Cheeeeeeeese!

On Thanksgiving Day we put my parents to work taking pictures for our Christmas cards this year. I guess we did it too long because Lilly finally got the hang of things and started saying "Cheese!" It was so cute! Here she is in her first picture saying "Cheese."

And one with her Daddy...


Where's the turkey, folks?

Snow in November?

Yes, you read that right...we had snow flurries throughout the afternoon yesterday. The kids loved it. Good timing because we just pulled out our plethora of hats, mittens, gloves, and scarves we've collected over time from our 8 winters with kids up North. They have to get some use, so I'm hoping the early flurries foreshadow a winter with a few good snowstorms here.

I don't miss the cold, but I do miss the pretty snow.

Cameron was convinced that when he woke up this morning the snow would be up to his waist. Sorry, buddy. No such luck today.

A walk down memory lane...Dillon, Emily, and Cameron about to do some major sledding in Feb. 2006

Self-promotion

Many of you know that I've been making my paper Moravian Star ornaments for a long time. Every school teacher my children have had has received them at Christmas. I love them. My mom taught me how to make them and she learned from figuring out the instructions from a magazine. They have some sentimental value to our family as my parents grew up in Winston-Salem, NC where the Moravian village of Old Salem was frequently visited.

Anyway, I started a little side business that really took off last year of selling my Moravian stars. They are a unique and beautiful Christmas gift. My link to my etsy shop is on the left side of my blog. I also sell them on E-bay, but I prefer the homemade format of etsy and am trying to build up my feedback there. Anyway, if you're looking for a gift for hard-to-shop-for adults, it's an idea. Thanks....

What I'm Thankful For...My Dad

Happy Birthday to my dad today. He's celebrating his birthday somewhere in NY while hiking the Appalachian Trail. We are so proud of him. He's about to accomplish something that I can't imagine doing! Thanks for all he does as a dad and granddaddy (or "G-daddy" as Emily converted it to early in her life).

Thanks for giving the kids rides on your lawnmower, teaching them about nature, building fires in the garden when they come, being an example, and for your love. We love you and wish you a happy birthday on the trail!!!

What I'm Thankful For...Our home, neighborhood, and cul-de-sac

I'm so thankful for our home that fits our family's needs, for a neighborhood full of children and families, and for a cul-de-sac where the children play all day.

At any given time there can be 20-30 kids all playing together in the cul-de-sac. Riding bikes, kickball, jumprope, hide and seek, raking people's leaves, and nerf gun wars are constant activities. I'm so grateful that on a holiday like yesterday, we just headed out in the afternoon and visited with neighbors and the kids played all day! It is truly a blessing to live here. We were definitely guided to this home. The hard part, I discovered yesterday, is getting them home for dinner....Cameron was not a happy boy.


A view of the cul-de-sac from the back of our car during our house-hunting trip.

What I'm Thankful For...

I've been on a blogging vacation lately...can you tell? It's because my kids have been "tracked out" from school (a year-round school term) for 3 weeks. With everyone home 24/7, blogging has gone to the back burner, but they will be heading back to school tomorrow. :) It's been a good track-out though. We had fun.

On several blogs lately, I've noticed people blogging each day about what they are thankful for. As I gave Sharing Time today in Primary, I really started to think about my blessings and decided it would be nice to "count my blessings" as we talked about today.

So here goes #1...





I'm thankful for my beautiful Lilly who is full of sweetness and spunk. This morning when I had to get up at 6:30 am to prepare a Sharing Time last minute because my fellow counselor wasn't feeling well, Lilly woke up a little bit after I'd started. She and I wrapped up together in our warm, fuzzy brown blanket at the computer and she smothered me with her version of kisses. We have to work on her puckering. She made my morning happy.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Happy Birthday to our Daddy today! The kids and I worked on a little project so he can have some updated pictures of the kids for his desk at work. WE LOVE YOU, DADDY!