MIA

Wow! It's been almost a week since I last posted... and I was doing so good with the NaNoMoPlo thingy. I do have a valid excuse though~ we've been busy;)

• Last Friday evening we went downtown to make an appearance in the Christmas parade. We froze our niblets off, it was so stinkin' cold!!! We sat for quite awhile in the staging area waiting for the parade to start. As our wagon finally began rolling, Audrey immediately stood up and began her beauty pageant wave. After several enthusiastic moments she turned to me upset and exclaimed "they're not even waving back!" (keep in mind, we were still on the dark, unlit back street with only a couple of people walking past to get to the parade route.) I do believe we have a beauty-queen-in-training on our hands.
• Late Saturday nite, Austin threw up. Twice. First in his bed, then in ours. That only added about 5 extra loads of laundry to the growing mountain in the laundry room. Thankfully, no one else has gotten sick... yet.
• I had cheerleading practice and worked 2 full shifts this weekend.
• Monday I boarded the bus to Waldron with the 3 kids in tow. Even though they are all very well behaved on the bus and during the games, I do believe the 45 minute+ bus ride is the limit in regards to my sanity.
• Tuesday morning it was 3 for the price of 1 as the girls (and myself) joined Austin at kindergarten. He had a small part in the Thanksgiving chapel and then the class had a feast. Lots of good food. Incidentally it was Austin that volunteered to bring the turkey for the class feast. And couldn't be talked out of it. We compromised and took a rotisserie chicken from Meijer instead.
• Tuesday evening we enjoyed chili and pies at church. Once again, I cheated. And once again I enjoyed a yummy homemade pumpkin layer pie instead.
• Today my grandma watched the kids while I went to an appointment and then I got her to stay to give me my once yearly crash course in pie making. She got me through the first 2 steps and thinking I could handle the rest by myself (her thinking, not mine) I reluctantly dismissed her. 5 full pie crust recipes later I was going mad. I.could.not.get.it.right. Let's just say it sucks being a type A perfectionist (sometimes). I finally got a pie together and decided to bake it knowing that it looked too crappy to even consider taking to Thanksgiving tomorrow at my in-laws. I called my grandma looking for some helpful hints. We made a couple of changes to my process and the sixth time was a charm. In the end I can recite the recipe from memory (2 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt, 2/3 cup Crisco, 4 tbsp. water...) I blew thru a 5 pound bag of flour and about 5 sticks of Crisco but I now have a pie waiting to be freshly baked for tomorrow's dinner. At least the kids enjoyed playing with all of the extra pie scraps like play-doh.

So that's my MIA week in recap. We're looking forward to making stuffing and strawberry pretzel salad tomorrow while watching the Thanksgiving day parade. And if the weather cooperates, the outdoor Christmas decorations may make an appearance before dinner with mom and dad Hosmer. Oh, and in case you were wondering about the pie, it's apple. What's your classic Thanksgiving dessert?

Ummm, Yeah, I'm Not Sure

Flashback Friday: August 2007

Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (Tomorrow)

Don't forget, all you Jacksonians, the Christmas parade is downtown J-town tomorrow at 6pm. The Hosmerville family will be parading with the HOME.FM "float", so give us a shout out and we'll throw some candy your way. And as always, the famous jolly ol' St. Nick comes riding in on the last float of the parade. Always an exciting evening!

Christmas Cheer From Hosmerville~ Disco Style

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

We're Baaack! (and better than ever!)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Help A Blogger Out

Somehow, I've gone and messed things up. It used to be that if I received a comment on a post, blogger would automatically email me a notification. And Leslie just clued me in that I can actually respond to the comments just by hitting reply in my email. Duh!=P Uh, I'm a little slow, ok? Anyways, as far as I know I haven't changed my settings or done anything different yet I don't get the emails anymore. Anybody else have this problem? Anybody have a solution?

Just Call Me Miss Suzy Q. Homemaker

So I know that my main "official" title is SAHM, but can I just say that today I totally rocked it!?! Let's start with the house, shall we? You can only imagine the condition it was in after I worked 2 eight hour shifts this weekend. Living room- cleaned and vacuumed! Kitchen and dining room- cleaned, dishwasher loaded and unloaded... twice! Austin chauffeured to and from school... on time;) 2 loads of laundry folded and put away, 2 more washed and dried. 3 loaves of pumpkin coconut bread baked. 2 homemade chicken pot pies made (with 1 stashed in the freezer for a later dinner). Thanksgiving plans finalized. 3 kids bathed and in bed. Happy Monday, all!

