Thanksgiving at school

I'm trying to get caught up so there are a couple of posts here. :P

Will's school puts on an AMAZING Thanksgiving feast for its students and their families and this year was no different. Here's a couple of pictures of my little Indian.

Thanksgiving at the farm

When it comes to the holidays, each year we alternate Thanksgiving between the families. This year we spent Turkey Day with my FIL, SIL and her family. S went up on Monday; the boys and I went up on Tuesday. One of goals while there was to spend some time at the family farm, and in particular, I wanted to attempt to have our Christmas card photo taken there. As anyone who has had small children or has small kids knows, trying to get that perfect picture is often an exercise in futility. Here's a peak at one such attempt:

Despite it all, we did have a lot of fun. After our pictures were taken, we changed into comfy clothes (read: clothes that I wouldn't stroke out if something happened to them) and all went for a ride in the Gator. As luck would have it, we spotted 6 or 7 turkeys and a couple of deer. A bit later, we put G down for a nap and left W to have some fun with Grandpa as S and I went for a more "exciting" John Deere Gator ride (going up and down some very steep hills).

Boys goofing off in the shed.

Back into my picture outfit after Grandpa let me go

for an accidental swim in the pond.

late pumpkin patch pics

We went together to the pumpkin patch back on October 16th, but we forgot to put the memory card in our camera which wouldn't be so bad since our camera will hold a certain number of photos without the card. Ok, no problem, except we had misplaced our USB to camera cord and had been just using the card reader. Well, praise be! I found our camera cord today and downloaded the pics. And, you know, the world was completely missing our on seeing our Pumpkin Patch pics, right?

Riding my wagon and taking it all in.

Fun in the trailer filled with "cah-tin!"

Made it to the top!

Ready to get down.

Giddy-up!

Can you boys sit here for a picture for mama?

Okay, look at mommy.

Ok, guess not. I give up.

Let's go pick pumpkins.

Dis one.

Cooling it with the pumpkins.

"Ah" see horsey.

Hey, who goooooeess there?

We love farm animules.

Godspeed Uncle

When I woke up today, I grabbed the Ipod to check the weather and jump onto FB for a bit for an early morning commentary. What I found was my cousin's wife announcing the death of her husband's uncle, who is my uncle as well. (I think I shall post my thoughts on people rushing to post stuff like this on FB on another day.) Needless to say, I was a little stunned. You always are when it happens, even when you expect it to happen.

I knew my uncle had been in bad condition. In fact, he had lived in a lot of pain for several years. It's heartbreaking watching someone you love continually suffer so when death finally comes to them you feel relieved and guilty that you feel relieved.

In his prime Uncle R was quite a character. He was an incredible pharmaceutical sales man. My mom used to tell me that he was quite the BS'er and could sell ice to an Eskimo. More than that, he was a natural comedian. We often likened Uncle R to John Candy. There was always a story floating around about something he had gotten himself into.

My favorite memory of him though is of Uncle R, Aunt J, my parents and I riding around Lay Lake in Uncle R's pontoon boat with him blasting music from The Phantom of Opera. I'm sure we were quite the sight, but because of that day on the boat, my mother renewed her appreciation of broadway and I developed a life-long love for the arts, in particular The Phantom and broadway. I can't express how thankful I am to Uncle R for exposing me to something new that day.

Today, I imagine heaven is throwing quite the party. I can see him, my mother, and my Aunt Pam sitting around a table and jawing. I can hear bits and pieces of the conversation. It may go something like this, "Y'all ain't going to believe this, but..."

Godspeed Uncle R.

We love the Zoo

Or rather, W loves the Zoo. Or anything related to the Zoo. He asks every day if we're going to the Zoo or if we can go to the Zoo. At night, he'll comment that we can't go to the Zoo because the animals are "sweeping." I can assure you that our Zoo membership has paid for itself over and beyond. I am amazing by the things that this 3 yo knows about the different animals. He'll proudly proclaim the lion as the "King of Beasts" and he'll tell you that lions, giraffes and elephants live in Africa. He'll also tell you that we saw tiger poop, too. He is a little boy, after all.

This week he wanted go see the stinky pigs. He also knows them by their more formal name - Red River Hogs. But, he loves peeking over them and declaring "Peeeeee-uuuuuuuu! Steeen-key!"

Look mama! There they are!

What a beautiful specimen.

What's he doing, mama?

Wild child.

After seeing the Red River hogs, we meandered over to Kangaroo Kountry. Every time we've been the kangaroos, they've been laying down and napping. This week we had a little excitement. We were witness to an altercation.

We think it was a domestic dispute. Police report pending.

After giving their statement, they decided

to make amends and not to press any charges.

Did you see THAT?!

Things that get high kicks from me

Like all moms, I am constantly searching for things that make my life easier amidst all the chaos. Out of that comes my obsession with any and all appliances. I admit that I am an appliance snob, but nothing makes me giddier than finding something that cuts my time doing housework or cooking. As mom there a few things that I swear by: my Dustbuster, my Dyson, my Shark and my crockpot. All of these things help me spend less time cleaning or cooking and give me more time to do things with the boys or relax when they're asleep.

And, now I will add a good washing machine to my list. Why you ask? This is why...

Do you see that? A $32 water bill. Our average bill is between $80-85 a month. This is our first water bill with the new Energy efficient washing machine (Whirlpool Cabrio). Thats a $50 difference from last month to this month. LOVE. If this pans out, than could mean an additional $600 a year. That deserves a high kick if I do say so.

Ok, so back the crockpot, my friend, Jill, came up with this Chicken and Wild Rice Soup that rocks my world! Besides being low cal and low fat, it is SIMPLE and that is a plus. Really it's so good that I thought I'd do a shout out here as well as on my recipe site. Look below...

You know you want some.

Ok, so here's the recipe:

1.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
3 cans RF cream of chicken soup
4 cups FF chicken broth
1 boxes long grain & wild rice mix with seasoning


Place chicken on bottom of crock pot. Add veggies, rice and seasoning packet from rice. Pour liquids over the top, cook on low 6-8 hours. Shred the chicken and stir well. Makes 12 cups.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 144
Fat: 3.14
Fiber: 0.9

If you like it and want more recipes from Jill, just take a look to the right under Blogs and find Culinary Creations by Jill. :D High kicks, Jill!

Happy Halloween from the whole gang!

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Monster Mash

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Halloween Rap