The Winston Family

Canning Time

2011-07-29T17:35:00.012-05:00

I have been on a mission to learn how to can. I have bought books, canning supplies and searched the Internet. I decided that the easiest thing to start with is tomatoes. I found a recipe for spaghetti sauce on the Internet. Sarah got in on the action. She helped me blanche the tomatoes and put them in cold water bath.

I peeled them and squeezed the juice out after blanching them.

Mixed all the ingredient together and cooked the tomatoes down. Boy, did it smell good.

I ended up with 6 pints of sauce.

Getting Closer

2011-07-12T18:31:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday David and the crew poured the concrete for the ceiling. The garage and a few walls will be out of wood. David is working the foundation for the garage, after that will be poured on Thursday. We will have to wait a few days for all the ceiling to cure out, then they will take down the shoring. Then ready for the framer.

We have a sample box of the brick, but we have been so busy that we haven't had to time to open the box. haha We are going to put rock and siding also on the house.

Hello Everyone!

2011-06-22T10:56:00.002-05:00

It's been awhile, alot has been going on.

1. Put house on the market the end of March, sold in two days.

2. Bought 22 acres not far from where we were living.

3. Moved out April 10th

4.Built David a shop with small apartment.

5. Lived in camper for 5 weeks until apartment was ready

6. Building an house that is made of concrete, as of now the walls are up. Working on ceiling/roof.

Boy! Where have I've been. Busy I tell you.

2010-03-19T23:41:00.001-05:00

This is Emalee and Kayla they are our youngest granddaughters. They had so much fun together. All the kids except for Dawn and her bunch weren't able to come over for Christmas. As usual we fix our Mikey and Minnie waffles with all the trimmings. Then open presents. One of the boys had gotten a Nerf gun. So the fun Nana that I am, took upon myself to chase the grandkids around and shoot them. They had so much fun and of course I did too. The whole family was truly blessed this year, not by how many gifts we received but by enjoying each others company.
Will try to catch everyone up on our goings, it has been busy from the get go.

Thanksgiving 2009

2009-11-28T12:52:00.003-06:00

This year half of our kids were out of town, so our little family was very small this year. David and I decided to go out to eat instead of cooking a big dinner. I did make desserts thou. We wanted to go to Cracker Barrel to eat. When we got there it was so packed that their wait line was out the door. We tried to check other places that might have turkey and dressing, but ended up at IHop. Then headed home to eat our pumpkin pie.

Happy Birthday Lydia!

2009-10-23T17:52:00.002-05:00

Today is Lydia's birthday. I've had the blessings of being her Mom for 2oyrs. I have watched her grow into a beautiful lady.

Our Brother and Friend

2009-10-23T17:22:00.005-05:00

Our brother in law went to be with the Lord on October 1oth. It was a tragic loss to our family and most of all to my sister in law Tomi. We had the blessing of having Bob in our family for almost 15yrs. He will be greatly missed until we meet again in Heaven.

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. the spring rains will come again.
Sarah Ban Breathnach

Our Vacation Trip

2009-08-18T09:33:00.023-05:00

We started out towards West Virginia to see Robert Sheffie's grave. He was a circuit riding preacher. David had seen a movie about his life when he was in college and ever since then he wanted to go see his grave. Then we headed on to Hampton, Virginia. David had preach at Bro. C.J.'s church in Hampton while we were there. Bro. C.J. took us to see a military base that had a mote around it. It was Ft. Monroe.
We had spent a few hours at Virgina Beach. David rented this bicycle contraption. It was two double seated bicycles put together. At first David and Sarah were up front and each of them had steering wheel. David had switched place with Sarah to let her steer. David would get nervous and try to steer with his, but it didn't work.
David and I have always wanted to drive down the east coast to look at Lighthouses. Some of the we had a hard time finding, but we did find the Bodie Island Lighthouse in North Carolina. We fell in love with the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The smell of the waves coming onto the beach and the breeze and was very quiet.
I wanted to go eat at Paula Deen's restaurant in Savannah, GA. Well sadly I didn't get to, it was so busy the only time we could eat was late that night. So maybe another time. I did get to shop in her store. I bought me some bowls that were really cute and of course a T-shirt.
We spent a couple of days at Daytona beach. Sarah had fun trying to catch the waves.
This was a first for Sarah and I to go parasailing. David had done it about 10yrs ago. It wasn't as scrary as I tought it would be. We had so much fun. David and Sarah were the only ones to get sunburned. I told I didn't because it was the Indian in me. haha

