who am I and whose invention?

Ok, showing off here a little. I'm not the best Mom at helping my kids be "great" at something...maybe because I'm not particularly "great" at anything. I tend to encourage them to do little bits of everything. But Molly tends to order her life according to current obsessions, and here is her latest. She has been drawing horses intently for about 6 months now, and this is her latest attempt. This is freehand!!! Maybe I'm so amazed because I cannot draw ANYTHING at all, but I think she's done a smashing job. Some of Grandpa Slaughter's genes are running through that girl, and I'm counting on her to make us rich someday (kidding). She asked me if I thought anyone would buy her pictures so she could raise money for our Tennessee trip in August...she said she'd make it a bargain at 10 cents per picture :-)

only happy endings, this we guarantee

Most Friday nights, assuming we don't have big plans (such as date night or an invite to a poker group), it's Family Movie Night at the SlaughterHouse. We try to pick a movie that will appeal to all or most ages, which can be quite a challenge. Dave makes homemade popcorn (no microwave garbage for us, nosirree!) and we hunker down with pillows and blankets for the feature film. Liam generally only lasts through 1/2 of the movie (if that) and then we put him to bed so we can relax. It's a fun family tradition that our kids look forward to, and remind us of throughout the week. From a recent FMN:

Liam being "one of the brothers".
Princess gets the most comfy spot.
Pretty sure she's faking. Drama, drama.

think of me fondly

Liam loves to kiss Judah. From the look on Judah's face, I'm not convinced that the affection is mutual, but we'll give it some time. When L sees J, he says, "Ooooooooh!" and then proceeds to poke him.

hit me with your best shot

This one is overdue, but I'm always a bit behind :-) So now you can see CJ's favorite job while she was here visiting us in December. She's a saboteur.

baby, baby, baby, baby, oh baby!

I went to see one of my bestest friends, Janelle (one of the Posse), in the hospital tonight. She just had her first baby, Elijah William, early this morning. I told Janelle that she is my hero....her water broke to begin her labor, and she delivered little Eli 49 hours later, with no c-section!! I'm so proud of her and know that she and Craig will be great parents to the new wee Banta. And I'm thankful that she lives close enough for play dates :-) Congrats to Janelle and Craig, and may God pour out His blessing on this new covenant child!

Eli was awake and wide-eyed the whole time I was there.
The happy Banta fam -- I love you guys!!
Despite lack of blood ties, I am Eli's favorite Auntie already. I can tell.

this one's for the girls

I know that after my meme you may be shocked that I actually quoted a **gasp** country song for my title. But since the whole point of this post was to show my sisters (who have been bugging me) my hair, it seemed appropriate. Annie trimmed my hair, colored my horrid gray, and then gave me side bangs. I was nervous about the bangs since I haven't had any since I was 18 or so, but I think she did a great job. And now I'm holding out a bit of hope that with about 80% of my gray going incognito, I might get carded the next time I order a drink. Please don't be a dream smasher.

I cried when I wrote this

Sisters are just the greatest accessories a girl can have. Aubrey was in town for about 3 minutes (or that's what it felt like) and we loved every nano-second. She, Annie and I shopped, watched in horror as a talentless bimbo was crowned Miss America, ate a lot of sugar, and then fussed when she left. **Sniff, sniff**

I make my confession, I make it in public

Evidently, these meme thingies aren't out of style yet, and so because I got tagged by my friend Jennifer, I will now attempt to come up with another few things about myself that you will want to know or at least not be sorry that I told you. So...here goes. The really important rules that you MUST NOT break are something like:

(1) Link to the person that tagged you. (2) Post the rules on your blog. (3) Share six non-important things/habits/quirks about yourself. (4) Tag six random people at the end of your post by linking to their blogs. (5) Let each random person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their website

6 things...

