Christmas Swap!!!

Clemsongirl is hosting a Christmas swap!!  I participated last year and it was SO much fun!!  I am participating again this year and I can't wait to shop for presents for my swap partner!!  You can go to her site to get all the details about the swap, the deadline to sign up is next weekend.  Here are my gifts from last year's swap,  I love all the sweet gifts I got!

Have a good weekend!!

Show us your life-Thanksgiving Traditions!!!

Today Kelly's Korner is doing a "show us your life-thanksgiving traditions!  So I thought I would share our traditions.  I LOVE Thanksgiving!  It seems like each year we do something a little different.  Two years in a row we went to NYC to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, last year we spent Thanksgiving Day at home,  and this year Brock and I are going to Illinois to visit my family and Ava and Grandma Jan are going to Colorado to see Uncle Garth while Graig stays home to work.

We will have Thanksgiving Dinner together as a family this year the weekend before we leave and these are two dishes that I am going to make

Rice, broccoli, cheese casserole ( I LOVE this!)
1 onion dices
3 tbsp. butter
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 cup milk
1 (10oz) pkg frozen broccoli
1/2 lb. velvetta cheese, cut up into squares
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
Saute onion in butter.  Combine with remaining ingredients in a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Makes 8 servings

Double layer pumpkin pie (my Dad's recipe) sooooo good!!
4 oz. cream cheese (softened)
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cold milk
1 tablespoon sugar
1 8 oz. tub of cool whip
1 prepared graham cracker crust
1 can (16 oz.) pumpkin
2 pkg (4 serving size) instant vanilla pudding and pie mix
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/4 tsp, ground ginger

In a large bowl mix cream cheese, 1 tablespoon milk, and sugar with wire whisk until smooth.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups whipped topping spead on bottom of crust.
In a second bowl stir pumpkin, pudding mix and spices unto remaining milk, beat with wire whisk until well blended (mixture will be thick) spead over cream cheese layer
Refigerate 5 hours serve with remaining whipped topping. 

I just found this thankfulness jar on etsy so I ordered it today, I think it will make a nice addition to our Thanksgiving table this year!  I want us each to write down some things we are thankful for and then we can put them in the jar and talk about them during our Thanksgiving meal.  

Some of Ava's turkey artwork from last year

Our Thanksgiving Table last year.

Have a good weekend!!

Here we go again...

I am back to feeling bad again, YUCK!!  Last night I kept coughing and coughing and I couldn't get to sleep.  I think I got about 3 hours of sleep last night total, I am the kind of person that needs a solid 8 hours to function so that lack of sleep + lots of coughing = another day home from work.  I called my doctor's office to get an appointment today because I think I have bronchitis but they were all booked up today so I made an appointment for tomorrow morning.  I hope I can get medicine so I can get better for the weekend!  I don't want to waste another weekend being sick! 

To cheer myself up today I went up to the attic and got out our Thanksgiving decorations.  We don't have too much stuff but I do like to add a little thanksgiving cheer!

Turkey hotpad in our kitchen!  I love this little turkey!

Thanksgiving Platter I got last fall.  I love the golden yellow color of this platter!

Give Thanks sign, this is my favorite Thanksgiving decoration, I got it SO many years ago but I still love getting it out every year.  I put it in our living room. 

Tonight I am watching my Thursday night shows and going through my work email...exciting I know!!

Today I am thankful for my supportive students and co-workers!  Everyone has been SO nice during my sickness, I have gotten a ton of "get well soon" emails and they really make me feel SO good!

Uncle Garth!!

Graig's brother Garth just got into town today!  He lives in Colorado and is here visiting for a week!  Brock and Ava are so excited because they haven't seen him since he came to visit last fall.  Ava and Grandma Jan will be spending Thanksgiving in Colorado this year with Uncle Garth and Jill, while Brock and I are in Illinois visiting my family.  So Ava gets to see Uncle Garth twice this month!

Tonight Graig got Brooks takeout and we ate and caught up with Garth.  After dinner they watched the Yankee game!!  I really really hope the Yankees win the World Series tonight!  Brock and Graig would be SO happy!!

Here is a picture of Brock, Ava and Uncle Garth from last year.  I love this picture of them, it's on our fridge!

