One of those days....

Well, today started off pretty good. The weather was nice and cool with a great breeze coming through and I got the kids off to school. Ella and I stopped by my friend Gretchen's house to look at some things and then we went to try to get some early Christmas shopping done. I did get two presents bought which brings our total to 7 family members being bought for. I'm pretty happy with that considering I usually don't get anything accomplished until after Thanksgiving. We're planning an awesome trip to Keystone, CO for our 10 year anniversary. The place has skiing, snowmobiling, ice-skating on the frozen lake!, sleigh rides, and lots more. It's gonna be so much fun! And we're flying home to Georgia for Christmas so needless to say, we're really trying to watch our $$$. Well, my sweet Caleb came home today so excited b/c he had gotten to go to the treasure box at school for being the best table last week. For those of you who know Caleb, that's something we really celebrate around here. So all is well and then, of course, I notice something strange about Caleb's "cool, new, one of his nicest, shirts". It's got a huge hole in the front and in the back. I asked him what happened and he says "an accident". Then he proceeds to tell me it was the type of accident where his mind forgot to tell his hands not to put the scissors to his clothes and cut away. At what age does this get better? I probably wouldn't have gotten so upset except that we're watching the moo-lah and I can't just go out and buy another shirt. Oh, well; one of those wonderful childhood moments that I'm sure I'll have many more of. Oh, and this is not the first time this has happened, just the most scissor damage. Any advice mothers out there?

Forever!

Okay, so it's been forever since I've posted anything on here. I would play catch-up but that would take forever. So to sum it all up, it was a crazy busy summer, but a great one. I thoroughly loved having my parents out to visit (of course it went by too fast) and I enjoyed having the kids home with me. We went to the pool alot! We had out air go out during a heat wave (nice timing) and that was about the end of the summer. The kids are back in school; Caleb in 2nd grade and Abby in kindergarten. They have great teachers and they are really enjoying it.
I absolutely love this time of year. I get into the baking mood and unfortunately, the shopping mood. When it's cool outside, I just can't wait to get out in it. I've actually done really well so far getting some Christmas shopping out of the way. And the kids haven't found anything! Caleb usually comes across all the surprises, but not this year! I tried a new dark chocolate truffle recipe yesterday and it was "delicioso". I'll post a couple of new recipes when I've tried some more new things.

We finally got Abby's zed cards today. She had a photo shoot back in September in Memphis, TN and with our big move, and settling in, we just got around to getting to the next step. We'll be able to hand out the zed cards at any auditions she has and send them in to any agencies. Abby loved the photo shoot and wants "to be in a magazine". If something does come of it, it would be great to pay for college.If nothing comes of this, we sure did get some great pictures out of it and we're happy with that. Abby will probably have moved on to wanting to be a ballerina again and would be okay too. I'll try to upload some of her pictures taken at the photo shoot.
Caleb had a little fall today at school. He tends to get ahead of himself and today that resulted in tripping over someones foot on the way out. I guess he was really excited about getting home.
They said he landed right on his tooth. That's not funny, really, but I've tried to picture what that would look like. (I'm not a terrible mother. You know that's funny.) Anyway, his tooth looks fine and he was acting like normal by the time we got home (all of 30 seconds later) so I think he'll be okay.
Have I mentioned lately that I'm excited about my parents coming to visit?! 4 days and counting! Please pray they'll have a safe trip out and that we'll have a safe trip to San Antonio.
Thanks!

Sleepless Nights

Why am I up blogging past midnight? I just couldn't sleep tonight. Or..... could it be that I'm just being such a good pal hanging out with Alex the hamster while he runs on his little wheel? It's been a crazy few days. Ella has been sick; fever, runny nose, croupy cough, and now Caleb feels sick. My parents are flying in on Sunday morning and we're flying out Sunday afternoon for the convention. I'm so excited about them coming. I'm excited about the convention, but I'm also excited about getting back and spending time with mom & pops. I sure do miss my family. Just knowing we're so far away makes me really sad sometimes. But I know God has a plan for us and we want to be exactly where he wants us. I'm also thankful for all of the wonderful friends we've made in all of the places God's used us. Isn't it neat to think how God has this path for us and if we stay faithful and follow that path, he has amazing blessings for us? I've seen so many in our ministry so far and I can't wait to see what else he has in store for us. I mean, who would have thought we'd be living in southern California one day. I sure didn't.
Well, I guess I'll sign off and try to get some rest. I'll send some new recipes soon. Thanks again for reading!

Humidity

I never realized just how big a part humidity played in the general outcome of a sunny day. The kids had soccer practice this evening and the sun was still high and bright in the sky. I debated just sitting in the car with the a/c on to watch them play. Then I felt like a bad mom, so I pulled out the stroller, baby Ella, and all of the cool drinks I could pack in. Of course, to my surprise (again), I was never hot. The breeze was nice and cool and even though the sun was beating down on me, I wasn't hot. The crazy thing is, if we had been there when the sun went down, we would've needed jackets. I don't know how long it will take me to get used to this. I'm not complaining though, it's much nicer than sweating. For those of you who know me well, you know how much I hate sweating.
On another note, my parents are coming out for a visit in a little over a week. I'm so excited! They've never been to this part of California, so we'll have lots to do and see. If ya'll are reading this, I love you and can't wait to see ya! Bring me some peaches!!! :)

The 66'ers

We had a great time this past weekend. Our church went to the Inland Empire 66'ers game on Monday night. One of our choir members sang the national anthem (she did a really good job) and our Pastor threw out the first pitch. The weather was great, the snow cones and funnel cakes were delicious, and the kids loved it. I felt like a kid in one of those movies where they go to the baseball games together all of the time. Hopefully we'll go to another game soon.
Alex, the new pet hamster, is doing great. He's hilarious rolling around in his little ball on the floor. I'll try to get a picture up soon of him. He's a cutie!
*Also, a quick cooking tip while I'm thinking about it. If you're making mozzarella sticks,
don't use string cheese. I usually use regular mozzarella but I decided to try something different today. String cheese is mozzarella cheese so I thought it wouldn't make a difference, but it does. It will melt all out before it gets done. Not so tasty.
On another note, Jeff is still sick and could use any prayers you could send up for him. The convention is coming up soon and he really needs to be in full voice. Thanks for your prayers!

Alex

Well, we finally did it. We got our first family pet. His name is Alex and he's adorable. He is a little black hamster. Right now, as I'm typing, I hear him running away in his little wheel.
Last night, after Alex was settled into his new house (and ready for a long night full of noisy activity) Jeff laughed and said, "We intentionally have a rat beast in our house." It's pretty funny because we've always said we'd never have any house pets. Oh well, it's amazing how you change your mind when your kids are begging for a pet. I guess a hamster is the easiest of them all.
If any of you have any advice or just interesting hamster stories, let me know. I look forward to hearing from you!