Abundant Blessings Homestead

18 things I love about being married

Is it really 2009???!

Okay, so, who said it was okay to make it 2009???!

We had a wonderful Christmas. Filled with family, food and fun. Can't ask for much more than that!

We'll be headed back to the books soon..but first, we are going to get together with our dear friends....we missed seeing them this Christmas break due to our company. It will be nice to spend the day with them! Course, I also get to see her the next day for MNO..and again for Keepers at the end of the week. AND..this dear one has invited our children to spend the night next weekend. Can I tell you how very blessed I am to call Misty my bestest friend?! She's AWESOME!!!!

Monday marks a most special day for us...it's our 18th wedding anniversary. Ahhhh....remembering the day we became one...love that! I think we need to watch our wedding video that evening. I can't decide what to make for our supper that evening. I'm not feeling inspired yet....I did the menu for the rest of January..but left that day blank.

We're headed to town to grocery shop in the morning. I think it will work out best to get it taken care of tomorrow. Getting back to school is going to be as tough for me as it is for my children...maybe tougher! You would think with this being our 11th year of home education, that I wouldn't feel this way...but alas, in all honesty, I do! Oh..not the home education part of it..the returning to a schedule part of it. We've so enjoyed not having a schedule that it's hard to go back...

The weather has been way too warm for winter. While I appreciate the lower electric and propane bills...I must admit that I still look forward to the coldness of winter..the time of hunkering down in our home. I long for a fireplace to curl up in front of....

One of our big gifts this year....from my folks and my brother and SIL...was a Wii! It's been lots of fun for our family. I have to say that my Honey has the most realistic looking Mii that I've ever seen. I love it! It's like he's here even when he's not!  Gotta love anything that gives me more of my Honey!!!!

I'm off to do some shopping in the Old Schoolhouse Store. They have all their e-books half off..but that expires tonight...nothing like waiting till the last minute, eh?!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas....

It's been a whirlwind of a time around here. It's so wonderful having Mom and Dad back with us again. I love having such a great friend to go shopping with..and just generally be with!

My cookie swap was, as usual, alot of fun. Thanks, ladies, for coming, and sharing both your night and your cookies with me! It humbles me to think of the distance you traveled and time away from your family you spent...to be in our home. What treasures you all are to me.

Aunt Nina arrives on Tuesday!!!! We are so excited!!! We'll head to the Huntsville airport to pick her up. We have a couple of stops to make on the way...but the children are especially excited to see her in that airport!!

I believe I have all of my shopping completed. There is plenty of wrapping to be done..but once I do that, everything is ready for the big day. All but the couple of gifts that I'm waiting to arrive in the mail...like Mom and Dad's...and Aunt Nina's! Yep, I waited a bit too long to order said gifts...oops!

The only big thing left to do before Christmas is the annual Mom's sugar cookie bake and decorate-a-thon. It's an annual tradition, one not to be missed. My FAVORITE Christmas cookie is the iced sugar cookie. They must be Mom's recipe..and they must be iced and decorated. That says Christmas to me. Could it be all those hours I spent icing and decorating a gajillion cookies as a child?

The weather is to turn colder soon. It's supposed to warm up a bit on Christmas Eve day...along with more rain. Then it's to get colder again....where is winter?? I know we need the rain...the drought we've gone through is not good at all...but days on end of rain equals mud...thick, gooey mud. Not cool...not cool at all!

Our anniversary is coming up in January...maybe we can get away after Christmas for a date night while Mom and Dad are still here...hmmm...will have to talk to Mom about this...

If I don't get to blog again before Christmas, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!!

13 Days till Christmas!!

Whew! Less than two weeks till the big day!

I did some online shopping last night. Was so pleased to find some gifts at very good prices!! I need to get some gifts in the mail...SOON!!!

Honey brought home a new jacket and a Christmas ham with him last night. They were gifts from Home Depot. How cool is that?! This Sunday is his work Christmas dinner. Should be a fun evening!

The rain has finally stopped here. Folks just north of us got snow yesterday...and up to 3 inches of the beautiful white stuff. Us? Nope..just rain. We did wake to a light dusting of white...but not enough to do anything with..bummer! I'd LOVE a white Christmas again!!!!

Today is another craft day for us. We're making our annual gingerbread houses...except they'll be made out of graham crackers. One year, Rebecca and I would like to do a true, fancy gingerbread house. But, for now, these are fun! Rebecca made gingerbread cookies yesterday. That girl can bake!! We share a love of kitchen stuff....just as I share with my Mom. It's a wonderful tradition.

