Noah's 1st Basketball Game

So, today is November 30th, that means that I have made it.....I have blogged every single day in November. If I could stick to other things as well as I have this, I would be doing good! LOL

Tonight was Noah's 1st Basketball Game. His team is the Tigers and the won! The final score was 22 to 8. We have a few boys on the team that are really good! Noah doesn't really get into the game....kinda in his own world really, but he has so much fun....doesn't care at all how he plays, so that is good!

The girls behaved really well tonight....much better than some of the other kids around us that drove me crazy!!

one more tree.....

I felt bad for leaving this tree out of my post yesterday since Noah was so sweet to set it up for us! So, this is the one the girls had last year, that is now in our bedroom. I think he put about 3 ornaments on it that he got off his tree.

I thought I would try one more time to get a pic of our stockings and tree.
Man, you can really tell how crooked the star in in the picture. Can you tell the kids hung most of the ornaments?

Ornaments...

My tree is decorated in snowmen. I love snowmen. All of my x-mas decorations pretty much are snowmen. I have just collected them over the years. Our first year of marriage I borrowed a mini tree from my mom. The next year I bought a tree, but could barely afford any ornaments. Over the years I have collected just a few each year....marked down after Christmas. I guess it was the 3rd year that I started the snowman theme.

I know without a doubt this ornament is the most expensive one on my tree. I got this as a gift from Ms. Wagnon when I worked at Wagnon Place. It came from Massey's and it still had the tag on it! But....I love this one. It is so cute! I know the year I got I was scared to put it on my tree....I put it at the very top to keep it from getting broken.

When I look at this ornament....I remember the hours of overtime our department put in decorating that place. Have you ever been to Wagnon Place Nursing home during Christmas time...or drove by it on the highway and seen the gigantic tree in the wondow and all the lights outside?? Well, the social/activity department are the ones that make all that happen. I think there around 9 trees that she puts up. Big elaborate trees. I doubt the residents really care for as much decorations that go up....but it really does all look good. I know the residents did enjoy watching us put it all up, and enjoyed picking on us and making fun of the trees with the big decorations too.

A new place to clean in the bathroom......

If you don't have boys, you may not can relate to this post, as I hope you husband has better aim by now......

I just finished cleaning my kids bathroom...the one that REEKED even after I scrubbed it yesterday. I had the bleach today...probably ruined my favorite shirt....but as I was mopping, I happened to notice the baseboard.......that is suppose to be white....was yellow. Gross, YUCK YUCK.....I just thought I would share.....I had never thought to look there....but yes, Noah has horrible aim, which I knew......and I think I have discovered the culprit of the smell. So, if you have boys, and you keep cleaning the bathroom, and it never seems to smell clean....here is a new place to scrub! Sorry if you are grossed out now!

Now you can look below to see all our lovely Christmas trees! LOL

My big long Christmas tree post!

So, here is the story of the Christmas trees in our house. I actually put the kid's trees up a couple of weeks ago b/c they kept asking, I just never got around to posting the pics.

Last year was the first time my kids had trees in their room. As you all know, I HATED living in that apartment, so to cheer my spirits, I got Noah a tree, and I found a small one for the girl's room. I actually got theirs first, and then the one I found for him ended up being a lot bigger than theirs. SO.....since the girls have their own room his year....I knew I needed another tree...(you know you can't put a tree up one year, and then not the next!) Well....I found these white ones at Dollar General that were only $7 each....the one they had last year was the price of both trees. I figured it was best that both girls had the same kind of tree. So, Noah snuck into our bedroom and surprised us by putting the girl's old tree in our bedroom. (I didn't take a pic of that one) Now, all 4 bedrooms have a Christmas tree....plus the big tree in the living room, and then our tree we made in the school room.

And not a stitch of Christmas decorations on the outside! We had a lot of stuff for outside, but I sold it all in a big garage sale before we left Warren, and I just can't spend the money to buy more this year. I do have a wreath and a wooden painted snowman that says The Draper's on it once I get around to putting it out there.

