Psalm 27:1

The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

www.biblegateway.com


Sunday, November 30, 2008

Flowers and Gingerbread Trees

My dear sweet husband bought me these flowers after church on November 4th. They kept their beautiful blooms until just last week. I finally threw them away on November 25. Aren't they beautiful!!




These pictures are of the Gingerbread Christmas Tree the kids and I made on Saturday. We did one last year and the kids had a blast. When I saw it in the store this year, I picked one up. The gingerbread houses required way too much detail for the kids but this one was perfect. Plus, Will is making a gingerbread house at school this week.



Andrew, Hannah and Will posing with the tree

The kids posing with the tree

Hannah being a big ham!!

Will is so proud of the work he did!!

Andrew wanted to share his banana with everyone.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

LOTS and LOTS of Pictures

The pictures are out of order. The first set were taking at CJ and Carla's wedding reception on November 15th. The second set were taken at Toccoa Falls on November 16th. The last set were taken while we were at the park on November 4th. Enjoy!!

Andrew, Will and Hannah
Annette (in the black) and Lanell (in the red)

Ashtyn and her dad JT
[When Ashtyn and Hannah were younger, they looked like an opposite set of twins: Hannah had the red curly hair with dark blue eyes and fair skin. Ashtyn had the dark curly hair with dark eyes (so brown they are almost black) and dark skin. They always play together really well when we are in North Carolina and seem to pick up where they left off from the last time they saw each other.]

Joe, Sharon and Rich

JT, Carla and Annette

The stream coming from the Falls

Mike and Andrew at Toccoa Falls

Mike and the kids at Toccoa Falls

Toccoa Falls

Toccoa Falls as you walk up to the end of the trail.

The boys hanging out in Will's bed before bedtime.

The changing leaves at Central Park near the house

Andrew and Will on the slide

Gracie

Hannah
The weather at the first of November was warmer than usual this time of year. The kids wore short sleeves the day we went to vote. Because they were good while I was making my choices in the voting booth, I took them all to the park to play.
Thanksgiving Day was busy but fun. Will woke up just before 7 a.m. and came running into our room. He started shaking me yelling, "Mom, it's Thanksgiving!! Mom, it's Thanksgiving!!" If he is this excited about Thanksgiving, imagine how he will be on Christmas morning. The family and some friends came over between 12 and 1 to eat. We had about sixteen people here. All of the food was wonderful. Here is a list of everything we had:
Turkey, dressing, deviled eggs, corn casserole, Lima beans, green bean casserole, sweet potato souffle, cranberry sauce, jello salad, potato salad and rolls.
For dessert, we had Mississippi Mud Cake, Strawberry Pizza, Pecan Pie, and Key Lime Pie.
Needless to say, we were all stuffed. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and a very Happy Holidays as we get ready to celebrate Christ's birth!!

Monday, November 24, 2008

Happy Anniversary!!

Today is my dad and step-mom's anniversary. They are celebrating 14 years of marriage. Congratulations you two!!!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

We're back!!

We are back from a quick trip out of town. Mike and I took the kids to Mike's cousin's wedding in Toccoa, Georgia. We got to see all of Mike's family while there. I have pictures to post once I get them downloaded off the camera. I'll also post more information about all of our "goings on" at the same time. It is late and I'm ready for my own bed. The hotel room was nice but we had two double beds for four people. Andrew was the lucky one; he slept by himself in his crib. Lucky duck.

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Happy Birthday Uncle Jim!

Today is my Uncle Jim's birthday. Hope you have a great birthday!!! We love you!!

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Still Here

The reason for the lack of posts on our blog is because things have been busy around here. Even though soccer practice and games are over, life hasn't slowed down. This past Saturday was spent giving the house a good cleaning, something we haven't been able to do since soccer started. Sunday, Hannah and I went grocery shopping while Mike worked and Will watched television. Andrew was taking a nap and trying to get rid of a fever of between 101-103 degrees.

The kids are looking forward to this weekend. Friday we are leaving to go to Mike's cousin's wedding. Since it is about an eight hour drive, we are checking the kids out of school early so we don't arrive in the middle of the night. The wedding is in a little town NE of Atlanta.

While we are there, we are going to celebrate Thanksgiving with the family. For the last five years, we have gone to Mike's aunts and grandmother's house for Thanksgiving. Since CJ was getting married two weeks before the holiday, we all decided to celebrate while we were together. It is weird planning to spend Thanksgiving here at home. We started going to NC when Will was six months old.

