Our First Thanksgiving

For some reason, it seems that hosting your first family Thanksgiving is like a rite of passage. Just like turning 16 and getting a drivers license or turning 21 and being able to drink alcohol, hosting a family holiday event moves you into the responsible adulthood category. I guess we're growing up. Ha ha. When we decided to have Thorne Thanksgiving at our house, we got a lot of "Wow, you're brave," type responses. Were we supposed to be afraid of this event?!?! Is it really that awful to have your family come over to your home for a day?!?! Should we be worried about what we got ourselves into?!?!

Now, the actual event was not scary. It was quite a bit of prep work and made for a long and tiring day, but it wasn't a day we had to "survive." It was a great day. Zach cooked & carved his first turkey and I cooked my first pumpkin pies. :) I think a lot of the fear that comes with hosting a family event is from two things: 1. when a family doesn't get along and the relationships are strained which makes for walking on eggshells the whole time or family fights. Not fun. The second thing is trying to meet the expectations - real or imagined or from memory - of what a great Thanksgiving looks like. Some families set the bar high and trying to cook a turkey "just like dad" or make pumpkin pie "as good as mom's" can cause incredible amounts of stress.

Were my pies perfect? No.

Did they taste okay? Yes.

Did anyone complain about them? No, they were just glad they didn't have to bake them.

One of two pumpkin pies from scratch

We really did have a great day. Everyone pitched in and brought a dish or two. It all tasted great! We missed the other half of the Thorne family but they got some much needed time with Papa and Grandma. (Papa's not doing well so I think he needed something to take his mind off his pain for awhile.) We got to sit around, talk, catch up, tell stories, play games and relax. And what's a Thanksgiving celebration without a game of backyard football! In the Thorne household this was pretty much a mandatory thing to do, especially since we have a big, flat, grassy yard! We split up teams and played a game. Mikey threw a TD pass on our team's first possession and caught one on our second possession that he'll probably talk about for the rest of his life. :) It was one of those days where I wish I could bottle up the smells and the feelings and open them up on a dreary, lonely, February day.

Uncle Dave (dad's brother) & Aunt Jody

Cal, Luke, Zach, & James, AKA "Cousins"

My ageless parents

Our First Thanksgiving smiles

Kyle & Katie - engaged

Travis is kneeling and STILL taller than Michael

carp faces

Dinner was great. Our menu looked like this:

Turkey - with secret seasonings that Zach wouldn't tell me. He researched for about a week about how to best cook a turkey. Love that boy!

Sausage & Sage stuffing - my first attempt at homemade stuffing. Pretty good. A little heavy on the sage though.

Corn Casserole - Aunt Jody's delicious dish

Green bean casserole - mom

garlic mashed potatoes - mom made a HUGE pan of these, and by HUGE I mean, she has a pan that's much bigger an a 13x9

mixed greens salad with tomatoes & feta - Aunt Jody's fancy salad

Dessert was the best. Aunt Jody brought pistachio pudding (so creamy & delicious!), I made pumpkin pies and an apple walnut spice cake, plus a few extras: chocolate ice cream, and carmels.

Okay. Enough about that. Let's just say there will be a few blog posts later on about several of the dishes I cooked up for Thanksgiving dinner.

Apple Walnut Spice cake with cream cheese frosting

My sister Amy is a sophomore at Concordia University in Ann Arbor. She plays basketball and she's an R.A. plus she plays her french horn in the band. Oh wait! And she goes to class! :) The girl is busy all the time.

Wednesday night, we (as in, my whole family) got to go to one of her basketball games. She plays on JV usually but varsity has been pulling her up with them quite a bit lately and Wednesday night was a varsity game at Alma College. She got asked to go with them but was unsure of playing time possibilities. Usually JVers get playing time in the 2-minute brigade (aka: the last two minutes of the half or of the game) or if the game is blowout. I was hoping for a blowout they would put Amy in and we would get to see her play. No such thing happened. Conco was down by 11 points at one point and made a comeback in the second half to win! It was an exciting game to watch and it was a bummer that Amy didn't get to play.

But don't worry. The Thorne family made an entrance! First of all, we were late.... surprise, surprise. We took up about 2 rows worth of bleachers, held up signs (the making of which caused us to be late), hooted and hollered the whole game. :) Whether she played or not, whether any family member plays or rides the bench, we were there to support her and she knew it. Take a look!

