Move over Starbucks!

The nice thing about the cool fall, almost wintery weather is a good cup of hot cocoa. We've perfected how to not spend $5 a cup for a creamy, hit-the-spot, warm, comforting cup of chocolate.

We use hot cooca mix from the church food storage, coffee creamer (I like chocolate carmel or mint chocolate truffle that's out right now.) And you can't forget the spray of whipped cream.

Get your water ready.....

Poor in the steaming water into your cup with the creamer and cocoa mix alreay in there.

Don't forget the whipped cream. So move over Starbucks we make it ourselves. I spend less than $5 on the whipped cream and creamer which makes several mugs. Depending on who's squirting the whipped cream. (the boys tend to use more)

Then you get to hold your steaming cup of comfort, to forget about those grey days that my friend was blogging about!

Do you ever have a mug that you just always want to use? Is it the same one your teenage daughter always wants to use? Until Kayla got a new mug in MN this summer we use to try to get the mug out of the cupboard first. Funny the things you do for a laugh in the family. I love this little Moritz concrete mug because it fits snuggly in my hands and makes it easy to warm up when I feel like I need a little warming in this old drafty house.

I'm so cheap when it comes to heating the house...we keep the thermostat on 65* so that our gas bill isn't outrageous. Kyle always sneaks it up to 68* so it's not so unbearable. He even goes all crazy on Christmas morning and turns the heat up to 72* so that we can have a warm cozy Christmas. He's a firm believer that is not Christmas unless you're warm and cozy.

It seems that warm and cozy is what we all want here tonight.

Years and Years of Growth, Gone in Minutes

When we moved into our house about 12 years ago our kids were so small we could throw them up in the tree in front of our house. They loved that tree. We still do....did... The ice storm we had a few years back really damaged this tree. We let it do it's thing, but it's been dying ever since.

They don't fit so well up in the tree anymore, but it's been a great tree for our house. But, now it has to go. The Village asked us to take it down, so it didn't cause any damage or at least a hazard on the road.

So my happy logger husband told them he would as soon as the leaves came down. I'm not sure why that was his criteria, but he took it down in pieces since Thursday this week. Looks like a pretty safe and easy job...right?

What about from this angle?
Or this one? Okay Robin you might want to call your son and tell him he should know better than this right? Remember what happened the last time he was home alone on a ladder? This is how I found him when I came home from my training in Mansfield Thursday.

It's sad to see trees come down. They hold so many memories. This tree has stood by this house for the last 40 years or so (we have yet to count the rings).

It has been reduced from a glorious shade maker to a few piles of firewood and brush.

Obliterated by this chain saw...and an ice storm.

12 years of growth of our family and it is gone in just a few hours of work. I'm going to miss that tree.

I think Dakota already does.

I can't believe the car made it with nothing, but a bit of saw dust. Kyle couldn't move it because it needs a new battery. Good thing he didn't have an accident.

Second Round Championship Winners!

We are in week two of the Ohio High School Division V Football Playoffs. This is the second year in a row that our team has made it this far. It is very exciting because Dakota is a part of the team.

We are not in Kansas (or Jeromesville) anymore. It reminds me of the movie Hoosiers.

The field was ginormous! We didn't come close to filling up the homeside seats, but we made a good dent in the reserved seat section! Our team has a great community following. They really support and spoil the boys. This past week the Methodist Church in Jeromesville gave them a spaghetti dinner. Friday they were treated to Wendy's because the local owner's son is on the team. (second week for that treat.) Not to mention they got chauffered by charter buses instead of the regular school bus.

Fancy score boards at the Bowling Green University Stadium. Bowling Green's Mascot is the Falcons too...maybe that was a good omen (if you believe in that sort of thing.)

The team getting psyched up for the game!

The infamous bell. The president of the school board's son is a senior this year. He brings this bell and rings it everytime the defense is on the 3rd or 4th down to help pump up the boys and the crowd. It works every time.

Dakota on sideline duty. His job is to help cheer on the varsity right now.

