An Announcement and A Game

I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. Ours was pretty good.

Only good, not great.

The reason it wasn't great was because the whole family wasn't there. Every year our married children alternate the holidays they spend with their in-laws and the holidays they spend with us. This year Thanksgiving was the off holiday, so Matt and Kylee and Steph and Zack and all of their little ones were not around the table. That's okay, though, because that means everyone will be here for Christmas!

We were missing another person from the table this year as well.  This guy headed down south to spend Thanksgiving with a very charming family. We really missed him, but he said he had a good time.

He ate.

He visited.

He ate.

He fed chickens.

He ate. (I'm sensing a pattern here.)

At one point he set off an alarm and had the cops come to talk to him.

He ate.

He came close to being a person of interest in a nearby break in.

He ate.

So, you know, nice holiday, and fairly typical ... for a Boyd, anyway.

Oh! I almost forgot! He did something else while he was gone as well.

Can't wait for another episode of Boyds at a wedding:  the family ... the potato salad ... the fun ... the taco bell ... the camouflage ... the blood ... the pick up lines ... all these have been part of Boyd weddings. 

Welcome to the family, Shelby! Hang on because being a Boyd is one wild ride!

That was the announcement. And now for the game:

In case you haven't noticed, we're heading into the Christmas season. In keeping with that Christmas mood, we're going to play a game here on the blog throughout the month of December. In each post we will include a quote from a Christmas movie. The quote might be part of the post for that day, or it might be something we tack on at the end--it all depends on how creative we feel at the time.

You will always know what the quote is because we will put it in bold. Your part of the game is to post a comment on the blog with the movie that the quote came from. The winner each day will receive 1,000 meaningless points, a brief touch of Christmas magic, and the overwhelming desire to watch the movie of the day. Make sure you play along because otherwise you'll be a grinch!

See what I did there?

Future Vlogger

My big girl turns Five today!

As you watch your babies grow through each stage of your life, it seems like you can't wait until they start walking and talking.

Talking is now something Stella is very good at! So good in fact she is doing it all the time. She starts the moment she wakes up and she falls asleep talking at night. She even talks in her sleep.

She has been quite a busy little girl lately, when she isn't playing with her toys or watching my little pony. She has been hijacking my phone to take videos.

In honor of her Birthday, I've picked a few of my favorite videos to share with you. They start the same, so keep watching!

Does anyone have a questions you would like Stella to answer in her next video?

Have a great week! 

It's that time again!

  It's finally here! We'll, ok, I know that winter doesn't technically start until December 21st, but I'm pretty sure that everyone automatically shifts from mode to winter mode the day after Thanksgiving. I just can't get into the Christmas decorating and shopping for presents mood when I'm thinking fall. So, for me today winter officially begins!

  I love how Christmas really goes through the entire month of December. First you decorate your home. Then there's always the church Sunday school Christmas party which is usually at the beginning of the month so everyone can come before they start getting busy. Then for me there's my birthday so PRESENTS!!!  Then there's the groups that go caroling about midway through the month. Then there's the Christmas cantata a Sunday or two before Christmas. Then traveling to see family and finally Christmas!

  This year we won't be able to decorate for Christmas because we'll only be home for a short time in December.  It's just not worth the hassle of pulling stuff out or buying decorations for a short time. So, to get some Christmas spirit in my house I decided to do the book a day thing. You wrap 24 Christmas books and the kids get to open one each night of December up through Christmas. I'm a little behind seeing as I've only got a few books and only a week to come up with the rest. But I'm looking to ebay and some Thrift stores to come through for me. I have faith it'll come together. 😁  The hard part is finding Christmas books that aren't all about Santa Clause. I will never understand why parents want to give toy credits to a fat man in a red suit. You're also basically telling them that someone will be breaking into their house and stealing cookies every Christmas eve, but that we should like the fat cookie burglar. Don't hate me for going there, but it's the truth, people!

