Cookie Swap

Sunday night Kaylee and I hosted our 1st Annual Mother & Daughter Cookie Swap. We invited several of Kaylee's friends and their moms to our house for a cookie exchange and Christmas party. We ate yummy food and had fun exchanging presents with a little game. Each person brought 6 dozen cookies to exchange following strict guidelines on what was allowed, (I don't know anyone who would send out guidelines with an inviation do you?Especially not Eleven!) Then we all told about the cookies we brought to swap and took home a variety of delicious cookies.

14 different kinds of cookies were swapped. When the boys got home they were in heaven with all the cookies. There was almost a brawl over the peanut butter cookies with the hershey kisses on top.

Here are the girls exchanging their presents

Darla (David's sister), Toni (David's Mom), My Mom (aka Nana), Mia, Me and Kaylee
Enjoying yummy food!

Nana and Kaylee making a little frame that everyone got to take home. We used scrapbook papers and ribbon. Thanks to my cousin Amy for technical advice on the project.

A Star, A Star is burning in the night........

This may be the last year of our star tradition. Unless the kids quit growing or David can grow another arm. Neither of which sound appealing. Everyone always wants to be the "one" who gets to put the star on top. So, since Kaylee was born he's always held everyone while the star is put on. But it's just getting to Heavy. This year Kaylee did the ultimate honor. Although Zane had to give it a little push from the top. Next year will be Trent's turn. (I hope I can remember that)

Deck the Halls

Scenes from Monday's Decorating Night. Getting ready for Christmas.....

" Give me a red nose and call me Rudolph...."


Not sure if Zane is hanging ornaments or checking the transmission

Trent need a little "Booster"

Father & Son Cake Bake

We can do this!
Step Away from the Master!

We're Done, Let's EAT
Oh Yeah, Proper Gentlemen use Forks. Don't eat yet, it hasn't been judged
" Victory Is MINE!!!"
Zane's Boy Scout troop is raising money for a new Grand Prix track to race their pine wood derby cars. So this month they hosted a Father and Son Cake Bake. The cakes were judged and then raffled off. There were 35 cakes entered and Zane came away with the ribbon for Most Unique. He and David were very proud.

Caps to the Capital

My Bible Study leader made us aware of a movement that could possibly save newborns in developing countries. I did a little research and printed out the pattern a few days ago. Yesterday I wasn't feeling so well (allergies, sinus) so I decided to give it a shot. While I was crocheting David passed by me and said, "Hey, Granny!" My Granny is 94 and still crochets. (I pray I am crocheting at 94). Here are my results.

I am pretty pleased with them seeing as I haven't crocheted in quite sometime other than those beaded socks. (The purple one looks a little lopsided but it's really round, I promise)

It didn't take to long to construct so I think I'll make several more. I would like to also make some to send to the orphanage where Mia spent her first days. I have heard winter is a very hard time because the orphanages don't have heat.
If you knit or crochet here is the Info on the Caps if you would like to participate. www.savethechildren.org
"After Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers 2006 report highlighted simple, low-cost practices that could save newborn lives — like warming their heads with a knit or crochet cap —It is estimated that Four million newborns die each year within the first month of life. Half within the first 24 hours of life."

Little Miss Muffett

Little Miss Muffett
Sat on her Tuffett
All the way to school
But when along came the spider
that sat down beside her
She cried, "Mom it's scary! Not COOL"

So after the spider scavenger hunt successfully accomplished by Dad, Kaylee annouced she didn't like it. Frankly, it was a little scary looking. It was very big and very hairy. But I pinned it on her anyway and off to school she went.
At 8:30 when we arrived for the parade she made it out the door fine but when she saw me the tears began to flow. She wouldn't tell me what the problem was and finally I asked if it was the spider. "YES" it was the spider. So we un-pinned Little Miss Muffett's spider and the rest of the day was wonderful......

Fun Day at the Park

Most Wednesdays we meet with other moms and kids and have some type of outing. Today we visited a new park in the area. I had heard it was really nice but it is also really HUGE. The kids had a great time running and playing. We stayed about 3 hours and had a picnic lunch while we were there. If you look up "Bliss" in the dictionary this picture may be next to the definition. These swings were like mini-recliners suspended with chains.

