Giving Thanks!

Our Thanksgiving celebration was very quiet this year and I will have to admit a little lonely. While the rest of my family joined together in GA we remained here in CO where it was just the 5 of us. I found myself missing my extended family like crazy. Being so far away is very hard sometimes. I prepared a feast to feed a crowd and we hardly made a dent in the food so looks like left overs for the next 2 days. We ate and then enjoyed some joke-telling by Grace, some entertainment by Emily and Cody and I watched a movie which is a treat for me ( I usally don't sit down long enough to watch a movie) But for one afternoon I enjoyed my kids to the fullest and it was truly time for which this mama was thankful. So another Thanksgiving has come and gone....we are a few pounds heavier and have more memories which I will treasure forever. Looking forward to getting our house all Christmas-ed up today and then back to the busyness of life. Lets hope that busyness includes packing for China!

Here's how we gave thanks this year......

Post Feasting Photos with my kiddos

We finished our day with Bobby Flay's Pumpkin Bread Pudding as featured on Pioneer Woman.....It was DELISH! (I even had some for breakfast this morning)


Grace told a few jokes from her joke book after dinner.

This girl ate 5 stuffed eggs....they are her favorite.

The girls were not interested in posing for any photos, silliness reigned for most shots

The Thanksgiving table compliments of Grace

Table settings complete with placecards and Thanksgiving notes to us all.

Looks like the Tooth Fairy will be visiting our house!

Little Miss Emily lost her very first tooth the day before Thanksgiving. We didn't pull it, it actually fell out while she was eating a banana. I actually thought that she might have swallowed it but found it mushed in a chewed up banana. The tooth fairy didn't make it the first night (due to the cold night
what an excuse, hee hee) Here's my toothless girl.....

Massive Catch Up

Well, it is the day before Thanksgiving and I am on day 3 of a week off from work and school which really has been nothing but a time of catch up. It has been an insane couple of months. I have been stretched beyond capacity between managing home, the kids, their school and my new job. It has been quite the adjustment. Work for me has required so much of me and I have to admit that my days are not the easiest. They start around 4:30 am and usually don't end until 10:00 at night. My house is never clean, laundry is, well indescribable, I am treading the waters of life just trying to keep my head up. I don't think I ever imagined how hard this would be but I am thankful that my working has allowed my kiddos to attend such an incredible school. Each day when I drag myself out of bed which is getting harder as the mornings get colder, wishing for a day at home I remind myself of just how wonderful it is that my kids get to spend their days in such a safe and nurturing environment.

My hectic days leave no time for computer therefore, I have lost touch with the blogs I love to follow, face book friends, my chatty girls and even my own blog is severely out-dated. I did find the time this morning when I was woken up by Cody at 2:15 am and couldn't go back to sleep, to update so you will find a massive catch up below. So grab a piece of pumpkin pie and a cup of coffee and see what we have been up to. Sure wish I was reporting that I was heading to China to scoop up my brown-eyed boy but alas as of today we still do not have our TA. But we sure have passed the time while we wait and I am confident in just a few weeks we will be on our way to become a 6-pack + 1.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

A Treat at Focus On the Family

Last weekend Mike and I were treated to a special time at Fo*cus on the Fa*mily where we enjoyed hearing about the new and exciting things that are taking place with this organization. It was such a refreshing time as we listened to new leadership share their vision for Focus and how they are returning to the mission of preserving the family. Jim Daly, the President of Focus (pictured above) has done a beautiful and admirable job of re-tooling the ministry of Focus and Mike and I were so encouraged at the work they will be doing in the future. In a world where it seems that Christian Families have little hope and that the morality of our country is declining at lightening speed we are thrilled that Focus on the Family is committed to see that families are equipped with resources to weather the storm.

Thanksgiving...Kindergarten Style

Thanksgiving is my most favorite holiday. I just love it and try to soak in as much of it as possible which is rather hard to do when my neighbor across the street puts her massive Christmas display up the week after Halloween. Nevertheless, I try to enjoy the fall leaves, pumpkins and all the things that remind me of a holiday that has always been filled with good food and time with family. I love remembering all those Thanksgivings spent at my nana and grandaddy's house where there was so much food we ate on it for days and we spent an entire day surrounded by our family. I do miss that and wish so much that my kiddos were experiencing the warmth of the holiday where we give thanks for all the goodness in our lives. To begin the Thanksgiving celebration Emily's Kindergarten class treated us to a wonderful performance of song, prose and dance. It was just delightful and obvious that these little 5 year olds had worked super hard on their program. We then feasted on delicious pies and treats and were reminded once again of how thankful we are for the heritage of our country.

A Few Fall Photo's

Our Fall has been rather uneventful...in fact outside of school and work we have done very little which makes me rather sad. We didn't make it to an Air Force Football Game (which I really wanted to do) and for the first time since Cody was born we didn't make a trip to the pumpkin patch. We did manage to get to the Balloon Festival and the Colorado State Fair. I was really lax on my photography but here are just a few random photos from the past few months....

These were just too cute....Mia Jian wears these darling headbands and after my visit to Iowa I just had to have some for the girls. Emily's head is not a good headband head but they do look cute for about 10 minutes.

A Visit From Bee

The HIGHLIGHT of my Fall was a visit from my daddy. He came out for a visit a few weeks ago and it was the most wonderful time. I miss him so much and it was great spending time with him. I had to work every day and wished to have had more time with him but we maximized what little time we did have together. We celebrated his birthday with him, took him to visit a few sites and just soaked up our time with him. Emily especially enjoyed being with him every morning. The two of them were like two peas in a pod. They caught up on all our house projects, played games, colored, picked and pressed fall leaves and had a grand time. When he left we all missed him so very much and are already looking forward to our next time together. Bee, thanks for coming for a visit!

Emily's Mother Goose Day

We are so blessed to have our kids attend a wonderful public school that does so many wonderfully special events that enhance a deeper learning of things that are classic and traditional. While homeschooling, I loved and ascribed to teach in this classical way however, it really was against my nature therefore I am thrilled that my kiddos are in this environment with teachers who do an incredible job filling their lives with this type of education. One of the events that Emily enjoyed was Mother Goose Day. Her class spent a few weeks learning Mother Goose Rhymes and then memorized one and recited it to none other than Mother Goose herself (aka her principal). Emily's rhyme was "Pussy Cat Pussy Cat Where Have You Been" and she dressed as a kitty cat. Her teacher, Mrs. Garcia moonlighted as Old Mother Hubbard for the day and I swear I think she missed her calling. It was a grand celebration with fruit tarts and milk.

I just had to post this one so you could see humpty dumpty...is he not the cutest thing?

Celebrating 8 years....my Grace.

On Sept 13, 2002 a sweet little girl entered my life. Her presence in our family is quite a miraculous story and one that I cherish. From the moment she was born sweetness filled her heart and I am grateful and honored that I am her mommy. My Grace is filled with spunk, creativity, and love. She has a huge heart and is tender but at the same time she has a will that is a strong as nails. I love that about her because I know that God has something great planned for her. Her tenderness and love is amazing and I stand in awe every day at how God continues to fashion such a beautiful little girl. She is helpful, kind and a great friend. We celebrated her special day with a group of friends at a horse farm near our house. Grace LOVES and I mean LOVES horses so getting to ride and pet horses was such a treat for her. Here are a few photo's of her special day: