hijack

Embry the mighty hunter displays his harvest. When questioned about his recent success he said, "I'm just glad that I have the opportunity to share some quality time with my dad and provide supper for our family." He further commented, "Hey pheasant, you eat corn out of the field, I eat corn off of the floor. Say hello to your mother for me."

And yes, I know it's wrong. -kw-

tis the season

I spent Saturday by myself. That doesn't happen very often. I asked Kyle if he would take the kids with him to Blackwell. He was going to hunt so I thought if I could get them to go along (not to hunt, just hang out with the grandparents), I could get all kinds of things accomplished!

And that I did. I started and finished my Christmas shopping in one mighty sweep across 71st Street. God also got something accomplished. He opened my eyes to the shopping madness and made me realize I want no part of it.

God has really been working on my heart with Christmas. As I was dodging in and out of aisles at Toys R Us, I overhead several hateful comments between husbands and wives. At the mall, I listened as a lady yelled at her kid to shut up and if he didn't she was going to find a belt and whip his butt. Seriously. You could just see the stress oozing out of people. All the expectations. All of the money.

As I was filling my cart up with toys my kids don't need, I had the urge to put everything back. What am I doing? We don't need this stuff. We can't afford this stuff. But what would happen on Christmas morning when there was nothing? Hayes wouldn't understand. So there's this battle going on inside of me. I want to shower my kids with gifts but I want to be strong and act on God's urges.

I'm seeking his direction in how to teach my children the true meaning of Christmas. I want them to have giving and generous hearts. My hope is that one day, they will genuinely want to give instead of receive. Is that an unrealistic goal for kids?

Changes will need to be made. And some have already been made this year. Because we have no other choice financially, there won't be as much. But I'm learning that is a blessing. However, I don't want money to be the reason that stuff doesn't fill up our Christmas. I want it to be the fact that we get it and fill up Christmas with family, giving and celebrating the birthday of this little baby that came down from heaven.

I ran across this. When you really think about what Christmas has come to, can't you just feel God's heart aching? You know he's thinking, "They just don't get it. I gave them the most precious gift and here we are..."

read me a christmas story

I kinda have a thing for children's books. It's no different when it comes to the ones about Christmas. I love picking out a new book each Christmas for the kids. I've gone a bit overboard in the past with buying more than one (two, four, ten) a year so I'm holding off this year. Simply because we have enough... like I'm pretty sure I have got all of the good ones and I need to wait for more to be published. Not really. Well, kind of not really.

If you have favorites, please share them. I would love to get ideas for uh, next year. Here are some of our favorites... you can click on the titles to see the books.

For the little ones:

J is for Jesus

Crystal Bowman

Jesus, Me and My Christmas Tree

Crystal Bowman

Who Is Coming to Our House?

Joseph Slate

Christmas in the Manger

Nola Buck

Mary's Happy Christmas Day

Kathleen Long Bostrom

The Christmas Story

Patricia Pingry

For preschool and up:

Santa's Favorite Story

Hisako Aoki

One Winter's Night

John Herman

Room for a Little One

Martin Waddell

The Light of Christmas

Richard Paul Evans

The Tale of Three Trees

Angela Elwell Hunt

The Crippled Lamb

Max Lucado

Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect

Richard Schneider

which one of y'all pooped?

We had a first today. And I know you all are going to be so proud! I know I was.

Someone pooped in the bathtub. Hayes never did this so it was a first for us... or should I say a first for Daddy! I knew he was on bath duty for a reason.

I'm not naming any names because I'm not for sure who actually did the deed. Ellie confessed. She confesses to everything though. That's the thing with twins and poop. Unless you catch one in the act, you've got to sniff out the stinker.

By the way, this picture has nothing to do with the post. I just like it. I didn't think it would be appropriate to take a picture of the crime scene. However, I did take it after the incident... does he look like he just dropped a couple kids off at the pool? I don't know. I'm still bettin' on Miss Elle.

chocolate goodness

Daddy made hot chocolate tonight and we slurped it down. Hayes told him he was a good cook. Mmm Mmm good!

Hewood has some new pictures if y0u are interested.

chicken and biscuit casserole

A yummy homecookin' dish for the cooler weather. This has been one of our favorites for awhile. I found it on allrecipes.com. It looks like a bit of work but it comes together pretty easily... and it's worth the effort! I usually just buy a rotisserie chicken to save some time.

Come on Joy and Katie! You can handle manhandling the bird! ;)

Chicken and Biscuit Casserole

1/4 c butter

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 c chopped onion

1/2 c celery

1/2 c chopped carrots

1/2 c all-purpose flour

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried basil

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

2 (14.5 oz.) cans chicken broth

1 (10 oz.) can peas, drained

4 c cooked chicken, diced

2 c buttermilk baking mix

2 tsp dried basil

2/3 c milk

*Preheat oven to 350*

*Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking dish.

*In a large skillet, melt butter over medium high heat. Cook and stir the garlic, onion, celery & carrots in the butter until tender. Mix in the flour, sugar, salt, 1 teaspoon dried basil and pepper.

*Stir in broth and bring to a boil. Stirring constantly, boil for one minute, reduce heat and stir in peas. Simmer 5 minutes, then mix in the chicken. Transfer mixture to the baking dish.

*In a medium bowl, combine the baking mix and 2 teaspoons dried basil. Stir in the milk to form a dough. Divide the dough into 12 balls. On floured surface, flatten each ball into a circle. Place on top of chicken mixture.

*Bake for 30 minutes. Cover with foil and bake an additional 10 minutes. To serve, spoon chicken mixture over biscuits.

tick in my couch

I was walking through the living room, half paying attention and saw this. I about peed my pants.

"Why did you scream Mom?"

"Because you scared the patooty out of me Hayes!"

"Do I look like a tick?"

"What's a tick?"

"You know, the bug you don't like that drinks your blood."

Uhhh... not the first thing that came to my mind. But ok, a tick.