A few pictures from Christmas

Poor Joshua has been very sick, but despite that nasty runny nose and cough, he had a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Big Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

I was looking for a new cookie recipe yesterday and found this recipe for Ginger Molasses Cookies. I baked the cookies this morning and the house smells wonderful and the cookies are sooooo good! Joshua kept asking "what's that smell?" (be sure to read that with a cute southern accent).

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup molasses
2 tablespoons white sugar

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Gradually stir the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

My favorite time of year

I love this time of year, with Christmas music and decorations everywhere. It gets better and better every year. This year is even more fun because Joshua is so excited about Christmas. He loves the lights and the trees. We started decorating our tree yesterday and we're still working on it today. I usually place a large red bow on the top of the tree, but this morning Joshua told me that we had to put a star on the top of the tree. You know, it's whatever he wants, so this afternoon we will be headed to the store to find a star for our tree topper.

Here are a few of the pictures from the beginning of decorating:

Digging through the ornaments

Picking the perfect place to hang

Pooh's musical snow globe:Joshua is so funny - he's wearing the stockings as socks!

Wishing you all a wonderful holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving

I am late posting for Thanksgiving, but didn't want to let it get too late before saying how thankful I am for the many wonderful blessings in my life.

The Lord has blessed me with a wonderful family and I'm thankful for each of you. I'm especially thankful for my loving husband and my precious child. I'm thankful that my brother is recovering and doing very well since his surgery. I'm also very thankful to my mom and sister for taking such good care of us while we were in Virginia. The Lord has also blessed me with a wonderful church family and many friends for whom I am so thankful.

The Lord has been so very good to me.

Ice Cream Party

This morning, Daddy surprised Joshua with a Play-Doh Ice Cream Machine! Joshua invited Lightning McQueen, Mater, Buzz Lightyear, Farmer Bob, Bob the Builder, and lots of other friends to a party. We made ice cream sundaes for everyone!

Joshua & his Gator

This is a short video of Joshua driving his Gator. He has had lots of fun with the Gator and his driving skills have really improved since he first drove it at the birthday party!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pony rides, pumpkins, and tractors

Today, we finally made it up to the pony ride and pumpkin patch. Needless to say, Joshua had a blast!!! He greeted the man at the pony ride with a "Hey Partner!"

Happy Halloween!

We celebrated Halloween by passing out candy to the neighborhood trick or treaters. Joshua has never liked wearing costumes, but he did like riding his horse this year!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

3 years old!!

It's hard to believe my baby is three years old; it seems as if it was just yesterday that we were bringing him home! Now he is not just walking and talking, but running and having conversations with us! I'm amazed by his imagination and the stories that he creates with his cars or stuffed animals. I can't ever say enough how much the Lord has blessed us with Joshua. I treasure every day with him and try to capture every day in pictures (because I know my memory won't retain it all). He says so many funny things, every day is something new. Just ask Hazy, I always have a story to tell! There are so many times I wish I could hit the "pause" button and just savor the moment a little longer because they seem to get away much too quickly.

Joshua, we thank God for you every day. You are such a joy and we love you so much!!!

Joshua likes the movie "Cars"; he can even sing "Life is a Highway". So here is Joshua's third year in review:

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Pictures, pictures, pictures

In case you hadn't noticed, I love pictures!

On Friday, Joshua met me at the door with this beautiful bouquet of flowers. He was so sweet and said, "Look mommy, flowers for you!" Just makes my heart melt....

On Saturday, we painted pine cones.

Which turned into painting our toes.

I love this age! Every day is so much fun. It's hard to keep up with all the funny things Joshua says and how much he knows, but we have a new story everyday!!!

The best way to spend an afternoon

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

A Boy and his fishing pole

Most people know that Ronnie is an avid fisherman. He used to take the boat out most every weekend and usually at least once a week. Notice, I said "used to". The last few years, he hasn't ventured out on the boat quite as much as he would probably have liked, but now Joshua is getting close to the age, where they can start making the trips together. Don't get me wrong...I like to go fishing...as long as I don't have to bait the hook or take the fish off! :-)

We've talked about taking Joshua out a few times this year, but the days never seemed to work out. So this week, since Joshua was inside almost every day because of the strep, Ronnie decided to get the fishing pole out and let him "practice" fishing. It was quite a sight, but you can see from the smile on his face that he is going to LOVE it when he gets to really go fishing!

Look Mom! I caught a Snoopy!

Such concentration, notice the toes...

Sick day #5

Joshua has been battling with the strep virus for five days now. I think this morning he is feeling alot better. We've never had any experience with strep, but found out that it can be a nasty little bug. I hope Joshua doesn't ever have to go through this again.

He finally felt like coloring a little and I actually got him to smile and look at the camera....

Elmo Grows Up

Joshua had a great time at the Sesame Street Live show. This year's storyline was "Elmo Grows Up". All of Elmo's friends try to help him decide what he wants to be when he grows up. Joshua's favorite career was the train conductor. He also felt like a celebrity because we were close enough for him to shake hands with Elmo, The Count, Cookie Monster and Grover.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Letter of the week - B

In school, Joshua's class has been working on the letter B. Today we made a Letter B - Bee.

You can find some other great letter recognition ideas at No Time For Flashcards.

We've had a busy, busy couple of weeks, so the Letter B seems very appropriate. I hope that our schedule will slow down a bit this week. We are looking forward to a quiet family weekend.

Introducing Dorothy

Recently we've been discussing the possibility of a new pet for Joshua. It's been a while since we had to let Peanut go, but we weren't really ready for another dog. Deron and Laura have a great fish tank at their house (one that looks a little too complicated for us), but Joshua really likes the fish. So, this afternoon we had to stop at Wal-Mart for a few things and wandered over to the fish. Joshua was pretty excited and, of couse, wanted the biggest one, but we settled on a typical goldfish-like fish. I can't remember the exact name, but it's a little bigger than a goldfish. We asked Joshua what he wanted to name his fish and he tapped his finger to his chin and said, "Let me think. Oh! I know! Dorothy!" So Dorothy it is!

A new bike

Thank you Granny!

Robot

In case you wonder what we do all day:

Today, as Joshua and I were unloading a box of diapers he put the empty box on his head and said, "I'm a robot, mommy!" So, we grabbed the markers, paper and scissors and started working. Joshua has such an aversion to costumes that I wondered if he would really like it once we were finished. It turned out really cute and he actually did put it on long enough for me to snap one picture with him smiling. Immediately after the picture was taken, he started saying, "Get it off of me, get it off of me." Since then he won't put it back on, but he likes to play with it. This afternoon we added a tube through the arm holes and it became a bridge for his cars.

I just showed him this post and picture and now he wants to turn it into an airplane!!! That's probably what we'll be doing on Monday!

Happy Weekend!

Another great weekend

This past weekend we had the opportunity to travel to South Georgia and visit with Beth, Jabin, Lillie, and Becca. Joshua had a great time playing with Lillie and Becca. Unfortunately, somehow I didn't even click one picture!!! Don't ask, I have no good answer?!?! You can check on Lillie and Becca at Beth's blog by clicking here. Beth and Jabin were very gracious hosts and we enjoyed our visit. I'm hoping we will get to see them again very soon! (hint, hint)

Ronnie was blessed to preach on Friday night as well as Saturday morning. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with all the people at the church. We look forward to visiting with them again soon also!

Thanks to everyone for a blessed weekend!

Since I didn't take any pictures from the weekend, I leave you with a few of the latest play-doh creations: