Happy Turkey Day!

I just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! May you spend the day with loved ones and feel blessed.

We are now off to Grandma Smiths house for some delicious sweet potatoes!

Enjoy the turkey,
Leah

A little sad

Tonight, the eve of Thanksgiving, I can't help but feel a little sad. Today the doctor stopped the chemo and radiation treatments on my Grandma Jo, and hospice was called in.

Back in October, the doctors found a tumor in her brain. Please pray that there is peace for our family as we go through this difficult time in the midst of the Holiday Season.


A couple memories. Going to the lake on the weekends with her and grandpa jo and going out in the paddle boat. Before we ever got there we would have to stop at the grocery store and buy two weeks worth of groceries for just two nights. Spending the night on Friday evenings at their house on Lawson and getting to go to breakfast on at Jim Dandy Restaurant and eating biscuits and gravy on saturday morning. Sneeking into the pantry with my sister sara jane on those Friday nights and eating "Club" crackers. :)

Sad, but very thankful and blessed for my Grandma Jo.


Leah

We tried.

Last night at church I wanted to get a picture of Levi and Amelia. They were semi - coordinated with both wearing brown and having hats. Well this is what we ended up with. Amelia will not sit still, especially if it is Levi trying to hold her. At least you can still see that they are beautiful children.

During church my mother-in-law and I had Amelia corralled in the pew so that she could not escaped and run to her dad on the platform. Millie went up to her grandma pushed her legs and said, "move." We both cracked up laughing.

I'd say he is dead!

I am very happy to report that we have successfully caught and killed the mouse that decided to make our house his home!!! I love all creatures that God made, but I have decided that I will not share my home with any bug, spider, ant, mouse, cat, dog, crickett...you get the point.

I was having an emotional breakdown, because we had not yet caught the little creature that was leaving droppings everywhere. I went to the store bought some more poison to put out then I came home and started cleaning out my cabinet. Everything washed and cleaned just in case. When I went to put the poison behind the couch in the basement, this is what I found. I hope I didn't wake up my neighbors, and thank goodness Scott was home.

A warning to all mice out ther. If you decide to move in there is poison and traps all over and you will get caught!!! See picture above.

Rodent free once again,

Leah

I am thankful...

Today, I am very thankful for insurance. For 9 years Scott and I bought our own insurance. It was expensive and covered very little. There has never been a time in our marriage that we have not had some kind of medical bill that we were making payments on. We are currently still paying for Millie Bug. Hopefully by her third birthday she will be paid for.

Now that Scott is out of the self employment business and works for Veolia Water we have insurance. With Levi's recent tests and procedures we didn't know how much would be covered, but we knew it would be better than what we had before.

Today I got an email from my insurance company giving me the details of the claims. They are as follows.

$6,624.73 - hospital expenses.
$2,095.oo - Doctors bill
$1,100.00 - pathologist
$850.00 - anesthesiologist
$340.00 - consultation fee

Our cost $23.77.

Today I am very thankful for Scott's job and the insurance benefit!

Sweet potatoes

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, my mom has been planning and preparing our ever so delicious meal. She asked me what I could bring. This has got me thinking. If you read my sister's blogs you know that they both enjoy cooking and exploring new recipes. So I have thought about this.

Sweet potatoes, this is something that we always have at big family dinners where my mom or grandma will peel sweet potatoes and drench them with butter and brown sugar and then bake them. Mmmmmmm, they are good.

If my sister Sara Jane would bring the sweet potatoes this year we would probably get...

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Purée

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1 3/4-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
2 pounds yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes; about 4), halved lengthwise
1/2 cup (or more) canned beef broth
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1 3/4-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
2 pounds yams (red-skinned sweet potatoes; about 4), halved lengthwise
1/2 cup (or more) canned beef broth
1 teaspoon Ras el Hanout
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon sugar

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray large baking sheet with cooking spray. Place squash and yams on prepared baking sheet, cut side down. Roast until very tender, about 1 hour. Cool slightly. Scoop out flesh and transfer to large saucepan. Mash with potato masher until smooth. Stir in broth and ras el hanout. Season puree to taste with salt and pepper. (Puree can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, bell pepper, and sugar. Sauté until onions are golden brown and tender, about 15 minutes.
Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Rewarm before continuing.)
Bring puree to simmer, adding more broth to thin if necessary. Stir in 3/4 of onion-bell pepper mixture. Transfer to serving bowl. Top with remaining onion-bell pepper mixture and serve.

If my sister Susan would bring the sweet potatoes, we might get...

Sweet Potatoe Casserole

4 lbs. sweet potatoes

1⁄2 cup evaporated milk

1⁄2 cup sugar

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1⁄2 tsp. kosher salt

1⁄2 tsp. ground allspice

2 eggs, beaten

3⁄4 cup roasted salted cashews

1⁄2 cup light brown sugar

3 tbsp. flour

2 cups mini marshmallows

1. Heat oven to 400°. Place sweet potatoes on a parchment paper–lined baking sheet; bake until soft, about 1 1⁄2 hours. Let cool.

