Christmas Collage

Oh To Be a Kid Again!!

I can remember being a little girl and being soooo excited about Christmas and Santa Claus coming that on Christmas Eve I would have a fluttery stomach and could hardly go to sleep.

My sister and I got a Lite Brite for Christmas the year I was 7. I was over the moon for this toy. We played with that thing all day Christmas Day. I think my Mama got tired of vacuuming up lite brite pegs though.

I think back and remember some other of my favorite Christmas gifts.

Barbie was wonderful. She is still today. I got this one doll "Tuesday Taylor" you could turn the top of her head around and change the color of her hair from brown to blonde. How fun is that?

What are some of your favorite toys you received for Christmas?

Hears hopeing you have a wonderful Christmas Season. Remember Jesus Is The Reason for The Season.

Our Christmas Picture

I got the kids to wear Santa hats and sit still all at the same time. Not a small feat. Especially Niko. He told me he could only sit still for one or two pictures. "Not anymore than that Renee" he said. So I picked the best of the bunch and this is what I came up with. Take in to consideration that I had to use my cell phone. A camera is on my Christmas list.

I was playing with it on photobucket.

So it's a little blurred. It's still a work in progress. How do you think it turned out?

And of course we can't forget "Handy" and his cute little Christmas pic. He was the easiest to work with I think. Lol! We couldn't get the cats to settle down for a picture. But I'll keep trying.

I'm Giving Thanks With a Grateful Heart

Thanksgiving was wonderful. This year I did something I didn't do last year....I was organized! Lol. I started cleaning and baking on Wednesday, (but I think next year I might start on Tuesday.) We had 16 people. Our house seemed so cramped and small with all the people here. I told my Hubby. "We need about 10 more square feet"


We got a table from my MIL's church and also some chairs. We set everything up buffet style. I tripled all the recipes I made and we had a ton of food. My Hubby's mom always tells me she's concerned we are going to run out. I didn't want to hear it this time. So I made plenty. Guess what? She is now telling me we had way to much. Sometimes there is no satisfying.



My Mama, made some cute little party favor/napkin holders. She placed 5 kernels of dried corn in each little cloth sack and before we all ate, Hubby told the story of the Pilgrims and the Indians and the 5 kernels of corn. We all ate until we couldn't eat anymore. I was exhausted and then of course we had to get up bright and early on Friday to hit those sales.


Now I am getting my house back to normal, and ready for Christmas. I personally think that we should carry the season of Thanksgiving over into our Christmas season. I'm thankful for the manager that held my savior as an infant and Thankful for the cross that held Him as He died for you and for me.

Martha Stewart I'm Not

It's Thanksgiving and I'm waiting on my nieces and my sister and my mama and brother in law and mother in law and other brother in law, you get the picture.....they are all coming over and spending a few nights. I am frantically trying to get ready for all of them. Martha Stewart stinks. She gives me a complex. I mean, I want to get the guest rooms ready, and have all that stuff that you get ready for guest. But I'm afraid that they are all going to be fending for themselves.

Yesterday Hubby and I went to the grocery store to get our STUFF for the BIG meal and we only spent $150.00. I am so impressed. I was really worried that it was going to be much more than that. We had an entire grocery buggy full of stuff. But the store we went to had some super deals and we got our turkey $15.00 dollars off. And that's only one of the deals we got.

Oh and my Mama just called and ask, "did you get the stuff for the party favors tomorrow?" "No Mama, I forgot" Martha Stewart I'm not.

But as my blog friend Michelle told me "stop and take a deep breath and jump right in there and you'll be fine" So that's my plan, lots of deep breaths:-)

My favorite thing is going to be watching the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade in the morning. It's a tradition. And who knows maybe one day I will be organized enough to have a home run like a well to do hotel! Lol! But until then, hopefully no one will be too traumatized by my lack of "Martha" Skills.

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll

Getting Pumped for the Holidays

I am really starting to get excited about the holidays. We are having about 20 people at our house on Thanksgiving and then I am going to start decorating for Christmas. Christmas is a holiday that I plan the decorations for months in advance. This year we are all having Christmas at Hubby's aunts house, so I am trying to think of some sort of gathering to have at my house before Christmas, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Any suggestions? We are doing and ornament exchange at Hubby's aunts so I didn't want to do that. But I want to do something that is fun and easy. Please let me know if you have any ideas. I would love to hear them.

Small Talk 6 Saturdays

Hey Ya'll come on in. Kick your shoes off and stay awhile. Join in on a fun little meme from Momdot.com It's a great thing to do on those "slower blogging Saturdays" so link up and play along.