He Shoots..... He Scores

Today was the last day for Upward Soccer. Trent finished the season well. Until today he had not made a goal for his team. But apparently he felt the pressure and came through with a hard kick and scored his first and only goal for the season.
Zane realized this morning that this would be the last game and gave him a little pep talk about "trying real hard and maybe you'll get a goal!" I guess the talk paid off

Pumpkin Carving

Everyone picked out a small little pumpkin to carve. It was a lot of fun getting all the "yuck" of of the middle. The kids did a great job of carving faces on to their pumpkins.




Who knew cats actually like raw pumpkin. Can you tell in the picture that Zane is feeding her off the spoon?

What do you DO all day?

A day in the life.... While this is not all that wonderful of an account but it gives some insight into life with 4 kids.

12:31 fall into bed
6:20 Child #1 wakes BEFORE the alarm even goes off
6:21 Get up, spend some Quiet Time before the day begins
6:40 Child #2 Wakes
6: 50 Child #4 Wakes
Breakfast, Clothes, Backpacks
Wake up Child #3 - Load the Car
Pick up Friend 1 and Friend 2
8:05 arrive back home from dropping off "load" at school
8:10 fix breakfast watch 5 min of Today show... Decide I don't need this season's fashion must haves......really where will I wear my little black dress and red pumps?
8:30 decide to make a Target run... All $1 spot stuff is .25.... need things for Awana mart...(I'm the official shopper, yipeee finally a job I like.... spend other people's money on "great" bargains)
Remember need blue jeans for Zane and Kaylee - acquire successfully
10:30 Stop off at Sam's to look at Christmas merchandise, kids eat slice of pizza, partake of salted pretzel and coke icee
11:15 Start thinking- Dinner? Start Craving ROAST.... Got to have ROAST... it's been too long
11:25 Acquire Roast and few other grocery items
12:30 Put child #4 down for nap.. Put child #3 in bed with a movie, join him for 15min. siesta
1:50 Call friend to pick up child #2 because child #4 is not awake
2:35 change child #2 into dance clothes, load car, drive to dance lesson
4:00 Friend brings Child #1 home and leaves her daughter here
Play outside with Friends and Neighbors 1 - 5. Nine kids in front yard (LOVE IT!*)
5:55 Friend picks up daughter and neighbors return home
6:00 Go inside to check roast in slowcooker, Finish up dinner
7:30 Start baths, homework
7:35 Help Child #1 on Texas Governor Election project (try to decide were my ballot will be cast)
8:45 Children 1 - 4 Successfully in bed.... Send husband on scavenger hunt for big rubber spider(needed for Child #2 Miss Muffett costume, 8 a.m. Tomorrow)
9:04 Three Baskets of Clothes await in Living room with one new episode of Survior


* Absolutley love having all those kids playing here today. We have waited for so long to have kids in the neighborhood to play with. 3 news families have moved in within the last year so it's finally beginnning to happen.

Personal Accomplishment for Day - Roast was good but Finally succeeded in successful gravy making. (Almost) Just like Mom's

9:19 Husband returns with Spider

Eat All we can, Sell the rest

For some time now we have wanted to visit the Blue Bell Factory in Brenham, TX. But it was never a good day. Especially since the tours are only given on week days. The factory is closed on the weekends. So, this past Friday was a Teacher inservice day and the kids were off school. We took a drive out to the Blue Bell Factory. (it's about 2 hours from our house) Cameras weren't allowed on the tour so I don't have any behind the scenes photos. We got to see 2 rooms where they were making the ice cream and then filling the containers. It was an awesome sight to see how fast they can fill each of the 1/2 gallon containers. Each production line can make 54 1/2 gallons a minute. We saw Sugar Free Vanilla Bean, Strawberry banana and Strawberry in one room. Blue Bell usues the milk from 500,000 cows every day. All the cows are withing a 200 mile radius of the factory. Probably the most fascinating for me was seeing the ice cream sandwiches being made. They can make 120 sandwiches a minute. They load cookies in 2 different areas and then squirt the ice cream between the 2 and wrap it and it's in a box within seconds. I'll never look at an ice cream sandwich the same again.
After the tour we were treated to a sample of ice cream. We could pick from 24 different flavors. I chose home made vanilla, Zane had Choc. Chip cookie dough, Mia chose Banana Pudding and I don't remember the others. This may have been the highlight portion of the tour.
(Kaylee spent the weekend with Nana and Paw Paw)
And YES the workers are allowed to eat as much ice cream as they want. We took a peak in the break room and saw people mostly eating chips but there was one guy reading the paper and having a mini-moo bar.

