Ho Ho Ho!!!

Today I took the kids to visit the big man in red! We had such a wonderful experience. If you haven't visited with Santa yet, try Lexington Green. You can make an appointment and walk straight in to Santa's lap! As soon as we checked in, they put us next in line. When it was our turn Maggie took off and jumped right on his lap. The kids joked around with Santa about being on the naughty list, told him what they want, and even tugged on his beard to see if he's the real one.

A Tradition in the Baking!

Jackie, Amy, Aprile, and I have spent quality time together the past 12 hours in the Keith Kitchen! Today was our annual cookie and candy bake-a-thon. On the list this year we had:

• chocolate peanut butter pretzel bites
• chai tea eggnog cookies
• cinnamon bun cookies
• magic cookie bars
• chunky chocolate jam bars
• shortbread
• gingerbread men
• sugar cookies
• pecan pie bars
• chocolate cherry cookies
• death by caramel bars
• brownie buttons
• chocolate peppermint cookies
• walnut fig streusel bars
• triple layer peanut butter brownie bars
• chocolate chip turtle bars
• ginger spice snaps
• chocolate pistachio bow ties
• chocolate caramel thumbprints
• marbled chocolate bark
• toffee
• fudge- chocolate cranberry
• peanut butter fudge
• peppermint bark
• peanut butter balls
• cream candy
• divinity
• peanut butter roll

Can you believe we do all that in one day??? We've worked so hard today, but we haven't finished our list just yet. Tomorrow we will be decorating the sugar cookies, making the divinity, peanut butter roll, shortbread, and peanut butter balls. We are so close!

This is just one cookie/ candy location!

Giving Thanks

I'm thankful for many things this holiday season. Among the most important is the love of my God, my caring, playful, and giving husband, my dear three children, and supportive family. I was blessed with wonderful in laws and sisters to love. My caring brother is very important to our family and encouraging of all we do. I couldn't make it without the love and support of my parents. Members of our adoptive son's birth family have been beside us the past two years and have helped make his transition to our family complete. We have friends to hang out and do life with that are so fun to be around. My job wouldn't be the same without my friend and co-worker Jessica. We have jobs that we enjoy and feel financially secure in this struggling economy. I am thankful for my house, but more importantly the home we've made it.

We're thankful for cousins!

My First Turkey!

I roasted my first Turkey!! A very well documented experience….

First, I made a turkey brine (with some help from Williams Sonoma) I put my 20 lb turkey in an oven bag and poured the brine in.


I set my alarm for 2am and turned it over to soak all sides. At 5:30 I woke up to wash it off and begin the roast. That's when the mess occurred.......

As I lifted the turkey out of the pan, the bag burst and 2 gallons of nasty turkey juice and brine splashed everywhere. My clothes were drenched and the counter, floor, etc was covered! Luckily it was early, so I had plenty of time to clean it all up.

My turkey and ham sitting snug in the oven.

After 5 1/2 hours of roasting

I even learned how to carve!

The end result was moist and delicious!

I hosted Baker Thanksgiving this year. We traditionally celebrate the Sunday before. Everyone was able to come except for one key person.... my granny. She is in the hospital now and will be having surgery tomorrow. Please keep her in your prayers.

Making My Christmas Wreath

Jason and I love to have our house decorated for Christmas. We enjoy the lights every night. We have a 9 foot tree in our family room, a 7 foot in the basement, a 6 foot in our bedroom, a little one in the kids’ bathroom, and a 3 or 4 foot in each kid’s room. It takes so long to put it all up, we like to do it early so we can enjoy it as long as possible. We usually spend the entire Thanksgiving weekend in London, so we traditionally put it all up the weekend before.

After going to South Elkhorn Craft fair this fall, mom and I decided we were going to make new Christmas Wreaths for our front doors using decorative mesh. Mine is a little big, but I love seeing it every time I arrive home.

Here are some photos of my wreath in progress:

October Fun

Seems as if I'm down to one post a month. Terrible! I promise to be better in November. It has taken me three months to figure out how to balance life with two kindergartners, a new leadership position at school, KTIP resource teacher, and new school year. I am happy to say that I now feel back to normal!

Looking back on September and October (wherever they went), I have one thought.... I love my family. Although I had a lot of anxiety getting used to a very busy schedule, outside of the work day we had a blast enjoying fall together. Since I am so far behind with the blog, I will be short on words, but follow up with lots of photos!

Huntertown Elementary's Annual PTO Walk-a-thonI've had a great time getting involved in the boys' school. Although I'm a full time working mom, I feel I've been able to be involved. I've formed relationships with the boys' teachers, and have even been able to teach a Spanish lesson in their K classrooms!

Fall Break at the Beach!!!
I don't know what made this beach trip so easy, but it was just what I needed! The kids were excellent. Jason and I decided to take this trip on a Wednesday night. We booked a room Thursday, and left on Friday. Maybe that's what made it so laid back. It was a wonderful time with the kids, my husband, and my parents (who were at the same beach with friends). Jason wasn't able to take the whole week off, so he flew back early, early Wednesday morning. I tried not to think about him not being there or driving back without him, but the kids were great the remainder of the trip and everything was fine. They love the beach so much.

