Christmas Photos

Here are some random Christmas pictures in no particular order (because that would take too long)
We are about to go to a New Year's Eve party.
Here's my wonderful hubby after all the presents were opened:

One of my favorite parts about Christmas day is the Christmas MESS:

One of the many batches of chocolate covered pretzels that we all made. I got a kick out of Andrew asking Zach if he "could do something to fix the white chocolate." Big brothers can do anything. (He told Andrew he can "drum" but didn't know anything about fixing melting chocolate or chocolate that wouldn't melt to be specific)

I liked these pretzels WAY too much....
as you can see from this picture! (I can't believe I'm posting it) There I am, clueless that I have chocolate on my face from all the sampling I did! LOL!!!Joy and Andrew made this and I found out that girls want perfection in their gingerbread houses which doesn't set well with little brothers who just want to have fun. (next year they each need their own) ; )

It was Andrew's turn to be the Christmas elf and pass out the gifts this year:
(you can see the paneling that we ALL white washed and put on our ceiling last New Year's Day in this photo)

My hubby led us in a devotional from Isaiah 9 before all the unwrapping commenced:

This is Joy and I on Christmas Eve. (I made this my Face book photo)

Our tree, which is now at the curb and has left needles all the way to the laundry room! Not sure how that happened! : )

I made a big Christmas dinner and our dear friend Carlos came over to celebrate with us. My sweet hubby did the dishes. I enjoyed talking to my sister, parents and aunt on the phone as they were celebrating in San Diego. We ended the day by heading to the movies! We've decided that would be a fun thing to make into a tradition!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! And may God bless your new year!

~Becky

Christmas Eve

We went to the candle light service at our church on Christmas Eve. It was wonderful. We absolutely loved it and last year we decided to make it apart of our family traditions. It is so much fun to lift up Jesus with our church family.
Then we headed to our friends, the 'V' family, for their annual Puerto Rican feast that causes us to eat WAY too much every year and gives us a chance to catch up on life with some old and dear friends.
I have a namesake! (that still blesses and boggles my mind!) She had her first birthday on the 20th and we celebrated it that night too. It was fun watching her ooze her little hands in the frosting of her own little cake and spread it everywhere. : )

A friend sent us some pictures of that night on FB.


Our three handsome boys!

This is Joy, our beautiful friend 'E' and I.

(I don't really have cute highlights, its just the flash of the camera! Maybe I should get some. LOL)

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
~Becky

Christmas fun

Our dear friends the 'A' family blessed us with Disney tickets again this year. The company he works for has a deal of some kind with Disney that is expiring, so this is the last year that they will receive free tickets and we were amazed that they shared their tickets with us again! They are so sweet!

We chose Epcot this time.

But don't ask us which country we ate in because you will be disappointed! : )

I got a kick out of hearing Joy tell her friend on the phone, "Well, we ate in America but it was REALLY good AMERICAN food, not like you eat every day." lol

I guess eating in America is what you do when you have at least one picky eater in the family and a wife who doesn't like Chinese. My hubby knew all along we'd end up in America....

Here are some pictures:

Real (and WONDERFUL) men carry pink backpacks! : )


It was SO cold. (for us that means in the high 50's to low 60's in the middle of the day.) BURRR!!!

We lost Nathan in Germany or he lost us. (don't ask him about it)

We loved the ride Soarin' (hang gliding over California!) and Test Track was a fun ride.

Nathan rode Mission Space alone. Joy and I chickened out at the very last second. (something about spinning in dark, enclosed spaces with G forces made us change our minds)

Carlos came with us and made everything twice the fun. : )

A certain somebody was 'texting' his way through Epcot.... lol

It was a really fun day!!!

~Becky

While shopping

Lots and lots of errands to do this time of year. I told someone yesterday that I need a Christmas NAP! : )

In Target the other day they had HUGE display of bathing suits...
(bikinis actually)in December...
and they weren't even on sale! How weird is that?!

