Jordan lost a...

Tooth...his FIRST one! Yep, he has now entered a new phase in life; a phase in which you believe in the tooth fairy, one in which you have a hole in your mouth and one in which you can brag about loosing something! Greg pulled it out (it was literally as loose as it could be) and Jordan was speechless about having a tooth in his hand! He was thrilled to put it under his pillow, he's seen the profit Jannah has made! He got his numbers a little confused and thought that you got $100 for your first tooth...I told him that was not so! But, he did get $10!!! We were all shocked about that...the tooth fairy realized a little too late that she didn't have any bills less than that and she was out of change. His gain, her loss. Actually, it turned out to be a gain for Christ! Here's the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say). Jordan's life group teacher has sort of adopted a family from our church that is serving as missionaries in Uganda (the Herron's); the class sends them cards and prays for them regularly. She decided to collect money for them and send it to them for Christmas, and encouraged the kids to do extra things around the house to earn money. Jordan has been doing that and we've been proud of his extra duties. On Sunday as we were talking about how much work he had done and how much he earned to give to the Herron's, Jannah told him he could give his money from the tooth fairy. In my heart, I thought, "no, that was a gift to Jordan, I really want him to have that money." Before I had a chance to speak, Jordan was thrilled and determined; he was ready to give that and the money he had earned while doing extra duties. He had such a great attitude about giving, and he wanted to give ALL he had. I was immediately touched by his spirit of love and kindness and selflessness. I was also sorry for my own selfish thoughts. Thank you Jordan, for reminding me of what is really important and thank you God, for a son like Jordan!

I am reminded of one thing and how timely it is during the holiday season, by that, I mean Thanksgiving and Christmas...we say Christmas around here!!!

So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 2 Corinthians 9:7

Here, There & Everywhere!

Here, there and everywhere is exactly where we've been :) October proved to be busy and full of fun times. I can NOT believe it's November and that Christmas is around the corner! Mama came out for a whole 10 days! The kiddos didn't know she was coming and they were p-r-e-t-t-y surprised when she and I picked them up from school. We had a whole lot of fun while she was here :) Come back soon, please?!?!

We enjoyed a day at Eckert's with Mama; that's our punkin' patch and place to go for fall festivities...love that place :)

We went to the zoo; by the way, Jordan said that Gamma looks most like an otter...haha!

Greg and I had a date night, free of charge-thanks to Gamma :)

Three days after Mama left, I left too! Greg was Mr. Mom for a whole 5 days!!! I headed out to Spokane Washington to visit my friend, Michele. We met 10 years ago when we were stationed at Fairchild AFB together; they still live there and it was my turn to go see her. She has come to me several times throughout the years; and finally, I had the opportunity to do a little traveling. I should give a huge "shout out" to my dearest for taking off work and taking care of our three J's! He did wonderful, as I knew he would! I really didn't know what to do with myself; it was a strange and unfamiliar thing to only take care of me. Don't worry, I did figure it out :) Michele took great care of me and we had so much fun together. Thank you Michele! We shopped, and ate, and shopped, and talked, and watched movies until the wee hours of the mornings, and talked and shopped and ate, and laughed and well, then we shopped some more. Are you getting the picture?!?!? It was grrreat!

We had Sunday brunch at Chaps (a restaraunt that was recently featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives). This might be my very newest fav place...it was very unique, shabby chic, eclectic and very good to the palette! You should give it a try, if you're in the Spokane area, anytime soon...

Lauren (Michele's daughter) and I at Chaps...miss you girls!

it was a Backyard Carnival, of sorts

He's 3 years old! I can NOT believe it! I wish I could freeze him in all of his cuteness, right this minute! Jamison had a big weekend as we celebrated, we all had fun making it special for him! We started out on Friday night, by having supper of his choice, PIZZA; it's too bad pizza is not super healthy, I think all of my kids would eat it for every meal! And yes, Jamison does have his VERY OWN soda! That may have very well been the highlight of his night, just kidding...the presents were! It was a perfect night, so we ate on the patio. After pizza and him opening gifts, we ended the night with smores by the fire pit~one of our favorite new past-times!

Thank you for the umbrella, Great Granny!

Thank you Grandma for all of the "little cars"

Thank you Gamma and Gampa for the Georgia Bulldogs jersey and helmet!

Now for his party on Saturday...We went with the carnival theme. We had hot dogs, nachos, apples with caramel and some veggies, too! We invited Jamison's friends and the families. There were plenty of activities for all of the kiddos! We had the bounce house, the trampoline for the older kids, the sand box, bubbles and the balloon man!

