November

Poor November. For whatever reason, November is the month I historically take very few photos. I don't know why but that's the way it's been for the last couple years. I'll get to the end of November and I'm like, huh, I have 4 photos of the whole month. I've even been forgetting to take them at Thanksgiving.

That's it. I mean, there's several more photos of the kids in the powerwheel but they're even more blurry than this shot. But these are the only days I got out my camera and used it.

Also, Thanksgiving weekend marked the 5th Anniversary in our house and move back to TN. To celebrate the occasion, Daniel and I spent the weekend at the hospital for his appendectomy! Heh. The day before Thanksgiving his stomach started hurting but he attributed it to various things but by Friday night he was in so much pain he went to the ER. Appendicitis. Surgery scheduled Saturday.

In the holding room right before surgery

Then he spent the rest of the weekend recovering in the hospital. I stayed until Sunday afternoon until I had to pick up the kids. He was discharged Monday. It was quite a stressful weekend and not the ideal way to celebrate our 5th anniversary here (it's really not like we would've "celebrated" anyway...) but I'm glad he's ok and we caught it in time. Happy Thanksgiving! ;)

Thanksgiving weekend

I normally do a welcome home post after returning from Toronto, but there just wasn't time after this trip. I didn't even take very many pictures. I helped with a fundraiser almost right after coming home then working to get re-adjusted which oddly enough always takes a little time to get back in the groove of things. Then we had an ER visit with Allie, who bumped her head on the bookcase and cut it open-- no stiches-- just glue. And wah-la it's Thanksgiving!

So we were very happy as always to return home to our boys and my parents watched them the last week and a half before my return (Daniel traveled to Atlanta for training and then TAM week in San Fran). They gave me/us a very nice treat by having the house spotless! My dad even hand cleaned the entire downstairs flooring! Plus mom got us a new table cloth, place mats and an orchid, everything was beautiful and we did keep it clean for awhile. :)

Now, on to Thanksgiving! This year was with my family so in addition to my parents and siblings, I got to spend some time with extended family in from St. Louis which is always nice. I didn't take too many pictures, but here's a few.

Thanksgiving Thursday

Thanksgiving is a great time to reflect on our blessings and all we're thankful for. This should be something I practice all the time but on special days and time spent with family, one often becomes more introspective. At least, I do. :)

I am thankful for so many things- from our basic luxuries like plumbing and electricity to having a warm bed at night and room for our whole family to spread out in our home. If I had to pick some of the top things I'm thankful for this year it would be the success Maggie has seen at Health in Motion. Our two trips this year have made a big impact on her core strength and therefore her independence. To go along with that, I'm thankful for our successful fundraising efforts that made those trips possible. 

I'm also very thankful for our little Allie- a fourth blessing who we were not at all prepared for and didn't know how we would handle has balanced the scales in our home. We love you our sweet, sweet baby girl. I'm so thankful for my little family--well, a big family by today's standards for sure-- but we're outnumbered by littles.

I hope you found time to reflect on all you're thankful for today! Happy Thanksgiving 2014. 

Thanksgiving

So it's a week before Christmas and I'm just now writing about Thanksgiving. Here's hoping I can write about Christmas before the year ends! I'm off my game a little this year where pictures are involved...I just haven't taken as many. My parents had a really nice setup that I took zero pictures of and I didn't take any during the meal either- because everyone loves pictures of themselves eating. Everything was delicious- turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, rolls, vegetables, applesauce and then of course, dessert! I made several dishes for Maggie that mom and Daniel enjoyed as well. I made an asparagus casserole that used mushrooms and parsnips as the "cream" rather than your usual soup, plus homemade applesauce, sweet potato casserole with a hint of grade B pure maple syrup and cinnamon as the sweeteners plus pumpkin cookies and a pumpkin "cheesecake". Then at the last minute Will asked me to make an apple pie. I thought someone else was bringing cherry, but much to our disappointment, there was no cherry pie for Thanksgiving! Plenty of pumpkin, though. I managed to take a few shots after our meal on Thursday:

 playing hide and seek with Uncle Jimmy

That evening we went rollerskating. Here, I finally took a reasonable amount of pictures. Everyone had a great time! I wasn't comfortable putting Maggie in skates, but she didn't let that stop her from getting on the rink with everyone else! Love that girl. :)

