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I could watch this over and over...thought it was worth sharing. Thanksgiving was just a few days ago...there is so much to be thankful for.



Note: I was told the video was playing correctly for some, click here if you'd like to go directly to the news website with the video link on it.

A Thanksgiving Feast

As many know, I am a speech pathologist at an elementary school. As Special Education Building Manager, I am also very involved in our specialized instruction program, which has about 25 emotionally disturbed and behavior disordered students. As is tradition in our building, we all band together to make sure all of the students in the program get a Thanksgiving feast. While the staff provide the food, the students take an active part in the preparation as well. One class sent out invitations to special education staff and related staff, such as custodians and principal, while other students set the table, made festive placemats, and seated guests as they arrived. It is so much fun to see them smile and work so hard to put on such a grand event.

This is about half of the food, we had several crock pots of potatoes and containers or rolls. I saw one students eat at least 7 rolls! I was shocked!

A few coworkers, Emily and Misti, who have both become good friends.

Of course I can't show student faces due to privacy reasons, but this shot shows one students TWO platefuls of food ... that was just in his first trip through the line. :)

Look closely and you can see the colored placemats with festive pictures on them on the table.

Matt, another coworker, who brought his grandmothers homemade pecan pies. Ugh! My mouth just waters reflecting on how good they were!

Another student enjoying his feast.

Just outside in the hall, the first grade classrooms were having a feast of their own. They had made pilgrim and indian costumes for their feast.

They use bulletin board paper and roll it down the hall as a table cloth.

Oh the fun of a paper bag and construction paper!!

'Tis the season

Last Saturday George and I had spent most of the day around the house doing a lot of nothing. So late afternoon we decided we HAD to get out of the house. We ventured out to Village West Shopping District for the Christmas Tree Lighting. There was quite a crowd of people; babies, young children, young couples, families, etc. It seemed like it drew out a little of everyone. There were some local school choirs singing and Santa made an appearance as well. It was hard to believe we haven't had Thanksgiving, and we're lighting trees, but I guess Christmas is fast approaching.

Just a few pictures...

The other night we were over visiting Ben and Julie. Hannah decided she needed to put on Aunt E's jacket. She also was fascinated by our camera, although she had never shown much interest in it before. It prevented me from getting too many pictures of Abby or any good pictures of Hannah because she just kept reaching for it. Here are the couple I did capture.


Also here are a few more fall pictures. These are on my way home from work. My commute has been more colorful these days.

Rolling Extra bucks at CVS

Yes, its time for another CVS post. Let's start from the beginning. First, I purchased 3 NovaMax Glucose Monitors paying zero (not even a penny). With this purchase I received $60 is Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) to use on future purchase. Read more about how I did this here.

My $60 dollars had to be spent all at once...which was harder than I thought. Granted, we could have walked in picked up $60 worth of merchandise and walked out..but we wanted to purchase more items to give us more ECBs, thus making even more money off the original deal. Our total was nearly $100 dollars prior to coupons and ECBs. By the time it was all said and done we paid just over $3.00 out of pocket and received almost $61.98 in ECBs. To break it down...

4 bottles Fruit 2 0 water: Buy One, Get One AND 2 Coupons ($1 off 2)
2 bags Dark Chocolate M&Ms: Coupon (Buy One, Get One) and $2 ECB earned
2 bottles Saline Solution: We just need these
1 box Kleenex: Needed these too, we are fighting off colds
2 Magazines: Just wanted these for fun. :)
2 Ameal BP: 2 Coupons ($3 off each) and $59.98 ECBs earned
Plus a $10 off coupons any purchase over $50.
And our ECB credit of $60.00 from the glucose monitors.

Over the next few weeks we will try to roll over those ECBs and the others we have saved up into more deals.

Fall Air

Although I realize fall has been in the air for several weeks now...it is just now starting to feel like it to me. Time to dig out the cozy sweaters, jackets, and boots. The trees have just started changing in the last few weeks, and the "crunch crunch" sound underneath my feet as the dried leaves cushion each step. Here are a few pictures that I've captured of gorgeous trees as winter draws near. Nothing spectacular of the photography, just trees that make me remember why this is my favorite season.


Another favorite thing to do is to light the fireplace. We haven't turned on the heat yet, but have enjoyed getting the fireplace up and going to take some of the chill out of the air. Plus I love the smells and sounds of wood burning.

And now four...

We officially have FOUR nieces!! Abigail Grace (Abby) was born on Friday afternoon. You can see more pictures and read more on Count Your Blessings. We had the privilege of being with Hannah all weekend. We stayed at Ben and Julie's with her and took her back and forth from the hospital between nap and meal times. Although Ben and Julie keep thanking us profusely, it was a lot of fun for us and didn't seem like work at all. Thankfully, Julie and Abby are doing well. Here are a few pictures to share of the new sweetheart.

(You have no idea how hard it is to get a picture of a baby, 1, 4, and 6 year-old; this was our attempt)