Thanksgiving Week

Thankfulness:  We have been practicing an exercise in Thankfulness this month which we are continuing to add to.  At dinner, I hand everyone a leaf I cut out and we all write what we are thankful for.  We have the thoughtful:  good friends, each of our family members.  We have the silly:  James Monroe (perhaps skateboy is thankful for the new presidential placemat :)  And the downright sweet: "for Jesus is Alive", Little Missy is always thinking and mulling over what we talk about.

Our Thanksgiving was great.  Family and friends came to share dinner with us, the kids got to go home to spend a couple of nights with Granny, and the smoked turkey turned out to perfection (thanks, honey!)

Anticipation:  Now, on to waiting for my friend Shaunna and her children to arrive for a short visit.  And getting our new tile installed (thanks Granny and DDad!)

Week in Review

Hailey's learning to read and write

Loving Math!

Good Work!

Field Trip to Storied Firearms:  We also went on a very interesting field trip to a local gun shop called Storied Firearms.  First Cherie took us around the fully restored train depot that had been moved from Dumas, TX.  She talked about how the building was moved and some of the historical aspects of the 1931 building.  We saw the cigarette burns on the ticket window from when the ticket master would put his cigarette down, and we saw the segregated waiting rooms.  After that Carl pulled out the guns and gave us a lesson on the history of firearms.  They had examples of percussion guns (1700s) all the way up to Colt revolvers (1860s).  Of course they had modern firearms as well.  He even let the kids hold a gun that was worth somewhere around $17,000, a dragoon.  Then the owner of the store, who is a competitive Cowboy Action Shooter, talked to the kids about the fun and excitement of competitive shooting sports.  All in all, the kids learned a great deal and had a great time.

What We've Been Up To

Cody's order of turkeys came in.

Weekend trip to Mt. Bonnell



Hailey and Mom




Handsome boys




You wouldn't believe how dirty these guys get!




Yes, that is a lamb on a treadmill!

 We have been super busy around here.  It seems like we go through a period where there is absolutely nothing going on and we are all just staring at each other.  Then all of the sudden, BAM!  We are slammed with activities.  4-H is taking a good deal of that time.  The boys have gone to two shows so far with their lambs and they have another one in two weeks.  Cody got his turkeys, 15 of them, last Tuesday.  Two Thursdays a month they go to wood shop and to a 4H meeting once per month. Then you add in things like One Day Academy, church, friends, family and good golly its busy.