Music Monday

Today is Music Monday.  Be sure and join Tara over at Keeping Up With The Kelly's and check out her left side bar for different themes in the upcoming weeks.  This week is your pick.  I don't really know this artist but I have heard this song on the radio a few times and it has a very catchy tune and it just makes me feel good every time I hear it.  So I hope you enjoy it.  The song is called Outside My Window and the artist is Sarah Buxton. 

LORI

Black Friday

I was up at 3 a.m. on Black Friday to get the good deals.  Me and my sister-in-law started this tradition over 10 years ago.  We love it.  Most everything I wanted and needed was at Wal-Mart this year, which is surprising because most of the time I want things from everywhere, but seeing as how I decided to have Kaitlyn's birthday party the same day (What was I thinking????!!!) I couldn't really enjoy my day or stand in line like I normally would except for at Wal-Mart.  I stood in line at Wal-Mart for 2 hours for this:

Don't tell Kaitlyn. I had to get a ticket and then go and stand in line to pick it up. Absolutely crazy!! All for a savings of about $30. I guess she is worth it!! I hope everybody that participates in Black Friday found some good deals.

LORI

Decorating the Tree

We got the Christmas tree and my village all put up yesterday.  My aunt was here to help us get everything out of my husband's shop and I got the tree put up and the girls decorated it for me.

Then it was time for Aunt Pam to leave.  So the girls gave her one last hug before time to go.

It is such a job but I it is well worth it to see the look on the kids' face when it is all done and I love just sitting back and looking at the tree and my village while I watch sappy Lifetime movies.  I love the holidays.

LORI

Happy Birthday To My Baby Girl

Friday, November 27 was Kaitlyn's 7th birthday.  I was too tired to blog about it on Friday due to Black Friday and then we had her birthday.  I will never forget the way I felt the first time I seen her face at 10:13 a.m. 7 years ago Friday.  I knew my world had changed.  She has been such a blessing to me and I don't know what I would do without her.  I thank God for her everyday.  I am so blessed to have her in my life.  When I am feeling down, she is always there to cheer me up.  Her daddy was the first one to hold her because I had a C-section.  They have had a very close bond from that very moment. 

(Sorry about the scanned pictures.  I am not sure what happened??)

And here she is today...........7 years later.  I cannot believe it.

We just had a small party with just family this year.  I stress myself out every year trying to make everything just perfect.  With Thanksgiving and Black Friday, I decided just to do a small party with family.

We had a Camp Rock birthday party and here is her cake.

The cake again.

My Aunt Pam had came for Thanksgiving and stayed a couple of nights so she could be here for Kaitlyn's party.

Granny and Kaitlyn.

Mimi and Kaitlyn.

Johnathon, Lacey, Kenleigh, Kaitlyn and Karlie.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY BABY GIRL!!  I LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!

A Very Special Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was very special because we had Thanksgiving Dinner at my mom's and for the first time that I can ever remember I got to have Thanksgiving with both my mom and my daddy.  It was very nice.  My daddy would not be able to stay for Kaitlyn's birthday the next day so he went ahead and gave her her birthday gift before he left. 

 Me with my mom and daddy.

 

 Kaitlyn and Grandpa Young.

I hope everybody had a very Happy Thanksgiving.  

Thankful Thursday/Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thankful Thursday but also Thanksgiving Day!!  I love this time of year.  I have some extra special things to be thankful for this year.  If you would like to participate just join Sonya over at Truth 4 the Journey to link up.

1.  I am thankful to be able to spend Thanksgiving Day with my family.  I know there are a lot of people who don't get to do this.  I have a brother who is in Fort Hood, Texas and will not get to be with his family.  So thank you God for letting me be with my family.

2.  This year will be a very special Thanksgiving because I will be spending Thanksgiving Day not only with my family as always, but also my mom and my daddy.  I am so excited.  They divorced when I was a year and a half and they still get along but I think this will be the first Thanksgiving that we will all get to be together.  Thank you God for bringing us all together.

