Give Thanks

"O give thanks unto the Lord;call upon his name, make known His deeds among the people."
Psalm 105:1

Today I am thankful for so much. This is a small list I have compiled during the month. God has blessed me way beyond anything I could have ever asked. So today I give Him Thanks for who He is and all that he provides.(these are in no particular order:)

God providing my every need and most of my wants.

Our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq

Getting to spend the day with family

Gas for $1.87 a gallon

getting to cook Thanksgiving dinner with my mama

my daddy helping me buy a tire

walks at the park

Ruthie singing happy birthday to me(so sweet)

Lori and Giny babysitting

Having coffee with Dave and walking around Target

having a November birthday(its such a fun time of year to be born:)

hot coffee on a cold day

the sound of the kids singing

firewood

my bible

a few hours by myself

Dave working two jobs so I can be home with the kids

smilebox

piano lessons

good friends

candles that make my house smell sweet

nights when we are all home

Christmas crafts

rainy days at home

Charlie the dog

our little schoolroom

Handwriting Without Tears(Abby is writing in cursive beautifully)

Erin and her silkie

Abby's smile

Samuel's cute face

the time change( I love when it gets dark early)

Starbucks Coffee

a warm, cozy bed

cool weather

Christmas Music(96.5 is already playing it)

Grace Fellowship

the beautiful fall colors.

the Internet

a good nights sleep

my sisters

a sovereign God

Cable News

Saxon Math

freedom

Dave, Abby, Erin, & Samuel

Decking the Swinney Halls

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

sharing the computer

"Are you almost done?"

"I was fixing to get on that"

"Aw its my turn"

"Mama, she knew I was about to get on the computer"

"Mama can you get me on Playhouse Disney?" Samuel

This is a lot of the conversation I hear throughout the day. It seems every time I get on the computer the kids heckle me until I get off. I guess I will have to come up with a schedule for the kids. Dave never has to deal with this because he has a laptop. I really need a laptop. Maybe I should write a note to Santa this year and ask for one. :) I don't mind the kids getting on the computer, but they seem to rearrange things when they are on here. I can't figure out how they got my screen like this. I am a little annoyed. I will have to get Dave down here to fix this problem.

OK enough mindless rambling. We are putting our Christmas tree up today!!! Yay!! The kids are excited. Me too! We will not start until tonight but the kids wanted to do their schoolwork last night so they did not have to go to school today. So we started at 5:00pm and completed today's work by 7:00pm. Then we cleaned their rooms. So today is a free day. Actually the kids are going to school with Dave at 12:30. They love his students. He is working on Christmas music and the kids wanted to go hear the band. So that gives me the afternoon to myself. Not sure what I'll do yet. I am always thankful for a few hour all to myself. Anyway, I'll post pictures of our Christmas decorations later.

The twins

Today Lori and Giny turn 29. I was almost five when they were born and I thought they were my new dolls to play with. I turned five the week after they were born and Tracy was 20 months old when they were born. They were very little weighing only 3 and 4 pounds...I think. Mama did not know she was having twins until she delivered Lori and they told her there was another one....that would be Giny. I can remember Daddy saying "4 girls what am I gonna do." But what would we have done without them? They both are married and have little babies of their own now. Most of their life they have been referred to as "the twins". So Happy Birthday Twins. I love you.

Love this Smilebox!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

ramblings about the holidays

I'm getting ready for the holidays. The cold air this weekend is really making me ready. Living in Alabama its not always cold for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I can remember actually wearing shorts on Christmas day. But it just doesn't feel like Christmas unless its cold. I love this time of year. I have so many good memories of the holidays. One of my favorite memories is of Thanksgiving day, the drive to Cullman, and how beautiful the interstate was with the fall colors. I still think about that drive every year when I see the first fall colors. I rode with my Grandaddy sometimes(we went to Cullman for Thanksgiving every year). I miss him. He would really be looking forward to the holidays. But he would especially be loving this Alabama football season. I want our kids to have good memories of family time. One tradition we started several years ago was putting our Christmas tree up the week before Thanksgiving. We mark that day on the calendar and nothing else can be scheduled for that day. We put all of our decorations up, inside and out, listen to Christmas music, watch Christmas movies, and drink hot chocolate. Anything to get in the Christmas spirit. Getting this done the week before Thanksgiving frees us to shop shop shop the day after Thanksgiving! We are having dinner with our home group tonight so I better go bake.....more on my love of the season later!

Easy Fudge

I am always looking for easy recipes. I like recipes with 5 or less ingredients. I got an email the other day for this recipe. it looked so easy that I tried it......I really tried it because I thought there is no way this could be good. But I was wrong, it was great. It forms hard and is easy to cut into perfect squares. I think it would be good to cut with cookie cutters for the holidays. It looks like the fudge you get in Gatlinburg (that's what my sister said). Anyway, this is it:

Icing

a bag of morsels

Put the two ingredients in a microwavable dish, cook for 20 seconds. Stir and repeat until melted. Pour into a greased dish to harden.

The icing can be any brand, Store Bought Icing not homemade. Really!

I tried vanilla icing with Reese's peanut butter morsels. You can use any variation of icing and morsels. I am going to add nuts next time.

I love an easy recipe. So if you decide to try it let me know how it goes.

My baby turns 6

OK. I have been thinking about this for a while. Today Samuel turned 6. I do not have a baby anymore. Why does that make me sad? I'm really not sure. I have noticed him growing in little ways over the last few months. Today at 10:17 we sang happy birthday and he had a Sonic chocolate shake. We went to eat a Cracker Barrel for Dinner and we will top off the night with a jump on the trampoline and the latest Indiana Jones movie. ( the girls of course will be watching the new American Girl movie)

I have many wishes for him. I pray that he will be a godly young man. I want him to love Jesus above all else. I hope he is kind to his friends(and sisters). I hope he is respectful to me and his Daddy. I hope he always knows how much I love him. Happy Birthday Buddy.

Samuel's Birthday Party

Make a Smilebox photobook

Electoral College

Tonight I took the opportunity to teach the kids about the electoral college. A few months ago I ordered the School House Rock DVD election collection. I love all those songs like "I'm just a bill up on capital hill..." its such a good way to learn about our government. The DVD came with a map and red and blue stickers. So Abby and I have been watching the news and putting the stickers on the states as they are called for McCain or Obama. It has been a good teaching opportunity. It also gave me an chance to talk to her about why people vote they way they do. We talked about some of the issues that were so important during this election. I'm glad she is so interested in learning.

A Month of Thanks

This month I am going to make thankful list. I'm keeping a running list on my sidebar. My bloggie buddy Xandra had this on her blog today and I think it is a great idea. If you are interestred go to this blog and copy the link.

http://southbreezefarm.blogspot.com/2008/10/thankful-month.html


This was great timing for me. I really need to focus on what I am thankful for. I get so wrapped up in the details that I lose sight of the big picture. So everyday this month I'm going to add something I'm thankful for.

Piano Recital

Make a Smilebox slideshow