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!

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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

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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.