Beautiful sunny days

Today was a beautiful day here! Sunny, about 65 degrees out. Perfect! We are at my mom's house getting ready for Thanksgiving. This morning my mom, grandma and I made all of our casseroles for tomorrow. Now we're making our traditional mexican cornbread the night before Thanksgiving. I guess tomorrow wraps up our days of thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!

TLC

Today I'm thankful for my daughter's school. She goes to a mother's day out program at a local church. It's great! She started going just one a day a week when she was a year old. She's been going ever since! This is her last year to be going. I probably won't send Paxton until pre-school, so we won't be back for at least a couple of years. Tomorrow they are having a Thanksgiving feast. She is SO excited! They are going to dress up as pilgrims and indians and sing songs. Then they get to eat dinner with their families. This year at school they are learning about the continents. They've already talked about Africa and Europe. She knows so much about each of those places it's amazing! At the zoo we would talk about where the animals were from and she'd say every time we'd mention Africa, "we talked about that at my school!"

We are so thankful for this school! When Xavier started kindergarten, he was bored most of the time b/c he'd already learned all that stuff at preschool! I'll post pictures later, if I remember to take the camera!! (I've been really absentminded lately!)

Baby Shower!!!

Today we had our baby shower for Paxton! We were so excited! Our church family is so good to us. We got so much neat, fun, and really just awesome gifts from everyone! I am so thankful for all of them. They all mean so much to us. Here are some pics from the shower!

His cake was sooo good. It had

fish and frogs made of frosting on it!

So cute!!!

A new family picture! It's not great, but it is recent!

Missy's Meatballs

Today I'm thankful for Missy's Meatballs. My really good friend Missy makes these and they are awesome! We had meatball subs tonight for dinner. They are perfect for appetizers, dinner, spaghetti, etc. Here's the recipe! Enjoy!!

1 package frozen homestyle meatballs (you can get italian, it just changes the flavor a little)
cook those according to the package directions

mix together in a bowl

1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup brown sugar(we use splenda brown sugar)
1/4 cup chopped onion or 1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. of liquid smoke (we add a little bit more)

pour over meatballs and let simmer in a crockpot until heated thoroughly.

Make these for a Christmas party! They're great!

Again...

Today I am thankful for my mom and dad. (again for my mom) When I was 13 my soon to be stepdad threw me a huge birthday party. Before the party that night, I got a present from my parents. The cutest sweetest red miniture dachshund. Ruby. Oh she was sweet. When I got married and moved out, Ruby stayed with my parents, thus becoming my mom's dog. She complained about Ruby all the time! BUT she also spoiled her rotten. Last summer Ruby started having problems with her back. She started taking steriod shots to help her be able to walk. They put off putting her to sleep b/c the shots were working. A couple of weeks ago, she started having problems again. And the shot didn't work this time. My parents made the decision that if this didn't work, they wouldn't do it again. She was in pain. She couldn't walk. She could barely eat or get out of her bed. So today my parents had her put to sleep. She's been in our family for 13 years. A long time for a little dachshund. She was buried in our backyard next to her "boyfriend". He died several years ago. I am a little sad today b/c of this. I'm so thankful for my parents who took such good care of her. And let her be in peace today. They buried her in the backyard with a brick headstone.

Love Letters

Today I am thankful for love letters. They don't have to be romatic love letters, letters from my kids saying I love you are also perfect! But I love it when my hubby suprises me with sweet notes to pick me up. Especially here lately when I've had mush for brains! When Brent and I were dating we spent a fortune on postage mailing each other letters all the time. We lived 2 1/2 hours away from each other. I have a box full of letters from him. I also have several letters and cards from him from the past 8 years of our marriage. They're priceless to me. Love letters from my children are so sweet. I have a letter from Xavier on fridge that says why he loves me. It's so sweet. So today I am thankful for love letters.

