Good-Bye 2007

It's been great. It's been fun. It's been great fun. Well,... mostly.

Starting the year off by being sick, I was wondering just exactly how the year was going to turn out.

Well, now I know.

It was a wonderful year. I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I would do it all over again if it meant having my sweet Tyler.

I wasn't as sick with him as I was with my other two. Being able to be up and about and somewhat indepedent, it was so much nicer than my last experiences. In fact, I keep hoping for a little girl now. Am I crazy or what?? If you all could be around my Tyler, you too would want one or more of your own. The Lord knows my heart and if He sees fit to bless us with another baby, I would be open to that. Which is so completely different than what I was saying a year and a half ago. Somebody HELP ME!!!

Looking back, I can't believe how fast the year flew by.

Johnny was busy making a living for us and I was busy taking care of my young'uns! LOL

With a visit from my sister and her family this fall and going down to Florida, I must say, I am blessed. I actually never thought my sister would be able to bring her whole family and come visit us while we lived in Tennessee, but I was proven wrong and this time I'm glad!! We had a blast.

Florida is my new wonderland. I don't think in all reality that I would really enjoy living there, but to wake up to such beautiful sunrises every morning would be an absolute dream.

As we have spent Christmas with my family, it gives Johnny and I more of an itch to move west again. We are scoping out some land with hopes of eventually starting our own business here building and selling 'mini barns'. I think it would be an adventure, but I also believe that it would be a really good business for us there. And the fact that my family would be so close is an added bonus! Keep us in your prayers as we pursue this avenue. I know it's Johnny's dream to live in Montana somewhere and I would love to see him fulfil that dream.

As far as '08 goes... I guess the Lord only knows. We may be in Tennessee, we may be in Montana. Either way, I will be happy to let the Lord lead and show us more exciting things that He has planned for us. I can hardly wait.

Good-bye 2007, you've been good to us!!

Hello 2008, it's gonna be fun!

Happy New Year to ya'll!!

Christmas Play

Sunday night we had our church Christmas Program. Cheyenne was so excited to sing in it. We had a packed house and all the actors and vocalists did a phenomenal job. I hope you enjoy the videos. My camera doesn't zoom in once it's started, so you'll have to really focus your eyes! You may also have to scroll down to my Christmas Music in my sidebar and pause it or turn it down.

Only Twelve Days Till Christmas:


The Miracle of Christmas:

There'll Be Much Mistletoe'n' And Hearts Will Be Glowin'

I thought I'd switch things up a bit here, and participate in BooMama's Christmas Tour of Homes.



So, welcome. Come on in and enjoy some hot chocolate and cookies.

I may not be as fancy as some, but I hope you still enjoy some of my favorite decorations.

Please excuse the fact that we didn't get icicle lights this year. But I do love the candles in my windows.

Our arbor swing is another of my favorites.

If you are one of the few people to actually use my front door, this is what you will see. My very plain, yet very real Christmas wreath.

Most people use my kitchen door, so here is the wreath I chose for it. Not so plain, but also not real.

Mmmm. My kitchen smells so good, thanks to this candle. The flowers help out too.

This is our free poinsettia. I think it's absolutely beautiful. Of course, I had already bought one!

Check out that snowman. Isn't he just the cutest thing ever?

This is actually the first year that we have had a nativity. I love this one. When it's dark in the house, I turn the piano lamp on and it shines right on the baby Jesus.

My Christmas goose, to the far right, was given to me by my very special friend, Wendy Bingham. It is one of the first things I take out and display.

And here is our Christmas tree. Oh how I love it's smell. The kids each got to pick out one ornament for the tree this year and help decorate it. We had a blast.

This would be my very favorite picture of my kiddos, but of course, it had to be blurry.

But this ran a close second. What more can a momma ask for?

Thank you for stopping in. I hope you enjoyed your stay. Please stop back often. I can't guarantee a clean house, but you will be most welcome.

Head on over to Boomama's for a list of other places you can visit. Get your walking shoes on, there's lots to see!

