Merry Christmas to all . . .

My Kaylee girl just has it all figured out -

she told me that Santa is just a normal guy when he takes his clothes off

and

also that he rides a 4-wheeler because we don't have any snow for his sleigh. :-)

Kaylee - 3 1/2 yrs

Matthew - 2 yrs (almost)

Erin - 4 mo

(I just had to add the traditional 'compare this year to last year' picture.)

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!!

God bless you and yours during this holiday season!!

A New Recipe - yum, yum, yum!!!!!

This year at Thanksgiving I decided to try a new recipe for PUMPKIN CUSTARD PIE. It was soooooo delicious!!! It is much lighter than regular pumpkin pie. I got this recipe from all recipes.com. There were several other version that were similar, but here is the one I tried.

INGREDIENTS:

1 (9 inch) pie shell

1 cup pumpkin puree

3 eggs

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teasponn ground cinnamon

2 cups milk

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine pumpkin, eggs, flour, sugars, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and milk.

Beat until smooth. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.

Bake for 50 mins or until set in center.

Here's a picture of our dessert spread for Thanksgiving diner. This was only about half of the pies everyone brought. We had almost as many desserts as we had main foods and salads.

Thoughts of a three year old . . .

We have two dogs in the family - one called Peanut and the other Turk (sometimes affectionately call Turkey).

Kaylee was quite concerned when I told her that we would be eating turkey for Thanksgiving diner.

One day after visiting Grandma's house, Kaylee came home and sadly told me that Grandma was going to make 'Peanut' into peanut butter.

Talk about traumatizing a child. . . :-) Needless to say both incidences took some explaining!!

In the mood for Christmas . . .

Just feeling a little bit in the mood for Christmas - how about you?? I'm not interested in rushing the season like most retail stores are doing. I was in a WalMart store back in late October, looking for fall decorations and everything was Christmas then. It's like they just skipped over Thanksgiving completely.

But now that Thanksgiving is past - I am ready for a little Christmas. Kaylee has been ready for Christmas since the middle of October. Almost every day she wakes up saying 'it's Christmas, it's Christmas.' And just how do you explain to a 3 year old that Christmas is a long time away, when she has no concept of time?:-)

Giving Thanks With a Grateful Heart . . .

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! Today has been a good day here in Mid-TN. We were blessed with 40 somethin' degree weather, which made it feel very much like Thanksgiving weather from the north. We were also blessed to have 36 of our family and friends here in our home for Thanksgiving diner. It was a house full! The food was great and the time together was wonderful! I AM TRULY BLESSED!

I am very thankful that I discovered the blogging world. It is so neat to be able to keep in contact with many friends from over the years. The social life in 'this part' TN just isn't quite what I was use to, being raised around PV, but your news and your pictures have made me feel closer to home. And to those of you spread 'round the world - I have been reminded to pray for you more often.

I give thanks to God, for all He has blessed me with - a wonderful husband; 3 healthy, beautiful children; and the love of family and friends.

I am very thankful for many more things - but the list is too long for me to post here.

Happy Thanksgiving to all - from our family to yours!!!

Pastor appreciation . . .

October is pastor appreciation month. I wanted to express my appreciation for our new pastor and wife, Wesley and Joy McDonald. I appreciate their spirit of love and caring for the church. It has not been an easy year for the McDonald family. In March, Rev. Smokey McDonald, was killed in a tragic accident. Then in August, Wesley and Joy lost a baby boy named Nathaniel John (at 34 wks). Through it all I have watched them keep a positive attitude, a sweet spirit, and their faith in God.

I am excited about the new things that have been happening around our church. There has been a renewed interest in the youth group and also in our missionary society. Recent 'Rally Days' have been an encouragement for everyone to invite and bring others to church.

Wes & Joy - thanks for all you do for our church! We deeply appreciate you!

Events of the past month . . .

I haven't posted in awhile and since I don't have anything to blab about I thought I'd share a bunch of pictures.

We finally got a swing set purchased and assembled for our kids. Thanks to Papa John, Uncle Tristan and Daddy for putting it together. Kaylee & Matthew love it!!

The circus came to town!!! It was definitely a small town circus, but the kids were fascinated. We saw horses, ponies, camels, tigers, lions, and the elephants.

Ready for church!!

My three babies!

"Busy Britches" getting into trouble in mommy kitchen pantry. Boys sure do like to climb!!

Baby Erin - two months old already. She's got a lot to think about.