Paxton turns 7 months old today

Today I am thankful for two women that I have never met. One I will meet in a few short weeks. One I may never meet. The latter, chose life for her son. A son that she lovingly gave up for adoption for reasons I may never know. A son that Brent and I love so much it hurts that we're not with him today. The first, has been a mother to our sweet baby. She loves him. She rocks him to sleep. She sleeps with him every night. She takes such wonderful care of our Paxton. These two women, that live on the other side of the world have given me so much. Two women that I will always be thankful for. Happy 7th month birthday sweet baby Paxton. We love you.

This is Paxton and his foster mother.

I'm thankful for a husband who works so hard for his family.

So I've been an "outage widow" for the past two weeks. Brent works at the nuclear plant here in town. Twice a year, they have outages for repairs, updates, etc. We're in our second one this year. This one lasts 6 weeks. He works 12 hour days when he's on normal shift. During outages they still work 12 hour shifts, but they work six days a week. The past three weeks he's been on days. Last night he started his 3 weeks of nights. Six nights a week for three weeks, with Sunday night as his only night off. This is why we are known as outage widows all over town. We see him only a couple of hours a day before he heads to work. It's actually better when he's on nights because we see him more. When he's on days he leaves the house around 5:30 a.m. and doesn't get home until 6:30 p.m. The kids have after school stuff until 7 two days a week and we have church one night during the week, so we have two nights that we don't have anything going on. The kids go to bed by 8 most every night, so he's only seeing the kids maybe an hour. When he's on nights he sees them from about 3 until 5. I'm so thankful for a husband that works so hard for us. He doesn't complain often. He just gets up, goes to work, and still does stuff to help around the house. Even though I don't work outside our home. He allows me to stay home to raise our children. This is always how I pictured my life would be. Staying home to care for our kids, being the "soccer" mom. I wouldn't change any of it. We have a crazy life! We're always busy. I'm so lucky that I get to get up every morning and go to my dream "job' every day! Even on days when my kids drive me nutso, I'm still so thankful that Brent works hard so I don't have to rush out of the house!

one more thing. GO here....giveaway.

Thankful that Christmas is almost here...

Today it began. I took down all my indoor fall decorations. I threw away the semi rotten mini pumpkins from the dining room table. I put away all the other decorations placed around the house. Outside I put the pumpkins in the burn pile. I took down my big fall wreath from the door. THEN today I started decorating for Christmas!!! So far, I only have my nativity scene put up and a couple of snowmen out and a wreath on my door. My snow village will come later this week as will the two trees that I'm putting up this year. I also bought really neat outdoor trees in pots for my front porch! I got them last year after Christmas so they were really cheap! I can't wait to get them out. ALSO we bought lights for the house, but with Brent being on outage(he works at the nuclear plant) we may not get those up this year. He only has Sundays off right now and he's on nights as of tonight, and that wears him out. So we may not get them up this year.

I am so thankful that Christmas is almost here. I love this time of year. Everyone seems to be a little bit nicer. There's a nice nip in the air. And this year it means we are so close to bringing Paxton home!

Sunday afternoon naps

Today we had a really great nap! I came home and made us a big dinner instead of just sandwiches and then we all took a nap. Xavier even went to sleep which here lately he's just been playing in his room. Sometimes quietly sometimes not. Naia slept great as well! I think we got roughly a two hour nap! I'll never be able to sleep tonight, BUT that's okay! I got to cuddle with my hubby on the couch! So today I am thankful for Sunday afternoon naps. Maybe next week we'll have naps in front of a nice cozy fire!!!

Ladies Night Out

Last night we had Ladies Bunco Night at church. I've been wanting to do one for a long time, but hadn't just made myself put it on the calendar. We finally did it and had a blast!! When we got there I had only played once before about 3 years ago! So needless to say, figuring out how to tell others to play was quite interesting, ALSO I had only a limited voice due to my sickness this week! After we got going, we had a blast! We had 12 other ladies show up, so I sat out so we could keep the even 12. It was still tons of fun! I loved watching the other ladies get so excited about hitting a Bunco!

Today I'm thankful for the ladies that came out to play last night. I'm thankful for their support in our women's ministry and I'm most thankful for their friendship! We had a great time playing, but we also had a great time talking afterwards! So, here's to good friends & good fun!