Then I saw what I considered to be a sad sight in Borders. The children's section had been taken over by TOYS. Not the cute stuffed animals that are characters from books either. -Just random toys. There were SO many less books that I was sad. (probably a sure sign that I should be a librarian when my kids are grown) : )

~Becky

Wondering if this should make my day

The lady who cut my hair today asked me if I go to the university near by.
And that made me very happy,
until I got to thinking, maybe she starts all her conversations that way! LOL

It probably insures good tips if you ask a middle aged mom of several teenagers that....I'm just saying. ; )

~Becky

A special guy and a special day

Happy Birthday to Nathan!

He is 15 now! (and can't wait to say that he's 'going on 16')

We love you Nate. You keep us all laughing. : )

We are very proud of you.

Happy Birthday!

~Becky

More quotes I like

from Oswald Chambers:

"Prayer does not fit us for greater works, prayer is the greater work."

"The passion of Christianity is that I deliberately sign away my own rights and become a bond slave of Jesus Christ."

"Self pity is of the devil, if I go off on that line I cannot be used by God for His purposes in the world."

"Never allow a truth of God that is brought home to your soul to pass without acting on it, not necessarily physically, but in will. Record it, with ink or with blood." (whoa!)

"He (God) can crumple me or exalt me. He can do anything He chooses. He simply asks me to have implicit faith in Himself and in His goodness."

"The Lord does not give me rules, He makes His standard very clear, and if my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without any hesitation. If I hesitate, it is because I love someone else in competition with Him, i.e. MYSELF." (ouch!)

"If you are going through a time of discouragement, there is a big personal enlargement ahead."

"Never allow this thought 'I am of no use where I am' because you certainly can be of no use where you are not." : )

"Wherever God has dumped you down in circumstances, pray to Him all the time. You labor at prayer and results happen all the time from His standpoint." Amen!

~Becky

In which I ramble on about the fun, crazy-busy, holiday season which is upon us

My hubby took me out for hot chocolate (since I don't like coffee) and we went and bought our Christmas tree on the morning after Thanksgiving. We didn't get in on the black Friday sales really, except that we bought lots of real poinsettias at Home Depot for 99 cents a piece and that was fun. They aren't looking so great now, because they have been through two storms that looked like hurricanes but weren't.

On Monday night Zach had drama for 3 hours, so I hung out with Joy that night and we did a little shopping while we waited for him.
Tuesday, I babysat for a 6 month old and tried to home school my four at the same time. It was busy but fun. I forgot how exhausting it is to home school with little ones around.
Wednesday, we had the most awesome youth service and God changed some teens lives in a BIG way. Hallelujah!
Thursday, I hosted a Christmas party for the teens in our home school group at a pizza place. Lots of fun. Did some fun games at the table and a gift exchange. For one game, I filled a stocking with 13 items and tied it shut with ribbon then the kids had to feel the outside of the stocking and try to write down all the items. If I ever do that game again, I'll remember that a time limit is needed. Only the girls guessed the cookie cutter. : ) And no one guessed the tea light.
Friday, I took my hubby out to breakfast. The MOPS (Mother's of Preschoolers ministry) needed some kids to help run the games at their Christmas party for the preschoolers, so Andrew and Joy volunteered to do that. I was running a cute game (pin the star on the Christmas tree) when I was asked to go and help do the face painting. Oh My Stars! I've never face painted before. (and preschoolers have small cheeks!) LOL
They had their choice of a Christmas tree with decorations and presents under it, (good grief) or a candy cane, or a snowman... Let's just say, they almost all wanted the tree. And I was sweating bullets, while cute moms stood over me watching. (while I was praying "Help me Jesus! Make this look like a Christmas tree! LOL) It was tons of fun though and no surprise that little girls can sit perfectly still for next to forever and the boys -not so much. ; )
Then Joy had a dance practice and a slumber party to go to.
Saturday, I picked her up from the party and then balanced our checkbook and bought 'football food' for the Gators game. (sad loss though) While my hubby, Carlos and our boys hung out watching the game, Joy and I went to babysit for some friends who have 4 children. We had fun but it was a really late night.
Sunday was the scheduled week that Joy and I take care of the infants in the nursery at church. Last month when it was our turn Joy sweet talked her dad into taking her place because she didn't want to miss her class. Well, he'll never do that again. : ) Well, we had 6 infants that day! He gave the boys an account of what nursery work is like that is so funny, I should have him post it on the blog. He's a crack up. Anyway, we thankfully only had 4 today.
After church I took a HUGE nap that was heaven on earth!

