Happy Thanks Giving!

For some reason my pictures loaded backwards... so here is our Thanks Giving day in revers:o)!

The evening ended with a game called Frame... the person in the frame had to keep a straight face while we all tried to make them laugh.
Here is Jadon's turnElie couldn't get a straight face on to begin with:o)!

Bryce did really well...

There were several people to hang out with, here are the kids enjoying Braden's entertainment with two of the Pruitt "kids"

The boys playing

The girls, waiting patiently for supper to begin

Turkey cookies!

Jadon adding to the gingerbread train

Bryce helping Elie with the frosting...

The view from our bedroom window a few days ago... it was breathtaking so I captured it on film...

We had a wonderful, relaxing & fun filled Thanks Giving. We started the morning with our traditional breakfast of caramel rolls, snuggled in bed as a family & watched a movie, read books & of course made Turkey cookies & our gingerbread train. We spent the afternoon preparing our part of the Thanks Giving meal before heading next door to the Eaton's to enjoy dinner with several friends. It was so fun to be with these people who have grown so important in our lives. The evening was full of laughter, games and, of course, good food!!

Happy Thanks Giving!!!

My Sweet Little Man

Tonight Bryce took Elie out for a date, so Jadon and I had a quiet evening together. I tell you what, I'll take these quiet evenings anytime! Sorry, Bryce!

Pretty much the whole evening I have been kissed on, hugged, snuggled and told that I am beautiful, a queen, that I am still going to grow up (what woman my age doesn't want to hear that?!) and when I do my son will be my king and have a blue race car for me... that I am the most beautifulest girl in the whole world... that I'm beautiful... have I mentioned that I'm beautiful? At least to my son:o) - who, by the way, has invited me on his first date with a girl... "cubie" I'm a girl too! So watch out cute little girls, whoever you are, I may just be lurking in the back of the movie theater:o>...

Nearly There!

We recently decided to rent out the two extra rooms we have on our lower level... one of which has been the toy room.
So, of course, in order to do that we have to figure out what to do with all the toys.... and this is what we came up with! We have sorted and organized all the toys into their own bins... little by little we will get all matching bins, but for now this keeps the toys neat and the mess under control.
Who knew we could fit a whole room full of toys onto four shelves?
I'm so proud of us!

Jadon and Jesus

My son asked Jesus to come into his life, forgive his sins and help him to eat goodness.Yup! My baby is growing up!
We had to have a talk about attitude and yelling at his sister. I asked him to pray with me, which he willingly started, then I asked if he knew Jesus could help him. He paused and then said he thought so... but didn't seem sure. So I asked if he would like to be sure. "YES!"
We prayed together and Jadon took the lead, every now and then asking me what he sould say next, but then pretty much coming up with it on his own... hense Jesus will now help him to "eat goodness."
We are thrilled!

Newest Additions

Here is the latest pattern and colors I've been working on...
To see the rest of our inventory visit
SLBeadery.googlepages.com/home

Tude Tracker

I know no one else faces these challenges... but in our house attitude is a huge issue. Bryce and I have come up with a creative way to (hopefully) inspire the kids towards great attitudes and perhaps curb the whining! We thought it deserved a blog spot:o)

Here it is!They each have a side of the board to fill. Hearts are for acts of kindness, Smilie faces are for encouraging, positive words, stars are for completed chores and helpfulness around the house. For every 5 of these they get a dollar (the round coin looking things).
For unkind deeds, mean words or nasty attitudes and uncompleted chores or bad attitudes with helping out around the house they first get a yield sign. If the behavior changes to a positive one nothing happens, but if it persists they end up with a stop sign - each stop sign cost them a dollar.

This is week one... so far so good. Every Saturday morning Dad pays them the money they earned... and in return they have to pay for each stop sign. We're still in the tweaking phase, but I they have LOVED it so far - as you can see:o)

Random Happiness

We had a few moments of sweetness that I just happened to capture on camera
We do typically have quite a few moments of sweetness around here... I just rarely capture them with film:o)And of course... the silliness:o)!

