i miss my friends...

it seems like some of my dearest friends are hurting right now.
i don't like that.
i want to be with them.
talk to them.
listen to them.
pray with them.
hug them.

i don't know what's going on in their lives right now to cause this hurt.
i don't like that.
it makes my heart sad.
makes me wonder.
makes me question.
makes me feel helpless.
makes me miss them.

turkey day!

this year thanksgiving was at our house!  i love it when family comes over.  i wish they could have stayed longer.

daryl and i started food preparations early in the week.  we made the cornbread for the dressing on monday night so that it would have time to dry out so it could soak up all the chicken broth on thursday. doesn't make much sense, does it?  oh well, it sure was good!

daryl seasoned the turkey wednesday night so it would have time to absorb all those flavors.  i was laughing at him wrestling that 22-pound bird!  he was having such a hard time pulling this metal brace thingy off the turkey's legs.  he kept pulling and the bird kept sliding!  finally he got the thing out, and then he read the directions..."do not remove metal bar from turkey."  hahahahahah!!!!!!

he tried for all of 2 seconds to put that thing back in before he said, "forget it!"

i got up at 5:50 thursday morning to put the bird in the oven because the package said it would take 4 to 5 hours to cook.  that over-achieving turkey was done by 9:30!  i have a thing about under-cooked meat, so i kept asking daryl, "are you sure it's done?"  it was done, and it was yum-o!

dad and andy watching a little pre-turkey football....

before we ate we all shared what we were thankful for this year.  colby was thankful for everything, and spencer was thankful for pappy! (i wonder what he's buttering pappy up for!)

 i managed to get some really goofy pictures of all of us this year!  sorry family! i had to post them because they are the only pictures i have!

spencer and marcus

my brother and me!  he just loves sitting by me!  you should have seen the expression on his face when he found out we were sitting together! :)

grammy and pappy...a.k.a. mom and dad

 pappy tried to shove a marshmallow from the sweet potatoes into spencer's mouth, but he managed to miss!

 the little kids weren't the only ones who had fun drawing on all the windows with the window markers!

 partners in crime....

while the girls ran around town a little bit, spencer and marcus decided to set up for a little practical joke. they wrapped a rubber band around the sprayer on the kitchen faucet so the button was pressed down.  it's a classic prank.  i've seen it hundreds of times.  who knew that i would be a victim of it one day?

they were hoping that grammy would have turned the water on first, but i think they were just as pleased with themselves that they got me instead!  it's probably better that they didn't get grammy...she might not have been as merciful!

proud mama

last wednesday night at church, my two very favorite boys read scriptures in front of the entire congregation.  i love to hear young men lead in worship, especially my two young men! 

(yes, the pictures are blurry.  i was trying to be sneaky taking these pics, so i had the flash off!)

 spencer read philippians 4:4-7

     ⁴ Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! ⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

colby read I Thessalonians 5:16-18

¹⁶ Rejoice always, ¹⁷ pray continually, ¹⁸ give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

grandma's chicken and dumplings

a couple of people have asked for this recipe since i mentioned i made them, so here it is!

grandma sprayberry's chicken and dumplings


1 whole fryer or 6 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup


3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon shortening
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup hot water
flour


boil chicken in water until done.  remove chicken from broth and set aside to cool so meat can be removed from bone (or cut into bite size pieces).  save broth.


blend butter and shortening together.  pour hot water over this.  add baking powder and salt.  add enough flour to make dough to roll out thin, like pie crust.  you'll know you have enough flour when you get a lump of dough that is not longer sticky when you touch it.  it will be between 1 and 2 cups.


sprinkle flour on working surface.  roll dough out thin.  cut into strips about 1" by 2".


bring broth to a boil.  add cream of chicken soup.  drop dumplings one at a time into boiling broth.  cook over medium heat and keep stirring.  you don't want them to stick together.  cook until dumplings are tender and cooked through.  add the cut up chicken and serve!


i usually double this recipe for my family of 4, and there aren't many leftovers!

happy sunday (and monday)

yesterday was colby's 8th birthday.  spencer decided it would be a great idea to practice his new trumpet skills out on colby!  (of course i thought it would be pretty funny, too, so i volunteered to hold his sheet music for him!)

it's kinda hard to tell but colby is in the background of the picture with his little hands clasped over his ears!  i was laughing so hard i kept moving spencer's music so it took him twice as long to play the song!

 rise and shine, birthday boy!  i love this little guy!

