Time for refection on this week’s favorites…

1.  Hanna Andersson clothes for Izzy!  They are so soft and comfy and wash so well! I heart them.  Gram Paula just ordered a few more new outfits for Izzy’s Christmas! Ssshh don’t tell!

2. Cell Phones… and coke? but not together! I dropped my phone into my drink yesterday on my way to take Iz to school.  It buzzed loudly for the first few hours (I took the battery out)… and then finally started working although I still can’t use the buttons for texting or calling.  Goodnews/badnews: eligible for upgrade 11/20.

3. Antibiotics & after hour clinics!

I took Emelia to the doctor last night.  She has strep throat and infection in both ears.  She’s home today taking her medicine and resting.

4.  Cheese & Crackers!

It’s a meal, it’s a snack, it’s a cheese cracker.

5.  Amazon dot com!  I’m already getting my Christmas shopping started and I really do love shopping online!

If you have been thinking about making the switch to your own domain name and move away from other free services there are a lot of things to consider.  I know when I first switched over to my own domain I was lost and not sure what to do or which hosting service to choose.  It is pretty hard to make the switch when you decide to leave one of the free blogging hosts to have your own web site. When you are looking for website hosting services there are several things to consider like what features the web hosts offers. Then you want to consider the price and how many domains that will include. Sometimes you will get yahoo or google credit with your account. You will probably want to read the reviews before actually choosing a service to use.  Trying to identify a web host can be a very daunting task especially when there are so many available nowadays and all of them promise one thing or another because looking for and buying a reliable web hosting solution is an imperative decision.  Compare and choose the best for you! I was able to find a good one that has been very reasonably priced and fairly easy to use most of the time.

Emelia came home from school early today.  She called from school because she had a temperature.  She ended up sleeping almost all day.  I had a weird piercing sinus headache and Izzy didn’t seem like herself either.

Amanda is all signed up and scheduled to take her ACT in December.  She was very sick the day she was supposed to take it.  She has decided to apply to OU and is planning to room with her friend from school.  I like this friend and they are both very studious so I think it’s a good plan.  Senior year is crazy!  Yearbook $80.  Each ACT pop is over $50.  Cap and Gown $200.  Senior pics $100 so far.  College Apps. $40 and up.  It’s something every few days!  Better get started on a post for promotional pens.

We had a meeting last night about our monthly “for ladies only” service.  This month we’re giving away turkeys to single moms.  So we discussed collecting and distrubuting the turkeys.  We serve dinner to any ladies (and their kids) who attend the service.  I look forward to it every month.  Bailey is going to help collect turkeys and then carry them to cars for the ladies.

I’ve been really touched by BigMama’s posts from Dominican Republic.  She is with the Compassion team.

I’ve picked a little six year old girl from Haiti to sponsor.

It is seriously raining like crazy tonight!  Even some hail.  Great sleeping weather.

Good night…

We got the new AFO’s yesterday.  Izzy is not thrilled about them.  At all.  I am glad we got the swash and had a week to see that she is comfortable in it before adding the new foot splints.  I may have thought it was the swash or the combo if I hadn’t seen for myself that she was okay with the swash all week.  She has worn it almost all the time day and night.  It adds a little weight to her, but not too much.  We are working on getting used to the foot splints.  They have springs on the sides that give a constant tension to her feet.  I have been taking them off when she starts really acting uncomfortable and then let her feet rest and put them right back on.  I have been explaining to her that they will help her feet and that we have to put them on.  It really helps to explain things to her and talk about it.  She is a trooper. Camilla (Izzy’s PT from school) met us in Norman for the fitting.  The orthotist that she had originally suggested we see was not in.  He was ill and I was thankful he kept his germs home!  The lady we did see was very nice and helpful.  We have plans to fit Izzy in a soft body cast next appointment that will give her more trunk stability when she is in the kid walk (which should be coming in the next month!).  I am praying that she will tolerate the foot splints so they can do their job and get her feet back in the right position so that standing is comfortable for her.  We were very thankful to have Camilla with us.  She is a blessing.

I got a really fun surprise in the mail from Matt’s mom Paula!  It wasn’t a complete surprise because she asked me if I had anything like it before she ordered it, but as crazy as life is I almost forgot so I was surprised when it arrived!  It is so cute!

Well… it’s finally here.  Election Day!

Matt and Amanda (she is now 18!) went to vote early this morning and were surprised to find a line at the voting place.  I don’t think we’ve ever seen a line there, but they were home in 30 minutes… so not too bad.  I plan to go after I take Isabelle to school this afternoon.  I have a turkey breast in the crockpot for dinner tonight, per Matt’s request.  He is off work tomorrow so I guess he wanted to enjoy turkey leftovers.   I have been food blessed this week   Saturday morning mom called to tell me she had made a pan of cinnamon rolls for me… They were delicious!  Then last night my brother Mike brought me a pecan pie that he made.  Hello breakfast!  It was really good!  He makes the best pecan pies.  Now I need to do a post for a colon cleanser.

I joined in on the Giving Thanks Challenge and will list something I’m thankful for everyday this month.

