All I can say is WHEW...we survived! It was a long 30 days, but it has finally come to an end. I am so blessed to have had so much help the last 4 weeks. I am sure that I wouldn't have made it through without all of our wonderful family. Thanks so much! And everyone is SO happy to have Daddy back home. Kate was the most expressive of her excitement. She just giggled when we pulled on base to pick Josh up. And then as we left she said, "When we get home, I'm going to give you a big hug Daddy!". Now we are headed to Great Wolf Lodge to celebrate the fact that we are all back together. YIPPEE!
Today was the first snow day of the year! We have about 6 inches of snow and the kids have had a blast in it! I pulled Abby around in the baby sled and she just giggled with delight! Thankfully the snow is going to stick around for a while so we'll get to play some more when Daddy gets home!
WOW! That's the only words that describe the amazing lights at Silver Dollar City. This year we spent the day after Thanksgiving getting in the Christmas spirit. SDC is decked out with over 4 million lights. Simply incredible. After this year, we've decided to make it a yearly tradition. The kids had a wonderful time and we were blessed with great weather. The train ride was my definite favorite. I didn't realized that the owners of SDC were Christians. The true meaning of Christmas was shared to every person that took the train ride. How cool is that? No 'holiday trees' or 'happy holidays'. Everything was Christ-mas based. It was the perfect way to start off this wonderful season. And of course pictures couldn't do it justice, but here are a few anyway.
Waiting for the bus...full of anticipation!
Christmas Tree by day.
Christmas tree by night with a
spectacular light show!
The kids favorite part. Hand dipping candles in colorful wax!
Kate chose Santa candles and Andrew chose Snowman candles.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I love taking time to relfect on how truly blessed I am. Little things that seem like monotonous chores (unloading the dishwasher), turn into thankfulness (having a dishwasher). We are blessed with good health, a warm house, loving family, job security, a christian school and so much more. I'm blessed everyday to be able to stay at home witnessing all of the amazing growth our kids are making. Andrew is maturing into such a wonderful little man. He amazes me with his Bible memorization and is always ready to lend a helping hand. Kate is 4...I still can't get over that. She is such a light who makes me smile just by talking. And then there's Abby. She is the most stubborn, wild, loud, strong-willed child...EVER, but she has this sweet way about her that makes me melt. She gives the all-time best hugs!
On another note, this Thanksgiving just wasn't the same without one very important person...Daddy. We all greatly missed him the whole time, but it hit me the hardest on the long drive home. We always listen to fun Christmas music, and drive by the plaza lights on our way through KC. Thanks goodness we have a lifetime of Thanksgivings together.
If there was ever such a thing as love at first sight, we have witnessed it with Kate and Max (the decided upon name!). This cat is her baby and she is the loving mommy, wanting to take care of it's every need. If it were up to Kate he would never walk. She has always slept in late, but now is one of the first ones up to get alone time with Max. Aren't they both the cutest?
WOW! This time of the year is always so so busy. It's been a whirlwind around here. There have been so many pictures I have wanted to post, but literally haven't had the time to even put them on the computer. But now they're on, and I'm going to post away.
One of our favorite holiday traditions is to make gingerbread houses. Kate says the best part is getting to eat all of the candy. And eat they did. I'm still finding frosting stuck to my dining room chairs. I have to always remind myself, that even though it's a big mess...it's worth the memories!
Andrew's finished product! Notice the peppermint roof and the candy cane hearts. He worked very hard on his house.
Here's our newest addition! Could he be any cuter? Our plan was to wait until Christmas to get the kids a kitten, but we just couldn't pass this one up! A friend posted pictures on facebook of this little cutie and our plan went out the window. We are still in a heated debate about his name. Kate wants to name him Thomas (after her former cat), Andrew wants Ruby, and Max has been tossed around a lot. The kids are thrilled and the cat is...well...a little overwhelmed! Hopefully the newness will soon wear off and the cat will have some breathing room.
All I can say is that we are so blessed! First of all..our kids are all healthy, beautiful, and tons of fun. Secondly...I am great friends with a FABULOUS photographer. We did a photo shoot on Friday and here are the results. Aren't they amazing? And here's a little background on the pics. It was an awful experience. For some reason every time we try to get pictures taken, everything turns to chaos. First, while taking a shower (right before pictures), Kate gets a ton of shampoo in her eyes and cries for at least 30 minutes...rubbing her eye until it was very red and puffy. Then once we get there, Josh forgets his sweater, Andrew only wants to play, and Abby is totally and completely uncooperative. I am just shocked that there was even one good picture! Well the results were worth the chaos and you'd never know from the great pictures.
