Parenting is Hard

I had a rough night with Lauren. I'm having a hard time even thinking about how frustrated I get with my kids. I won't go into details, but I wonder, do other mothers struggle with the same things I do? I hate how short I can be sometimes and I'm always questioning, "Could I have handled that differently?" I yell a lot. My kids yell a lot. They are little mimics of us. I need to pray for more self control. They are kids, I'm not. Although, sometimes, I still feel like one, mentally. When did life get so hard? I know, in a sense, it has always had it's challeges, but this stage of my life has been, by far, the mosting difficult. I love my kids more than anything, but sometimes I don't think I show it by my words and actions.
Michael was honest with me about something tonight that he could have put off telling me. He got an F on a test because he didn't circle the answers in a section (I'm sure I don't know the whole story yet). He didn't have to confess right then, but he wanted to tell me because he was worried about it. I'm so thankful he did. I was able to talk to him without getting mad and I told he of some ways that he can avoid that in the future. It was nice to just talk about it. I'm glad it bothered him enough that he didn't want to keep it from me. I love that little boy so much!
Alright, I don't know if anything I have said makes any sense, but I'm just going to hit publish anyway. I am hanging in there......God is so good to me, even though I don't deserve it....Thank you, Jesus.

Leftovers

I don't know which I like better. Thanksgiving Day or the days that follow. I love eating the leftovers. I'm not normally much of a leftover person, but for some reason, some of the fare from Thursday seems to taste better on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I don't really go for the Turkey, reheated, but everything else is yummy!!!
I usually make a Turkey Noodle Soup with my leftover turkey and this year we had ham, too. I made the most delicious ham and bean soup! I didn't have to add any seasoning to it. The bone from the ham had so much flavor on it's own. I did add lima beans, mixed veggies, potatoes, and some onion. We ate it with cornbread for supper last night.
What do you do with your leftovers? Anything different? I'd love to hear.....

Thankful

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. I started cooking around 8:30 a.m. We had Swedish Tosca Cake and biscuits and sausage gravy for breakfast. That's a tradition. I got the turkey in the oven before we sat down to eat in the morning and then the chopping, cutting, and buttering began. I can't believe how much butter and whipping cream was added to food yesterday. Here was our menu for Turkey Day:

Turkey with stuffing
Mashed potatoes (with garlic, sour cream, whipping cream, and lots of butter)
Creamed Corn
Rutabega
Red Cabbage
Sweet Potato Casserole
Green Bean Casserole
Cranberry Wine Sauce
Yeast Rolls
and Gravy
And for dessert.......
Pumpkin Pie
Key Lime Pie
Banana Pudding
and Dutch Apple Pie

We had some friends from church over for dinner and some more friends came over after dinner. We played Taboo and had a blast!

Christmas Traditions

We have a few that have been implemented within the past couple of years, but some have been carried on since our childhoods.

Spinach and Sausage Balls

Every year, on Christmas Eve, we have an appetizer meal. We just get some cold cuts, chips and soda, but we always have Spinach and Sausage Balls. They are so yummy!!!

Campfire

Last year, we invited our congregation over to our home for a Christmas Campfire. We had apple cider, chili, and other various fixins. We went caroling and took care packages to shut-ins and others who were sick. We will definitely continue that tradition.

Ladies' Shopping Trip

Every year I get together with some ladies from the church and we make a trip to St. Augustine to do our Christmas shopping. We usually go to breakfast first and then we make our way to the outlets! We spend the entire day shopping. We split up to cover more ground and then we reunite for lunch. We usually don't get home until very late. This year we are going to Jacksonville to the Town Centers. I can't wait. It's such good fellowship. I usually complete my shopping on this trip.

Candlelight Service

Our church has a Christmas Eve Service. It's become a tradition, but one I wouldn't do without. We come and celebrate the birth of the reason for Christmas. Jesus wrapped himself in flesh to come and be our Savior!

I'm sure there are some that I'm forgetting, but they will come to me as Christmas gets closer.