  We have quite a few Christmas traditions.  In our family we bake and decorate sugar cookies with the little kids... And some of the older ones 😉.  We have appetizers and do a family game on Christmas eve. Then we have cinnamon rolls and the Christmas story on Christmas morning, followed by presents. My favorite tradition is that the guys all clean up after Christmas dinner since the ladies did all the cooking! Feel free to take that one home! So what are your Christmas traditions? And most importantly, do you get lost in  the hustle and bustle or do you take the time to slow down and enjoy what God has given you and remember what it's really all about?

 

The Definition of Insanity

So all my guys were either at college or off on a hunting trip last week, so I had the house to myself. I watched some TV. I read a book.

And I cleaned.

I much prefer fall cleaning to spring cleaning, and I always want a clean house for the holidays, so I scrubbed and cleaned and mopped and polished and washed and ... well you get the idea. This past Monday afternoon I headed out of town to go pick up Joel at college for Thanksgiving. The happy hunters did not get home until Monday evening

When I left, the house was spotless. The kitchen sink and the dishwasher were both empty as was the washer and dryer. The carpets were vacuumed. The floors were polished. Even the light fixtures were clean. The house positively gleamed.

When I returned twenty-four hours later, the sink was full of dishes. Hunting gear was not scattered all over the house, but it was taking over my bedroom.

I could have gotten completely upset, but instead I remembered one rule that helps me focus on everything:

That really goes for kids or just guys in the house. I had to force myself to remember the positive side:

Keep my eye on the details:

And next time I get the urge to clean, I have to set some rules down:

Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Talk

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Does your family have a tradition of going around the table on Thanksgiving and saying what you're thankful for? That's great if you do, but it doesn't usually take that long. So, you finish going around the table and then what? You're silent. Why? That's because you have nothing to say so you stuff your faces with turkey and pumpkin pie. Well, that's what I plan on doing. Just kidding. I've decided today that I would share with you something I found to help with the awkwardness around the table. Here are some  topics to talk about at the Thanksgiving table.

Pheew, say that there times fast.

Gobble, Gobble, here we go!

1. Would you rather cook all of Thanksgiving dinner or clean up and do all of the dishes afterwards?

2. What is one thing you appreciate about someone at the table?

3. If you could have named yourself, what name would you have picked?

4. Would you rather eat Thanksgiving dinner with your family or three celebrities of your choice?

5. If you could eat one food for an entire year, what would it be?

6. Would you rather wash your hair in mashed potatoes or take a bath in gravy?

7. Pretend you just won a million dollars, what's the first thing you would buy?

8. Would you rather lead the Thanksgiving Day Parade or have dinner with the President in the White House?

9. Who is the funniest person at this table and why?

10. What is something you really love doing as a family?

Hopefully these will help you kickstart your table talk during your Thanksgiving Dinner! 

I would love to hear some of your answers to these questions. Do you have any family tradition or a favorite memory from Thanksgiving?

#DeputationStory

  What's with the hashtag you ask? Since we all know I love hashtags so much. Well I'll tell you. I was talking to a missionary friend of mine today and she told me how her a friend will text each other and start with "#deputationstory" and then share something funny or something that only someone else on deputaition would understand. So I thought I would borrow their hashtag and share some stories of my own. Here we go.

#deputationstory
   When you've been in a different hotel room every night that week and you start to have trouble remembering which room number is yours.

#deputationstory
    You slept in five different states in the span of one week.

#deputationstory
     After a month of being away from home,  the cereal and French fries found on the floor of your mini van could feed starving children in Africa for a month.

#deputationstory
      You forgot to empty the van trash can (yes, we have one. Don't judge)  at the last stop and now the van is starting to smell like that wet diaper and yesterday's BBQ sauce.

#deputationstory
     Your Sunday evening is gonna be rough because you didn't get to take a nap. (I have never lived for a nap more in my life than I do now on Sunday afternoons. It's like coffee. You don't skip it or bad things happen)

#deputationstory
     You play tetris every time you pack the van.

#deputationstory
     Your kids think McDonald's is just where you're supposed to each lunch every day.

#deputationstory
     You stayed in one place for more than a week, and it was weird to not have somewhere to be.

