Happy Thanksgiving!

For your Thanksgiving viewing pleasure...



Who needs parades and football games when you have this?!

Oh the joys of having sisters! Are there no blue, black or red goggles in this house?! Poor little guy. Tell me he won't grow up all warped!

(I haven't taken a picture of him wearing the big floppy yellow straw hat with a big yellow flower on it yet, but knowing how ornery this boy is already I'm thinking I may need some bribery pictures for later on in life.)



So anyway, moving right along....

Somehow I don't think washing Jake's mouth out with soap is going to do any good (that is, whenever he starts talking where we can understand him).

Why?

Because I caught him with this...

Yep, that would be the soap bar from our shower. I know... EEEEEWWWWWWW!!!

At least this time he didn't also rub body wash all over his face and hair. Like last time.

Hope you're having a wonderful Thanksgiving!! And that your turkey dinner tastes better than soap!

We will be (future tense...I'm writing this on Wednesday but setting it to post on Thursday) celebrating Jessica's 6th birthday, cooking turkey, dressing, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob, broccoli, rolls, and pumpkin pie, eating birthday cake, and possibly taking that whole turkey dinner over to someone else's house where our church will be having Thanksgiving all together. (Most people up here have family far away so our church has Thanksgiving together.)

And if you're going to brave Black Friday, good luck to ya. I'll be home snug as a bug!

Double Digits

Do I need to reintroduce myself? It's been a while since I posted so I have some catching up to do. We've got two birthdays in November and it's one down and one to go. Mackenzie turned 10 this month (Jessica has a Thanksgiving birthday this year and I'll post about it later on.)

I can't believe we're in the double digits now. That "estrogen ocean" thing is getting scarier by the minute!

Mackenzie asked for a chocolate two-layer cake with pink icing. She did the sprinkles on top herself.



And yes, it really is November here in MONTANA. You know, where it does get cold in the wintertime. You wouldn't think it since Mackenzie is wearing short sleeves and Rebecca is wearing a tank top. At least the other two have good sense (either that or they couldn't find their summer shirts that I hid).

We invited the girls in her class (all 5 of them) over for a little birthday party. Oh my head!

Actually, it went pretty well and wasn't too torturous. We don't do parties every year but we try to do them every now and then. Winter birthdays are hard because you can't really have the party outside and let the wide open spaces filter out the madness.

Fun Game?

Jake: Mama!

Me: What?

Jake: Mama!

Me: What?

Jake: Mama!!!

Me: What, Jake????

Jake: MAMA!!

Me: Yes, Jake?

Jake: Maaaama!

Me: Jaaaake!

Jake: Mama!

Me: What?



Wanna play?

It's usually only mildly annoying (and mildly cute), but when your throat is on fire it's not fun at all. He gets mad when you whisper.

You might have won Love Starts With Elle!

Remember the Love Starts With Elle tour a few weeks ago? You might have won a copy of the book afterall!!

Check it out! Here's what Rachel said on her blog:


Thanks so much to all the bloggers of the "Love Starts With Elle" blog tour. Applause, applause.

And a big thanks to all who signed up to win a free copy here at rachelhauck.com.

With so many entering, I just couldn't pick two so I went to Thomas Nelson with an idea and they heartily agreed.

EVERYONE IS A WINNER AT RACHELHAUCK.COM!

They are graciously supplying the needed books for the 63 who sighed up for the drawing!

Please send your name and address with "LSWE Winner" in the subject line to rachelhauck@gmail.com and I'll get those books mailed out to you in the next few weeks.

Congratulations everyone!


How 'bout that?! So if you were one of those who had left a comment on Rachel's tour post, go claim your copy!!

Halloween Night!

Why is it you can never get one decent picture of a group of kids?

Because they're kids. And kids wiggle, and giggle, and jiggle...and cry.

This year for Halloween the girls all wanted to dress up as princesses. (Rebecca is a "fairy princess," thankyouverymuch! Do NOT call her just a princess. She will correct you. Oh and don't tell her that's actually a "bride" costume I'd found at a consignment store.) Of course Jake is Spiderman.

He's protesting here because the girls got him in the car too soon and I had to get him out for pictures. He was ready to GO already!

I took several pictures trying to get him to laugh...or something. And when he does...

...Jessica looks away.

