Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!!!  We are so blessed and we stopped our normal routines yesterday and gave God thanks!  I know thanksgiving is a heart posture!  It's something we need to do every single day!  To say thank you to God for my many blessings and give Him praise!  We do that in this home and I'm so grateful!  

Yesterday morning, the littles woke up and I grabbed a simple version of the "First Thanksgiving" and we sat on the couch together and read it.  We discussed how it must have been to sail to another country and ride the Mayflower across sea all for freedom!  The Indians resisted the Pilgrims at first.  We read how Squanto was forced to be a slave and all the times he escaped and traveled back to his people.  These folks really went through something!!!!  I really can't imagine!  He helped the Pilgrims and they made peace and celebrated with giving and bringing their best for a feast - Thanksgiving meal!

Mike and Matthew joined our little gathering and we had our annual family meeting.  We all said what we were most thankful for!  Things we would like to work on or strive for for 2022!  It's always so good to sit down and jot things and goals down!

Then we got dressed in nice clothes and gathered around a spread out table at Mike's mom's house!  Mom does so good at hosting our crew!  The turkey was so delicious and the side dishes of mashed potatoes, sweet pototoes, filling, gravy, Mac and cheese, cranberry relish, cabbage salad and soft rolls all made it a feast!  Thank you Mom for hosting the family!!!!  We finished with pumpkin pie and grape mush and hot coffee!  So richly blessed are we!!!!

The cousins played all afternoon!  Mike, Matthew and Rosie shot clay birds.  Others sited in rifles for the big hunting day next Monday!  We played Four Up and Four Down.  There were toys and messed everywhere by the end of the day but again Mom was patient with it all and we had it cleaned up before leaving.

I love this saying!

Ritchie took the little boys out back and gathered a bunch of sticks.  They made a teepee in Moms yard.  Maybe it will stay there till Christmas!!!!????!!!!  Way to go Ritchie for hanging out with the littles!

I fixed up a snack board late in the afternoon!

Thanksgiving Day is a gift!  We are healthy!  So many are sick around us fighting COVID, colds and other illnesses!  We are healthy!  Others have lost loved ones this past year and now face the holidays alone or without a loved one.  We are all still gathered around the table!  Some are lost and don't know how to give thanks to God because they have been through so much in life that it's just hard for them to see any good!  We sing "The Goodness of God" as a prayer here in our home and I mean it when I sing God's been so, so good to me!  We have abundance and others are strapped to every dollar they earn.  There are missionaries still in Haiti being held hostage and can't be with their loved ones!  We are free to come and go as we please!  The list goes on!  All I want to say is "THANK YOU JESUS!!!!"

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  May God bless you through the start of the holiday season!  

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I took away the pumpkin decor this morning and replaced it with the nativity scene and candles!!!  Fresh greens will get cut soon and placed throughout the house!  Smells of peppermint and gingerbread and fresh pine and cinnamon on now top scents!  Christmas music will be on nonstop!  It's truly the best time of year!!!!  One goal I made for this upcoming month of December is to bring peace, joy and much laughter to our home!  It's easy to get all wrapped up in festivities, parties, events and that can bring some stress and rush but I really hope to bring PEACE!  To slow down more than other years.  To take the time to read books, do puzzles, sip on coffee and tea and hot cocoa!  To treasure each day as a family and make tons of really good, new memories is on my wishlist!!!! 

The littles played rock, paper, scissors to see who can play with the nativity scene first!

I love candle sticks and glow!!!

We are off to spending a few days with my family now and I really can't wait to get some shopping done next week and let the Christmas festivities begin!!!!!

Football Weekend!!!

 Every year, except for last year, we do a football game somewhere!  It's become an annual event with John and Kathy!  Sometimes we fly.  Sometimes we drive.  We always watch else the Chiefs play or the Cowboys!  Those are our favorite teams!  Sometimes we go early fall or later.  We always visit a new stadium.  This year the best option was to go to the Chiefs game in Kansas City VS Cowboys!!!!  Best of both teams!!!!

It is getting easier each year to leave the littles behind.  Matthew is old enough to be on his own for a few days.  Ashlyn only talked to me once while we were gone and did totally fine at Lenas.  Austin talked to me every day and had tears once.  He had fun at Aunt Lenas as well and did just fine too.  Many thanks to Lena for hosting our children and making it a fun place to stay!!!!

We left first thing Friday morning.  John and Kathy had already left for Kansas and we met them there.

I got this just in time for a good read on the flight!!!!

John and Kathy picked us up at the airport and we went for lunch at a beautiful place!!!!  Christmas decor has begun and it's lovely!!!!

We drove past the capital building of Kansas.  We also drank lots of coffee.  Messenger Coffee is good!

BBQ is very popular in Kansas!  This was at 3 PM and the line was outside the door, down the sidewalk and wrapped around the inside of the building.  We waited for 1 hour and 15 minutes for our food and it was tasty!  Wow!  Good stuff right there!

We grabbed dessert at a popular ice cream shop in town and the butter pecan was so yummy!

There was a trolly car in town that served coffee and tea!  It was the perfect place to warm up with a nice cup of Joe!!!!