Costume Party

David's sister Darla invited all the family over for a Costume Party. The instructions were that EVERYONE dress up. Including the adults. So not only did I have to get 4 costumes the correct size we had to come up with ones of our own. Now I am not opposed to dressing up and enjoy it somewhat but the choices for adult women are downright scary. I am not into witches, and mystical stuff so my choices became even more scarce. After deciding that even though your family is suppose to love you no matter what, I just didn't feel comfortable showing up in the french maid or catholic school girl costume. So, I opted for a cheap but effective butterfly costume with matching metallic blue eyelashes. (see pic)David's costume was equally as challenging. I located a cheap Sumo Wrestler costume and finally had him talked into wearing it. The kind that has the motor and blower inside, but by the time I checked again it had already been sold, and I wasn't paying the big bucks at party city for a new one. So he sported the ever fashionable pirate costume (hand made by moi)
Zane wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy football player. Easy enough and he looked pretty good in the uniform. A little scary for me seeing my ten year old "baby" looking so mature.
Kaylee opted for the classic Snow White. No dwarfs behind her, even though I tried to convice Zane we could each be one. But he and I fought over Sneezy so we knew it was a moot point.
Trent wanted Batman. His costume was so cute, even had the fiber optic light show on his chest. He loved it and wore the whole costume most of the night.
I asked Mia what character she would like to be. I tried to talk her in to being Dora. But she thought a minute and said "I be Elmo." The child had never even seen an Elmo costume but apparently she understood the concept well enough to make an informed decision. So we found the cute little Elmo costume.
We had a great time at Aunt Darla's costume party. The kids looked forward to it for weeks. Kaylee was the most excited about bobbing for apples. We also had a cake walk and there were tons of treats and food for everyone to enjoy. The popcorn balls were a big hit with kids young and old.

She's B A C K

So technically the cat never left. But during the three week stomach flu ailment we realized the cat had a severe flea problem. I couldn't handle all the stomach stuff and the fleas at the same time so the cat was banished to the outdoors. I tried using some flea spray and liquid medicine from Petsmart but we could not get it under control. Kaylee has really wanted Molly back inside with her so I asked around and found out you can have a cat flea dipped. When I talked with the groomer she said this is an option but only after the cat has a bath. I thought, " I am NOT giving the cat a bath." She informed me that she gives the cat a bath. "Whew!" So off we went to the groomer for a bath and flea dip. She smelled much nicer afterward and even felt a little softer. We started her on Advantage flea medicine the next day. So far so good.... Haven't seen a flea yet. And Kaylee is ecstatically happy to have Molly back in the house.

Ode to Debbie

I have a friend in Las Vegas named Debbie. Her son, Grant, and Zane were best friends there. Several days a week we would walk across the street to her apartment and let the boys play on the playground. Every time she would bring a big tub of birdseed. She had all kinds of little toys to play with in the birdseed. If they spilled the seed it didn't matter and it was much easier to get off the kids than sand. The kids thought it was a grand idea. Fast forward six years, I was walking through Wal-Mart and saw a huge bag of birdseed so I purchased it for the kids. It has been a big hit for the past few weeks. And the squirrels have enjoyed the sunflower seeds out of it as well.

Soccer Star

Trent started his first "official" sport this season. And yes you can call Soccer a sport. He is having such a great time kicking and trying to get to the ball. We've noticed he's become increasingly aggressive but at least he's not afraid to "get in the mix." His team name is the Marlins and his coach is his biggest fan. Of course it's, David.