Lifetime Movies

Today I'm thankful for Lifetime Movies. Sometimes they're dumb. Sometimes they're sappy. Sometimes, they strike a chord. Today while putting away groceries, I started to watch a movie about a little boy that was kidnapped by his non-custodial father and severly abused for 5 years before being found. Sadly, it was based on a true story. There are so many kids that are kidnapped every year, usually by someone they know. I love the movie about the woman who started the Amber Alert Program. Several years ago there was a little girl kidnapped in AR from a ballpark. She's never been found. Nothing has ever been discovered about who or why. Her mother is now an advocate for missing and exploited children. I feel that Lifetime does a great job of creating movies not only for entertainment purposes, but for showing people real life circumstances. Adoption, abortion, teen pregnancy, abuse, spousal abuse, child abuse, substance abuse, you name I'm sure there is a movie about it. So today I'm thankful for Lifetime movies. Movies that inspire or just make people aware.

Happy Birthday

Today is my mom's birthday! After a long couple of weeks, surgery and spider bites, she's finally able to walk. She's also feeling much better. So today I'm thankful for my mom. She's an awesome mom who loves me and spoils me and my family all the time. She's also a great grandma. My kids will never know the feeling of not getting something they want, when Nona is around! Happy Birthday Mom. We love you!

Veteran's Day

So yesterday when I should have been thankful for the Veteran's that served our country, I was so thankful for something that gave my throat a little relief. Today I am going to say thank you to the men and women that serve our country. They do this on a voluntary basis and it is a thankless job. Seth, who is now serving his second tour of duty in Iraq. We love you and miss you and know that you'll be home soon! Billy, even though you're just starting out, we're so proud of you. Thanks to all the other men and women that put their lives on the line and lives on hold to serve for our country.

Sickly

I never get sick. It's been a long time since I've really really been sickly. Well this week I'm sick. I've got a cough and a stuffy nose and a sore throat. Friday night I told Brent I thought I might be getting sick. I never thought I would be this sick. I've not run a fever yet that I'm aware of, so that's good, but today I've stayed in my pj's and in bed just watching tv and sucking on ricola lemon sugar free cough drops.

So today I'm thankful for Ricola sugar free cough drops! They keep my throat moist and keep me from coughing for almost an hour at a time!

Preparing for baby...

Today I am thankful for my family. When we first made the decision to adopt we/I were a little apprehensive about telling everyone. I never should have been! Everyone in our families has been so excited and can't wait until we bring Paxton home. Today while talking to my mom and grandma, we were talking about our baby shower which is coming up in a couple of weeks. My mom already knows what she's getting us, but apparently the highchair I picked out wasn't "good" enough for my grandma, so she made me pick out a nicer one! AND big bonus, she's going to pay for someone to come clean our house while we're gone to Korea and for a couple of months when we get back! I can't wait. I typically clean my house once a week, but not usually a deep cleaning that our house needs for a baby to be around on the floors. SO we get that as an awesome gift.

Brent's mom is also really excited about the new baby. We were talking last night and she can't wait until he gets here. She's actually moving closer to us and that will be super nice to have family close by.

We've done so many "nesting" things lately it seems surreal that we're going to have a baby in our house soon. Covers on the outlets, guards on the cabinet doors (which i can't work by the way!), getting his room done, planning for a baby shower, it all just seems too good to be true. We're finally going to bring Paxton home! Prayerfully, sooner than later!

So today I am thankful for our families. Families that love and support.

Church

Today I am thankful for my church family. We've been at the same church for nearly 8 years. We visited there twice before Xavier was born. When he was two weeks old we left him in the nursery for the first time there. We were right out of high school, just starting college, new baby, newly married. It was such a blessing to have them there. Our church family was there for us while we were in college. We always had a sitter for night classes. Brent and I both worked while we were in school and if Xavier were sick, we could just call someone and they'd watch him so we wouldn't have to miss class or work. The same thing with Naia as well, except we were out of school when she was born. We've been incredibly blessed by a church family that has loved us unconditionally. They've supported us in prayer and love. Today while at church I was visiting with some ladies and they are so excited for us and can't wait for us to bring Paxton home. One lady even said it's like she's getting another grandbaby! All three of our kids are spoiled rotten by people at church. People that know we don't have family close by(everyone lives about 2 hours away) and they take our kids places and include them all the time.