Leah's tree

Rachel's tree (she hung a dog leash from the top)



I think this picture is turned wrong.....or maybe I had my camera turned wierd....who knows!

Now, the day I decorated the big tree is a whole story in itself. I know that I rearranged our living room furniture at least 4 times trying to figure out where I wanted it. And.....once I got the tree totally decorated......I moved the tree across the room and rearranged the furniture once more! I was exhausted at the end of the day.....but that rearranging is so typical of me.
This pic is horrible b/c my little camera does not take good pics without the flash!
And here is our tree in the school room. I cut out the tree, and then they made all the decorations. I love the stockings that Noah decorated with everyone's name on them. I didn't even know he had done that until I took Clay in there to show him our tree!

Life would be much simpler if only....

We didn't have to eat!!!!! Have you ever thought about how much of our life is consumed by, and revolves around food??? Especially if you have kids. I spent some time thinking about this today as I was cleaning the kitchen and trying to cook supper. My kids eat all the time....so when I am not fixing food, I am cleaning up after them. I run the dish washer twice a day, on Thanksgiving, I did it 3 times. I am so thankful for my dishwasher! With us being home all day long, I really do fill like that is all I do. And they are constantly asking for food, complaining about food, digging for food....that part drives me crazy!

Now, I am not writing this post because I am saying I am the only one with this problem....I am not....I just want to hear some AMENS! Just think of all the hours of cleaning, and fixing we would save if....we just didn't have to eat!

Along the same lines as this kitchen, food, and cleaning.....today I started looking around at just how filthy our kitchen was. This kitchen has white cabinets, baseboards, doorways, and light colored floor. Today I told the kids to get come Q-tips, handed them a cup of water and a rag, and put them to work. For some odd reason, that actually thought this was fun! These cabinets had gunk in all the indensions, and they got it all cleaned up! Now, I just need to mop the floor, and our kitchen will be the cleanest it has been since we moved in!

Homeschooling is cool b/c......

You can go to school in your satin puppy dog pajamas!! (Don't look at all that mess behind them!)

Christmas Swap

Check out Rosjuane's Blog....she has a cool idea for a Christmas swap for all us blog readers! She has all the rule in her post, so just go over there and look. Sounds like fun!

Something very dear to my heart.....

I have put off talking about this for a long time, just b/c it is very hard for me to put into words my emotions about this. I have been so honored to have been able to assist in photographing children that are awaiting adoption through DHS. With Kelly's help, we photographed over 25 awesome kids.

November 16th they unveiled the Heart Gallery at the Clinton Library. This is an exhibit of photographs of these kids that will rotate throughout the state. Once the children are adopted, they will be able to have the photo and hang it up in their new home. Also, DHS's website has the boys, girls, and sibling groups on there, along with a description about them. Many of these photos haven't been updated in a long time, and in time, all of these new photos will be on the site, a few of them are on there now. I have looked at this website many times in the past and thought how cool it would be to get to photograph these kids. And it was cool....and also heartbreaking. Each day that I worked on this.....it totally consumed my mind, a heavy weight...those small moments with those kids etched into my heart forever.

There were many photographers that contributed to it, and it was such an impact to see so many beautiful photographs of these children. The bigger impact was the knowledge that all these kids want is a home....and the images in my head of the life these children have had. You could see small glimpses of it in their eyes, behind their smile....but these kids are just like our own kids.....they only want to be loved. My heart truly breaks for these kids. Truly.

I pray everynight for these kids....now I have met some of them, I know them by name....it is so hard to just sit back and ignore the call to help them. My kids have looked at the photos with me, I have told them about them, and they even include them in their prayers at night too.

The other night, even Rachel, on her own was praying and said, "God, please help the kids find new parents...." And then she stopped, looked at me so innocently and said, "Mom, could they just come live with us?" I just looked at her with tears in my eyes, and said, that would be nice, how would that work, how many could live with us? She proceded to come up with a plan for who would sleep where, how she would share her toys......how easy it sounded coming from her. And maybe it could be.....b/c I know the Lord would guide us all the way through.