 it's beginning to look a little like christmas around here....

daryl and i took advantage of the nice weather this weekend and put our christmas lights on the house and trees.  since he likes to celebrate one holiday at time, we haven't turned them on yet!  that's ok, though.  i'm just glad he likes christmas almost as much as i do!  thank goodness i didn't marry a scrooge!

i discovered i have my holly berry bushes!  happy!

 the bow was daryl's touch!

last night i had the honor to work with 20+ kids from church making thanksgiving food sacks for some needy families at the school we sponsor.  these kids worked hard, and i didn't hear a single complaint! (well, except spencer telling me to quit taking pictures!)

today i heard my first radio-played christmas song!  it happened at 3:34 p.m. as we were pulling into sonic!  it was mariah carey's "all i want for christmas" which just happens to be one of my all-time favorite christmas songs! yay!

quote of the day:  "put a little yay in everyday!" ~heard it on a commercial

moving on...

 well, it's been almost 2 weeks since rocky's untimely death, and we're all moving on.  the boys have been much better than i thought they would.  it must be all the prayers!  god is so good.

i still get a little sad sometimes.  he was such a happy little dog, and his happy little spirit is definitely missed around here.

anyway, to help take our minds off things we had cooking classes last week!  (not really.  i just put the boys to work!)

one cold rainy night i decided that chicken and dumplings would be perfect for supper.  spencer was in total agreement and even asked if i'd teach him how to make them!  the only way i know to do dumplings is from scratch using grandma sprayberry's recipe.  they are soooooooo yummy!

spencer turned out to be a natural dumpling maker!  maybe we'll have them more often now that he knows how to make them, too!

while spencer was working on dumplings, i helped colby make banana bread.  he was shocked that i actually let him use the hand mixer!  he did a great job with it....didn't even lift the mixer while it was going!

he was pleased with his very first loaf of banana bread. (the rest of us were, too!  it was gone in one day!)

spencer had his very first band concert this week.  he is playing the trumpet right now.  he was nervous about the concert because it was just the 6th graders, and they haven't been playing for very long.  he was afraid they would stink!

i'm not saying this just because he's a trumpet-player, but the trumpets were the best section!  i was very impressed with them.

last night i went to the ladies christmas gathering at the battle creek church in broken arrow.  it has quickly become one of my very favorite events of the year!  kashia and kori went with me, and now they are hooked.  they can't wait to go next year!

our stomachs hurt by the end of the night from laughing so hard!

today we celebrated colby's birthday.  we let him pick anywhere he wanted to go for lunch...even in tulsa.  out of all the places he knew, he chose ron's hamburgers in skiatook!

the people who worked there were so nice to him when they found out that he picked their place.

they brought him a birthday balloon hooked to the ranch dressing!  i have a feeling that someone ran out and bought it real quick just for colby because it still had a price tag on it!

 then the owner told him to pick any ice cream from the freezer, BUT he had to let his brother get one, too!  how cool is that?  i love small, local business because they usually know how to make their customers feel special.

quote of the day:  “One word or a pleasing smile is often enough to raise up a saddened and wounded soul.”

Therese of Lisieux (1873 -1897);
Catholic nun 

goodbye, rocky

nearly 6 years ago, god blessed our family with a scruffy little dog named rocky.  he was spencer's 5th birthday present.  we went to canton on a cold february day and looked at lots of dogs.  but rocky was the one that captured spencer's heart.

today, rocky went to be with god.  

he somehow managed to get off his chain, and got into another yard.  the dog in that yard was much bigger than rocky and wasn't nearly as friendly as rocky.  the owner of the other dog took rocky to the animal hospital hoping they could save him, but unfortunately they couldn't.  rocky died around 8:30 this morning.

i have cried off and on all day...mostly because i knew that after school, daryl and i would have to tell spencer and colby that their friend was gone.  there's no easy way to do that.  

it's so hard to see your child's heart break.  

spencer buried rocky.  he put rocky's favorite toy and a dog biscuit in the grave with him and said, "enjoy your treat on the way to heaven rocky."

after we all went back in the house, colby went back outside and put rocky's food by his grave.

this is so hard.

we are all going miss rocky a lot.  i've already looked for him a couple of times.  i've walked through the house and found his toys.  

my heart hurts for my boys, especially spencer.  

goodbye, rocky.  i'm going to miss your unsolicited kisses, your funny 3-legged run, your running to bed every night and the way you flop on your back at my feet so i'd rub your belly.  you are a good dog.