I am really proud of Hannah and Will. They both have done very well in their conduct at school. Hannah is the only one in her class that has not flipped a card and gotten off green light. [The teachers use a color code to determine their level of behavior. Each child starts off on Green light (which is good). If they do something that is wrong or has to be corrected, the child has to change their card and color.] Will is also doing great with his conduct at school. He has only gotten into trouble once. During the third or fourth week of school, he squirted juice on another child at lunch. Doing this caused him to get a yellow light (which means they did something wrong. No other punishment is needed.) Their grades are also very good.

I have to tell some stories about Andrew. He has been talking up a storm (except at school). He is like a mynah bird: he repeats just about everything he hears. At night while we are trying to get the kids in bed, Mike and I start singing the "High Ho" song from "Snow White." You know, "High ho, high ho, it's off to work we go." We substitute bed for work. Mike whistles part while the rest of us just sing "Do do do do....." Anytime during the day or night whenever you mention the words "time for bed" Andrew starts singing "Hi Ho" and "do do do do..." It is hilarious!!!!

Tonight after dinner, Andrew climbed into my lap and was trying to get down. I asked him, "What do you say?" thinking he would ask for permission to get down like the other two do. Instead, he looks up at me with the biggest, cheesiest grin on his face and says "PEEEAAASSSEEE!!!" I couldn't help myself and started laughing.

Last Saturday, Mike and I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese because they had done so well at school. Now, every time we pass Chuck E. Cheese (or anytime he thinks about it), Andrew starts saying, "Hannah go Chuck E. Cheese." "Will go Chuck E. Cheese." The problem is he says it over, and over, and over, and over and over etc.

Something else he does that is funny is he wants to know what you are doing. One day I was emptying and reloading the dishwasher. He walks up and asks "Doing, Mama, doing?" I tell him "I am emptying and loading the dishwasher, Andrew." He asks me again, "Doing, Mama?" I tell him the same thing. This goes on for about five minutes; each time my answer gets shorter and shorter in length. Finally, he asks me about three times, "Doing, Mama?" and I answer "Dishes." He then just walks off and starts playing. It was really cute.

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Happy Birthday Marines!!!

Today is the birthday of the United States Marine Corp!! They are 232 years old. Happy Birthday Marines!!! Semper Fi!!!

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Very Sad News

We received some very sad news today. A friend I have known since I was in the Singles Sunday School class at church, Chaelson Andre, committed suicide yesterday. I don't know all the details. Chaelson leaves his daughter Hannah, his wife Elizabeth and step-son Luke along with his ex-wife Stephanie. Understandably, they are all having a tough time. Please pray for this family.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Parties, Festivals and Soccer Games

This blog will be long because I have a lot to catch up on and a LOT of pictures to post. Hope you enjoy it all.
The soccer games in the pictures below were played on Saturday. It was their last one.
This is Will's soccer team, the Tigers, in action. Mike is their coach.

Here is another shot of the Tigers in play.
They are the ones in blue.

Mike the the team are lined up waiting for the ball to be thrown in.

This is Hannah's soccer team, the Lady Wildfire, in action.
They are the ones in the blue shirts.

Hannah and her teammate are going after the ball.

Hannah and Kylie

Hannah and Emily

Andrew is dressed as a soccer player for Layne's costume birthday party.


Andrew and Jonas

Andrew

Hannah is dressed as a Snow Princess for Layne's party.

Hannah is reading beside her bed before Layne's party.
She and Will both LOVE to read. I hope they stay
interested in books like Mike and I are.

Layne (the birthday girl) and Andrew

Our friends Susan and Todd.
Aren't they a cute couple?

Will dressed as a baseball player for Layne's party.

Will and Andrew
Regina's vehicle at MOPS Trunk or Trunk

Amy's vehicle at MOPS

Jamie's vehicle at MOPS

My van at Trunk or Treat
The boys loved the trucks and construction toys I had decorated with.
They played with them almost the whole time we were there.

Cole, Bennett, Brady, Hudson and Andrew
at the MOPS Trunk or Treat

The boys enjoying some of their candy.

Andrew in his lion costume.
He wore it during a trip to Sam's Club.
Everyone there just had a fit over him.

This costume has been worn by Nathan, Will and Andrew at Halloween.
Hannah is the only one who didn't get to wear it.
It was too big for her on her first Halloween and too little on the second.

Andrew and Michelle at our church's Fall Festival.
Michelle is wearing Hannah's crown.

Andrew at the MOPS Trunk or Treat.

Andrew again.
Here, he looks like Nathan when he was this age.

Hannah doing the cake walk at church.

Melanie

Nathan and Hannah doing the cake walk.

Will, Nathan and Hannah

Will, Nathan, Hannah, Melanie, Michelle and Andrew



As you can see, we have been busy but having loads of fun.