Now it Sarah's turn to pick what she wants to do on vacation. We headed over to Orlando to go to Epcot. She had so much fun visiting all the different countrys. Her favorite was France.
We had lunch at China and it was delicious. David and Sarah tried on different hats at each country.

Sarah with her French Beret.
Sarah also wanted to go to Animal Kingdom.

We went to see what it feels like to be a bug. Sarah didn't like this show, because she is very scared of bug. David and I love it.
The last thing we did before heading home was to eat at Planet Hollywood. David and Sarah's food wasn't that good, but I did like my salad.
Doesn't it look pretty.
Now headed home after a long and tried two weeks.

Happy Belated Birthday Preston

2009-07-09T00:08:00.009-05:00

Preston was in Florida on his birthday. David (Papa) and I had a birthday dinner and cake for him at our house and it was the first time he had got to see our new house. He turned 7 this year. I can't believe how the time has flown by.

Preston is reading his birthday card. He is has gotten to be a very good reader.

Showing his Mario Bros. DS game.

Preston loves cheese and crackers. I have to keep them on hand at our house for him.

Lost Picture

2009-07-09T00:01:00.003-05:00

This picture was taken at the Family Reunion it of Tomi and her family. In the picture is Ryan held by Mike, Gage, Dana, Kelli, Bob, Tomi, and Tucker held by Danny.

What time is it? Its Scrapbook time.

2009-07-04T15:46:00.006-05:00

My cousin Catherine made this pillow case for me. Isn't it cute. I had met 3 of my cousins in Texas for a scrapbook retreat. I had 3 days of scrapping. What fun! I got some things finished and enjoyed some quality time with my family.
Picture above Catherine and me.
Back row Catherine and Kathleen (they are sisters). Sitting next to me Angela. She is Catherine's daughter. Ever since she was a baby I've called her Angie. It's kind hard to get out of the habit. Catherine also made all of us T-shirts.

Taking a break

2009-07-04T13:24:00.014-05:00

Preston at the Memphis Airport.

Lydia, Kayla and I took Preston to Florida to spend a few weeks with his other grandparents. We drove to Memphis Airport then flew on to Orlando. It was long and tiring flight, but everyone was glad to get to the Prices that night. Preston was so excited he could hardly sleep. The next day after we had lunch at Dixie Crossroads we headed back to Orlando for a little fun for us. We stayed at one of the Disney Caribbean Resort. It was the first time we stayed at one of the main resorts. It was very nice. By our room was a mama duck and her ducklings (or chicks). It was so cute she was just quacking at them and if one went the wrong way she would quack louder until they were by her side.

Us girls went and had breakfast the characters at 'Ohana's in the Polynesian Resort. Kayla played with our pager while we waited to be called.

They took our picture before we were called.

Lydia and Pluto. She took a picture of my and him, but I haven't gotten a copy from her yet. I haven't given her these copies yet either. We both have been extremely busy.

We found out that Kayla wouldn't have done very well at Magic Kingdom. She cried, scream when the characters came by except for Lilo.

See Mickey trying to cover his eyes, Kayla was crying. Lydia had recorded her crying and sent the video to Philip and all the grandparents.

Every few minute the characters would have a parade and march around the room with little kids follow them.

Kayla in her first Minnie Ears.

