on a sunday afternoon

I was summoned to take a few action shots today.

I know lots of folk are dealing with snow and parkas right now. But in our neck of the woods the leaves don't fall until right before Christmas and the kids can wear shorts to play on a nice, sunny afternoon.

The girls and their buddy, Austin, raked and threw the leaves over and over today.

They couldn't get enough of making it rain down leaves.

Apparently they were all tuckered out and decided to nap in the leaves.

That is, until they couldn't hold a straight face anymore.

Oh, and believe me when I tell you I didn't win any popularity awards when I told them to bag up the leaves so Daddy doesn't have to.

 

it was so fun we did it again

One of the perks of hosting Thanksgiving is having leftovers. But even though we practically cooked an ostrich, we didn't have as many leftovers as we wanted. One of the stores was having a sale on fresh turkeys. One thing led to another and before you know it we were sticking another turkey on the grill yesterday.

Greg asked if I got a picture of the ostrich turkey on Thanksgiving Day. Sadly, I did not. So here's a picture of our more scrawny bird the second time around. Even still tied up, she is a pretty bird.

I even made another batch of dressing to see if I could alter the recipe a little bit. It was drier and I liked it just fine. Greg said it was too dry. I also made more of the yummy homemade rolls that disappeared all too quickly. We warmed up a bunch of other leftovers and had Thanksgiving dinner all over again ~ except this time in our jammies.

We watched Elf and our traditional Thanksgiving weekend movie, The Christmas Story. We start our holiday season with that movie every year. We laugh over and over at that movie like it was the first time we'd seen it. Such classic lines.

Today we are staying in our jammies again and working on decking the halls. Greg is nursing a sore back so we are just taking it easy around here.

And you can be certain we won't be cooking another turkey any time soon.

 

new shop item

I made these new camera strap covers for the craft boutique last weekend and have a few left.

They are double-sided and padded. What a fun way to jazz up your boring camera strap.

Plus, having a unique camera strap cover eliminates camera confusion at family/friend get-togethers. You won't accidentally walk away with someone else's almost identical camera.

These are in the shop now!

 

turkey

We cooked it.

We marveled in its beauty.

We ate it.

We filled our house with people. There were twenty-three of us to be exact.

Moms, dads, grandparents, brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles ~ all the likes.

These two are adding to our family.  Kayla & Andrew's baby girl is due in the spring.  I can't wait.

Everyone had a nice time ~ relaxing, laughing, catching up with each other.

We have so much to be thankful for, it's hard to even know where to begin. I am so thankful for this guy. He gets me. He keeps me grounded while letting me soar and be myself. He works hard to provide for our home and keep everyone in it safe and loved. He is my soul mate.

Greg usually sweet-talks his dad into carving the turkey. Clearly, Jim really enjoys this job. We cooked the turkey on the rotisserie again. Oh. my. word. Such a tender, juicy bird.

Some little people refused to eat. Like this one...

and this one. That's ok. Stay away from the Aunt Nell's salad. More for me.

We were able to get almost everybody seated in the same room. I'm hoping Wendy didn't mind me sitting on her lap!

Jared hunkered down with his plate for some serious eating. The only thing that makes a cook happier than a plate piled high is the empty plate at the end of the meal. His was empty.

I tried a couple of new recipes this year. The praline yams are a absolutely a keeper. At the last minute I tried the recipe on the can since I had all the ingredients handy. It was so good. The dressing recipe needs to be tweaked. I like mine dryish, but most everyone else likes theirs more moist. I tried a new one that was more moist and cooked in the crock pot. Perfect, right? It ended up being a little too moist. Greg said the flavor was great but we need to work on the moist factor. I wouldn't know. I didn't go anywhere near it with a fork cuz it was too mushy.

After dinner, the kids put on a fashion show for us. They came down several times in various outfits.

Someone asked where they got so much stuff. Let's see, Halloween costumes...dance costumes...dress up clothes...they keep everything for play.

Gavin couldn't get enough of the witch's hat.

As another Thanksgiving dinner at the Robinson's comes to a close, we are reminded of our blessings both big and small. Take a minute to count your blessings too.

   

this week in phone photos

I'm joining life.rearranged today with my Instagram photos for the past week. I love that app ~ love the filters ~ love the little moments of life it catches for me. 

Since school started, I haven't spent much time at the sewing machine. This past weekend I ignored my big bag o' schoolwork and did some sewing. I also did some napping, but that's beside the point. I will be in a craft boutique in November and I've got to get going. I have lots of ideas in my head ~ let's see what I can work out in time.

I was crafty and somewhat productive last weekend. I think I sewed 7 pouches and this banner. It's something new I'm trying. What do you think? Sure, I know, everyone has been doing these forever and I'm just now seeing fit to making one. It's really cute I think.

Well, shoot, where did the week go? Today the kids and I went shopping to get supplies for Halloween costumes and more fabric for crafty creations. I wore them out ~ they both fell asleep on the way home.

This will soon be a Halloween costume. Any guesses about what it will be? Don't think too hard about it, it's kinda obvious. I really hope this works. I've made and remade these costumes in my head over and over for the past couple of weeks. One prototype didn't work out and I had to rethink it. In my brain is the perfect solution. Let's just see if real life cooperates.