Kitten Magnet

Ok, I don't know what we have done to warrant kittens showing up on our doorstep, but we have another kitten that just showed up! I want these felines to leave us alone! My kids sneak food out to them. They think this is a rescue shelter. Well, it's not! Lauren has already named this kitten after our recently deceased cat, Sassy. She pushes it around in the stroller and carries it with her wherever she goes. What should I do? Yikes!!!

Friendship is Fattening!!!

Robin and Michael came for a visit last weekend and Robin gave me a starter for Amish Friendship Bread. Talk about a Weigh Wednesday "no-no"!!! I made the regular recipe and tonight I tried butterscotch. Not impressed with that variation. I think I will stick with the ones I've tried. There are too many indgredients wasted if you don't like your version. I think I will try lemon poppyseed next. Robin let me sample some of hers and it was yummy. It's so close to the holidays, I decided to break from the norm (yeah right) and splurge on calories!!! No sarcasm there!!!

Well, I am testing my talent in photography. I took some pictures of a good friend, who is a senior in high school, today. I really think I like this! I may consider taking a course at the community college in photography. I had so much fun today. Now I just need a better camera! Here are some proofs from our "shoot".

Campfires and Kittens

We had a great time with friends and family last night. We asked a few families to join us for smores around the campfire. It was so nice just to relax and enjoy fellowship with great friends. Today we are saying goodbye to our kitten. She has a new home now. We named her Ginger, but I don't know if The O'Donnells have something else chosen. She is such a sweet, frisky little orange puffball! I know Hannah and Jacob will take good care of her. I think her mommy will have the hardest time. She is very attached to that little thing. I'm sure there will be more on the way. Joey is very friendly that way.....:)

It's Like Butta!!!!

I love Paula Deen. She is such a great cook and classy southern lady. My grandmother adores her. How is she still living? She cooks everything with butter. I caught her show on the Food Network the other day and she was making a quiche using hashbrowns as the crust! I thought, I have hashbrowns and I certainly have eggs!! So, tonight I made a spinach quiche with a hashbrown crust. It was delish! I didn't have all the ingredients the recipe called for, so I improvised. It's okay to do that if you know what tastes good as an alternate. Here is the recipe directly from http://www.food.com/ and in parentheses are my subs........by the way, I'm almost out of butta!

Hash Brown Quiche

3 Cups, shredded hashbrowns, thawed and drained

4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) butter, melted

3 large eggs, beaten

1 Cup half-and-half (I subbed sour cream and milk)

3/4 Cup diced cooked ham (didn't have any)

1/2 cup diced green onion (didn't have green, used yellow)

1 Cup shredded cheddar cheese

(this recipe didn't used spinach, but I had some so I did! Yummmmm!)

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Gently press the drained hash browns between paper towels to dry them as best as possible. In a 9-inch pie plate (I used a quiche dish that was a little bigger), toss the hash browns with the melted butter into the plate. Press them into the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and starting to crisp.

Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. When the hash brown crust is ready pour the egg mixture over it and return to the oven.

Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for about 30 minutes until the quiche is light golden brown on top and puffed. Let cool, slice and serve!

ABC's are almost ready

I have pictures for almost every letter in the alphabet. There are several that have more than one. I'm so excited to get started on this project. It's going to be so fun.
Next week, Eric and I are going to Daytona for the Florida Baptist Convention. I am looking forward to our little getaway. We try to go every year and listen to good preaching and just have time alone. We have a wonderful family in our church that will keep our kids while we are gone.
I really don't have much else to blog about. Life is boring and I'm okay with that.....

No, We Are Not Making a Jack-O-Lantern

We don't celebrate Halloween, but I do enjoy pumpkin seeds. We had fun gutting a pumpkin yesterday. In fact, I may go back to the store to get some more. I think they are marked down after the 31st. We have already eaten all the seeds from this one. It's a messy job, but well worth it! The kids thought it was gross. The chickens enjoyed eating the pulp. The kitten just prounced around and eventually snuggled in my lap.

I have the really fun idea for the girls. I am trying to be better about teaching them ABC's and 123's, so I am going to make a laminated book for them with pictures of them holding objects that begin with each letter. More details to come.

Please pray for Sherry's mom. She broke her wrist and sprained the other wrist! Sherry will probably have details on her blog.