Happy Veteran's Day

"This nation will remain the land of the free only

so long as it is the home of the brave."

~ Elmer Davis~

The above picture is of my sweet daddy who served in Vietnam. 

Happy Veteran's Day to all those who have served in the armed forces.  

Thank you for your courage and dedication and 

 for selflessly serving in the United States armed forces.

You are our heroes. 

They fight for us.........

.........and we are so blessed because of it. 

Happy Thanksgiving

May your day be full of

sweet family and friends

your favorite foods

yummy desserts

lots of laughter

sweet memories of those not with you today

a little bit of football

a good nap

and

a happy heart
full of gratitude to the one who is the giver of all blessings!

Thanksgiving day comes, by statue, once a year;

to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart will allow.

~Edward Sanford Martin~

A Fourth of July Prayer

Dear Lord,

There is no greater feeling of liberation than to experience this freedom from sin and death that you have provided for me through Jesus Christ. Today my heart and my soul are free to praise you. For this I am very thankful.

On this Independence Day I am reminded of all those who have sacrificed for my freedom, following the example of your Son, Jesus Christ. Let me not take my freedom, both physical and spiritual, for granted. May I always remember that my freedom was purchases with a very high price. My freedom cost others their very lives.

Lord, today, bless those who have served and continue to give their lives for my freedom. With favor and bounty meet their needs and watch over their families.

Help me to live my life in a way that glorifies you, Lord. Give me the strength to be a blessing in another's life today, and grant me the opportunity to lead others into the freedom that can only be found in knowing Christ.

Amen

Memorial Day

I have never been able to think of the day as one of mourning;

I have never quite been able to feel that half-masted flags were appropriate on Decoration Day. I have rather felt that the flag should be at the peak,

because those whose dying we commemorate rejoiced in seeing it where their valor placed it.

We honor them in a joyous, thankful, triumphant commemoration of what they did.

Benjamin Harrison

Happy Valentine's Day

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.

I Peter 4:8

Quick and Easy Valentine's Day Ideas

Super cute fortune cookie Valentine's here and here for those you are fortunate to love!

Here is an absolutely precious free download to print on a brown paper bag after you fill it with a brownie heart! Such a cute and easy idea!

What a fun idea- here you can create and print your very own Pringles label. Create, print it out, and paste it on a can of Pringles for your sweetie. How fun is that?

How about some sweet heart shaped paper clips for your sweetie? Go here to see how cute and easy these are!

Need some sweet treats?

How about............

Kissable Valentine Pretzels

Marshmallow Lollipops

Conversation Heart Treats

Valentine's Day Sweeties

I love every holiday and any reason to make a treat for friends and family.

As Madison has gotten older though it's become more of a challenge to come up with new, unique fun treats for her to give to her friends at school.

Sometime last year while shopping I stumbled across some clear alphabet stickers. They were on clearance for a great price and so I bought several packages and tucked them away in my craft closet thinking that someday soon I'd find a use for them. (I do this all the time which is why I have a closet full of random stuff!)

As I started thinking of what to do for Madison's Valentine's Day treats this year- I remembered those cute little stickers. A quick trip to the store for some cute Valentine's Day paper (thank you Target Dollar Spot), some Valentine ribbon (Target Dollar Spot again), and some Hershey's nugget candy bars and we were ready to work.

I simply measured and cut the paper to fit around the little bars (to cover up the writing) and we taped them on with a small piece of tape on the back. Madison spelled out each of her friends names using the alphabet letters (getting creative when we ran out of Y's and E's) by placing one letter on each candy bar.

We then rubber cemented some additional scrapbook paper onto the back of some blank index cards cut in half lengthwise. We rubber cemented each little candy bar to the white side of the card and slid each one into a clear plastic bag (from Hobby Lobby in the bag section) and tied it with a little Valentine's ribbon.

Cute, personalized little sweet treats that were fun and easy to make!

Happy Birthday Sweet Friend

Today is my precious friend Dory's birthday.

She's truly a treasure.

God gave a gift to the world when you were born—

a person who loves,

who cares, who sees a person’s need and fills it,

who encourages and lifts people up,

who spends energy on others rather than herself,

someone who touches each life she enters,

and makes a difference in the world,

because ripples of kindness flow outward

as each person you have touched, touches others.

Your birthday deserves to be a national holiday,

because you are a special treasure for all that you’ve done.

May the love you have shown to others return to you, multiplied.

I wish you the happiest of birthdays, and many, many more,

so that others have time to appreciate and love you

as much as I do.

Happy Birthday Sweet Friend!

I love you and hope you have a wonderful day!