3.  This year I am thankful for my father-in-law who will be in remission from multiple myeloma almost a year.  Praise God!!

4.  This year I am thankful that my Aunt Pam will be joining us for Thanksgiving.  She has always had to take care of my Grandma in the past and since the passing of my Grandma, she will be able to join us.  Thank you Lord for adding another family member to the table this year.

5.  I am thankful for Black Friday.  This is mine and my sister-in-laws day to go hunt for all the bargains.

Thank you God for all the many blessings you have given me.  I am not worthy of them all.  Thank you for sending your son Jesus to the cross to die for my sins.  I love you Lord!!

LORI

Word Filled Wednesday

Offer unto God Thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High.  Pslam 50:14.   

Join Susan over at Forever His for more WFW.  

Ruby Tuesday

 Here are the girls in their Christmas dresses.  This could possibly be one of the pictures for our Christmas cards??

Join Mary over at Work of The Poet and see what she is giving away!! 

Lori

Music Monday/From the 2000s

Today is Music Monday.  I had a few days last week when I was kind of down and out.  I don't normally have days like these.  I am a very upbeat, positive person and don't tend to let things get me down, but for some reason I just couldn't shake it this week.  One day I was driving in the van and had the radio turned up pretty loud and was just singing and it made me feel so much better.  As I have said before, music is so therapeutic and can bring us up when we are feeling down.  

A few weeks ago Tara had a theme to her "Music Monday" and she had a really good feedback about this.  So she has decided to do another theme and this weeks theme is "Music from the 2000s."  

You know how there is always a song that fits just what you are going through at that particular time in your life?  Well, I thought of this song as my baby girl will turn 7 on Friday, I will never forget when this song came out.  This song was released in November of 2003, so Kaitlyn would have been a year old.  My husband and I have been together since I was 15.  So this song really means a lot to me.  The video that I really wanted you to see was not allowed so I had to use this one.  I hope you enjoy.  

My First Recipe/Christmas Meatballs

I subscribe to Living on a Dime newsletter and there are usually some really neat recipes and I think, oh, I will try that and never do, but this week I did try this one and actually made it twice this week.  Once for my family at home and then tonight we had our Thanksgiving Dinner at church and I made it for church.  I am not a real big fan of meatballs but these are really good.

Here is the recipe:

2 lbs. ground beef
1 pkg. Stove Top stuffing for chicken
1 cup water
2 eggs
1 bottle barbecue sauce
1 (16 oz.) can cranberry sauce

Line 2 - 15 x 10 x 1 pans with foil and spray with cooking spray. Mix first 4 ingredients. Shape into balls the size of walnuts and place on pans. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes until done. While they are baking, mix barbecue sauce and cranberry sauce in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add meatballs to sauce and coat evenly.

I had to use 3 pans instead of 2.  Here they are when I first placed them in the oven.

Here they are after they were done.  My oven gets really hot, so I didn't turn mine up to 400 and I didn't cook them 15-20 minutes or they would have burned. 

Here they are after I added them to the sauce.

Here is the finished product.  The girls wanted their meatballs on top of noodles, so I used bowtie pasta and we had salad too.  My husband absolutely loved them.  They make a lot and are good to freeze and would be great for the holidays. 

Lori

Kenleigh's First Hunting Trip

My husband has been off this week hunting and Kenleigh decided she wanted to go hunting, so he got her ready for the big hunt............

 She was so excited as you can see and was ready to go.....

(This is not a real gun, but don't tell her.)

  

Neeless to say, they were not gone very long.  This is how the trip ended....

And...........here is the one that got away....

Maybe next time Kenleigh.....

Five Question Friday

Ok, I know what you are thinking........how many memes is this girl going to participate in????  Well, I was blog hopping and I ran across this Five Question Friday and I just couldn't pass it up and if you feel the same way then just join Mama M at My Little Life.

