Is it really worth it?

Aaron brought this to my attention. I am so glad that I only bought a gallon of milk on Friday...only because we HAD to. These stories just make me sick.

Thanksgiving 2008

Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours


Went to our In laws for Breakfast. Monkey bread, stuffed french toast, sausage casserole and Amish oatmeal were the foods of choice. Great Grandma and Grandpa McCullough were there too. Twas Divine. (picture coming from My brother in law soon)

I made these Pilgrim hats for the kids. They are marshmallows dipped in chocolate and placed on top of a cookie. They were not so fun to make, but they sure were cute.


We headed off to a friend's house for dinner. MMMMMM....good. Great friends and a great time. Everything you can think of was on the menu. My dear friend Michelle makes everything from scratch. She is one of "those" people that when you ask for the recipe, she gives you a recipe that doesn't taste like the one she prepared. (I know she reads this blog...this has been an ongoing joke for years). I was in charge of sweet potatoes. I made the kind my mom made every year...and they turned out! Usually, they don't. Here are the sweet potatoes bubbling in the pan. You can almost smell them through the computer huh?

My mom use to jokingly say that if we got the sauce on our hands, it felt like hot melt glue. You know what I am talking about if you have ever had Hot melt glue from a glue gun on your fingers. Seriously, this sugar sauce gets so hot, she wasn't lying. Anyway, the dinner was Double the Divine. We had a fabulous time with them and their friends. Thanks Michelle and Duane!

Here are some pics from the rest of the day...
Our Thankful tree ended today. Everyday, the boys would get up and write what they were thankful for on a leaf. We forgot some mornings. I got the idea from my sister in law Jen. Thanks Jen!


Elliott's cute outfit and turkey smile...


The Yoders...

What our family would look like if we were pilgrims and Indians. This totally was going to be our family picture until Michelle snapped one for us. The first attempt to snap a family picture was in the Morning at my In Laws. Owen wasn't so cooperative and we didn't even get one shot.

The grub.

The gang minus me...again.

The kids...

common picture in our house lately...

What the picture doesn't show is the loud humming noise the vacuum cleaner is making. Elliott loves "white noise". This is the only way I can get things done around here.

Thanksgiving dinner ideas.

A traditional Thanksgiving dinner would look something like this...
Turkey
Gravy
Stuffing
Cranberry Sauce
Sweet Potatoes and/or
Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin pie
bread/rolls
Green bean casserole

Our Thanksgiving dinner looks like this...
Aaron's dinner includes:
Bread, Turkey, Mashed potatoes

Owen and Andrew's dinner includes:
Turkey only.

Judy's dinner:
Everything on the above list, plus a big dollup of Whipped cream on that pumpkin pie.

Thanksgiving isnt so fun when you have a household of picky eaters. Actually, everyday dinners arent so fun either. I watch these Thanksgiving cooking shows and dream that someday, my family's taste buds will be come more refined and that I will be able to make these dishes. Aaron has ventured into sweet potatoes, but the way mom made them, it takes so long and just isnt worth the trouble for only him and I to eat.

This year, we are going to a friends house for Thanksgiving. It should be fun and I am looking forward to feasting on the many things that I usually don't get to have. I am bringing my mom's recipe for Sweet potatoes because there are going to be more people there to spend the time on this dish.

I think I am going to start a tradition of Pizza on Thanksgiving. (not serious, but tempted). If we had Pizza, my family would actually enjoy a meal together.
Here are some pics of our first Thanksgiving as a family. May I add, most things I made that year went unsampled and not eaten. Not a happy mommy afterward. I am not trying to preach off my soap box or anything, but I am a pretty decent cook. If they only knew how much worse it could be. My kids usually dont give things a chance. Wouldn't it be funny to see a huge pizza box on top of a nicely decorated table as this is?

Just cant avoid it any longer.

About 2 weeks before Halloween, I was walking through Target and noticed that they were starting to display Christmas things. Are you kidding me? Even Owen got a little flustered and put his hands on his head and said "People, it's not Christmas yet." Seriously, the hype of the season comes a little earlier every year. By the time the holiday season actually comes along, I am tired of it and all of the Christmas ads and the way I feel sucked into buying, buying, buying.
Well, this week, it started to snow and Starbucks has their Christmas cups out. It feels like we are approaching a holiday season. So, I guess it means that I can no longer avoid holiday...especially since Starbucks says it's time.

Owen and Andrew have always wanted to make a Christmas list. I honestly am not a big Christmas list person. Christmas isn't about the things that "I" want, but in our family, we try (I say try) to help the kids understand that it is about giving to others and not thinking about ourselves. WELL, we went to Target today just to look around. I got a nice peppermint white chocolate mocha from Starbucks (in the Holiday cup) and we looked at things. Originally, we went to search for ideas for the Crawford gift exchange because I like to be prepared. We ended up in the toy isle somehow. The boys were careful not to say "I want this, I want that". Not because they didn't want it, but because they knew that if I started to hear that from their mouths, we would leave the store like I have done countless times before. I have to say, the trip was pleasant. It was nice to get ideas by what the boys were getting excited about.

When we got home, Owen made a list. Here it is. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I don't like lists because he was working so hard at his letters and sounding out the words.