"Poor Little Bunny"

Last week I was suffering from a severe-to-me cold. I was achy, my nose was running like a faucet, I was achy, my throat itched, I was achy, my head hurt, and did I mention that I was achy.

We went out Tuesday night to celebrate Johnny's youngest brother's birthday. I proceeded to complain to the ladies there that I felt like I'd been run over by a reindeer. These things don't just happen to grandma's anymore!!

Every night I would ask Johnny to come to bed and rub my back to help with all the achyness. He was too involved in his biodiesel experimentations to worry about his poor ailing wifey. So I would go to bed and fall fast asleep, and wake up the next morning still terribly achy.

Well, guess what?

Hubs is now sick. Aw, sweet revenge.

But what do I do? After he got home from hunting this evening, I ran him a nice hot bath, and made him some TheraFlu. And if he wants me to, I will massage his back when he gets out. All because of this.

He has the dreaded 'Man Cold'. Oh no!!

Pray that we both make it through this one! LOL

The Great Christmas Cookie FLOP of 2007

A couple of Sundays ago, it was my turn to bring snacks to our Sunday school class. I was wanting to make cinnamon rolls, but since I was out all day the day before, I thought I may just have to resort to buying donuts from Krispie Kreme. Expensive, but oh so good!! Right, Sherri? Hee hee!!

Well, Sunday morning rolled around and I was awakened by my sweet baby at around 5:00, so I figured I would just get up and start on the cinnamon rolls and be able to have them done in time for church.

I got all the ingredients mixed up and left it alone to rise. I went back to bed but was unable to go back to sleep.

I decided I would get up and make a batch of brownies, just in case the cinnamon rolls didn't turn out.

Long story short, I made all the cinnamon rolls (over 2 dozen) and had Johnny taste them.

Me - "Well, are they good?"

He - "They're not bad."

Me - "Well, what's wrong with them?"

He - "They don't have much flavor."

Me - "GrrrRRR!"

So I decided to put a glaze on them.

Me - "Is that better?"

He - "Hmm. Not really."

Me - "GrrrRRR!"

Me - "Well, we'll just take the brownies then."

He, on the way to church - "I'm sorry your cinnamon rolls didn't turn out. I still love you anyway."

Now, with me not being a morning person, I was none to happy to have wasted 3 hours of precious sleep on something that didn't turn out!

Fast forward to today. I got this recipe the other day, and decided I would try it. My sister says that they are super yummy, so I didn't want to miss out on that!

Let me just say, they are good, but not worth the trouble.

The kids had loads of fun though. And it may have just been my cookie cutters that made things harder than normal. Who ever heard of 3-D cookies?? Well, here they are, in all their non-glory!!

Push Harder!
Patiently awaiting the rewards of his labor.
See there? 3-D cookies!!
Notice the broken ear and leg. MOST of them turned out that way!!
And that would be why these are the ONLY TWO that actually worked!!

So, down with Wal-Marts $9.00 3-D cookie cutters!!

P.S. I didn't know they were $9.00 when I bought them. Nor did I know that they were 3-D!! Next time I'll pay closer attention.

Window Shopping - It's For The Birds!

So, yesterday, Johnny had the day off. That, in and of itself is wonderful. I love it when he spends his days with us.

He decided that we would take the day and do some shopping! Now, that sounded like something I could handle!! Except... Johnny's way of shopping and my way of shopping are two very different things.

We started out looking at treadmills. I would love to have a treadmill, as it would be much easier to get a walk in everyday that way, with three kids. The first store we started out in, didn't have enough staff to help their customers, so I was none too pleased to shop there. As we were getting ready to leave, one lady asked us if we needed any help with anything, so I told her that we were standing back by the treadmills for about a half an hour and even asked someone to get us some help and nobody came. She proceeded to tell me that the one person they had in that department was busy with someone else. I then asked her if that was the ONLY person that could have helped and she said, "yes!". So I said, "Ok, then. I guess we'll just spend our money somewhere else!" End of discussion.