Amy's fan section

You can seen a sign that says, "Go Megan." That's for Amy's friend Megan whom we also love. My dad is holding up a program. Travis is holding a notebook.... that's because on the way to the game, Travis and Justin wrote a rap about going to this game. It was pretty sweet. After the game, the boys performed it for Amy and Megan. Zach, Justin, and dad did the beat and Travis spit out the rap. I have this entertaining scene on video and hopefully I can figure out how to post in on the blog here. You'll have to settle for a still photo for now.

rap practice

Amy & Megan

Amy and the boys - Kyle, Justin, Amy, Zach, Travis & Michael in the front

The Cheagle puppies are getting bigger and cuter! Their eyes are open, their little tails wag back and forth, and they are starting to play with each other. Out of the seven puppies, only 1 is spoken for so if you or anyone you know is interested in a puppy as a Christmas gift let me or my parents know. The adorable pups will be ready to go to loving homes right before Christmas! In this picture, you just have to imagine the little tan one saying, "You know you want me for Christmas!"

Wink! Wink! How can you resist!

My birthday was on Sunday. I went over to my parents house after church. Mom made chicken and dumplings. Mmmmm! It felt really different to celebrate a birthday with just my brothers and parents. Zach was working a parade in Virginia with his friend Josh and my sisters were all scattered. I guess after 24 years of life it's about time a few of my siblings couldn't make it. :) This year I will be exactly double my youngest brother, Michael's age. He turns 12 in February and I just turned 24. Crazy. Anyways, my parents got me the Three Wisemen set to add to our Willowtree Nativity Set! I also got The Band Perry's CD and a cozy new sweater.

24th Birthday with my brothers

My sister Rachel's birthday is coming up on November 30th so we celebrated her birthday after all the Thanksgiving festivities yesterday. My mom has this tradition of getting us 21 random gifts for our 21st birthday. It started when I was at Michigan State and I turned 21. Around my birthday I got this huge box in the mail from mom & siblings. It was stuffed full with all kinds of my favorite things and some random things: gum, hair ties, a jar of peanut butter, my favorite box of cereal, wine glasses, a coffee mug, CD, etc. We did the same thing for Katie. She got things like nursing scrubs and a wiffle ball and bat. Rachel was no different. She got pomegranates, dress clothes for her upcoming internships, headbands, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's always great fun!

Font of Card: "I'm smiling because you're my sister..."

Inside of Card: "...and I'm laughing because there's nothing you can do about it!"

Rachel's 21st Birthday gifts

Siblings with Rachel - wow, there's a lot of us!

We have similar tastes -- and completely different color palettes.

Hope you've enjoyed all the photos and updates!

Love,

Sarah

Veteran's Day

For the past few weeks, I have been teaching my class about important American symbols such as the American Flag, the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, the bald eagle, and the National Anthem. I loved telling them the story of how our flag has changed over the years into what it is today and what the colors represent.

I loved telling the story of Francis Scott Key writing the poem "Defence of Fort McHenry" (Star Spangled Banner) during the British bombardment of Fort McHenry during the War of 1812 and how hopeful he was to see our flag flying above the fort in the morning. (They all cheered when I told them we ended up winning the battle!)

I loved telling the story of how we got the Statue of Liberty as a gift from France to honor our country's freedoms and how she stands as a symbol of hope and freedom for all who decided to call our country home. (And why she changed into that weird green color. :) )

I loved teaching about what the word "Veteran" meant, what yellow ribbons signify, and how our Armed Forces are definitely heroes to be honored.

Ashlyn, "Thank You, Uncle Jeremy"

You are a hero!

Jeslyn, "My dad was in the army."

All this fit in quite well with it being Veteran's Day on Friday. The K and 1st grades at CCA put on a Veteran's Day program last Friday it's the cutest thing you ever saw -- if you were in the audience that is... the prepwork for that program is close to a nightmare. Every day we practiced getting up and down from the risers, how to hold a microphone, memorized lines, practiced songs, oh yeah ---- and tried to keep the kids from screaming at each other, poking, picking noses, crying and/or sitting down on the risers... It was quite an adventure getting 120 kindergarten and first graders in to some semblance of order! Then with Veteran's Day on Friday, 11-11-11, it's been an Red, White, & Blue filled couple of weeks. I hope these kids don't forget the meaning of these symbols and that they grow up PROUD to be United States citizens and Americans.