Anyway, here is a YouTube video I found on another blog. I hope we can live by this principle this holiday season. Rather than spending so much on silly gifts, I would rather spend my time blessing others.

oh, I just can't stop...

taking pictures.

I have an addiction...

Someone needs to take me to a baby rehab center. I wasn't so addicted when he cried for 6 hours straight the other evening.

does anybody....

Have a simple cure/treatment for cold sores? My poor Andrew. He woke up with another one this morning. He just got rid of the huge one that he had (just look at his birthday picture below). I use to get these bad boys when I was little, but the only treatment then was a little Ambisol and chap stick. It was a family joke (and still is) that saying "cold sore, cold sore, cold sore" while waving your fingers in front of their faces would give them one. The weird thing is, someone would always get one. (A BIG SORRY to my family members for reading this post. You all will wake up with a big old cold sore tomorrow). Seriously, they will.

I just noticed that there is only 1 picture of the below pictures that he does not have a cold sore. Seriously, does anybody have any suggestions?

I have googles treatments, but I am looking for a tried and true solution. I am not willing to try cat feces or anything like that.

Dear Andrew...

Dear Andrew,
I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday. I couldn't wait for your arrival. I remember the nights that I would pray for a safe delivery, a healthy baby and for a son that seeped compassion. You were born on Election day...the year of the "questionable chads". Grandma Crawford thought your name should have been Chad. We obviously knew your name should be Andrew...after Jesus's disciple Andrew. He was a great man. Mom and dad watched the election unfold in our room. We were tired of hearing on EVERY station about the drama. It didn't seem to bother you though. You were such a mild mannered little baby while in the hospital. You didn't cry, you didn't fuss. You just slept.... THEN YOU CAME HOME! You cried, you fussed and you didn't sleep. Your daddy and I had all of these child care books out on the nursery floor trying to figure out what was wrong with you. We took you to the Pediatrician the next day to find out that you just wanted more to eat. Nothing wrong, you just wanted more grub. As you got older, you became more and more fun to hang out with. I loved going through your many stages. It was always fun to see what you were going to be obsessed with next. You loved Elmo, Thomas the tank, and Buzz Light year (to the point you really thought you could fly to infinity and beyond). Now your days consist of trying for hours to complete an olley on your skateboard, playing and assembling your Lego's without wanting help and playing with your Pokemon cards. I love watching you grow up. You are learning things on your own and learning how to become a great young man. I am proud of you Andrew. I am proud that you think of others feelings and how to be a servant to them. You are becoming the young man that I have prayed that you would become. You are special to me and to our family. Love, Mom.

Andrew gets a trophy for perfect attendance
Below...Andrew as some super hero he made up... Andrew as some other character... For Andrew's 7th birthday party, he wanted kids to bring animal shelter items instead of Birthday presents. That following Monday, we delivered the items to the animal shelter.


Andrew had his 8th birthday party on Friday.

I haven't posted, because I was up in Michigan this weekend to see my sister and dad. Anyway, the party was simple and sweet. Andrew had a big celebration at the bowling alley last year, so this year he got the scaled down version of a party. Of course, we had such a difficult time with trying to pick who to invite. I felt bad because there are other boys in his class that he is pretty close to. We just couldn't do all of the kids he wanted to invite. At school, he had a little party where he brought cupcakes that were baked into ice cream cones. THE KIDS THOUGHT THESE WERE GREAT. My mom use to make these for me at my school parties. Hers were much more decorated than mine. She use to put a sour cherry candy on top....I couldn't find them. After the school party, the 3 boys he invited came home to play Lego's and to learn Pokemon. I guess that is the "IN" thing to do. It was really funny watching the one boy Isaac teach all of the other boys how to play. I am not kidding you when I say he explained it once like a 2 minute lecture) and all of the boys picked up on it. We had cake and Ice cream and pizza. We played a few games of Freeze dance (look at the video below...hilarious) and then the boys headed to the movies to watch the opening night of Madagascar. Mommy stayed home with Elliott. I missed all of the smelly boy fun.

This is just a funny video...

My boys at a halloween party with a classmate. I think there may be some kind of crush going on...but I'll let you decide.

First smile...

Today...

Tricks or Treats...

"Trick or Treat, smell my feet give me something good to eat." Yesterday the boys went trick or treating with their friends. Usually, we stick around our own neighborhood and trick or treat, but it seems like the older people get around here, the less spirited they are about this holiday. Last year, we stuck around in our neighborhood and every 4th house or so was passing out candy...and it usually was a tootsie roll. WELL, this year...the boys hit the jackpot (as Andrew said). First, we went over a classmates house for some pre-trick or treating fun. Then, we left for a short while and went to Andrew's friend Evan's neighborhood. NOW WE'RE TALKIN! The boy's bags were so heavy with candy, they had to get another bag when they got back to Evans...only to head out again. Some of you may be saying, "who needs that much candy?". I remember when I was little it wasn't really about how much I had, but it was the sport behind it and the challenge of seeing how much you can actually get. I didn't care how much they got because in a week, they will forget about their candy and it will all end up in the trash most likely.
Here are some pictures of the evening...






A picture of my mom and I when I was 7. She always made the Best costumes!


As a child, all of the grand kids would meet up at my mom and dads and we would have a fashion show of our costumes. Here is a Pre-fashion show picture of most of us.


Dorothy and the Scarecrow...our second Halloween together.