We went shopping at a few outlet malls. Kayla had the most fun when looking at herself in the mirror.

Heading home. Kayla loved looking out the window.

All about the Auction

2009-07-04T12:24:00.013-05:00

The auction was on May 28th. I was excited about selling our house, but having several hundreds of people swarming me was very overwhelming. I had a moment of breakdown. I had to cry on David's shoulders for a minute. I was so glad when it was over. The people were nice, but there were a few that were hateful. God had bless us greatly. He gave us more than we had calculated up that we needed for our property. GOD IS GOOD! If you want to see what our old house look like if will have to check out one of the older posts.

I wouldn't doubt it if a least 5 acres were filled with automobiles.

Our back yard filling up with people.

I sold all but 4 of my dolls, they were ones I had since I was a kid.

Sarah got rid of some her stuff too.

Pictures of some of the tables outside full of stuff to sale.

Another angle of the table that were set outside full of stuff that was being sold.

An empty kitchen.

Bear living room except for our recliners.

Empty kitchen and living room. A few stuff left waiting to be pickup from new owners.

Our New House

2009-07-04T11:45:00.008-05:00

The front of our new house. It has 3 bedrooms ( one of them is turn into my scrapbook room), 2 1/2 baths, study for David. One of the coolest things is that my master bath and laundry room both have a ceiling fan. How awesome!
This is the side/end of our house. The entrance by the garage goes into David's study.
This is David shop. He can do all his little projects and not have the garage full.

This is our front door. I just fell in love with it. My old doors were glass and it was hard to hang something on the front. I get to decorate for the each season and holidays now.
When I get finish unpacking I will post pictures of the inside. We still have boxes everywhere and we haven't finished buying our new furniture.

Rain, Rain and more Rain!

2009-05-25T18:40:00.004-05:00

I had 2 assignments last week. One was take a overall picture of everything that I had learn t and another of a person. The top one played in the rain for me and the bottom one is Preston holding the basketball. The teacher will judge the overall picture this week and the winner will get a gift certificate of $100. Lets see who does great.

Just peachy!

2009-05-25T17:45:00.002-05:00

My assignment was to take a picture of nature. This a picture is of my peach tree. I just love the all the green. My teacher said that I had good composition. Maybe I'm learning something. You think?

Happy Birthday Sarah

2009-05-18T07:42:00.006-05:00

Today is Sarah's 14th Birthday. I can't believe how fast the time has gone.

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!

Sarah on her 1 yr birthday.

Sarah 2 yrs old, playing dress up.

On a school field trip to the Pumpkin Patch, 4 yrs old.

Sarah with her Mandi, she wanted to eat Pizza for her birthday dinner. After we went to our house for cake and presents.

3rd Class Assignment

2009-05-12T23:45:00.003-05:00

My assignment was to show that I understand depth of field. I had taken several pictures inside the house. Then went outside to take pictures of the honeysuckles. I had a harder time getting what I wanted with the flowers. I'm enjoying my classes and I'm learning a lot.

The Winston Family Reunion

2009-05-07T08:44:00.000-05:00

David's crew with twelve missing in action.

This last Saturday we had our 4th Annual Winston Reunion. We had plan for a lot of games outside, but the rain changed all that. One of the games we played was we had to put a extremely cold spoon with a ribbon tied on through our clothes and give it to the next person until completed. Once done we had go back through to the beginning of the line.
Sadly not all were able to come.

The four kids with Reunion shirts on. It was a surprise from David. Each kid and their family wore their favorite color. Melba, David, Vonnie and Tomi.
For some reason I didn't have a picture of Tomi and her family. I will get one from Kelli. All of Tomi's family were there.

Melba's family, Jerry,Bo, Sarah, Adam and Robert.

Vonnie's family, Danielle, Angel, Hunter and Hallie.