Pure Joy

We woke up this morning to a soft dusting of snow on the ground. Now, I'm not really fond of the white stuff, mainly because it's COLD!, but I can appreciate the beauty of a winter snowfall (especially from the inside of a warm home with a great cup of coffee;). I'm pretty sure Lexi was too little to remember any snow from last year so she was especially thrilled with the small taste of a winter wonderland this morning. Tom and I were hurrying around trying to get ready to get to church on time and Lexi kept bursting into the bathroom exclaiming, "it's snowing in the backyard!" (Not the front yard, mind you, just the back=) She was so excited! Then she'd invite us to "come see!" We took several trips to the back door so she could point out the snow on the swing set, the sandbox, the deck.... Anybody else wake up to snow?

Just Not Feelin' It Tonite

2 hour cheerleading practice this morning.

Snuggled with my girls.

Read the schedule wrong and got to work 1/2 hour early.

Worked 8 hours with Christmas candy.

Banged my shin so hard on an L-cart it almost took me to my knees.

Saw stars and a four letter word escaped my mouth.

Grossed out my co-workers when I made them feel my goose-egg thru my pants.

Promised to shave so they could actually see it tomorrow.

Finally home and just want to go to bed. So much to do...

Flashback Friday

Audrey: Christmas time 2005

Should've Got Decaf

I've just realized that as I have been on the laptop for the last hour I have been rocking in the la-z-boy at a rather frantic pace. (Think Dustin Hoffman as Rainman.) And now at 12:30 I. am. WIDE. awake. Maybe the coffee I had from McD's at 8:30 tonite wasn't such a great idea.

So Tom and I made an executive decision to do Christmas presents a little differently this year. (The kids' protests were quickly overruled.) In years past we have always set a specific spending limit for each person on our list and when the money was gone we were done shopping. Every year the $100 we designate for each of the kids never seems like quite enough until we put all of the presents together under the tree and then it's almost too much. Add to that the wealth of goodies they receive from the grandparents and it all gets to be a little overwhelming. So this year we are limiting the number of presents we're buying. For example, each of the kids will receive one "big" or main present, some books, a DVD, stocking stuffers, and their Christmas Eve pj's from the elves.

I thought that once the ads started coming out and we ventured into the stores it would be really hard not to overspend but so far so good. In fact, it has become a rather fun challenge to look thru the ads and plan out how our money can be best spent. I figure the kids can't read yet so it's safe to give a sneak peek into Santa's workshop. Shhh! Don't tell, it's a secret;) Here in Hosmerville the elves have been busy scoring:

* a deluxe jawbones set for Austin and a fashion friends set for Audrey from Discovery Toys, and a bitty baby outfit and a bitty piggy for Lexi as their "big" presents.

* pajama pants from a sale last January for Audrey and a nightgown for Lexi.

*books for all of the kids thru Austin's latest Scholastic book order. (I also plan to pick up the Curious George hardcover books available at Kohl's right now.)

*Shrek 1, 2, & 3 ~one for each of the kids (all on sale at Target this week).

*some miscellaneous stocking stuffers from the Target dollar spot.

So pretty much at this point aside from getting Austin some pajamas and picking up some more little stocking stuffers we've got most of the Christmas shopping already done. That was surprisingly quick and easy, now if only wrapping them was, too.

Better Late Than Never

So I took these pics awhile back for Nicole because she had requested feedback from clients as to how they displayed their portraits (that she had taken) in their homes. Then I never got around to sending them to her. This may surprise some of you, as I have this fantastic blog, and all, (ha ha;) but I'm just not that computer savvy, so I can't figure out how to just email her my pics, but I do know how to post on my blog;) so you all get to enjoy my little house tour. I absolutely love Nicole's work. Someday when I'm rich I'll hire her to follow my family around and document our everyday adventures. Then I'll have gorgeous pics to scrapbook and display all the time. Hey, a woman can dream, can't she?=)

Our bedroom

the living room (on the verrry long wall):

the console table, right inside the front door:

Monday Nite=Fun Nite

Anybody else love Monday nites on TLC? After watching "Little People, Big World", "Jon & Kate plus 8" and "17 Kids & Counting", life with only my 3 seems so much more manageble. This is Tom's and my weekly date nite. We put the kids to bed and chill in front of the tv. I can usually fold the 3 or 4 loads of laundry I've washed during the day and get ready for Tuesday. I know what you're thinking, TLC as "date nite"?! Yeah, we're full of passion around here in Hosmerville.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I came out of work tonite to find icy snow all over my car~ ugh! It was the first official snow of the season and I'm so not ready for the white stuff. If I could somehow convince Tom for my space back in the garage so I won't have to scrape every morning, the prospect of the upcoming winter might not be so bad. Alas, this is a losing argument so I may have to add an automatic car starter to my Christmas wish list. Perhaps my BIL could gift me with this since it's HIS car in MY space;) How do you deal with the winter weather: a dry spot in the garage, a car starter, a super swell husband who scrapes for you...? Any other suggestions?

