Think of yourself surrounded by tiny seahorses...

I just purchased these studio lights and I had the whole thing set up in my living room when my cousin and her husband, Chris came over. We were going to see a comedien, Tim Hawkins, (check out his site http://www.timhawkins.net/) when we decided to snap a few. This is soooo 80's and reminds of the scene in Napoleon Dynamite where Deb is telling Uncle Rico to imagine himself weightless, surrounded by tiny seahorses. Pretty darn funny. I could not stop laughing!

Made more jelly today! Strawberry, yum! Mine & DD's favorite! We did school, Kade had a friend over to work on report about San Antonio, and Nathan & Hannah played spy! Pretty great day. I made some great Mexican Lasagne for dinner. Yum-O. I need to get working on these shower invites I am supposed to do...better get a move on.

TTFN,

Kayla :)

Look what I did today!!!

I made grape jelly! My sweet husband asked me last night to make some grape jelly. Let me take you back a little bit....

My friend Elisabeth's in-laws had an incredible amount of wild blackberries growing on their farm. Being the kind friend that she is, she called and asked if we wanted to go blackberry picking with them. Being the fruit-loving friend I am, I said, "yes". In the process of picking (we picked for 3 Fridays in a row) she tells me that she made blackberry jam. The conversation ensues, she tries desperately to communicate what she did EXACTLY, but being the visually geared person that I am I had to SEE it done. So we plan a jelly making day.

Jelly making day arrives, I bring every canning item I own to her house including a bag of strawberries, some fresh peaches and of course, blackberries. She whips out her superior canning making tools in addition to her blackberries and away we go! This was WAYYYY easy, but like I said, I just had to SEE it done. When we got done I felt as if we had conquered

Domesticland and I had been annointed queen. I was so excited to bring home that batch of jams for my man! Scott did not disappoint...he was just as excited to receive the gift of my jam.

So I am thinking what other fruit do I have. The next day, I make peach. A week or so after that, I make some more strawberry and a blend of black/blue & raspberry.

I CAN NOT stop. Last week I find a recipe for Pumpkin Butter and I am on it! My friend Elisabeth (the one who started this craziness) emails me and says she has an abundance of pears and do I want to come over and make pear butter!!! Uhhhh....YES!!! So next week we have a pear butter date!

Last night, we are driving home from Arkansas and Scott & I are talking about stuff. I tell him what a joy it is to make jelly for him. I know he really enjoys it and considers himself somewhat of a jelly connoseuir (sp?). He tells me that he is enjoying all of the flavors that I am making and we both agree we like eating jelly that does not contain corn syrup & high fructose corn syrup. So I asked him, "What flavor do you want me to make next?" He said, "I really miss Grandma's grape & apple butter. Can you make those?" I said, "Sure."

So after school today, eating lunch with Scott & errands, I head home to get my jelly-making skills on! Just as I finished putting the lid on the last jar...the UPS delivered the cute labels I had designed and had printed. So, I had to promptly adorn all of my jars with cute labels! As we get closer to Christmas, I will continue to make more jelly to give to family & friends as gifts, hence the need for the cute, new labels. Anyway, Scott gets home and I show him his gift. Being a man whose love language is "acts of service" he truly appreciates this. My love language is gifts so this is a great compromise...I get to make him a gift that I know he will enjoy and he receives the gift of my service...so all is good. I give Scott a taste of this grape concoction and he says Mmmmm, mmmm, mmm, that is really good. It tastes just like Granny's. And gives me his beautiful blue-eyed, happy dimple smile. This comment of course makes me tear up, as this truly is one of the greatest compliments he could have given me. And then we commence to hug while we gaze upon our jelly wonderland. Life is good!

Better

Today was a good day. See...I just knew it would be. :) Kade managed to stay focused (a little better). Nathan worked on submitting his heart and not getting angry. Hannah tried a couple of times to dramatize some insignificant event and I didn't fall for it. So it was good. I made pizza for lunch. Had a photo shoot this afternoon (cute baby Dylan) and then went to Ci Ci's pizza with some family friends. Kade even got to have a friend spend the night (they are up now talking about whatever 13 yo boys talk about).

We all watched a little of the RNC (Go Sarah & John). Wasn't a HUGE McCain supporter until he joined up with the likes of Sarah Palin! Love her! Thought Obama delivered a pretty good speech at the DNC, but it lacked content and a specific course of action. Besides...his wife gives me the creeps. Don't know what it is about her, but they kept nudging each other (and the kids) to stand in the right spot...it just seemed staged and not genuine. I so appreciate what McCain endured. I would like to say if given the same circumstances I could endure as he did. It really makes me think aobut how much Jesus endured for me (and you).

So a better day. I worked on a syllabus for our Greek/Latin roots class we are doing this year. Like having lesson plans and a road map. I used to not take the time to write it down, I'd just keep it all in my head! UGH!!!! I am running out of room up there and need to get it written down...makes things run a lot smoother.

Scott & I will be celebrating our anniversary on Sunday. Our celebration is a little late, but better late than never. Hard to believe it's been 17 years. We have spent more than half of our lives together. We started dating at 15.5 years old and what a blessing that was! So all in all we've spent 22 of our 37 years together. We love reminiscing about the dating years, or the college years, or early married life or whatever. We have been given so much time together and we truly thank God from the bottom of our hearts! Nobody can make me laugh like Scott Thompson!!! Love, love, love that man!

Goodnight,
Kayla :)

Trying to Blog again

So I am really a slacker in the blogging world. I am trying to make this thing pretty (something that must be done when you are as visually oriented as I am) and I just haven't had the time to sit down and figure it out. So I still have an ugly blog.

What's going on with the kids.... We ALL still have attachment issues. Nathan still doesn't completely trust that we are going to take care of him, and so therefore goes and does whatever the heck he wants when he wants. Hannah still lies through her teeth. I wonder when I will quit being angry at the people who hurt my children and stop dealing with all the fear based behaviours they placed in my childrens heart. And just get to love them freely without feeling as if I am untangling some big ol knot all the time. I wonder when Kade will learn to follow a schedule and actually show some responsibility for his schoolwork. I wonder when I will learn more patience and remember what it was like to be a child myself.

Since I have focused on my frustrations...here are some good things. Nathan actually knows what a primary color is and he knows the difference between Babylonians and Egyptians. His heart desires to do the right thing. He likes to do lots of different kinds of dives. And HE can follow a schedule.

Hannah likes to help me cook and can that girl do some dishes! She is a very good speller and reader. She too wants to do the right thing. She gets frustrated when she lies, and so maybe someday we won't be dealing with this anymore. She likes to swim and play puppies and house. She is kind hearted and when I was sick last week, she made a get well card. So sweet.

Kade is as kind as ever. Hormones have arrived in full force and he is argumentative about nothing. But that's okay. He is smart as a whip and makes me really proud when I think of all of the things he knows about at his age that I didn't have a clue about until my 20s and 30s. He likes to swim and discovered a love for roller coasters this summer. He is growing into a good, young man. He is a big help to his dad and most of the time is helpful without being asked.

I am much more patient than I used to be. So when I back up and look at things they aren't as big a deal as they seem in the moment. I know I should count my blessings, but today it seems as if i went through the list a little faster than normal. I just realized, I seem to blog when I am melancholy. Hopefully no one is reading this anymore because I sound like one big Eeyore!
God is good, life is hard.

Tomorrow I am sure will be another one of those great days, and I won't blog because I'll be so happy homeschooling and living my life. So sorry, but this is what it is today.

Kayla :)