Eye on the Ball

Gracias Dia

How do we like to celebrate Thanksgiving?  

Start Wednesday with a Thanksgiving meal for 15, including 5 new international friends that joined us.  

 We have hosted Thanksgiving dinners for international students for the last few years, but this was the biggest and most fun yet.  We invited some of our other friends over to to join in the fun so it ended up being a pretty big task.  Jasey and I cooked most of the afternoon - made my first whole Turkey.  But even with 15 people, we still ended up with TONS of left overs.  My favorite parts were when one of the guys said something about his home country (North Korea) he's thankful for was "Korean Girls" and also when a few of the guys took turns performing songs for us.  

 I dont have any pictures of actual Thanksgiving day because well, it wasn't all that picture worthy - which made it awesome!  We hung around our house all morning, then went and laid around my parents house and played Wii, then went to my uncles house and stuffed ourselves, then came home and watched TV.  Love it. 

Friday we did some family pictures of us with my parents for my mom's Birthday gift.  She wanted something nice to send out in a Christmas Card so we asked our friend Chris (who has an awesome camera) to meet us at Rieman Gardens for a few pics.  It was actually a pretty fun time. However, would not be worth paying the $8 per person admission to get in - luckily my mom had some free passes she won somewhere.  

 Friday night we went down to Kansas City to meet up with Greg and his family. They had a wedding down there on Saturday so we thought it would be a good half way place for us all to meet and spend the weekend together at a Hotel.  It was good for the girls to play and for the bros to get some qt together before they move to India in the spring. 

 Savannah didn't do so hot in the Hotel.  She cried almost all of Friday night until we finally took her to the car to drive around and sleep at 4am. Welcome back to having an infant!  Geez.  The three of us slept in the car from 4am - 8am.  Then we had a pretty fun day just hanging out.  Saturday night when I went to put her to bed and she screamed, jumped, shook and banged the wall for 45 minutes we decided to cut our losses and head home.  Travis came back a little early from watching the OU/OSU football game and we left KC at 10pm.  It only took us about 3 hours to get home and Sav slept most of the way.  It sure did feel good to wake up in my own bed vs waking up in the car!

I told Travis last night, she may not have done great sleeping at the Hotel, but she sleeps sooo awesome at home that I'd trade it any day.  We slept in today until 9am, and Savannah is in the middle of what I'm hoping is a 4 hour nap.  Chances are good that she'll sleep tonight from 8:30pm - 7am tomrrow. I'll take it. 

Cold weather blues....

I noticed it's been a while since I put up any pictures of Savannah, and we all know that's what you want. 

Savannah has gotten really good at playing the blues lately.  It's really nice [and by nice, i mean annoying] to listen to all the time!  But she looks cute doin it!

 She is seriously getting to be sooo much fun.  Today we went to Travis' school for Thanksgiving lunch and before we left she walked around and told all Travis' co-workers that she'd met "I go home now.  I go in car, then go to bed.  Bye bye."

This picture cracks me up because Brisco looks like a giant dog.  Trick photography at it's finest!

And yeah, she's still using a pacifier.  Mostly at naps and bed time.  But also when she's been playing really hard and just needs to wind down and watch a movie for a while.  We should probably give it up soon.  Just like we should potty train soon.  And move to a big girl bed.  And start eating breakfast and lunch at the table. Eh.  I'm ok with it. For now. 

Overcome with Fear

The Book of Luke.  Chapter 8. Verses 26 thru 39. 

Jesus and his disciples have just finished teaching and performing miracles to countless crowds when Jesus decides to head across the lake to an area where he was not known.  Upon reaching the shore, he encounters a man who is full of demons.  The man has been possessed by all kinds of evil for probably all of his life.  He is a danger to himself and to the community and is therefore kept in chains (around his hands and his feet) and under the watch of guards.  Who knows what kind of harm he could do to the women and children of the community.  He is naked most of the time.  When the demons can no longer handle being bound up, they give him strength to break free.  Once free, the man runs into the dessert where he then finds himself alone, scared, and unclothed.  His life is literally held captive by man, and by spirits.  Jesus speaks to the demons in him, finds out he is called "Legion" because there are so many of them inside him.  Although they plead with him to save themselves from the torture of hell, Jesus casts the demons into some pigs (who drown themselves)  and deals with the man. He is healed.  His life is new!  No more chains.  No more danger.  No more nakedness.  Freedom, peace, and purpose are now in his future! [I know this is a long one from me, but keep reading.]

The people from the community come out to see what Jesus has done.  He's healed the crazy man!  The man is sitting as Jesus' feet.  "Clothed and in his right mind" and the towns people were

OVERCOME

WITH

FEAR. 

So much fear, that they pleaded with Jesus to leave.  They didn't want what he had to offer. They'd seen his work in the healing of the man that they knew how to deal with and they couldn't take it.  They knew  how to manage, hide, bind, and protect the evil that was inside the man.  Now there was something about this change that they couldn't take!  Although it was seemingly better, it was change, and they didn't like it.  The change caused them to be OVERCOME WITH FEAR.  

