Thanksgiving '10

I bet none of you had Korean food at your Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday!

We did! 

There's a Korean family here in the training and we've really enjoyed getting to know their wonderful family.

They came over for Thanksgiving and Joy brought some Korean food! Delish!

My Aunt and Uncle also were here on Thursday.

So we had 6 adults and 7 children.

Fun times!

The kids table.

Eunoo

Taking a walk in the COLD after dinner.

Sweet Anna

My Aunt and Uncle with their two girls.

Elijah and Anna

The Junior Gills

"Ethan, give Anna a kiss."

"whoa there!" =)

It looks like they both enjoyed that! =)

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with your family and friends!

Enter to win a set of hand drawn Christmas cards!
http://geoffandmelissa.blogspot.com/2010/11/hand-drawn-christmas-card-giveaway.html

Hand Drawn Christmas Card Giveaway! (Closed)

Do you want to send out a beautiful and unique Christmas card this year? There's only 31 days until Christmas so it's not too early to think about cards! =)

I have the PERFECT card for you!

My super talented brother in law created these amazing cards that will be sure to catch peoples eye!

You can order a set for $7 on his blog Portraits by Andrew Topel. That includes shipping!

And you can WIN a set right here, right now! Andrew has offered to send one lucky reader a set of his hand drawn Christmas card! Thanks Andrew!

To Enter:

• Visit Andrew's blog and leave a comment. Then come back here and let me know you did.
• Or leave a comment here about your holiday plans.

For and extra 2 entries

• Order a set and leave me two separate comments. You can use the PayPal button here:

Giveaway ends... when i say it does! =) It'll be soon so be sure to get your name in the hat right away!

Happy Thanksgiving you all!

My Minis

Good morning.

I thought I'd take you along with me to childcare this morning! I work in Ethan's class two days a week and Elijah's class two days a week. Today we're in Ethan's Minis.

We have to bundle up more these days as the weather is getting colder.

I love the short walk over to work in the morning.

Everything looks beautiful and fresh with the morning sunlight streaming down.

Welcome to Minis!

Free play time.
There are books and toys to play with as everyone is getting dropped off.

If every one comes there's 11 kids Ethan's age and younger.

 Ethan loves to climb on the bench and look out the window.

It's not long before he's joined at the window by a few friends.

Sara reading. We read a lot through out the morning. 

These kids love books! And they all have a favorite!

Ethan has a ton of energy and just bounces around from one thing to the next.

Some times we try to color with the kids. They are still at the "let's eat the crayons!" stage though so that's not always a success.

 My favorite time of the day... playing outside!

Then it's back inside for the kids favorite time.... snack!

After snack we watch a movie. This only keeps their attention for maybe 10 minuets before they are running around again.

That's it! Our day in Minis!

Classic banana bread with a twist

Our oldest son has turned into quite the picky eater. It drives me crazy and makes most meal times a battle. Not fun. So when a friend brought over these muffins last week made with bananas, carrots, and zucchini and Elijah scarfed up three of them I was kind of surprised... and thrilled!

Rachel kindly gave me the recipe and now I'm enjoying one with my coffee.

Banana Zucchini Carrot Bread/Muffins

3 cups flour (I use 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat)
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup shredded zucchini1 cup shredded carrots1/2 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

 Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, vanilla, zucchini, carrots, banana, and raisins and walnuts (if using). Add to dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Spoon into greased muffin tins and bake at 350 degrees for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.


Makes 2 dozen. Freezes well and makes a tasty breakfast or snack!

What is a Trader?

A Trader is a new kind of missionary, not defined by geography, but be a resolve to:

1. Choose Daily

2. Hate Injustice

3. Work as Worship

4. Act Swiftly

Afternoon Sunshine

Calanders, mugs, notebooks...

Oh how I love creating photo gifts! There's something special about having caught a special moment in time and keeping it around to remember.

With Christmas coming up it's time to start thinking about Christmas cards! I've been browsing around Shutterflys card section and I like that Shutterfly has cards  that still say Merry Christmas! I've noticed it getting harder to find that!

I ♥ black and white photos so this collage caught my eye.

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Shutterfly makes it easy to upload and create your photo books. I've made three photo books in the past and love the 8x8 size.

If I was going to splurge I'd turn my picture into art and order a canvas wall hanging. I think they look great!

You can find some deals on the special offers page. Like free shipping on orders of 30+ with code SHIP30.

Or get a free card...

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Bloggers get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly! Find out more here.

Wordless Wednesday

Choices

Why do we feel the need to control everything, even the time!? I don't believe time is something we should mess with. I'm sure the ones who came up with daylight savings time didn't have small children at home. I'm sure they didn't think a mere hour would really mess things up that much. Well, in my house it sure can! When you have two little boys who have already been waking up earlier than normal and you throw in a time change it really does mess things up!

While trying to clean up the house this morning it seemed like every time i turned around the boys were either fighting with each other or trailing behind me creating an even bigger mess than the one i was trying to clean up!

Take this for example...

Ethan, with his black eye and fat lip from his falls last week, and a box of cereal. Cereal that is dumped all over the counter, chair, floor and even caught in his rolled up pajama bottoms.

Then I looked at the clock...

... and it was only 9am! Ahhhh!

I was getting frustrated. I wasn't getting done what I thougth I had to get done. Basicly things weren't going my way. Harsh, but true.

So that's when I realized i needed to rearrange my priorities. Who was more important anyway? My kitchen floor or my children? 

Yea, tough choice. =)

So we got our shoes on and went out side to play and enjoy the beautiful morning.

Yea, good choice...

Take time for the important things in your life today.