A Little Late!

So I am a little late wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you had a wonderful day. We enjoyed our Thanksgiving By the Sea. Thankfully, my decorations made the trip. We had lots of food. The adults enjoyed every bit of it and the kids...well, let's just say they tried new things. The turkey cookies were their favorite.

I don't know about you but do you ever have an idea in your head and it turns out something totally different but better. As you know from my previous post, I had an idea about decorating the table for Thanksgiving. In my head, I visualized a soft look of white plates, shells, white pumpkins, etc. You get the idea. Well it turned out nothing like I thought it would. It was even better because I watched my mother-in-law work with the kids on some table decorations. She helped them make the cutest turkey cookies and place cards out of leaves. My mom brought a ceramic small turkey that was my grandmothers. She gave it to Bailey to have.

I also had this sweet helper.

She insisted the forks be on the plates and not beside the plates.

So you see, I had visualized a picture in my head like the ones I see in the magazines. But you know what? Those pictures leave out the love of a family. They don't show the grandmothers working with the grandchildren to create name cards that may not be perfect. Martha (and my grandmother) would have a fit that the forks are not properly placed. Our table was perfect for us!

Now that Thanksgiving is over, we are ready to celebrate and enjoy Christmas.

We enjoyed our holiday by the sea. We missed those who we did not get to see.

So much to be thankful for!

Not Quite Ready

Lately, my little guy loves to tell me that he is "not quite ready" to do whatever I am telling him to do. In his little voice he will say "not yet mommy" or "just a minute" or "not quite ready."

How many times do I say that to God? It goes something like this....

Not quite ready to do that Lord. See I have a million and one things to do like go to Target, grocery store and oh yea....the mall to get that cute shirt I saw the other day.

Not quite ready Lord to have a little girl go to kindergarten. See Lord, preschool is all about having fun and I am not ready to have to buckle down and help her with homework.

Not quite ready Lord, for my little guy not to be 2 anymore. See Lord, he is my baby and my last baby. So I am not ready to take down that crib and take away his pacifier at night.

Not quite ready Lord for my parents to age. See Lord, no matter how old I am, I am still their daughter and receive that unconditional love even when I am grumpy.

But the Lord says....

It is time to put your list to the side and think about what I want you to do.

She is ready to go to school and I have already chosen the school for her.

And about the little guy.....enjoy these days with him and help him grow into a man who loves me.

As your parents age, remember the unconditional love I have for you and that you are a daughter of Christ.

So the next time I say to my little guy to clean up and he says "not quite ready", I will remember to say Lord, I am ready.

Nothing Better Than A Parade

Before we head to the beach, let's enjoy some downtown fun.

A parade always bring smiles to young and old. I decided at the last minute to take the kids to the downtown Christmas parade. We met some friends and enjoyed some fun. The weather was just right for a parade. The kids enjoyed getting out their hats and scarfs for the first time this year. The best part of the parade was watching the kids smile and wave to the participants.

Enjoying the little moments!

Thanksgiving By the Sea

Thanksgiving By The Sea

Thanksgiving will be here soon. I don't want to skip over Thanksgiving despite what the retail stores say. Seems like the Christmas trees have been up since Halloween. This year, our family is going to do something a little different. We are having Thanksgiving By The Sea.

I will go ahead and be honest with you. Cooking is not my thing! I can follow a recipe but I just don't have the joy of cooking in me. However, I am blessed to have a mother-in-law who does. She loves to cook and everything she makes is yummy. Between my mother and mother-in-law, our Thanksgiving dinner will be taken care of. We will be spending the day cooking together. 3 (I mean 2) cooks in the kitchen! I hope we survive.

I may not have the joy of cooking in me but I have the joy of decorating. I love to decorate. I started thinking about how to decorate our table for Thanksgiving. How about a little sand and shells thrown in with some pumpkins? Bright orange pumpkins don't really go with white sand and shells. So I grabbed some white spray paint and started spraying. I had just enough to paint 8 little pumpkins left from Halloween.

Throw in a table cloth, a few star fish and I am ready to hit the beach for Thanksgiving. I will add white dishes and more shells the day of.

I just hope my pile of decor does not get booted out of these containers. This is what we use to transport things to the beach. I hope the big guy in the house does not see the decorating items as unnecessary!

Come back to see how I use the items to create my Thanksgiving By The Sea.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving however you spend it. There is so much to be thankful for.

Veterans Day

Today is Veterans Day.  For some it means they have a day off from work, there is no mail and their kids are home from school.  For others, it is a big reminder and a time to say thank you to those who have served or who are currently serving our country.

I was leaving a comment in seasoned-sister.blogspot.com/.  Her post today was about Veterans Day.  As I was writing a LONG comment I was reminded by so many things.  I went to a military college so several of my friends from college are military families.  Even though I do not keep up with them on a regular basis I always think of them and their sacrifices. 

 - I remember visiting a special friend in Ft. Hood before her husband was deployed in Desert Storm.  

- I remember several of us hanging a huge American flag over our college apartment banister during Desert Storm.  

- I remember us checking our campus mailboxes hoping to get letters from friends who were deployed.  This was all before email and cell phones.

- I remember stopping whatever I was doing at 5:00 to salute the flag.  We would even get out of our cars to salute the flag. Rain or shine.  

- I remember hearing taps every night before I went to bed.

- I remember waking up to the military guys marching by my dorm.

Many of those friends went on to serve the military after college. Oh I forgot to tell you....I was not in the military program.  Just did not think army green was my color!

I think of my grandfather who served in WWII and did not see my dad until he was 2 years old. I think of my mom's past boss who served as a physician in Vietnam.  

And I think of all who are serving now to keep the bad guys away (as my daughter would say).

So thank you, thank you, thank you for those who have served or who are serving.

Adding a Little Flair

The other night I was playing around with Photoshop Elements.   You can really do some fun things with the software.  I currently have no idea how to do all the fun things.  I see other photos and think "now how did they do that."  

The other night I just started clicking to see what would happen to my pictures.  It's fun to take an ordinary picture and add to it.  I like photos that have a little artistic flair to them.  

I took this photo.......

and added a little spotlight to it.  Not that I wanted to fade out my little guy that melts my heart but thought it was a neat way to put more focus on one subject.  This was my first try of adding a filter so go easy on me.  I am not sure which picture I like best.  What do you think?

Look what I did to this picture.

I added a spotlight to the picture.  Looks like the sun is shining on them.

Just playing around!

A Welcome Home!

I experienced something today that I will never forget. A sweet friend of mine got to welcome home her husband who has been deployed to Iraq. He is home for 2 weeks before he goes back.

This morning when I dropped off Bailey and Keenan at school I saw my friend. She was smiling from ear to ear. Her hubby's flight was to arrive at RDU at 11:00. She was so excited. I thought of the sacrifice her husband makes for our country and I thought of the sacrifice she makes as well. She has held down the fort with a joyful heart. I kept thinking about her all morning.

It was time to go get the kids at school. I was driving down the road and then I realized I was right behind them. We pulled in school at the same time. Their little boy was about to have a surprise. He did not know his Daddy was coming home. My friend asked me if I would take pictures. Oh my goodness, what a blessing it was. I got to go in the classroom with camera in hand and I will never forget the homecoming I saw. It was the sweetest thing. Their little boy ran across the room and jumped up in his daddy's arms and would not let go of him. I was trying to hold back tears so I could actually look through the camera.

Once again, I was reminded of the sacrifices that so many make for our country. Not only the military men and women but also their families. Thank you to all those who serve our country.