This year we had a good friend cook catfish for us. Mike did a great job, the fish was delicious. I wish I had picture of the fish, but I did take one of Mike cooking.

Last weeks assignment.

2009-05-07T08:24:00.001-05:00

This is my first picture and the one I ended up turning in. We were at Toad Suck Daze. The picture didn't have good composition and it was too dark. Still haven't mastered the picking right ISO and speed, but I will get better. Several pictures later I was taking of pictures of Preston jumping in the rain. I had imagine a perfect picture, but now I didn't have my speed fast enough. My next assignment is with Depth of Field. I'm praying I will do better on this assignment.

My Class Assignment

2009-04-29T09:46:00.000-05:00

I am taking a Photography class on Tuesday nights and I have to turn my assignments in on Monday mornings. I'm very excited about the class. I have always wanted to take one. My first assignment was to take a picture from what we learned in class. We had learn the 3rd rule . I tried to take a good picture of the nest, but it was hard. I had to stand on a lawn chair from my deck. My deck is about 4 1/2 to 5ft off the ground and was afraid that I was going to fall off the chair and go over the rail. Sadly I don't think I took a good picture, but that is ok. With moving I just didn't have the time to work at getting a good picture.

We learned about shutter speed, ISO and F-stops this Tuesday. So my assignment for next is take a picture of an object that is moving very fast and making it still in the shot.

My Wii Little Man

2009-04-04T23:11:00.001-05:00

Preston had spent the night with us. After he hat taken his bath he played Wii. He loves playing video games and he is very good at them. I had fun watching him play. He is so silly. He is my Wii Little Man.

Inspiration

2009-04-04T23:04:00.000-05:00

This is my wall of inspiration. I got the idea from a person on Flicker. I love how I can display my layouts before putting them in an album. I have a couple extra hooks encase I do smaller layouts.

Honey Glazed Chicken

2009-03-28T20:36:00.000-05:00

We this tonight. It was delicious and easy to make. Link

Totally Loved

2009-03-28T17:27:00.000-05:00

My family had given some beautiful gifts this year for my birthday. David gave me a new camera to carry in purse instead of carrying around my big one. Sarah gave me gift certificate & money to have my nails done. Lydia, Philip & kids gave me a new purse. My SIL Tomi & BIL Bob gave me a beautiful blue wallet, necklace and skin care from Crabtree & Evelyn.

Rainbows

2009-03-26T22:27:00.001-05:00

Yesterday we were coming back from Fayetteville and it started raining. The rain had slowed down to a mist and we had saw this beautiful rainbow in the sky. The picture doesn't due it justice. The colors were so intense. It is amazing how God reminds that he loves us by giving us simplest things of pleasure.

My Heart & Soul

2009-03-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

Scrapbooking is a passion of mine. I have been scrapping for 10 years now. I love to find interesting sites on the web for scrapbookers.
Last week on a newsletter I received from one my favorites sites, they had advertised about 52 Sketches. Of course I had to check it out. They have team of people that comes up with a sketch each week. They challenge everyone to see what they can do with the sketch. I wanted to share my take on the sketch. For anyone that loves to scrapbook check out this site. It's pretty cool.

No!, not this one.

2009-03-18T19:00:00.000-05:00

David had surgery on his left knee today. He had torn his ligament. David wrote on his knees to make sure they would work on the right one. I didn't have much time before they would take him into surgery, I had to work fast on taking pictures. I wonder how long it will take for the writing to ware off.

David has his pain medicine and he is feeling no pain. He told to get more and put it in my purse. He didn't remember anything that he did. He was so funny.

It didn't take long before David was out like a light. David is going off to surgery.

Spring and I have this thing going on.

2009-03-15T22:24:00.000-05:00

I have this love/hate relationship with spring. I know everyone loves spring right, but I will be honest with you. Spring and I have had this relationship going on for years and sometimes it not pretty. Welcome to my world.

