A Good Break

So we have had a wonderful weekend! It helped that it was 4 days long, of course. We have the house decorated for Christmas, and we've started our shopping.
Rusty has been eating some table food and he is a bottomless pit! I let him feed himself some beans last night and what a mess! He loved it, though. He loves anything. The other night he wanted something off my plate and Russ told me to give him a piece of an onion. Well, I did and he even wanted more of that!
He was so sweet this weekend. He woke up Friday night with a low-grade fever and he is about to chew his hand off so I think maybe those top teeth are coming through.

Sweet, happy boy!

Santa Claus was mine and Rusty's favorite Black Friday purchase.

The almost finished front porch. We still have some icicle lights that are going up. I love it!

Our little Christmas tree

Rusty checked out Santa's sled.

Helping Mimi in the kitchen.

Looking for leftovers.

Found them!

Happy Thanksgiving!

It was so nice to wake up this morning and just be able to stay home for awhile. We ALL slept until 7:30! I got up and started cooking a few things. My kitchen smells like a mixture of pumpkin, green bean casserole, and chocolate cookies. We are going over to Phillis' (Russ' mom) to eat around 1:00. We watched the parade and Rusty is now taking a nap.

I was talking to the kids yesterday and we went around and mentioned something we were thankful for. A couple of the kids had two or three things to say, but I came to this one boy and he said, "My parents are divorcing and I'm not thankful for anything." I pushed him a little and he went on to say that he was thankful for a friend that had been helpful to him. I am sad that my entire family isn't together for Thanksgiving, but I am sooo thankful for our family. I've already talked to mom twice this morning while making the banana pudding. I am thankful that they are only a phone call away. I am thankful that we have Rusty this year. He makes the holidays much more fun. God has given us a wonderful babysitter for him and that is a huge blessing. I am thankful for Russ. I have never met anyone more willing to help out than him. In fact, it's hard to keep him from volunteering for everything he can. Most of all I am thankful for God's mercy. He has been merciful to us to give us a loving family, a wonderful church family and a place to work, and He has given us eternal life. So Happy Thanksgiving!

Here are some snapshots from the past week...

Rusty has learned to take his cup "to go"

Bundled up for a walk to Walgreens. (There is a Walgreens about 4 blocks down. Walking there is a family favorite.)

Rusty was helping pull out the Christmas decorations.

Ready for church on Sunday.

Rusty loved his Thanksgiving card from Granny and Papa Jones!

OCA Drama

My drama class did a presentation of Lady Jane Grey in chapel yesterday. This was the first time we tried our hand at a full length drama of a serious nature. We do great at melodramas and comedies, but I wanted to push the bounds a little and I was pleasantly surprised! I have some real talent this year. Maiya, the girl who played Jane, was amazing! She even had me in tears and I've watched them practice for the last 2 months. It's so neat to think back to when we first read it and then see it come together (even though I always have my doubts!). Here are some pictures. I took these AFTER the play, so it was hard to get them back into character. Oh, well!

And would a post be complete without a picture of Rusty?

Happy Faces

Rusty has started making the funniest looking faces at the camera. It's like he is squinting at the light. So I hope that I haven't done damage to his eyes with all of the camera flashing!

Basketball season is in swing now with our first home game tomorrow night. Rusty helped keep the concession stand with us Friday at the "Meet the Saders Night." He was great for business!

He's working on his mean look!
Sleepy-head here. He loves that little monkey.

Rusty was laughing so hard tonight. It's precious when he gets like this.









One last thing, Russ held Rusty up while he was laughing so we could show you his teeth. You can only see it if you pull his lip up or raise him over your head. It's so funny looking, but I love it!

Why Didn't I Invent This?

This is my new favorite thing. A man invented this after his daughter died from choking. (That's what someone told me anyhow.) Rusty holds it like a rattle, but it opens up and you can put any kind of food in. He chews the food through the net so nothing to big for him to swallow goes through. I've only put fruit in it. His favorite thing to eat right now is apples and I think it must feel good to his teeth. By the way, he is still a vampire child. I will try to get a picture of that up soon.He is very generous and you can see that he wanted to share with Haley. What a sweet boy!




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Round 'Em Up!

This Sunday was a Round Up Sunday at church. Rusty was decked out in his sheriff's outfit with some cowboy boots. I got a few pictures, but he won't hardley look at the camera when we take him outside. Just the cars driving by. His new thing is clapping, can you tell?

How's the Family?

My sister is home from college this weekend and all of my side of the family is getting together. All but us, of course. I love Florida and where God has brought us, but I miss my family terribly.
Dad is the interim pastor at a church in Tuscaloosa, AL. If all goes as planned, they will be taking that church full time shortly. I am excited about Mom and Dad being there and I believe they are as well. For those of you who don't know, Tuscaloosa is where the University of Alabama is. It is about an hour south of Carbon Hill.
Mom and Dad are loving being grandparents. They were down here a couple of weeks ago and Rusty had the time of his life. These are from this summer, though...

Hannah is doing well. She is a Sophomore at Crown this year. She is working for Mr. Dustman at the college there. We still favor a little...
Everyone knows Granny, for sure! Granny still works the night shift at the nursing home. I won't say exactly, but Granny is past 70 and she needs to SLOW DOWN! This is Granny and Gracie...(Gracie is my cousin Tonya's daughter.)
This is me with Gracie. She is such a cutie pie...So, I couldn't find a picture of just Ben. I need to remember to get one of those. One of the kids was talking about the Transformers movie and I remember Josh and Ben having these pajamas. I laughed when I saw it on here. I forgot Russ had scanned some of my old photos. Anyhow, Bubba is helping Mom and Dad out in that church in Tuscaloosa and he is also still working at Chic-fil-a.

Josh and Hannah are working in a church in Hartselle, AL. Josh is helping them get a daycare up and running. This is his daughter Madison. She is so funny!



Madison kept checking on Rusty for us when he was taking his nap at Mom and Dad's house. Rusty loved her to pieces, too!

God has blessed me with such a great family. I cannot imagine how Mom did it when we were all so young. I love Rusty, but I don't think I could manage 4 of him! It does inspire me to want to have more children after I think of all the fun we have had and are still having. Christmas and Thanksgiving are never boring!