This week has more drama practice, 4 Christmas parties, church, and 4 members of our family have birthdays! We are also hoping to use our free tickets to Epcot this weekend if the rain stays away. AhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ~Which reminds me of Amy Grant's song "I Need a Silent Night." ; ) LOL! Great lyrics!
Hope you are having a blessed holiday season!
~Becky

Sweet Encouragement

This blessed me!

Andrew said "Mom, when I am 23, I am going to call you and dad and ask you how you raised us because you guys did a great job and I'm going to need some guidance for my family."
How sweet is that?! (pinch me!) : )
I love 10 year olds!

~Becky

A special friend

I told my hubby yesterday, that I've "just lost a friend who absolutely adored me and worshipped the ground I walk on." lol

-And those are hard to come by. ; )

~Becky,

who is missing her special friend immensely!

Our last day with Honey

We headed to the dog beach today to let Honey do her favorite thing (if you don't include eating peanut butter) which is SWIMMING!!!!

We went back and forth for a long time trying to decide whether or not to go because we weren't sure that she would have the energy/ lung capacity to be up for it and have a good time.
But she did!

And she had a wonderful time and so did we! She just stood there staring at us until we realized that she wanted to play fetch! We should have brought the Frisbee! We ended up scrambling to find a stick! She had so much fun!

It seemed to take 10 years off of her life!

We love you, Honey!

~Becky

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

There have been only two Thanksgivings in the past 18 years of marriage that I haven't cooked the entire meal myself.
Our first Thanksgiving as newlyweds was one of those and it is a very good thing, because I could only cook about 3 things and one of those things was Kraft macaroni and cheese!
I was asked to bring the sweet potatoes. I didn't know a thing about sweet potatoes and unfortunately, I didn't just bring some out of a can. Oh, would I have been a lot better off if I had. There were about 4 of us married couples and a couple bachelors staying in this large house that one of them was house sitting. We all cooked together and then had our meal. I thought those potatoes of mine wouldn't take long at all to BOIL ....but they did. (boil-ick!)
And lets just say, that those were some hard sweet potatoes I served that day...Those guys were feeling mighty sorry for my newly married hubby. LOL

The next Thanksgiving, my mother-in-law sent me all the family Thanksgiving recipes, with complete instructions on how to roast a turkey. : ) (no one had to feel sorry for my hubby any more!) ha ha

Years later, we spent one Thanksgiving with my in-laws in Colorado. We enjoyed the snow and celebrated Joy's birthday together with every present being something Madeline! : )

Now, this Thanksgiving makes the third one in which I'm not doing all the cooking. Some dear friends from church invited us over. I'm bringing the turkey, thankfully, or I surely wouldn't know WHAT to do with MYSELF with all this FREE TIME on my hands!!!
It's really odd!
Joy and I were planning on being the "co-queens of Thanksgiving" this year and I was going to teach her how to make everything. That way she won't have people looking at her husband with pity on her first Thanksgiving! LOL But, that will have to wait a year. Being that she's only 13, I think we have plenty of time. ; )

*What is on our mind this year, is how thankful we are to have owned such a wonderful dog! Honey has lung cancer and is suffering. Tomorrow is the day we have planned to have her put down and we are SAD! So, while I'm not spending my whole day cooking, I am blessed to be loving on the sweetest dog to ever live! (secretly or not so secretly we are all wishing it was our bi-polar parrot that was ill! I think we'd all be more than slightly thankful for that.) ; )

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!
~Becky

All things pumpkin and yummy!!!