2. Reduce oven temperature to 350°. Peel potatoes; pass them through a food mill into a bowl. Whisk in evaporated milk, sugar, 4 tbsp. of the butter, vanilla extract, salt, allspice, and eggs. Transfer to a 2-qt. oval baking dish.

3. In a food processor, pulse together cashews, brown sugar, flour, and remaining 2 tbsp. of butter until coarsely ground. Crumble cashew mixture over half of casserole; top other half with marshmallows. Bake until marshmallows are golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Now if i were to bring the sweet potatoes we would more than likely get.......wait for it......

Canned Yams.

Open can

place candied yams in serving dish

place in microwave and heat until warm.

throw some marshmallows on top.

Who do you want to bring the sweet potatoes?

How did three girls end up so different?

I love them both and will leave the cooking up to them.

Here is to easy meals and quick clean up!

Leah

Can we play with your kids today?

For 4 years Scott was the youth pastor at a church in Martinsville. During that time whatever we did with the youth, Levi did also. When Levi was about 3 when it was time for sunday school he wanted to go to the youth class and not his age appropriate class. The kids would take him on Sunday for the afternoon, or call and ask to take him to the fair, or just come over and play with him.



Well Scott is now the pastor at our church in Columbus, and while Levi is older now doesn't get quite as much attention Amelia has filled the position. I am usually busy during church services....playing the piano, teaching sunday school, running the computer, singing.... people want Millie Bug to sit with them. And even though we are not the youth pastor the young people still want to come over and play with her. So while there is alot of work and responsibility involved in pastoring one of the perks is free babysitters.


This is Bethany one of the young people in our church. She comes over every other Monday and spends the afternoon / evening with us. While she is here she keeps Millie and Levi occupied and I am free to clean, and cook, or take a bath. Hooray for young people who want to come to my house and play with my kids!

Millie's first ponytail

We finally have enough hair in the back to pull into a ponytail. The bald spot has finally grown some hair and it is long enough to pull back into a ponytail. Now this new doo only lasted about mmmm, 2 min. as do most hair doos.

Ride 'em caterpillar girl.

Does anybody recognize this pose? Yes we have a picture of Levi with this same toy sitting on it. Learn your abc all while taking a ride. :)

All is well

As most of you know Levi has had stomach problems for some time now. So we finally had some tests ran to figure out what is going on. His pediatrician Dr. Montgomery did blood work, hemocoult tests, and samples. When the tests came back positive for blood he scheduled us with Dr. Steiner a Gastroentronologist at Riley Hospital.

After the first consultation Dr. Steiner wanted to do both an upper and lower GI scan...colonoscopy. We agreed.

The preparation consisted of one full day of fasting, two doses of phospho-soda, and two adult enemas. Just let me tell you trying to get a seven year old boy to cooperate with this was not fun. The first dose of phospho soda took one hour to get Levi to take. It finally consisted of Scott and I holding Levi down and pouring it into his mouth, the he puked. Grandma Nancy came to the rescue for the second dose. She drove 125 miles just to help Levi drink the salty liquid. As Levi said, "Mom, what seven year old do you know would want to drink that stuff?!?!" And the enemas....we will just leave that up to your imagination

On Monday October 27th we arrived at Riley at 8:00 am for the procedure.

Here is Levi getting his vitals taken.

The staff at Riley really know how to make a kid welcome and comfy. The first take you into a room and let you pick out a "free" toy, let you watch spongebob, and give you a Nintendo DS to play with while you wait.

Waiting for them to come and get Levi

to take him to the operating room.

I loved the yellow footies!

The nurse finally came to take Levi away.

After about two hours they brought him back. He didn't want to wake up.

We finally got Levi home and after about two
hours of sleep he was ready to eat. His first meal he requested "Alien Pancakes" from Bob Evans. He had these with Grandma Nancy, because we do not eat at Bob Evans. So I called Grandma and she gave me the basic instructions of what they looked like. Here is my attempt.

Yesterday Dr. Steiner finally called with the results from the biopsies. All is well, there are no allergies, no signs of chrones, colonitis, all looked good. Thank you Jesus! God is good and answers prayer. Thank you to all who prayed for my number one.

A little late

So where do you go when your parents keep you out late and you fall asleep in the car on the way home? Thats right floks the counter. You walk in the door and lay down on the counter. It is much easier than climbing the stairs up to your bedroom and getting in your bed.

A couple of weekends ago we went to a youth service in Seymour and didn't get home until midnight. Levi was so tired that he just climbed up and fell back asleep on the counter. He fell asleep in the car, and he is just too big for me to carry in (especially in heels :) ).

To: Uncle Dave, From: Leah

Ok, so it is official I am now a blogger. This is for you Uncle Dave. I don't have time for this, but I have to keep up with my siblings who are all professional bloggers. So I am going to give it a try. Plus I have found myself posting blogs in my mind for the past couple of weeks. Amelia or Levi will do something and in my head I start thinking about how I could write it out on blogspot...so I am going to give it a try.