Our next stop was a place where the guy was very attentive and helpful.

He wanted to sell us a treadmill.

I wanted to buy a treadmill.

Johnny wanted to look at treadmills.

No fun. We walked out of that store without anything either.

About this time, I'm getting very frustrated. The kids aren't (as my dad says) 'being haive', Johnny's feeling cheap, and I don't have anything to show for the 4 hours we've been shopping. Not a good combination.

The next stop was the mall, where everything is 'too expensive'. They were having some really good sales at Sears, but since I was shopping with Scrooge El Cheapo, I decided it would be best to just look. Oh what fun.

Next, was Wal-Mart. Now, on a good day, I don't mind Wal-Mart too bad, but on a bad day, it is my least favorite store. We got what we needed there and then got something to eat. After eating I was feeling much better, and apparently so was Johnny cause we went back to the mall. And not just any store in the mall. We went to Dillard's. At Johnny's request.

We looked at boots, shoes, clothes and perfume. He finally sent me away and bought me some perfume. I'm not sure what kind it is, but I narrowed it down to two different ones for him to choose and I'm excited about either one of them!!

Then, since he got me in the mood for a new pair of boots, we went to the Shoe Carnival. Now, doesn't that sound like a fun place for all of us shoe lovers?!! Indeed it was. I got a new pair of brown boots and Travis got a new pair of snow boots and Cheyenne got a new pair of dress boots. Oh how I love shoes!!

It all turned out after all. Johnny doesn't like shopping, but he did well. I don't like window shopping, so I convinced him that we needed to actually GET something and then I was happy. The kids each got a little something, so they were happy.

And now we are back to being One Big Happy Family.

Come Shopping With Me

Last week went by really fast. I ended up having to ride with Johnny on Wednesday to help him deliver a ship to Chattanooga, so school was off for the day. We actually only ended up doing school Monday and Tuesday, because I HAD to get my house cleaned on Thursday.

I had so much fun shopping on Friday. I had left Cheyenne with her Aunt Marty, and she did some school there, and Travis went with Johnny for the day. So it was just Tyler, Marlene and Me. And may I say, Tyler was the best behaved baby ever!! He didn't fuss even one time all day long. We started at 9:30 and went to breakfast at Cracker Barrel, did some of our shopping there and then went to the Verizon store to pick up a new phone for me. After that it was a stop at Target. Marlene was wanting to get a gift for our Christmas party and I needed to get the kids some things. Then I ran out of money and had to go find Johnny to replenish my wallet!

A new mall has just opened up in the last few months, so we decided to visit it again. Marlene was looking for a gift for Lester and I wanted to go to Carter's to get the baby some clothes. I was so excited when I walked out of there. I bought over $100 worth of stuff and only paid $40. That weekend only they were having an extra 25% off, plus I had 2 different coupons for $10 off my purchase. The next stop was the main mall. We stopped for lunch at the food court and then went shopping for ourselves. I found a really cute shirt (in black) at Goody's and then a sweater coat (in red) at Sears. I was happy with my finds. After a few more stops (Lifeway Christian Store and Old Navy), we met up with the guys and went to Red Lobster for supper. It was scrumptious!!!

All in all it was a wonderful day.

Saturday was spent getting my house ready for all the company. I had to make chili and chip dip, but everybody else brought the rest. We had alot of fun. The weather was perfect for the hayride. Although, Johnny and I had to drive the truck so we didn't get to participate in the fun.

Sunday, everyone was tired so we came home after church and all took a nap.

Now we have this week to get through. No plans so far that I know of. Hopefully we'll get all done with our schoolwork and won't get behind. We have plans to take all of January off, so we need to stick with it now.

Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

Have a wonderful week. Christmas is just 14 days away!!!

Mr. Sandman, Bring Me A Dream

It is now 10 minutes till 12. That would be 11:50 P.m. I don't really know why I'm still up, other than the fact that I'm too tired to be able to find my way back to my bedroom and this is where my feet automatically take me when I need a break from things!

