My Baby girl’s birthday

Only she’s not a baby anymore, so she says!  She’s already pointed out that now that she’s a year older, she’ll get $1 more in allowance!  Jocelyn’s got up very, very early this morning (5:35am?) because she was so excited about her birthday.  The celebration started yesterday with the painting of her room.  She wanted a room makeover for her birthday with new bedding and new paint.  Today was church, her party at Build-A-Bear, a special dinner of Shepherd’s Pie, more cake, and eventually, bedtime!  Here are a few pics of the special day!

Jocelyn couldn’t wait to open her presents this morning before church.  She got a pretty scarf and hat from Nanny and Gramps and Wesley got her some J earrings she’d been eyeing from Claire’s for quite some time!

Wesley got comfy watching Jocelyn open presents.  Jocelyn was so excited about being dressed up for her party at Build-A-Bear that she danced around the living room with Dad.  Buddy didn’t like it and growled and barked at them!

Jocelyn’s all dressed up for her party!  She wanted to wear the birthday ribbon that her school had given her on Friday.  Our host, Holly, had the girls put their animals on their heads and march chanting “Stuff that Bear!” to the stuffing machine!

Jocelyn got to stuff her bear first (she named her Molly).  Later all of her friends made wishes on hearts and they were all put inside Jocelyn’s bear!

We got a group shot before heading to the food court for cupcakes and drinks.  Little did we know that Wesley got left behind at the store!  Not to worry, he said he’d learned on tv to stay put and we recovered him in no time.  He wasn’t in the least bit bothered!

This was the first time that we’ve done a party at Build-A-Bear.  To be honest, I thought the idea of doing a birthday party at the mall on the Sunday after Thanksgiving would have been a recipe for disaster.  On the contrary!  The store was relatively quiet and I didn’t have to worry about the girls getting lost or trampled!  Whew!  What a relief!  Jocelyn had a lovely day and memorable, to say the least!

Many Thanks. . . part 2

We were fortunate enough to be able to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday not only with my family here in Wichita, but also in Oklahoma City with Ken’s family. This was the first major holiday without our nephew/cousin, little Weston, and his absence was truly felt. In his memory, following the Thanksgiving lunch, we headed to Lyons Park in Norman, OK where two trees were planted in his honor. There we wrote notes to Weston on balloons and launched them after a brief prayer. It had a big impact and was rather emotional, particularly for the children. There were quite a few tears. I thank God for the strength He has so that we can lean on him during times like these. I thank God for the family that I have that are near and far and that we are able to visit each other. God is good.  Please continue to pray for Clay and Erin as they continue to grieve.  December will be another tough month with Weston’s birthday (12/19) and Christmas.  Check out Keith’s blog for more pictures on the “love notes to Weston.”

Ken shows the children one of the 2 trees. Getting ready for the launch.

After a brief prayer by Keith, we launched the balloons into the air. It was very quiet. Even though some of the balloons got stuck in the tree, the wind soon freed them. We watched them float into the sky for a long time.

Many thanks. . .

As we are upon the Thanksgiving holiday, one can’t help but reflect on the many things that we might be thankful for. I am thankful for God’s many blessings in my life– for my husband and family, who will stand beside me through thick and thin, and my friends. I am thankful for my good health (although I have a cold of some sort at the moment) and a body that I probably take advantage of and don’t always treat right. I am thankful to have a career in which I love, albeit challenging. And this is just a shortened list!

We had a Thanksgiving celebration at my Mum and Dad’s Sunday evening. Darren, Cheri, and Ali were already in Colorado and Mum and Dad were leaving later in the week. We enjoyed yummy roast beef with yorkshire pudding (requested by the kids!) as well as a traditional pumpkin pie baked by Jocelyn, and a pecan pie baked by Mum.

From left front clockwise: Katie, Taylor, Ken, Wesley, David, Liam, Nancy, Zach, Dad, Jocelyn, and Mum.

I’m excited about . . . gas prices!

I know, how boring! BUT today I filled up my Durango with 20+ gallons and only paid $41.50 or $1.92 a gallon! I haven’t been able to do that for a long, long, long, time! That should last me 2 weeks. . .

Update:  Of course as soon as I post this the prices go down again!  It dropped to $1.89 yesterday and that wouldn’t be including the extra $.02 discount you could get it you used your Plus card from Dillons!

what a year!

Ken loves his new bday t-shirt from Clay!

Next New Recipe — Cheesy Chicken Veggie Soup

I’m always looking for something new for my Crock-Pot as it makes my life so much easier if I can plan ahead! This recipe came from a new book I bought from the children’s fundraiser from school. Although it said the prep time was 10 minutes, it took me a lot longer to chop all of these veggies! I guess you could buy most of these already diced and frozen but the only thing I put in here that was frozen was the corn. I chopped up all of the veggies and assembled the entire thing in the pot (other than the cheese step) the night before and stored it covered in the fridge. Come morning, all I had to do was put the crock it in the slow cooker and turn it on!

Cheesy Chicken Veggie Soup

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 10-12 hours Servings 10-12

Ingredients:

1 (10 1/2 oz.) can chicken broth

4 chicken bouillon cubes

1 quart water

2 cups diced onions

2 cups diced celery

4 cups diced potatoes

3 cups diced carrots

1 (10 oz) pkg. frozen whole kernel corn

2 (10 3/4 oz) cans cream of chicken soup (Aldi’s has good cheap cans of soup although not the light versions)

1/2 lb Velveeta cheese, cubed (I used a generic alternative that’s just as good!)

Combine chicken broth, chicken bouillon cubes and water in slow cooker. Mix lightly and add diced onions, diced celery, diced potatoes, diced carrots, whole kernel corn and cream of chicken soup. Mix well.

Cover and cook on low setting for 10 to 12 hours, or until vegetables are tender. Add cubed cheese to soup and stir until cheese is completely melted. To serve, ladle soup into bowls.

A the family says. . . It’s a keeper! Taylor was the only one who didn’t “like” it. Wesley said “I love it!” Even though the power went off during the day while it was cooking, it still cooked enough and was very tasty! We even have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! I’m not sure how this would freeze, probably not very well since there’s potatoes in them. Let me know if you try this recipe and what you think about it!