We had a great night! The rest of the weekend was busy busy busy as well; Friday I hosted a Mary Kay party at my house to raise money for Maggie's therapy. And Saturday we went to the farm in Carthage to visit with Daniel's family and had chili, hot dogs, stew, cornbread and I heard there was dessert, but I somehow missed that. I suppose my waistline will thank me. Hope you enjoyed a your Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Thursday: family & friends

It was the middle of the night and as he slept soundly next to his beloved wife, he moaned softly. There was no struggle, no pain, no big adieu, but just like that he was gone. Mike Warren passed away in his sleep Monday, November 19th. Mike had such a love for the Lord, a love for people and a love for life. He was a truly beautiful man and I think all who crossed his path, particularly those who knew him well would agree with me. I will miss Mike- we all will. He had such a kindness about him that was rare in this life and he always made you feel part of the crowd, like you were someone special, at least to him and especially to God. Mike was my parents' best friend, he and his wife, Suzan. The four of them met at church and spent plenty of time together in God's house plus went on trips together, met regularly to eat out and enjoyed each other's families. I remember sharing a trip to Asheville, NC with Suzan & Mike to celebrate my parents' 37th wedding anniversary where they had a special ceremony to renew their vows. We saw them almost every time we visited my parents, they came to Maggie's 1st birthday party and my surprise 30th. They were part of our family- we'll stay close with Suzan, but will all feel Mike's absence. I still can't believe he's gone. Mike really displayed Christ's character and above all loved and loved everyone. This song reminds me of him:

Mike absolutely lived his life as proof of Christ's love. I only hope I can love the way he loved and leave the legacy he did.  Today I'm thankful to have known this wonderful man and thankful to have both my parents with me, thankful for my siblings, grandparents, nieces and nephews- for both the family I was born into and the one I inherited when marrying Daniel, I am truly blessed. Are you thankful for your family today? I pray you are.

Thanksgiving

I have already typed and published my Thankful Thursday post, but I want to recount how we spent the holiday as well. We have always done every other year for Thanksgiving and odd years are with my side. Awhile back- two, three months maybe- I was talking to my mom about Daniel and I needing a vacation. We've all been there, especially if you have kids, where you just need a break, a minute to be a couple again. And we live away from our family, so if we want a date night it costs a fortune, which is why we don't often get one.
So we discussed the idea of Daniel taking off the whole week of  Thanksgiving, we drive in early, drop off the kids, and go away for a night or two. I knew by this point Maggie would be weaned and getting her to sleep would not be an issue. Well, that's just what we did (I know, my mom's great, right?). And to tie in with my TT post, I'm so thankful Daniel has the time to take off, the means to get away for a couple nights and a willing and available mother to watch our kids. We chose Cedars of Lebanon State Park....it's maybe 20 minutes from my parents house so if either child did have an issue, we weren't stuck far away and their cabin rentals are very reasonable. Enjoying some time together as a couple without the noise and interruption of our children was a great way to start the holiday weekend.

We returned Tuesday afternoon and I got to work on my pies- I usually contribute dessert to the meal and make the mashed potatoes. Wednesday company arrived- family drove down from St. Louis and flew up from Florida and of course all my siblings were in attendance. Chaos ensued but it was a fun time with family....hospitality is definitely one of my parents' spiritual gifts because the house was packed! The food was delicious as always...I think my parents spent the whole week in the kitchen not only preparing for Thanksgiving dinner, but food for the remainder of the weekend and of course cleaning up. We watched movies, played games, sat outside by the firepit a couple nights, even had s'mores.

Maggie and Logan playing

 then she starts to roll over him!

silly girl!

We even celebrated Livy's birthday

Too many blessings to count. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

p.s. I hope you enjoy my updated Christmas design!