The Birthday cake...

J's birthday was on Tuesday but we haven't yet celebrated with dinner and 'cake' so that would be today! In years past Grandma Peg has always made cake with peanut butter icing for everyone's birthday. She hasn't been in the best of health lately so I decided to pick up the wand and make J a birthday cake with peanut butter icing, ha! Luckily Paula Deen's Christmas Special Collection magazine had a recipe. I gave it a try and think it's pretty good. Ronnie seems to think J might need more peanut butter but we'll have to see. Britt even likes peanut butter so I might have covered both birthday's with one cake.....

If you haven't picked up your copy of the magazine, you might want to. I fixed her macaroni and cheese last night and it was really good, too!

A GREAT food drive!

Thanks to all our Jefferson County Supporters for helping us bring in over 14,000 lbs of food yesterday! Wow...it's a tough time for everyone right now but this was a great success! We started out just past 9:00 a.m. and stopped at a variety of homes that Chase left door hangers.....we only had one small snagJust kidding!! But wouldn't you be nervous if this is what greeted you?

Traditionally Cierra has always donated money and gone with us to purchase her food prior to the drop off. This morning she was 'goat' gear shopping with Butch and unable to attend so Chase and Ronnie took her money along with our donation, grabbed a cart and loaded some canned goods.

Selling Trails End popcorn is the main fundraiser for Cub/Boy Scouts each year in the Fall. The boys have the option of getting prizes or taking the extra % of sales in cash to put back into their Pack. During the past few years the decision was made to take the boys shopping with the cash to purchase food. They love this and it gives them the opportunity to feel like they are really contributing, too. We realized (just a tad late) that Chase had some money to use since he opted out of prizes, too. So back in he went and out he came with some additional cans.....In total Chase collected 366 lbs of food!
The overall goal this year was set at 17,500 lbs however Ronnie felt getting 16,000 which was just a little bit higher than last year would be a huge accomplishment. After all was unloaded and weighed, the Jefferson County Mannahoac District contribution to this year's goal was Drum Roll please........14,308! YES!! Now, keep in mind we are still awaiting totals from six units in Clark County which are also a part of Mannahoac but this is the most we have ever done and it looks like we will probably hit the original stretch goal of 17,500 lbs! Way to Go!

Take a look at the scene inside Jefferson County Ministries..amazing, huh?

Chase spent the whole time back in the back, unloading the carts with bag upon bag of canned goods. For those of you that know him, he has been known to straighten shelves in Wal-mart, grocery stores and any shop that might have their precious goods out of order. At one point we even questioned whether he had OCD because everywhere we went he wanted to straighten everything from toilet paper to canned goods. So guess what!? This morning Chase is in his glory! He went to Community Ministries and is helping unpack, check dates and stock the shelves. He got right out of bed, ate breakfast and was ready to go! I'm sure I'll have a follow-up story but for now, that's that, ha! Thanks to everyone in our County!

Look familiar?

For those of you that are local, this is the picture you would have seen on the front page of the Spirit of Jefferson and also in the Martinsburg Journal. Today you just might see this little boy picking up the food you are leaving on your porch in support of the annual Boy/Cub Scout Food Drive. Our goal is 16,000 lbs this year so your support is definitely needed!

All the food we pick up today stays right here in Jefferson County and is stocked and distributed at Charles Town Community Ministries.

We're heading out so....See 'ya real soon!

Get READY folks!

Yes, I am going to prepare you. Very soon when you stop by Crockett's Corner it is going to look very different :) That's right....it' almost time to get out the decorations and make this place look like Christmas! I love Christmas and started wrapping presents tonight, yay!! I have already started my putting my song list together and picked out my background so it IS just a matter of time. I'm so 'cited!!

I'm heading to Texas next week for work. Yes, you heard me right! Typically I head where it's cold but this time I get to go some place warm...San Antonio! Never been there and will only be there for three days so not sure exactly what I will get to see. Upon my return....the boxes will come out and the house will be all decorated and ready for Thanksgiving Dinner.