What a stand-up and shout kind of a game tonight. The Falcons were ready for some pay back from play-offs last years. They faced-off against Patrick Henry Pariochial School. The Falcons were up 20-13 at half-time. They played hard and maintain a lead most of the game. In the fourth quarter Patrick Henry made a come back from our third quarter lead. They ended up tying the game with 1 minute and 33 seconds left in the game (due to some passive offensive play calls by our coach and a few penalties by the boys.) Anyhow, the boys took back control with three passes to senior Ryan Moore. Ryan and the quarterback Trevor Cline were on the same wave length for those last 90 seconds. Due to that we did not have to go into overtime and won 48-41. Whew! That was too close, but no less of a win. We earned another week of football practice and another weekend in the stands. (it's all good!) I wonder when Dakota's going to get driver's ed? We shall see.

You earned them boys, let see those Falcon Jacks!

F-F-FAL-C-C-ONS, Falcons, Falcons, Falcons! On to the next!

Styling motor coach for the Champions!

Two Little Fishes and Five Loaves of Bread

Since I have been stressed all week with the the 24 Days of Christmas Activity for our RS Meeting, I've been worried and wondered how we were going to give on to everyone who ordered one and all those who didn't. I only made 40 copies and more people wanted them than what signed up to get them. I was able to give everyone that wanted one a book and that ordered a book or books and have a few left over.

I can't believe it. (I mean I can, it's just a little miracle.) What a great experience. I feel very humble that Heavenly Father would give our little RS a Christmas miracle like this, when I feel like I was cussing the whole project all week.

It immediately made me think of the two little fishes and five loaves of bread story. I really felt the love of my Savior tonight.

Hallelujah Chorus in my head!

Well the book is put together, minus day 2. Which I will copy and let the Sisters put in their own book Thursday! WhoooooHooooo.

My mother-in-law sent me an email about this. I love what she had to say. Sometimes the projects we take on has pups. A puppy here and a puppy there.....That was funny to me after this experience! I think I had a whole litter. Kayla and I were singing the Hallelujah Chorus when we finished up tonight!

When we are reading our 24 Days of Christmas and feeling the Spirit everyday testify to us that this is true....all the junk will melt away.

Time and talents have definitely been donated!

Nemesis

When I volunteered to put together and activity for our RS meeting on Thursday I never realized what a problem it would turn out to be. Oy vey! I am putting together a 24 Day of Christmas activity for the meeting. I made copies for 40 binders. I ended up copying 6 reams of paper (3500 pieces of paper). Out of that I had to hand collated the whole thing. Sounds easy right?

Well, factor in human error. Getting two sheets of paper instead of one for example. Or the entire book wasn't there and I didn't check before copying. Or I didn't double check to make sure the songs matched the day of the month.

Soooo once Kayla and I have 3/4 of the book collated by hand....we find the mistakes! I feel like the character Brian in Hatchet. Mistakes, stupid mistakes! So this nice simple project has taken me 12 hours and I not finish! Ugh.

They keep going and going....

We left for Collins, OH about 4:00 today. We were headed to the Division V Regional Quarter Finals against Collins Western Reserve.

 We had a nice late fall drive through the country. It took about 50 minutes to get there.

There was already a line of people waiting to be seated when we got there. It's amazing how soon people have to go to a game just to get a good seat. I had to freeze for an extra hour and a half, just to be able to sit down.

The anticipation and cold were thick in the air.

Our school had to rent bleachers because there would be enough seating for the fans.

 The Falcons have a lot of community support. People go to the games no matter the weather. It was about 40 degrees when we arrived at 4:50ish.

Lonnie Attison was one of Toby's teachers at Mapleton High School. He is grandpa to a boy on Kota's team. He talks to Kyle every game. They've developed a good relationship.

Kayla and her friend Norell are ready to beat the cold weather and support their high school.

This is what happens when Kyle gets a hold of the camera. I get cold weather pics.

Kota warming up to stand on the side lines.

He ended up wearing 3 under armor shirts, his hooded sweatshirt and long john pants, just to stay warm on the side lines.

Half time score. The falcons came out with two touchdowns in the first 3 minutes of the game. They never really lost momentum throughout the entire game. It was a fun game to watch even though it was freezing!

Good job boys, you've worked hard for these Falcon Jacks.

This means another cold weather game next weekend. This will be a tough game. They are playing the team they lost to last year on their second game into the play-off season. We'll see if they can do it.