So here are the 5 questions:

1. Are you a Black Friday shopper? 

Oh yea!!  Me and my sister-in-law started this, well, it has been a long time ago.  We look so forward to this every year.  We may not get to see or talk to each other very much all year, but this is our day!!  We leave the house around 4:30 and start out at Wal-Mart and go from there.  





2. What was your favorite childhood toy? (Think Easy Bake Oven, Cabbage Patch Kid, Shrinky Dinks, etc.)

I must admit since the birth of my children, my memory is just shot, but thankfully there are some examples in parenthesis, LOL!!  So I would have to say a Cabbage Patch Kid.  But also, I was reading someone elses blog and they had Pound Puppies and I do remember having one of these and actually remember them better than the Cabbage Patch.  I never had a Easy Bake Oven and nothing else really sticks out.  

 


3. Favorite Christmas movie?


I would have to say It's A Wonderful Life, but I also love all the Lifetime Christmas movies and Hallmark Christmas movies.  I am a sucker for those kind of movies.




4. What is the "must have" item on your Christmas list this year?

There is not anything that I just have to have, but I would love to have a new printer.  My husband got me this laptop to be able to do all of my church stuff on it and my printer quit working not too long after I got my laptop.  I found one on the Black Friday for $25.  WOW!!





5. Do you go all out with decorations or do you keep it simple and classy?


I go all out.  I have two big huge plastic totes full of Christmas decor plus my tree in another box.  I put up my tree in the living room plus I decorate the girls' room with a small tree.  I put a village on top of my entertainment center.  I fill one full shelf full of Christmas decor and then for the kitchen.  My kitchen is in Coca-Cola, so I always have Christmas Coca-Cola decor to put out.

Lori

 

Thankful Thursday on Friday/FFF

I am combining Thankful Thursday and Favorite Foto Friday together today because I didn't get my TT post done last night due to we had some wonderful company that I am so thankful for.  I hope this is not against the rules???  Plus, FFF's theme this week is Oh Give Thanks.  So what better way to bring these two memes together by showing and telling you what I am thankful for.  If you would like to participate in either of these just click on the pictures above.  Sonya at Truth 4 the Journey or Hannah at Me-Me and Monkey's BIG Adventure.  I am going to still go ahead and list five things like Sonya's asks and also show you in pictures like Hannah asks.

1.  My Mom.

I am thankful for what she has taught me in life and that she always loved me and has always been there for me.  I can talk to her about anything.

2.  My Daddy.

I am so proud of my daddy.  We haven't always been close but people can always change and the Bible teaches us to honor our parents no matter what.  I am thankful for him giving his life to Christ and turning his life around.  

 

3.  My Husband.

I am so thankful for this man.  I feel like God sent him to me at just the right time in my life.  He is my best friend and don't know what I would do without him.  

   

4.  My Mother-in-Law and Father-in-Law

I am so thankful for them.  I am thankful for the Christian values they have taught my husband and what they stand for.  My mother-in-law had a big part in leading me to the Lord and I am so thankful for that.  I don't know what I would do without them.  

5.  My BFF Kim

I am so thankful for my friend Kim.  We have been friends for a long time and we have been through a lot.  I feel I can talk to her about anything.  

  

I saved the best for last!!  

I am soooooooooo thankful for these two beautiful girls!!  I feel so blessed that God has placed these special gifts in my hands.  

LORI  

Word Filled Wednesday

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.  Psalm 100:4.  



I also wanted to share this song today.  There is a man in our church that sings this song from time to time and I just want to send a "Thank You" out to anyone who has ever touched someones life by sharing the word of God with anybody.  

This weeks host is Christy at Critty Joy if you would like to participate.  

Ruby Tuesday

Our small town got a new Dollar General a couple of weeks ago.  We are so excited.  I go there at least two to three times a week.  The first night we went the girls wanted these lollipops.  They licked on them for a little bit and then I wrapped them in aluminum foil for them to eat later and I think I ended up throwing them in the trash, but they sure enjoyed them while they lasted.

If you would like to participate in Ruby Tuesday just join Mary over at Work of the Poet. 

LORI