dog bites and other adventures

There I go again...
neglecting my sweet little blog.

How's life been? Absolutely hectic- and, of course, full of the sweetest blessings.
My new sisters are now adopted and given new names, officially.

Cynthia Issabelle (Izzy) & Selah Joy Raley

I'm ever so grateful to God. Everything turned out beautifully, and all glory goes to Him.

Our entire past week was crammed with preparing- and then afterwards, of course...the parties. We loved every moment of it. So many precious memories were made, the smiles, the tears, every part of it was absolutely lovely...and to think it's just the beginning of a whole, new, beautiful picture.

To top of the last day of our perfect week, my sweet Izzy twin got bit by a dog. She has always held a soft spot for dog.

Big, mean, ugly looking dogs. Shudder.

I've never been fond of dogs...especially big, mean, ugly ones in particular. I wasn't very thrilled when she somehow talked Chloe and I into taking a walk that included walking past a house with a Rottweiler...I  nigh swear that thing must be bigger then a horse, and it's main goal in life is to see how many sweet, innocent. young ladies on a leisure stroll it can eat.

And of course, my predictions are always right.

Suddenly it was there and out it charged, mouth open, yellow eyes glowing hungrily. Chloe hunkered behind me in fear, but of course, Cynthia boldly marches out, hand reached forward. The beast took no hesitation in chomping down on my naïve, dog-loving sister's outstretched hand. I'm not quite sure what five foot one, shrimpy little ol' me thought I was going to do, but I was prepared to kill the vicious beast with my bare hands, jumping between the horrendous animal and my niece and sister.

Somehow I managed to get them back down to our house with the devilish creature at our heels unscathed...but Cynthia wasn't let off to easily. We ended up in the Emergency Room until midnight while the doctors scrubbed out wounds...it wasn't to bad, though. We looked pretty awful and messy after the whole ordeal, and somehow I managed to rummage through my "bottomless purse" (as Chloe calls it) and found some pretties. We played beauty shop while in the cold hospital room in between visits with nurses and the doc...

...it was actually kind of fun...and Cynthia is now on the road to recovery. She could still use prayers, though!

 (beware of crummy iTouch insta photos--->)

Ah, life. Always full of adventure.

Merry Christmas, indeed.

With each year that rolls around, I think "This has got to have been the greatest Christmas yet."

This year, I said it again.

Each of my siblings where here. A whole dozen. All of us, together again. There has been mindless chatter, teasing banter, "oohing" over the exchange of gifts and lots of laughing. We've all changed, some a bit more drastically then others...but sometimes change is a good thing.

We received a solid dosage of snow at Grandma's house this year.
The night before Christmas I added my usual request for snow in my prayers for the coming morning. I was slightly disappointed when I woke up to the rumble of thunder and cold heavy rain beating upon bare, dusty Texas ground. Evenso, I prayed once more as we headed out for Grandma's house.

Then a snowflake fell, and more, and more...and when we finally reached Grandma's house, a lovely, powdery dust of white covered the whole estate.

 I was, eh, excited, I suppose you could say.

Chloe was excited, too, although her reaction wasn't quite as animated as mine. But as usual, she looked gorgeous.

 Sweet Chloe. This year we exchanged gifts for Christmas, which both ended up being dolls. I gave her Liam Payne and she gave me Louis Tomlinson.

 I must say, it felt a bit childish giving and receiving dolls at sixteen, but we had fun, nonetheless.

 After admiring them, Chloe grinned kind of sheepishly. "Maybe we could add them to our doll collection and play with them again sometime, you know, like we did when we were kids?"

Which of course I readily agreed, "Sounds good to me!"

It feels good to forget you are on the brink of adulthood, occasionally.

I also received a box in the mail, which, among all my gifts, was a favorite. From my sweet sister penpals. They are quite possibly the sweetest girls ever.

 

It has indeed been a Merry Christmas.

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.  

                                                                                                         ~Harlan Miller

taking note

I've noticed Ive taken more pictures with my iTouch lately then with my dear rebel. Highly unusual for me. I have become quite addicted to that BeFunky photo editing app....which is, by the way, pure awesomesauce. 

