Christmas Card

Merry Christmas to you all!

Getting Ready for Christmas

Here are a few pictures of what we've been up to lately. Just getting ready for Christmas. I am so looking forward to the girls being off for a couple weeks. Next week we are baking and taking cookies to people and my brother and sis-in-law will be in town for a few days so we are looking forward to hanging out with them.

Decorating...



Christmas Parties...


Making Gingerbread Houses...

"Outtakes"

We just had some family pictures taken for our Christmas card. Here are a few of the ones we aren't using on our Christmas card...

A Fun Night at Bennett Farms

We decided when Mia was born that we would wait until our kids were old enough to enjoy going out and getting a real tree to start that tradition. I have a lot of fun memories of going out with my family to a tree farm and cutting one down. So anyways, we decided this was the year to start that tradition. I got a Groupon for Bennett Farms which was about an hour away, but well worth it. They had a petting zoo, hayride, smores, hot chocolate, a corn pit that the girls played in and of course live trees. It was SUCH a fun evening and the girls absolutely loved it...We will definitely do it again!

When we told Mia that we were going to a farm to get our tree, she came out wearing her cowgirl boots and hat. We were cracking up! Especially the hat she chose that was from their dress up closet. She looked so adorable...

Averi LOVED petting the bunnies, and stood their gently petting them for about a solid 10 minutes...


Eating S'mores...

They had some sand toys to play with in the corn pit. Another fun thing!


Mia volunteered to lead the group in "Jingle Bells" on the hayride and sang it VERY loudly about 10 times in a row:)

Picking out the tree. We were freezing by this point.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving. It was a little bit different this year. We didn't have all the family that we normally do, but my aunt came from CA and then Jon's aunt & uncle came from MO. So we had lunch with my family and dinner at our house with his family...

What We Are Thankful For This Year

Last night when we were riding home from the youth bonfire, I asked Mia what she was thankful for this Thanksgiving. She answered:

"I'm thankful for Jesus and that He died on the cross for my sins and rose from the grave. And that we can worship him every day!" Okay, so I was definitely impressed and convicted by her answer. She's only 5 and it makes me so proud to see how she has a heart for God at such a young age.



Averi says she's thankful for her daddy, mommy and sister:) Precious girl!

And the things Jon and I are most thankful this Thanksgiving for are:

*Our new house. It has been such a blessing already! We are loving the location and the extra space has been awesome.

*God provided Jon with a permanent position at Evan Terry & Associates as of last Friday. He has been contract labor up to now, and apparently they have been very impressed with his work. This will now provide insurance coverage for all of us, vacation and sick pay and just the security of knowing he has a permanent job. I am SO proud of Jon and thankful that God provided a job for him working for a Christian boss and a lot of great people and one that he really loves. This time last year Jon had just lost his job and my Thanksgiving post was about being thankful the Lord was providing for our daily needs:)

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Soccer is officially over. We had our State Championship last weekend and came in first place in the state. We were so proud of our girls and the way they finished out their last season together. What a way to go out.
Eating sour straws before the game...

Mia & Emma...
I have been an emotional wreck as I have gotten so close to these girls the past 7 years. I know I will still see some of them and keep in touch but it's hard to close that chapter of my life when we have been through so much with these girls...And I know it will never be the same:/

I think what has made it even harder for me was watching Mia cry and get so upset about this team being over. After our final game and medal ceremony, we had a team talk with the girls and parents and different girls shared about what the team meant to them. Mia walked up to the front where Jon was facilitating the talk and raised her hand and said she had something to say. Then she said "I just love you guys!" and started absolutely bawling. Let me just say whoever wasn't already crying started crying then. It was the sweetest and saddest thing ever. She could not stop crying and was just hugging all the girls. I mean she has been on the sideline of these girls games since she was a week old (literally). And she gets very attached to people so this has been really hard for her as well. Bless her heart!
Miam, Ruth, Emma, Leanne, Katie & MK
Jon presenting the metals...

Catching Up

Okay, so I am a little behind on blogging. But saying "we've had a lot going on" is an understatement. My MIL has been living with us for the past 2 weeks, we had our last few weeks of soccer and State Cup in Decatur, along with our everyday already busy schedules of work, school, church etc. But I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. Soccer is over (I'll do a seperate post on that) and we moved Judy back home yesterday.

We just started back on our home renovations. I am so ready to get everything done. We had to put things on hold during soccer season as we had no free evenings or Saturdays to work on our projects. So now that it's over, we are back to work. We finally finished our kitchen cabinets yesterday. The kitchen is almost done! Just a few little finishing touches to add, but it is looking SO nice. I will post some pictures soon...

Wordless Wednesday

Mia's first busted head...she fell off the monkey bars at school yesterday and her teacher said she was very brave and actually didn't cry despite that there was blood everywhere. When I picked her up from school, I asked her if it hurt and why she didn't cry. She said didn't want her friends to see her cry but it really hurt. Bless her heart...

It actually looks some better today. I took this picture before she left for school. I think she looks cute even with the butterfly on her head:)

One Last Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Apparently I am obsessed with Pumpkin patches because I have been 3 times in one month. Since I had gone with Mia on a field trip last week I told Averi I would take her one more time and invite Mimi and Parker and A. Jeanna. She was so thrilled!




Averi wanted to ride a horse because Mia did last time we went to the pumpkin patch in Hayden. But once the horse started moving she pooched her lip out and started bawling. She said she will ride next time with Mia:)

Sharing chips with Parker...





Picking out Averi's pumpkin...