*sigh*

So anyway, the kids got home from school and all their school parties and hallway parades. Then after dinner we gathered up and paraded to the neighbors (well, not loud-car neighbor). We have an elderly couple across from us and each year they have a bowl of candy to give out. So when we showed up they were thrilled. We were their first trick-or-treaters in 15 years! (The kids were sick the past two Halloweens so we didn't go out then.) We live out of town, can you tell?

After that we went to town and trick-or-treated up and down a block where a couple of teachers live, then we went to a community party full of games and goodies.

They had this little set-up for picture taking:

It was so DARK in there I wasn't sure what kind of picture I'd have when we got home. Hmmm, not bad!

Stan missed out on all the hoopla because he's out hunting this week for opening elk season. I'm sure he's completely broken hearted! *grin* Actually, I know he misses seeing the kids all dressed up and excited, but I doubt he misses the craziness part.

Maybe I'll be able to post a picture of a dead elk when he gets back!

Oh, I also have to tell you that we went to trick-or-treat some friends of ours who the husband works with Stan. And while Stan is gone this week our friend is using his work truck. So when we pulled up to their house and the girls saw daddy's truck in the driveway they all said, "Hey!! Daddy's here!!!"

It was so cute!

Why Neighbor, Why?

Why, neighbor, must you play your loud music at 8:00AM while you get ready for work? From your car! Do you not have a radio or CD player in the house? I mean, I like Magic Carpet Ride as much as the next person, but not when it comes in muffled through my house all the way from your driveway.

It's almost as annoying as when your husband cranks up his 70's Bronco at 6:43AM and let's it idle all REVVED UP for 20 minutes before he finally gets in it and taps the gas so that it can finally settle down into a more moderate blub blub blub.

And aren't you too old for loud music anyway? I mean, you have a teenage son who doesn't even play his music loud when he comes and goes.

While I'm at it, don't you realize that both houses on either side of you in this little cul-de-sac have babies in them? You remember babies, right? They like to sleep. Rather, their mommies like them to sleep. But when your very loud car jamming floods through their windows in an otherwise quiet house, it tends to wake them up.

I know you see my girls leaving for the bus in the morning but even they were able to get ready for school without waking up little brother.

And I realize that our other neighbor is an elderly couple who didn't hear the Life-Flight helicopter land in the front yard next door to them a few months ago. But I can hear just fine. And so can Jake.

Well, ok then. Good-bye neighbor. Go ahead and drive away in your very old, very loud, music-blaring car. See you at 4:46PM.

During Jake's afternoon nap.

Boo!

I've been booed! Jenni over at Conversations With My Hairdryer has booed me. Normally I would take offense to being booed, but with the great English language this is a different kind of boo (could we really not think of a new word for things? we just recycle words and give them various meanings? don't get me started on words that are spelled differently but pronounced the same...they're, there, their...or words that look the same but pronounced differently...read, read. ok, I'm done.).

Halloween and all.

So, what's a boo?

I'll quote Jenni who quoted Drama Mama who quoted...who knows!

Now, this is how the Blogging Boo will work. Go to as many friends as you want and tell them they've been "Boo-ed". Have them link back to your blog to pick up their Halloween Treat (picture) and tell them to "Boo" their friends. Then, put the picture in your side bar so everyone knows that you've already been "Boo-ed" and to send the pic to someone else.

So, are you scared yet!!?? BOO!!

Okay? one more time......

1. Take picture, put on sidebar
2. Tell people they have been booed
3. Link back to who booed you

Okay- Get to BOOING!

So there you have it! Enjoy!

A Personal Touch

I know most of my recent posts have seemed a bit..."commercial." Sorry about that! So now it's time to add the personal touch to this "personal" blog!

Stan went hunting on Saturday, so true to form the kids and I stayed in our pj's most of the day. (Well...the girls stayed in them all day and didn't even have to change into jammies at bedtime because they were already in them! They thought that was cool. I hoped they wouldn't tell anybody!)



Mackenzie still likes her braces and now has alternating pink and purple bands (hmmm...sounds familiar...her momma did the same thing when she was in braces, but the colors had just come out then).



Rebecca is just one of those kids who flies under the radar. She will take all the hugs you will spare, but when she's mad her fists start flying. But you wouldn't think it because she's usually so sweet.



Jessica hasn't provided too many "Jessica stories" lately. I think she's focused on not getting her name on the board at school. And the rabies shots. We have 2 more rounds to go. Yay!