This weeks topic is "6 things you are most thankful for this year" you can answer this list with 6 words, 6 phrases, 6 photos, 6 videos...... you get the idea.

Ok, so here goes, 6 Things I'm most Thankful for this year

#1.) I'm very thankful for my family.

#2.) I'm thankful that this year I will get to spend Thanksgiving with my Mama, my sister, 2 nieces and brother-in-law. (they moved closer)

#3.) I'm thankful that my husband and I have jobs, especially during this tough time of joblessness.

#4.) I'm thankful that Jesus died on the cross and arose 3 days later....all for me, so that through Him I might be saved and one day join Him in Heaven.

#5.) I am thankful that all my family has a roof over their heads.

#6.) I am thankful that we are all healthy and happy.

I know the list said 6 things, but I am also thankful that I have such wonderful friends.

I look forward to reading your list. Hope ya'll have a great Saturday.

Bowling, Bowling, Bowling......

Yesterday Hubby and I spent the afternoon attending to issues with Niko. We, along with his other set of parents (Mom & Step Dad) met with his teachers, regarding his IEP/504 for school. As you know Niko has some issues that he is currently working on in therapy. Please click on the label at the top of the post and you should be able to read additional post re: Niko.

All went well at the meeting, he is now in 6th grade and the teachers at the 6th grade school, seem to be taking our concerns much more seriously. That is an answered prayer! How I want this bright, beautiful child to be able to reach his full potential in life. It seems all parents are getting on the same page regarding this matter too.

Anyway, afterwards we picked Niko up from school and we went bowling. What a fun way to spend a few afternoon hours together. We all had another appt. later that evening with his therapist. Niko is so engaging and he enjoyed getting instruction on the "proper" way to bowl from his daddy.

At the meeting with the therapist, she referred Niko to get a full psychological evaluation, to determine exactly what his needs are, so that he can get the full benefit of all services offered through the school district. Also, family counseling was again highly recommended for all 4 parents, and all of Niko's siblings, so that everyone can be on board for Niko and his behavior.

This is also an answered prayer. Thanks so much for those prayers. Please continue to pray that we "all" will grow and make sure that Niko gets all he deserves in life.

We had such a blast bowling together. We laughed and joked with each other. It was a good time.

Getting Ready for Thanksgiving

Yesterday I spent the afternoon, putting away all the HHalloween decorations and getting out the Thanksgiving decorations. I try to be so organized with our decorations, other wise, I have a huge jumble of stuff, and it becomes a big mess. I like to be able to go into our crawl space under the stairs (I can actually stand up straight under there) and go to exactly what I want. I hate having to dig through unmarked boxes and tangles of lights, etc.

I am constantly searching thrift shops for decorations. I do this year 'round and I actually find quite a few good deals. This Pilgrim family, I found at the Good Will for .99 cents. It had a store sticker on the bottom of it that said 59.99. I grabbed that deal right up.

It was an Adventure!

We have a local movie theater that is sooo much fun to go to. Each movie theater has a theme. They also have stars that come out and sign autographs and things like that.

The other night Hubby surprised me, by taking me to see the Poseidon Adventure. I had never seen it before. But, the even bigger surprise, was that Mr. Ernest Borgnine was there. I love, love, love watching McHale's Navy! Did I say I love watching it? Because I do. It's hilarious. If you've never watched either one, and you happen to get the chance, please do watch them. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Small Talk 6 Saturday!

It's a meme for those slower blogging times on the weekends. Click here Small Talk 6 to join in on the fun or to just read some other great blogs.

This weeks topic is "6 stores at which you wish you could register for Christmas presents for yourself" you can answer these with 6 words, 6 pictures, 6 paragraphs, etc....

Ok, here goes

1. Hobby Lobby

2. Dooney & Bourke

3. Barnes & Noble

4. Target

5. Carson Pirie Scott

6. Home Goods

Of course I have a few more that I could add, but since the list calls for only 6, I'll just have to stop with these.

Hope ya'll are off to a good start for the weekend. I plan on doing a small bit of Christmas shopping and some grocery shopping.

Love ya!

This is My Greatest Wish

More than anything that I may accomplish on this earth, I want it said that above all else "In Christ Alone I Placed My Trust"

Adding Up the Cost.....Is It Worth It?

A few weeks ago I did a post about our wonderful new puppy "Handy". You can read about him (the post is titled "nothings to trivial for God) And I think I mentioned in another post about the computer cord he ate.