I do think Jordan liked the balloon man, better than anyone else!

Nothing like a cupcake and birthday gifts on the plate!

This Birthday Boy was completely exhausted after all of the festivities...so was his mama!

Navy Ball

I was Cinderella for the night! It was so much FUN, I'm ready to do it again :) Greg is an executive officer to a Navy Captain; he invited us to attend the Navy ball, and well, it was kinda hard to say no! We decided we would go and I quickly got excited about getting all fancied up. Jannah went with me to find a dress, she and I enjoyed our little girl's outing. Jannah and Jordan thought we looked so nice last night and couldn't believe how fancy I looked; they were so cute about it! They all wanted to touch my hair...I couldn't believe my hair either. It's been 13 years since I've had an updo! We went to the Ballpark Hilton in St. Louis for the occasion, it really was nice and the food was delicious! Al Hrabosky was the guest speaker, anyone know who he is? I do now! He pitched for the Cardinals, Braves and Dodgers; he was nicknamed the "Mad Hungarian". It was a great night and I think that I may have to talk the Lt. Col into taking me to another one...one of these days :)

Projects...everywhere!

Jannah had her first project: she had to make a house out of natural resources, the house could be located anywhere around the world. Jannah was sure from the get-go that she wanted to make an igloo. After a couple hours of work...what do we have? An igloo, that got a score of 100 % (she had to do a short presentation, too); we were so proud of her!

These pictures are just because she looked so cotton-pickin' cute! Thanks to me sweet friend, Michele for this darlin' outfit!

Jamison making a little somethin' out of moon sand; that stuff is pretty cool! It was a birthday present from one of his friends.

Jamison and his buddy, Catie Beth (or Catie Bef, as he calls her)

Jordan posing for his football picture, I tried to capture the shot...just not quite as good from the side!

Jordan had to decorate this pumpkin. Boy, did he have fun! He is a little creative and likes to paint and glue and all that stuff...do you see all of the materials (6 different ones) on here?

This kiddo loves puzzles...A LOT! He put this 100 piece together by himself; well, I did do about 6 pieces! He is good at them. We have decided to have some of his favorite ones framed and hang them in his room; I would say that puzzles are a passion for him- I think he gets that from his Grandma (Greg's mama).

That's all for now...Have a wonderful weekend :)

Two Cookin' Mamas

Bloggy friends, meet Christa! She is a sweet heart of a friend. We met at church, about 8 months ago; they are military, originally from Kansas. I love her and her precious family! She has 3 boys and one daughter they have adopted from Korea. She and I have started a blog devoted to cooking. You will find a little bit of everything on there. So, come on over and take a look!

www.twocookinmamas.blogspot.com

Jamison is 3!

He may be three, but he will NEVER be too big for my arms! Happy Birthday baby J!!!

The Winners are...and Birthday Highligts

Well, it's super early, ya'll. Tuesday morning...4:31 to be exact; and I am FINALLY posting the winners! Sorry to be later than I had expected, you know sometimes I just crash before I get to the computer when the kiddos are in bed. I suppose sleep is a little more important than blogging! I got up when Greg left this morning, so that I could have a couple hours of productivity :)

So, my kiddos were the trustworthy drawers for the give-away. I had a pretty high-tech system goin' on!

FRANNY R you are the winner of the necklace and mints and TONYA T you are the winner of the candle and bookmark!!! Email or FB me your addresses, pretty please?

My birthday was wonderfully spectacular! I felt very loved and celebrated. The day before my bd, the kiddos had been shopping with their Daddy. As soon as they got home, they had presents for me! They couldn't wait until my birthday...I loved their excitement. Each one had picked out a charm for my Pandora bracelet. Jannah picked out a music note because she plays piano, Jordan picked out a football because he plays, and Jamison picked out a coffee cup, because he always wishes my coffee was his! They have looked at my bracelet a gazillion times to see "their" charms..such cuteness!

My darlin' friend Christa hosted a lunch date. IT was simply delightful! The food and fellowship was just what this girl needed. Thank you Christa!

Greg had arranged for our sitter to come over and he took me out to eat...just HIM and ME!!! I love dates with him :) We went to a local steak house, Andrea's and then topped that off with Maggie Moo's ice cream! It was a wonderful day :)

These next photos were my one birthday request from the kiddos; I wanted a picture with each of them. Seems like I don't have enough of those! So, I realized as we are taking them that my hair is in a messy pony...it is what it is! I do have pictures, even if I don't think they are that good!