A Christmas Photo Shoot

Our dog Winston being made to wear reindeer antlers. He's pleading for someone to please help him......

Winston wearing the Santa hat. He looks thrilled doesn't he? He couldn't even sit up for the occasion.

Belle and Ansley. All Belle wanted to do was shake the crazy antlers off and eat them.

The photo shoot wore Belle out. She couldn't take it anymore!

The next victims....I mean subjects.....were the American Girl dolls.

Elisabeth and Sweet Amy

Santa Amy and Winston.

It was Friday night after a long busy week and very very cold outside so we brought the dogs in to sit with us by the fire and give them some love. As the night progressed it turned into a Christmas photo shoot with the dogs and the American Girl dolls and Amy. The dogs weren't thrilled....to say the least. But we had fun putting Santa hats and reindeer antlers on them anyway.

Oyster Roast and Christmas Tree

Picking out our Christmas Tree
Ansley being goofy and hiding behind the trees and jumping out at us. I caught her in action.

I didn't drive into the garage with the tree on top this time. I've done this twice before. I don't recommend it by the way.

Putting ornaments on the tree

Elisabeth hung ALOT of ornaments down low. The branches were dragging the ground by the time she finished :-)

Finally decorated!

We don't eat oysters so John is waiting at the concession stand to get all of us a hotdog :-)

Showing off her Citadel sweatshirt

The oyster cooker

The oysters......gross

Elisabeth playing in the mud. This is a recipe for a huge disaster....

Thank goodness there was a fireplace in the shelter to keep us warm. Ansley took over our camera and took a zillion pictures of the fire. This is just one of the many.

Me putting my hands towards the fire to try and stay warm. I didn't have any gloves and I was freezing!

Elisabeth playing with her water bottle. Right after this picture was taken she proceeded to squirt water from the bottle onto the camera lens. She thought it was real funny......I didn't.

Last weekend The Citadel Alumni Club held it's annual oyster roast. It was a rainy cold day. The high that day was around 41 degrees. Brrrr! John left before us to help set up and then we came a little later. We stayed for hours in the cold but the good news is there was a fireplace in the shelter so we could stand next to it for warmth! I don't eat oysters (I've had one once and that's all I need) and neither does John so all of us enjoyed a good hotdog and chips and had a nice time talking to couples we already know and some new ones that we met that day. One of the couples had 2 children from China so it was interesting to talk to them. Lots in common! And of course Bunny and Don Knebusch were there.......they traveled to China with us so they really enjoyed seeing Elisabeth and how much she has changed. I think the only time we ever see Don and Bunny is at the yearly oyster roast!

After that we decided it would be a good time to go get our Christmas tree and then head home to sit by the fire, drink hot chocolate and start decorating the tree. It was a nice relaxing day. Decorating the tree is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. We had many new ornaments to add to the tree this year. One from the Bahamas, one from the USS Harry Truman and one from Mexico. We didn't buy a huge tree this year and we almost had too many ornaments for the tree. Everytime we travel we buy and ornament for our tree. It's an easy souvenir and we get to pull them out and look at them and reminisce every year.

I hope each of you are enjoying this Christmas season and are taking time out to remember what it is really about......the birth of Christ. We are so very spoiled in this country and get caught up in all the commercialism. I am trying to make and effort not to do that this year and to just enjoy Christmas and spending time with family and taking advantage of as many volunteer opportunities as I can to help others.

Tree Lighting on Main Street

Playing hopscotch on the big checkerboard

Candy canes from Santa

Random

I'm not having the greatest day today and heard this on my Toby Mac CD that I was listening to in the car today and it made me smile.

"Shake it, don't break it, It took your momma 9 months to make it" :-)

Just had to share.....

I got this quote from a friend and thought I would share.

"Honk if you love Jesus.......Text while driving if you want to meet Him!" ~Anonymous


HaaaHaaaaHaaa.....I think that's funny.

Operation Thanksgiving Turkey

Last year a couple at our church started Operation Thanksgiving Turkey. He is a competition BBQ'r and cooked 40 turkeys to deliver to needy families (along with a bag full of groceries for the rest of the meal). Last year it was just him and his smoker cooking all the turkeys. This year we had tons of people "sponsor" the turkeys and our church is delivering 286 turkeys today to families in need around our area. Along with the turkey they get a pumpkin pie and a bag of groceries (green beans, stuffing, etc) and a Bible. Thanks to Bi-Lo and Walmart for helping out and working with the group to get groceries at a really good deal.

I decided this would be a good opportunity for our girls to see what people in true need really look like and to do some community service so we helped deliver 6 turkeys today and was invited into several families homes and were able to talk with them and pray with them. It was great! The girls enjoyed it too. Not sure Elisabeth fully understood everything but Ansley definitely did. We may think we have it bad sometimes but some of the families I visited today have it REALLY bad. One family in particular just really touched my heart and I wish I could do more to help them.

I hope each of you has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We are blessed........we are truly truly blessed.

Baking Cookies

Yay! We get to use our hands to mix the batter.

Getting ready to go into the oven

The big mess in my kitchen

Anxiously waiting on them to come out of the oven so we can eat them!

The girls and I decided to bake chocolate chip cookies from scratch the other day. They were so excited. This recipe calls for using your hands to mix up the batter and that made it even more exciting! They were a big mess and so was my kitchen! But the cookies tasted great (they didn't last long).........we'll have to do it again soon!

National Adoption Month

November is National Adoption Month and Sunday, November 8th is National Orphan Sunday. Won't you consider adopting or in some way supporting orphans around the world?

(the following is taken from the Cry of the Orphan website. The link to it is on my blog)

The numbers are staggering...More than 140 million orphans worldwide…15 million children orphaned due to AIDS…500,000 children in America’s foster care system…127,000 children in the US waiting for adoptive homes.

It’s time for the body of Christ to step up. The urgent needs of orphans around the world are calling the Christian community today to a radical faith. One church, one family, one person can make a difference.


We can make a difference! I am challenging myself to find new ways to help also. I have some ideas rolling around in my head and once I figure them out and how best I can help I will be sharing it on my blog.

Steven Curtis Chapman will be doing a live broadcast on Sunday, November 8th at 4 pm. You can find out how to tune in via your computer by going to www.orphansunday.org/concert. I plan on watching. If it has anything to do with Steven Curtis Chapman then it should be good!

Trick-or-Treat

Hanging out with friends before trick-or-treating
Decorating Cookies at a friend's house

I'm ready to go! Is this bag going to be big enough?

Elisabeth and her friend, Bryce

Ansley and her friend, Meg

Elisabeth isn't so sure about this house......

Elisabeth didn't like the fog so much...

Elisabeth's loot

Ansley sorting her candy

I made all the kids give up their Milk Duds......this is Mommy's stash. I have a Milk Dud addiction.