If you have not heard of The Call, check out their site. And click on Interested in Foster Adoption. I met these kids on this video....and it truly pained me to watch the video on that page, but you should watch it. Once reading their philosophy on how God has CALLED us to take care of these kids......it is very hard to just sit back and say, "Oh well, I already have 3 kids....someone else can help..." This is so heavy on my heart.....

These are a few of the kids that we photographed

The walls were lined all the way around the room with photographs of "The Waiting" children

Cheeburger, Cheeburger

We discovered a new restaurant in Little Rock that the kids love! It is called Cheeburger, Cheeburger. It is Yummy! It is like a 50's style diner, similar to the Purple Cow, which we also love. BUT, here, they bring the kids meals in a keepsake car. Very cute! We had been saving our food money for the week thinking we were traveling to Louisiana for the holiday, and when we found out we weren't, Wednesday, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving our own way!

Rachel drew Patrick, and Leah drew Sponge Bob

Our Thanksgiving at home

We had a great day at home yesterday. This is the first time both of our lives that we just stayed home with our own family. It was so peaceful. We did miss our family. I called my sister and she was preparing food for her and her husband. We discussed what we were both cooking, and we both wanted some of the things the other was cooking. So, I wished that we could be getting together to share food! Anyway, I had fun cooking for my family yesterday...I have never done much cooking for Thanksgiving. I normally don't like to cook, but I had pride yesterday in cooking for my family that I am so Thankful for. It was also cool, I cooked favorites from both of our families. We had Maccaroni squares his mom makes, Broccoli Casserole my grandmother makes, a potato casserole his cousin makes, and blackeyed peas, cornbread, and meat. I was just glad it all turned out well, and no disasters in the kitchen that happen so frequently for me!

I started the day off with a big breakfast of homemade waffles, bacon, eggs, and toast.

Here is our Hen Clay cooked. It looked much better than it tasted!
Here is our food spread. It may not look so hot in the pic, but it was Yummy!
My crazy family trying to pose before we ate our meal.
Making covered pretzels with Daddy.
We took a quick trip downtown to go look at the Christopher Columbus boat The Nina. The kids were asking me to take their pic....they are little posers these days!

I was a bit disappointed that the boat was parked down there in all the riverboat congestion. You couldn't even tell much about it. It is the black boat. You can see though, it looks pretty small in comparison to all the other stuff down there. We didn't end up touring it b/c we got there about time for it to close.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We actually stayed home today, and the day is going great. We are just celebrating with the 5 of us. We have been playing games, watching t.v., and I have been COOKING!!!! I cooked breakfast about 11:00, and am working on our lunch/dinner, and I am excited! I am taking pictures along the way to show you later.

She's literally climbing the walls!

I know I should probaby make her stop before she gets hurt, but it is just so funny to me! She has tried to teach her bro and sis, but the can't do it. At least she went and got her big dog to break her fall! You should have seen her the day we were trying on shoes at Walmart and she was doing that to a poll in the middle of the aisle!

Thankful for Frosties!

Our cousin gave us some coupons for free frosties for Halloween. Yum Yum! I know she reads this blog, so I wanted to use this to say THANK YOU, Mrs. Becky C.....we are really enjoying them!!!!

All dressed up....

with nowhere to go.....luckily! I just love her fashion sense!

Me

These are pictures of me when I was the age my 3 kids are now.

4 yrs (1 day preschool)

5 yrs Kindergarten
6yrs 1st grade

1,2,and 3 flashback

These pics are a prime example of thinking pics are bad at the time, and then loving them later b/c of all the personality they show. This was our very first practice with a backdrop right before we opened our studio in Monticello. Clay set this up in our living room....the kids were sick, nobody had on clothes, or hair brushed...I didn't have on makeup. At the time....all I saw was how they weren't perfect to my standards. Now.....these are my favorite pictures ever. My babies were 1, 2, and 3 at the time. I think we actually did these in 2 session b/c Rachel's hair is really curly in some and her feet are wrinkled b/c she just got out of the bath. These are just a few of my favorites.