Christmas Break in Review

This was Tony on Christmas Eve. I had asked him to cut up the ham and when I looked at his yellow shirt, I knew it would not stay clean so............I took off my grandma's apron that I was wearing and put it on him. He looked so cute, I just had to take a picture.

He said.........

So we are going to reverse roles tonight huh?

I laughed and said.................

Oh yes, let's do......... so that means I am going to go take a nap while you finish cooking and then after we eat, I'll go take another nap while you clean up. Okay?

He chuckled and said....................

I'm thinking we shouldn't reverse roles after all.

Number of days off of school= 10 (16 if you count weekends)



Number of days I stayed up past midnight= 4 (that is truly amazing for me since I wake up at 4:30am every single day of my life)



Number of days I slept in= 0 (isn't that sad?)



Number of movies I went to see= 7



Number of lunch/dinner dates with friends= 7



Number of times I went to the gym= 7



Number of miles I did on the eliptical= 35





Number of text messages Madison sent me while she was gone to Missouri= at least 100



Number of hours I spent on Facebook= 1,000 (or so it seems)



Number of closets I cleaned out = 0 (isn't that shocking?)



Number of trips I made to Waco= 3



Number of old friends I saw that I haven't seen in years and years=2



Number of massages I got= 1 (heaven, pure heaven)



Number of trips I was tempted to make to Kentucky= 1 (very, very ,very tempted)



Number of Wii games I lost= ALL of them (but it sure was fun playing)



Number of books I read= 9



Number of times I thought about how blessed I am to have 2 weeks off at Christmas= Countless

Happy New Year 2009

We will open the book.
It's pages are blank.
We are going to put words on them ourselves.
The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.
~Edith Lovejoy Pierce~

Happy New Year's my sweet friends!

The True Meaning of Christmas

Merry Christmas sweet friends!

Ring and Run- Part 2

Here are the last three days of poems and gifts for our Ring and Run!

Ten lords a leaping would be an awesome gift,

But they got stuck while jumping through a white snowdrift.

We had to be content, you see, to watch the popcorn fly.

So we’ve added a sweet topping to it for you to try.

(big tin of popcorn)

Those eleven pipers piping reminds us of our plumber,

To leave him on the doorstep would be a real bummer.

Now make your water piping hot, and fill your cups with care.

We’re giving you some hot chocolate we know you’ll love to share.

(hot chocolate)

We simply can’t believe this game is almost through.

We’ve had a jolly time bringing these gifts to you.

With only one more night, don’t you wish you knew,

Just exactly who we are and why we’re doing this for you?


Christmas Eve has arrived, and on this our last night,

One dozen drummers would be a grand sight.

But the noise of their drums would hurt your head,

So eat all these cookies we bring you instead.

The thing to now remember, if you’ve had lots of fun

When next December rolls around you make the nightly runs.

Make sure you pick your family with tender, loving care

‘Cause its fun to get to spoil them at this special time of year.

And so we wish you a joyous Noel,

We know that you’re hoping our name we will tell.

But our name stays a secret, we just cannot share.

It wouldn’t be right, no it wouldn’t, so there!
Merry Christmas!

Christmas Choices

Christmas Choices


1. Tinsel or NO Tinsel?

NO Tinsel


2. Colored lights or white lights?

White, white, and only white


3. Fruitcake or gingerbread?

Gingerbread, but only if it's soft.


4. Bows on packages or no bows (just lucky to have the presents wrapped)?

BOWS- and lots of them! I mean..........come on, I went to Baylor!


5. Shopping done early or shopping done at the very last minute?

Done early- but always go out and find a few more things at the last minute.


6. Santa or no Santa?

Santa


7. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?

Christmas Eve- except for Santa



8. Real tree or fake tree?

Love real but have fake now because it's easier and less messy! I used to worry constantly that a real tree would die before Christmas, no worries with a fake tree!



9. Christmas cards: always, sometimes, or never?

Every other year.



10. Christmas Eve at home or at church?

Church if we are in town.

Now it's your turn. What about you?

Could They BE Any Cuter?

Halloween Treats

We're all ready for trick-or-treaters at our house tonight.

If you are in the neighborhood, please drop by.

Because if you do we'll give you a choice for your treat-

OR

because choices are good, don't you think?

Happy Halloween!!
May your day be full of treats and NOT tricks!

Happy Labor Day

Happy Labor Day!

Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.
~Ovid~

Memorial Day

"Greater love has no one than this,
that he lay down his life for his friends"
John 15:13

Happy Mother's Day

Welcome to my new and improved blog! What do you think of it's makeover? I think Michele did an amazing job and I absolutely love it! I'm still working on tweaking my new look, adding new sections, and cleaning up this little blog (way too many recipe categories) but will hopefully be done by tomorrow. Please come back then to read a post about my sweet mother.