Thanksgiving Party at CCS

Elyse had her Thanksgiving Party at school today. It was fun to see her with her friends. I arrived early and help set up.

When the kids came it from recess Elyse found me and gave me a hug and then went to her table and got dressed.

They sang songs and shook their tail feathers ;)

They then did some crafts

Controlled (?) chaos

This says I am thankful for "Mi Family"

Then the feasting began

As the kids ate, Mrs. Young read out loud a list compiled from each student of why they were thankful for each other. This is Elyse's list:

It was a good time and I am glad I was able to go.

Oh, and Anastasia was there too which made it more.... interesting ;)

Thankful

A couple years ago I read the book 1,000 Gifts by: Ann Voskamp. It is an amazing book about being thankful for every "little" thing that God has given you and seeing the joy in all that you do.  In the book Ann begins a list of things that she is thankful for. After reading the book, I started my own list.

When I first started, I wasn't very consistant, but in the last year or so writing down what I am thankful for has been part of my bedtime routine. It helps me see what God does in my life each day and puts things in perspective no matter what my day looked like.

As Thanksgiving approaches I thought I would share some of the things on my list ( I'll go through and randomly pick some). As you read them keep in mind 1-354 were written when I lived in Singapore (this might help with the context).

I am Thankful for:

1. Skype
22. An involved husband
32. I roof over my head to keep me dry
60. Online grocery shopping
83. New games Elyse makes up
91. My mom cooks and my dad does the dishes when they visit
99. Laughing so hard I cry
107. Elyse said her veggies were "delectable" at dinner
114. A dryer
130. God's strength

136. Elyse and Anastasia
145. Calm dinners
153. Dancing, goofy, happy, polite girls
166. Days that end well
171. Elyse's pink eye didn't spread
185. So You Think You Can Dance is back on
192. Toby is back home! We ate at the airport McDonald's. It was Awesome!
203. A friend stopped by
214. Good timing with the rain
228. "Nice to meet you" from Anastasia

233. I kept calm during Elyse's homework delays
251. Anastasia doesn't cry during her nebulizer
265. The people above us know how to play the piano well
300. Picking the right battles
332. In bed before 10

I am realizing this is going to take awhile at the rate I'm going (my list goes to 792 as of this moment) so I"ll skip more...

369. Anxiety lifted
393. Kitchen dance parties
417. Target
439. A Dead black widow
486. Toby taking care of our finances
516. flank steak and potatoes
531. Porta-Potties
562. Cooler Weather

583. Sleeping in
615. Health Insurance
628. The washer can clean pee and vomit
652. The smell of spice cake
690. Spiritual lessons
700. Calls from the ladies in my bible study
715. A Bronco comeback
745. Kind nurses at CCS
783. A clear winner in the Presidential elections
789. Craft time with Anastasia

Thank you God for all the big and "little" blessing you give me each and every day.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween 2012

Halloween and all the festivities that lead up to it were so much fun this year. This was the first year I went to a proper farm/pumpkin patch and I am looking forward to it in years to come.

I seem to carve pumpkins in the same way each year, so this time I printed out some ideas and had the girls pick which faces they wanted. Elyse's pumpkin is on the left and Anastasia's is on the right.  As always, I think the best part of carving pumpkins is roasting the seeds afterward :)

I attempted a Halloween pumpkin theme dinner. We attempted to make jack o' lantern pizzas (Toby's is the plain pepperoni pizza) and I carved the peppers to look like jack o' lanterns as well. Maybe next year I'll get dry ice for a witch's brew.

After dinner the girls got ready for Trick or Treating. Enjoy seeing A in her ears, because she didn't wear them for very long.

Minnie and Ariel:

It's getting dark....

It was fun walking around the neighborhood with the girls. In the process we got to meet our neighbors :)

Our neighborhood is on the small size, but it seemed just the right size for the girls. They got a lot of candy and had a lot of fun in the process.

Happy Halloween!

Swing Set

A few weeks ago our new swing set was assembled in our backyard.The girls were SO excited. The watched almost the entire process.

It began around 8:30 looking like this

and by about 12, it was complete!

That afternoon the Willertons came over to hang out and have dinner. The boys had a gret time playing with A and E.

The next morning we were up and out on the swing set bright and early. (Don't you love Elyse's outfit ;) )

This was the day that Elyse learned to pump on the swing. Since then she hasn't stopped. She loves swinging!

Hooray for backyards and swing sets!