Day 232 - November 19th

Our church is putting together shoebox gifts for kids this year for Christmas that might not have anything to open Christmas morning. I thought it would be great for our family to do one. I went to the store and got lots of fun little items, but I couldn't decide on a boy or a girl, and rather to do a baby, toddler, or kid. So it figures, we have enough to fill 3 shoeboxes. Ginger and I are going to wrap the boxes up and pack each one carefully this weekend. I'm looking really forward to this. I'm so glad that Ginger is so into giving rather than getting. Don't get me wrong, she loves receiving gifts, but we make it our own little "quiet game". We try and give more every year than we get. She gets so excited when we give someone more than they give us. I love that! It warms my heart!

Day 231 - November 18th

Another chess match night. This time between Ginger and Daddy (Russell). It was another heated match with intense concentration. She is learning this thing fast! This is one of Russell's favorite games, and yet, she still beat him. I'm sure his skills will improve shortly and he will win one or two games soon. I love that they have this together. They keep thinking they want to play me. But I would just cream both of them with my eyes shut and one hand behind my back. So I have no interest in playing either of them. It's too fun to watch them...actually listen to them. It's amazing how much I get done when they are so occupied with chess.

Day 230 - November 17th

And the birthday celebration continues! Tonight Papa (my dad) and Phyllis took us out to dinner for Ginger's birthday. This girl is a steak girl and she was excited to use her new "steak teeth" (K-9s). She chose Tokyo Gardens...this is my kind of girl! She was amazed as usual with the show we got while the chef cooked our meals on our table. She ate all of her steak, plus some of Russell's! Then she loved the sherbet and she ate it with chopsticks!

Last week my dad asked Ginger what she wanted for her birthday and she immediately said, "A flying donkey". Who knows how her little mind came up with that. She told him he needed to borrow her flying pony to go to outer space and catch a flying donkey for her. So among all the gifts they gave her tonight, in the bag was a stuffed donkey. She just thought that was the best ever. Better than the ipod, movie, and money for her savings account. She loved that silly donkey!

Day 229 - November 16th

ROAD TRIP!! I love these! Even if their little trips, like today's. I went to Bartlesville to visit Nana, Russell's mom. We had such a fun girl time lunch. We sat and talked and laughed for two hours. Then it was back on the road home. Just a simple little trip but it was oh so fun. I forgot to take a picture of us for my POTD so I took one of her after passing me on the highway. That's her, the little red sports car way up there! Hi Nana!!

Tonight was the usual BIG BANG night! Love these nights! Ginger challenged Chuck to a game of chess. It was very intense. Chuck is a master player, has been playing for years!! It was heated battle for quite sometime. So much so that Ginger ate dinner while playing. But in the end, Chuck lost. See how sad and exhausted he is from the match. Ginger won!! YAY!! And she's only been playing for a week! Chuck was so exhausted after the match that he slept! And not only that, he slept through Big Bang. We made sure he was alive. He was.

Day 228 - November 15th

We had a wonderfully nice lunch with Baga, my mom for Ginger's birthday. Mom gave her a beautiful Princess Bible that she illustrated. Mom is a very talented artist and she drew pictures for the stories in the Bible with colored pencils. Ginger loved it and went through it all day long asking us questions about the stories. Mom did a Bible for me and Joy too when we were little. It's a treasure. And isn't that the cutest little gift box you've ever seen? After awhile though, Ginger's partying from the day before caught up with her and she had to snuggle up with Daddy while we finished talking.

Day 227 - November 14th

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINGER!!


My baby girl is NINE years old today! In honor of Ginger's birthday, today will be in purple! What happened to the past 9 years? It seems like only a few years ago I was holding her for the first time...right after punching a nurse. I'm so reminescent on her birthday, admiring her and how far she has come. She's such a blessing and the greatest gift God has ever given me. I'm truly blessed and honored to be her mommy. Even though she won't understand this until she's a mommy, but she will always be my baby. And she'll hate to hear, as I did, until she's a mommy too.


This is what I woke up to this morning. A house full of girls at 7:15am hopped up on sugar! I made them get dressed and get their shoes on...we walked to the neighborhood park. I made them walk fast there and back. I wore them out! HA! And they thought it was just another fun activity for the party! We had a great day celebrating Ginger!

I love you so much Ginger! And you will always be my baby girl!

Day 226 - November 13th

Slumber Party day! Wow!! So many girls! So loud! Lots of giggling! And surprising to me, lots of talk about boogers, intestines, and toilets. I'm so happy! Ginger is normal! All girls this age talk about snot and toots!! The girls had a blast! Cooking their own dinner over the fire was a hit! We played games like Chubby Bunny (you read how to play that here) and Sleeping Beauty. Which turned into one girl "sleeping" on the floor while the others talked to her to try and get her to laugh. They weren't allowed to touch her. I had no idea that game was going to get so loud. They even coerced Russell into being Sleeping Beauty. Then we quieted down and made a craft project before turning on the Hannah Montana movie to sleep too. We made fleece blankets that we tied all around the edges, the girls loved it and they turned out really cute too! I thought that they would drift off to sleep during the movie, not so lucky on that one. I passed out before they did. Every time I thought they must be asleep, I would hear giggling. Too cute! It was a great party!

Day 225 - November 12th

Ginger's birthday slumber party is tomorrow night and we've decided to cook hot dogs on the fire pit, along with S'mores. So that means...backyard clean up time! I wouldn't dare tell anyone that I still have a few branches down from the big Ice Storm of '07, so I'm not going to say it here either. We cleaned out the fire pit, mowed, and gathered some old branches and twigs we found. Then of course we had to try out the fire pit too. It was fun and we are looking so forward to the party tomorrow!