So there you have it....you can't say I didn't warn you, ha!

Happy Veteran's Day!

We honor those who serve....

We don't even think about it...

when it comes to helping out the children's 4H Club. Whenever something needs to be done or help is needed, we just do it whenever we can and enjoy doing so. But tonight we realized that it does matter. The Club recognized Ronnie and I as active volunteers with the Country Clovers! We were completely shocked as we sat back in our seats waiting for the name(s) to be read. Suddenly they said our names....I handed off my camera to Megan (whispering no pictures) and we headed to the stage. Thanks Mrs. Clara and the rest of the gang! We'll continue to do our best and help out whenever we can.

We also can't forget that Mrs. Clara received her 20 year pin! Wow, she had to be really, really young when she started!! She did NOT want a big deal to be made about this milestone so don't tell anyone, lol!

Of course lil' miss Cierra couldn't miss an opportunity to use my camera :)

Both Cierra and Chase received pins for their projects and many others were recognized. It's amazing to hear about the number of families and individuals it takes to keep our 4H program alive. I know we are certainly happy to see it grow since we believe it contributes to the character of our children so much.

Happy 26th Birthday Jeremy!

Happy Birthday to my first born! Wow, has it really been 26 years? We hope you have a wonderful birthday today, doing whatever it is that makes you happy. You have grown into quite a young man and 'Daddy'. Enjoy your day and don't forget we need to do dinner :)

My Story in Photos - Week 44

This week's challenge is to show what we're thankful in one photo. Yes, that was very hard for me :)

I am so thankful for......
my wonderful husband of 17 years
my four healthy, beautiful children,
my one granddaughter who is an absolute angel
a 'daughter-in-law' that couldn't have been hand picked any better
my family that lives close by
having a best friend that I know is always there
our warm, welcoming home
our church famiily
our health
the fact that we both have jobs
and so many other countless things....

Bitter Sweet...

Yes the grand finale for The Summit Point Pinnacles Fall Travel team took place today. Our game was at 11:00 a.m. and they were "on" today, Yay! We won the game 6 to 1 which was a nice way to to close down the season. We are all proud of the boys and the parents are already talking about getting ready for Spring. We had a great team which included 6 boys from Summit Point, 4 from South Berkeley, 1 from Martinsburg, 3 great coaches and a group of parents that can't be beat!

After the game there were even a few tears knowing that our season was done and there would be no more Thursday night and Saturday afternoon practices or Sunday double headers until Spring. No more Friday nights at Wal-mart, no raffle tickets to sell or seeing Mrs. Joy sell chips and drinks....nope none of that for a while. Starting tonight, our life becomes a little less busy. Baseball equipment is all packed up on the shelf in the garage, out of reach; for now.

This was definitely a team effort but today I'm going to be partial and only post pictures of my favorite player and coach :)






It was a great season!

Day Five - Blogging for Scrapbookers

I am trying to catch up with my 'class homework' but it's been a little busy around here, (to say the least). Friday's assignment was about sharing our decorating ideas or that favorite spot in our house. Let me start of by saying that I don't spend (and haven't spent) a lot of time decorating our house. Our house is nothing fancy and we like to refer to it as 'lived in'. I do like to keep everything organized and in order, but sometimes even that doesn't happen.

We moved into our home nearly 14 years ago and since then have added on to nearly double the size. Our house is always the 'gathering place' and popular for monthly dinners, family celebrations and even hosting those Pampered Chef and Tastefully Simple parties every so often. A lot of time is spent in our kitchen which prior to our addition, was really small. We opened up the kitchen and added a breakfast nook with windows to the world. I love it!! My husband has always been funny about not having curtains but I have convinced him (not usually so) that it is perfect without window coverings and lets us enjoy the country setting.

I guess from all this you can figure out that one of my favorite places is our breakfast nook....I spend lots of time at this table and most evenings you can find my laptop on the table while I'm cooking dinner. Gotta love the ability to 'multi-task'!