A Halloween Party......

Since the older 3 are kinda past the whole Trick -or - Treating ages they opted to have a party.... and Jed had gotten so much candy from Trunk - or Treat after services on Sunday they he was fine not going out as well.....

So, here is the house getting ready for the party.....



You know you have to have a creepy spider web....



The hallway was full of ghosts.....


Mia found a string of skelatons and decided she needed the "dead men" to hang from her bedroom door.......



Jed was decked out and ready for some fun!



And we had a food spread fit for any ghost or goblin to enjoy!




We had about 35 come to our party..... it was lots of fun and we plan on doing it again this next year..... who knows we may have even more to come!

Jack-o-Lanterns anyone?

Here is the other artwork project we did for Halloween..... even Jed joined in the fun!





















The kids all had a great time...... somehow in all the fuss I did not get a final shot of all their finished pumkins but I know a friend of ours did... I will ask if she can get them to us soon!

Some Halloween Artwork...

So, we saw this really cute project in a magazine and thought we would try it out for some Art Class....


First we had an old broken hulla-hoop and strung a cheap string of vine leaves around it and secured it with some floral wire....



Then we added some cheap flower pics the same way...



After that we wrapped the wires and hulla-hoop with floral tape then spray painted the whole thing with black spray paint..... very Halloweenie ...... for a dash of purple color we sprayed it after it had dried with some of the purple hair color.....




Then after it was all dry.... we got out the hot glue gun and added eyes all around ........



Here is the final outcome...... it was a big hit. Everyone could not believe we had made it ourselves.....

Gonna post some back data...

Okay, I like that I can post and date the post for when I want them posted.... postdate or predate. So today I will post several (this being the first) that are dated for last week...... so no, you have not missed anything....

Wednesday's Word

1Th 4:14-18 (NLT) For since we believe that Jesus died and was raised to life again, we also believe that when Jesus comes, God will bring back with Jesus all the Christians who have died. I can tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not rise to meet Him ahead of those who are in their graves. For the Lord Himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the call of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, all the Christians who have died will rise from their graves. Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and remain with Him forever. So comfort and encourage each other with these words.


What an image. Jesus coming to take us home. To take all of us (His children) home, whether we are passed on from these mortal bodies or are still working in this world! May we as Christians never lose sight of this promise. Just think of it... leaving this world just as Jesus did..... through Him for He is the key. It will be Jesus that calls us home, it will be through Jesus that we are set free from this world, just as it is through Jesus that we are added to the family of God. How can you not be excited upon hearing this? But look that is not all....

Php 3:20-21 (NLT) But we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are eagerly waiting for Him to return as our Savior. He will take these weak mortal bodies of ours and change them into glorious bodies like His own, using the same mighty power that He will use to conquer everything, everywhere.

Wow! Did you read that.... Jesus will take the mortal body of each of His followers and transform it into a glorious body like His very own! We as Christians have a destiny of transformation, not decay. And that is why we that belong to Jesus Christ are eagerly waiting for Him to return. Just think on it..... how eagerly would you be waiting on a dear loved on you have not seen in a year..... how much more so are you awaiting your Lord and Savior to come and take you away from all the pain, suffering, and death of this world to our home were there will be no more of these things, for we will be in the presence of God Almighty and partakers of each promise He has given.

A busy day that ended with Trunk or Treat....

Well, today was full of things to do..... we got up and went off to services, then came home and ate lunch at Eric's parents house (a combined birthday lunch for me and my brother-in-law since our Birthdays were both this month), then I took Travis and Mia to the church building to help decorate for Fall Festival. After getting the decorations done we had to film the Storyline for Lads to Leaders/Leaderettes ...... then it was time for evening services. ......... Can we say.... a long day!


Tonight after services several in our congregation gathered in our parking lot to pass out treats to the children .....the kids love it!!!

here is one of our elders getting a fright....lol


ooohhhh..... a ghost!

Jed is getting some treats from Aunt Heather.....

Travis is helping to pass out candy..... and sampling some too!

But we really know were all the candy went.... LOL! (could not help myself David)


Good night all out there in blogland!

Good Sunday Morning....