Science Friday & A Date

Fridays are Science class days for Elie, where she gets to go to Corner Stone University for a science class for homschoolers with her friends. It's something she looks forward to all week.

Well, today, being a Science Friday, Jadon and I decided it was time for the date he's been asking me to go on. He took me to Starbucks (is there any other place to go on a hot date with your son??:o)... here are a few pictures we took...

Jadon got a "brownie" muffinJadon showed me how strong he is by lifting the pile of games, the quickly becoming interested in what they were. (Dates with my son are vastly different from those with my daughter!)

Our silly picture moment

Jadon's turn with the camera... about the 4th time I finally got to have my head in the picture too:o). It's actually not half bad!

Jadon also entertained me and a few other patrons with his dancing. When one lady told him he was a good dancer he promptly hid his face in my lap. When I asked him to say "thank you" he said, "I can't talk to her, she's not my mom! I can't talk to girls who aren't my mom."

Oh, Jadon...!

Shipshewana Christmas Lighting

We recently went down to Shipshewana, Indiana for their Christmas Lighting festival.
It was a funfilled night starting with supper at the Blue Gate.
The kids favorite meal here is the fried chicken drum sticks with fries. And we all love the fresh made bread, apple butter and Amish peanut butter they serve!Waiting for the parade of lights to start... birr! It was cold!!! But it didn't rain or snow - thank you Lord!

My attempts at taking pictures in the dark...

After the parade of lights everyone gathered on main street for carols, prayer and the lighting of the town.

It was so amazing... the whole town coming together to sing hymns, traditional and spiritual Christmas carols & to pray together. There was a live nativity, and a huge tree that lit up, as well as all the buildings in town. The kids were so excited. There was tons of candy, free hot coco & coffee... just a really amazing atmosphere. We are so blessed!

Chicago

Here are some of the pictures from our trip to Chicago to pick up Kaya .

After looking through the store and mulling over every option, dolls are selected... now we wait for them to arrive.Here they are!
Gracie chose a "Just like me" doll and promptly named her Banana (it has now changed to Julia).
After looking over Molly & Josephina pretty good Elie chose Kaya, the Nez Perce girl.

In front of the American Girl doll store, Chicago, Ill.

We came equipped...

Elie having a little chat with Kaya while Gracie took a turn with the stroller.

It was a totally fun weekend! The girls had so much fun & their dolls rarely left their sides. We had an adventurous pic-nic lunch in Chicago city, where yogurt, an apple, two drinks & a bag of chips came to over $10... hmm. But the girls thought is was great. We also visited the Lego store, located just down the street.

At home Elie's doll rarely leaves her side still. Bryce had a little set of clothes waiting for her when we returned and she is frequently changing her clothes back and forth. She goes everywhere with us... everywhere. Elie tells people that Kaya is her late birthday present, even though she hasn't had her birthday yet:o)...

Finally some Halloween Pictures!

This year we were out of town for Halloween. So instead we did our trick-or-treating at a local assisted living facility (nursing home in my book - but my husband is more technical these days:o), that was putting on a Halloween celebration for their residents & invited the public... We didn't get many pictures because we were to busy having fun. The elderly people were so delighted, and the kids absolutely loved all the attention, and of course , the candy:o)! Elie was a fairy princess and Jadon was an "army solder guy."
So typical of our kids!:o)

Afterwards we went home to feast on their spoils & watch a movie... nothing like a relaxed Halloween!!

Under Contruction

Okay, so I'm trying something new here with templates... I don't have audio right now as we are sorting out some kinks to our new phone system which works through our computer... if we want people to hear us when they call, we can't have volume on our computer - if we want volume, callers can't hear us...

All this is to say, if the music that is playing is offensive - please let me know! I am not the musically inclined person in our family and have never heard of half these songs (or if I have I don't know it)... So as I try new templates for my blog & sort out our computer/phone issues, please bare with me... I'm not entirely sure how to turn off the music - but when I can hear what is playing I think I've figured out how to delete & select other songs... I just have to hear it to know if it's something I've heard before & is okay.

Thanks for your patience:o)!

Half Marathon Picture!

Here it is at last... the official picture.