Mary joined us this morning. I love that we still have a babe who wants to snuggle with us!! I relish it cause I know the time is far too fleeting and it will end soon enough. My baby is going to be 6 next month. SIX?!

The cows were out this morning. When I woke Thomas, I looked out of his end window (the window that Daddy had said would be good for Thomas to have to be able to see the cows...smart Daddy!!!), I saw cows...not where they were supposed to be. Rebecca and Thomas got up and we went out to find them in the pole barn munching away on hay. Toby knew they needed hay last night, but it was raining..and had been for two days. It was a sloppy mess. With the rain and the cold, we thought it best not to go out in it. No biggie this morning, Thomas the wonder boy started the tractor and took them a roll of hay. Rebecca and I cleaned up their mess and moved some hay to them out of the pole barn. Once Thomas had the hay out, we moved them into the field with it. We shut the gate so Toby and Thomas can take a roll up top tonight when he gets home.

The shorter nights make it tough to get alot done after work. But, thankfully, Toby gets off at 2 and is home by 2:45 or so. We put off supper till he's done what needs doing and eat a bit later than usual.

Tonight is pizza night!!! We all love this night!!! We have a movie to watch and will turn on the wall heater in the living room and cozy up to enjoy our movie and pizza. I think this is the most looked forward to night of the whole week in our home!

I must scoot now...time to pay a couple of bills and then get started on those houses!

Christmas break!

We are officially on Christmas break now!!!! Yippee!! I remember when they were smaller (well, Rebecca and Thomas)...we used to take off for the entire end of the year holiday season...the Monday before Thanksgiving until the Monday after New Year's. Ahhh...those were the days....  Now, we have so much more school work that it's not really feasible to take that much time off..course..it's also hard to stay focused on school work during the holidays... for me, not so much for them!

We have much to do before Christmas arrives. But, we're pretty much on target for getting it all done. Course, I've been there before and the best laid plans don't always pan out.

Today is shopping day! We're headed for milk...then drop it off here at home. Then we are going to my hair salon. Rebecca and Thomas need some hair attention. Next, we are headed to that great shopping mecca..Wal Mart! The children each have some cash (thanks to Granny..and Daddy!) to spend. This year, we've done something different. They've chosen a name, so instead of each of them buying for each other, they'll buy for one special person, plus Daddy and Mama. I plan to take one child with me through WM to pick out their gifts for their special someone and Daddy. The rest will stay with Rebecca. We'll repeat this process till everyone is done. Could be a long day, eh?!

The next two days will be craft days. I can't tell you how excited Natalie and Mary are for this! They are my craft bugs. Anything involving creating is right up their alley!

Thomas hung the outside lights yesterday. It looks all festive out there now! I believe we done with the decorating...course...there's always a little more we can do, right?!

I put all of our school books away yesterday. Oh my...do we ever need shelves for school books!!! I stacked them three different ways before I found a method that mean the books would not fall over! But, this way, you also can't pull out a book from the middle...you know..should anyone want to look at a school book before say, January 5th. Oops..not sure we'll start that day..yes, it's the Monday after New Year's...but it's also our 18th wedding anniversary. It doesn't seem right to start back on that wonderful day, now does it?!

My folks will be here soon...and not soon enough! We miss them dearly!!! And Auntie Nina will be here the following week!!! YEAH!!! We love having company!!!

I want to get some gifts wrapped before I wake my children...I think now is a good time...

Have an abundantly blessed day!!!

Evolution of Dance

Oh my! This guy is GOOD!!!

Here is  his website. What a fun video to watch!!

A busy week ahead....

The week ahead is filled with activities....but fun activities!!!

We are home today...doing our school work and enjoying the bit of snow that has fallen. Tomorrow is my town day...I'm meeting two different ladies to sell them some of our "stuff". I will be so happy to have this stuff sold!!! Then it's off to Wal Mart to return something I bought on Friday, and do a bit of Christmas shopping. Then it's time for my Mom's night out!! It's our Christmas party...we'll celebrate with a good meal, great friends and a round of Dirty Santa!

