Promises

I made a promise last week to the boys that if they would go night night in their underwear that the next morning for school I would make them have silly hair. They did great and Mommy kept her promise! Below are a couple of pictures of them with "silly hair".



Mason


John

Their new hair styles were a hit with the other kids but not with some of the moms.......some of them were asking for "hairstyling" lessons for their boys........LOL!

Blessings!!!!!

This, That and This

Hi all! I am so happy to be back in the blogging world! I am a tired girl today though. the boys mainly lil' john and Big John kept me awake the better part of the night and it seems like the longest day today.

Thank you all for the kind words and prayers during the death of John's uncle. He, no doubt is resting in peace now.

Apples are slowing down and things are not quite as hectic and we are enjoying some wonderful apple treats (fried apple pies, honey apple cakes, apple butter, candied apples, apples with caramel dip and so on so forth). YUM!!! It does look like the store (home market) will be closing soon though.

I am trying to get into the mix mode again.......I cannot wait to get started with all of that. I will open my online back up when the weather begins to cool off and we get back home settled from the beach (maybe the end of next month).

The flooding has not effected us directly, but we do not need more rain right now. We have semi-dwarf apple trees and their root stock is not very deep. The rot is hurting us as well. The ground is completely saturated and the smell of mold is in the air. God knows our every need and he will supply.

The boys are doing well and still in pre-school. they stilll like it and are leaning so very much! Mason is completely potty trained now and Little John still has an accident at night here and there (mostly here......every night, as of late). They got flu mist vaccinations on Monday of this week........we are waiting to hear if our peds office will get swine flu vaccinations or not. Swine flu has hit their school and there has been SEVERAL cases of it there. There is a set of girl twins on their class and they have had it. It is scary and we are taking every precaution that we know if.

The small group is going great! All of the ladies seem to love what we are teaching them and are catching right on. the deals and bargains help so much and we are so blessed to get to show them these things and glorify the Lord at the same time. We have seen so many blessings from this!

I hope all is well! Are your children getting flu vacs this year? Are you? What yummy treats are you fixing this Fall?

Blessings!!!!

Please Pray........A Death

Last night we had been called by one of John's sisters to let us know that their Uncle would not be likely to make it throught he night. Only 10 minutes later while on the phone with two of his sisters he was told of Uncle Gary's passing. He had surgery a couple of weeks ago for a cancerous mass in his throat. We lost John's Mom about 18 months ago due to lung cancer. . They both were smokers. Thank you for your prayers. John, his Dad and sisters will be traveling this weekend the 4 our drive to be with the familly.

Hugs and Blessings!

Rembering

Has it really been eight years ago?! Do you know where you were? What did you think the first time you heard terrorism? John and I were getting breakfast to go at Burger King in Gardendale headed to Birmingham to see his orthopedic doctor (he had just had knee surgery 6 months prior to September 11th).

We were watching Fox news and could not believe our eyes. All of the death that day brought and sadness. Please say a little prayer when you finish reading this for all of the families of the dead, for the survivors (as their lives will NEVER be the same), all of the military and their families they have left behind to defend our freedom.

God Bless the USA!

Am I Following You?

UPDATE...........They are back up again.



This is crazy........apparently all of the blogs I follow have disappeared off of my list! It says I am not currently following any blogs. Please leave me a comment and let me know if it showing that I am still following you or not........Thank you.

Blessings!!!

September Menu Plan

This month is already well underway, but I am just now getting this posted. I love using a menu plan because it keeps us within our budget and I always know what I am making ahead of time.



1 Hot Dogs, tater tots, peach pound cake (Dad feeds boys-Mom at work)
2 OUT-Burger King
3 Chicken fettuccine alfredo, fresh cut off corn, fresh green beans, fried apples
4 Leftovers and popcorn (movie night)
5 Baked ziti, tossed salad, garlic cheese bread
6 Waffles, sausage, fresh apples dipped in caramel and chopped nuts
7 Chicken burritos, chips and fresh salsa
8 Chicken dino bytes, oven fries (Dad feeds boys-Mom at work)
9 BLT's, potato salad
10 Candied pork chops, fried apples, green beans, rice
11 Taco salads, chips w/ cheese dip
12 Country fried venison cubed steaks, green beans, buttermilk biscuits, gravy, mashed
potatoes, hm apple butter
13 HM chili, Jim n Nick's cheese biscuits
14 Enchiladas, refried beans, spanish rice
15 Chicken fingers, home canned pink eye purple hull peas, mac & cheese (Dad feeds boys)
16 Chili cheeseburgers, oven fries, cole slaw
17 Fried chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, hm apple butter, buttermilk biscuits,
fried apple pies
18 Kraut and wieners, pintos, fried potatoes, mac & cheese, sliced onion
19 (Small group-at my house- brunch themed menu) Ole farm breakfast casseroles, breakfast
punch and coffee
20 Beef stew cornbread and hoop cheese
21 Leftovers
22 Speckled butter beans, stewed cabbage, potato salad, squash casserole, fried green tomatoes,
cornbread, sliced onion
23 Roast, gravy, buttermilk biscuits, fresh cantaloupe
24 Lasagna, tossed salad, garlic cheese bread
25 BBQ hot dogs, potato salad, onion rings
26 Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, tossed salad, hm ice cream
27 Ham and cheese omelets, cinnamon raisin toast, fried apples
28 Chicken salad sandwiches, hm pickles, chips w/ dip
29 Crock pot ribs, potato salad, bbq beans, corn on cob, hm lemonade, peach cobbler
(Goodbye summer!)
30 Chicken fajita nachos, with fresh salsa, brownies

Blessings!!!