Odds are, most of them will forget (they're only six years old for crying out loud) and they don't have parents or other adults who will keep reminding and teaching them about what made America great. I can only do so much with these kids while they're at school but at the end of the day, they go home with someone else. Not me. And the unfortunate thing is that most adults don't even know. We've lost touch with our history and our roots, lost touch with our founding fathers' ideas & beliefs, and lost touch with our overall patriotism. We don't care enough to study our past and have no clue about what's happening in the present and we don't care because we don't think we can do anything about it ---or we want the government to fix everything for us. WRONG. Real change in this country is going to come from the bottom up. It's going to come from freedom loving Americans who are sick of the direction our country is headed. Americans who will take the time to READ and learn about what we can DO. (Check out Oliver DeMille's website & books for info on this subject, http://oliverdemille.com/)

When the Lord decides to bless us with children, I'll be done teaching other people's children. It will be time to raise our own. There's not a stronger calling in my life than to raise God-fearing little Patriots who will grow into the future leaders our country needs.

A special thanks to both my grandfathers, Luther Thorne & Ernest Palmer for serving in the Navy during WWII and the sacrifices they made.

Love,

Sarah

Fabulous Weekend

This weekend has been fabulous. There was no school Friday because of parent teacher conferences all week long and I was SO HAPPY to get a day off. The first one since school started... Eight weeks of every day, five days a week with those crazy kiddos. In some ways it's nice that the fall doesn't get broken up by half days and holidays and snow days so that the students can get into some kind of routine - but it sure makes for a LONG first quarter for the teachers. This three day weekend feels like a mini-vacation and I've tried to enjoy every minute of it!

Friday morning I slept in until 9AM. Ahhhhh. A good 12 hours of sleep! I did some reading and light cleaning around the house then ran some errands in town. I finally changed my address at the Secretary of State, went to my parents house and saw their dog's cute cute puppies!

Cheagle puppies

They are beagle mixed with chihuahua which sounds weird but they're cute now. Apparently they are known as "Cheagles." Still considered a hybrid mutt dog but at least they have a name. I made it home in time to spend some time on Pinterest before our date. YAY! Zach and I went to Grand Rapids to see a movie and grab some dinner. Every man who calls himself a father, or one day wants to be one, needs to see the movie "Courageous."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9VT_NBIVfs

I knew from the watching the trailer online that I would probably cry throughout the whole movie and I was right. It's so moving. You dads out there are SO NEEDED in your children's lives!!! By the time the movie got done, it was 9:40PM so we didn't eat until about 10PM and leave GR until 10:45. That meant we got home at 11:45... good thing I had the option of sleeping in again!

Saturday I heard Zach get up then he kissed me goodbye to go work on the farm. I just went back to sleep - forgetting the battery died on my phone so there was no alarm to wake me up. I woke up to the gorgeous sunshine at 11AM. Wow. I haven't slept that late in ages! But again, another 12 hours of glorious sleep. For some reason, I feel best when I get 8 hours of sleep or more. Heaven help me when we have kids.... because that's gonna change.

Anyways, once I got up I started in on making Pumpkin Spice donuts that have been on my mind for a month now! I've been talking about them for so long I was glad to finally make them! My first batch turned out a bit undercooked and the cinnamon sugar coating was a little too heavy on the cinnamon (I started coughing I put so much cinnamon in there, oops!). The second batch turned out much better. Just baked them a bit longer and re-made the cinnamon sugar with less cinnamon.

Pumpkin Spice Donuts

Zach came home for lunch and got to eat a donut hot out of the oven. He gave them the thumbs up. After that, I decided to make Pumpkin Pie Squares. I mean, come on. I already had the can of pumpkin puree opened, I might as well do something with the rest of it!

I worked on school stuff this afternoon (grading tests, checking in homework, creating a new seating chart). You're probably thinking, "How hard can it be to give 6-year olds a new seat?" Well let me tell you: very hard. Especially when the number of kids who talk incessantly outweigh the number of kids who are respectful and talk when they should and don't when they shouldn't. It's hard. It's hard to fit 22 bodies into my small classroom so I'm limited in the configurations I can make. Not to mention I have trapezoid shaped tables. Yes, trapezoid. What happened to just plain 'ol rectangles? That'd be helpful but I'm not up to spending my money to buy new tables.