It is just before 7 AM this morning and I wanted to give a run down of the last couple of days.....

Friday, Travis and Mia got up and I took them to the local park to judge the shuffleboard tournament for the seniors that were competing with area Senior Centers. It was a good day for them and the seniors loved to have them help. (They are planning on volunteering for the Senior Games coming up in January.)

Friday afternoon found us with company, one of Amaris' friends came to spend the night.. they have had a blast this weekend. Mia wanted to join her cousins in going over to the Ethridge Youth Rally to enjoy both days of the rally (we took some of the youth group yesterday) , so we let her go. The rest of Friday evening was spent with the kids watching a movie and just spending time together. Mia got home from the youth rally just after 11 PM and said that it was very good and that the speaker had gone over time but that he was so good she didn't even notice.



Up early for us on Saturday morning. Eric was driving the church van to the Youth Rally..... we left at around 7:30 AM ... there were 8 of us all together. The theme this year was "Decision 08" and although the speaker was a State Representative it was not a politically charged theme.... rather it was a day of talking about the decisions we must make as Christians. The speaker, TN State Rep. John DeBerry,(who is also the minister of the Coleman Ave Church of Christ) had a way of drawing everyone into what he had to say and keeping you ready for the next words. He joked at one point during the day that he could not see the clock at the back of the building.... but that was okay, he would talk until he was done anyway. The day did run long but no one minded... everyone was having such a wonderful time. By the time we got back home it was dinner time..... I was so tired that we opted to go out for pizza. (Yeah!)

The rest of the evening was spent with the kids, watching a bit of t.v. and Eric working on the announcements for this morning's services.

What do ya'll think?

I am starting to put together a price notebook and gathering all my information and recipes down to perhaps start a local class on being more frugal, cheap meal ideas, and living on a more simple budget..... and I thought I would start using my Friday Fixin's posts to start with some recipe ideas..... what do ya'll think?

Well, let's see.....

between homeschooling now 3 children, rearranging my house to better suite the teaching of 3 children and the function of things around here in general, staying extremely busy with the running of my house, keeping up with a 2 year old and the family down with the sickies.... I have just let my blog suffer! Goodness! But things will hopefully be better in the next few days and I plan on being back on here in full swing again! I have a few new ideas to incorporate on here and in our life in general so I hope ya'll stay tuned for what I have brewing in my head!

Can it be ....9 days since I posted last? Goodness!

Well, I promise to be back later in the day to get back in a good routine on my posts and to tell you all about my last few days!

A run down of the last few days....

Let's see..... Saturday we woke and spent the day at Oktoberfest here ..... basically a huge weekend of yard sales, art and craft venders, all kinds of food, music, a car show, and lots of people and lots of traffic for our small town. I didn't really find anything that I just *had* to have (well, except for the giant blooming onion) so I didn't really buy much. Just enjoyed the day!

Sunday was just a normal Sunday around here..... a few meetings, some things to take care of but over all a nice relaxing day.

Today the kids have done a good days worth of class and I worked on getting the kitchen in order, and have spent some time on here today as well. Dinner was a quick dinner of noodles and sauce and now Mia is making some homemade cookies for later. And I am here waiting for Chuck to come on the TV..... it is the only show that is on nowadays that I find interesting.

Well, that about does it for me this day..... after Chuck I plan on straightening up a bit and head for bed.

Friday's Fixins ~ Gooey Butter Cake

1 (18.25-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 stick butter, softened (1/2 cup)
2 large eggs
Preheat oven to 350*F (175*C).

Mix cake mix, butter and eggs together. Spread in well greased and floured 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. (This is a bit sticky....I butter my fingers and press the batter in the pan.)

1 (1-pound) package powdered sugar (4 cups)
2 large eggs
1 (8-ounce) package of cream cheese, softened

Additional powdered sugar for sprinkling

1. Beat eggs and cream cheese together. Mix in powdered sugar. Spread mixture over cake mix.

2. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool and sprinkle powdered sugar over the top.(Optional)
   

This is a very sweet and rich cake. And one that is made only rarely!

Another year older.....

Today is my birthday. I am 35 as of today. Wow..... has it really been 35 years? Goodness.