Busy weekend!  Friday night was trunks of fun at church… and then Saturday I had a surprise visitor!  Julie stopped by to bring my Christmas present from last year!  We chatted for a while and then I took Emelia to see a movie.  She doesn’t enjoy reading.  Matt and I both love to read.  So… I told her if she read “secret life of bees,” I would take her to the movie.  She finished it in time to log in her 300 pages for the month at school and in time to see the movie.  It was pretty good, but she noticed every word that wasn’t exactly like the book.  So then last night I turned in to mean mom and made the kids all clean so we could get the house nice and clean quickly.  They’ll get over it. I was thrilled to set my clock back and get an extra hour of sleep.

We got up early and enjoyed extra time before church.  Well… we enjoyed it too much and were late for class thinking we had so much time!  Maybe I should check out the new Oceanus watches. After church we went with the youth group to eat pizza.  It was so crowded!  We usually eat at home Sundays!  Now I remember why.  But it was fun and yummy too.  We came home and had a nice short nap and then I made a double batch of corn casserole for our thanksgiving meal at church tonight.  I heart corn casserole.  It was all eaten.  I made a separate batch and took it to my SIL Terri.  It’s one of her favorites.  That and spinach dip.  It was fun having turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes for dinner even though I was still stuffed from lunch.

Matt is off one day this week and has requested that I made a turkey.  He loves turkey and leftover turkey.  I forgot to buy one so I hope I can get one and get it thawed out in one day.  Yikes.

Tomorrow I’m planning to make tacos and serve them with veggies.

Tuesday I’ll cook a turkey with all the extra stuff…

Wednesday will be leftovers.

Thursday I want to try this soup recipe from another annie blogger I found  …

ELTON JOHN SOUP

1 medium onion, chopped
1 TBS. garlic, chopped
4-6 oz. Black Forest (or other deli) ham, chopped (about 1/3 pound)
2 TBS. flour
1 can Rotel tomatoes (original or mild) [I use mild because I am a wimp.]
2 cans black-eyed peas (Bush’s)
1 can chicken broth

Saute onion and garlic in olive oil.  Stir in flour when sautéed.  Coat onion and garlic with the flour.
Add Rotel tomatoes and about ½ can of chicken broth.
Add ham.  Stir and reduce heat.
Process one can of peas in blender or food processor until creamy.  Add to mixture.
Add remaining can of whole peas.
Stir and simmer about 20 minutes.  Add remaining chicken broth as needed for desired soup thickness.
Serve over a scoop of cooked rice.  Garnish with a dollop of sour cream and chopped green onions.  Serve with corn bread.

Friday we’ll have pizza.

I can hardly believe Christmas is so close! I found it disturbing that the stores were playing Christmas music on Halloween. But, I guess tis the season and all that. I do love Christmas, don’t get me wrong. I just love it after Thanksgiving.  I love finding the perfect card to send out and love personalized cards even more. VistaPrint has hundreds of Christmas card and holiday card design templates to help get you started. Choose a holiday card design template and then go to the online greeting design studio. You can even customize your Christmas cards with text and upload your logo or graphics. VistaPrint also offers over 70,000 free stock images to help you create your custom holiday cards. If you already have your Christmas cards designed, you can simply upload your file for them to print!  I like to take a bunch of digital pictures of the kids together and then find the one that is best to put on our Christmas card.  I’ve noticed that a lot of times the first one turns out to be the best.  I like taking them at home because they seem more relaxed. Custom Holiday Cards are just fun to send out and fun to get in the mail! How soon do you send out your Christmas cards? I usually wait until almost the last minute, but hopefully this year I’ll get them out early!

Izzy spent the day as little red riding hood.

Emelia spent the evening at trunks of fun (at church) passing out candy to kiddies…

I was a prom queen… or runner up ??? and here I am with my friend <pirate> Ronna.

Me, Amanda aka Marie Antoinette, (girl from church teasing Bailey) and Bailey who is dressed as himself.

Amanda and Lorenzo.  He really needs to cheer up.

(her hair took forever btw)

The little pirate girl… emelia.

Amanda as Marie Antoinette…

   If you have  a Saab or Volvo and are looking for Saab Parts or Volvo parts, Swedish Parts Network is your home for finding the selection of parts or accessories you need.  They sell them at the lowest prices guaranteed and also with free shipping.  You know you are getting the best service, best selection and lowest prices.

Since today is Halloween… here are my fave 5 halloween things!

1. amanda’s pumpkin (love the fleur de lis!)

2. cute costumes! (these are from last year!)

3.  CANDY!!!

4.  trunk or treat-ing!

5.   school parties!

Visit Susanne to share your fave5!

Have you heard about Zenni Optical? You may have seen positive reports about them on Fox News or maybe heard about them on the radio. You can read a really funny story here about a daughter who chose the inexpensive zenni glasses over the more expensive ones. They sell stylish prescription eyeglasses online starting at only $8. They have a huge selection of frames with single vision lens, sunsensor (potochromic) lens, tinted sunglasses lens, bifocal lens, and progressive lens. How do they sell glasses at such a low price? They are able to do it because they make their own frames and sell them directly to the customer with no middlemen and almost no advertising. They have just gotten in new frames so if you need glasses go check out the selection they are offering.  I don’t wear glasses… yet, but I think there are some really cute styles available.  I helped my friend Laura pick out some trendy frames a while back.  She looks so cute and trendy in her frames and gets tons of compliments.  I have noticed that a new pair of glasses can really update your look. This cute pair is only $19.00!