Christmas card pictures

After taken about 30 pictures of my two lovelies, I was able to get ONE where they were both smiling and looking reasonably happy (the first one, if you couldn't tell!).  I thought that some were still funny enough to post, even though they did not make the Christmas card.  Hannah is ever the photogenic princess...Harry is ever the ham.   

Thanksgiving Pictures

For Thanksgiving this year, we went to Ken's family reunion in Alabama.  We had a great time catching up with his family, some of whom we had not seen in a while.  They are a warm and loving group of people and we really enjoyed spending time with them.  Here are a few pictures that Ken's dad took of us.  He is an excellent photographer and we manipulate him into taking pictures for us as often as possible! :)  Thanks, Pop, for the pictures--we love you for so much more than just your photo taking abilities (even though they come in quite handy).  I am not as skilled in the photography department, so if I can't get any good pictures of my children in their Christmas outfits, you may see one of these on our Christmas card this year! :)

Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree!

We did my most favorite event of the year on Tuesday--we got our Christmas tree!  There are few things in life that bring me more joy than Christmas trees.  I'm not sure what it is, but I just can't be in a bad mood with a Christmas tree all lit up in the corner of my family room.  Apparently, neither can my kids.  I love these pictures of them!  They have really been enjoying each other's company of late, which is a nice break from all of the bickering and fighting.  I'm sure it won't last long, but I am enjoying the respite while it's here.  Merry Christmas, everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I loved this picture of Hannah!  They made Native American t-shirts, turkey headbands, necklaces and place mats for Thanksgiving at her school.  On her place mat, she had drawn a picture of our family as what she was most thankful for.  I love my precious girl!  I am so thankful to the Lord for the gift of children.  We wish everyone a wonderful week of giving thanks to our God who has given us more than we could even ask for!

Happy Birthday, Harry!

Harry celebrated his third birthday this past weekend.  He had a healthy diet on Saturday of doughnuts, pizza, cake and ice cream.  He had a "super hero" themed birthday, and is now the proud owner of a Spiderman, Batman, and Superman.  Aww, my little man is growing up!  No more baby toys.  Anyhow, we had a fun weekend with our little guy.  We were blessed to have Nana and Pampa in town for the weekend to help us celebrate as well.  Happy Birthday, Harry!   

We're off to see the Wizard...

We had a great time trick-or-treating as the Wizard of Oz foursome!  Hannah was Dorothy, Harris the Tin Man, JJ the Scarecrow, and Liam was our cowardly Lion.  They were SO cute!  The reaction from the neighbors was hilarious as well as the other trick or treaters.  Everyone stopped to comment on how cute they were or to sing the chorus from the Wizard of Oz to us.  The kids were a little confused by some of the questions they were asked, as they have never actually seen the movie.  They had a wonderful time.  Jessica and I had such a good time putting together their outfits (JJ even had a crow on his shoulder!), but we both realized that this was probably the last time we can get away with telling them what they are going to be for Halloween.  Next year the boys will probably both be superheroes.  Oh well!  We will at least have fun pictures from this year.  We felt very honored that our friend Valerie and her son, Liam, could join us for his first Halloween.  He made a precious little lion.  I think Harris summed up all of our feelings as he went to bed.  "Can we go trick or treating again?"  Can't wait until next year!  

Hannah's class party

Hannah had her class Halloween party today at school.  They began with a "parade of costumes" in the gym.  She was adorable as Dorothy!  She was the only Dorothy in attendance at school, so she felt very special.  They went on to their room, where they read Pumpkin Soup, iced pumpkin cookies, played Boo Bingo, and had a little party.  I had a great time with her.  This was my first chance to observe her in her classroom, and I was quite impressed with all that she can do!  She has some really sweet friends in her room as well (which made me VERY happy!).  Needless to say, after all of this partying, both of my banshees are keyed up and ready to take the neighborhood by storm in a few short hours!  Trick or Treat!

The Annual Pumpkin Carving

We try every year to carve a pumpkin with the kids before Halloween.  This is such a fun thing to do as a family!  The kids really enjoy it.  Ken usually does most of the hard work (but I have to take responsibility for the lopped-sided grin).  In a recent newsletter, a friend of ours mentioned that medieval Irish Christians celebrated Halloween as a way of rejoicing in their salvation.  They were able to laugh at the devil and mock his dwindling power because of the work of Christ on their behalf.  I thought of this as I looked at our pathetic little grinning pumpkin tonight.  I will be forever thankful that Jesus faced sin and death and conquered it for me.  What joy, that we can now celebrate the fact that evil has lost and that Christ is building a Kingdom that will never be destroyed!  I pray that thought brings you hope as well.  Happy Halloween!

A Festivus for the Rest of Us!

The kids had a weekend full of festivals!  We went to our town's little fall festival (with our cousin Luke) on Friday night.  They dressed up and played little carnival games and ate a lot of good food.  Then on Saturday, we went to a pumpkin festival (with our friends JJ, Jessica, Jonathan and Baby Georgia Mae) in a nearby town.  We had so much fun!  The pumpkin festival was very cool and pretty big--last year around 400,000 people attended.  Along with all of the pumpkin food you would expect, there were also some weird pumpkin foods like pumpkin hamburgers and pumpkin stew.  We filled up on pumpkin pies, pumpkin cream puffs, pumpkin donuts, and pumpkin hamburgers (with a few corn-dogs thrown in there too).  Ken stood in line for over an hour to get our "famous" pumpkin pie and donuts!  We saw a pumpkin that weighed over 1300 lbs., and a "tree" made out of pumpkins.  The kids got to ride the ferris wheel and a twirling dragon (with Jessica and me).  It was a full day of pumpkin fun for our little pumpkin-heads!   

Pumpkinheads

Here are my three pumpkinheads picking out pumpkins for our front stoop.  This has to be one of my favorite things to do!  I love fall!

Answered prayers

I just wanted to thank everyone who prayed for my little nephew over these past few weeks.  My sister called me today with a glowing report from his GI doctor.  Liam is truly a testimony to God's grace!  For those of you who don't know, he was hospitalized for several days with the rotavirus.  In a child this small, that can be deadly.  God has not only sustained Liam, but my sister as well.  It was a grueling process of poking and prodding as they tested him for all manner of illnesses before reaching a diagnosis.  Please continue to keep him in your prayers as he grows and develops.  He is such a blessing from the Lord and we are all so thankful for him!

Just because...

You can never have too many pictures of the cutest children that ever lived, can you?  I'm not biased or anything.

Chatternoogy

It's been a busy travel month for our family.  We went to see my sister and her family in Chattanooga twice during September.  We had a great time going to the aquarium, the fountains at Coolidge Park, and the river walk.  The most fun of all was just being together, which we don't get to do as often as we'd like.  The kids love their cousins!  These are a few of my favorite pictures for our trips.