You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.

November is quite possibly my favorite month of the year.

Why? It all boils down to 2 primary reasons.

#1. It is not SUPPOSED to be 90 degrees anymore.

I’d do anything to get these temps turned down. ARE humans causing global warming? I don’t know. I don’t care anymore. If there’s a chance it might work, here, take my car keys……. Wait……. Does that mean I have to home  school again? No, never mind. You can have my electricity, but I am going to have to insist on driving my kids to school. The gas guzzling minivan actually does take precedence over global warming after all. Sorry, y’all.

But seriously, bring on the blue jeans weather!!! And leggings! And boots!

fun times spent with family

It’s so refreshing to be nearer to our peeps.

#2. Low maintenance holiday.

Yes, it is. Eat with friends or family. Share the cooking responsibilities. No one has to buy presents. We don’t have to take out any loans. Just be thankful.

And you know who invented Thanksgiving?? Why, President Abraham Lincoln, of course!!  

Not making that up. I read about Lincoln all the time. I never thought about presidents of years past until we moved to Washington, D.C. Plus, Caleb adored Lincoln, and it rubbed off on me, sort of like Joshua’s fascination with animals. I love the way my children have changed me!

“…I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the United States to be affixed….”     –President Lincoln, Oct. 3, 1863

You have to love a man who was called “Honest Abe” even while he was still alive.

He was greatly loved and equally hated in his own time.

In fact, in our current political system, he would have never been the Republican nominee. How do I know? Because he was elected at the convention, not from the sort of primary system we have now. Nope. The delegates at the Republican convention put in a first ballot, and the person with the most votes was Seward. William Henry Seward. He became President Lincoln’s right hand man, but at the convention it was Seward who won the first round of ballots.

The delegates then haggled and regrouped and voted again and again, allowing the delegates to switch their support. Lincoln won on the third ballot.

Funny how differently it was run back then, isn’t it? I dare say we would have a different nominee if that old system were still in place, actually.

I’m thankful it was Lincoln that won on that third ballot.

I heard in a video on the internet the other day a cartoon character remark that Thanksgiving is not a religious holiday. Ugh. Wrong.

Of course, it IS. It was ALWAYS meant to be. You want a non-religious holiday?? You have Halloween, which is not a bad holiday. It is a time when we come together and fellowship with our neighbors, something we could also use a little more of.

People often cite how terribly divided our country is right now, but remember, it is not “the most divided it has ever been.” We aren’t having a Civil War, now are we?

Be thankful! Give thanks to our beneficent Father!!!

I could go on and on about Lincoln, because he was wonderful, but I’ll save that for another post. Today I just want to wish you a happy fall, remind you to enter my giveaway (because I love to give good things to my friends and readers), and encourage you to pray for our country, just as President Lincoln asked us to so many years ago.

Will you vote this year? I know. These choices are so unpopular. So unpopular I’d be embarrassed to endorse either of them. But it is our civic duty to vote and even more so to pray.

God bless! And bring out the turkeys!!!  🙂

Win a brand new cutting board!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Global Warming, Honest Abe, and the Best Month Ever appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I was at the chiropractor’s office today, when lo and behold, Daniel’s new preschool teacher walked in. I admitted to her that her job was much too hard on the back for me. Just the one day of volunteering had me running home to my hot pack. But you know what? She loves teaching. It’s her calling!

I’m so glad that there are people who actually do love teaching. I am in awe of teachers.

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So, some funny things have happened lately.

The boys were so excited about this, so goofing up was sad. They were soft and delicious, but the icing was runny. That wouldn’t have mattered, if the icing bag had not BUSTED wide open all over the cookies. Icing everywhere. At that point, we just gave up and ate the cookies.

As for the Crispy M & M on the crotch, that was Daniel, and I assure you it was just a button. I’m pretty sure.

Alan said, “Did HE make the cookies?” See, this was the day Dan had croup. I said, “Yes, but I tried really hard to not let him touch them…” That’s like taking Nonna shopping and not letting her buy anything. I wasn’t super successful.

Truth is, I just found that Pinterest photo and stuck it beside mine. I never had any intentions of doing something I’m completely incapable of: making cookies that cute.