The things I LOVE about spring.
1) The warmer weather
2) Daylight longer
3) Birds singing
4) Flowers
5) Everything turning green
6) It just makes me happy the list can go on and on.

What I HATE about spring.
1) My allergies (I'm allergic to grass. I'm always coughing, sneezing and my nose will run all the time. Its not a pretty sight. Did I also mention it breaks me out?)
2) Pollen (The nasty yellow stuff on everything and it also aggravates my allergies.)
3) Tornadoes (No one likes them.)
4) SNAKES!!!! and SPIDERS!!!! ( I am extremely terrified of snakes.)

I had taken these pictures of our trees before last weeks nasty weather. I love the blooms on them. We are expecting great weather this week. This coming Friday is the first day of spring.
Happy Spring Everyone!

What a Blessing!

2009-03-02T22:27:00.000-06:00

The other day I was doing a search for a chore list and I came across one that I like. The person that design the list had it listed on their blog. I was looking over the site and I saw something that looked very interesting. There was another blog and the name was Building an Ark in Singapore. The blog belong to a Christian Chinese woman that was a SAHM. She also has another blog that I even enjoyed reading more. The name of that blog is Building Up Moms. The blog is targeted towards new Moms and ones that have been a Mom for awhile. She addresses a lot of topics that Moms has to deal with everyday. I have listed the blog sites in my blog list. I'm sure you will enjoy reading them too.

Happy Birthday Joshua

2009-02-23T11:50:00.001-06:00

Today is Josh's 26th Birthday. He was 7 when his Dad and I got married. He stole my heart then with his big smile, his pretty blue eyes and his great sense of humor. Over the years it hasn't changed, he still my baby boy and of course his Dad's (ha ha).

The Pasta House

2009-02-15T22:51:00.001-06:00

Instead of going out for Valentine, we went to a romantic restaurant called The Pasta House. Our hostess was very sweet and done a excellent job of taking care of us. Sarah made us dinner and set a romantic table. She served us lasagna, bread, salad, peach cobbler with ice cream. We also had sparkling grape juice. Sarah had set up a hostess table and made menus. We both got dress up and went driving for awhile and about an hour later we called to see if we could get reservations for two at The Pasta House. Our hostess met us at the door, then seated us right away. No waiting for a table. After we were seated we looked at the menus and place our order. We both decided we would have the house special. The whole evening was special. I love to having a romantic dinner with my husband, but everything that Sarah did to make our evening special is what made this Valentine the very best.

Best Valentine Ever!

2009-02-15T22:24:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I received my valentine present from David. It was a custom made camera bag. I had been looking for months for a girly camera bag. I didn't wont one that look a usual camera bag and I wanted it to be more feminine. I fond a web site that is coolest thing, it called etsy.com. The person I bought it from makes specialty bags. Her website is xcessrize.etsy.com.

This is my new bag, I just love it.

Yes, I was able to fit in my camera.

I also bought a lens bag, a pouch to hold my memory cards and what you can't see is my camera strap cover.

Walking in Sunshine

2009-02-12T19:24:00.001-06:00

I picked up my prescription sunglasses today. I have been so excited about getting them. I have been wanting a pair for about a year now. I don't wear contacts, so I couldn't just go and pick out a pair of sunglasses. The last pair of sunglasses that I had gotten was when Sarah was a baby. Last fall when I had order my new glasses, I had them put the transitional lens in them. For me they didn't block out the sun enough. I had decided before spring that I would get me a new pair. So now I'm sportin a new pair of shades ( finally I'm in style, he he).

Sarah is trying on my shades.

Party Time

2009-02-12T18:57:00.000-06:00

We had Kayla's first birthday party last Saturday. She didn't quiet understand, but she loved eating her cake and opening up presents.

Preston wanted Kayla to his birthday hat from his first birthday.

Kayla loves sweets.

She had got a lot of cute things.