I wrapped what few presents we have, and have had for about a month now, and I got a fairly decent start on my house cleaning. Now hopefully tomorrow won't look so daunting.

Another reason I haven't gone to bed yet is because my dear, sweet husband has taken over my kitchen. (This would be the spot that I would post pictures if I felt like getting up and taking any.) This picture ->

would be of him slaving over a hot stove. Isn't that sweet? But there's no food.

And this picture ->

would be of a large power tool laying on my counter. A power tool that wouldn't normally be used for any kind of cooking project. (Not that I use 'power tools' when I cook, I'm just sayin'.)
A power tool that shouldn't be in the kitchen unless a huge renovation is taking place. (Envision a big electric DRILL). But there's no renovation taking place. I got that all done last year. So... 'what?', you ask, 'is being done?' Actually, you may not have even asked that, but it's 3 hours past my bedtime and this is MY story, so I can imagine that people are really interested in what I'm saying! (It makes me feel special to think that people are interested in my ramblings.)

Where was I?

Oh yeah, cookings and renovations. But not! Dear Hubs has just recently decided that he would like to take on a huge money saving project and start making his own biodiesel. So, what better place to run the test batches, than in your wife's kitchen? I can't think of any. He has been up late the past 2 nights studying it and now he's trying it all out. It's a joy, I tell you. A real joy!

But right now, at this point, I am tired of waiting for him and I think you all would agree that I just need to GO TO BED ALREADY!! So, I will take your advise and call it a night.

Sweet dreams!

'Tis The Season To Be JOLLY!!

Wow!

What a week it has been. What with my being asked to play the piano for our Christian school Christmas program and only getting to practice three times with them and my parents trial, I think I am ready to start afresh.

Saturday I got up and was finally able to finish decorating outside. We didn't do much, but I think it looks pretty. Maybe next year we'll have icicle lights.

That was a good distraction from everything and for the most part I had fun doing it.

So, here's to moving on to what's ahead and not focusing on what's already past.

'Tis the season, and this year I'm going to do my best to make things as calm and peaceful as possible. No rushing around, no hectic schedules. Just family, friends and fun times to remember.

Today, I am going to start by getting some schooling out of the way and then the kids and I are going to work on getting our house cleaned up. Last week really put a damper on the whole housekeeping thing, but I am ready to start living in organization again.

Wednesday is Marlene's birthday and exactly one year to the day that I found out I was pregnant with my precious Tyler. I am so excited for Wednesday!

Friday is the day right between her birthday and mine so we are going to have a girl's day out to celebrate both of our birthdays. Breakfast, shopping, lunch, shopping, coffee, a little more shopping and then the guys are going to take us to supper somewhere nice. They just don't know it yet!! ;) We have big plans for the rest of their lives, this is just one small, loving gesture that we have planned from them to us for that day! Hey, sometimes guys need a little help with these things and who better to let them know what we want then us.

Then Saturday we have our 5th annual young peoples' Christmas party. Here. At my house. Didn't I just say something about things not being hectic?? Well, with Marlene's help, it should be fun. We'll have approximately 25 adults and 8 kids here for food, games, a hayride and Christams caroling! I am so excited for that night. We all love our hayride. It is such a blast. Even in the bitter cold of winter. We bring hot chocolate, hot apple cider, lanterns and lots of blankets along.

Well, that gives me some motivation to get up and start on school so that I can get started on my house cleaning. I hope ya'll have a wonderful week. And if I'm not able to post for the rest of this week, I will see you all back here next week. Hopefully with lots of pictures of our non-rushing, non-hectic festivities! :)

God's Promise

God didn't promise days without pain,
Laughter without sorrow or
Sun without rain...
But God did promise
Strength for the day,
Comfort for the tears,
And a light for the way!

Please keep my family in your prayers.

Feel free to read my Sister's post to hear about what's been going on with my parents.