Uncle John and Kathy are great traveling friends!!!!  They scream, "Go Cowboys" while we cheer "Go Chiefs!!!"

We fueled up on game day with a hearty breakfast!  The biscuits at Big Biscuits were soft and very good!

All ready for the game!!!!

First we walked around the outside of the stadium and took in the trailgaters and all the drums and events that happens before each football game.  These are the many things that you never get to see on TV.  People were ready to watch the Cowboys and the Chiefs.  

When we walked inside, we found our seats and then toured the stadium.  Mike was loving every minute of it!!!  His dream came true to visit here!!!

And here's a moment that we will never forget!!!!  Chiefs won the Super Bowl!!!!

Before each game, at every stadium, there are some players that take time to pray before game time.  I always look for this and love to see it!!!!

They had the best, best nachos at this stadium!!!!  Wow, they were so good!!!!

Fireworks, jets, God Bless America and The National Anthem, so many people cheering and screaming for their team ... it all happens at the game!

We spent our first night at Jim and Melody's home.  They are friends of John and Kathy and now us!  They were great hosts and Jim took us to North Star Steakhouse for steak!  They met us at the game also!  So fun!  Melody is a school administrator and we got to tour her school.  Mike loved this!  Jim is a pastor and we got another tour of the church while we were there!  These two impact so many people and love the Lord!!!

Everything went wild when the Chiefs won!!!!  Way to go guys!!!!

Football champs!!!!!

And before we knew it, it was time to head back home.  It's always so fun to go and so fun to be back with the family!

Thanks to all who helped us out with the littles and Ginger while we were gone!  Bless you for this!!!

GO CHIEFS!!!!!

Quick Florida Trip!

I said to Mike the other week, "I'm just looking for any excuse to go to Florida this fall!"  We both laughed.  And you know what?  Dreams come true!  We went to Florida in the fall last year and loved it!!!!  It was so beautiful!  Well, about two weeks ago, Mike said he actually has something to go look at in Florida for his mom!  She has some empty property lots down there and he wants to spy them out.  Yeah!!!  Here we go!

The morning we left, there was our first heavy frost on the ground!  It was beautiful!

We got Eli to drive us to the airport.  Ashlyn and Austin got to join us and we fueled up with some coffee and off we went!

Favorite traveling buddy!!!!!

We arrived safe and sound and enjoyed a sunny evening at the park.  We also tried a new Mexican restaurant that served a very delicious Pina coloda and tacos!!!!

Mike's mom was already in Florida and Mike's sister and family went on the same flight as we did!  The cousins were all about being together the ENTIRE time!  :))). They biked from their house to Mom's house.  They went to the ice cream shop together.  To the beach together!  They had a sleep over!  It was all one big party for them!!!!!

I have learned over the years that if I want my kids to eat healthy, than put it in front of them.  Lettuce and greens and healthy foods like fennel, celery, cucumbers, carrots ... don't get eaten if they just stay in the fridge.  I often cut up celery sticks before heading out the door and offering it to the kids on the road trip!  It's amazing how much they eat if I offer it to them!  Well, this night they all chose cotton candy ice cream.  I walked across the street and bought some spring mix and when I came back to the ice cream shop, they asked what I was eating.  I said, "lettuce.  Do you want to try it?"  They all tried some and ate all but a few greens!  There ice cream cones got flushed down with greens!  I'm telling you, if you offer it it may just get devoured!!!!

We started using Turo a few years ago and really had good experiences!  It's an app that you use to "AirB&B Cars".  Any car really!  Vans, trucks, cars, SUV's ... it's all on there!  For a much better price than any rental company offers!  Mike loves this because it gets us different fun cars to drive.  This time we rented a Tesla.  It was a sweet car!  Only a few hundred miles on it and it drove almost like a golf cart. 

Besides the warm weather, the food is a huge plus in Florida!!!  We got breakfast wraps and coffee every morning at the local coffee shop.  

We didn't have the best weather on our short trip but that was OK.  Thursday was cloudy.  I wanted to go see the ocean and get my toes sandy a bit, so the littles went with me.  Janessa and Angelyn went along too!  I told them not to wear their swimsuits because I knew as soon as they came out of the water, they would be cold.  The sun wasn't shining very much!  

That worked for a little while and then they ended up all wet!  They shivered a bit on the way back to the house but I did warn them about that!

I surprised them by stopping at McDonalds on the way back for slushies and fries.  We were in the Jetta car and laughed our way back to the house!

Yoders has a killer pumpkin cream pie!!!

Friday it rained the entire day!  Morning, noon and night!  Some of us went shopping.  Some played games.  The kids biked and splashed in the rain puddles for awhile.  I must admit though that Florida is way better on the sunny side!!!!

It was time to head back home on Saturday.  Four days are only a tease but still fun!  We masked up before getting on the plane and I had my first Christmas coffee cup purchased.

Ashlyn was so tickled to be able to sit with her cousin friends on the airplane too!  

We arrived home safe and sound.  Matthew was ready to have us back home!  But, we came home to a warm fridge and freezer.  I'm not sure why the fridge stopped working but food needed to be thrown out and we have someone lined up to come fix it!

Until the next time Florida!!!!!