I've discovered that Chick-Fil-A has really good peppermint milkshakes. Drat seasonal sweets. Soon I'll say goodbye to the peppermint milkshakes, as well as the pumpkin pie blizzards.

*tear rolls down cheek*

I've found myself obsessed with this perfume. Um,  yes, I realize that is Justin Bieber. *awkward silence* But really. It has the most delightful scent.

I've become filled with the Christmas spirit as carols are appearing in my vocal lesson assignments....it puts me in such a cheery mood. I just love the holidays, and mixing my high notes with Mr. Turner's rich, deep vibrato is simply quite lovely, if I may say so myself.

I've also realized lately how much I take my loved ones for granted.

My nephew is in the hospital, after having surgery a few days ago. 

I had a few seconds of sickening terror when my mom came to tell me what was wrong. It made me realize how much I take my loved ones for granted, and I wondered for a few second if I ever thanked my sweet nephew for teaching me how to play football. If I'd ever swift kick him again after he won another video game competition...or if he'd ever look at me with that mischievous face while saying that I am the most beautiful aunt he's ever had, even if it was just a bribe to give him what he wanted. Thankfully, though, he is on the road to recovery.

He could still use our prayers, none the less.

“Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not.” — Marcus Aurelius

Amen.

thanksgiving happenings

This morning when I jumped out of bed, the first thing I thought of (to my absolute horror) was that throughout this whole holiday season, I haven't had a single piece of pumpkin pie. What?!

Nevertheless, my Thanksgiving was lovely.

We had a splendid gathering at my sister and brother-in-law's house, complete with a bonfire, lots of laughing, games, and a drive through the "Land of Lights" to finish off the evening. It was fun being with all of my siblings again. Well, all but one. I miss you, Gage. Anyhow, I was sorry when the day came to a close.

Thanksgiving is never over, though, until I've been to my favorite festival. So yesterday, we loaded nine people into our eight passenger Tahoe and headed out. Chloe, Crouton, Cynthia and I loaded our pockets with money and immediately went out to explore the fairgrounds upon arrival. This isn't your average festival, this is a place where you experience things "the old fashioned way". We jump roped with handmade ropes, pulled taffy made from sorghum, rode wagons and ate homemade icecream.

My horse-crazy sister and I also made sure to make it in time to see our favorite demonstration where a young man named Corey shows off his wonderful horse, trained by himself. The cowboy and horse pranced around the pen, foot for foot, then bowed to the crowd. He then made the horse lay down while he proceeded to stand on top of her and whip the ground around her. The trusting horse fully had faith in her master and didn't flinch once. Cynthia just stared in amazement. "I want that horse." she finally breathed. "I WANT THAT HORSE!" and to make things worst, the announcer man then loudly proclaimed the horse was "going up for auction", in which my dear sister squealed in delight, saying she was "going to ask mom if we could buy it"

"How much do you think a horse like this would go for?" I asked Corey.

"Trained from a-not-so-well-known horseman like me, probably around six thousand dollars." he replied softly.

My eyebrows shot up, "Um, maybe for Christmas," I said to Cynthia, pulling her away from the gorgeous animal.

She cried. Corey gave me a hopeless smile. I dragged her off for cinnamon pretzels. We still haven't heard the last of this.

We had a good time, despite the whole horse thing fiasco. Maybe we'll get a horse sometime. Maybe it won't be six thousand dollars, though.

happy thanksgiving, everyone.

lately

Sis and I hit up a Lecrae concert last weekend. Max kindly agreed to be our personal chauffeur, even passing up a date with his girlfriend for this event, which was rather sweet. I can't say rap is particularly my favorite taste in music, but I've always enjoyed Lecrae. He writes such meaningful lyrics, and is an amazing speaker.

 It was a fun, hyped, sold out show. Lots of lights, bass and dancing.

 Trip Lee was there, too. I suppose I must have gotten a bit fan-girly when he appeared onstage, because Cindy stared at me like I was a crazy lady. Oh well. It's not every day you get to see Trip Lee.

Overall, we had a really good time, and concerts are always a good way to kick off the birthday week. Sis and I are having fun planning how we'll spend our sweet sixteens. I want a quiet evening at a fancy restaurant and a musical down town, she wants big parties with lots of friends and cake and streamers.