The Grocery Game

Some friends of mine told me because I am so frugal(I know they meant cheap) I should be doing the grocery game. So I tried it. At first I didn't see many results but after some planning the game is really starting to "pay off" The game works like this. There is an on-line listing of the week's specials for each area's local supermarkets. The game pairs the items on sale with coupons that have been in past newspapers. Sometimes two months ago. So you have to start by collecting multiple sets of coupon booklets and then save them until needed. The web-site makes a weekly list and tells you when the coupon ran, how much the item is on sale for and your final price. Sometimes the item ends up being free. Two weeks ago was my best value yet. But I didn't think to take a picture of it so it's not as much fun to see. So I will tell you how I did this week.
6 bags of Bugles .50 each
6 Listerine Breath fresheners FREE
2 cans of Manwich sauce .40 each
3 Schick Quattro Razors with 4 refills 1.74 each
2 rolls of Scott Paper towels .60 each
4 Campbells soup at hand .25 each
4 Campbells soup bowls .25 each
1 box of Totinos Pizza Rolls FREE
4 Tubes of Aqua Fresh Tooth paste .25 each
Zatarains Jamabalya FREE
2 Cans of Peanuts 1.00 each
5 12 packs of A&W 2.00 each
Softsoap FREE

Grand Total $25.22 Considering I spent $10 on Rootbeer, I think I did pretty well. Not every week has such treasures but it's fun to hunt for them. If you are considering trying the grocery game make sure to tell them I referred you. I use the email sew4me1973@yahoo.com
www.thegrocerygame.com You can get a 4 week free trial. But I recommend saving coupons for at least 4 weeks before you try the free trial. It works much better that way and you will see results. Good Luck and let me know if you become a fellow Gamer!

LOL (Laugh Out Loud)

Who needs a "Tickle me Elmo" when you can have a real live "Tickle me Rocket?"

Crabs Anyone?

This summer we went crabbing not once but twice. The most recent being this past labor day weekend. For those of you who don't know the crabbing technique it can be really tricky. There are several crucial steps to take in order to make crabbing a success.

1. Drive to the grocery store and find the cheapest pieces of raw meat. (This usually turns out to be Chicken necks. Yes, in Louisiana they sell a whole pack of just chicken necks)
2. Pile in the car at 6:00 a.m. Drive to designated crabbing spot. (Literally the side of a road where you just pull over, Sometimes you see other people and say," Hey they look like they're catching something let's stop here)
3. Tie chicken necks to a long piece of cotton string. Throw the neck into the ditch, I mean body of water.
4. Wait, Wait, Wait...... Feel something nibbling..... Pull in the line
S L O W
5. Gain the assistance of fellow crabber to help with the net. (This step can be done solo but if you have help they get to share in the victory as well)
6. Pull the net up and HOLLER "I GOT ONE" or two if you're extra lucky.....

Now this may seem a little primitive and I guess it is. It's one of those things you can actually see your forefathers doing in order to survive. However they probably didn't drive the kids an hour south in the car with a DVD player and pull up in the swap in a SUV.

Still, there is great satisfaction in "catching" your own supper. We took the crabs back to Nana's House and boiled them that evening. The first time we went the crabs were much bigger than last weekend. Probably because it was earlier in the season. But the size doesn't matter it's the fun that counts. We had a couple of gator sightings along the way. They were actually right along the road both times unfortunatley (or fortunatley) they were dead. Victims of a hit and run. The alligators actually live in the ditches that you crab in. It seems like when I was a kid I saw a lot more gators there. Makes me wonder if it has something to do with the hurricanes.
We had a great time and I had not done this since I was a kid. During Labor Day we went crabbing with our Aunt Joyce, my cousin Amy and her son Gabe. Gabe is Kaylee's age and it was so fun to watch Kaylee and Gabe actually catch a crab together. Just the two of them. The other fun thing to watch was when Amy(who is my age) FELL into the water. She lost her flip flop in the mud but David came to the resuce with a net and found it. She provided much entertainment for the morning.