Jake is broadening his vocabulary. Most things are still "puppy" but now he can ask for "cocky" (cookie) and a "cocker" (cracker). When he wants a drink he makes the "gung" sound like he's drinking. He also can sort of call his sisters by name, but what he actually says is hard to spell, so I'll leave that off. He says "ball!" (always with an exclamation mark) and "bear" (that's a new one), "out" (more like "oooouuuuuut", when he wants out of his chair), "go," "eat" (and when he wants you to eat he says "eat!" with his eyebrows down and shoves his finger at you).



The other evening we were watching TV while Jake alternated between jumping on our laps and smashing his nose in our faces to roaming the house doing whatever it is toddlers do. It was near bedtime.



We had the girls get ready for bed and got them in it. Then I searched for Jake.



Couldn't find him. Anywhere!



I searched the whole house three times and was starting to get freaked out. My mommy brain started thinking he got into something and...well...I thought the worst.



After making everyone (Every. One.) get up and help me find him, I hear a faint, muffled voice say "Ma!" (Jake either calls me Ma! or Momma).



We all stopped to listen.



"Ma!"



Where's that coming from?



We follow the little giggles to find him in mine and Stan's room behind my full length mirror sucking on a cough drop he found from who knows where, thinking he was being pretty sneaky.



Well, he was.



Little stinker! He thought he was pretty funny. I didn't think so.



(By the way, the ice cream pics were from the first day of school. I realized I hadn't shared them yet.)

Love Starts With Elle Winner!

We have a winner!

Random.org chose the very last commenter, twiga92! Congrats!!! I'll email you shortly to get your address.

Thanks everyone for participating!

Home Another Way ~ Review

Home Another Way
by
Christa Parrish

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Christa Parrish graduated high school at 16, with every intention of becoming a surgeon. After college, however, her love of all things creative led her in another direction, and she worked in both theatre and journalism.

A winner of Associated Press awards for her reporting, Christa gave up her career after the birth of her son, Jacob. She continued to write from home, doing pro bono work for the New York Family Policy Council, where her articles appeared in Focus on the Family’s Citizen magazine. She was also a finalist in World magazine’s WORLDview short story contest, sponsored by WestBow press. She now teaches literature and writing to high school students, is a homeschool mom, and lives with her family in upstate New York, where she is at work on her second novel.



ABOUT THE BOOK

After her mother’s death and her father’s abandonment, tiny infant Sarah Graham was left to be raised by her emotionally distant grandmother. As a child she turned to music for solace and even gained entrance to Juilliard. But her potentially brilliant music career ended with an unplanned pregnancy and the stillborn birth of her child.

In an attempt to escape the past, Sarah, now twenty-seven, is living life hard and fast–and she is flat broke. When her estranged father dies, she travels to the tiny mountain hamlet of Jonah, New York to claim her inheritance. Once there, she learns her father’s will stipulates a six-month stay before she can recieve the money. Fueled by hate and desperation, Sarah settles in for the bitter mountain winter, and as the weeks pass, she finds her life intertwining with the lives of the simple, gracious townsfolk. Can these strangers teach Sarah how to forgive and find peace?

A story of grace, of God’s never-ceasing love and the sometimes flawed, faithful people He uses to bring His purpose to pass.

If you would like to see a video book trailer of Home Another Way, go HERE.

If you would like to read the first chapter of Home Another Way, go HERE

My Review:
This is Christa's debut novel and she started with a bang! It's fairly short, which makes for an enjoyable quick read. This is not typical Christian fiction. She takes us along side a very disturbed young woman who is bitter and resentful about her family's history. Sarah wasn't raised in a loving home and eventually started going down the wrong roads, making bad choices.

When her father dies and leaves her an inheritance she wants to quickly grab it and go. But there's a catch. She has to stay in that small, mountain town for six months first. Of course the tiny town does not have the night life and other amenities she is used to, but she's desperately broke and has no where else to go. The whole story is set during this six month time frame.

Christa does an excellent job of capturing Sarah's crude character without using crude language. Sarah is cold-hearted and doesn't apologize for who she is; doesn't care how she treats other people. She resists the townspeople and does not want to open herself up to them, but then she gradually finds herself starting to care. Not knowing how to handle this new emotion, Sarah does what she knows best. Lash out.

I enjoyed reading about Sarah and the truths she discovers about her father's past, but I also could relate to the townspeople who were trying to get to know her. When I'm faced with a calloused, hateful, mean person my first reaction is not to reach out to them. But this book shows that beneath the cactus thorns is a soft, tender side that bruises easily.