   

camping with family

These days our lives are filled with all things busy. School started. Dance started. Homework started. I'm finding myself working more hours than the last several years. I brought home a pretty hefty bag of work this weekend. This doesn't make for much crafting or blogging time, I tell you. I have a craft show coming up in November, so I better get busy! 

We did take time out about a month ago to go camping with Greg's sister, Wendy, and her family. 

They camp in a 5th wheel. We camp in a tent. Honestly, the tent is fun except when somebody has to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night. The campground where we usually go has pretty nice bathrooms, considering. We went to a different place closer to home this time & the bathrooms were g.r.o.s.s.! Let's just say I had a little quiet time with nature a few times in the middle of the night.

The weather was chilly ~ a nice reprieve from the still hot days. Shoot, our days are still hot now, even in the middle of October. The hatchets and axes came out and fun was had by all.

Greg taught the kids how to use the hatchet to chop wood.

Everyone got a turn.

He even taught the littlest cousin.

He was pretty proud of himself!

Check out Heather's concentration.

Do you think it run in the family?

Just before it was Sam's turn to use the ax (and while he wasn't looking), Wendy lodged the ax into the stump pretty hard to make him work at getting it out. Just as expected, he couldn't get it out.

Uh, I guess the joke was on Wendy, cuz she had quite the time getting it out herself. If I remember correctly, Greg had to get involved.

Yup, everything is fun and games until the ax gets stuck.

Grandma & Papa came up for the day with their little doggie.

There was a lot of sitting, eating, and relaxing.  Can you see the dog waiting, hoping that Chris drops some of that beef jerky?

All this sounds pretty quiet and peaceful, right? Well we did have some excitement along the way besides middle of the night bathroom breaks. It was supposed to rain that weekend. Ha! Where we live if they say it's supposed to rain, it usually doesn't. But, we were in the mountains, so we were prepared with an extra tarp, towels, and blankets. We'd never been rained on while camping. And I wasn't interested in getting rained on.

Friday night ~ no rain.

It started raining Saturday. Off and on. Once a little bit hard. We even took a nap in the rain which was nice. After the rain we inspected the tent and only a tiny amount of leaking in a corner or two, so we mopped it up and left the towels to soak up any more potential water.

Saturday night in the middle of the night the heavens opened up wide! At first it was a spectacular show of thunder and lightening with the rain. The rain got harder and harder. It was so loud in that tent that we had to shout at each other to be heard. Greg was a foot away from Stephanie's face and shouting to be heard.

It was pretty exciting. It was a little bit scary.

And then.

It started hailing.

It got louder. It got a whole lot scarier.

Greg and I hurriedly got fully dressed because we thought we all might have to make a run for the camper. Things finally calmed down and we realized we wouldn't have to make a run for it after all. When we peeked out of the tent, the ground was covered in white.

The next day we found that the tent leaked quite a bit more than our middle of the night assessment. We were super glad for the tarp that was draped across the top.

We had a hot mess of wet stuff on our hands!

I informed Greg that it was fun and all, but no more rainy camping.

   

catching up

Hello! Remember me? Once again, this holding down a job thing seems to be kicking my butt! But I'm here now, with pictures of the adorable babies. Be glad.

Because of scheduling issues, Greg was not able to take all the girls to the first day of school.  Only one other time did this unfortunate event happen. All the other years, we've been lucky enough to have him off work on the first day of school.

No daddy on the first day of school means I'm in charge of the first day photos. Now I can take photos well enough, but that means I have to be extra organized and on time to have a moment to do that. Those of you who know me well, really well (or read well since I've told you before), know that being early is not my strong suit. Merely being on time is a huge challenge.

I think we did pretty well. Stephanie was not tardy the first day. Whew! For the record, she was only tardy twice last year. Uh, and once already this year. Yikes! I better clean up my act.

Stephanie and Heather were so excited to go back to school this year! Stephanie is in 7th grade and Heather is in 4th grade. Like every mom says, where has the time gone? Just look at them, all sassy and cute!

Stephanie is returning to the magnet school this year, which means uniforms for her. Well, uniform in a loose sense of the word. They actually call it student standard attire. A little more flexible. She chose a more casual outfit for the first day this year.

Stephanie had open house this past week. I love going to middle school open house. We go through her school day, going to each class. I'm liking all of her teachers so far. She is going to be starting work on a big semester project ~ a living museum. The kids will research someone from history, write a speech, then become that person for the living museum. I'm looking forward to that night.

Heather is still at school with me. When people find out that I've moved back to 4th grade, they ask if she will be in my class. Nope. She needs to be with other teachers during the day. We have mommy-school all the time. She needs another face during the day. Plus she absolutely adores her teacher & can't wait until she comes back from maternity leave.

Heather declared that she will be wearing more skirts and dresses this year. So far, she's kept to her pledge. I still have a few skirts to make that I promised her.

So far we are surviving this year. We are getting used to getting up at the crack of dawn, homework, lesson plans, more homework (Stephanie has lots), trying to go to bed early, grading papers, & getting presentably dressed every day again.

Just for fun, let's take a look back to the first day of school last year.