Wednesday, we're "watching" a friend's BIL. He's mentally at the age of about 5, but is over 50 years old. They are going to the public school to teach an abstinence program (so proud of them!!). When they come to pick him up, we're headed for our milk run. I'm really looking forward to getting milk this week. The gal and her husband we buy milk from moved into a new rental home, and out of her parents' home this past weekend. We have a gift for her and can't wait to give it to her!

Thursday...at this moment, looks like we'll be home as usual that day. :)

Friday is our homeschool group's Christmas craft party. I actually have chosen my craft already! Yeah, me!

Saturday, we're headed to town to see Handel's Messiah at a local church. We've never seen this and are really looking forward to it!

Sunday, is a Christmas parade in town. We watched our little town's parade yesterday....can you tell we LOVE parades?!

Vision Forum sale!!!

Go check out the deals at Vision Forum's sale!!!

I could sure spend some major money there!!

Whew...what's been going on around here....

It's the busy time of year....the most busy time we have all year long. While it can be tiring, it's also lots of fun. I LOVE this time of year, for the weather change, the beauty change and the excitement of all that's going on!

Here's our past week in photos...

First, Thomas went hunting with our friend and neighbor...

Here they are going up our hill...

Nope, they didn't get a deer...maybe on Thursday when they go again? Maybe if the yahoos in the field behind us are not buzzing around on their 4 wheelers with their guns out....maybe they'd be able to get one!

Our dachshund, Penny, gave birth to five beautiful puppies!!!

Rebecca used the Knifty Knitter and made Mary a hat....she's working on other projects with it now...

We made root beer! Now, this did not save money at all...but you know how I like to make things myself...  It was neat to do and tasted wonderful!!!

Here are all the supplies...

Here I've poured the root beer flavoring into the sugar...

Here is the combined flavoring and sugar, as well as the yeast that has proofed...

And here is the final result!

We have 5 gallons of root beer to drink! The box says to store it on its side for 1-2 days, then store it in the frig for 3-4 days...consuming within a week. Guess we have alot of root beer to drink, eh?! Toby stopped at the store and bought a huge container of vanilla ice cream..can you say "root beer floats all around"?!

Craft day for Thanksgiving...here are Natalie and her dog, Bean, as pilgrims. (No, I'm sure the pilgrims didn't wear yellow hats..bonnets..what were they called?! But, it's the color we had on hand and I didn't want to ask Honey to make yet another stop at Wal Mart on his way home...)

It's been a fun filled, busy week in our home. We have baking to do today..along with a run to pick up milk. We are planning a quiet day tomorrow to celebrate Thanksgiving.

Hope you enjoyed our week in review!!

Tuesday morning

It's a chilly morning here in Tennessee!
Honey's dealing with ice on his windshield each morning now. Time to remember to head out there sooner so the truck can warm up before he's ready to leave for work.

Thanksgiving plans are being made. We're planning a quiet, simple, relaxing holiday this year. We don't take too many days to do really nothing...so that's our plan this year. The girls and I will do as much ahead of time as we can, so no one really has much to do on Thanksgiving. We plan to get some movies and just relax together. Doesn't that sound lovely?!

I'm making a shopping list....for our Keepers' meeting this week, I will be teaching candy making. I have some yummy recipes and am really looking forward to this class! The Contenders will be putting together wood models. I wanted both groups to do something that they could potentially use for Christmas gifts. I think these classes both fit the bill nicely!

I continue on my quest to organize the office. I have a huge pile of stuff to sell. It all needs to be photographed so I can list it online. Much of it is homeschool materials, so that will wait till closer to the end of this school year. But, the sales of this material will probably fund our next year's materials! There's ALOT there!

My birthday just keeps getting better! Yesterday, Rebecca and Thomas' gift to me arrived.....

I have drooled over this book since last year.....checked it out at the library a few times...and now have my very own copy!!!! Rebecca made cream cheese thumbprint cookies from it last night. I LOVE this book!!!!! My children spoil me...and I love them so dearly. God has blessed me abundantly with the very best children ever!!!!

Another book that I am throroughly enjoying is

When I was visiting my wonderful friend, Misty last week, I saw her copy of this book on her table. I asked her to borrow it when she was through reading it. Instead, she sent me my own copy! How blessed I am to have such a thoughtful, generous friend!! Did I mention she also bought my supper at MNO? How blessed can one person be?!

I must scoot now...I need to make my list for town and then wake my children. Think I'll kick up the heat a bit before I call them. It's a bit too cool to climb out of their warm beds at the moment....

Have a most blessed day!!!