This church has helped us raise up our children in the ways of the Lord and I know b/c of this they will keep Him in their hearts forever. We are truly blessed by this group of people that the Lord has chosen to be a part of our lives. So today I'm thankful for LFBC and all the people that we have come to love.

One Year

Yesterday marked one year since we have been in the adoption process. What a year it has been! Ups, downs, excitement, stress, etc. It has been a great year. It's hard to imagine that in a few short weeks we will be traveling to Korea to pick up our precious baby boy!

Thankful for Saturdays

I am so thankful that one day a week, we don't have to get ready early. We don't have to leave the house on most Saturdays. We certainly don't have to get up at 6:30 and most of the time, oddly the kids stay in bed a little later and let me and/or Brent sleep a little later.

Today was no exception. I slept an hour later than during the week. The kids played quietly until I got up. We made breakfast and now they're playing again and I'm trying to talk myself into getting into the shower. We do have to leave the house today. Xavier has karate testing today for his first stripe on his white belt. So we have to get ready and leave in a little bit. That's okay though b/c it gives me a reason to put off cleaning the house before we have company the next four days!

Thankful...

Today I can't choose what I'm thankful for! Right now oddly enough it's between working out at Curves, or a snack size Snickers bar....

So today I guess I'm thankful for beautiful fall days! The weather today in Russellville is absolutely perfect! It's sunny. Not a cloud in sight. The wind is blowing and it's nice and cool! I love it. I love driving around our town and looking at the mountains and seeing all the beautiful fall leaves changing colors. I love when I drive up to the house, I spot the puppies in the yard just sun bathing in the yard. I am very thankful for a beautiful fall day!

Day 5 & 6

Okay, so I went to bed last night without posting for day 5 of thankfulness.

SO I'm doing it nice and early this morning so I won't put it off too long again!



I am so thankful for our son Xavier. He is inquisitive, and smart and has a great sense of humor. He loves to read. Likes long showers. He is very loving and has a big heart for others. He loves to watch anything about animals. Animal planet and the discovery channel are big at our house. He loves going on vacation. Whether it's just to grandparents' houses or somewhere really good, he loves it. He likes history. He likes to draw. And unlike his sister, he loves to sleep! He loves knowing that he is already almost as tall as me and he's only in 2nd grade. His foot is bigger than mine already and he's always reminding me that it won't be long until he's bigger than I am.

And Now for day 6:

I am thankful for good music. I love music. Preferably, 70's/80's classic rock. 80's mtv rock, love it. I really don't care what genre of music it is, I just like it to be good! I like good christian music, country, rock, etc. So today I am thankful for good music!

I 600 Approval

We got our I600 approval already!!! How quick is that?! God is so good.

Today I'm thankful for the speedy process workers at the Ft. Smith CIS office!

Day 3

I am so thankful for my sometimes sweet baby girl Naiabean. She likes this nickname when she's in a playful mood but other times not so much! It has been with her since infancy! She is sweet, stubborn, smart. She loves to perform and sing and dance. She loves being the "teacher" to all her kids in her "school" in her bedroom. She likes to "spend" with us every night before going to bed. She tends to sleep in the floor in her doorway. Why? You may ask, well we're not really sure, but here lately it has meant that she's sleeping through the night, so I'm not going to complain just a whole lot!

Today we made applesauce cake and she loved getting to lick the mixer when we were done. She even had a piece with her lunch today.

So today I am thankful for my sweet Naia.

This is Naia getting her hands dirty in the Pumpkin that we carved for Halloween.

30 Days of Thanks

So I saw this on another blog, and thought it was a great idea. And since I'm a day behind I'm going to do two for today! The idea is to just post a short blurb each day November about something you are thankful for.

I am so thankful that Jesus died on the cross for me. Without Him, I would be nothing.

I am thankful for my husband who loves me uncondtionally through all things!