Southern Secret

 

Ok, I am a little late on getting my usual everything about fall post up, but better late than never, right?  As you know, or don't know I absolutely love Fall!  This year it seems that we are actually getting to experience the Fall season!  Yippee!  I am typing this blog with all the windows in my house opened and enjoying the cool temperatures.  The season also brings with it football!  Go Longhorns!  The first game was over labor day weekend and they have won all their games so far.  Last night's game against OSU almost gave Dan and I a heart attack, but none the less they won!  This is the time of year when I begin to look for new soup recipes to make and bring back the good ol' favorites, like chicken tortilla and vegetable beef!  YUM!  Last but not least, Fall also starts the beginning of consuming one of my favorite drinks...Pumpkin Spice Latte!  Starbucks is responsible for this fabulous drink and I wish they would keep it all year round.  I seem to get headaches when I drink coffee drinks, but I will certainly suffer through a headache every now and then for this yummy, fall drink!  So, YAY for the fall season and everything that comes with it!  I have added something new to the list this year, I will probably use it all year round, but I will share the secret!

The picture above is not anything to sink your teeth into, but to make your home smell like Fall!  I found it on Pintrest and it is super easy and super cheap! You take a pot and peel about 3 or 4 oranges.  I am sure you can use more, but this is all that I had at the time.  Take the peels and put them in the pot add about 1 tblsp of cinnamon and then add water just until it covers the orange peels.  Set it on the burner and turn up the heat.  I usually start off on high then drop it down to med-high once it starts to boil.  You want to keep it at a steady boil. Pretty soon your house will smell so warm and wonderful!  I tried it last week and my mom and sister came in the house and instantly said the house smells so good, what candle is that you are burning?  Ha!  I shared with them the secret!  Today, we cooked bacon and you know how bacon can stink up your house, so I threw the oranges and spices together and in no time I was smelling the orange spice smell instead of bacon grease.  I actually decided to add cinnamon and pumpkin spice along with the oranges today.  There you have it!  A great natural and inexpensive way to fill your house with the smell of fall!  I took the peeled oranges and put them in the fridge for a healthy snack later!  I am starting to wonder if lemons and limes would work for the spring?  Hmmm? 

Joshua says the Darndest Things

 

Lately, Joshua has been some saying some really funny stuff, so I wanted to write it down, so I want forget.  He is so witty and comes up with the craziest stories!

 

Just today we were at a stop light and Joshua wanted his umbrella but couldn't reach, because it was on the floor.  He asked if I could get it for him.  I was trying to reach around my seat to grab it and told him that I couldn't reach it.  Joshua says, "Momma, yes you can,  just use your muscles and more muscles, you can do it!" Ha!

 

When leaving the gym he told the worker's in the childcare center, "Bye, thanks for having us!"

 

Almost everytime, I share something with Joshua in the form of good news, like we are going to "X" place or "X" people are coming over, how was his day, etc.  He almost always asks "Are you so happy?"  Apparently this is something that some PDD kids do.  They need that extra reassurance, because they do not know how to process self praise and encouragement, therefore they seek it out.  They are not very confident in what they accomplish, so their need to be praised is much greater.  None the less it is still something cute that he says, so I had to add it to the list.

 

 

He love to have our dog, Milo do tricks for treats!  Joshua will ask Milo to lay down or sit and after Milo follows the command, Joshua will say, "why thank you!"

 

Joshua is always encouraging Dan and I.  He will say, "You can do it!"  "You got it"  "Yay, you did it!"  He our little encourager for sure.

 

Joshua was telling me the other day about a game he played in Grapes class called "Whack A Mole". I asked, "what did you do?" His reply, "I whacked them moles right on their heads!"  haha!

 

This little man keeps us in stitches and we are always eager to hear what he is going to say next!

 

Thank you, Joshua for always making Daddy and I laugh!   

Fostering to Adopt

We started our foster to adopt journey back in May.  We have taken the training classes, turned in our mounds of paperwork, filled out our 40 page home study questionnaire and completed the home study interview.  We are about to be licensed!  We started this journey wanting to adopt and infant.  During our training we were told that if we wanted to straight adopt an infant it would not be possible.  We would need to foster to adopt in order to take care of the infant that we wanted.  I was not sure how I felt about it at first, but God completely changed my heart and is preparing me for the foster to adopt program. We are very excited to start this journey.  We are just waiting for the agency to give us our next instructions. 

We are so excited and we can't wait to start giving these sweet kids a loving enviroment and hopefully one or two will become our own through adoption!