Hubby's Deer Hunt with His Dad

Randy and his dad went hunting on Friday Nov. 28 and here is their finds! This is Russ's first deer with a bow. So needless to say, they were both very excited!

What a surprise!!

My wonderful husband surprised me this weekend with a dozen red roses and a box of chocolates! He wanted to show his appreciation for all that I've put up with, as this is the time of year that I become a "widow" while he is out hunting as much as he can! What a sweetheart!

Be Ye Thankful

Take time to......

.....and be thankful today!

"Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20)

"It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High (Psalm 92:1)

"In every thing give thanks : for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1Thess. 5:18)

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Be sure and take time today to give thanks to God for all of the blessings in your life!

....more pies!

Blackberry pie in the making....

....and another pumpkin pie!

These are the pies that are going to Rod and Diane's for Thanksgiving tomorrow. Thanksgiving wouldn't be complete without a pumpkin pie, would it? And I made a blackberry pie for the other one because it is my hubby's favorite!

Happy Birthday Jeanna!

Happy Birthday Aunt Jeanna!

We love you!

Oreo Cookie Turkeys

Here are the turkey makers..... or are they the turkeys?!!

We decided to make our Oreo Cookie Turkeys today. We use Oreo cookies, candy corn, Hershey Kisses, and a little chocolate frosting for the "glue".

playing dead??

This cute little guy is a turkey balloon in the neighbor's yard. Do you suppose he's playing dead so he doesn't become Thanksgiving dinner? Actually, I think the wind has blown on him so much lately that his head wants to stay to the side now. But I still think he's cute!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRANDPA !

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Manternach today! My dad turned 68 years old today. Where has the time gone? My mom had her Thanksgiving today so we went over there after church. And we were surprised to see my 2 nephews there. We haven't seen them for a long time. So I thought I better take their picture incase I don't see them for another long time! My mom had invited them to come, but she never heard back from them, so she was as surprised as the rest of us to see them there. It was great to see you, Derek and Jeffrey!

...it's pumpkin pie time!!!

Why is it that pumpkin pie only seems to come around this time of year? Can't we have it all the time? O.K. , I guess if we did that maybe I wouldn't like it so much. But this is what I am up to today. Making a pumpkin pie to take to Grandpa & Grandma Manternach's (my parents) house tomorrow afternoon for their Thanksgiving.

Pizza Hut

o.k. .......so I forgot to bring the camera lastnight. What was I thinking? I must be a mom or something because I was making sure I had all 3 kids, and that they all had their shoes and coats and gloves on, and that I had our bag of books and movies to return to the library, and that I had my purse and keys, and that I had my own shoes and coat on. (Thank goodness the kids are all potty trained and I don't have to remember a diaper bag too). So it isn't until we met up with Randy and went to Pizza Hut that I think *Oh duh, I should have brought the camera* With doing this blog now I should be bringing my camera along with me. But it isn't a thought that comes naturally for me because a camera is usually something I think of when we go on vacations, not for a trip to town. Anyway.....we went to Pizza Hut lastnight because the kids are in the "Book It " program where they get a personal pan size pizza for each month if they complete their reading goals for that month. But since I forgot my camera I guess all I have to offer is pictures of the leftovers of the pizza Randy and I shared. And no, I didn't think it was possible to have leftovers after a meal with Randy either, but it is!! :)

OOPS!

I was fixing a roasted chicken for supper lastnight and upon using the last of a bottle of rotisserie chicken seasoning, I went to my spices to get a new one out. So here I am sprinkling my chicken and I am starting to notice a slightly different shade of color appearing (??) hmmm....I just bought a new rotisserie chicken seasoning, so why is the color looking like it is old or something? ....so I look at the bottle and realize...duh, this is cajun seasoning! So I tried rubbing off what I could (which thankfully wasn't very much) and I got out the right stuff. Certain parts of the chicken did still have a bit of a cajun taste, but it actually ended up being a hit!

Our little princess....

Here is our little princess Hannah. She wanted to make sure she smiled big enough so everyone could see her bottom two teeth missing!! She is also our little artist. On any given day you will find her with paper, crayons, and scissors making her daily creations. Just follow the paper scrap trail through the house and you are sure to find her! If she is not doing that, then you will probably find her sitting with paper and pen in lap writing, as that is her other hobby. She brings so much joy to our lives. Daughters are definitely one of God's greatest gifts!

Micah found this somewhat heart shaped hole in a bag of chips he was eating and thought it would be neat to put it on our blog!

My find of the day....

It is so hard to find Thanksgiving decorations since the stores like to go from Halloween right straight to Christmas and overlook Thanksgiving altogether. However, I did spot this pretty Thanksgiving decoration (among the few) at Wal-Mart last week and thought *Wow, that is so pretty* but was it $10 worth of pretty? I fought with myself over it for a minute and decided that as much as I loved it, it was not worth $10 to me. Well guess what? The kids and I were in Wal-Mart today and I went to look for this pretty gem and it was not there. I thought *Well that's what I get for not buying it last week!* But then I thought about it and remembered the new clearance room that they have at the front of the store. So the kids and I made a mad dash up to that room, and there it was - marked down to $5!! So needless to say, I bought it!! I spared the kids any embarrassment of jumping up and down in front of all the other shoppers with my bargain, but boy was I excited! I LOVE Thanksgiving decorations and the season of Thanksgiving. It's like my sister Sharon says (regarding the stores' habits of skipping over Thanksgiving) "Let's be thankful first before we enter the "gimme" season of Christmas!"

We finished it!

In our homeschooling journey, we have been reading the "Little House" books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. We just finished reading #5 in the series-By the Shores of Silver Lake. Yay! Now we are ready to move on to the next one which is : The Long Winter . Which I guess is fitting since we are heading into the winter season. So I guess we are due for a trip to the library this weekend!

Poor Guy!

After about 5 days of Jeremiah laying on the couch like this with coughing and running a fever, we came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to kick this on his own. So off to the doctor we went yesterday and found out he has a touch of bronchitis. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers!

Hello!

Hello all!

Welcome to our blog! This is kind of a new thing for us, so you will have to be patient while we figure everything out! People have always commented on our Christmas letters and said that I am a good writer (which I'm not so sure about!) but I thought I would try my hand at doing a blog. Hopefully we can get it all figured out so we can share pictures and stories and whatnot. I enjoy reading other peoples blogs and thought I might as well start one for our family. And gosh, I might just let Randy get a deer story or two on here as well. Depends on if he behaves or not! Just kidding! Gotta love him!
Questions and comments are welcome and be sure to check back often for more stories and pictures!

Loose Tooth

Micah finally lost his first tooth! It seems like it took him forever! Jeremiah lost his first tooth on his 6th birthday, and Hannah lost hers on her first day of kindergarten this year at age 5. Micah is 7 and will be 8 in March, so we kept teasing him about when he would lose his first tooth and FINALLY he lost it. It was kind of funny because he was eating cereal one morning and said,"What happened to my tooth?". I said,"Did you swallow it when you were sleeping lastnight?". He said,"No, it was there when I woke up." So I inquired,"Did you swallow it with your cereal?" (as he and Jeremiah were eating a bowl of cereal) And this look of worry came across his face. Then I recalled a few minutes ago when he spit out a "hard piece of cereal" and asked him, "Where's that hard piece of cereal you spit out?" Of course upon examining it- it was his tooth!!!