So Much...

We had such a great extended Thanksgiving!!  We spent Wed-Sun down at my parents house.  It was so nice to be away... in the country, in mom and dad's big ole house (instead of my itty bitty one), with the peeps I love most... the bros and sisters (that's all 8 of you who were there of our generation!), the lovely Henry, Baabs, Glenda Ruth, plus you Bren and Ro-bear... y'all are fun! I liked having 5 days in our commune, Holly... so others help with my kids, cook amazing meals,etc!  Its partially completely selfish but is the gift of family.  And we had a great combo of activities... eating, shopping, picture taking, being outside, tractor riding, hunting, church together, napping...  :)

And so very much to be thankful for... 

On the way home last night, I listened to You Alone Can Rescue over and over... the ultimate thing we are thankful for!

I'll add pics soon.  :)

And I'm having a case of ADD since being back... so much I want to do!

:: a great walk with Blair this am 

 :: time outside in the yard b/c its great weather (I added another 3 bags to the pile!).  

:: I'm excited about Christmas and looking forward to being in the Advent Season to think on Jesus and learn more with the kids this season!  

:: I'm all giddy about decorating too!

I ordered new walking/running shoes last week...  my first pair of Mizunos... they arrived today!  YAY!  I had to order an 8.5... crazy big but they feel great.  I wonder if they'll motivate me to actually run??  

Front Yard Fun

These pics are a few weeks old and from my cell... I temporarily lost my (new) camera (duh.) but located it last night!  :)

One day at naptime Peter was super sleepy and Lily and I stayed out to play a little longer.

Do you LOVE the pink cowboy boots... we got them as a handmedowns and she is wearing them out!  It took a few wears for her to learn how to walk in them easily but now she has it down pat... the cost of style starts early!

(I think she'll be getting a tricycle for Cmas... she's much outgrown this car and still isn't tall enough for the balance bike.)

And speaking of style, my favorite item thing this season is leggings!!  (She must have only had a couple last winter and its taking me a while to really get with how girl clothes work but I went out and got her lots for this winter!) I've always been sad that you don't get to see as much of their precious skin and body in the winter... so still seeing the outline of those perfect legs helps with that!

Now onto T-ball!

So you all know that this girl has been my DOLL her WHOLE life.  Well, we've finally reached the point of testing me!  Her favorite current words are:

whhhhhhyyyyyy?  said high pitched and drawwwnnnn out and after what feels like 90% of the things I say to her... and it doesn't always even have to be an appropriate response...   I have definitely told her more than once "Please do not say 'whhhhhyyy' after everything I say!" Its definitely upped the annie in prayers for patience with my children... always an ongoing request!

Her other favorite thing to say is  'uuhhmmm, mmm'... the closed mouth sound for 'no'... this one comes across more cute and I can't help but make the same sound after her.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

what we did this weekend...

30+ bags

my dream house has only one tree.

the first time in years that we've done the WHOLE yard this early... hoo-ya!

Yay, another cousin!!!!

Will and Emily are expecting a GIRL (in purple) in April.  

Doesn't Emily look awesome!!  

Love a pregnant belly!  

How fun to have 3 girl cousins in a row... 

Paw is beside himself at the thought of 3 sweet squishy girls.

WE ARE SO EXCITED!

Winter Boredom

with the combo of 2 days activity free b/c of a fever and the time change,

we are punchy and a little lot crazy

our feelings 3 days after the end of DST & the darkness that comes with it...

blah.

just glad Mike is home 

the witching hour is once again upon us from 5-6pm with the darkness that began this week

She Won!

 We are so proud!

We are so impressed with her... but not surprised... She is such a hard worker, brilliant, GENEROUS, thoughtful, kind... the list could go on and on!  And... best of all, she loves and spoils us!  We are blessed.  We love you, Nese, and are SO proud of and encouraged by the way you have and will serve your community on the board of supervisors!  Way to Go!

Baby Holding

I got to hold his sweet man all morning at church!  Made my day!

(and I almost made it thru without shedding a tear)

our newest best bud, Isaac Thomas

born 9.27.11 to our besties, the Andrews family

love.

Makin' Mud

My Truck is Stuck is one of Peter's favorite books.  Goo and Pop introduced him to it early on and it's remained a favorite over the years... Now Lily even talks about it.  So Mike relayed this hilarious story to me from this morning...


He and the kids are in the family room.  He's on the computer and Peter is playing with some of his cars in the floor.  He hears Peter spitting repeatedly and looks over to see that he's spitting/drooling on the floor.  Mike says to Peter, "What are you doing?!".  Peter says "I'm doing it so the cars can get stuck in mud."  Mike's chest swelled with pride.  :)


ps- Didn't Mike fancy up the blog so nicely for me?!  I love it!

Wednesday Traditions

This fall, we've been taking Peter to speech each Wed afternoon

 Then going to the park

{see-saw}

 

{slide} 

 {climbing}

 

 {spinning}

 {and falling in the creek}

 ...after this week, I think it will officially be too dark to go after speech.  :(