first thanksgiving delight

jack had a thanksgiving meal at his school last week....
and we made a sweet potato casserole to take....
it was such fun...the kids sang and dressed up as native americans....
and i forgot my camera...

almond cups

well, i was inspired by the green and crunchy blog to make some almond cups...like peanut butter cups only healthier...her's looked wonderful and porported to taste wonderful...
well, mine on the other hand are a big globs of yummy stuff that are really rich...it is hard to eat a whole one...or even a half of one =)
they aren't terrible,,,i mean we are talking about chocolate...but they aren't great either...
i will get a finished product photo...
basically melted chocolate with almond butter and nutritional yeast mixed up...and a sprinkling of golden flax seeds and chia seeds...layered and frozen....
or globbed together adn frozen....as the case may be.

a new phase!!!!

yesterday at church i left esme in the nursery for the first time ever and she did great!!!!
i know it has to do with leaving her with kayla for an hour here and there...and that she is growing up a bit and understands that i'll be back soon...
but josh and i sat together in church for the first time in 4 years!!!!
it was wonderful!!!

afterwards we went to our friend allison's house for lunch...it was delicious!!! and good to hang out with friends we haven't seen in a long time!

sammie waits to say goodnight

in the evenings, sammie comes to the front door and asked to be put up...
well, he is really asking to come inside and snuggle...but we just put him up with the chickens in the little coop =)
though he does smell wonderful....josh even likes the smell of his burps ha!! onion/garlic/grass....

toasting tiny marshmallows

tonight we sat by a little fire and esme ate some old figs off the tree with the turkey...
we toasted some marshmallows..it was so simple...and so quiet and nice...after a crazy ER day!

fall!

i feel like fall has been so fast this year!
it is just beautiful and i haven't really really sat down to contemplate it and get nostalgic like i usually do...
the sits ups...
i have missed one day...while in forsyth but pretty good so far...
i think i pulled something in my stomach though...oops.

the latest at the cob...

i keep thinking i'll plaster...i'll plaster...but then i realize that i really really should get all the wood stuff and cobbing finished before it is too cold...i can always close the doors (once they are on) and start a fire and plaster....but trying to cob in the freezing temps would be so not fun (like putting your hands in icecream)
so i am just slowly working on getting some shelves in...
these are from my dad and sandra's house...they were taking them out so i reworked them for the cob!

the men in my life...all 4 of them

3 stitches!!!

hmmm, does stitch have a T ..i think so....
esme fell today at the feed and seed ...
and BUSTED her head open...
i took her to the ER and they put in 3 stitches...not after much crying and waiting...alas!~
we were exhausted afterwards...but i am so glad we had her all sewn up...
this little one before age 2, has broken her arm, burned her hand on a hot stove and had stitches!!!!

o my goodness

OK...so we've had a lady on her eggs for about 3 weeks...we are waiting for them to hatch...will be anyday now...
and there were some eggs under her....on the ground...she is on a shelf and i picked them up thinking one had laid under her...
anyway.....
turns out they must have rolled onto the ground!!!!!
i felt terrible....i picked up about 6 and put them in the fridge...so i killed 6 little ones...so sad...
but amazing...amazing...to see inside there...

so anyday we'll have babies...about 30 of them!!!!!
in the winter!!!
is this supposed to happen????

visit from lauren

soooo fun bc yesterday i came home from forsyth and hung out with grace a bit...and then my friend lauren came over!
she and i went to college together....her cute little ones....grace and maya...are wonderful!!!!
jack was so sad when they had to go home...
thank you sooo much for coming lauren!!!!

waffle house with grandmama

the morning after graduation josh had to finish up his finals...so i mosied over to grandmama's house and we ate breakfast together!

more graduation

josh's grandma lives close by and came for the ceremony too!

fire graduation

grace came thursday so i could go to forsyth and watch the graduation...it was such fun to see where he's been training...
josh and another guy in the class made a plaque to commemorate the class...
with all of their names and nicknames on there...
josh's was shep for shepherd smith on fox 5 news =)

Fire Academy!!!!

o! i feel like the duct tape has been ripped off! i can now explain the last 8 weeks!!!!!
josh has been away for 8 weeks at fire academy in forsyth ga...home on weekends...
his volunteer fire department sent him and he loved it!!!!!
we are really hoping it will help him in getting a job now that he has his firefighter 1 certification...
AND\
drum roll please,
he was selected as best overall in his class!!! voted on by his fellow classmates and instructors!!!!
isn't that wonderful!!!!

anyway, it was like boot camp for firefighters and here they are on the final days just enjoying a big fire =)

what has been crazy though is that i have had a hard time blogging much bc i can't think of ways to say what i am doing without letting on that he isn't here! i just didnt' think it was the best idea to broadcast that i was by myself out here ...
but now i am back so get ready to be flooded with posts you didn't think you ever wanted to know anything about!!!
=)
congrats josh! we are so glad you are home!!!

a fall walk in the woods

these were actually taken last weekend...i am so behind!!!!
we woke up and ate then headed into the woods...it was chilly and sunny and so so beautiful!

cameron just sent this...so fun!