1) My favorite food is red meat. Really.
2) I detest country music, and yes -- I will make fun of you if you love it, even if you are related (or coincidentally, married) to me.
3) My favorite movies are independent, black comedies. And if your husband hates movies b/c they are "chick flicks", then I probably do to.
4) I'm the only true Texas native on the A-team, which is the reason why y'all should not make fun of how loud I am and how much I talk.
5) The only red thing better than meat is wine.
6) Watching Miss America is not as fun without all 6 sisters together, and is definitely not as much fun when the only loser in the bunch gets the crown.

Since my mother already had the nerve to tag some of my best friends, I don't have many choices left. But I'll go with Janelle, Amy, Shelley, Bekah, Stephanie B and Stephanie G. You go, girls.

well, I'd want you here with me

Since we all spent the week sick while Mom was here visiting, this is the only picture I got of her with any Slaughter. Since Liam had changed the most since her last visit, I figured he was top priority for a Granny photo. And next time she visits, we'll be sure to take more. We still enjoyed Mom's time here, despite the bummer virus, and wish the visits could be more often. Texas is just entirely too far away...

Thanks for making the trip, Mom! The Virginia Extension of the Warren tribe misses you.

snow angel, snow angel

I had to share this picture of Molly's creation earlier today, in our backyard. We got about 4 inches of snow yesterday (whoopee!!!), and Molly quickly went to work on 2 very large snowmen (one behind her in the pic), and this super-cute dog. I love it! Too bad the bright sun and mid-40s are quickly killing them all. I'm guessing they'll "be back again some day" ;-)

you're so good, baby you're so good

So....not to be outdone by our friend Nate's recent display of culinary skill, Dave was inspired to once again try his hand at recreating a Chicago stuffed pizza. We used to stuff ourselves silly on these at Giordano's, Malnati's, Eduardo's, etc, and there is nothing like it anywhere in our neck of the woods. This latest attempt was scrumpdiddlyumptious, and we savored every bite! I love being married to a good man.

there's a party goin' on right here

I haven't posted about football in a while, so give me a minute....go Seahawks!!! They just won their first playoff game, with a 35-14 defeat of the Redskins! Wahoo! It wasn't easily won, and was definitely earned by the Seahawks' defense, as the offense looked fairly lame most of the 60 minutes. But, whatever...they won! Seattle now has to face the Packers in Green Bay next Saturday, but I won't think about that tonight, I'll think about that tomorrow (you like that, sis?). I screamed too much, and woke up my baby once, and Dave and I almost threw up our dinner a couple times, but I think I lost 2 of the 10 lbs that I made a resolution to lose! And don't worry, I promise I will bother you with more Seahawks' posts...but only if they win.

I'm almost finally out of words

This is what happens when I leave my hard work out, exposed to short people. Carrie was really just trying to help. Really. She explained that Liam "told" her that he was hungry, and she wanted to give him (and her, of course) a little snack. I promise, the bread looks better (and not so leprous) when it comes out of the oven.

celebrate the Child who is the Life

I've been sitting here preparing to type a Christmas post, really more of one encompassing thoughts and feelings about the Advent season and all that it means as we anticipate the Gift. I have many thoughts on the necessity of the celebration of the Advent, how crucial it is in the life of a believer as we struggle, discover and understand the fullness of the Gospel. And while I've heard murmurings lately of Christians who have convictions about they themselves (and the Church as a whole) not celebrating Christmas, or the advent of it, I'm even more convinced than ever that God made our spirits to need this time. He made us to need to anticipate. Our emotions are so tied into not only what we have, but what we sense coming. To celebrate the birth of the One who means life, freedom, and love to His sheep is a most glorious way to show that we know without a doubt what that life, freedom and love have done for us. And so after thinking many grand thoughts that I might share with you, I was reminded of a beloved passage from Michael Card (a favorite musician/singer/author. Michael writes:

"If Christmas means anything to you, it must mean everything. It is a beginning and an end. It is a time of darkness and inexpressible light. It is a time of blessed relief at finally seeing all God's promises come true in one person. It is a time of tension as well, as we look ahead in the life of this dear little One, with a kind of historical omnipresence, because we know how it all will end, on earth anyway. As our family gathers around our faint, flickering candle to read the Christmas story, the loneliness of the stable reminds us of the loneliness of another place on a hill outside Jerusalem. The rough trough seems almost as cruel a place as a cross. The infant cries we hear coming from the stable seem no less desperate than His final cry, and no less forsaken. "

So, I hope that this Christmas, He will mean everything. He is no less than the one thing you need to be at peace. Merry Christmas to you and yours, and may He grant you His grace to know Him more and more.

making spirits bright

Dave and Molly decided to make colored popcorn balls for a recent Family Movie Night (which we do every Friday). It was gooey and messy, but they had so much fun together. Molly is a bit (teehee) like her mother, and quality time is her love language, so projects with Dad totally make her day, week, year. The popcorn balls were very good, and (according to Aubrey and CJ) since they've now done it once at Christmas, it is henceforth-and-forevermore a tradition.

red, gold, and green

Heehee -- amuses me that I actually used a Culture Club lyric in my title...ah, the 80's. Anyway, here's the yumminess that we made yesterday! My computer was confused by me evidently, and added them all out of the order I had chosen. I'm pretty sure that you'll understand that the baked cookies came before the frosting, so I'll not insult your intelligence by numbering them. We had a great time, and I wouldn't have done it if sis wasn't here. In fact, I'm still slightly in shock that I did it at all, but now that its over, I'm very glad I forced myself to get it done. And for the benefit of those who might be impressed at my improvements, I did not burn even one cookie out of the 9-10 dozen I baked! My one disappointment this year was that I couldn't find red hots anywhere. I don't really even know how to eat a Christmas cookie without red hots, and I miss the few cookies that get blessed with 3 dozen red hots(courtesy of Josh or Henry). It was sad, and I'll make sure to look for them earlier next year. I love all the colors!!
Carrie did very well, and ate well, too.
Can't remember who won.
Finally, they get rewarded for their hard work.
Liam thought he had just won the lottery.

Here are my 116 cookies!
Details, details
And plenty more detail w/ this guy
Not so much here ;-)
Dok made it all more fun.

well, we are...yes we are

My husband is one year older, one year better, one year wiser. Thank you Dave, for letting me be the one to watch you grow even more wonderful every day. I'm yours. Happy Birthday.

he ain't heavy

A couple nights ago, sis, Dave and I were sitting in the living room talking when Warren comes down the stairs with a look of consternation on his face...

Warren: Mom?! Henry just said something really mean to me.

Me: What did he say?

Warren: Well, I can't remember. But it was really bad and mean!

(the rest of us look at each other in disbelief, stifling laughs, and though not caring about the offense per se, curious to know what creativity Henry had come up with)

Me: Tell Henry I want to talk to him.

(Henry comes down w/ his characteristic "Tim" frown and slumped shoulders)

Henry: Yes, Mom?

Me: What did you say to Warren that was mean?

Henry: Um...I told him that Winnie the Pooh was his girlfriend.

(and then we grown-ups proceeded to laugh, snort, and marvel at our lives. Henry slunk off quickly.)

watch out, here I come

Liam was so excited about his first time out in snow that he ran out the door, tripped over the threshold, and cut his upper lip nicely. I tried to mop up the blood, but he was too anxious to get out there and keep up with his brothers. He was not ready when I took him inside after 30 minutes, even though his fingers were icicles -- he's a true Virginia baby!

as long as you love me so...

Yesterday we had our first snowfall, which happened much earlier than normal around here! We were all thrilled, and the kids were not-so-patiently waiting for some accumulation while they did school work, counting the minutes until they could bundle up and head out. About 4 inches fell, so it was enough for some fun winter activities. Carrie was inside playing with Erin, content to stay warm and watch through the window, but Liam was introduced to snow for the first time (pics of him coming). That's always a great day! Of course, for the older 3, hot chocolate was a necessary cure for frozen fingers and lips afterward.