Adnoids, Flu and a not so royal Princess

This week was suppose to have played out totally different. Last week Trent saw an ENT doctor for his snoring. Zane and Kaylee kept telling me he snored "Really LOUD" But it wasn't until our summer vacation when we all slept in the same room together that I realized they were not exaggerating. He can really raise the roof. The doctor says that he needs his adnoids removed and his tonsils are large for his age so might as well remove those at the same time to avoid problems in the future. The surgery was set for Tuesday but due to some insurance issues I had to postpone the surgery for a couple weeks. It turned out to be a good thing...

About 30minutes after postponing the surgery I began to feel tired, achey and feverish. My temperature went from normal to 102 in an hour. I had horrible chills, uncontrollable shaking and had to crawl up the stairs. David arranged for our wonderful friend Emily to watch Mia and Trent while he took me to the doctor. But there was just one problem, I couldn't stand up. Finally the fever broke enough that I was able to get to the doctor's office. I was sure there was something VERY seriously wrong with me and he told me "You have the FLU" "Really? the FLU in August?" Apparently it happens. I was relieved but then disappointed because you just have to ride out the flu. OR so I thought......

He gave me a prescription for Tamiflu. It doesn't cure the flu but lessens the symptoms dramatically. This stuff is close to a miracle drug. But it only works if you catch it within the first 36 hours. So it's a good thing I went when I did.

The Grandmas arrived on the scene late that evening to help out with the kids. David had a presentation to do in San Antonio the next day so they took control of the situation. Which leads me to the princess portion. One of my wonderful friends informed me that to have this much help at such short notice entitles me to the title of a princess. At this moment I don't feel like so much of a princess and I can tell you I defintely have not been looking like a princess but I do have to agree that I have wonderful family and friends. And like Kaylee's T-shirt says... "Yes, I am a Princess, my father is the King of Kings."

Mia's Bear

Last year our friends the Davis' gave Mia a gift card to Build a Bear. I wanted to wait until she was old enough to pick out her own bear. So we took a trip to BAB last week. She picked out her bear and a cute little pink velour outfit for it to wear. The bear even got underwear..... 3 years ago while we were on vacation in San Antonio the other kids had gotten to experience "bear making." So, Kaylee and Trent had fun helping Mia get her bear ready to go home.

Introducing Molly the Kitten

Q: What happens when you take 4 kids to the feed store, when someone has just abandoned a bunch of kittens?
A: You end up bringing one home.

I have always been somewhat of a cat person. So when they all asked in unison, "Mommy can we please?" It wasn't a real hard sell. Of course it had to cleared by Dad. So they spent the next 24 hours in negotations with Dad. The real clencher was when Zane made a top 10 list of reasons we NEED a cat. #10 was, if we don't it will be homeless. So off we went the next day to pick up the kitten and all the needed supplies.
She really is cute and seems pretty durable. With 4 kids taking 15 minute turns holding her. I don't think she was put down for the first 3 days except to sleep. Rocket seems OK with her, just likes to smell her and she's OK with him. We couldn't come up with a name so we did an internet search and ran across the top 20 cat names. Zane read through them and liked Molly. It reminded me of the Black Molly tropical fish.

One year reunion

It's hard to believe it's been a year since we returned home from China. To mark the occassion we gathered in Tennessee with several of the other families to have a reunion. 7 families made it and there were 26 of us total. We rented an8 bedroom cabin and spent 3 days in the mountains.

We tried to get a group shot but we had exactly 2 seconds before the tears began to flow and they began bolting from the couch. Pictured above are: Christa, Rebekah, Mia, Juliana, Mia C, Grace, Tenley



One of our outings for the reunion was to an exotic petting zoo. The kids had fun holding and feeding the goats and animals. There were deer, camels, zebras, Zonkies, and peacocks .
We had a great time and even spent a few extra days in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg. David and Zane rode the "Wild Wooly" It was a 3 story go cart track with Go-carts that go 40 mph. We also played a little Hillbilly Golf and went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg. We even saw a shark fight in one of the tanks. It was the highlight of the aquarium for the kids.