did this work?

my little helpers

well, this is the second attempt to make a nice bookcase for mollie...
the last one i put a back on which wasn't the right vision....which was totally fine bc i think it works just fine in our kitchen...
anywho...
this one i had to use fatter wood bc i didn't have a back to help stabilize it...
i hope she likes it alright...
it has been hard to find time in the not rain to sand and paint....
my little helpers and i painted a quick undercoat today...but now it is raining on it!!! ahhhggg~!

it's about time!

once upon a time, i decided to do a different thing for 30 days for a year....
to make new habits...to do things i've always wanted to do to make my life more rounded or healthier...
well, i did the raw thing in june and it really has changed how i eat...still!
i eat 75-85% raw still and i feel really good about that...
and i think that is why it was hard for me to keep going....on different things...my list included eating locally or eating without sugar for a month etc....but eating raw either makes that really hard or includes it....
so i just kept on with the raw diet.
anywho...
this is a simple one...but i am going to do 100 situps and 100 pushups a day for a month
i actually decided to do 500 a day but ha ha ha!!!!!
i tried tonight and after 100 of each i was DONE
we'll see how this goes...
=)

visit with holly

we left the park and stopped by holly's house...i wanted to see her little tovah again....she is sooo tiny and cute!
the kids had a blast playing but we had to leave not long after we arrived so the kids could eat before crashing...=)
holly picked up my camera and took some photos of esme and i ....
i am always so grateful for that....bc i am always snapping away but i think they kids would like to have photos with mom and dad, you know?
i would love to have more myself of my mum with my brother and i...
anywho...
thanks holly!

concrete wonderland!!!

i love this place!!!
if we get there early in the morning, there aren't any skaters (though we did meet ben coleman this morning..that was fun to watch him!) and the kids have such a good time...
pop and bliss could handle their bikes fine...but mine seemed to crash on the slopes too much...
so we spent most of our time just sliding and rolling balls and trucks...
esme is fearless...
she is the one i worry about...she would happily slide down the slopes that seem tooooo high to slide at 1.5 years old.
anywho..it was such fun!

hanging out onn the grass

watching herself on video being tossed

2 faces...

notice grace's worried look (which mimicked my own!!) and esme delighted exhuberant look =)

if you could hear her giggles...

you'd understand why they couldn't stop throwing her back and forth...she LOVED it...
we all were laughing bc she was soooo happy!
esme turned a corner this past week or so...
i think she understands so much more and so could get a mental hold on being somewhere other than home...
and not napping helps enormously bc she doesn't sleep well other places and now doesn't relaly have to...except konking out at night...

my little squirrels

jack and esme discovered a tray of pistachios that grace had put up high and so they both decided to push chairs over and crawl up to munch...
esme also made herself a house behind a closed door in the corner of the room...she thought this was quite wonderful...
jack loved having his motorcycle parked next to his uncle andys =)
and josh worked on making a large plague while studying for another fire test!

i brought up the bike and trailer and took the kids for a little ride yesterday morning...i didn't realize it was 5 miles to this little playground they like....
the ride was glorious...their road is just beautiful...cows, fields, crickets, trickling brooks, hedges, barns, hay bales, glimmering sunshine off the river/creek....quite magical indeed.

weekend rambles

well, last week ...early on...the water broke here at the fort.
and the bummer was that i noticed the lack of water pressure but not the foot of water in the "little cob"...as we call it...until i wandered out there probably 2 days after it sprung its freedom
anywho...
kelley and adam soooo wonderfully came and fixed it right up and the kids and i could be on our way to josh's parents for the weekend...
josh took a test...a firefighting test...in chattanooga and so we all convened up at his parents...
and it was just such a good visit all around...
my dad and sandra live about 2 hours from here so i can see both parental sets on route...
we spent most of friday with my dad and it was such fun!
they had put up a playground for hte kids!!!!!
jack and esme got out of the car squealing!
dad had put together an itty bitty picnic table too which i am totally going to copy...the kids love having a place that fits them.
we had plans to make some more surprise visits on the way home...but the esme was in a deep sleep after waking at 4:15 this morning and i was so anxious to get her through most of the 3 hours home in an asleep state!

here turkey turkey turkey...

i don't know how to break the news to ez in the morning that one of her turkeys has disappeared!!!
i saw the twins waddling along just before dust and then went out moments later to put them up and could only find 1!!!!
it really does make me sad....i shifted from thinking of them as dinner to other pets....
the crazy thing is that this used to happen with our first batch of chickens....just at dust one would silently disappear...every night for about 8 nights!!!! it was so strange and took quite a chunk out of our egg eating as you can imagine...
well, this is war...bc i will not see our little feathery friends go the way of their foremothers! 
well, proverbial mothers anyway.
not sure how to fight a faceless enemy (hmm, i am sounding esoteric or political) but i have to protect my ezzie's turkey!!

probably not the best idea....

but esme likes to use the microwave...
and yes, i see flaming socks in our future too!
she gets random things and puts them in...punches buttons and has figured out the start button too....
o my....
not to mention that she has climbed up the little table to do her mischief!