goodbye, rocky.  you're with god now.  i know he'll take good care of you, and you won't have to worry about big dogs being mean to you anymore.  i thank god that you were a part of our family the past 6 years.

october

i love this time of year.  lots of things to celebrate and do!

this october 11 was the 70th birthday of one of my favorite men in the whole wide world...my dad!  the family got together in edmond at texas roadhouse steakhouse to celebrate.  

since i got stuck...i mean, since i had the pleasure of sitting closest to all the kids, i got some great pictures!  (i think i was the only mom who thought stuffing rolls in your face was funny!)

dad got to ride a saddle while the staff sang to him.  the first time he sat down on it backwards which cracked the singers up.

grammy wanted a picture of pappy with his grandkids.  i love this one!  look at spencer and pappy!

two peas in a pod!

the birthday boy.

i love this man.

fall break finally arrived, and the varmints and i kicked things off with lunch and a road trip!  of all the restaurants to choose from we ended up at long john silvers!

you know, long john silvers always SOUNDS like a great idea, but just a couple of hours after eating there i am reminded why i DON'T eat there!  but the hats are so cool!!!!

our pirate faces...aargh!!!!!!!

for our road trip we played right, left, or straight.  that means whenever we came to a stop sign or a place to turn someone would say right, left or straight and that's the way we went!  we just traveled the back roads of bartlesville, but it was fun!

i love cows.  this one was on the side of the road right by the car.  no fence!

i wouldn't want to meet this guy in a dark alley.

the boys wanted to see if the bull would charge them if they had red.  the only thing red in the car was my umbrella.  they stood in the road twirling the umbrella and taunting him, but he didn't move an inch.

the boys had never walked on a railroad track, so we did that.

the weekend of fall break, the jones crew came over for a visit.  we went to the local pumpkin patch for our annual pumpkin gathering.

this was the first pumpkin i picked out.  the pumpkin patch was kind of small, and most of the pumpkins were obviously just placed in the field.  this one was still attached to the vine.  i set it up, dusted it off and stood there admiring it.  the next thing i know some little kid came out of nowhere and grabbed my pumpkin!!!  he yelled to his mom, "i want this one!  i found mine!" and walked off with it.  sigh.  oh well.

colby took this picture of me with this pumpkin.  pumpkins make me smile!

the three of us girls were surrounded by boys all weekend.  we were WAY out-numbered!

the week after fall break was red ribbon week at school.  on wednesday we released balloons with a message asking people who found a balloon to log on to a website (www.ifoundaballoon.org) and tell how drugs have impacted their lives or the lives of someone they know.

i've never done a balloon release in all my years of teaching, so it was really something amazing to see.

within 24 hours our first balloon had been found in pennsylvania!!!!  how cool is that?

a couple of days before halloween we finally carved jack-o-lanterns.  colby sketches his out first, and then i carve it.

his was easy to clean out this year because when i cut off the top, i found pumpkin soup inside!  thank goodness it didn't stink or i might have puked!

spencer carved and cleaned his own pumpkin this year.  it turned out really good!

saturday, october 30, we went searching for a costume for spencer.  our first stop was the mall because daryl thought there was a halloween store there.  wrong!  but we did spot something interesting in the parking lot.....weiners!

seriously!  we got out of the car and there were 2 weinies on the ground, no buns or anything!  colby had to take a picture because he thought it was HILARIOUS!

the next stop was wal-mart.  we had fun trying on all the masks and wigs!

colby ended up being darth vader, and spencer used daryl's inflatable sumo suit and went as a wrestler.  daryl and i went with another couple and dressed up as the flintstones! 

daryl and i were fred and wilma.

kashia and michael were betty and barney!

before all the trunk or treaters got there, we witnessed an epic battle between darth vader and abbie kadabbie!

the boys got so much candy that they filled 4 big bowls!

this weekend daryl went to a conference in dallas, so the boys and i partied!  not really, but we had an interesting adventure friday night.  

first we had dinner and watched a movie.  when it got dark, we got ice cream at braums and played "ultimate freeze out."

it was 40 degrees.  we rolled down the windows and cranked up the a/c as cold as it would go.  then we drove around town until the last person's window was still rolled down.  it was SO STINKIN' COLD!  i lasted 8 minutes before i quit.  colby lasted 12 minutes, and spencer was the champion!