Carresa's Tuscan Soup

Tuscan Soup Recipe

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

Not from today, but just for fun!

What we did today:

We played a few rounds of Sequence Letters before breakfast.
We talked about going to the doughnut store for breakfast, but he decided he'd rather have leftover blueberry muffins from yesterday instead.
He asked to take a shower.  Simple enough.
We went to Chick-fil-A by his choice for lunch.  There were zero available tables, so we stood around for 5 minutes until one opened up.
Caleb and Sarah played on the play equipment for a while.
We took a trip to Michael's and picked up some supplies for Caleb's party on Saturday.  Just family and a few friends, this time.
We went to Wal-Mart for a few food items for the party on Saturday.
We got home 5 minutes before Caleb's exact birth-time.
He refused to take a nap (and actually wasn't grumpy for missing it).
We did a bunch of nothing until Jadie got home from work.  Late.
We enjoyed a family dinner at Texas Roadhouse.  I was surprised that Caleb was willing to ride the saddle and swing a napkin over his head as the waitstaff sang their version of Happy Birthday to him.
Jadie presented Caleb with new dinosaur Silly Bands.  They were a hit.
We drove to Katie's Custard for free frozen custard.
Just before bed, Caleb told me I looked like I had a baby in my tummy now.  I don't.
And then it was surely bedtime.

Ok...Christmas 2010

In pictures...with maybe a few comments...if you're lucky...

Me opening the first excessively taped gift from Jadie.  And it was...

A birthstone necklace with Sarah's August birthstone, the Peridot.  Just beautiful.

Maybe his frown was a premonition.  A few days later, Caleb broke this DVD trying to get it out of the case.

Sarah's keys.  Maybe she'll leave mine alone now...

Jadie's BB gun.  He can't find his Red Rider from when he was a kid and I thought I'd replace it.  But when I stood before the BB gun selection, I decided on the gun made for ages 16 and up instead of the original Red Rider for ages 10 and up.

And now he's afraid of these pajamas.  Just like everything else he decides to be afraid of.  Like the reindeer he built at Build-A-Bear last week.  Which, by the way he chose to put a vibrating heart into.  Now he's afraid of the heartbeat.  He thinks Rudolph is alive.

He's excited now...

And he's still excited as he opens the box...but then he drops from excited to satisfied when he discovers that there's nothing buried under the socks.  I'm all about necessity, honey.  

Something a little more "unnecessary."  New basketball shoes since he plays basketball every Wednesday night.  But of course, he exchanged them for a different pair (even though this specific pair was on the list he made for me).

What a pile of paper!  All recycleable.  And yes, it went into the recycling bin.  And yours should, too.

Finally a set of real wooden blocks for building!

So...Jadie sent me on a hunt for one of my gifts...And I really don't see the clue hiding behind he lights on the tree in the front yard.  Yes, I know you can see it, but I couldn't.

Another clue.  I spared you a few of the pictures.  He took one as I opened each clue and as I searched for the next clue.  And he took a picture of my rear.  You owe me one.

A clue under the shed.

A clue under the leaves by the crepe myrtle.

Victory!  A Cookie Lee necklace he picked up from my friend, Natalie Allen.

Caleb's big present from Santa was a bike!  A Harley Davidson bicycle....which Jadie drove to Toys 'R Us at 11 pm to exchange because we couldn't get the left pedal on.  We were later told that we should have tried screwing it on COUNTER-clockwise.  I hope we remember this for the next bicycle experience...

The Stockings Were Hung By The Chimney With Care

With lots of care!

I made us a set of matching stockings!  Yes, we all had stockings already, but I wanted them to match :-)

I bought the red felt for $2.25  and the white fleece for about $2.00 at Hobby Lobby.  I had the ribbon, black fabric, and, of course, the thread.


To make these:
I traced an old stocking onto the red felt.  I did the front 4 times and the back 4 times.  Yes, this was necessary because the felt is glittered on one side.

I cut 8 rectangles from the fleece, 9" x 6".

Then I hemmed them along the bottom edge with a 1/2" hem.

Note: Fleece is stretchy = ANNOYING.

I ironed interfacing to the black fabric before tracing and cutting letters from it.  By the way, I just enlarged capital letters in a Word document and printed it so I would have  letter forms to go by.  I sewed the black letters to the white fleece.

I aligned the white fleece at the top of each stocking, right sides facing.  I stitched across the top only.  Then I flipped the white fleece over the top of each stocking, making a nice finished edge.

Then I stopped taking pictures.  Oops!

Then I cut 4 pieces of ribbon, folded them, and stitched them to the top right of the stocking fronts.

Then I aligned the stocking fronts and backs, right sides facing.  I pinned them and stitched around the edges.  I tried my best to align the bottom of the white fleece pieces, but they didn't turn out perfect.  No biggie.

Finally, I turned the stockings right side out and, Viola!  4 crisp, clean, simple red and white stockings, with "monograms" for each person in our family!

Hand of God

Let's see if I can tell this in an easy-to-understand kind of way...

The other day, after I put the kids to bed, Caleb had gotten out of his bed for the 3rd time.  He had come to find me in the bedroom.  I was frustrated at his 3rd attempt to avoid going to sleep, so I started (really) yelling at him.

After only a few seconds of using my "stern voice,"  I felt three short taps in the middle of my back.  For real.  So real that I turned around to see who had tapped me in the back.

I thought maybe Jadie had come home early (he was across town playing basketball).  No.  No one was there.  At least not visibly, anyway.

I heard the Holy Spirit tell me to control myself.  "In your anger do not sin." Ephesians 4:26  The Scripture was not going through my head at the time, but it's hte gist of what I heard the Holy Spirit say to me that night.

I went back into Caleb's room to apologize for my angry words and to explain why I had become to exasperated.  I made sure to love on him before leaving his room for the night.
I cannot recall a time in my life when God has made himself so physically present with me.  I couldn't see Him, but I felt him without a doubt!

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