So let's see, what else.....Well, we had to purchase not one, but TWO new cords for the laptop which ran about $100 a piece. Then we finally ended up purchasing a new desktop computer. So that was well...NOT Cheap.

Next we have a chewed up cord that we haven't figured out what it goes to yet. It could be interesting when we finally do figure it out. We just have a piece of cord, chewed in half. Soooo I'm thinking this................

One Chewed up computer cord $100.00

Another Chewed up computer cord $100.00

One new desktop computer approx $400.00
But the love of Unconditional love of Puppy......PRICELESS

So in closing I would say, that while it maybe somewhat aggravating to deal with these puppy behaviors, YES it is worth it. But we are going to be attending puppy behavior classes. Of course that is another cost. lol!

Phil 1:6 One of My Most Favorite Bible Verses!!

For some reason I have been having the blues lately. Not sure why really. Maybe because we have been having some over cast days, and not seeing a lot of sunshine, or the up coming holidays, or just maybe hormones.......

But I love it when, the Holy Spirit prompts my mind with scripture. I was feeling lousy and all of the sudden the Steve Green song "He who began a good work in you" started pouring out of my mouth. Do you ever have that sort of thing happen to you? I went over to www.youtube.com and found this clip. I thought I would share it with you.

The book of Philippians is one of my favorite books too. The Apostle Paul is amazing. No matter what, he knows that Jesus is always there! And I am so thankful that God lead Paul to write this wonderful letter to the ancient church of Phillipi, and also it speaks right to my heart today in 2009! Amen!!

So I hope you enjoy this music and that it speaks to you like it did me. God's not finished with me or you yet!

~~~~Please Pray for Julie~~~~

If you're like me, you care about Breast Cancer, and it's effect on women. You, wear a pink ribbon pin during Breast Cancer awareness month, and you are always prayerful for those that breast cancer touches, and thankful that it isn't someone you know. They say that 1 in 8 women are affected by breast cancer. Thankfully no one close to me has been affected.

But all that changed yesterday evening. I have a dear friend (even though we haven't kept much in touch since we have gotten married and kids have come along) but we were together quite a bit back in the day. Anyway, she has just been diagnosed with an aggressive form of Breast Cancer. She has had a double mastectomy and is getting ready to start Chemo. She is strong in her Christian walk, but times like these can be hard, even for the strongest Christian.

Julie is 2nd for the left.

Her cancer is at Stage 2. Please pray for Julie Pickering and her family. She is married and has 3 little boys. I have been fighting back tears ever since I have heard the news. We communicate mostly through emails and such and wow, what a feeling of disbelief that I am feeling right now.

Thanks so much in advance for your prayers.

KC & The Sunshine Band

Wow, I figured it out. Duhhhh....Sometimes I can be so technically challenged. If my step-son (who is 11) was here, he could have figured it out in 10 seconds.

I was in the garage earlier and I found this old album KC & The Sunshine Band. I was instantly brought back to another time. I could smell the warm summer air and feel the warm sunshine on my face. My friends and I used to go crusin' around in my 1978 Chevette (now there's a car) lOl! We had a blast. The radio was blaring and we were footloose and care free. I was the only one with a car, so everyone chipped in and gave a dollar for the gas fund and we took on the open road...Good Times:-)

I hope you enjoy this music......Happy Thursday......

Help----Having Trouble Posting from YouTube-----

Fiddlesticks......I had this great post all set up for you guys......all from YouTube. But I can't get it to show up on my blog. Everything seems to be in order. I click on the post to blog button and it doesn't show up. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them.

~Is There a Such Thing as Comfort TV?~

I'm feeling a little under the weather. Been running a fever, have a cough, sneezing......you get the picture. I just hope it's not the flu!

But at least I am getting to watch some great old movies. We have a DVR so I have been recording some TCM movies. I just love Jimmy Stewart and I got to watch Anatomy of a Murder yesterday. Great movie. I also watched Psycho another great movie.

We also have here in Chicagoland a TV channel WMME or "Me TV" this channel plays all the oldie comedy shows, I have been watching them too. The Partridge Family, McHale's Navy, My Favorite Martian, Bewitched and The Flying Nun, just to name a few.

I wonder if there is comfort TV, you know, like the comfort food. I have my other channels (Lifetime, A&E, HGTV, USA) that I like to watch, but for some reason, when I am feeling sick or a little sad, I like to watch the oldies! Comfort TV!!

I'm missing my Bible study today. I didn't think I should go as long has I have a fever. But I can download the sessions so that's a good thing:-)

Have a great Wednesday!