The holiday bug took over me yesterday. I cooked 2 pans of cornbread, 1 pan of dressing (southern style), and gingerbread cookies! I even made my own chicken broth, mostly because I didn’t think I had any. Daniel later pointed out that I had an entire unopened carton of chicken broth in the refrigerator.  Where were you two hours earlier, Daniel?

One day, Daniel’s wife is going to thank me for her amazing chef husband, and I’m going to say, “Oh, you’re welcome dear. I did that just for you,” when in reality that was all God. I have nothing to do with Daniel’s awesomeness in the kitchen.

I took a few photos of making chicken broth and corn bread dressing for you. I thought I’d photograph the whole process and share my to-die-for family recipe with you.

Despite what Food Network might lead you to believe, cooking can be easy and still taste incredible.

Instead, I forgot to take pictures past the first 10 or so minutes. I’m sorry. Multi-tasking is also not me… I didn’t even take a finished product photo…..and that, my friends, is why I will never be a famous blogger. Pioneer Woman I am not.

******

My boys are eaten up with poison oak. Monday we finally made it to Classical Conversations. I knew Joshua’s face was starting to break out, but after missing two weeks in a row, plus several other weeks this year, due to one or the other of us being sick or having an appointment, I refused to be stopped.

We had one, shining, glorious day of CC. Then Monday night, Caleb’s entire body exploded in poison oak rash. Joshua’s face itches so bad that he sleeps on ice packs, and Daniel woke up at 1am barking and struggling for air.

When you have four boys, you should really have a MD. Yes, all parents should be doctors. It would save so much time, energy, phone calls, etc.

****Disclaimer: Please do not take anything you read here too seriously..*****

OH! This next one may look like a Pinterest fail to some of you too, but the boys and I were pretty excited about our first home school garden harvest of seriously dirty potatoes:

Again, I forgot to take a photo of them clean… They tasted perfect! I caught Alan trying to throw them away.

“But they’re tiny.”

“You still pay $2 a bag at the store for tiny Steam bag potatoes, you know.”

“Well, you can fish them out of the trash, if you want. They’re right on top.”

“Ewww. No.”

“April, they’re in a plastic bag. Here, see, here, I’ll put them back.”

“Thank you.”

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So who’s ready for Thanksgiving? I am. I mean, what could happen?

The post My Pinterest Fail and other funny stories. Bring it, Christmas! appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

Bye-bye trick-or-treaters

Any day now it will start to look like Christmas. I, of all people, should not be a Scrooge. I decided to own this whole Christian thing twenty years ago, and yet Christmas gets on my nerves a little bit.

Not like Scrooge.

More like Charlie. You know, Charlie Brown. I love that guy. No, I mean, way more than the average Joe likes him. I, no joke, read every single Charlie Brown collection at my city library when I was around 9 years old. That was about 10 hard back volumes of little “blockhead” comic strips. I know them like the back of my hand. You can see why I can never be a book snob. I completely relate to my son’s love for Big Nate.

But I, like that poor chap Charlie, do tire of the commercialism of the holidays. I need a Linus!

Before we start singing carols, let’s remember something….

It isn’t Christmas yet! It’s the season of THANKSGIVING!!!!!

We have a tradition in our family to never do the same thing twice in a row for Thanksgiving, and we don’t. We don’t go home. It’s too far away. We don’t always do anything. We do whatever we decide that particular year.

Well, we do ALWAYS do ONE thing. We give THANKS. We give thanks to God above, God the Creator, not to be confused with any god that someone made up with their own two hands. I’m sure there are many people who will give thanks TO their food, rather than give thanks FOR their food.

Why is giving thanks to God so important?

God deserves our thanks. Plus, when we are thankful, we are happier. When we are happier, we are more useful. When we are more useful, we bless others. When we bless others, we make THIS world a better place. After all, this world is where we live right now. If we aren’t any good HERE, right where we are, then what good are we?

It’s a chain effect!

When I am thankful, I am happy. Happiness gives us ENERGY! Like that scene in Despicable Me 2! Gru realizes he’s in love, and he’s thankful. He’s happy. He’s hopeful, and he becomes KIND. He brightens the day of every single person that he passes by.