There are two recipes which include pumpkin that I make every year around this time and my family absolutely raves about them.

I have a friend who doesn't do a thing with canned pumpkin ever. She pretends not to know that it exists and she bakes her own. Not me. Libby's is my friend! : )

Now, I have a third pumpkin recipe that I will have to add to these other two family favorites because everyone said that these are the BEST pancakes ever and my hubby wants me to make them on the morning of his birthday. Andrew said they are 'addicting.'

I think Martha S*ewart gets the credit for this recipe.*Warning: Just go ahead and double it. I sure had to! : )

Pumpkin Pancakes

1 1/4 c. of flour

2 T. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1/2 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. nutmeg

pinch of cloves

Whisk all of these ingredients together. Then in a separate bowl,

mix:

1 cup milk

6 T. canned pumpkin or fresh baked pumpkin if you are amazing like that

2 T. melted butter

1 egg

Add the dry ingredients and mix. Yummy pancake batter!

The other recipe that my family can't get enough of are Pumpkin Butterscotch muffins! You can find the post with the recipe to those right here. They are better than the title sounds, I promise.

They have butterscotch chips in them and are SO good!!!

The last one recipe is for a cake called Pumpkin Crunch!

One of my guys said it tastes like something we might eat in Heaven. LOL

And another one of my guys said that this cake 'tastes like fall.'

So, go here and give it a try!

If I don't make it back to the blog this week, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

I'm going to head over to The Pioneer Woman Cooks, so she can remind me how I brined last year's turkey. It was so good! (everything she makes is pretty amazing)

God's blessings, as you celebrate His goodness!

~Becky

Our Joy....

turns 13 years old today!

I can hardly believe it! ~Wasn't she just 3 yrs. old?! : )

Happy Birthday, Joy!

What a sweet girl you are and a blessing to us all!

~Becky

who now has 3 teenagers! Whoo-hoo!

Loved this sign!

I had to pick up some trophies today for our home school group's spelling bee and I saw a sign in the store that made me laugh out loud.

"Unattended children will be given an espresso and a free puppy." LOL!


~Becky

Enjoy!

I came across this quote somewhere the other day (not sure where) and I googled it and found out that it is from the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

It said "What is the chief end of man?"

Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.

I LOVE that!
"Enjoy Him forever."

Are you enjoying God? : )

~Becky

Christmas gift idea

Aren't these too cute?!





Joy and are planning to make these as gifts for our friends, neighbors and teachers at church for Christmas. We did a trial batch and they were oh, so yummy!

We may have to do a few more trial batches because ours didn't harden. Not sure what we did wrong but we liked eating our mistakes! ; ) Yumm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The recipes I've seen online, have you rolling them in m&ms or chocolate chips or sprinkles or peanuts! You can also use white chocolate! : )



One of our favorite family recipes is Spiced Walnuts!

My mother-in-law used to make them and send them to us in a tin with our Christmas presents.

I make them every year because they are so good and remind us of 'Grandmum.'

They make a great gift to pass out to friends and neighbors in decorative bags or tubes etc...

And they make your house smell like everything you love about Christmas!

~I'm always tempted to eat the entire batch myself. Not good.

You can find the recipe in this post! (this was from a bloggers Christmas tour of homes a couple years ago) I hope you give them a try! : )

There is also a recipe for some really CUTE holiday reindeer cookies that are a big hit at parties. I made those several times last year. Lots of fun for little hands to help with!



Happy holiday planning!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year." Right?

-(I end up hearing that song sung very early every year because my hubby sings it when football season starts! He's so funny!)



~Becky

A couple of our favorite Florida vacations turned field trips

One of our all time favorite field trips was to the summer homes of Henry Ford and Thomas Edison in Fort Myers, FL.