#deputationstory
     You don't know what to do with your evening when you don't have church every night.

#deputationstory
      You know the one northern restaurant to go to where you CAN find your sweet tea.

#deputationstory
      You have way more of these stories than anyone wants to read in  one post.

#canyourelatetoanyofthese?

What's Yours Is Mine

So last week I told you how I was the proud owner of this wonderful new car. We got the car that Monday evening, and I greatly enjoyed driving it around town for the next three days. I had driven it less than fifty miles, and I hadn't even had to put gas in the tank yet when it happened.

My husband decided he needed to drive it.

Normally I don't have too many problems with Indiana wanting to drive my vehicle. He's a truck guy (that's his truck in the picture behind my new car), but he needed to go to a conference in Tennessee, and he decided my new car was the best vehicle for the trip.

Now in all fairness, his trip was one day down and one day back and my car would get 2.5 to 3 times better gas mileage compared to his truck. My tires were new, the car was in great shape and it could handle the 1000 miles better than his truck would.

But it was MY new car.

My NEW car.

Mine.

In the space of two days he and Matt would put twenty times more miles on the car than I had. Plus, the car was clean. It had no crumbs. No dirt. No trash. No clutter.

I knew it would not come back to me in the same pristine condition.

No offense to my son or my husband, but have you ever taken a car on a trip where it did not collect trash and debris? I knew there would be crushed straw wrappers, crumpled napkins, discarded candy wrappers and an assortment of other items in my car by the time the trip was done.

Not only that, but there would also be guy smells. You know what I mean. I've lived with enough of them to know they can and do have a distinct odor at times.

Taking my car made sense from a practical standpoint, but that did not mean I was happy with the decision. While they were gone I was stuck with the truck. A cool choice from my husband's point of view, but it already had a bunch of guy stuff and discarded papers and tools and boots and things in it. It already had a guy smell. It seemed incredibly unfair to me, especially when Matt started texting me pictures of crumbs on the seat of the car while they were traveling.

This was the state of the backseat when they returned. Just exactly as I thought. Actually, not quite as bad as I thought it would be, but still ...

I felt that it was only fair to leave something behind in Terry's truck. But what? It was already full of junk stuff. 

I thought about spraying it with perfume, but I knew better. Their trip was Friday and Saturday. This Monday Terry headed up north for hunting season. All his gear and equipment would have picked up the smell of the perfume and the deer would have spotted him coming a mile away. Spraying perfume was a little too drastic.

What I needed was something clearly feminine, but also easy to get rid of after the joke was over. Just not too easy. So I made a little trip to Claire's Saturday evening. Sunday morning, Terry found his truck a little more feminine.

I hung the purse from his rearview mirror, and then I decorated the steering wheel, dashboard and rearview mirror with stick-on earrings. He had hearts and strawberries and rainbows and assorted other feminine things all over his truck. I don't have a picture of it, but I also stretched a bright feather boa of orange, red and pink across the top of the backseat in the rear window.

He was not amused, but I thought it was a fair exchange.

What do you think?

Random-ness

Happy Monday!

Have you ever had a bunch of random things happen but the one thing that happened isn’t enough to make a full story? Well, that’s what I’m doing here. I’m sharing all things random that have been going on in a home full of little girls!

• A recent conversation with Stella:
   Me- Stella, did you cut your hair?
   Stella- Um, yes.
   Me- Why on earth would you cut your hair?
   Stella- I was sweaty. 

• There was a bad character on a TV show Stella was watching. I heard her say, “that lady is stupid.” Stella we don’t say stupid. “Okay, but she’s still that."

• Dad, Can you make a itching machine? So we can itch where ever we want.

• Matt to the girls: No tickling. We’re going van shopping and I want you to be happy. Just not that happy.

• One night we were watching TV and Talia runs in from the kitchen and pokes me in the eye and shouts “MOM.” I wanted to be mad because it hurt but it was so funny we all just laughed.

• Stella was practicing words with Olivia and “butt” happened to be one of them. Of course, Olivia would be able to say that one clear as day.

