S Club Mama

Twenty-two days of thankfulness. Not enough. Twenty-four hours of day of thanks giving. Not enough. Daily minutes in repentant prayer. Not enough. Moments (even years) of good works. Not enough. Countless hours of striving. Not enough. Not enough. One God. One Trinity. Enough. One and Only Son. Enough. One cross (not any old cross but His). Enough. Hours of torture. Enough. Countless drops of blood, sweat, and tears. Enough. One final breath. Enough. Three days, then risen. Enough. One gift. Enough. One life. One eternity. Are you enough alone? No. But, believe, and He is. Enough. Happy Thanksgiving. May you count your blessings one by one. May you thank Him for those blessings, one by one. May you remember the one blessing that is enough.

pumpkin for our dinner with Anthony's aunt & uncle an apple our dinner with Anthony's aunt & uncle Angus Black Chess Pie just because two apples for Thanksgiving - crumb & lattice triple layer chocolate pumpkin for Thanksgiving oatmeal raisin for Thanksgiving mini pumpkins because I had leftover stuff the only one I missed a picture of was my pumpkin but it looked like a pumpkin pie. I got to try each of these except the triple layer chocolate pumpkin (the 3rd layer is that white sweetened sour cream - really good). I'll just have to make it again (and eat it myself bc Big A wasn't so fond). I spent about 8 hours on my feet the Friday after Thanksgiving making pies. I learned a good lesson - wear shoes. My feet hurt terribly for a few days afterward. But I enjoyed every second of pie-baking. I learned I don't like pre-baked crusts (or at least need pointers on it). I learned to read the whole recipe first and get all of...

I attended a pie-making class at our church recently and since then I'm a pie-baking expert. Ok, expert may be too strong of a word...but I love to do it! I've made an apricot pie (at the class...and I didn't really make the stuff just put it together but it was delicious), 2 apples, and a pumpkin. Today I made an Angus Barn Chocolate Chess Pie - I'm beginning to be daring. I've found this book at the library, "Pie" by Ken Haedrich. I'm hoping for (but not holding my breath for) this book for Christmas. I wanted to share with you the pie I made today. Basic Flaky Pie Pastry (single crust) 1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour 1 T sugar 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 c. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4 inch pieces 1/4 c. cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces 1/4 c. cold water To make by hand: Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Toss well, by hand, to mix. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and toss to mix. Using a pastry blender (which...

Moose's class had a Thanksgiving Feast on Monday. It was more than I expected. For Halloween and last year's Valentine's parties we had snacks but this truly was a feast. Turkey, mashed potatoes (with gravy), buttery corn, buttered rolls, and pumpkin pie! Yum. Before feasting we read a book about a moose family (how appropriate for our Moose) who invited a turkey to Thanksgiving not as Thanksgiving dinner. Very cute. Then our feast, which was good! Squirt didn't eat his corn and Moose didn't eat his turkey - this mama was happy to eat the rest of theirs. Then we did the Turkey Trot (not a 5K, although I wouldn't have minded) - a dance. I'm kind of sad. Moose will be moving to the afternoon class next semester. He has started to not take naps during the day and his teacher had asked me awhile ago if we wanted to try the afternoon class. It's a smaller class, so a lot less chaos, and she thinks he'll thrive there. But I have quite a few friends i...

AND to my Great-Grandma Maxine!

A pavilion mall across town had a Christmas tree lighting festivities on Saturday, so we thought we'd stop by and take the boys to see Santa. We got there and the parking lot was FULL. We found a spot fairly easily and went "inside" to the center pavilion. There were so many people and kids and lots of talking, you could hardly hear what was being said. And I of course, being of my small height, couldn't see a thing except the tip of Santa's hat. It was boring, I'm not gonna lie. Then I saw a sign "Santa's Workshop" (or something to that extent) with an arrow. I suggested we see what was there. It was a small line. We only waited maybe 45 minutes to see Santa (after his tree lighting stuff). Big A had to walk with Moose for awhile and change his diaper (wouldn't want to leak on Santa's lap). I held a sleeping Squirt and talked to another mom in line (whose son was a chunky monkey! but so adorable). Big A took Moose up to see Rudolph and F...