My sister Rachel came over in the late afternoon. I let her browse around on Pinterest while I kept going with school stuff. Then we made chili and cornbread for dinner before she headed out to go see her boyfriend, Jared and his brother, Jake. We had Pumpkin Pie Squares with cool whip for dessert. I love fall and I love pumpkin pie!

Pumpkin Pie Squares

Zach's back at the farm and I'm home alone. These are the days I wish we had a pet: a cat or a dog. Just something to keep me company. But that's not gonna happen while we live here. There's a no pets inside the house rule. That's the downside of renting, we don't get to make the rules. In the meantime, I'll just have to survive on cute puppy pictures my sister Katie texts me of her in-laws new puppy, Juno. And by searching Pinterest for cute pets. Ha ha.

Tomorrow is Sunday. Tomorrow we meet with a few elders for interviews to become members of our church. We went to the membership class and interviews are the second to last step before official approval by the rest of the congregation. The last step being that our names get published in the bulletin as seeking membership and other members have a chance to speak their piece. If all goes well, which it will, we'll be approved at the next congregational meeting this winter.

Well, I'm off to do... umm, well... I don't know what I'm going to do. Probably get my lesson plans ready for next week. Because I haven't looked at them since I walked out the door on Thursday night at 7:15PM.

Can't wait for Thanksgiving! Which we are hosting. All 30 something Thorne family members packed into our house. Combine it with delicious food and football and we're all set!

Just don't spill on the white carpet...

Love,

Sarah

Recent Dinners

Homemade Chicken Pot Pie

It might not look glamorous, but it sure is delicious! The leftovers for this little number went pretty stinkin' quick!

My little brother Michael was over on Wednesday night last week for me to help him make a batch of cake balls to sell at his 6th grade market day. (They sold out by the way!) I knew the cake balls would take up most of our time, so I did most the prep work for the pot pie a few days earlier (dicing the vegetables and cooking & cubing the chicken). The only thing I had to do was mix the filling, make the crust, and bake. This recipe came from my trusty Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook.

Ingredients

1 recipe Pastry Topper

1 cup chopped onion

1 1/2 cup carrots

1 1/2 cup diced potatoes

1/2 cup celery (optional)

2 tbsp butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp poultry seasoning (I just used extra chicken bouillon granules)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1 cup half-and-half, light cream, or milk

2 1/2 cups chopped, cooked chicken

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

1 egg, beaten

Instructions for Pastry Topper

In medium bowl, stir together 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/4 tsp salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in 1/3 cup shortening until dough pieces are pea size. Sprinkle 1 tbsp cold water over part of the mixture; gently toss with a fork. Push moistened dough to side of bowl. Sprinkle an additional 3-4 tablespoons cold water over remaining flour mixture, 1 tbsp at a time, tossing with a fork until all dough is moistened. Form into a ball. (It should be kinda crumbly; not stretchy like pizza dough.) On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 13x9 inch rectangle.

1. Prepare pastry topper; set aside.

2. In large saucepan, cook onion, celery, carrots, and potatoes over medium heat for 4-5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Stir in flour, poultry seasoning, salt, and black pepper. Add broth and milk all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Stir in chicken, peas, and corn. Pour into a 2-qt baking dish.

3. Place pastry over chicken mixture in dish. Turn edges of pastry under; flute to edges of dish. Cut slits in the top of the pastry to allow steam to escape. Brush pastry with some of the egg. If desired, place cutout pastry shapes on top of pastry. Brush again with egg.

4. Bake uncovered in a 400 F oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Let stand for 15-20 minutes before serving.

Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

A few weeks ago for small group, I made a HUGE pot of homemade mac & cheese. And I mean HUGE. As in, I used a small size canning pot because I made 8 cups of pasta (about 3lbs).

I'm not sure if I blogged this recipe or not, but it's fantastic. I got it from The Pioneer Woman's website and follow her steps almost exactly. Except I don't bake. It goes straight from the pan to the plate, with all is ooey gooey cheesiness.

Ingredients

4 cups dried macaroni

1 whole egg, beaten

1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 4tbsp) butter

1/4 cup flour

2 1/2 cups whole milk (I use 2%)

2 tsp dry mustard (I use regular mustard)

1 lb cheese, grated (I used cheddar, but you could do a mix of any of your favorite cheeses)

1/2 tsp salt, more to taste

1/2 tsp seasoned salt (whoops, I guess I don't use this either)

1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions

1. Cook macaroni until firm. Drain. In a small bowl, beat egg.

2. In a large pot, melt butter and sprinkle in flour. Whisk together over medium-low heat. Cook mixture for five minutes, whisking constantly. Don't let it burn!