• We recently were in the car on our way home, and the girls were being so loud. So my husband said, “okay, everyone do quiet dancing.” The girls loved it. It worked for a minute or so. 

• Olivia talks about Uncle JoJo all the time. I’m starting to think JoJo is a universal word for everything.

• My daughters built a scare machine so they could scare their baby sister. It’s called the Thousand to One. (See photo below)

• Talia started calling all things prettiness!

• I was tucking Talia in for bed and I told her, “Momma is tired.” She said, “then go to bed. If you’re hungry, go to the kitchen.” Thank you so much for your wisdom, Talia!
  
  Last, but certainly not least ...

• One morning, I had told my husband that I had to go to the store that day but was leaving the girls with him. Later in the day he had taken a nap and then woke up because he heard the older girls in the bathroom. He quickly said, “Where’s Livy?” Stella casually said, “she’s in the living room dad, you don’t need to panic.” I was giggling to myself, because I heard all of this as I was cuddling Olivia.

And that pretty much sums it up. My life is never dull and always an adventure with these three. 

What is one of your favorite memories from when your child/children were little?

A Lemon

I've been struggling with some vehicle problems lately. For the past almost two years I've been driving a Dodge Journey and I have to say that it's not been the most favorite vehicle I've ever had.

For starters, it had a very bad stale cigarette odor when we first got it. I bought febreeze car fresheners to clip to the air vents. I febreezed the seats. I left the windows down at every opportunity. Following an online suggestion, I even kept some coffee grounds under the seat to absorb odors. In the end, Time healed all wounds ... and odors.

Once I could draw a deep breath in vehicle, I thought things would get better. Unfortunately, that was not the case. I noticed that the temperature gauge started climbing. The longer the vehicle was in one spot while running--say, at a stoplight or in a drive through--the higher the temperature would climb. When I had the oil changed, the technician told me that I was very low on coolant, but that he couldn't spot any leaks so he topped off the tank and sent me on my way. 

It became second nature for me to set the computer screen to the temperature gauge as opposed to the speedometer or mileage screens. I also took to carrying jugs of coolant with me, and eventually it got so bad that I was adding more coolant to the tank every other day or so. We finally were able to get someone to replace a faulty thermometer and then the vehicle finally started running smoothly.

Except for the grinding noise.

We had the brakes replaced shortly after we bought the Journey. What the mechanic did NOT replace, though, was the brake pads. They were metal on metal and the squealing and grinding was quite alarming.

When we got the brake pads replaced, I finally was able to relax and enjoy my vehicle. Until the day it decided to quit on me.

While I was driving it.

In traffic.

On the expressway.

I had just merged onto I-94 and was keeping up with traffic when everything suddenly stopped. I turned on my hazard lights and steered to the shoulder (on a bridge, I might add) and called my husband. While I was waiting for him, I turned everything off and then started the car again. It started right up and drove with no problems. 

When I got home, Hubby looked over the vehicle and could find nothing wrong. I decided that perhaps it was a fluke, but then it happened again the next day. I was about to turn into our driveway when the car quit and everything shut down. The power steering went too, and I almost hit a tree as I tried to steer the dead car into the driveway. Once again it started up with no further problems.

The vehicle continued to die once or twice a day. We researched it online and found out that it had happened to quite a few owners. When they took the vehicle in, the mechanics were unable to recreate the problem, and were, therefore, unable to fix it.

Isn't that reassuring. We pretty much parked the car, taking it only on short trips nearby, and began sharing a vehicle. We both knew that couldn't last for long and we started looking for something that might work better. After a week of searching and test driving more vehicles than I care to count, I am pleased to announce that I am now the proud owner of a Kia Optima. 

For a long time I've preferred an SUV to a car, but to tell you the truth, I'm so glad to have a vehicle I don't have to worry about, I really don't care. I think my new ride looks pretty sweet.

So tell me, what kind of vehicle do you drive? Do you like it?

One Hundredth Post - What Were We Thinking?!?!?!