I don't believe we shall ever overcome our differences.

-

Anyways, I suppose I've been in quite the home-making mood lately, one of those moods where you scour pinterest and Betty Crocker cook books for some clever or crafty to make.

I came up with these cookies, and oh-my-wordy-goshbubbles (hey, hey, Jocee) they were deliciousss! I mean, the kind of delicious where your mom is trying to tell you something important, but you tell her to save it for later because you just HAVE to take a picture of them and post them on your blog. And of course---the recipe.

• 1 cup soft shortening
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sour milk or buttermilk
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• Glaze, below

Mix brown sugar, shortening, buttermilk and egg. Mix together thoroughly. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour. If using self-rising flour, omit baking soda and salt.
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Drop dough bough by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake until set - just until when touched lightly with finger,almost no imprint remains. Probably about 8 to 10 minutes. Immediately remove from cookie sheet, cool. Make about 6 dozen cookies. Spread with Cream Cheese Glaze.

Cream Cheese Glaze

• 1/2 cup margarine or butter
• 4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 to 4 tablespoon milk 
• 1/4 cup softened cream cheese

Heat margarine in 1 1/2 quart saucepan, over medium heat until delicate brown, stir in softened cream cheese. Cream thoroughly. Stir in powdered sugar and vanilla. Stir in milk until smooth. Spread glaze on brown sugar cookies.

I still (surprisingly) have left over cookies, any volunteers for sweets and tea, girlies? Seirra? Sophia? Jori? Anyone?


happy monday, even though monday's aren't always happy---

saying hello to cold and stuff

Texas has gone from its bright, warm sunshine to a dreary, overcast sky with cold drizzling rain. Thank God, Sary and I made the most of our last sunshiny day for this week. We packed a basket and took a walk to a beautiful area in the back woods for a picnic. 

Sary wore her cute, pink striped shirt for the first time, even though she noramally shuns pink and frills. She looked so fresh and pretty, although she didn't let the feminine apperal stop her from climbing all over a big, greasy tractor, and diving through brambles on our way through the field. Goodness, I love that girl!

Love you, girl. Oh,  and you should probably stop forgetting to log out of your facebook...you know what I've said about those ol' crazy people who might try to hack it.

Nevermind, maybe they are smart, afterall.

Anyways,  now where all off to don a sunggie and sip tea by the fire. Maybe get crafty from some pinteresting ideas.
P.S follow me on Pinterest---> my pinterest

Farewell, warmth and sunshine. See you next year.

 { via lyrics, Gary Lewis and The Playboys}

dear pumpkin pie blizzard

Today I fell in love. But no, it wasn't the kind of love you may think...

It started this afternoon when we all hoped in the car and headed out for a sweet snack. I wasn't really in the mood for calories, and my mood wasn't exceptionally the brightest, but I went along anyway. Everyone ordered blizzards from the high Dairy Queen, and even though I'm not a huge fan of them, I got one anyone. Pumpkin Pie, that is...I never had one, and we all know I'm a sucker for pumpkins. It's my favorite part of fall, that, and the scarves...oh, and the weather, as well as being able to wear boots, and...oh gosh, I love it all.

Anyhoo...back to that blizzard...

I took one bite, and almost choked. "Oh my wordyy!" I mumbled. 

Jayden turned and looked at me, "What? Is it good?" 

"Good?! I think I want to marry it!!" I screeched, scarfing it down as fast as I could and sighing with pleasure. Jayden's eyebrows went up real high, and everyone else stared at me like I had gone psycho. Who knows. Maybe I have. Dairy Queen should be happy, though, their sales are going to be going up real high now. So are the numbers on my scale.

But, other then marriage proposals to pumpkin ice cream, I spent the other evening scouring the long isles of a local book store. I left happy, carrying an armload of books and a big smile on my face. I was especially excited after finding this Adventures In Odyssey book for only a couple of bucks...childish, obsessive fan girl, much? Nah, you never get to old to squeal over Odyssey.

Anybody else enjoying Fall and those blessed pumpkin delicacies?