As anticipated it was a lot of fun at the beach yesterday!  The kids were angels as we drove.  We went to a pacific beach which is about 11/2 hours from our house.  We have beaches 5 minutes from our house but their strait beaches and not near as nice. 

It was colder then cold when we were out by the water.  So we didn't stand their too long.  Only long enough to see daddy get almost tagged by the waves & for us to admire the view.  Then we went back over the crest of the hill and while I cooked lunch on our camp stove the kids had a blast playing climbing all over the smaller drift wood etc.

Here's our pictures of admiring the beach.

Samuel showing off  

Zeria freezing to death

BRRRRRRRRR it was cold.  The kids didn't seem too phased by it but I needed a couple more layers on LOL  Kaylin much preferred being down out of the wind.  And had a lovely time checking out all the rocks.

Check out the way they grow driftwood in Washington

And one last picture of everybody eating nice hot ramen with Chinese Barbequed pork.  MMMM MMMM

Today we go to have our "real" Thanksgiving meal.  Already baked two wild blackberry pies.  And have a thing of strawberry marshmallow jello in the fridge.  Soooooo we're well on our way. 

Over the river & through the woods to grandmothers house we go   Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Good morning.  I surfed xanga last night & found a couple more people to subscribe to   One currently lives in my home state & the other was from my home state.  But most importantly their Christians and it was obvious on their sites. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all Americans!!!

Today we are headed to the beach.  (I think)  We're gonna pack the coleman camp stove.  Ramen, and barbequed pork.  And have a fancy feast.  ROFL.  Oh yes and the oriental chicken salad I picked up from the deli yesterday. 

Tonight I hope to make the Fried meat pies.  MMM MMM MMM

Mostly we're just gonna enjoy our family. 

Tomorrow we will have our crazy blow out Thanksgiving party at my moms.  And we can have "real" thanksgiving.

Yesterday I spent 45 minutes on the phone with mil.  We had a nice visit.  I always enjoy talking with her on the phone.  And found out dh's Christmas present is gonna work after all.  I'm paying the way for his brother to come spend a few days up here.  Him and his brother are very close & his brother is single & broke, but found out he gets those days off with pay, so said he could come.  I'm so excited for Rob.  He misses Devon way too much!

Now we just have to find out if the local bike store rents mountain bikes~~because you just can't fit one over an airplane...and Rob is dying to take him on a couple trails. 

Well gotta get moving & away from this box.  I plan to NOT turn it on most of the day and to enjoy my family.   

Well I wasn't laughing earlier...but the more I think about it the more all I can do is laugh.

Wednesday afternoon I have someone to clean my house come in. So we routinely sneak out of the house to run a few errands & end up to play at McD's playland.

Anyhow the first thing we ALWAYS do is use the potty at McD's. So the kids know the drill and head to the bathroom. Samuel however decided to speed the process up and pulled down his pants about 10 feet away from the bathroom and strolled towards the bathroom with his weenie hanging out

I quickly asked him to pull his pants up. And when we got into the bathroom had a discussion about the fact that we do NOT pull our pants down until we are standing next to the toilet.

Proceed to do the bathroom thing. And then order the food. And then to the playland. We eat they play for a bit...and Samuel HAS to go potty again. No problem. We head all 4 of us in this nice parade towards the bathroom. Samuel climbs up the stairs to go the main area. Stands in front of all the people quietly eating. And pulls his pants down. (A good 50 feet from the bathroom) And proceeds to prance down the hall that way.

Some day some how some way I will teach this child a teensy bit of modesty

Brazillian fried meat pies.

4 cups flour

1 t salt

1 t baking powd3er

1/2 cup margarine

1 can condensed milk. 

Mix these up to the texture of pie crusts & chill.

Filling

4 T oil

1 med onion

1 bell pepper

11/2 # hamburger

2 chopped tomatoes.  Chill (though I rarely do   Fry together until hamburger is browned. 

Roll the chilled pie crust out into thin crust & cut into tart size.  (I usually use a wide mouth mason jar)  LOL 

Place a Tablespoon or so of the meat filling inside the dough.  And then close dough up pinching sides of dough together. 

Deep fry at medium-medium high.  Until crust in a golden brown.

