Father's Day Fun

This is our home away from home:

When we are here, all seems right with the world. So when I asked Stephen what he wanted to do for Father's Day, I already knew the answer to that!

Five minutes after being there, this is what he was busy doing:

While Stephen was busy catching the fish the kids and I found a bat laying on the ground.

At first, I thought he was dead, so I picked up a stick and was going to gently turn him over. When I stuck the stick down there, he attacked it! It was SO hot, so Stephen suggested we put him on a stick and do something with him.

After we got him on the stick, Kayla suggested putting him on a tree branch so he could rest and not get completely roasted from the sun.

It felt good to save one of God's creatures. We were all fascinated by his little toes and his adorable face. I know he was grateful for being saved.

At another fishing spot, we found this.

It's some kind of egg sac but not sure what kind. I still have yet to figure that out.

To some people, this kind of Father's Day would seem boring and weird, but it was heaven for us!

What about your Father's Day?

To My Daddy

I love this man!

He has been my knight in shining armor my whole life (until my new knight came along 16 years ago! He had to pass the torch to someone else right?)

He has tons of grandkids!

(That's only half of them--some of them are not even in this picture). But most of all, he is a strong and proud man. He lost his wife--my mom--almost three years ago. He has been sad, but he has not given up the fight. He is strong--he is MY DADDY.

Happy Father's Day Daddy! I love you SO much!

More Than Just a Father

He is the hands that hold this family together.

He is the guy that brings the fun with him wherever he goes.

He is someone who takes care of what belongs to him.

He is the man that encourages his children to think outside of the box--to dream and visualize.

He teaches how to be a man to the one following in his footsteps.

He loves his wife with the love of the Lord.

Yes. . .a Father can be many things, but a daddy surpasses them all. While other dads are out chasing the "American Dream", this daddy is busy investing in the lives of his family. He is not out chasing the latest and greatest piece of technology or gadget. No. He is busy playing with his children, spending time with his wife, and being the Godly man that God created him to be.

Happy Mother's Day

One of my favorite Mother's Day poems is the one read by Pete on Home Improvement. If you are not sure which one I am talking about, here it is to refresh your memory.

An Ode To My Mother

by Peter Bilker (that would be me)

"Who etched this tattoo, [Pete turns his shoulder with the tattoo towards the camera]
In her purple muumuu?
Mother, mother. [Tim mouths the second "mother"]

Who posted my bail,
Every time without fail?
Mother, mother. [Tim mouths the second "mother"]

And who rushed to the car,
With my severed thumb in a jar?
Er, father, father.

But who sewed it back on,
When the doctor was gone?
Mother, Mother."

[Pete puts the poem back in his hat and puts his hat back on] Happy Mother's Day, Mom! [Pete holds up his thumb, which is twisted round!]

On this blessed Mother's day, spend some time loving and making your mother feel extra special!

Christmas Morning 2009

The kids had a wonderful time opening presents this year. After last year of having NOTHING to open, we wanted to make sure that this Christmas was memorable for them.

In our family it is a tradition to take a picture of the first gift of the season. The kids pick one present each to start with and then pose for a picture.

I love to watch the kids as they open Christmas presents, but more than that, I love the excitement and anticipation as they get to open their eyes to that *one* present they were hoping for.

I love blessing them with gifts! They have been so wonderful all year long with helping around the house and pitching in when needed that Stephen and I wanted to show them our appreciation this year.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Making Cookies with Friends

Since Kayla has started branching out on her own in the kitchen, many times, I will just let her loose! Since her friend Brooke stayed the night, they wanted to make cookies, so they got in there and made some gingerbread cookies!

They had a blast!

Welcome To My Home

Welcome to my home! I decided to join the Nester's tour of homes during Christmas this year. To be honest, I don't do much decorating on the inside. My house is small and I don't have much space, but what we do decorate we go ALL out!

Here is a picture of my lovely tree while the lights are off:  (ignore the crooked picture on the wall)

And here is a picture of it all lit up:

Our Christmas tree believe it or not, is 18 years old! Stephen and I got it the first year we were dating. He and his mom had a very UGLY Charlie Brown tree and I wanted them to have something better so I split the cost with him and we bought this tree. During that 18 years, we have accumulated some very special ornaments like this one:

Stephen made this ornament when he was 4 years old. It graces the top of our tree every year and NO other ornament can hang above it. It is the ornament of all ornaments! (wonder what we will do when it finally falls apart)

Then you have ornaments like these:

My momma made a bunch of these when I was a teenager. I sat one day and helped her make hundreds of these and then we sat up at the flea market to sell them. She did not have a very productive sell, so about five years ago, she gave me all of them she had made for my Christmas tree. I, in turn, have shared them with many of my family members who wanted a little piece of momma to bless their trees.

Then you have the handmade ornaments that my daughter always makes..on her own...with no help from the store...the budding artist!

And I just cannot stop here. I HAVE to show you the ornament that has thrown the Protector (aka Ruffles) into a tizzy! Do you see this ornament?

