homemade french fries

Our six-year-old, Stephens, loves to cook!  So a few weeks ago he and I found a great step by step recipe for homemade French Fries and they were delicious!  The recipe was from my new gift subscription to Food Network magazine - yum!

One key - have your oil hot enough!  I used a candy thermometer to make sure and was amazed at how long it took the oil to heat up to the right temp.

Nativity Pictures!

Here are some shots of our family reenactment of the Christmas Story.  This year we read out of "The Way" Bible, and I really liked the interpretation of the story.  If you read my last post you will know that this year was the first time we have put the play together without our family - the Tadlocks and the Simmas.  We missed you guys very much.  The bleating of the sheep was missing... among other things :)

Betsy as Mary with Jesus swaddled in satin

Olivia made a precious angel :)

Uncle Tommy as a King - yellow is certainly his color  

The other two kings (Conner and Samuel) hanging with Shepherd Stephens before the gig

Director Mary finding the right scripture references for Narrator Tammy

Tony aka King Herod with a headpiece remarkably similar to modern day Arab leaders...

Mary and Joseph head to the stable

the angel declares the glory of God!

Narrator Tammy rocked it

Shepherds Grace and Stephens at the stable with one unwilling sheep (Lanah)

The kings inquire of Herod about the baby

The shepherds have awesome staffs!

the cast for the first annual "Boothe only" Christmas pageant
My parents and Aunt Barb got to watch and photograph!  

grandkids around the tree

Lanah preparing to be next year's narrator

packing up the costumes for next year!

Christmas Highlights

 Christmas and kids, Christmas and kids - just seem to go together...
that's a song our Oklahoma cousins sang to us LONG ago and I can't get it out of my head 10-12 years later.  We had a wonderful time this Christmas.  Unfortunately my camera got left in Jackson for the Hattiesburg side of Christmas, and none of the relatives have sent me copies yet, so I can't put any visuals here from that.  But before all that on a Saturday Ken was working I took all 4 kids to the new Children's Museum by myself.  I went on the opening day with Betsy and Stephens so it wasn't completely overwhelming, but 4 kids - different ages and genders are all interested in different things!  We went in lots of different directions and I think I lost Stephens 3 times.

Working together in the lumber industry 

Oh my king!  A kiss for the queen mother in the Between the Lions exhibit

 We went to Hattiesburg the Friday school let out to be with my brother and sister and their families at my parents' new house.  Behind their house is a creek with a couple of beavers, so we went in search of "pencil wood" and  beaver dams with cousins Grace, Olivia and Conner.  Opa is a great guide.  Oma made gingerbread houses with them according to tradition, and we had the first annual reenactment of the nativity with me as the director and producer and casting agent rather than my aunt Mignonne who chaired this event for the past 35 years at least.  All the kids and grandkids had parts to play and our only audience was Oma and Opa.  We missed the cousins and aunts and uncles and Grandmother.  (My 100 year old grandmother died in May)

Saturday night, after a wonderful meal that my sister-in-law, Tammy, prepared (with her sous chef - brother-in-law Tony) a great host of us went to see the amazing lights in Purvis.  The one picture I have is AWFUL - phone camera.  But the house is amazing.  You park your car and walk through lit paths that have story boards of the Nativity as well as The Night Before Christmas.  Scattered through the yard are lovely displays of every cartoon character family you can think of celebrating Christmas - by decorating trees or singing.  Elves are hidden in a hollowed out tree.  The oak behind the kids in the picture has an ornament for every member of their immediate and extended family, and so many more displays.  200,000 lights - that's a lot of twinkle!

Olivia, Betsy, Samuel, Grace, Stephens and Conner

On Sunday we left Hattiesburg and went straight over the river and through the woods to the OTHER grandmother's house we go...  Again, all the cousins were there - super fun!  Picked up my camera on the way :)

No boy has ever been so grateful for his camouflage Snuggie

Fling monkey

lots of lovely tulle from Mamaw - Betsy with cousin Carter

and wings to make the Lanah fairy fly!

All the Ball family Granchildren - sweet things!

The next day my brother and his family and my parents came to stay with us for a few days before my sister-in-law's family got together.  We went to the Children's Museum, the Old Capitol Museum and to the Archives where a huge train set was set up and free to the public.  Our Granddaddy used to take us to see the train when we were kids.

Grace and Lanah in the car at the museum

Samuel preparing his "No new taxes" speech at the Old Capitol

the trains, the family, the grandparents, the cousins...

 After they left we had a very quiet Christmas morning a few days later.  The hit gifts: foos ball table from Oma and Opa, the gas logs Ken and I gave each other, Snuggies from the Ball clan, Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty - Barbies and polly pocket size dolls, harmonicas for the boys, and the Star Wars pancake molds that we used to make fried egg Yodas for Christmas lunch.

