Thanksgiving Weekend

This year we headed up to Hutchinson to spend Thanksgiving with Jon's parents. Going to Grandma and Grandpa's house couldn't come fast enough for Luke. He talked about it every day for a week or two before going. (For some reason my 2 year old doesn't understand what waiting until Wednesday means...) Ben was super excited about possibly getting to see his old friends. It was so nice to get out of town for a few days!
Luke was hilarious about Toby! He loved that dog!! He also loved getting in Toby's cage! (Maybe I should get one of those for my house...)
Luke and Grandma enjoyed watching Toy Story 3 together. So sweet!
This little guy is just adorable! :)
I was peeling potatoes, but Abby really wanted to do it, so I willingly gave it over to her. She did a great job!
The bird!
The feast!

What is Thanksgiving weekend without Black Friday? That is probably my favorite part of the weekend! (Yes, I love hanging out with family, but I also love the thrill of the hunt the day after!!) This is the third year that I have gone shopping with my friend, Athena. We always have such a great time!
Don't we look great after being up since 2:30a.m.?! (This was around 10:30a.m.) We both crashed later!
Apparently Luke thought his car needed a bath...
The kids love to veg on the mattress and watch t.v. I love it when they are all getting along!
Thank you so much to Ken and Jeanine/Mom and Dad/ Grandma and Grandpa for everything this weekend!

I love how Ben and Luke are sharing Ben's mp3! So cute!
Isn't Kansas beautiful? Yeah, I don't think so either! I have to say that I do not miss the flat-ness of Kansas! I much prefer the rolling hills and trees of Oklahoma!
We all really like to drive past the wind farm. So cool!
(Check out those Kansas hills!)
So...Kansas!
We all really enjoyed our time in Kansas, but there's nothing like home sweet home!

The Thankful Tree

Because we have SO much to be thankful for, I wanted my family to do a "thankful tree" this year. It is so easy to take things for granted and I wanted a visual representation to show many of the things that we are thankful for.
Before we jumped into writing down what we are thankful for we read a little bit of what the bible says about giving thanks.

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. Psalm 69:30

I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. 1 Corinthians 1:4

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

Give praise to the LORD, proclaim his name; make known among the nations what he has done. 1 Chronicles 16:8

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. 1 Chronicles 16:34
And then we began writing.
(The goal was to do this everyday, but that didn't always happen.)
These are just a few of the things that we have to be thankful for.

A few were a little bit surprising to me. Ben put up the boy that has been picking on him as well as a girl at school that has some serious issues. When I asked him why he was thankful for those people, he told me that he is thankful for them because he can tell them about Jesus. WOW!!!

Yes, I am thankful for God's provision and for His grace and all of that. But this year, the first thing that came to mind for me is that I am thankful for the Lord making me content in Bartlesville, OK. Last December the Lord reminded me that I had a decision to make. I could either choose to hate it here and be miserable. Or, I could choose to be content and make the best of being in a place that I don't want to be. I can't even begin to tell you what a difference that has made! Since making the decision to be content, life has been much more enjoyable! I have found some things at church that I really enjoy and I have made so many friends!! Let's all admit that friends make everything better!! I really don't mind being in Bartlesville, OK. I actually kind of like it here. I am happy to be here because this is where God wants me to be! I don't want to be anywhere but where He wants me to be! Thank goodness for a God that can change hearts!
This is what our "thankful tree" looks like now. (We got a late start, or it would be more full!) We have so many more things to be thankful for, but this was a great start! We will look forward to making this a Thanksgiving tradition!

Modern Technology

How crazy is it that you can get homework help in Oklahoma from your aunt and uncle in Indiana?!
I love it!!!
Thank you so much Aunt Becca and Uncle Neil!!

"The Hero In Us All"

Abby was SO excited about the fifth grade program! It wasn't so much what the program was about as it was what she got to do. This year Abby has a deaf girl in her class and therefore there is an interpreter in her classroom at all times. Abby has learned so much sign language in the few short months since school started! Well, Abby was one of five or six girls that were chosen to sign the songs in the program! She was SO excited the day that she found out! She couldn't wait to get home and tell us! If you know Abby at all, you know that she is not a performer! She doesn't like anyone to see her or hear her. But this, she was really excited about!!
Abby finally spotted us!

I am SO proud of this girl! I can't believe how fast she is learning sign language!! (The girl standing next to Abby is her friend, Jenita, the deaf girl in her class.)
Abby was also chosen out of her class to read the paragraph that she wrote about one of her heros. I was very impressed again since, as I said, Abby doesn't like to be in the spotlight!

She chose her Grandpa Grief while they were talking about Veterans.

I know this is blurry, but I thought it was so cute. The music teacher asked all of the students that signed in the program to wave. They were very proud! (As they should be!)
A group of girls from Abby's class. (I think all but one of them signed in the program.)
Abby and her friend, Hannah :)

I am so proud of my baby girl!! She has learned SO much in such little time and she is very eager to learn more! We have been to the library to check out sign language books and have found some great, helpful websites. Abby has even expressed that this might be something she might want to do when she "grows up"! It goes right along with my thoughts that she will do something nurturing. That would be so awesome!! Only the the Lord knows!

Another One?

Do you see what this child fell asleep looking at?
A Lego magazine! Luke loves to look at Ben's Lego magazines and play with Ben's Legos! (Ben's not so thrilled about Luke playing with them!)
I think I might have another Lego maniac on my hands!!

Jamie + Jon

I don't even have words for this post.
All I can say is that I love this man!! :)

Silly Boys

Look at these silly boys!
Aren't they adorable?!
I LOVE THEM!!

Thank You, Lord!

Pictures never do fall colors justice! I just can't help but take more pictures! At this time of year the maple tree in my front yard looks like it's glowing! I am so thankful that someone planted such a great tree in my front yard and that God sees fit to paint it such gorgeous shades of green, yellow, orange and red every fall! What an amazing, Creator God we serve!!
The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. Genesis 2:9

Let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them; let all the trees of the forest sing for joy. Psalm 96:12
This tree might not be in the forest, but it is definitely singing for joy!!

Thank you, Lord for such beautiful displays of your handiwork!

Lukey J

I just can't help but take tons of pictures of this kid!
What could be more fun than pushing an acorn with your racecar?
Or throwing leaves at Mommy when she's trying to take a picture?
Climbing the fence?
Standing on your car?
(This is the look I get when I ask him to smile.) :)
Riding your trike?
Maybe watching Thomas the Train?
(Notice how all of the books got dumped so that he could sit in the basket!)

All of these things are things that Luke loves to do. However, there is one thing that he is particularly fond of these days...
The Target toy catalog!
He even likes to take it to bed at naptime to look at it!
Notice what he's checking out. Thomas, of course!

This kid cracks me up! I love him to pieces!!!

My Lego BrickMaster

I have a very happy boy at my house
on the day that Ben's Lego BrickMaster subscription arrives in the mail! This month was an added bonus as it came with
SIX mini sets AND
The best of LEGO® BRICKMASTER® 2010! Ben wasn't expecting this at all, so he was thrilled when he found it in the package!

Ben received the Lego BrickMaster subscription as a gift from Grammy for his birthday. This is such a great gift because 1. Ben LOVES Legos! 2. He gets Legos in the mail every other month! He knows when it is about time for them to come and is anxious to get home from school to see if they have arrived! I love watching Ben play with his Legos and seeing the amazing creations he comes up with! I need to take some new pictures, but if you want to see some old ones, click here or here.