Today we're celebrating because this is the 100th post of Laughing Out Loud in the Ministry. Since this is a special occasion, we decided to do a three-way conversation on the blog today. We spent almost  a full ten minutes or so trying to decided what topic to cover for such an important post. We finally decided to discuss the expectations we had with blogging versus what the actual reality is. As we discussed the topic, we also talked about changing the schedule of who posts on what day. We'll pick up in the middle of that conversation.

Kylee:  Ok. So, Mom will post this Friday, I'll have Monday, Mom will have next Wednesday and Steph on Fridays. Does that work?

Stephanie:  Works for me.

Kylee:  Mom, did you die? We haven't heard from you in two hours!

Stephanie:  She's dead.

Kylee:  I'm sending an ambulance! Should I have them use sirens or would that draw too much attention?

Jill:  Sorry. I was at the gym and then in the shower. I think we should switch days; going back to the original line up is fine; I'll post this Friday and then next Wednesday and 100 of anything is too much for one blog post. Am I all caught up now? Oh, and if I'm going anywhere in an ambulance, there should be lights and sirens. I want the whole experience.

*Crickets*

Jill:  So ... no relief that I'm alive? Okay then.

Kylee:  Sorry, I was talking to 911 ... wait, it was Jimmy Johns. Did you know they were freaky fast? Much faster than the ambulance. Just kidding, but now Jimmy Johns sounds good.  BTW, I'm glad you're not dead.

Jill:  Next time I have a medical emergency, I'll call Jimmy Johns instead of an ambulance. I'll get to the hospital faster, and I won't have to eat hospital food.

Kylee:  Win, win!

Kylee:  So what are some expectations you've had of the blog versus realities of the blog?

Jill:  I expected it to be a lot easier blogging with three people than it was when I was doing it on my own. The reality is that I still struggle with posting on time and coming up with topics once a week. I'm beginning to wonder how I ever came up with 3-5 posts per week. What about you?

Kylee:  In the beginning I thought, "this shouldn't be too hard". And then I wrote my first blog and realized I should retake an English class.

Jill:  I'm beginning to think Steph is dead now.

Kylee:  Let me call Jimmy ... er, I mean, the ambulance!

Jill:  She's probably driving. She gets less motion sickness that way. Maybe she should dictate her answers to Zack and he can text them.

Kylee:  Steph, ya dead mon? (Jamaïcain accent)

Stephanie:  Sorry, Sorry. Not dead, just driving ... Although it was through NYC and I felt like I was about to die. Now we're stopped in New Jersey to go to the bathroom, and I won't be able to text long because this is a scary place to be stopped.

Kylee:  Lock the doors. And grab some coffee while ya theya. Get it? That was my jersey accent.

Jill:  What's with all the accents, Kylee?  And Steph, you're just going to have to dictate your answers to Zack so he can text them for you.

Stephanie:  Nice Jersey accent. Zack's driving now.

Kylee:  Thanks. It's not real easy to do over text. So what are some expectations you've had of the blog versus realities of the blog?

Stephanie:  My expectation vs. reality was that I thought blogging with y'all would be really easy because every time we talk we end up laughing a lot. Then I realized that, when it came to writing, the kind of the things we end up laughing about may not be so funny to other people. And now I'm really hungry btw. Jimmy Johns sounds good.

Jill:  Sometimes we end up laughing at stuff that would be inappropriate to share with the World Wide Web.

Stephanie:  Should we admit that? Although, when you have four teenage/young adult males around, I think that tends to happen.

Kylee:  Sometimes I feel really good about a blog that I write and I think it may get quite a few views, but then I look at it and it's got, like, 33 views!

Stephanie:  I know, right? The ones that I think are the funniest are the ones that have no views and no comments.

Jill:  Same here. I also thought we'd have a lot of people comment and participate, but sometimes it feels like pulling teeth to get people to say something. I have noticed that we get the most views and/or comments when we write about the guys.

Stephanie:  And our kids. We get a lot of views with adorable pictures. Not always comments, though.

Kylee:  No comments is the worst!

Stephanie:  Well if we have a hard time coming up with stuff to say, they probably do too.

Jill:  LOL is not hard to say. Or type.