Preston's Got Game

2009-02-05T09:10:00.000-06:00

Preston is playing Upward Basketball. He gets so excited about playing ball. He will tell me "Nana, I've got practice tonight". It's so cute, it reminds me when Josh was playing ball. I love watching my kids play sports. These pictures are from his first game on Jan. 10th. Of course they don't take score, but he believes they won. They are all winners.

This one is a little blurry.Kayla and Sarah playing. Kayla loves to play with the strap on my camera.Nana playing with Kayla during the game.

Happy Birthday Kayla!

2009-02-02T00:23:00.000-06:00

I can't believe how fast this year went. Kayla is our third granddaughter. The boys outweigh the girls by two. Our little sweetpea is the baby of the whole bunch.

Happy Birthday Kayla!
Nana, Papa and Sissy loves you very much!

In Loving Memory

2009-01-27T22:20:00.000-06:00

While we were in Kansas, I had got a call from my cousin that my aunt had passed away. Her name is Betty Lou Ratliff Fields. Her nick name was Bootsie. She had been sick and in the hospital the first of December. Then on right before Christmas the family had found out that she had tumor on her brain and cancer in her lungs. She lived about a week and a half then passed away on the 4th of Jan. She was 74 years old. My uncle Dan (her husband) had passed away a few years ago with cancer too. I will truly miss her. I have alot of fond memories of her. When I was little, I got a new puppy. I was with Aunt Betty in her car with my new puppy. It had got car sick and threw up in her car. I remember her being upset, but I don't think she scolded me. When I turn 16 she had made me a quilt. It was a pretty light blue quilt. I still have it. I have it put up.

My brother Billy and I had taken our Dad to the funeral. My Dad is the baby of family. He was very close to his sister. He has one sister left, which is the eldest of 4 children. It was very hard on him. The funeral was really nice. Another cousin had officiated the cermony. One of my aunt's granddaughters was the soloist. She has a beautiful voice. She had sung my aunts favorite song "Sweet Anointing". The picture below is of my aunt and my dad.

In Dec. 2006, I was able to go on a cruise with my aunt and cousin. I flew to Texas to meet up with them. Then we drove down to Galveston to meet the ship. We spent a week going from Key West, Grand Caymen and Cozumel. I had so much fun spending a week with them. My aunt and I were breakfast buddies, because my cousin is a late sleeper. Aunt Betty didn't meet a stranger, enjoyed everyones company. One day she and I tried to play ping pong. It was so funny. I hadn't played in years, so I wasn't doing very good. And she has arthritis and it wasn't easy to move very fast, but we had fun. This picture was taken on the ship. Catherine (her daughter), Aunt Betty and me.

Bringing in the New Year

2009-01-27T19:21:00.000-06:00

We have some very good friends in Kansas City, KS, The Shipman's. We have been friends with them for almost 12 years. Nicolas was about a month old when we met. We went to church together, until God moved us to Conway. Right after God moved them to Kansas to pastor a church. Their church is Fairview Baptist Church (link attached). Please stop by if you are traveling thur or visiting KC. You will love them and their members. Bro. Jarod ask David to preach a revival for them, starting New Years Eve thur the 4th of Jan. New Years Eve was on a Wednesday night and service started at 8pm til 12pm. Several of men and young men preach 10 minutes sermons. They had great singing also. I have to say even though all of them were great, my favorite was Nicolas and Bianca. David brought in the new year with his sermon. While he was preaching we could hear something outside. At first I thought it was a thunderstorm, but it turn out to be fireworks.
We slept until 1pm the next day. We got ready ate lunch at Chili's. Then the Shipmans took us a furniture store it was called The Nebraska Mall (link attached). It was the coolest thing, the store was bigger than our two malls put together. The store had furniture galore. Just click on the link have a look. Later when we got back home, we play on the Wii. They had Wii fitness and we had so much fun playing. Stephanie and Sarah are running a race. You run in place. Sarah got caught up in the running that she ran into the TV. It was so funny. David, Bianca and Nicolas are skiing, it was really hard. I tried skiing too, but I kept on rolling into a snowball.