Today was spent just as any normal day around here.... kids doing school, I got some laundry done, and we had a nice dinner..... and for dessert.....

Gooey Butter Cake that Mia made for me......mmmmmmmhhhmmmmmmm ....... it was sooo good!

Yearly Health Exams....

The kids yearly health exams were today..... all is well. Amaris is now on some allergy medications and so is Mia (for a bit) to help clear up some sinus and drainage problems..... Travis is still seeing the lung specialist in December but otherwise is doing fine. And Jed has to go back this next week for another checkup on something but otherwise looks to be fine. A good (and fairly fast) doctor visit.

Catching up....

I am trying to catch up on housework, laundry, and now the kids in homeschool.... we took last week off while Eric and I looked at the Robinson curriculum to decide if it was what we wanted to try ...... so this week we are back in full swing.

Our weekend was another busy one.... a trip to the ER (Mia got hurt at a friend's house and thought she had broken her collar bone..... not broken.... just very sore) , a busy Saturday, and a very busy Sunday.

Today I am working on laundry, and cleaning/tidying up. It is supposed to rain the rest of the week so I am hoping to get most if not all of the laundry caught up........

Well, I'm off......

Hugs!

Wednesday's Word ~ prudence

I want to share something that happened to me yesterday and thoughts on the event....

In the early afternoon yesterday I asked the kids to take some scraps out and put them in the garden (Eric will be tilling it up soon) but since Ripley (our dog) like any dog would have gone out and ate them I had told them not to let him out ( I don't like for him to eat the scraps) ...... anyway, a bit later he was all upset and standing by the door like he needed to go to the bathroom and as I was reaching for his collar to let him out on his line he slipped by me and got out..... I was not happy. So, I chase after him.... he in turns starts to run..... now I am getting angry because he is not listening to me.... I round the corner to the end of the house (because now he is in the scraps) and start to yell at him to get out of the scraps.... about that time he sees Granny's dog going through our yard with a good sized piece of stale bread in her mouth to feast on back home so he takes off after her.... and I take off after him because I want him to listen to me..... at this point I am really angry as I walk through the hay field instead of going around it to save time......

..................... as I get up to Granny's house her dog finds her way into her dog house to feast alone and Ripley sees me coming so he makes his way into Granny's garden (and I don't go into her garden.... allergies and all) so I am standing on the edge of the garden yelling at the dog to come here! He is not cooperating ..... and I am even angrier by this time..... so, I take a deep breath and try another tactic.... I kneel down and call sweetly to him...... duh, here he comes...... just as I grab his collar.... I look down and what do I see.......... a snake has slided up to me out of the garden! Its less than a foot away and I am still kneeling down at this point! So, after a heart attack, scream and a jump that would rival any world record holder ...... all that in a mere nanosecond to boot..... I take off running in the opposite direction..... which just happens to be around the back of granny's house...... as I run around the back side of the house, Granny comes out laughing, (she has only seen me screaming at the dog) thinking that she has seen me do something silly..... but when I told her about the snake she was not so inclined to laugh any longer...... I didn't even take the time to see what kind of snake it was!

Later (after I had calmed down quite a bit) I got to thinking of my actions..... you know , that is how so many today get caught by Satan. We are so caught up in what we want, what is going on in the world, and forgetting to be cautious on our journey here. Just like me letting my guard down because of my anger of not being obeyed by the dog. I let myself become so wrapped up in one thing, that I forgot to watch out for the dangers of living on a farm.

Proverbs has so many warnings....

If I had just remembered some of these verses.....

Proverbs 14:16-17A (ESV)One who is wise is cautious and turns away from evil, but a fool is reckless and careless. (17) A man of quick temper acts foolishly........

Proverbs 22: 3 (ESV) The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.

(this must be something we need to take to heart.... for it is the same message as before....)

Proverbs 27: 12 (ESV) The prudent sees danger and hides himself, but the simple go on and suffer for it.


The lesson I have come away with is to never let my guard down. Watch out for the temptations to just go and not be ever cautious. Always put on the full armor of God when facing these temptations and to always look to Him as my refuge. Making prudence an every day, every moment habit.