We were studying inventors at the time and so it was such a thrill to go and see their homes and inventions. My oldest took about 300 pictures! My hubby's boss at the time, gave us a few days at a time share in Ft. Myers and it turned into a great vacation/field trip.

Vacations turned field trips are some of favorite things! : )

A trip to the Kennedy Space Center is now going to be ranked up there among the favorites!

The other half of our family were blessed to spend 3 days there over the summer while Nathan and I were at Teen Bible Quiz Nationals in St. Louis. My kiddos were sharing something new about what they learned there just about every day for a month! : ) They loved it and they learned SO much and had a great time.

My hubby's best friend Carlos went with them and he makes everything even more fun. ; )

The only thing that they didn't enjoy was waiting for the launch for hours in the heat.

That particular one was scrubbed about 3 or 4 times. Here's what Andrew thought of that after waiting for hours. Bless his heart!

They finally gave up seeing it from the Space Center and went to see it from the beach with the locals. The space shuttle actually did go up that time and the waiting while playing in the water was much more fun. Maybe the view wasn't quite as great but it was still close and they enjoyed it.

~Becky

Praying from Luke 2

The Lord showed me some exciting things to be praying for our children from Luke 2.


May our children:


"make widely known" what they've learned about Jesus like the shepherds

(v. 17)


May their lives:


"be a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles." (v. 32)


May they be Spirit-led like Simeon:


"who was just and devout" and "the Holy Spirit was upon him." (v.25)


May they have hearts devoted to God like Anna who:


"served God with fastings and prayers night and day." (v.37)


May they be like Jesus as a child who:


"grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him." (v.40)


May they be passionately focused on God like Jesus who said:


"I must be about my Father's business." (v.49)


May they be obedient to us like Jesus who:


"went down with them" and "was subject to them." (v.51)


And like Jesus, may they:


"increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (v.52)


Amen! : )


~Becky

Carry On!

One of my favorite children's books and there are many, is
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. I just love it!

Here are a few of the things I love:

It is based on Nathaniel Bowditch's actual life

It gives us a wonderful example of what a determined individual can accomplish

It mentions that young men should always protect women and children

It is inspiring and fun to read

As a home school mom, I loved reading to my kids about a boy who got so excited about a subject that he studied everything there was to study on it and filled a notebook with what he had learned. He did this about every topic that interested him.

(that's homeschooling at its best right there!)

He eventually became the brightest mathematician in the country. He also taught himself whatever language he decided he needed to know using a grammar book, a New Testament and a dictionary in that language. (by the end of his life, he'd learned about 2 dozen)

We also loved that he had a heart to teach even the most uneducated men on a crew, navigation in a way that they could understand. His lessons to those men eventually evolved into his book.

The part that touched our hearts the most was that when people told him that his life was 'becalmed' because of his circumstances, he decided to live above the circumstances and 'sail by ash breeze.' (in other words when you are stuck, start rowing and make things happen!)

He never made excuses for his lot in life, he just worked very hard at everything he put his mind to. He preserved.

All the talk about 'taking a lunar' had my kiddos getting the telescope out of the attic recently to look at the moon. : )

We enjoyed checking out Nathaniel Bowditch's book American Practical Navigator from the library. It is HUGE! No wonder he worked on it for so long! All the sailors of America and the world must have been so thankful that he carried on! : )

~Becky

What's up!

I lovingly refer to the toddler years as the "Blessed Blurrr" because it was such a busy season in life. But now that I think about it, these teens years just as busy.

Lest it all be a blurr someday, here is what everyone is doing these days (or more specifically where I'm driving them to. lol)

Zachary is a drummer. (and our little house is very loud. -If you ever called me then you know that) Right now he is the substitute drummer in the youth worship band at church. The regular drummer is a sophomore in college and studying to be a doctor. When he can't make it, Zach takes his place. Zach is in the Fine Arts/drama group and loves it. He is also serving in the student leadership group.