Slowing Down

Things are slowing and I am glad but today was a really slow day, due to a sick child (Mason). Bless his heart, daycare called yesterday and he had a low grade fever, headache and runny nose. John went and picked him up (I was at the market in Trussville). He was better today with crazy fevers on and off most of the night. His immune system is finally able to try to fight things off......Praise the Lord!!!! He will go back to school tomorrow if he is okay tonight. He has not had a fever over 100* after 5:30 this morning.

I have a menu plan that I have been trying to post for a week or better and cannot seem to get around to it. Maybe in the next day or two. Tomorrow I am introducing a friend who attending the small group on money management to Aldi. FUN!!!

Hope you all have a great day! Blessings!

The Day Off

This is from Thursday......it just did not post.


Not really! I was off from markets and work, but there was plenty to do today. hubby was home as well and we made the most of it. I cooked breakfast and we got the boys ready for school. I did a couple loads of laundry and unloaded as well as reloaded the dw. Then off they went, to school.

Hubby and I returned to clean out and detail the insides both vehicles. He took some things to the storage building and I cleaned off the front porch, swept it and scrubbed it down. While he washed and detailed the outsides of both vehicles, I proceeded to do another 3 loads of laundry, wash 1and 1/2 bushels of pink eye purple hull peas and can 27 jars of them, chop veggies and make 19 bags of freezer salsa and start washing cukes for bread and butter pickles. I also put 5 # of boneless/skinless chicken breasts in the crock pot to cook.

We had a quick lunch around 1pm. Hubby weedeated around EVERYTHING while I canned the pickles (13 jars) and did another 2 loads of laundry. I then made some phone calls and printed some things off the laptop while hubby took boxes and baskets back to the packing house.

We then took several things over to the freezer to store for those long winter days. When we returned we hung some new "pretties" in the kitchen/dining room and then I stripped beds and finished the laundry. I got supper started and we headed off to pick up the boys and to the post office.

If you counted that WAS EIGHT loads of laundry!

After playing with the boys outside and eating supper, bathes were in order. After bathes we watched a movie and had popcorn and fresh apples from the orchard dipped in hot caramel. Yummy! Bedtime was at eight for everyone except me, where was I.......trying to get this machine to publish this post! LOL!

Hope you had a great day!

Blessings!!!!

I Am Not Typing This

Please say a little prayer, I will be calling the ENT in the am because I have a severe sore throat and a little ear ache. We know how touchy the sinuses have been and to make matters worse, I priobably picked this up from my Daddy as he has had strept and just started Cipro today. I feel yucky! Blessings!!!!

It's Been A While!

Hi all! I am sorry for being gone for so long, summer is just a very hectic time for us. I thought I would update you on the happenings around here the last month.

The boys are growing like summer time weeds and talking so much now, we are just thrilled! They went 30 days without a cold or any kind of sickness and it was WONDERFUL! However last weekend the fevers, moodiness, coughs and poor appetites started and then the trip to the peds office. Bronchitis, ear infections and so on so forth. They are better now and we are so GLAD!!! Mason only had to have occasional breathing treatments during this bout, so that was a great feat! They are still enjoying pre-school/daycare and are learning so many things! They turned three in March and we are just blown away every day to think they were "suppose" to have disabilities and such! They both can count to 25 ( in English) and to 10 in Spanish. They can sing several songs, say two different blessings/prayers, say all of their abc's, recognize ANY color and their shapes as well. Mason can even spell DOG and CAT. They both are potty trained and we are so glad that is almost over (they still wear pull-ups at night), but Mason has been dry the last three mornings! Yay Mason!

John did not get the job as Executive Director of the Agri-Business center and we are disappointed but God has bigger and better things in store and we believe that! His work is full force right now and that is a blessing in itself, although the hours and LONG! John has joined our choir and is enjoying that tremendously!

I went back to the doctor about my sinuses yesterday and got a semi good report. No surgery, at least right now. i do have permanent damage in the sinus cavities and was started on two new medications to cut the risk of inflammation in the future, these are life long medications........needless to say I am a little less than thrilled! However, I am blessed, so I will deal with it!

I am having severe hormonal migraines and we discussing a full hysterectomy with my OB/GYN in the future. This is where the men folk need to skip this part............
I also am staying anemic again and reducing my periods to come every three months is not helping like it was. The cramps are severe again and make me vomit and my periods are heavy, heavy, HEAVY!!! Please say a prayer that we make the right decisions. I am very tired, all of the time it seems.

On the farm we are STILL picking peaches! Since the third week in May we have been going strong with this beautiful yet fuzzy stone fruit! We are finishing markets up for the season and have stopped deliveries to grocery stores, so things are slowing down a bit. We have started picking apples (Gala and Ozark Gold) this week. Different varieties of Red and Golden Delicious next week. We still have tomatoes, squash, okra, all sorts of peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and such coming in. I only worked 61 hours last week opposed to the 89 the week before! ;)

I have just been canning and freezing my little farm girl's heart out! I have canned pink eye purple hull peas (almost 7 bushels). We have frozen peaches, freezer salsa, bread and butter pickles, frozen squash, okra and apples. I cannot even began to list it all here. I hope to have a full post on that soon though. We will eat good this winter, now to get some meat to go with it!

We are still looking forward to vacation next month to the Gulf! The small group on money management and frugal living is shaping up quite nicely and I am learning so much, even as a leader! I am so excited to use what God has gave me to help others!

My Daddy turned 76 the 20th of August and we pulled off a humdinger of a surprise party for him with a full dinner that I cooked for 25 folks! It was great and enjoyed it so very much!

I also am hoping to do better with my shopping and menu planning starting this month! I will get my menu up on Thursday.

I suppose that is all for now. Hope all is well! Congrats to Problem Solvin' Mom on the birth of Sugar Plum!

Happy blessings to you all!