We're back!

We left last Wednesday to go down to T'ville...we had a wonderful visit. It was so nice to see lots of family on Thanksgiving, though we were missing 2 of Luke's brother's and their families, a sister in law and niece. Friday my Mom in law and 2 of my 5 sister in laws went and ate lunch out then window shopped and then decided to see a movie(we saw Morning Glory..)...then we got back and they shoo'ed Luke and I off for a childless date night...after eating Sonny's(GOTTA have some good barbeque!) we went to Grassroots which is the thriving local coffee shop..just so happens our friend works there and we got to see him while out(I also got to hug and see a few other friends as well!) then since the kids were snuggly in their beds by that point we decided to go see a movie ourselves! It was soo awesome to be able to go and see a late night movie without having to worry about rushing back for the babysitter.

Ate lunch on Saturday with my parents at Chik-fil-a and then packed up and headed back to the ATL. Yesterday we had a wonderful gathering of the Body and just enjoyed our day. It feels so wonderful to go and visit and see people we love, but its also so nice coming back to "normal" life again.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Pumpkin Muffins..

Here is a favorite recipe that I make pretty frequently now when I can get the ingredients needed...they are soo good. These are just plain ol' pumpkin muffins, but when you use these:

They become wonderful. A friend of mine told me about these and they are unbelievably hard to find and if you can find them at your local store, stock up! You almost always find them in Publix, but I've heard some other places have carried them and are seasonal.. Luke brought me back 4 bags of them from FL when he went down there for work a couple weeks ago. Soo thankful for them! :) I tried making these muffins with chocolate chips, white chocolate chips..none were the same even when I added cinnamon to the mix...

So here is the cast of characters-
Milk- 3 TBS.
Box of cake mix(any is fine really, but I like the yellow super moist one, you could also use a Gluten free version to make these palatable for those who are wheat/gluten sensitive.)
Can of pumpkin puree.(Or you can roast and puree your own if you feel so inclined. 15 oz..)
Bag of Cinnamon chips.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Being careful to make sure you clip the Box Top off of the cake mix box. Spoon into greased muffin tins.

You can make these mini or regular sized...I don't have mini sized muffin tins so mine are normal size. I fill about 3/4 of the way full...

Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Or perhaps shorter if you are making mini versions.

I like to let me cool on a wire rack(this picture does not include the 12 in the muffin tin next to this.) and then devour them once cool....so tasty and moist! Enjoy...:)

Busy weekend..

This past weekend was busy! Saturday we spent almost the whole day cleaning the house. It was so needed and I just love going to bed knowing that everything is clean when I wake up! :) Erin and Wesley joined us for dinner and brought some super yummy soup to share, I made a red velvet cake which wasn't too bad and we played Kinect for a little while after dinner. 

Sunday we went and and celebrated a little guy's birthday from our Church gathering...and helped 2 families move into their homes that same day...it was a long day, but being with the Body is refreshing even amongst the chaos..haha..

Yesterday it rained all day, but Luke had to go out and get everything out of his car that was left(tools, some clothes, random other stuff..) and we got the call about the initial report from the assessment guy..which was not good. He took a whole bunch of pictures and told State Farm that there was no evidence of a fire. Lame! Cause it was!! So they said they'd tow it to a machanic of our choosing to have them look at it and point out the damage to the insurance guy...if they can prove there was a fire, insurance is supposed to cover either the repair or totaling out the car and paying us what it was worth...however if we can't prove there was a fire then we are just plain out of a car unfortunately. That car isn't really worth putting a brand new engine in it...nor can we afford that. Please pray that our machanic can find the fire damage and prove it was there.  We also watched the movie "Hachi"...oh my goodness. I think I bawled the entire movie..it was so sad, but also a great story.

Anyone else as happy as I am to see Conan back on the air?! I just LOVE his show and I'm so happy he's back hosting his show which is now on TBS for those interested...:)

Giveaway..

A friend of mine is doing a giveaway on her blog for 2 Klean Kanteens. We use these a lot at our house and love them...:)

http://babeigotanidea.com/?p=267

Can I ask a favor?

If I can get 15 people to enter for this contest using my link, I'll earn a $25 dollar GC to Amazon and we could really use the little extra this year..it would SOO help me and YOU get a chance to win a $500 dollar Amazon gift card! :)

Thanks so much for those that do..

http://www.itsThoughtful.com/christmas-gift-contest/5096/fb/

Snapshots of our day..

No, not actual snapshots. Sorry! Is anyone else as fascinated by other people's day to day lives as I am? I love just seeing how other people manage and handle their days.


My day consisted of rising with my children and serving them cereal. (They like it people...!) and I ate a pumpkin cheesecake cupcake and a granola bar for breakfast. Healthy eh? :) Had a parent/teacher conference with Olivia's assigned teacher. Went well and Olivia is right on schedule and has almost completed all her Study Island(like online quizzes) assignments which puts her ahead of the game in that area. Schooled Olivia for the next couple hours..Tried very hard to have a phone conversation with my mother before giving up due to call losing issues.