Saturday we spent the day sightseeing. We stop at where the Pony Express started, in St. Joseph, MO. We had fun learning and seeing where the first mail delivery started. David and I like history (don't ask me any dates, I'm not good at remembering them, ha ha). Our pastor has used the story of the Pony Express in his sermons. Since we were close by we thought we check it out.

Facts

Began April 3, 1860, Ended Oct. 1861
Rider Qualifications: Ad read "Wanted,Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Not over 18. Must be expert riders. Willing to risk death daily. Orphans preferred." Most riders were around 20. The youngest was 11.
Pay: They received $100 per month.
Horses: The riders got a fresh horse every 10 to 15 miles, they traveled an average of 10 miles per hour.
There were approximately 165 stations covering almost 2,000 miles.
In the beginning it cost $5.00 to send 1/2 ounce. By the end of Pony Express the price had dropped to $1.00 per 1/2 ounce.

The Winston's
Jina, Sarah and David

The Shipman's

Jarod, Nicolas, Bianca and Stephanie

I'm being silly. I'm acting like I am putting the mail in the pouch for delivery.

This a replica of what it would look like with the riders.

Use hospitality one to another... I Peter 4:9
Stephanie and I having a little fun.

The kids are sitting on the saddles (I'm not sure if they are the real ones) that were used for riders of Pony Express.

Two Beauties.Nicolas the Bandit.

We took Bianca to her favorite restaurant Red Lobster for her 16th birthday.
While waiting on our table, the girls watched the lobsters crawling around in the tank.

Bianca and Sarah showing what they had eaten. Sarah and Nicolas had crab legs. Usually we crack Sarah's for her, but we told her that she had start cracking her own now. Her and Nicolas did pretty good at getting the meat out.

Nicolas showing us how much he could eat.

Another tradition

2009-01-13T21:48:00.001-06:00

We started this tradition when Sarah was little and our other kids were at home. Around the first of the month I will go out and start looking for a puzzle to put together. So on Christmas day when everything has settle down and quiet. We bring out the new puzzle for that year and start the fun. The time to finish the puzzle depends on its size. One year our puzzle was as big as the table, so it took us a couple of weeks to finish it. This one only took about 3 days to finish.

2009-01-13T21:39:00.000-06:00

David is worn out from getting up early and cooking enough waffles for a big family. Thank you Dad you did a great job. It is always the kids favorite.

Christmas at The Winston House

2009-01-12T22:37:00.000-06:00

Above: Joshua with Kayla, Below: Lydia with Kayla

Above: Philip, Below: Dawn

Above: Jason, Below: Papa with Kayla

Below: Preston

Dalton and Zoey

David opening a present from me. I had framed our Christmas picture for his office. The frame had all our names engraved. It turned out really pretty.

We had four of our grand kids with us at Christmas. The eldest is Dalton and his sister Zoey. Then we have Preston and newest grand baby Kayla. Then my other two babies Sarah and Abby.

Me with my baby Abby. She is a miniature Schnauzer.

On Christmas Eve David, Joshua, Sarah and I open presents. Then on Christmas Morning is when the big fun starts. All the kids come over for breakfast then we open the presents for the kids.
One of the Winston's family traditions is to have waffles in the shape of Mickey and Minnie. So David is in charge of cooking the waffles and the kids bring over the other goodies. When breakfast is done and everything cleaned up, its time for the presents. Everyone will sit in a circle then one person at a time, going around the circle will open a present. This is done until all the presents are open. The kids have so much fun seeing what everyone got. It is also easier to take pictures like this.

Christmas Date with the Family

2008-12-20T22:37:00.000-06:00

We went out to eat with David's brother and sisters. We had such a great time. It's not very often that we can get together. The siblings all joked and laughed about things that had happen while they were growing up and things that their parents had done.