Stephanie:  They probably feel like that's not enough to comment.

Kylee:  Maybe they have to decide if they want to lol or not?

Jill:  What about smiling slightly or politely. Otherwise you feel like ... *crickets*

Stephanie:  I have to say that my husband's expectation was that our only readers would be, like, Kylee's family, my in-laws, and a couple of people from our church in Madison. So when I told him we had between 200 and 300 views, he was shocked. Kind of sad to say he didn't have a lot of faith in us. How do you smile slightly or politely in a comment?

Jill:  Zack obviously does not understand the power of social media. Also, sad to say, I don't think any of our husbands ever read what we have to say.

Stephanie:  Zack reads mine ... but only because I make him. Correction. I make him proof it before I post it.

Kylee:  Matt reads mine to proof too. Well, up until the last few anyway.

Jill:  Dad said he reads them sometimes. But then he also said it's been awhile.

Stephanie:  As he's proofing, Zack usually asks me, "what grades did you get in high school?" Apparently my grammar isn't great either.

Kylee:  Matt told me I should take an English course at the beginning. He did say I'm getting better. I'm going to say it's just because I was rusty since I hadn't been in school for awhile and the only writing I did was texting.

Stephanie:  Good answer. We'll go with that for both of us.

Kylee:  My expectation for the next 100 posts would be to start making money ... but in reality, maybe just have a guest writer.

Stephanie:  My expectation is that I'll remember my day every time. Reality ... probably not.

So there you have a few of the things we had in mind when we started, and then the realities we actually faced. We've made it through 100 posts, and hopefully we make it through hundreds more. We'll occasionally do group posts, another contest in the spring, and a little game for the month of December to help us all get in a Christmas mood. In the meantime, thanks for sticking with us. We really appreciate it, and we do hope we've occasionally brightened your day.

Now about those comments ... if you're having trouble thinking of things to say (and really, who isn't?) here's a few suggestions:

LOL; HaHa; too funny; cute; I like it; that was dumb; you are so silly; I agree; I don't get it; huh?

Feel free to use any or all of the above, but keep those comments coming!

New Hampshire???!?!

  This week we were in a conference in New Hampshire.

It was our first time being here in New Hampshire. I was excited because were driving straight through Vermont, and if any of you grew up on White Christmas like I did, that is what you think of in Vermont. The phrase "Pine Tree. Coming into Pine Tree" kept going through my mind. I was very sad to find out, though, that there is no actual Pine Tree, Vermont. Finding that out was probably the same feeling a kid has when they find out there is no Santa Clause. (Not that we do Santa Clause, but you get what I mean, right?).

  Anyways, when I told my mom that we were in New Hampshire, she said that my brother wanted to know how close we were to Lake Winnipesaukkee. If you don't know what that is, you've never seen What About Bob, and therefore, you have been deprived so you should go find it on ebay after you finish reading this. We were only an hour and a half away from Lake Winnipesaukkee, but we did not get the chance to go visit. Another movie dream that I will not fulfill. Well, that wasn't really a dream, but we'll probably never be up this way again so kind of sad to be so close, but not actually there.

  So none of that really has anything to do with my post today, but it's late and I felt like rambling. Anyways, while at this conference we were with some friends of ours that we met almost two years ago. How they still like us we will never know. Why, you ask? Well here's the story.

 We met them in February of 2016 at a church in Tennessee. He was the main speaker for the missions conference. The friendship started, not because they liked us necessarily, but because we had this adorable little one year old girl who doesn't know a stranger. We sat at dinner with them one evening, and being outgoing as she is, our little girl gave the speaker her sad eyes when she saw the cookie that he had. It was one of those cookies with the hershey's kiss on top. He decided to share and gave her the hershey kiss and he ate the cookie. Then I believe he went and got another one so he could continue to share. Well, that was all it took, he had an instant friend. Before the week was out, he brought her an entire bag of hershey's kisses.