Nathan is in Teen Bible Quiz again this year and they are memorizing the books of first and second Corinthians! He loves his team, loves quizzing and enjoys the traveling. It's a fun way to learn the Word of God. It has made him want to study Greek someday. Nathan plays the keyboard in our family band. He is also in the student leadership group in youth group.

Joy is in a home school dance group. She is Teen Bible Quiz now too but she's chosen to compete in the novice league which doesn't go on to Nationals and only has to memorize the book of first Corinthians. She is playing soccer this semester and really enjoying it. She and I work together in the nursery at church once a month taking care of the infants. (this is where I get my baby fix and where she's learned to be so great with little ones!) : )

Andrew is in Junior Bible Quiz this year. (he's our only kiddo left in it, since our other two have graduated) He is also in the kids church worship band. He plays the electric guitar. He LOVES, LOVES, LOVES guitar. You hardly see him without one during his free time. His band had the chance to play at VBS this year which was really exciting. They did so well, that they were asked to play in the church service the following Sunday! That was pretty incredible to play in front of such a huge crowd. (1000 people or so)

Besides all the fun (and driving!) that these activities bring to our lives, I am the president and treasurer of our home school group this year. I had been the treasurer for a couple of years, but our wonderful president recently had to step down and temporarily move out of state. You can read what she and her awesome family are doing for their sister-in-law here. (Her sister-in-law had skull replacement surgery last week and is doing well and so is her new baby who had a safe delivery!) It's been more than a little overwhelming but an honor and a pleasure serve the group this year. The group has an awesome board of directors that are SUCH a pleasure to work with and a little over 100 homeschooling families.

My hubby is still teaching his Wednesday night class at church. He teaches the Royal Rangers who are K-2nd grade boys. He loves speaking into their lives and teaching them how to be future men of God. But, 30 wiggly boys can be a challenge after a long day at work and I admire him so much for serving. I think he's been at it for 7 years now.

I guess that sums it up. It's a busy year and if I don't get to blog very often, now you'll know why! : )

~Becky

A Floridian snowman by Joy

Oops! I mean sandman!

~Becky

More time with our Honey

As I mentioned the other day, Honey either has pneumonia or lung cancer.
She has responded fabulously to the steroid and the antibiotic prescribed for her though and we are SO thankful!
She is breathing normally again and is eating. Hurray!
The Lord has extended our time with her!

Yesterday, even though she obviously felt better, her eyes looked so sad.
Then last night she did what we call "the golden retriever happy dance." Yay! That is what I had been waiting for. Now, I know she feels better and her eyes look happy again.

We are all in agreement that if she ever goes through what she did over the weekend then it will be her time to go. We never want to see her suffering to breathe again. It was so sad.

So, we are happy and hopefully that maybe this is pneumonia and that she will recover. That is our prayer. We'll enjoy every moment we have with her because she is PRECIOUS!

~Becky

A sad night

Tonight we found out that the best dog ever most likely has lung cancer.

Still hoping and believing for pneumonia ... We'll see

Lots of tears at our house!!!! : (

Thursday is her 11th birthday!

~Becky

St. Louis memories

Today, I studied the Dred Scott Decision with Joy and Andrew. How horrible for people to be told that they were property and that the Constitution did not apply to them!


It was neat to be able to tell them that Nathan and I were in that courtroom this summer!


While we were in St. Louis for TBQ Nationals, we had a day of sight seeing and one of the places we visited was the Old Courthouse, along with the Gateway Arch and the Museum of Westward Expansion. It was awesome!


I can't even think about that sightseeing trip without remembering this funny story from a friend of mine who went with us:


When she got home from the trip, she took her pictures to work and showed them to her co-workers. When she showed them the picture of the Old Courthouse she accidentally said


"And this is where the Dred Lock decision was made." ; )


Then her friend said "Um, I think you mean Dred Scott." (she was so embarrassed!)