Day 224 - November 11th

Another wonderful work day with the wonderful people I work with! This is David! We love to talk about Colorado, hunting, and guns! David is avid hunter, I love to shoot guns too, but only at paper targets. If you ever see David, ask him to show his pictures from Colorado. They're purdy!

Day 223 - November 10th

Another gourmet lunch with Joy today at her desk. She says she keeps toys at her desk to entertain Ginger when she's there, but as of today...I don't believe her. I think she keeps them to keep me entertained. I love her pooping toys! Today I felt the need to make a story with no words with her animals. What do you think this picture tells? Make sure to look at their faces.

Day 222 - November 9th

Today I was thinking... contrary to popular belief, I do that a lot. I love to write, I love to take photos, and I wonder if I can do that together? I hopped online and guess what I found? Examiner.com. It's a fun community site you can get help, info, to-do's, and all sorts of useful, and useless, knowledge. I applied to be a writer and I was accepted! It's so fun! I make pennies a day, but I love to write and tell people what I think. So this is right up my alley. Have a look-see and subscribe to my articles!!

Click here to see me!

Day 221 - November 8th

Hotdog it's Sunday mornin' again! Open up those church doors I wanna come in!! I remember my Daddy singing that every Sunday morning, now Ginger sings it too! Take a look at this picture. This is Don. Tiffany's husband. I snapped this while we were sitting in the lobby and I thought this was a pretty good picture of him. Tiffany thought so too! What a cute little family they are! I introduced Tiffany to Don many many years ago. He used to work for my dad and Tiffany sent him a Christmas bouquet from a secret-admirer. The rest is history.

Day 220 - November 7th

Tonight was our niece's, Shelby's, Sweet 16 party. It was a roller skating party and it was loud and fun! We took Aubrey and Lauryn with us and Ginger was in high-heaven with these girls. But then...Ginger wanted to skate. It was her first time and Russ got his work out holding her up all around the rink. Then Uncle Jimmy stepped in to lend a hand as well. It was 2 straight hours of that girl trying to skate. She really did a great job and was picking up on it quick, but she was not happy because she wasn't skating fast, or backwards, or jumping. She wants to do it all, and she wants to do it now.

Day 219 - November 6th

It's Friday, but I'm the couch and not feeling well at all. I'm exhausted and just hurt everywhere. But that didn't stop Ginger from the excitement of her first meeting with the Chess Club today! She just had to teach me chess. I've never played before and had no clue what all these pieces did. Well she does, she picked up on it and super duper fast! I should be able to be at her level in a few months.

Day 218 - November 5th

Our little artist loves her Bend-a-Roos. They are sticky stiff string thingys that she has decorated her room with, parts of the hall, and even our room. She made this little treasure and when I came into her room and looked at it I said, "What a perfect little raindrop! I love it!" She replied without missing a beat, "A raindrop...or snot, whatever you want it to be." This girl cracks me up!

Day 217 - November 4th

The countdown is on!! 10 days until Ginger's birthday! The ideas are flying around like crazy and have been now for several months. But now it's crunch time. We've decided to have a slumber party and cook S'mores out on the firepit. It'll be the first slumber party for her birthday and I'm not sure what to expect. I know it'll fun but I wonder if any kids will come besides her cousins? I guess we'll find out. The guest list keeps growing even past the point of "No More". But somehow just one more gets added every time we talk about it. This so far is her list that she's made for her party. She's a list girl. She's an organizer and a planner. I love it! We are so much alike!!

Day 216 - November 3rd

Ginger loves school and her teacher is an excellent teacher with some fantastic hands-on learning that really sinks in for Ginger. This week they've had "Detective Week" she's been sneaking around the house for a week testing out her new skills. Today she has to draw a map of her room, a bird's eye view of her room. I told her I would help her, but she did great by thinking of the easiest way to do that all on her own. I'm not sure I would have thought about it. She climbed up on her top bunk and looked down. She drew what she saw. She's pure genious.

Day 215 - November 2nd

Monday night! That can only mean one thing! Big Bang night!! And we got a special treat tonight too! Chuck made his famous meatloaf for us! Oh so yummy! Feel free to come cook for us anytime you want Chuck! Everyone was stuffed on yummy meatloaf and mashed potatoes just in time for Big Bang to come on. And later?... I inherited my kitchen back... as is.

Day 214 - November 1st

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TIFFANY!!

It's my favorite day of the year! Up until now, the cooler temperatures have been surrounded by themes of Halloween. But something wonderful happens on November 1st. All at once, everyone switches over to a warmer, gentler, and peaceful Holiday tone. Thanksgiving is month, followed immediately by Black Friday, with Christmas and New Years right around the corner. I love this whole season and it's here!! Already? So soon?

Today Chuck joined us for lunch at Wendy's while Ginger spent some time with her dad. We find it easy to keep ourselves entertained with our iPhones. We played some Monopoly and I'm looking forward to finishing that game.

Day 213 - October 31st

Happy Halloween! It was pretty much a lazy day for all of us. That was until we realized we were supposed to be somewhere in 15 minutes and we weren't even dressed yet. We quickly butterflied our girl up and Russ and I threw together a scare-crow type of outfit, but it looked more like we has just been rolling around in the hay. We went to the church carnival at my dad's church then did some trick-or-treating at neighborhood houses that we were familiar with...including Chuck's. :o) We felt it necessary to dress up Chuck in Ginger's outfit since he didn't have costume! And check out the spider on Chuck's porch light! This man has the coolest spiders show up on his porch. Better his house than mine. And here's a few pictures of me for your entertainment pleasure.