When Ruffles was a puppy, he adopted this ornament as his own. It hangs on a low branch on the Christmas tree and he loves the sound of the jingle bells on this ornament. Being the herding dog that he is, he has brought this ornament into his herd and guards it with his very life. He knows the sounds of the bell so if it gets touched and it jingles, you better watch out because he will come running. We even named it "Jingle Jangle". Even after we take the tree down, you can say that and he gets all territorial. It is a hoot I tell you!

Okay...enough about my tree! I found these adorable stockings at the Dollar Tree this year! Since we have added two new dogs to the mix, everybody got a new stocking this year.

And that is the extent of my decorating on the inside. I had planned on putting garland up and all, but just plain tuckered myself out with the outside of my house. You can see the outside decorations by clicking and reading this post here.

If you would like to showcase your home, you can sign up with the Tour of Homes over at The Nester's Blog.

Christmas Fun

Over the past week, we have been busy decorating our house for Christmas.

The kids absolutely love this time of year. Not because of the presents (those are an added bonus). They love Christmas because of what it stands for.

Last year, we had to put lights and presents on hold because of our financial situation.

Many people had no clue that our house was presentless, lightless, and songless. Yet, in the midst of that time, my husband and I and our children never lost our joy. Because we know the true meaning of Christmas.

As much as I love presents and lights and bows and Christmas songs, I love Jesus more. He is the ultimate Christmas Gift.

 

So, if your Christmas this year looks a lot like mine did last year, can I just say that if you have Jesus, you already are the richest person on the planet!

Teaching our kids that Christmas is about the best present ever given. . .that is the ultimate gift that we can give. We have freely received, so we are to freely give.

Sometimes when Christians are “bah-hum bugs”. . .I just don’t get it. If Jesus lives inside of us, what do we have to be grumpy about? Why do we hate Christmas when this whole season is about the birth of a most wonderful Savior?

Embrace Christmas with a new passion…a love like no other…a heart for the Lord. Share your special gift with someone this year. Share the gift of Life…that you were given by the Savior on that very special Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

The Thanksgiving Menu

Here we are finally on Thanksgiving week. I will be VERY busy this week baking up a storm! I thought today I would share with you some of the yummy recipes that will be gracing our table this year!
For starters, I am serving a mixed greens salad with a
cranberry vinaigrette dressing. I tasted this dressing over the weekend at a Thanksgiving meal I had at a church and it was so delicious! (Photo courtesy of Food Network)
After the salad, we will have delicious fried turkeys
and cooked whole chickens. This is courtesy of my husband’s work this year! Thanks HPD for the yummy fried turkeys! (photo courtesy of google Images)
For sides, we will have the usual, green beans, corn, and this
 
fabulous cornbread stuffing from my girl, Paula Deen! I love her recipes! (photo courtesy of Food Network)
Of course we also have to have mashed potatoes.  This year, we are having these

Loaded Mashed Potatoes..yummy! (photo courtesy of Food Network)
I will be making another batch of the crescent rolls that I posted about last week.
For dessert this year, we are having
 
Chocolate Pie. I love this dessert! I am sure there will be other desserts that grace our table, but for right now, this is the only dessert because we are trying to cut back on the sweets!
So what are you making for Thanksgiving?

My Favorite Thanksgiving Traditions

I cannot wait until Wednesday of this upcoming week because that is when our Thanksgiving traditions begin!

On Wednesday, when I get up, I always make a huge breakfast casserole and begin my dinner preparations for Thursday’s Thanksgiving dinner. Even though it is only my husband, my two children, and my mother-in-law, as well as myself who come to this dinner, we still like to have a big shin-dig.

This year, my husband purchased two huge fried turkeys and two cooked chickens from the police dept. so that has freed me up somewhat in the kitchen. This coming up week, I am going to share with you some of my favorite recipes, but today I wanted to talk about traditions.

Ever since I was a little girl, my favorite tradition has been to get up on Thanksgiving morning and pile on the couch to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Even now at the age of 35 I still do this! My kids now do the same thing. They love to watch the floats and all the acts that perform during the parade. Who knows, maybe one day I will get to see it live in person.

During the day, I am cooking away. We usually try to eat around one so that we have all afternoon to have fun. After the meal, we gather our Christmas movies and begin our annual Christmas movie marathon! (We actually started that a bit early this year since I have been  buying new ones already).

Another one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions is decorating the house for Christmas. After the meal, our nap, and company has left, we break out the tree and all the decorations and begin sprucing up our home for Christmas.

This year, however, we are adding a new tradition. This is the first time in MANY years that we have money to go Christmas shopping, so we are piling in our van on BLACK FRIDAY and going shopping! Bass Pro Shop is having a monster sale, so we are hitting the Opry Mills Mall along with all the other crazed holiday shoppers! I may come home bald because I do not like to be shoved while shopping—it may end in a cat fight—just sayin! (just kidding)!

I love family and I love Thanksgiving! I cannot wait to share some of my very favorite holiday meals with you this week!

So what are your Thanksgiving traditions?

(Picture courtesy of Falconreid from stock.xchng)