Serve hot.  (We usually dip in ketchup)  MMM MMMM MMM  

^{Romans 8:38}And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can't, and life can't. The angels can't, and the demons can't. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, and even the powers of hell can't keep God's love away. ³⁹Whether we are high above the sky or in the deepest ocean, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Good morning.  How wonderful it is that NOTHING can seperate us from God!!!

Rob & I splurged last night & went to the late night movie.  We are both Harry Potter fans.  So we bought our tickets at 6:30 and came back to watch it at 8:00.  Its a LONG movie.  We didn't get home until 11:00 at night.  But it was very good & fun to feel like adults for once.  Even if we did owe the babysitter a fortune

Today the kids & I will get daddy off to work at 10:30 have lunch & nap...and then go into town to get stuff for our Thanksgiving.  Last minute my extended family decided to celebrate Thanksgiving Friday so we could all be there (bil is working Thanksgiving day)  Sooooooo now I have to pull a rabbit out of the hat for Thanksgiving.  I think I'm gonna make Brazillian fried meat pies.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.  But they are a ton of work.  So that would be really special.  If there enough people intrested I'll post the recipe later. 

I still don't know how to do the xanga links so its just a name & not all the HTML code~~please somebody help my ignorance

Heard from Zeria lately.  Mom can we go do ******  No, Zeria not right now mom has a bit of a headache.  Zeria thinks about it for a minute.  Where'd the rest of it go mom? 

Well I'm paying for the late night so I have nothing brilliant to say maybe I'll come back later and say it  

I have two technical questions help appreciated.

1.  How do I do the cook xanga links.  (I know I've been posting since July and still can't do them)  UGH!

2.  I know some of you do sound on your sites.  UMM how LOL  I have found stuff but I haven't figured out how to download it & where do I "install" it at on my site.  tia

Good morning.  The party was a success & my headache left about a half an hour before everybody came & returned about 15 minutes after everybody left.  So I'm glad I got a reprieve.

A couple notes to self for next year

   ~~When buying frozen pie crusts to save time....remember to bring them in and put them in the freezer rather then leaving them in the back of the van for a week.  EWWWWWW  Dh will thank you for this as he will NOT have to do an ER run last minute to go get more

  ~~When grating cheeze ones thumb is NOT supposed to be grated OUCH!

  ~~Wear ear plugs it gets noisy noisy noisy noisy when that many kids are running around.  & that many men are  competing to tell the best medical story.

  ~~Insist on Zeria napping, or every boo boo will be a major event

  ~~Do NOT NOT NOT let Samuel run around eating mandarin oranges.  He spits out the peel all over the floor.  GROSE!

  ~~Do a last minute bathroom check to make sure the towel put on the floor to catch drips is picked up.  (I worked for two weeks to finish my bathroom so ask everybody to come take the grand tour & heres this wet soggy towel in the middle of the floor (GRUMP GRUMP GRUMP)

  ~~store bought rolls taste just as good as homemade don't even contemplate making homemade next time

Okay I think thats it LOL

Father God, I pray for today that Rob & Joel will have fun biking today.  And I will find some way to entertain the kids.  I ask for a energetic today, and the ability to remember to stop & cuddle with the kids.  In  your sons name amen. 

Good morning.  I hope everybody saw my bathroom pictures~~if you didn't come visit

I woke up this morning with a headache.  Which is NOT a good thing~~as the birthday party we were supposed to have Friday is today.  And I need to be puttering around my house.  Baking bread, cleaning here & there.  etc.  Instead I just want to crawl in a dark room & close my eyes.  PLEASE!??

Instead of baking bread I may send dh to town to pick up some rolls.  *sigh*  So much for being domestic.  I really wanted to do something special.  But I also feel AWFUL.

Father God, I'm whiney, and dizzy.  And just want to go to bed.  I need your strength to have this party.  I need your calmness to fill me.  So that I can do what needs to be done, and NOT fret about what isn't getting done.  I love you, in your sons name.  Amen

The unveiling of my bathroom. 

Here is as much of my bathroom as I can squeeze in one picture.   The floor is more purple then the picture shows. *sigh*

And heres a picture of my floor & the butterflys I stenciled on the floor. 

Heres the close up of the border above the sponge painting.  I'm sorry for the LOUSY pictures