Tasty Yoda

After Christmas we are never done!  Lanah's birthday (26th), my brother's birthday (27th), Betsy's birthday (29th), and  my birthday on the 30th - phew!  

Mamaw made them Barbie cakes - you decide if they like them or not

She also gave them a beautiful table and chairs - painted for a princess

Lanah's birthday celebration at our house...I think she and Baby Jesus shared the same cake...

Thanksgiving highlights!

What a sweet Thanksgiving week we had. The kids had ALL week off from school. It had some trying moments with one major mouth washing out episode, but the overall week was absolutely wonderful.

School ended with parties of thanks. Many Indians and Pilgrims graced the walls of our house after the art made it to our home. Betsy's class had Bugles as cornucopias.

After Stephens' Party (above with baby Lanah) we went to McDonald's to wait for Samuel's party...

We went to Riverside Park the first day for a picnic. They saw a stage and all took their cue to have a dance party! The second picture is Betsy teaching Stephens some ballet.

The next day we went to the science museum where there were fun crafts planned for the kids. The first picture is Betsy and Stephens making turkey call necklaces with yarn, beads, feathers and coffee stirrers.

Mickey enjoyed his "bear" back ride :)

This is one of Lanah's first trips down the treehouse slide.

The kids helped me decorate two turkey cookie cakes for Thanksgiving festivities. Too bad we forgot the one to take to Hattiesburg...

While we were in Hattiesburg all the little boys and Betsy went to the theatre to see "Cinderella" - sweet show. Needless to say Betsy loved the show and the other boys liked it too - especially Samuel: he really got into the action of live actors on stage. I think he will be a little performer :)

Tasks

Here's Lanah's first time to take out the trash. She is learning so much from the bigger kids!! Now if I can just get her to change her own diaper...

The difference between using the iPhone camera and a really great camera! Above is taken with my phone - it's ok. A memory. The below was taken with an amazing camera and big lens. The shadows and exposure are much better!!

This Time of Year

We Love Fall!

But this month has been a bit Crazy!! In the very last of September we thought Samuel broke his finger

Turns out it was a wicked sprain - God spared him again. He is blessed with amazing bones and balance. He has never made a visit to the ER in his Uber-active 8 years!

The next week we went to visit my parents in Hattiesburg to see their new house and help them decorate and hang heavy mirrors on the walls. Ken and I quickly came down with the sromach bug and were not very helpful people!!! WE were grateful to be where my folks could help us. Not sure if THEY loved us bringing our nasty germs to them! No, really, they were glad to help but were SO glad they didn't get the bug, too.

And then Ken's bug came back... He felt awful. I went to a Bible Study party Monday night and when I came back he was on the phone with a resident saying "No, I'm not going to be able to come put a central line in that lady. I have appendicitis." And I said - "No you don't. When I left you had a stomach bug. You must still have that bug and be better in the morning. I don't have time for you to have surgery." Of course, surgery he did have because he diagnosed himself accurately. The next morning when our friend, Jerry, took him to the ER, I took the girls to Wal-Mart to get ready for the crazy week. I called my parents and they hoofed it up to Jackson to help for a couple of days. I called my friends Kortney and Shelley to help with the kids. I went up to the school to tell the kids what was happening. And on my way to the hospital I ran over our sprinkler head and BROKE it. A busy few hours. At lunch Ken had surgery and was SO much happier to be out of pain.

A few days later when Ken went back to work (he said, "I will get more rest at work where no one jumps on me, kicks me or tries to climb me...") I went to Home Depot and got the stuff to fix our sprinkler head - go me!

This month both boys finished playing soccer. They are getting really coordinated and good! I am so proud to watch them. We pray they will grow to be good sportsmen.

Stephens' team minus Henry Smith

Samuel's team minus Thaxton Berch.

And a neat highlight of the month: one of Ken's patients let us use their penthouse apartment in the newly renovated King Edward for a night away from home. What a treat!!! We enjoyed dinner at Parlor Market - good food, but the prices will keep it fron being a regular haunt of ours. Then a quiet evening AND morning in downtown Jackson. The setting really made us feel miles away from home when really we got home in five minutes. We are grateful for the break from the lovely chaos.

And to top it off, Samuel turned 8. What fun. We had a few friends from his class spend the night. They made their own pizzas, played Bingo, watched the Clone Wars, played outside until way too late, talked about burps, played the Wii. Can it get any better for an 8 year old?

And we haven't even made it through all the fall festivals and Halloween events... Two more days. We'll make it and it will be an adventure!!!