IF YOU LIKE STARBUCKS SALTED CARAMEL HOT CHOCOLATE...

you'll LOVE these!  I made them as something new to take to Thanksgiving - besides the old standards.  I really liked them but I did learn something.  You cannot stack them - even between sheets of wax paper!  They weren't as popular as Puppy Chow or my sister-in-law's iced sugar cookies, or even pie, but that's okay.  Fun for something different.  Here's the RECIPE!

A NEW ADDITION TO THE ANNUAL PUMPKIN BASH...

was gourds!  We found out that green gourds are pretty juicy!  Click on that picture for a closer look!  Nasty.

Other than that, we had a wonderful holiday, filled with all the things we love:

9 a.m. Turkey Trot - The green team!

Lori always surprises us with a different cheesecake to add to the Thanksgiving meal!  Chocolate chip cookie dough cheesecake is pretty fantastic.

4 different tables of chaos, I mean games, going on at once! We are especially blessed to have my father-in-law still with us this holiday, after a rough year of cancer treatment.  

Annual Cousin Pumpkin Bash - wow, are they growing up! (see previous posts under Thanksgiving if you're wondering what a pumpkin bash is)

Their traditional photo on top the biggest pumpkin

Well it's hard for me to pick one favorite thing about this special time with the family but I have to say what means the most to  me is the Wednesday night All Church Singing time. Not only do we sing for an entire hour, but each song is led and chosen by a different song leader.  Young and old, big and small, and I think if I counted right, 13 of the song leaders were from our family.  It's hard to not watch them the entire song, but I'm getting better at worshipping during this time.  Love watching these young men growing up getting involved in worship!  Yes, we are truly blessed.  

HOW TO EAT A FLAMING MARSHMELLOW...

Without hesitation, of course!  This young man and two others from HU recently stayed at our house on the way to Colorado for Thanksgiving break.  When we were outside making S'mores, his marshmellow was on fire and he promptly ate it!  I about freaked out.  When I asked him how he did that, he said he had been doing it a long time.  One of the other boys asked his secret, and he said, and I quote, "DO NOT HESITATE."  That was it.  Then I expressed my disappointment at not getting a picture and he said for me to go get my camera.  So he ate a total of 3 flaming marshmellows that night!

Here's all 3 of them acting half-way normal...

They are friends of our daughter from HU and International students.  Let me just say that my daughter has some interesting friends.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and a word of caution:  DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME.  Or anywhere else, for that matter.

SPONTANEOUS SATURDAY...

I had great plans for Saturday...putting up Christmas lights!

Well, my husband and daughter (who just got home for Thanksgiving break) started talking Saturday morning and one thing led to another, and well, before I knew it they were headed to bike around the lake.  Yes, 9 miles around Lake Hefner with the winds blustering at 20 or more mph!  Fine, you guys go do that.  They asked me to go, to be polite, to which I declined.  Then my son decided to go...and well, you know, I felt compelled to join them no matter how it might affect me later.  And I got to ride the bike that nobody claimed.  Nice!  Really, this bike just showed up in our garage and belongs to somebody's friends' family.  The seat was as hard as a rock.  (I won't tell you how I padded my bottom but you can probably figure it out!)

The first 15 minutes was a KILLER!  I considered turning around, just sitting in the car, and waiting on them.  Riding into the wind, pedaling that bike, felt like I was going nowhere.  But it got better.  We even coasted a little at some points.  My son dropped back and rode beside me and let my husband go faster for a while.  Then my daughter doubled back and rode the last mile or so with me.  So I got some time to visit with my college kids and that made it all worth it.

Not only that, our daughter had never been to Big Truck Tacos, so my son really wanted to take her there for lunch.  We got some great Mexican food and sat outside at their picnic tables, just enjoying the day.  There's something really great about enjoying a meal after a good workout!  No guilt whatsoever!

And do you know I still got the Christmas lights up?  Hubby helped me.  It was a great spontaneous Saturday.

THE EDITOR...

Homework with a tenth grader

Editing a research paper

Learning more about a topic

A rough draft

Examining the thesis

Gently encouraging

Correcting misspelled words

Taking out yous

Replacing overused words

Checking for plagiarism

Quoting the sources

Citing information correctly

Reading again and again

A final copy

Acceptable

I am a rough draft

Everyday I need editing

Full of errors

Gently encourage me

I fumble my words

Misstep

I need correcting

What is my theme

Take out I's
Replace my wants

Examine the source

Read me again and again

Perfect in me

A final copy

Acceptable

Pure

WHAT COLLEGE KIDS DO IN THEIR SPARE TIME, II

My husband and I were kicked out of the bedroom and bathroom the other night.  Here's what came out of that:  ELF reenactment

Next time I hope he will give me a heads up and I'll get all my clutter off the bathroom cabinet!  But of course those sweet college girls remind me that my mess makes me MORE REAL.

BE REAL TODAY!

MEXICAN LASAGNA (VEGETARIAN)

Made this for my family the other night and we had forgotten how good it is!  Pretty healthy too, only 4 g fat per serving.  Looks like I got it from bhg.com:

2 cups chopped onion
1 1/2 cup chopped green pepper
1 14 oz. can chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup picante sauce
2 cloves minced garlic
2 t. ground cumin
2 15 oz. cans black beans, drained
10 7 inch corn tortillas
2 cups reduced fat cheddar cheese
shredded lettuce

In a large skillet, combine first six ingredients.  Bring to boiling, then reduce heat to simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir in beans.

Spray a 13 x 9 pan with nonstick coating.  Spread 1/3 of bean mixture over bottom of dish.  Top with half of the tortillas, and half of cheese.  Layer another 1/3 of beans, then remaining tortillas and cheese.  Finish with beans on top.  Cover and bake for 35-40 minutes at 350.  Let stand for 10 minutes.

Garnish with shredded lettuce, lowfat sour cream.