Ava wasn't feeling well today so I stayed home AGAIN!  She slept for 5 hours this afternoon, poor thing!  She is going back to school tonorrow and I am going back to work!  I bet I have aboout 100 emails and phone messages, it will be crazy but I HAPPY to be feeling better finally!!

Today I am thankful for our siblings-Graig has two brothers, Gary and Garth, and I have one sister, Shelby.!!

Happy Wednesday!

Thankfulness

Well I have been sick since Friday.  I still feel awful!  The doctor said I have an acute viral infection which means antibiotics don't work and I just have to rest and  drink lots of water to recover.  I am SO over sleeping and watching TV so today I looked a a few new blogs.  I feel like I never have enough time to visit all the great blogs out there and it was nice to spend some time looking through them.  I found one post that I LOVED and I that I am going to try to do this month. Katie said that her pastor's wife posted on her facebook page to write about one thing you are thankful for every day for the rest of the month.
 Isn't this a GREAT idea??  I don't think I'll post it on facebook but I do want to post it on my blog.  I have SO much to be thankful for and SO much of the time I focus on what I don't have or  what I hope to have someday that I forget all of the things I have now to be thankful for.  I have many, many blessings in my life. 
This past summer, one of my former students posted this as her status on facebook.  I liked the quote so much that I printed it out and put it in our kitchen so I can always see it.  I love Oprah and I think this is such a great quote, it's so true!
It says
"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more.  If you concentrate on what you don't have you will never, ever have enough."-Oprah

  I put it in my kitchen for two reasons 1) We are ALWAYS in there and 2) my kitchen is my LEAST favorite room in my whole house so this reminds me to concentrate on all the things in my life I am thankful for, like the fact that we own a home and I have a kitchen to hate-ha ha!
So I am going to do this challenge until Thanksgiving!  I am going to try to put this on the side of my blog so I can look back at all the things I am thankful for.

The biggest blessings and the two people that I am MOST  thankful for are Brock and Ava.  Being their Mom and watching them grow up has been the BIGGEST blessing of my life.  I am so thankful they are happy and healthy.  They are amazing and I am so happy that Graig and I are their parents!!  The time goes by SO fast I can't believe they are already 12 and 7,  I keep reminding myself to SLOW down and take everything in because in  just few years Brock will be going off to College! 

Have a great (and thankful!) Tuesday!

Paper Boy!

For the past few months Graig and I  have been talking about Brock getting his first job.  I know he's only 12 but Graig thinks it's important and I think it's a good idea too.   Graig grew up on a Dairy Farm and he got up early every morning to help with chores in the barns before school.  Since we don't live on a farm Graig wanted Brock to have an opportunity to earn money, and feel a sense of accomplishment from his work.  Graig is the HARDEST worker that I have ever met he LOVES working and has such a great work ethic that I agreed that it would be good for Brock to learn those skills now.  Today was his first day as a Paper Boy!  His route isn't in our neigborhood so Graig is going to drive him to the houses that he delivers to.   They dropped the papers off really early this morning. Graig and Brock got up at 5:30 to wrap the papers and get ready for their first day.  I am still sick as a dog but I got up to take a few pictures because I wanted to document this important day, the pictures aren't the best I hope to get some better ones when I am feeling better and Brock and Graig aren't so crabby-ha ha!

Of course Ava wanted to get up early too!  She actually went with them this morning, she loves her sleep so I don't think she will want to go evey morning.  Poor thing she hardly looks awake in this picture.  See the pictures in the background?  She helped fold them up. 

  
Graig and Brock on the move!  They put the papers in the green bin and away they went!   

Halloween Weekend

I had big plans for a fun and productive weekend.  I took Friday off because Brock and Ava had a day off of school.  I started feeling sick right before lunch on Friday and I just kept feeling worse and worse.  By the time Graig got home at 4 I felt miserable.  I slept all night Friday night and ALL day Saturday.  I didn't even go trick or treating with Brock and Ava last night :( Thank God for Grandma Jan she came over and helped Ava get ready and took her trick or treating last night.  After Trick or Treating Brock and Ava went to her house to spend the night.  This afternoon I finally went to the doctor,  he said it was just a bad viral infection and he said that I should feel better in a few days.  I HATE being sick, this has not been a good weekend!