birthday buddies

Thomas turned 3 this week and we had a tons of fun celebrating! We had a fun birthday breakfast together with the whole family & then played, played, played & played some more with his trains! This little guy finds no greater joy than playing trains...Then we watched Abby perform in her Thanksgiving play at school. He repeatedly walked onto the stage to give the turkey, Abby,hugs:) We ended the day by celebrating at "Noah's house" with pizza & cake. Noah & Thomas share a birthday so it was the perfect way to end the day. Thanks Kroons! As I tucked him into bed, I sang to him..."Happy Birthnight to you, Happy Birthnight to you...." He was almost asleep, but rolled over and smiled as he said, "Sing to Noah too!" Of course I did... Sweet boy, we love you! Happy 3:)

God send us snow!

Winter arrived last week. We went from 40 degrees and ugly brown a week ago to -15 and snow, snow, snow today! Love it. Well, love the snow. The negative temps aren't as easy to love, but it's part of the game. I'll never forget standing outside as the first snow fell last week and Thomas' giant smile as he exclaimed, "God send us SNOW!"

Winter is growing on Owen. The first couple of days that we played in it, he wasn't very impressed to say the least. Many tears as he looked down and probably wondered, "And how am I supposed to move in this?!!" By week's end, he was happily sledding down our hill over and over and over again though. It's a good thing, because there's a lot of winter ahead of us!

pumpkins a glow

Here are the kids in their costumes...Thomas was a spider, Claire, Little Red Riding Hood, Owen a dalmation and Ella a spa girl.

Fun with friends!
John & Stacey DePriest have an amazing Halloween bash every year. Every corner of their home (& property!) is decorated. This year was no different! Thanks for the invite guys:)

She's 21

Autee turned 21 in October, so we celebrated with some of her closest families. Fun times!

tend to be an animal, k?

A couple of random funnies...

We allow our children to play with guns...toy guns, that is. The rule has always been that you can't shoot people, just animals. In getting around this the other day, Thomas pointed his finger at me and was about to shoot. I said, "Hey..." Knowing what I was about to say, Thomas quickly suggested, "Tend to be animal, k mom?"

Tom was at home with the boys all day today. He heard Owen crying, but didn't see what had happened. He simply said, "Thomas?" and Thomas responded, "Me didn't push Owen!"

owen eyes

These three say so much about our Owen! His eyes are huge and just go right through me at times. Those eyes don't miss a thing. He is always up to something...usually trying to re-create something he just saw a sister or Thomas do. The nose squish is my favorite. When he's in a playful mood, this is his face. And the final shot....he is a SOCIAL little one. He loudly proclaims "HI!" when anyone walks into the room....or when he sees someone at a restaurant...or someone walks down the street...or someone pushes their cart by us in the store...And he'll keep saying it until you respond appropriately! Love this little guy.

awwwhhhh...

We had supper at the gazebo tonight. After we ate, we played one of our favorite family games, "The 3 Game." One person picks a theme or a topic and each person has to name 3 things related to that theme without repeating what anyone else has said. I think we love it because you can play it anywhere and it never requires any dice or marbles or pieces that will get stolen and ripped up by the little people at our house! Anyway, we had fun with this for awhile and then I changed things up. Spinning off of my biblestudy icebreaker today, I asked.... "What is the best gift you've ever received?" Without missing a beat, Claire said, "I know! I'll go! My mom and Jesus." Awwwhhhh.... Then it was Ella's turn. Her answer? "My brothers." Double awwwhhhh.... How blessed I am to be the mom of these two sweet girls.