I laughed until I cried when she told me!

~Becky

My favorite drummer

Zachary playing in the worship band at youth

~Becky

Art

Joy came to me today and said:

"Mom! My Mona Lisa looks like a Picasso!!!" ; )
She and I both had to giggle because it really did!

This art curriculum I bought has the kids drawing:
a swan,
then a horse
and then Abe Lincoln followed by the Mona Lisa! Good grief! That's quite a jump if you ask me! Not so sure I like this program. lol

~Becky

My Cuban Sandwich education

For Zachary's community service project work day, I decided to make cuban sandwiches. I love to EAT them but I didn't know exactly how to make them.

When I looked online, I found several different versions and decided to ask my next door neighbor who is Cuban. She emailed me an authentic recipe and her son volunteered to come over and make them for Zach's big day. (they are the best of buddies and almost like cousins since they have grown up living next door to each other for 14 yrs) It was such a sweet offer!

Apparently, if you don't put everything in just the right order, when making cuban sandwiches then they don't taste right.

I had a soccer game to attend in the morning so I planned to go by the bakery early in the morning before the game, but my neighbor's son told me that he would pick it up right before coming over. Another sweet offer!
Apparently, they aren't as good if the bread isn't fresh.

The ingredients were:

Mayo and mustard mixed together

Spanish pork (deli at Publix)

Salami

Sweet ham

Swiss cheese

Dill pickles

I know what you are thinking. Any sandwich with these ingredients is bound to be pretty good!

And you are right but these were EXCELLENT!

They were like a work of art!

The sandwich requires more ham than any other meat and so the ham is put on in rolls. How cute is that?!

(notice the ham rolls) : )

Then we put them in the oven at 450 for 3 minutes until the cheese melted. We pressed them while they were hot, and he taught me how to cut them.

Apparently, they don't taste as good if they are not cut at an angle.

My hubby declared these the best cubans he'd ever had! (and he makes his own amazing version but he says he's been dethroned now that we know how to make these!) : )

Andrew was our neighbor's helper, so he's all in the know now.

Some of the guys started talking about "red neck cubans" while they were eating and I had no idea what they were talking about.

Apparently, that is a Cuban sandwich without Spanish pork.

Who knew there was so much to this?!!?

Not I!
But it was fun and yummy!

Apparently, a certain golden retriever found them truly irresistible. She was found on her hind legs up at the island with this!

UGHH!!!!!!!!

~Becky

The GMA

About six years ago, Zachary and I sat down and looked at what it would take for him to earn the Gold Medal of Achievement in Royal Rangers...

I'm thrilled to say that on Saturday he finished his last requirement! Whoo-hoo!!!!

(it is similar to becoming an Eagle Scout in Boy Scouts) It was a long time in coming....

For his last merit, Zachary was required to plan and supervise a community service project. He chose to make his project helping an elderly neighbor of ours who needed some work done on her house. He wrote letters to Low*s, Home Dep*t and Sherw*n Williams and talked to the managers in each store about his project and they graciously donated all the materials he needed! Yay!

The other Rangers and commanders in his class all came to help him and we had a fun day of it and our neighbor got her socks blessed off!

Thankful to be a Ranger family and so very proud of Zac!

~Becky

(next time I'll tell you what I served all those sweet guys because I just love cooking!)

If they say "We're bored"...

get out some toothpicks and marshmallows!



I got this idea years ago when we did this game as a team building exercise in a class.

We were timed and told to take dry spaghetti noodles and marshmallows and see who could build the tallest structure. Fun!



I've revised it a little since then. We use toothpicks instead. It's a great activity to do when your kids have company. I don't time them because that would end the fun to soon.





It's quiet fun!!! -They sit, chat, create and munch! : )

(a big plus for moms!)

It's always so much fun to see what they can make.

(above is Joy's Farris wheel)

So, keep some toothpicks and marshmallows on hand.

~Becky