WOKE UP my sweet sleepy girl who sleeps like a college kid, served fish sticks for lunch, vacuumed the rest of the upstairs I didn't manage to get to yesterday, let my kids play Super Mario on Wii to accomplish this task, did dishes, put toys away and put cushions back on couch cleaned the living room, then told my older two to go have some down quiet time in their rooms.

Sat down and enjoyed a few moments at the computer, played some guitar, vacuumed the stairs, saved Kate from ingesting small Lego #1,460,002.., played dollies with Kate to distract from Lego incident, hollered at my kids to quiet down(wasn't QUIET time on the menu?), got mail-it was all junk. :(
Decided to indulge in a few minutes of Plants Versus Zombies on ipod, ate 2 pieces of candy out of leftover Halloween candy bowl, then greeted my sweet man home for the day..


Played outside for a little while, my Hubby surprised me with dinner, watched The Buried Life, and now we are getting the kids ready for bed...folding a load of laundry and another dishwasher full of dishes and my night will be complete. :)


Of course this is leaving out all the stuff like pottying, changing diapers and other small things such as taking out trash...It was a full day, but not too full.


What are your day's like? :)

Re-do..

I had started writing this post about something else and then decided it was coming out negative and ick...so I stopped. No need to dwell on the down sides of life..on to better things.

Olivia lost her second tooth. She was so proud this time as she wiggled it hard to get it to the place of being able to come out. She looks so cute with her big gap in the middle of the bottom row of teeth. She's also thankful for the 2 dollars those 2 teeth have given her. :)

Noah has decided to revert some in potty training. If we are out and he has to go, he tells me and we go..but when at home he waits till the absolute second to tell you or to just go himself and then ends up peeing his pants or the floor if he managed to get his pants down. I try to keep him in things he can easily pull up and down and we only use pull ups at night so as not to send too many mixed messages..and I'm sure this is TMI here, but Noah's almost always had runny poo..he says his tummy doesn't hurt but I can't fathom that having runny poos all the time is ok or normal...so I think I'm going to take him to see our new super natural minded pediatrician soon to see if its any kind of allergy thing. Maybe I'll be able to get suggestions from him about the potty thing. I'd hate to have to go back to a every 30 minute pee break...he's nearly 4...why am I still dealing with this?!

So thankful Luke is coming home today!! Its been a long 4 days and I'm so ready to see him. Being without him is like losing my right arm and our home just isn't the same without him around. However, I am so thankful for the work he was able to do while away and thankful for God's provision for it.

Happy November!

Its my 200th post today...pretty big milestone and yet I feel most of my updating is so mundane..haha..Oh well.

Yesterday we decided to go to Sonic. They were doing 50cent corn dogs..so we ate SUPER cheap..plus they handed out free ice cream to the kids. Got a ink cartridge from Wal-mart(who else has to buy ink ALL the time??) and headed home. We actually bought candy this year to hand out(we've usually not been around during trick or treating hours so its never been an issue) and had a few group of kids come...although not that many...so we'll have candy to ration out for a while. Tomorrow I plan on hitting up either Target or Wal-mart for clearance costumes...we've personally never done trick or treating but the kids are old enough this year to at least want costumes even if they are just for dress up.. Luke and I are having to reevaluate where we stand on Halloween...but that's a bucket of worms I won't open. Figured I could probably get some super cheap ones tomorrow..so we'll probably head out and see what we can get for under 20 bucks..:)

I've been doing Swagbucks for a while now and have been saving all my dollars for gift cards to Amazon for our big gift to ourselves for Christmas this year. Its releasing before then though and Luke's not into putting it in a closet for over a month...so we'll just get our gift a little earlier this year..But we preordered the Kinect for Xbox360. We already have the system, just not the Kinect part...looking forward to enjoying it. Thanks Swagbucks for basically paying for our gift. :) Though I will continue to keep Swagbucks-ing to maybe earn a few more extra cards before Christmas...Sure helps when our budget is as low as it is.

Speaking of budget..(like the segway there?) Luke and my Dad(who have been working together) have a few jobs lined up for a couple weeks. This is SUCH a blessing..in the line of work they're doing right now work can be plentiful or non-existent...so we prefer the former. :) God is good and SO faithful even when I doubt...

Olivia lost her first tooth this past week! It was lose for over a month and I thought that tooth would never come out. But it finally did and she looks so darn cute with a tiny gap...now if the other lose one would come out and she'll have a much bigger whole. We're doing the tooth fairy gig, but Olivia knows its us so I don't feel bad. She gets that its us that exchanges the tooth for the money. This was how it was for me growing up and it was still just as fun. I used to make it as hard as I could for my parents to make the exchange to challenge them...Hoping Olivia doesn't follow suit and makes it easy for me. Though you reap what you sow..haha..

Luke's going to be doing some work this week in another city...sometimes he'll drive but he may be away a few nights just depending on his schedule. I HATE when he's gone but I know him having work and getting stuff done is more important in the long run.

May November be a blessed month for all of us!