.... I think we scare and intimidate him sometimes...the poor boy has estrogen problems...

Saturday night, I took a break from folding and hung out with my dad and step-mom at a Christmas dinner thing they have with their church.... I was glad to see dad and the tables were decorated so beautifully... the speakers were so good!! I really felt the spirit and cried a little... I was just moved and thanked God for being the best gift that there is and ... more than any gift I will receive this season.... so I made a promise to keep that perspective as I shopped or thought about "things" this Christmas.... that Jesus IS the gift!

The men of the church did the serving and the guests were the women.... a great night to visit!! Thanks for serving, Dad!!!

Denise, my step-mom looked so pretty and her table was decorated so beautifully!! That is one of the many things we have in common..we both like to decorate!! I even took home some homemade peanut butter fudge as my gift... mmmm mmmm!!

Jessi's first cheerleading competition was Sunday. They didn't perform until 6:00 p.m. that night, but Kim required all of the teams to be at the competition at 11:30 a.m. - If you don't know me that well, me and cheer competitions do NOT go together. I am not a huge fan. The cheer music and cheer crowds are really not my cup of tea. The thought of being at the competition for 12 hours ....AAAAHHHH!!!! I really wasn't sure if it was humanly possible for me to do....

So thankfully, Angie...who is a true saint, took Jessi early and I just came an hour or so before Jessi performed. God LOVE Angie!! She is my new best friend!! I owe you big, Angie!!!!!!!

I go around and try to help gather the girls up before they perform. Here is Jessi with Jessica and Molly. Molly was just a wee bit hyper at the competition... she was too funny - she danced and screamed and worked it on out on every song they played between teams!!

Grandma and Pappa drop in and out - to see their granddaughter's 3 minutes of fame... doesn't Pappa look like he is having the time of his life... he is wearing ear plugs .....hah!!

Pooh-Bear and Grandma.... Mee Mee also came, but I can't put up a picture of her...(my mom's orders) or else I would have one of Mee Mee.... Grandma and Becca have been getting close.... Friday is Avril's trivia night and Becca and Bryce hang out there too on Fridays... Avril says she babysits her now more than she did when she was little....

Even though Cheerleading competitions is not my thing, I am very proud of Jessi and I am glad it is her thing!! I do love to watch her perform!! She did a great job and they came in second!! Woop Hoo!!

This might give you some idea.....

On Tuesday of this week, we set out for Helen, Ga. for a mini retreat. We stayed in a cottate at the Smithgall Conservation. This is taken from the back deck that over looks a stream. There were rainbow trout in the stream that would wait for you to throw out fish food - wildlife that were tame - cool..... The staff were so great and the the cottage was lovely. It had a fireplace with plenty of firewood, fruit basket on the table, and even fresh flowers by our beds...

We set out the first afternoon for a hike to see the waterfalls... Becca was running behind getting ready as usual... when she came out of the cottage, she was confused... she thought we were taking the car ...where she figured she would put on her second pair of socks (it was cold - layering is key) in the car... so as she was figuring out what to do with the socks since we were walking to our hike... her ADD kicked in and she noticed a caterpillar and forgot all about the sock dilimna ... so I took her 'picture with the caterpillar'...but I was really taking a picture of 'her with the socks' - crack me up... so she put them(socks) in her pocket and it was one of our running jokes along the hike..

I did not know this was the face she was making...I think she is saying that she is crazy happy to spend time with her wonderful parents and that it is fun to hike and that it is great to have our cell phones have no service :)

Now that I have the camera... smiles, everyone!!!

We made it to the waterfalls... it was a really awesome view!! A great day for a hike...sunny, blue skies, and the best company a girl could ask for... we laughed the whole way... my girls didn't argue once the whole trip... a true miracle.... God is so good!!

We went into the town of Helen for dinner and looked around a bit...but we weren't really into the touristy stuff... we paid for a carraige ride and it was LAME!! He took us around the block, basically and we saw the parking lot, the projects, the liquor store(which the driver knew some of the folks buying cases of beer and stopped a minute to talk to them), and then back to where we started... not exactly what I had envisioned....

The horse,Bob, was nice, though, and Bob was a carraige puller who really wants to be "America's Next Top Model" - seriously, he posed for this picture!!

After dinner, we decide to go back to our cottage and spend our evening playing cards, drinking hot chocolate,and cozying up by the fire and watching cheesy Christmas movies - we had time to just hang out all together with no interuptions..... it has been quite a while since we have had that time... and it was wonderful... not a cross word was spoken and we just enjoyed time with each other.... I love my family!

Sorry this picture is sideways.... this picture was taken by no one... we were saying the blessing over a good breakfast that I actually cooked and it must have just taken on its own... I put this one on there because it made me happy to see us all actually at a table at the same time and praying together... my girls were so amazed that I cooked...

The next morning, after breakfast, we set out on another hike. This trail started right behind our cottage.... too cool!!

Here is our cottage a great vantage point while on our hike...

Becca is excited because she found signal on her phone while on the hike.... let's just say, that pooh-bear is a grouchy bear when mommy bear takes her to stay somewhere without cell phone signal.....

Texting up a storm....

We cross back over the stream at the end of the exploring...

After we get back from our mini-retreat on Wednesday, we spent our evening with our church family preparing Thanksgiving Dinner for our community. Melanie was gracious to come to help also :) We pulled turkey and pulled turkey!! Lots and Lots of Turkeys!! Gobble Gobble!!

And Adam cut the mess out of some Hams!!

After all of the turkeys and hams were cut, we folded clothes... something me and the girls should be good at by now!! Ed, himself, folded all of the clothes pictured in this shot - only he would believe me when I said to put the donated fanny pack in the "fanny section" - totally bought that... Hah!!(really... a "fanny section"...) He also found used chapstick and questioned why there were used undewear... after falling for the "fanny section", I didn't get to suggest where to put the underwear or Dr. Pepper chapstick...and then there was the smelling of the bath and body works lotions... he is funny on screen at Madras, but he is also funny in person...Ed... another person who makes folding clothes fun... and if you believed that Ed folded all of those clothes... you need to check out the "fanny section"

After helping, we head over to Grandma's for the evening.....I present another tradition: Grandma's grandchildren and their ornaments... every year she buys them a new ormanament and they go on a special tree. When they leave home, they will have their own set of ornaments. They are personal to them and she is really good at getting something for just them... This year, Jessi got a cheerleader ornament with her name on it and with GA Heat colors. Becca got one that has her picture in it holding up her license and the frame is a key chain.. really cute... Emily got a "Hannah Montana" , Ben's had to do with his favorite baseball player(can't remember his name..), and Michael got a GA Stadium... too sweet!

Grandma and Papa decide to get everyone a personal ormanment this year as well... Amanda - a receptionist... and it even says"Dr. Giles" ...Andrew, baseball dad....

Adam, a fire helmit... Me, a math teacher... it even looked like me :)

Marjie, an airplane... Beth, an elephant... an Scott, a space shuttle...

Terry even picked one out for Avril and vice versa.... They both chose humurous ones for each other...Avril's had a "balanced diet, a cookie in each hand" and Terry's was him sleeping in the recliner... Hah!! Love you guys!!! Thank you so much for the thought and care you put into the ornaments each year... a very special tradition!!