Because I Needed A Laugh

Thanks Bubba and Lindsey for sharing this with Tom (who passed it along to me). I laughed until my stomach cramped! I tried several times to put this video on the blog but as you all know I'm slightly technologically challenged. Anyways, here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPsNi1k8Df4

You may want to fast forward to 2:50 into the video unless you enjoy listening to this chick singing.

BTW, on a totally different "note", today is my 1 year blogiversary. Thanks to all of my readers who have left comments this past year~ it's been way too fun!=)

A look back: November 8, 2007

Life Is Good

Flashback Friday: November 2004

Toy Time

Leslie and I are co-hosting a toy party tonite. I have to admit when I was invited to my first Discovery Toys party I didn't think I was going to be real impressed, but I was wrong. I really like all of the great toys that they offer and my wish list for the kids has grown considerably. The toys, games, and books are educational and different enough for the grown ups to enjoy some quality playtime with the kiddies, too.

I'm hoping to get some Christmas shopping done tonite but I'm really looking forward to some dessert and time with friends and fam. Leslie is graciously providing the venue and I'm baking a pumpkin pie cake. Want the recipe? It's delicious warm from the oven with fresh whipped cream!

~*~*~Pumpkin Pie Cake~*~*~

Beat together :

3 lg. eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

Then add:

2 cups pumpkin

1 lg. can evaporated milk

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

Pour into a 9X13 pan and then sprinkle 1 box yellow cake mix over the mixture and drizzle 1 1/2 sticks melted butter over the cake mix. Bake @ 350 for 50-60 minutes. (You can add 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans for the last 20 minutes of baking time.)

Disgusted

Yeah, that pretty much sums up how I'm feeling today.

A President-elect who sees nothing wrong in killing babies through partial birth abortion.

Support for more stem cell research.

A blatant disregard for the precious gift of life.

And the majority of our population supports this.

Our country is in the hole.

My only hope rests in the fact that God was, is, and always will be in control.

Just remember not to whine when the "change" comes because it's exactly what everyone was clamoring for. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go work so that all of the non-working citizens of this blessed country can return to their life of luxury from the couch.

Happy Birthday, Bubba!!!

oh, to be 22 again!=)

October: What A Month!

We had quite the month around here in Hosmerville. No wonder Austin was psyched that he didn't have school today. He told me he didn't want me waking him up because he was "going to sleep in". If you want to see the pictures in chronological order you'll have to start at the end off this post and work your way towards the top because I'm too lazy to switch it all around;). Tom told Audrey last nite while trick or treating that she was doing really good (as in having fun and getting lots of candy). She responded by saying, "yeah, I'm doing really good, I haven't got smushed by a car yet." Apparently trick or treating can only be successful if you avoid being hit by a car.

Watch out neighbors, here they come!


Stopping by to visit meme and papa collins.

Trick or treating at grandma thomas'.

Austin competing in the Pumpkin Fun Run at school. He was so proud of the little pumpkin token he received after his finish. Worried that he might be too competitive (especially because he had spent all week recovering from an asthma attack) I quizzed him as we got ready for the race.

Me: do you know what's the most important thing to remember today?

Austin: never give up!

Me: well, that's important, too, but it's very important to listen to your body. If you start to hurt, it's okay to slow down and walk until you feel better.

Well, my little dude was so determined he didn't stop to walk once and although a little winded he recovered quickly. He's already planning to participate in next year's doggie dash, informing me that this run would be "good practice". Apparently one needs only to run once 12 months in advance to be properly trained for a 5k run. I'll remember that.

Carving Jack-o-Lanterns:

This was the kids' attempt at making scary faces.

Before the start of Bailey's Doggie Dash. How do I know this pic was taken at the start? Because I was still smiling.

Austin showing some brotherly love at Greenfield Village.

Making a haunted Halloween gingerbread house.

Lexi and Reyna watching the rabbits eat donut crumbs at Flavor Fruit Farms.

Austin and Audrey enjoying their mid-morning sugar rush at FFF.