3. Pour in milk, add mustard, and whisk until smooth. Cook for five minutes until very thick. Reduce heat to low.

4. Take 1/4 cup of the sauce and slowly pour it into beaten egg, whisking constantly to avoid cooking eggs. (This is called "tempering" an egg.) Whisk together until smooth.

5. Pour egg mixture into sauce, whisking constantly. Stir until smooth.

6. Add in cheese and stir to melt.

7. Add in salt and pepper. Taste sauce and add more salt and seasoned salt as needed. Do not undersalt!

8. Pour in drained, cooked macaroni and stir to combine

9. Serve immediately (very creamy) or pour into a buttered baking dish. Top with extra cheese and bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and golden on top.

Both of these meals are perfect for cool, rainy fall days when all you want is warm comfort food.

Love,

Sarah

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

It's a blustery fall day in Michigan. Zach and I BOTH got to sleep in. He's off at the farm fixing a lawn mower. I'm at home wearing sweatpants, an MSU football hoodie and a cozy pair of socks just waiting for the MSU vs. UM game to start.

We had a great night last night with our friend, Eric and got to meet and spend some time with his girlfriend, Micah. We had dinner here at our house then went out to Pappy's Bar in Remus. It's about as redneck as the name sounds. Micah was a good sport about it, well, at least she went along and didn't complain. Ha ha! We think they're a pretty good match.

Here's the quote of the week from one of my students. I have to give you some background information though, or else it's not as funny out of context. Thursday is our library day and library time always starts off with Mrs. V reading a book to the students. She read them a book about a moose hunt or something or other and on each page, the main characters see more and more of this moose. On the last page, the kids in the story are surrounded by a ton of moose. One little boy who currently has ZERO front teeth and a lisp shouted out, "What the heck ith going on with all thothze mootheth?!" I laughed. It's too hard not to. I'll do the impression for you sometime. It was hilarious.

Here's the monkey bread recipe I've been talking about: http://sugarcrafter.net/2011/09/23/pumpkin-monkey-bread/ . Shout out to Sugar Crafter's website because all I did was follow the directions. Just a warning, it takes several hours to make this because the bread has to rise twice. My pictures aren't as cool as hers but here's what my steps looked like.

Pumpkin Monkey Bread

For the dough:

3 1/4 cups flour, plus more for kneading

2/3 cup pumpkin puree

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 cup warm milk

2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast

2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I probably put more than this...)

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I didn't have cloves or nutmeg)

For the coating:

1 cup sugar

2 tbsp cinnamon

3/4 stick butter, melted

For the glaze:

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1-2 tbsp maple syrup (I used the fake stuff because we are out of the real stuff and it was not as good)

1. In large bowl whisk together flour salt and spices.

dry ingredients, whisked together

In another large bowl, mix together milk, water, pumpkin, melted butter, sugar, and yeast.

wet ingredients, mixed well

3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add in the wet ingredients. Using a wooden spoon, gently stir until the dough comes together.

mixing the two

4. Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Spray a clean bowl with cooking spray and place the dough inside. Cover and let rise until doubled in size (about an hour).

kneaded dough, pre-rising

kneaded dough, post rising (probably should've let it rise longer)

5. While the dough is rising, now's a good time to clean up all the huge mess you just made before the next steps happen. Once the dough has risen, shape the ball into a large rectangle. Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into roughly equal-sized pieces and roll each piece into a ball (I had about 3 dozen pieces, but you may have more or less).

cutting the dough into pieces

dough rolled into balls

6. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar, and melt the butter for the coating. Spray a bundt pan with cooking spray.

coating, rolled in butter first then cinnamon sugar

7. Dip each ball of dough into the melted butter and then the cinnamon-sugar mixture, layering them in the bundt pan as you go.

cinnamon sugar dough balls, pre-rise

8. Once you've used all the dough, cover and let rise another hour.

cinnamon sugar dough balls, post-rise

9. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cool 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a platter. Just before the bread is done, mix together the glaze.

10. Pour the glaze over the bread while it's still warm.

Then eat. As many as you want. While they're still warm. And share them with a friend or spouse. It's the best. And plus you waited over 2 hours to enjoy it.

