Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving my brother and his family flew in from Colorado. It was awesome to have them around for the holiday. I love how Cate and Elyse just pick up right where they left off whenever they see each other. This pictures says it all"

 On the first full day that they were here, we went to the Houston Zoo. This was the first time we had been there. It was fun to explore new things.

 After the zoo the kids played, and played, and played.... on the swingset.

 Uncle Eric had fun too :)

It was fun the see all of the cousins together.

 

 Toby had some help making peanut butter balls:

 Of course someone had to fall asleep on Thanksgiving:

 Our day was pretty laid back (especially since Elyse was sick and others were soon to follow).
We watched some football

 The kids watched Charlie brown Thanksgiving:

 and then we ate:

 After the meal we went to take some family pictures.

 

 
We had a great time. I hope you had a Happy Thanksgiving too!

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!

Rewind to Thanksgiving

I thought I should do a post on Thanksgiving before Christmas is here :)

This Thanksgiving Toby's parents were able to come up from Indonesia to join us for a few days. The girls had a great time hanging out with them.

Elyse made peanutbutter fudge with Grammy:

And both girls had fun swinging with Gramps:

As for Thanksgiving dinner, we headed to a friend of Jennifer Willerton's named Andrea. Andrea was nice enough to open up her home to us and put out a beautiful spread. The only pictures I got were of the kids table, but you can take a peak at Andrea's blog for a few more.

 Silly faces!

 I love the look going on between Levi and Elyse. They know something and aren't telling anyone else. If they were older I think I would be a bit worried.

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. We did!