Christmas Countdown Begins...

December 1st... it's my fathers birthday and it's the day we begin counting down to Christmas.... 24 days left.

Today we made Coconut Cookies. Enjoy.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350*. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl cream butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour mixture and then mix in the coconut. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8- 10 minutes. Makes 2 dozen.

We are hoping to share more of our baked goodies with you this month... afterall tis the season!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Tall Triangles...

With Bryant gone still we're waiting to put up our Christmas decorations until he returns. But, tonight I decided to put up the kid tree. This is where we will hang all of their ornaments that they'll make at church, school, or at home. We also will use this tree to place all of the gifts that we intend on giving to our extended family and friends. Our family tree is larger, will be placed in the living room and that is where all the goodies will find refuge on Christmas Eve for our children.

One small mental note: the kid tree needs a tree skirt.

And yesterday Nathan told me that in PE they were learning to stack cups. Hmmm...??? That was never a game or "sport" that I "played" in PE.... interesting... the things he learns in school!

Thanksgiving...

Thanksgiving has come and gone.... and so quickly too! My family came down to Virginia this year since Bryant and I hosted this November holiday in our home. It was a peaceful and relaxing weekend. And I once again have found myself so caught up in the visit that I have no pictures to show of it! But, we cooked up some amazing food and watched some great movies. Also, along the way there was a game of kick ball and a visit to down town DC. All in all it went great and we enjoyed it very much.

Hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving holiday as well... and now onto Christmas.

And.... today Mr. Eli is 6 months old. Happy 1/2 birthday bubba!

Final Soccer Game...

I have to start by telling you about Gracie. First, she has done wonderful at each and every game. She sits quietly in her chair and colors or plays, today it was Polly Pocket dolls that kept her attention. The only thing that she has ever done wrong, she did today. Here's the quick story: I was watching Nathan play and my head was turned away from her (usually not a big deal). Then another mother who was sitting on the other side of me gets my attention on Gracie. What is she doing you ask? Well, she is standing in front of her chair (where she is supposed to be) with her pants down to her ankles and half of her bottom exposed! "Gracie!!". She says, "mom I had to fix my underwear they were falling down". I thought, well at least she's not a boy... because a boy outside with his pants dropped to his ankles is not adjusting his underwear! My sweet girl... anyways, on with the game!

I have posted lots of photos here since daddy missed our last game. Long story short: the ball was kicked, I believe they scored one goal (in their own net, I'm not sure how many times they kicked it into the other teams net), and there was one little girl on the black team that yelled at Nathan that "we don't have goalies here!"... he likes to guard the net when the other team has the ball. And they played 3 on 3 today, which is unusual since they usually play 4 on4. Oh, and Nathan had a break away only he didn't have enough control over the ball and kicked it too hard. Although he was heading straight for the goal, it went out of bounds.

Game Over, time for some Awards. This was the proudest moment in his little life so far, I'ld have to say. He was so excited that he got a medal... his first ever (which he kept telling me). He even asked me tonight before bed if he could wear it to church tomorrow!

The end.

Elijah's room, peas, and Space Bag refilled...

This afternoon as I was in Eli's closet taking care of some clothes, I realized that I never shared pictures of his room with you. So, I grabbed my camera and took some shots. I believe that at this point his room is complete... finally! So, here is where our little bubba rests his head.

And then this afternoon at lunch time, Eli explored the green side of food. We opened up our first container of Peas. And he gobbled it right up! He was actually opening his mouth... which hasn't been happening lately with the sweet potatoes and carrots, nor the cereal either. So, either he really likes Peas or he was just starving!

And finally the Space Bag Part Two... Gracie and I washed some more blankets and refilled the Space Bag. Making the total 5 blankets and an Egg Carton Foam Pad. This was no light lifting into the top of the closet!

... I just hope that Egg Carton Foam Pad pops back into shape, I'll let you know when we use it at Thanksgiving time.

Update!

Sorry it's been so long! Bryant is in Georgia right now at Fort Gordon and he will be there until mid December for ANOC. Everything here on the home front is going quite well. Thankfully we have been using Skype, and it so nice! Here's his Skype cameo...

Other than Bryant being gone right now, we have filled our days with cleaning, shopping, and preparing for Thanksgiving. My family is all coming here and Bryant is flying up for that weekend also. We will have a full house, but thankfully we have plenty of room!

The other day Nathan walked in the door from getting off the bus and was shocked and amazed when he saw that I had bought Space Bags. You have to understand that if it is or ever was on an infomercial that Nathan wants it! So, we washed all of our extra blankets and put some in the space bag... I have more to do still. It's just those little things that our kids enjoy so much!

And here's Mr. Eli. He just loves his exersaucer! Especially all the toys surrounding it that he can chew on!

Off to make dinner now... Chicken Pot Pie tonight. I was determined to not live off of hot dogs and chicken nuggets while Bryant is away. I don't enjoy cooking as much when he's not here. So, I'm putting in some effort and it is nice.

Eli's first baby food: Sweet Potatoes

This week our little Elijah has started eating baby food. At lunch today he got his first taste of Sweet Potatoes.... and he likes them! He only ate about a quarter of the jar, but I'm sure his taste buds were jumping!