The Fog

2008-12-19T23:05:00.000-06:00

When I took Abby out this morning I was amazed by what I saw. There was a low fog over the ground. The fog was really pretty over the pond. It was the first time I had seen fog like that.

Lazy Day

2008-12-16T20:33:00.000-06:00

Last night we had ice storm that had hit our state. I was finishing up my Christmas shopping yesterday around noon when it starting coming down. It makes me nervous to drive on ice. I can handle driving on snow better. I picked the kids up from school and got home as quick as I could.
Sarah was out of school today and she will be out again tomorrow. She is enjoying being out of school. The school was scheduled to get out early on Thursday and Friday, but now she will have to go all day. Since the school was closed that meant Preston wasn't having his play tonight. It had been rescheduled till after the Christmas holidays. I was looking forward to seeing the play.

I was tried of being in the house, so I went out and took some pictures.

Christmas Play time

2008-12-10T08:36:00.000-06:00

This is the first of three Christmas Plays. Sarah had hers first last night at her school, Conway Christian. The choir did a great job and I was very proud of Sarah. Some of them did sign language along with the songs. There were a few incidents during the play. The little girl standing next Sarah in the first picture had fainted. It was very quick, she fell of the stage and had cut her chin. Her parents took her the emergency room. She was going to be find, but was going to need stitches in her chin. Another girl on the opposite end from Sarah had turn around and vomit. Bless her heart she wiped her mouth and went back to singing, but started to vomit again and her Mom rushed up to get her. Then the last one was another girl that felt light headed and had to sit down. I think that everyone was nervous and of course it was warm in the gym. I was worried about Sarah because she is hot nature and her cheeks were very red. The only thing she complain about was the her feet hurt from standing in high heels for so long. Hopefully our next one won't be as exciting.

Snowman village

2008-12-08T23:25:00.000-06:00

I had starting collecting snowmen a few Christmas's ago. I have fun hitting the after Christmas sales for the decorations. My favorite type of snowmen are country style.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

2008-12-08T01:16:00.000-06:00

David and the kids got out the Christmas decorations while I was at a bridal shower. Joshua and Sarah did most of the work putting up our tree. I love snowmen and rabbits, so at Christmas I get to pull out all the snowmen. What fun! Oh, did I tell that my favorite color is blue, all shades.

Crock-Pot Dressing

2008-12-01T15:45:00.000-06:00

8" pan cornbread
8 slice day-old bread
4 eggs
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 cup chopped celery
1 1/2 Tbsp sage
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 cans cream of chicken soup
2 cans chicken broth
2 Tbsp butter

Crumble breads; add all other ingredients except butter. Pour in crock-pot. Dot with butter. Cover and cook on high for 2 hour or on low for 3-4 hours. Makes 16 servings: 6 oz each.

More of Thanksgiving Day

2008-11-30T23:06:00.001-06:00

This was Kayla's first Thanksgiving. I was so excited that she was feeling a lot better. She was sick for a week with a stomach bug. Bless her heart she had lost a pound while being sick, so she is now at 14lbs.

David and I had four of our grandkids over this year. Zoey and Preston always does something silly when they are in a picture. Jason's niece came over too. Her name is Shaw, she is a very sweet girl.

This year I tried something different for dressing. I found a recipe for crock-pot dressing in a cook book that our church had put out. It turned out delicious. David and the kids bragged on it, so I will be making it again for them.

Thanksgiving Day

2008-11-29T23:57:00.000-06:00

I started my cooking on Wednesday this year and finish up right on time. We had some of the kids over this year. It was great sitting down to dinner with them and just having a good time. I had dressed up our formal table and I think that I had done a pretty good job. David and Lydia was impressed. The kids sat at breakfast table. Which Sarah thought she was to old to sit with the little kids, but she was having a good time with Dalton. So she got over it quick.