Turkey time, dodgeball and alien mysteries.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  I love that there is no pressure of Christmas.  I love that it's in the Fall.  I just love it.  

We got to spend our weekend with my family in Roswell.  We had a blast!  It's always good to connect with each other and  remember why we love being together.

Tre baby is such a sweet boy.  I love that mini-man!

Baby cousins

The dudes

Beautiful mama and sister

Loulou and Weebies

Sweet girls

It was so good to be with my Grandma and Papa.  We got to celebrate Papa's 76th birthday.  He is a precious person to me and everyone else. 

We love our Grandma too.  So blessed to have our grandparents around.  I am thankful my children have gotten to know them.

Bro-in-law selfie!!!

Yes, these two are always this cute!

 

One of the highlights of the weekend was our Turkey-day dodge-ball game!  We had a couple of awesome families come and share in the competitive spirit.  It was just the thing we needed after feasting! 

There was one incident in which a certain husband decided to help his wife run faster by pushing her in mid-stride and saying, "GO FASTER!"  

It did not have the desired effect.  I fell.  I fell all the way down.  And while I was down, the other team so graciously pelted me with balls.  I even took one to the face.  It was memorable.

  

 One of the things Roswell is famous for is the supposed 1947 alien spaceship crash.  We have the privilege of my dad being best friends with the family who owns the crash site. 

So on Friday, we got the grand tour.  It was a beautiful hike.  My dad gave us a history lesson on the site.  It was interesting.

  On an even more historical and less crazy adventure, we hunted for arrowheads and pottery from the native campsites located in the area.   We found lots of chips from the making of the arrowheads but failed to find the real deal.  We got to keep a few treasures.  

It was such a wonderful time.  The kids loved being out and active. The adults had more fun than the kids with the archeology.  

 

 My 76-year-old Papa hung with the hunt all day long!  He was a science teacher in his younger days and currently, hunts artifacts with a group near his hometown.  This is something he is good at and loves to do.  He was able to identify some things we found. He is awesome.

Of course we had a picnic.  That may have been the highlight for the kids.  There is just something great about working up an appetite and then eating outside.

 

We feel blessed to have another Thanksgiving with so many things to be thankful for.  We realize that no day is promised.  We give glory to God and pray that we can honor him in all things big and small.  

Hope your holiday was fantastic!

Levi's Kinder PowWow

I have been to a few of these over the years.  They are always very cute and pretty funny.  The teachers work so hard to get 5 classes of Kindergarteners to sing and preform together. 

 It is almost a Thanksgiving miracle!

Micah was our stand-in during the pre-show to make sure our light was ok.  She is very shy. :) 

Here comes the star!  Weebies and the rest of his class.

We got several goofy-sweet smiles and lots of waves.

I love these little people.  One in particular.

If you ever meet a Kindergarten teacher, shake their hand.  They have a HARD job.  This lady amazes me.  She is a wonderful teacher and we are so blessed to have her.  Thank you Ms. Becca for surviving every day with a smile.  Levi loves school and I know that is because of you!

 

I just love Kinder group pictures.  There is so much going on here.  

This little man had his first speaking part in a performance.  He had to go up to the front and speak into a mic.  He did great! 

Good job Weebies!  We loved watching you.

Asher's birthday.

 So my son is 11.  I know Jolie has been there before him but somehow it is different with this one.  Jolie, being my oldest, has brought excitement with each milestone.  She is always the first one to do everything and wears the change so well.  So when she turned 13, I was excited to move on towards a new teenaged adventure.  

My feelings about my boy turning 11 are mixed.  While I am happy to see the sweet little man he is growing to be, I am realizing that my tiny boy will be completely transformed soon.  He has always been my buddy.  He and I have a special bond.  We look alike, we like the same things, we just connect with each other. 

This guy growing up is going to be hard on me.  I am seeing more of his need for independence.  I am seeing his ability to take care of business.  I am seeing him not need his mama quite so much anymore.

I can get sad if I think too much about it.  But God is good and He reminds me that this is the point of my job.  It would be wrong to ask Asher to stay my little boy forever.  Him growing into an independent man who can take care of business is my goal.

One day my sweet baby boy will love another woman.  He will give her his sweet smiles and he will tell her all of his dreams.  He will protect her and love her, he will live for her.  

I pray that his years with me prepare him well for that day.

But right now, I am going to enjoy each and every one of his growing years.  Asher buddy, I love you with all of my heart.  Happy birthday!

 The request for a cake was chocolate cake with white icing.  I used a sheet cake recipe with vanilla icing and topped that with crushed Oreos.  It wasn't too bad.  I can never find my candles for birthdays so I always resort to whatever I can find.

The crew enjoying cake time!

I think this child lives with us too.  

Such sweet, sweet boys.

Our teenagers.  Too cool for the group but not too cool for the  cake. (or bunny ears.)

This is my life.

And, so is this.  

We had a total of 9 boys for this party.  They were fantastic!  They all had fun and enjoyed being together.  That is special for sure.

Special and a little frightening. hahahaha

Just a little update. Still not done.

We still have quite a bit to do.  Backsplash, vent hood, pantry construction.  The list could really go on and on.  Matt always says, all we need is more time and more money.  Well, we will just have to make due with little time and little money.

 

So far we have gone from here... 

 

 

To here...

At least we are not here anymore!



Some loveliness.

 

I am really trying to learn as much as possible about fermentation.  This is a delicious way to learn.

 

Fermented peppers keep all of the pepper flavor that the vinegar of pickled peppers covers up.  They also retain more of their nutrition.  One of the main benefits of fermentation is that it makes the nutrients more readily available to the body during digestion. These are jalapeños and mexi-bells.

 

 Sauerkraut!  This has been fermenting for a little over a week.  I tasted it and it is still a bit salty and not sour enough so I am going to leave it for a week or 2 more.  YUM!

This is my second ferment (2f) kombucha.  I flavored the ones on the left with grape juice which is supposed to give lots of fizz.  The ones on the right I used sour cherry and ginger.  I can't wait to taste!  I was so excited to find a use for my cracked crock.  This works out great!  Now if I have a bottle explode, it will be contained.   

I was able to set up a KT (kombucha tea) brewing station.  These are my 2 CWs (continuous brews.)  Under that are the extra bottles.  We use mostly empty Grolsch beer bottles; don't ask me how they got empty. :)  This is the cheapest way we have found to get sturdy flip-top bottles that we are sure aren't contaminated glass.  They help get some great fizz!

 

I have started sprouting seeds now that a lot of our garden has stopped producing.  This is such a great way to get some freshness and nutrition.  It is super easy too!  Here is a good link for info  and a sprouting chart!

 

I have a jar obsession.  I just do.  This was my grandmothers.

And these are just because...

 



 

Kinder Pumpkin Patch Trip

Levi had his Kinder trip to the pumpkin patch.  He had been talking about it for weeks and was so happy to be going!  Micah was also happy because she got to tag along.