McBrayer family jewels

Last year I posted a blog introducing you to my precious nieces and nephews (4 of them were born last year!). Well, they're a whole year older now and grow more and more precious!
Garrett and Crystal's baby girl, Greenlee(15 mos)

Brent and Merritt's kiddo's Griffin(12mos)and Avery(2 1/2yrs)

i've included videos of the others. they are so so short but i just think you get a glimpse of their unique and beautiful personalities with the videos:
Justin and Anna's youngest, Aeneas(19mos)

their oldest, Patrick(4 yrs), playing the "cello".

Peyton and Ann's baby girl, Addison(17mos).

a few changes:

For those of you who have been unable to comment on my blog, I am so sorry! It was not purposefully done, i am just totally dumb when it comes to technology and i had no clue. i THINK that i have investigated enough and have enabled you access to post comments - even anonymously - you no longer need a google or blogger account! so people like Mom and Dad and Gmarsha and Nicole....you have official access (notice how i singled you out in order to pressure you into responding...love you!)! Thanks for keeping up with my blog - i didn't mean to exclude you!

also, i have attached a new playlist. Christmas music. I know, I know. I like Christmas music and have been working on a killer playlist this last month and this is my blog, so deal with it. But, i wanted to tell you that once January arrives i am totally removing the playlist feature on my blog.

let me know if you want me to keep it for some reason.(use the anonymous poll on the right). If i get enough comments wanting to keep it, then i will. but i'm pretty sure y'all will be pretty relieved to have it done away with, especially after a month's worth of Christmas music. haha.

thanks for keeping up with us. I am so grateful that we can stay connected a bit through this medium, and i know it takes time and intention on your part and i really appreciate it!

An honest Thanksgiving

While i was flying home from Dallas Tuesday night, i was feeling so sorry for myself. I was remembering waking at 3:30a Wed, Thu, Fri and working Saturday before i left at 9am Sunday for Dallas. Long days in Dallas on my feet. My ankle has been killing me. Then i was dreading opening Wed, Thu, Fri and Sat this week. How many mmore nights will i go without more than 5 hours of sleep? I was listening to families all around me on the airplane talking about "home", and i was sad. I was near tears for that whole flight - my first leg - from Dallas to Detroit. I remembered that Landon and I didn't get to spend Halloween or our anniversary together because i was at ACSI conventions for those holidays also. And i really missed him.

I spoke to Landon at the airport during my layover in Detroit. he was with family in Georgia. I was sitting there in Detroit, knowing i needed to wake in 8 hours and still had many hours before i would get home.

I'm not sure what happened. Sometimes when i pray i feel like such a blubbering idiot. I know God cares because he loves me, but does he really care about this? And in my selfish prayers filled with self pity, confessing my jealousy of family celebrating together in Colorado and Georgia, God humbled me. He reminded me in that moment of all that i have to be thankful for. That Thanksgiving is not about amazing and abounding feasting and time with family - it is about remembering God and offering thanksgiving to him.

In that moment thoughts of thanksgiving came rushing through my mind, and i sat there for several minutes remembering all that i have to be thankful for. I have had such a blessed Thanksgiving because i have had so much to thank God for. Many of you reading this must know that you were (and are) among my prayers of gratitude. You are so dear. God's abundant provision in my life humbles me. He has always provided for us, even when we were afraid that we wouldn't be able to quite make it. And though i am mostly alone here in Illinois, love is abounding in my life in sweet relationships with loved ones both here and across the country.

I am so grateful.

with thanksgiving

red headed ness

I've always been a redhead. Growing up i had curly long red curls, freckles, braces, and played sports with the boys at recess instead of 4-square, tether-ball and london bridges with the girls. How many nick names do you think kids taunted me with on the play-ground? "That's just because they're jealous," were the words mom always used to console me. obviously that's not true - what kind of kid would want to have red hair, freckles and braces? that's pretty heavy package to carry as a kid.

as an adult, i am very grateful for all of those things. though most of my freckles have faded, i am so glad when they make an appearance - it means i have been outside in the sunshine, and i love being ouside in the sunshine! plus, my grandmother always told me that they were angel kisses - i still cherish that!



i like my red hair now. i have never paid to color it. though there are certain colors i can't wear and i have had guys ask me if the "carpet matches the curtains," i like this color.

and braces... well, i only had them for 6 (SIX!!) years, and ever since my smile has been my favorite thing about my appearance.

I married a man with FAR more freckles than i have, perfect teeth, blond hair, and beautiful auburn facial hair. sometimes people think he's my brother.

and i wonder what our kids will look like. i like to think about it - i don't see how we could end up with kids without freckled bodies, pale skin and hair in some shade of red-ish. my grandmother always said that when she came to our races and games she could always spot us (my sis and i) because we were the only kids with red hair. i imagine sitting on a park bench talking with other moms as we watch our kids play and torture each other - mine, are the ones over there throwing gravel up the slide - the redheads.

going to another ACSI convention tomorrow morning. So very sick of this by now.

been waiting all year for this!!!

Every year we look forward to the 3rd Thursday in November: the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau. Exquisite.

simple joys of the day

bringing the outside in!

experiencing our first bit of snow

relishing in the long-lingering spices and bold complexities of Starbuck's Christmas Blend.

wrapping Christmas presents (and having a huge chunk of my shopping done!)

reading Francine Rivers' Lineage of Grace series

making Raspberry Pinwheel cookies (recipe here)

wearing this sweater

bath and body works wall scents' new fall flavor: leaves

p.s. thanks for all of your creative ideas - the corn meal container is in the recycle bin (that was landon's creative idea).

calling all creative minds...

reduce, REUSE, recycle

I know that many of us recycle but i think the reduce and reuse part of the campaign toward a better earth are often forgotten. I am definitely one to feel good about myself when i recycle my plastic propel bottles. ha! landon reminds me that water flows freely from our kitchen faucet and i shouldn't 1.spend the moolah, and 2.create the waste of a gazillion plastic bottles. yeah, i need to ponder the REDUCE idea a little more. (did you know you can buy propel in a powder and just stir it into a glass of cool water - eureka! now landon and i are both happy)

So i've been trying to be re-using things around here. I think we've made major improvements. We use cloth grocery bags so we don't use plastic, we use cloth napkins as well and i try to clean (haha -WHEN i clean) with cloth rags.

I save the old toilet paper rolls and slide my folded appliance cords into them to keep each cord with its host instead of entangled (my grandmother's idea). It's great in my drawer full of curling irons, straighteners and hair blow dryer!

I've decided to save glass jars (from peanuts, jelly, salsa, spaghetti sauce, etc...) to put left-over soup or whatever in. Also, i've noticed that they keep my coffee fresher than the bags that come with the coffee. So i get my coffee beans ground at Starbucks and then put them in their own glass jar marked "espresso", "whole beans", "decaf espresso", "french press", etc... it's great.

I've converted a metal tin that we received from the boy scouts popcorn fundraiser into our cookie jar - i've just covered it with some pretty paper.


But i can't for the life of me decide what to do with this thing. Surely it's worth keeping for something. It's air-tight and 24oz. What shall we do with my Quaker Yellow Corn meal container? Now, the most creative people that i know in the world read this blog every now and then. I'm not even kidding - you ladies and gents can surely come up with a really resourceful idea for this. Please help!

"The wait is over"

AWESOME!!!!

Star Trek 2009