As I read this story a few weeks ago, I though it was odd that the people were so afraid.  I mean, Jesus had made things better, right?  Who wants a crazy guy running around naked hurting people?  But what the people were afraid of was change, and power.  They knew that if Jesus stuck around, things would never be the same because he had GREAT POWER!  That is often how I deal with Jesus too.  I say I want him to change things [soften my heart for instance] but then when he does [like when I start to tear up in church or care deeply about someone's pain] I get scared.  I pull back.  I wipe my face off, suck it in, and try my hardest to remain the same.  Because I know, just as the people in the village did, that Jesus comes with GREAT POWER and if you let him in, even a little bit, life will never be the same again.  Please Jesus, give my heart courage to change. 

I'm on to you.

I just set up a sitemeter at the bottom of my page.  Yea. That's right.
I just thought it would be interesting to know how many people look into our little lives every week.  Don't worry, it doesn't tell me WHO exactly is looking.  Just how many.  So if you've been secretly stalking my blog, you may continue.  Just know, you'll be counted.

Hair Product Review... since everyone wants MY hair, you know

I know I'm probably not the first person on the planet that you would go to for advice on hair products, but in my desperate attempt to make my hair seemingly thicker and more luscious than it is I have tried my fair share of "miracle in a can" products!  

First on the list - Dry Shampoos.  {Worst to Best}

Pssst:  You can get it for $3.50 a can if you find it on sale at Walgreens like I did.  It works pretty good to dry the grease in my hair, but it also looks really white.  Since my hair is already white, it doesn't really matter much.  I seemed to go through this stuff pretty fast though.  I felt the need to use it multiple times a day.  If you're on a budget and don't have time to shower every so often, it will work. 

Next up, TRESmemme FreshStart.  I actually just got this last week and am loving it.  I only need to use it once a day and it keeps me greaseless pretty well.  It does put a thick texture in my hair though.  This product is around $8, so more than Psst, but I also use less.  The down side; it's not great to use 2 days in a row because of the texturey build up [yeah, sometimes I go DAYS without showers...]

Now this is one of my favorite hair products EVER.  ROCKAHOLIC.  My friend Amanda that used to cut my hair turned me on to it.  It's pretty pricey though.  I'm not even going to say how much it is because I'm ashamed.  But it is AWESOME.  Made my hair feel fuller and cleaner. I used to actually spray it on right after I blow dried my hair to help with volume.  And it smells really good too.  No left behind white smell or weird texture with this one.  I'd buy it by the case if I could. 

And since we're on favorites, another must have in my bathroom - Big Sexy Hair hairspray. Love it.  I have super thin hair so it's good for me to have volumizing products and this does the trick like you wouldn't believe.  I like all their products actually.  Their shampoo, conditioner, and volumizing gel are all awesome.  But who can afford this stuff all the time!?

Yep.  My hair is totally bleached.  As if you didn't know already......

People ask me all the time how I do it, and here's the secret.  $9.98 every two months. In a box. Just the roots. 

Didn't want to leave anyone out, so here's what Travis has been using lately.  Garnier Surf Hair putty. I like the smell. Plus it's not overly greasey. 

And little Savannah Sue is rocking the Sauve 2 in 1. The some "no more tangles" - Walmart brand {not pictured}.  She enjoys the "Nemo holding an apple" on the bottle and I enjoy the Cherry/Candy smell.  

There you have it.  And if anyone is interested in good gift ideas, really - Hair products are acceptable!  :)

Mommy Dates

I decided that I was going to try to try to make Wednesday mornings Savannah mornings. 

Savannah puts up with a lot of my meeting with people, cleaning the house around her, and running errands.  Although the kid has it pretty good, I want to make sure that I don't miss this awesome 2 1/2 year old time.  So I'm intentionally giving her Wednesday mornings for us. 

We started today going to Tumble bugs at City hall.  On the way in she chased her shadow.  She does this a lot lately and it's been the cause of quit a few falls, and even running into some poles. 

Here's Tumble Bugs.  It's a "gymnastics" program the City of Ames offers.  We go for 30 minutes on Wednesday mornings and she practices her skills : Hanging, rolling, jumping, and balance beam. 

 Then we went downstairs at city hall for Play Pals.  I've blogged about this before.  It's every day for a couple hours.  We just go and run around and play with toys and other kids.  

 After we did a little shopping together and washed the car (which she loved) we went home and I made Pumpkin pancakes while Savannah "worked" (put stickers on everything).  She's been really into "working" lately. 

 I'm pretty proud of these pancakes.  They had wheat germ, wheat flour, yeast, and pumpkin in them.  Then I added chocolate chips cause let's face it, that other stuff isn't all THAT good.  Then topped them with yogurt and OJ mix instead of syrup.  Pretty good!  Who have I become!?

Hall A Weeny

So I'm a little late on posting the rest of our Trick or Treat / Halloween themed pictures.  But here they are.
I will say - Today I took Savannah to store down town and as I had predicted, what do you think her first question was?  "Where candy Mommy?"  At least she has yet to run up to people's door steps and beg from them!  

We decided for the official city Trick or Treat to take Savannah to an assisted living center in town.  We had gone there a few weeks ago and they really enjoyed seeing our kid so we wanted to do it again - I guess that way we all gain something, right?

In the car on the way there Savannah started cracking up!  I think it was all the candy she'd ALREADY had that day, but it was really funny. 

 We stopped by some friends house and one of our High school kids (Danny) was "working the door". It was fun. 

 This is pretty much what it was like.  A blurr.  

A couple days before Halloween my dad had Savannah over to carve pumpkins.  He was growing a couple in his garden and was just waiting to do this with Savannah.  

We like her.