Happy Thanksgiving

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and here is a list of some of the things for which I am thankful (in no particular order):

1. A roof over our heads

2. Food on our plates

3. Running water

4. Family

5. Our health

6. Pembroke Welsh Corgies

7. Music

8. Flowers

9. Sunsets & Sunrises

10. The ocean

11. Vacations

12. Five year olds (too cute!!)

13. Furnaces

14. Champagne

15. Internet

16. Books

17. Electricity

18. Refrigerators

19. Automatic dishwashers

20. Washing machines and dryers

21. The great U.S. of A

22. Our troops

23. Freedom of religion

24. Freedom of speech

25. Belgian beer

26. Cell phones

27. Cars

28. The Interstate (but not the traffic)

29. Sushi

30. Hugs

31. Sunshine

32. Dancing

33. Laughter

34. Comedians that are funny and don't use profanity

35. Romantic comedies

36. Modern medicine

37. 24 hour pharmacies

38. 24 hour grocery stores

39. Modern supermarkets (Food is good, yeah?)

40. Life

41. Friends

Bunny Brains & Green Snake Tails

We are happy to say that Googie is finally eating "real" food, and he sure had fun eating dinner the other day. Hubby had made a dinner of lamb shanks, asparagus, and wild mushroom risotto. We expected Goggie to put up a fuss over eating dinner (like usual); however, Junior had warned him ahead of time that Dad was fixing bunny brains for dinner. Googie was so excited, he couldn't wait to eat it. Hubby put a lamb shank on Googie's plate along with a few asparagus tips and mushroom risotto while Junior kept telling him that the lamb shanks were bunny brains. Well, let me tell you he ate a total of five "bunny brains" with "blood" (ketchup). Then he proceeded to eat all his "green rattlesnake tails" (asparagus tips) washing them down with a tall, icy glass of "saliva" (water), and he ate the risotto. How's that for creative parenting?

Praying the Rosary and Laminating Holy Cards

Oh Joy!

The other day our homeschool group had a prayer group for moms. We had so much fun getting together and being silly. It wasn't until I started explaining to Hubby what we were doing that I realized how ridiculous it sounded, "Yeah, honey. We had a blast last night at the homeschooling prayer group meeting. We prayed the rosary and couldn't stop laughing because of the fun we were having. Then the teenagers went to the other room to practice singing religious songs while the moms sat in the family room laminating holy cards. Yeah, we all sat around staring at the laminator and going, 'Oooh, that is sooo cool, I need one of those.' And we weren't even drinking." Anyways, Hubby just gave me a weird look and commented on how I needed to get out more (which is what I thought I had been doing at that meeting) and Bubba just couldn't stop laughing and kept asking me about the laminating machine.

Prayer

This is a Prayer given in Kansas at the opening session of their Senate. It seems Prayer still upsets some people. When Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, Everyone was expecting the usual generalities, But this is what they heard:

"Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh, God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from Every sin and set us free.

Amen!"

I am the Proud Parent of an Eagle Scout

Yikes. You know when Junior finished his Eagle Scout Board of Review I was so proud of him. He was able to earn the Eagle award through his own initiative. Hubby and I didn't micromanage the whole process. Well, I guess you could say that this experience spoiled me and did not prepare me for the Eagle Scout Court of Honor. Now it's my turn to work on an "Eagle Project." It's amazing how much needs to be done for an Eagle award, even after all the "work" is done. Okay, I admit, I am kind of enjoying this, but aren't I busy enough without having some new big event thrown on my lap?

Quiet!

Don't you love Bill Cosby? A few days ago we sat down with the older kids to watch Bill Cosby Himself on HBO and the kids really loved it. Bubba's favorite part was when Bill Cosby fed his kids chocolate cake for breakfast, "Daddy's great...he feeds us chocolate cake." Junior just laughed during the whole thing. My favorite quote is, "Parents are not interested in fair. They are interested in quiet." Too funny!

No Cheap Shots Here

The day started with a trip to the pediatrician's office. Five year old Goggie was due for his Kindergarten physical. Part of the physical included a developmenal screening including a vision and hearing screening. Well, the little man tested with possible language processing deficiencies/delays and poor vision. YIKES! I had no idea. After all the challenges of having Bubba diagnosed with Asperperger Syndrome, Sensory Intergration Dysfunction, Poor Gross Motor Skills, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, Gifted I.Q. (with what they called and Engineer's Profile), poor vision, and Tourette's Syndrome, I thought that I had payed my dues. Not so. The journey continues.

Anyway, back to the shots. We had a total of seven shots today. Goggy had three "Kindergarten Shots" plus a flu shot. Bubba had a flu shot and I had two allergy shots. And the day had just started...

Later we had music lessons, tap class (for Mama) to which I had to take Googie and then a Boy Scout meeting. It was a long, long day. But at dinner time Goggie made this for us.

It puts things into perspective, doesn't it? What a day.