The boys had a fun time hitting tennis balls off the tee in the sand.

The ocean view from the porch was picture perfect. Here we are enjoying supper our last night at the beach (without daddy)

Upward Soccer

Matthew learned a lot about soccer and had a very fun time playing it with his cousin Anna!

Pumpkin Carving!
The boys were ready to carve a pumpkin October 1. We held them off a little, but they couldn't wait! They created a friendly pumpkin.

Camping at the Horse Park

We created wonderful family memories this year at the KY Horse Park Campground Halloween Fest. It was the weekend before Halloween. There were endless activities, free food, and campsite decorations. There was a hayride, costume contest, and the best Trick or Treating around! The kids were worn out!

My heroes.... an army man and spiderman along with a little scary witch.

We spent Halloween weekend in London with Jason's parents. The kids enjoyed playing around the house, walking around Jesse's farm, making Halloween cookies with Granny, and Trick or Treating again.

September Updates

• MATTHEW loves to read his books. We are really concerned with his focus and attention in school, so tonight as I read to him I tried to ask several questions after every couple of sentences. At first he didn't know the answers and tried to rely only on the pictures, but then he started to listen better and be able to answer the questions. We have already met with his teacher, and she emails a behavior update often. She told us she is concerned he will miss learning because of his lack of focus and attention. These things are no surprise to us, however, we don't want his learning to be affected. Up until now, his lack of focus and attention, spontaneous behaviors, inattention to consequence or danger, has been a behavior issue. Now, it's affecting his learning. Please pray we find the interventions best for him at this time, and that he is able to show his teacher how smart he really is.
• Austin is starting to talk to me about school! For a month now, the boys came home and "good" is all I got. Austin loves to help me in the kitchen with dinner. One day last week as he helped me stir the soup, he said, "Mom, I'm going to tell you the names of all my friends at school." I was so excited! He told me all the kids who speak Spanish and about the girl in a wheelchair. He said he loves to help push her. He has told me more and more each day. The Kindergartners are already placed in reading groups. Currently, Austin is in the top group (I can't believe it). I hope he does well and tries hard to keep up. He enjoys leaving his classroom to visit another. He loves his teacher, Ms. Lawson, so much!
• Daddy says Maggie is beautiful and that we're going to be in trouble when she's older. She is so lovey right now giving kisses and hugs to mommy, daddy, and bubbies. She is too funny with them. She watches them and does everything they do (good and bad). They are equally sweet to her. She now sleeps in a big girl bed. It is special to me, because it was my bed when I was little. Last night after I left her room, she got out of bed with her blankie and doll, and crawled under her bed. When Jason and I went to sleep, I asked him to go check on her. He couldn't find her. We looked all over. Then, under the bed!
• Jason and I are trying to keep up! We love being together with nothing to do. These days that time doesn't come often enough. Between after school meetings, dance, soccer, tee-ball, etc, we barely find time for family, each other, and friends, much less chores! Tonight we started volunteering with Southland's backpack program. We finally found something to do as a family!! The boys were perfect! They we such big helpers. We will be doing this every other Thursday evening. Thanks mom and dad for watching Maggie. We are really enjoying time with our Life Group. This time of deep friendship, love, and accountability is absolutely necessary and priceless for me. The girls and I are doing Beth Moore's Esther bible study right now. It is great. If you want to deepen your knowledge of biblical history and apply it to today, you must study God's word with Beth. However, I have to say that you need her with you! The videos are incredible.
• It's almost here....... My FAVORITE time of year!!! I love fall!
  

  Maggie in (and under) her big girl bed!


• I also want to ask for prayers for the Covington family. One of my most cared for students from Tates Creek was shot and killed last night. I haven't known him the last few years, but in high school he was outgoing, fun, athletic, and he cared a lot for me. I spent my first three years of teaching with him. He was even my student aide his senior year. He always knew if I attended one of his games, and he talked with me about girl troubles. I remember him fondly and pray for his family as they mourn the too early loss of their son Daniel.

Time to Play!

This fall Matthew is playing soccer and Austin is playing teeball. Jason and I asked them which sport they wanted to play. Each chose a different sport. At the time, we thought they only needed to play one sport at a time. Hindsight 20/20, not sure why we made them choose as we all go to the games! Instead of keeping them occupied while the other one is playing, it would be better if they both played. Oh well!

This weekend Matthew had his first soccer game on Saturday morning and Austin his first on Sunday. Matthew picked up the game pretty quickly. He scored three goals! We were all sitting behind the goal, so he had a great applause from the crowd after each goal. He just stood there and smiled. Austin got back in the swing of things too. Fall ball is going to be wonderful for him. He's getting lots of infield practice. In today's game he played short and first. He enjoys first the most because that's where all the action is! He had a nice, hard hit too. Ahh... the ball field. Nice to be back!

This picture isn't close up enough, but that is Matthew kicking the ball in the goal. Score!

Austin ran from 2nd to home without even looking at the 3rd base coach. He has his eyes on home!