want to hear a story of forigiveness and win GREAT prizes

Then head on over to www.mycharmingkids.net and then check out www.grammiemommy.blogspot.com
first i have to say i love the name grammie mommy. so stinking cute.
if you know me you know i LOVE taking pictures and could use both of these things. so go and enter and then if you win you can always donate to me.

Banana bread

I love giving teacher and friends baked good. I love baking. I have made a TON of banana bread and pumpkin bread the last couple of weeks. I use my friend Debbie's banana bread recipe. I found it in my MOPS cook book. Speaking of cookbooks, what is your favorite cookbook and why. I have to say I love the way Pioneer Women's cookbook is set up with all the pictures. My most used cookbook is my MOPS cookbook. I should take a picture of it so you can see how much it has been loved.
Here is the recipe I use
1/2 cup shortening, butter or margarine 2c flour
1 cup sugar 1t. baking soda
2 eggs 1/2 cup nuts (optional)
3-4 very ripe bananas mashed 1t vanilla (optional)

1. cream shortening and sugar
2. add eggs and banana
3. combine dry ingredients
4. fold in nuts and vanilla
5. Grease one large or 2 small loaf pans
6. bake @350 for 40 minutes.

This recipe freezes well.

The cookies in the background are my jumbo 3 chip cookies which are on my recipe blog

what is your favorite cookie

I love cookie swaps. I love seeing how everyone decorates there bags. I love trying new recipes. I would love to be able to bake and cook all day just for fun. This past weekend my friend hosted a cookie swap and although I could not attend she allowed me to participate. What is your favorite cookie recipe. and do you share. I am attempting sugar cookies tonight but honestly the dough is setting on the kitchen table because i am can not get them to roll out and i do not love messing with dough

Operation Teddy Bear

Every year we attend a CHRISTmas party made just for military families. I cry every time I talk about this party because it is so amazing. Honest I did not go last year because Grace was in the hospital and I did not go this year because I was at a wedding but Rob took the girls both times. He tells me it only gets better. So I will tell you about my first year so you can understand why it was so special. Rob was in Iraq and I was lonely. I walk in with a baby in the stroller and 3 kids. From the moment I walked in there was someone at my side hugging my children, helping me push the stroller, picking up dropped items and holding hands. By looking at the pictures you can tell that the amount of volunteers is amazing. I can not explain that these volunteers are there because they want to be not because they need to be. Everything is set up to run smoothly. I have never felt as loved as I do when attending operation teddy bear. Thank you so much to every person who set up table, provided food, provided gifts and teddy bear, who cleaned up afterwards, who helped my husband who was there by himself. Thank you for making the military community feel loved.

my birthday

So what do all these pictures have in common. Well the glass jars with Christmas balls will be my Christmas present but that is not the present. The present is that I FINALLY have my lense for my camera and can take pictures again. Now for the best birthday gift ever. Do you see the redhead with the smiling face (I have always loved her smile). Well on my birthday her and my friend Nancy went to see the pioneer women in Nashville and not only did they get themselves a book but got one for me. So I am so excited to say I am the proud owner of the Pioneer womens cookbook. I can not wait to start trying her recipes. The pictures are amazing, the stories are funny. www.thepioneerwoman.com

Not me Monday

I love reading Mckmamma and I love reading her not me Monday list. Check out her blog www.mycharmingkids.net
I love being able to get all this off my chest. This week I am including some things other people have done.
My dear daughter did not put a hat on the dogs head and then laugh when she he could not see and ran into things, she surely did not laugh after being sent to her room. my children are trained better than this. so this would never happen.
After a neighbor brought over cupcakes a adult did not reply "no, but you can smell my breathe" when a child got out of bed to ask for one. Every adult in my home is sweat and loving and of course shares chocolate cupcakes. especially since there was 6 of them.
I love snuggling with my children but after my 7 year old coming to my bed for 2 nights in a row I did not convince her that if she gets in my bed again she needs to snuggle up to dad, that it might hurt his feelings if she does not because she always snuggles with me. I would never lie to my child just to get a good nights sleep.
when my 12 year old son took me to breakfast and asked for a military discount (my husband is a soldier). the waitress did not look at my son after looking at his military ID and say " you look really young to be a soldier". surely she knew better.
when taking my son to target the cashiers did not forget to look at his ID when he used a visa check card. They did not also ask him if he wanted to apply for a credit card. I am glad I was in the next aisle and heard before he said yes.
when opening our kitchen table up for Thanksgiving I did not find candy wrappers that a certain child had been stuffing in there when sneaking candy. my children would never sneak candy and they would not hide things in the table.
I am so organized that I do not worry that I put the same things in my not me Monday post.
I did not allow DH to take down Grace's bed after her not sleeping in it for months. I did not make him leave it up out of pride (she sleeps with her sister). I was not worried someone would think we could not provide a bed for her.
I did not buy a new shower curtain when my in laws were coming down instead of cleaning the current one.
This weekend I did not have the privilege of going to a wedding of a homeschool friend. I did not instantly think you can tell this is a homeschool wedding by the amount of 12 passenger vans in the parking lot (especially since I have begged DH for a 12 passenger van). I am not judgmental and would not think that.
Honestly I rarely listen to country music. So this did not happen to me, after the wedding I did not go to get in my van and have LOUD country music playing and then instead of turning the music off did not accidentally turn it off. after trying to park 4 different times and still not doing it well. I did not ask a friends teenager to pull my van around. I have been driving for 17 years and would never need a teenager to help me.
after laughing at the people of Wal-Mart blog.www.peopleofwalmart.com I did not find this picture of my husband and daughter,

how was everyone else's week. did you forget to buckle your child when running to the store, did you leave the house and realize your children do not have shoes on. if so please let me know so I do not feel like I am the only one who messes up.

people of walmart

I was looking at www.myspecialks.com and found this www.peopleofwalmart.com. I spent a hour looking at these pictures and we laughed thinking we could be one of those people. Surely not and then I found this on my cell phone.