November Randoms

Cooking with Ria

Dress fitting in Knoxville with Eleanor

We look so sleepy!

You know when it's too quiet .... yep .... no words.

got out my winter dishes

loving our 2012 family ornament

Firefighters to the rescue ... fire day at the library. It ended with a bang when the firemen got called to a job (bomb scare at the courthouse)

Javan's latest benchmark/term test ... I don't understand each column but the 39/40 (98%) is mighty impressive ... proud mama!

An answer to a very specific prayer ... Jermaine's new classroom at Lake Forest Middle School.

So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ¹⁰ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. Luke 11:9-10

We're still in awe at how all this worked out.

Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think ... Eph 3:20

Celebrating the faithfulness of God

Bye bye November! Looking forward to a busy and fun December.
~V

Sunday Fun: Getting in the Christmas Spirit

We got our first pics of the season in front of the tree this year .... made me want to look back at previews years pics. Here's a short trip down memory (don't worry I wont bore you:)

2008

2009

2010

2011

and kicking of the 2012 season

 they look so sneaky here!

and a few outside

It's so hard to believe that NEXT week is December. This year has just flown by.
 ~V

Thanksgiving 2012

We were supposed to spend Thanksgiving at Becky and Mikeal's house but their boys got sick during the day and they had to cancel. I felt bad for Becky cos she did a lot of cooking and they have basically been confined to their house for several days:( I didn't have any meals planned for us for Thursday so J made a quick trip to Walmart around 7pm Wednesday evening. He came back with the last roasting hen (turkeys were all frozen) and was pretty pleased with himself ... he got an organic bird and he got it free. Apparently the cashier couldn't get the code to scan so she just gave it to him. Pretty cool huh? I basically just cooked what I had on hand in our fridge and pantry.  Our menu was roast chicken, gravy, apple and sage stuffing, corn casserole, maple roasted butternut (this is seriously our fave side dish), roast potatoes and for the first time ever I made sweet potato 'casserole' ... I don't like sweet potatoes and I never buy them. But, according to Jermaine you just have to have sweet potato casserole for Thanksgiving. He's grown accustomed to this very American dish! So my version of it was to just steam the sweet potato, mash it with some butter, brown sugar and top it with marshmallows and throw it in the oven. He loved it. Pretty certain NONE of my American friends would have approved though!

Here's the little spread I whipped up ... I had already cut the chicken so no pretty pic of it. It looked like a mini turkey:)

Ria with her plate

I didn't make any dessert so ice cream and sprinkles it was. Javan was pretty flabbergasted that we had to eat the same stuff for supper that night. He seriously could not believe I wasn't going to cook something different for us to eat.

The kids were eager to get the Christmas tree up, so J brought all the tubs and boxes in from the garage and we got to work.

 Cutest little Santa helpers ever:)

 We finished the rest of the stuff Friday

Still a little more to get done but I lost momentum by Friday night so will finish up this weekend.

 I did bake some amazing condensed milk cookies .... they are divine and dangerous all in one.

Saturday we spent all day out in Chattanooga. We left home around 10am and only got back close to 9:30pm. I got to redeem some gift cards I've had for my birthday so that was lots of fun. My fave moment though was when we were eating lunch. A lady came to our table and said 'I just have to tell you what beautiful children you have and how well behaved they are. I love how they are sitting so politely and eating' ... It threw me off guard, more so cos I had just finished scolding Ria cos she wouldn't sit still and I didnt want her messing up her clothes. I was so thankful for that sweet compliment. It was really nice of her to let me know that. Javan knew what she said was really nice and it made him so happy.

Javan writing out his Christmas wish list at Toys R Us

We mostly window shopped. Call us crazy for going out in one of busiest weekends to just window shop, but it really wasn't bad at all. I guess most people were out Thursday night and all day Friday.

We got to enjoy lots of family time together ... J didnt have school or work so we loved having him home. The kids REALLY needed it. It's been rough with Ria the last few weeks and she's been kind of acting out with me cos she just wants (misses) daddy so a long weekend like that was much needed. 

I am very thankful for my little family.
~V

Turkey Fun

Javan had a really fun time putting together his 'I am NOT a turkey' turkey for a school project. His turkey was disguise as a pirate (of cos!) and was named Jack:) He wrote a little story about Jack's mission as well.

 meet Jack the pirate who is NOT a turkey!

Ria had a fun time making a turkey head band at the library yesterday. I was barely able to get this picture cos she didn't want it to mess up her hair!

Looking forward to some fun times with my little turkeys this week::)
~V

Sunday Fun: Mellow Mushroom Style

We enjoyed lunch at Mellow Mushroom after church Sunday. It's been a LONG time since we have eaten there and it was SO yummy.

 Bella, Caden, Jacob, Javan, Kyle, Tucker, Kenzie, Livi and Ria

If the kids didn't get bored after they were done eating, we could have stayed and chatted all day!
~V

Javan's Parent Teacher Conference

I went to Javan's Parent Teacher Conference yesterday. Jermaine had a meeting that he couldn't get out of so he missed it. All I can say is I am one ridiculously proud mama. I really am. His teacher sent a note home saying we had no need to meet with her but if we wanted to she would be glad to talk with us. I wasn't going to turn that invitation down cos I really did want to know from her how he was doing in class. I will be honest I wasn't concerned about his academics. He is a very disciplined kid and just genuinely loves to learn. The work he brings home every day shows how hard he works. Just today he told me he wished he had school on Saturday and Sundays too cos he loves learning new things and its really fun to do so. Both Jermaine and I really wanted to know how he was doing socially, does he participate in class and how he adapts to different situations, etc.

We walked through all the work stations he is doing and she showed me his folder, his journals and all his test scores. She said he is consistently testing ahead in everything. He does accelerated reading tests just about every day and according to the system they use he is required to make 4pts for each book but his average score is 9.2 and he is at 98.6%. His spelling test scores are 100% and his timed math tests are also 100%. She said he had really great writing, not just penmanship but his journals are fun to read cos his stories are detailed. He started of writing just a couple of sentences but now he will write at least two pages!

She told me I have no need to be concerned about him cos he is a very pleasant child, uses his manners, participates in class and asks questions, is a really good helper in the classroom, works well with his buddy, is a good friend and does well on the playground and he is a very social kid. She said Javan is the one kid she never sees sitting around doing nothing. He is always working and when he gets his work done, he starts reading.

You know sometimes its hard as a parent to gauge just how well you are parenting your kids. So much is trial and error and Javan really is our guinea pig. We're learning with him and guiding him the best we can. It really was affirming to hear his teacher say we are doing a wonderful job with him at home cos it shows every day at school.

Javan ... you are a joy to us and we are so proud of you and all you have accomplished so far this school year!
~V

Sunday Fun: A Wedding Shower

We had a really fun Sunday ... church, a little browsing around at the mall and a walk through at Toys-R-Us for the kids and then later in afternoon a wedding shower for Eleanor and Demaro.

 Saturday night Ria told me she knew what she was going to wear to 'Owa's wedding shower party' ... definitely too dressy for the occasion but she refused to wear anything else. Owa just had to see her 'Jasmin' dress:)

Just about a month to go til the wedding day!

~V