Until someone squashes his hope. Just like that, his new love is gone.

Then he is gloomy, unthankful, and he walks home in despair, crushing many of the same people he just encouraged.

Don’t worry. It gets better at the end. I love those little minion movies.

Let’s be thankful. There is always SOMETHING  to be thankful for.

thankful for fun times with friends

Today I am thankful for rain. Caleb wrote this in his journal this morning, “It is a good day because today it rained.”

Ah! Thankfulness!

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.”     Colossians 3:14-15

Thank you for reading. I’m sick, and when I’m sick, I blog often. Have you noticed? 😉 Every cloud has a silver lining, right? I’m thankful, even thankful for bronchitis, well I mean, a little bit. I’m DEFINITELY thankful for DayQuil and Nyquil. hehe

The post Why Thankfulness is So Important appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I love Thanksgiving. Today I am thanking my Heavenly Father for all the blessings he has bestowed upon us this year–this wild and crazy year! 2014 was EXCITING. It has been a challenge, full of change, and full of learning.

And I am thankful for it.

I am thankful that I have the kind of husband that helps coach everything my boys are involved in. Thank you, Alan!

Caleb, driving Grandaddy’s scooter, pulling the ‘train’.

I’m thankful my dad is such a FUN Granddaddy. Having a scooter hasn’t slowed him down at all. As Caleb would say, “Granddaddy, you’re just as crazy as ever,” as Caleb grins from ear to ear.

thankful for puddles

 thankful for drawing

thankful for snow angels–and so thankful we got to live in a place where you get to make them!!  Thank you, Lord!

 thankful for this

thankful for my label maker and pretty jewelry

 thankful for handed-down matching outfits

thankful for family watermelon nights

thankful that I took the time to get organized

  So thankful I got to share D.C. with all four of my children!

thankful for consignment sales

thankful for oodles and oodles of toys

and baby smiles

thankful for Caleb

thankful for that weekend we got to spend with Alan’s grandparents while we weaned JD

so thankful for the people that cut the boys’ hair

thankful for snowboarding

 and bowling

 thankful for cupcakes

thankful for the friends of my children

thankful for Joshua and for his victories

thankful for Nonna and for baby bottles

for Easter baskets

thankful for my mom and dad

 thankful for first times

 for brothers

 for Dan and for stickers

 for Radio Flyer wagons and azaleas

Thankful for Mother’s Day and for four sweet little boys

for backyard sports in the spring

and for friends

thankful for fun in the sun

and for wrestling

and moving companies, so we don’t have to pack our                                                                                                  own junk

and photo albums

 thankful for Alabama football  for family

for that amazing road trip I got to take with my husband

for Alan

for getting to see all of this

for beautiful sunsets

for our 3rd honeymoon and for my parents watching the boys for us to do this

 for DaddyO and his fashion

for relatives and crazy game nights

cousins

thankful for getting to home school

I love going to Point Lobos State Park. You are always guaranteed to find sea lions.

for the ability to laugh at myself for calling all those seals sea lions–Yes, those are actually seals.

and so is he

Not him. That’s an otter.

 thankful for Point Lobos

thankful for getting to watch herds of actual sea lions and whales, with Alan, Joshua, and Caleb

Wow!

thankful for silly times

 thankful for kayaking with the love of my life– I have never appreciated Alan as much as I have this year. I love you, Alan! Thank you so much for your support!

thankful to live in California, even if just for a little while

But isn’t everything really just for a little while?

My DaddyO lets me have fun.

thankful for J.D. and for getting to share their childhood

thankful that this is my life

thankful for my blog, and more importantly, all of the people that read it. Thank you for reading my blog!!!

I’m thankful that God in Heaven listened to the questions of a little girl, just 4 years old, when she asked, “But who is this God?” I’m thankful that he sent me the people I needed to meet, kept me from harm, led my whole family to know Him, and always loved me in spite of all of the horrible things that I have done. I’m thankful that he taught me of His love.

1 John Chapter 4

⁸ He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

⁹ In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

¹⁰ Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.

What are you thankful for today?

Thank you!

The post Thankfulness in Photos appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.