  Because she was so friendly, he ended up spending some more time with us and he not only booked us to come to his church, but also got us two more missions conference meetings. The next time we saw him was at one of those meetings. It was a shorter meeting but he didn't forget the bag of hershey kisses! You're probably thinking " I don't understand why they wouldn't like you". I know, right?!? Who wouldn't like us??  Well, just wait.

  The next time we saw him was at his church. We got there on a Saturday and they had us come to their house for dinner. It was a great dinner  followed by a gift of hershey's kisses and we fellowshipped, and laughed, and had a great time. Until... That precious little one year old decided that dinner wasn't going to sit too well with her. And it came back up... all over her, and the highchair, and the dinner table, and the floor. I sat there with mom brain, worried about my baby but also worried about the mess and I was holding my hands out as if to catch it all to save the highchair, and the table, and the floor. I didn't even really realize I was doing it until the pastor's wife chuckled and told me that I didn't really need to catch anything, it was a little late for that. So my hubby and the pastor's wife cleaned up the kitchen and I cleaned up the baby in the bath tub. That was fun.

   Well, that night ended decently and we headed back to the hotel. The next day after church we went back to their house for lunch and made it through without disaster... Until we left. It was raining cats and dogs that day, and we had a little Ford Fiesta stick shift. So we ran out to the car and instead of getting soaked while we tried to stand outside and buckle in the baby, we just got in the front seats and then my hubby put her in the back seat. While he was turned around buckling her in, he bumped the emergency break and the car started rolling forward. Right into the pastor's car. There was no damage. We didn't even roll far enough to gain any speed, but still. He was as white as a sheet as he walked in to tell the pastor, who with good humor joked about our support going out the window. Thankfully, there was no damage and he wasn't at all upset with us. They even still sent the kids a bag of hershey's kisses this last summer.

   It's now been a year and a half since being at their church, and here we are together again this week. We've been together since Thursday, and it went well with a bag of hershey's kisses for both of the kids and no incidents... until tonight. The last night, of course. We went out to dinner and as we're sitting there all enjoying our food, our little boy decided that his food wouldn't stay down. He threw up on himself. It wasn't too bad or horrible, but I don't think anyone was very hungry after that. I looked at the pastor and his wife and said "we just can't be anywhere with you guys, can we?".  Maybe it's all the hershey's kisses they've been eating since Thursday. 😏 Like I said, I don't understand why they still like us, but it might have something to do with a little now two year old girl who walks around going "Where's my friend Pastor Navis?". (Not actually his name, but it is to her). Something about that just keeps the hershey's kisses coming.. and the support I might add. 😁 

  Side note: Wednesday is our 100th post!!! 🎉🎉🎈🎊🎉What would you like to see in our 100th post??
 

Falling into Crafts

Autumn is one of my favorite times of the year. There's something about all the brilliant color and the crisp air that is truly inspiring, isn't there? Perhaps part of it is a relief from the so-hot-and-humid-I-can't-draw-a-breath-when-I'm-outside temperatures of summer. Part of it is probably the hint of things to come--once those leaves start turning, we're headed toward Thanksgiving and Christmas, the two biggest holidays of the year.

Whatever the reason, I find the days of fall inspiring. I want to sew and glue and bake and create throughout the fall days as I watch the leaves swirl past the window. I want to hear the fire crackling in the fireplace while curling up under a hand-crocheted afghan while something yummy simmers on the stove and the air is scented with wonderful baked goods coming out of the oven.

I have a little problem, though, with all of the creative juices that flow through me this time of year. I'm not actually all that talented in the creative department. My creative abilities run towards words and, let's face it, sarcasm. Inevitably, my efforts at creating crafts have not had a lot of success. You may say, "that's okay. I'm not all that creative either. It's still fun to try."

Is it?

I don't know about you, but the one talent I possess when it comes to crafts and all things creative is that I can consistently produce results that are equal to the efforts of a fifth-grader. (No insult to fifth-graders intended).

For instance, I crocheted an afghan for my daughter's baby girl. It was a simple pattern and a small, simple rectangle. Only an idiot to could mess it up.

The blanket has a tail.