Love,

Sarah

Fall

Well, a whole bunch of things happened this past week.

1. The leaves are turning colors and are in their prime. The weather has been gorgeously sunny and warm which makes it so much easier to enjoy them.

2. I picked a few pumpkins and squash from the garden at the farm. One little pumpkin went to my co-worker and friend for her son's first birthday! The others are on our front steps for decoration. Can't wait to pick some more and carve them! I also took a few pictures of my mother-in-laws squash. They are HUGE! I forget what they're called, but they're ginormous and look like a goose body with a long neck. Apparently you can use them for things similar to what you would do with pumpkins. I'll have to experiment. If I can find one small enough to fit in my oven that is...

3. The monarch chrysalis in my classroom finally "hatched" and the butterfly came out! It was hanging on a file cabinet drying out its wings when I arrived around 7:15 on Tuesday. I borrowed a big butterfly net/cage thing from one of the second grade teachers, added so sticks, and soaked a napkin in apple juice to feed the new butterfly. The kids loved stopping to look at it during the day. Around 2:45 we went out to the playground to set it free. This was the most nerve racking part because sometimes when you toss the butterfly in the air, it falls straight back to the ground... I warned the kids about this then told them to back away if it fell. So, I took a deep breath and tossed the little guy up into the air and away he flew! It was SO COOL! The kids chased it waving and yelling, "Goodbye, butterfly!" I wish I had my camera there that day. Seeing the whole transformation from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly was a fabulous reminder of how cool and awesome God is. With every change that happened, I was amazed at the creativity of God and his power over creation.

4. I took my students out to the Reading Garden this week. The Reading Garden is a grassy area just outside my classroom with picnic tables, benches, and huge sunflowers. They took a stuffed animal outside to read to however I'm not sure how much reading got done. They were so distracted by dewey grass, hot sun, and bees buzzing around the flowers that they did more talking than reading. Oh well. I'm trying. Here's a few pictures:

5. Friday night was the Homecoming parade and football game for Big Rapids High School. A couple good high school friends met me at the parade. Zach met up with us for dinner at Pizzeria Vivo (a relatively new restaurant in town that was a house they converted into an italian restaurant). The pizza was delicious. Whitney & I split a pesto garden vegetable pizza while Eric & Zach split an all meat pizza. Then it was off to the football game. Which unfortunately was not much fun to watch since we got blown out of the water.... We played the "Bay City John Glenn Bobcats" and that's how the announcer said their name every time over the loudspeaker. The whole name. All words. City. School. And mascot. Instead of, "The fumble was recovered by the Bobcats," or "The ball is on the Bobcat 34 yard line, " he said, "The fumble was recovered by the Bay City John Glenn Bobcats!" and "The ball is on the Bay City John Glenn Bobcats 34 yard line!" It was one of the only humorous things about that game.

6. Zach and I took the Trinity Fellowship membership class Saturday. It was scheduled to be from 9AM-4PM and we thought, "No way it will actually go until 4. We'll probably get done around 2:30-3:00." Oh no. It went all the way to 4. Zach was starting to get antsy because he's got another field of soybeans left to harvest and the weather was beautiful yesterday. We finished the class and he zipped off to the field. I ran errands around town and stopped in my classroom real quick to bring some stuff home to work on. I didn't feel like working there after being in a meeting all day. On my drive home, I saw a bunch of little kids standing on the edge of the field watching Zach drive the combine. They live across the street from the field and saw him working yesterday and asked for a ride but he was done for the evening. He told them to come back the next day and they did! Zach said they rode 4 rounds with him and kept asking questions but something wasn't working right on the combine so Zach was trying to figure that out and answer all their questions (all 3 of them packed in there with him at once!). He did manage to find out that they attend Crossroads (where I teach) but when I asked him what their names were, he said he didn't know. He never asked. :) Oh, Farmerboy.

7. I made Pumpkin Monkey Bread yesterday and it was DELICIOUS! It took nearly 3 hours to make because I had to let the dough rise twice (an hour each time). The best part was when it was baking in the oven and the whole house smelled like pumpkin and cinnamon! It turned out well, besides that it fell apart a bit when I turned it out onto a tray... It was 9:00PM by the time it was done and I got to eat some but it was so worth it! Full post on this yummy fall treat to come.