I have no idea how it happened. After all, you're just supposed to crochet the same amount of stitches back and forth repeatedly. But somehow one end of it had a little added tail. Not a string. A crocheted area that stuck out from the rest of the rectangle.

The afghan still worked, obviously, and Stephanie and Kylee both pointed out that the tail just gave Kaitlyn something to hang on to, but still ...

Part of my problem is Pinterest. I know better than to look at the crafts. They always inspire me and make me feel like I can take on something that I know deep down inside is completely beyond my abilities.

My minor in college was home economics, which seems to amuse my family. In fact, I took a decorating class where we were required to make something to decorate our home. Cross stitch was very popular then, but the thought of sewing tiny x's into a picture made my eyes cross. Instead I bought a latch hook kit to make a pillow. Except I didn't quite understand matting it or the instructions for putting a back on it.

My teacher actually laughed at the finished project, and I never liked the pillow enough to actually use it.

Somehow, in spite of failures, I keep trying every year. This year I decided to make candles--in my crockpot. I love my crockpot and I rarely mess up crockpot recipes, so how hard could this be? The video I found basically just showed putting jars in the crockpot, putting wax and a candle in the jar, and voila!

The picture above is of the candles before the wax hardened. Not too shabby, huh? Except the video didn't explain that, once the wax melted, it would only fill half the jar and I'd have to run to the store and buy additional wax in order to fill the jars completely. Nor did it explain that one crayon wouldn't get the wax very dark. When I added the additional wax, I added another crayon, but I didn't have any quite the same shade.

This picture is the same green candle after the wax hardened. As you can see, it ended up a lot lighter, even with a second crayon. Possibly because the crayon melted on the side of the jar instead of in the wax. But still, I made a candle. The other two ended up being pink and a nice shade of peach. I have nothing in my house that matches those colors, so I gave them to my granddaughters.

I will probably never stop trying new crafts in the fall. Something about the season just calls for it. But once fall is gone, I will stop experimenting and go back to the one thing on Pinterest that I know I'm good at.

I'll pin sarcastic memes to my heart's content.

Life's Teachable Moments

You never know when you’re going to be in a situation that you might not know how to get out of. It could be anything from picking your nose and getting caught to asking a woman how far along she is in her pregnancy and she isn’t even pregnant. Well, my husband likes to take the most opportune moments to teach our daughters life’s teachable moments. However, they aren’t your everyday situations that he is teaching them. It’s knowledge at a different level … well for a four year old that is.

We live super close to our church, and usually we walk. Sometimes we drive because of the kids and carting bags and such because it just makes it easier. Well, Stella asks us often if she can ride in the trunk from the church to home. Although sometimes we consider it, we don’t let her because it’s frowned upon. Also, because we don’t see getting DCFS called on us as a whole lot of fun.

However, the other night after we got home from church I brought two of the girls inside and Matt had Stella wait outside. He brought his bags inside and told me they would be right back. I did a few things in the house and was wondering what on earth they were doing. After a few minutes, I opened the blind and looked outside. At that moment, Stella was in the trunk and he got in with her and then closed it. Inside the trunk he was telling her what to do in the event that she gets kidnapped. (Obviously a skill we hope she never has to use.) He taught her to look for the glowing handle that will open the trunk. After they had been in the trunk for a few minutes it opened up. Matt got out and then told her he was going to close it. So, he did and I heard him say, “okay Stella, show me how you open the trunk.” I kept watching and sure enough within a few seconds she opened the trunk from the inside. 

Next he had her do it again, only a little different. He closed the trunk and then went and started the car. I panicked for a short moment  but he obviously had a plan. Surely, he wasn’t going to just leave with her in there. She waited until the car was turned on, so that he would’t be able to hear her escaping. She had a huge smile on her face, as if she just accomplished something huge. Matt heard the trunk and turned off the car. He gave her a high five and told her good job because she had done exactly what he had taught her. 

They finally came inside and she told me all about it. I’m sure she will be asking to ride in the trunk even more now. Although we positively won’t let her, now that she knows how to escape.

What are some opportune moments you or your spouse have taken to teach your kids an unusual teachable moment?