We Love the mountains!!! Every chance that we get to take the kids up and hike, we'll try and do it! We had such a lovely time last weekend. The weather was beautiful. The smell of the trees and sound of nature was great. We went on a small easy hike first, even Jon walked the whole way without asking for a ride!!!

We say beautiful wild mushrooms that the kids were intrigued by.

Tom tried to convince Jon that the Smurfs lived here!!!

After taking the easy hike, we decide to go to the top and see how high we could get before the snow stopped us. We made it all the way up, and hiked to the 'look out'. We weren't quite prepared for the cold wind that was hitting us fiercly! By the time we made it to the top, I had enough., so we promptly took a couple of pics, and went back down!!!

And last but not least, at home we played in the leaves!!!!

I've been tagged, and now I figured out how to do this!!!!


1) Link to the person who tagged you.2) Post the rules on your blog (copy and paste 1-6).3) Write 6 random things about yourself.4) Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.5) Let each person know they have been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.6) Let the tagger know when your entry is up.
Ok, 6 random things about myself.....
1. I alway need to have my toenails painted! I can't stand it when I don't have any color on them.
2. Led Zeplin and Elton John remind me of my childhood!!
3. I love road trips with my family, no matter how chaotic they may be!!!
4. I don't mind doing laundry, but I hate putting it away!! It never fails, as soon as I finish putting it away, the kids have it all over the place!
5. I hate indoor play places! I worked at one once, and I know how well the 'clean' them!
6. I enjoy Hallmark movies!

I don't really know 6 people that have blogs, so I will email 6 friends!!! Thanks Becky!!! I hope everyone had a great thanksgiving. I know we did!

Today we started baking!!! We've baked a deep dish pear pie with apples and cranberries!!! We also made a pumkin pie!!! Then we proceeded to make Aunt Lindas orange jello salad. Tom loves it!!! And as you can see...we made our gingerbread houses!!!We'll keep you posted on tomorrows activities. For all of you that can't be here, we miss you and wish you were here!

Today was the first day of a very busy weekend!! I had the pleasure of finishing my Thanksgiving meal shopping with my 3 year old!!!! Thankfully the cart with the car attatched to the front was available!!! It wasn't all that crowded either. But what made it interesting was the fact that Jon decided to sing at the top of his lungs the Indiana Jones theme music!!! And as I sit here writing, I am listening to my beautiful dauther sit in the bathroom singing at the top of her lungs Santa Clause is coming to town!!! What is up with my kids today!!! It must be the excitement of the holidays!!!!

After adventuring to the store, I had to head over to the school to prepare the Thanksgiving Day Feast for the 1st, and 2nd graders. That was even more exciting then the store! Imagine about 50 kids lining up for their turn at the food, not one of them can stand still, or keep their hands to themselves. Meanwhile my 3 year old is having a hay-day running around in circles playing with the kids that should have been listening to the teacher, and getting them in trouble for not following directions!!! The poor kids had to go to the back of the line, all because my kid riled them up!! But it all turned out fun, a full Thanksgiving spread!!! Turkey, stuffing, cranberries, you name it and we had it!!!

I don't know what I was thinking, but after that I invited over 2 more kids to play!!!! I love these momories we're making!!! We rounded out the day with a snack of cereal. Noah wanted to put a spoonful of sugar on his and he helped Jon with his. Apparently Jon wasn't pleased, because I looked over, and Jon had a handful of Noahs cereal....he wanted more sugar!!! This is why I usually don't give any sugar!!!!

Well, we have a busy week ahead of us, but we are all looking forward to it!!! Have a great day!

What a busy couple of weeks we have had!!! We were blessed with a visit from Grandma Bee! We all really miss her. It's a tough transition for the kids getting used to Grandma not being here though. She was able to help me get a few things done that I hadn't gotten to since the move!!

This morning Tom preached and I didn't really know what his sermon would be on. So, I was able to listen to him, and really take it all in.(the kids were at sunday school today!) He used some quotes that he found online. Here are a couple to make you think.

' The thankful heart discovers no mercies, But let the thankful heart sweep through the day and as the magnet finds the iron, so it will find in every hour some heavenly blessing'

'Perhaps it takes a purer faith to praise God for unrealized blessings that for those we once enjoyed or those we enjoy now' Tozer

Something that Tom also said was that thankfulness goes hand in hand with the contentment that we are to have in Christ. We are truly blessed that God chose to create us. Without Him, none of us would even be here!!! We need to be content with the things that we have. Living in America, family, food, .... the list can go on for a long time!! But what we need to have at the top of the list everyday is Christ!!!!!!!!!!!!We have nothing without Him. We need to Praise Him, and Thank Him everyday. He chose us to be His children, and there is nothing more important than that!!

When times are tough, as I know they are for everyone right now, we need to depend on the Word of God, because He will always take care of us, if we have faith. I am Thankful for my husband. But I am also grateful to the Lord for bringing us together. When times are tough, we grow closer together, and I know that is the Lord woking in our lives!!!

Soccer is almost over!! We've had a great time though. Elizabeth had her soccer party and recieved her very first trophy!! She is very proud of it too, polishing it every hour or so!! Unfortunatley, the pictures from the party didn't come out at all. But she actually played very well saturday, and those of you that know her, know that is rare!!! She loves it when she is "into it". But when she's not, she will be everywhere, but the game!!! You know, chasing butterflies, doing her hair, talking to her friends, doing cartwheels..... the list goes on!!! But of course, now that the season is over, she is actually playing!!! Well, next week is the last game of the year, and then we will have our Saturdays back!! Until Noah starts basketball after the New Year anyway!!!! I love being a Mom, even though sometimes it fees like you never stop!!! They will be grown before we know it!!

Well, I'm off to finish making the beds, and sorting laundry, a never ending chore at our house!!! We are excited that Grandma Bee is visiting for a week, we enjoy her company!!! I am blessed with a Mother in law that I absolutely love and enjoy being with! Until later!!!Have a great day!!!!

I love my Husband! He does so much for us, and I just thought that is what I would say tonight!!! The poor man is working a night shift job, that is probably the most boring thing imaginable, and he said that he would work for a great friend that needs his help for two days! I don't know how he does it!! I don't know when I will see him, but I know that we all miss him. When Jon was praying at dinner, he prayed that Daddy would come home safe and soon! The Lord provides and knowing who is in charge is what is getting us through this time.

But enough about that, tonight everyone is on edge for some reason, and I finally got everyone down to bed 7:00pm!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Since we got home from school, I think that someone was whinning or screaming the entire time!!! Elizabeth I think will have a shinner in the morning from Jons foot slamming into her face after 5 warnings that if they didn't stop, someone would get hurt!! She'll be fine, but I hope she learned her lesson!!! Jon too!!! Well, off to cherish my evening time!!!!

Watching the Presidential elections last night with my kids, and trying to tell them the whole time that no matter what the outcome, we still need to be in prayer for our leaders, I have to really put that into action myself. Especially now!!!! I know that the Lord is in control of all things. The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works. Psalm 145:9As I tell my kids... the only thing that we can do is pray that His will be done, and know that He will take care of all of His children.

Well, enough about that, we have been busy this week already, and it isn't even half over!!! Tonight will be the second night this week that I have to be out, and for me, that is a lot. I never go out at night, I cherish the evening, when the kids are all tucked in bed, and I can have some quiet time with my lovely Husband!!! But having the kids in school, I am extremely involved with everything I can be involved with, hence evening ptc meetings!!! The kids love going to these, they get to just run around and play in the library, which of course is not allowed normally!!!

Well, for now, we are just enjoying the beautiful fall weather, we'll keep you posted!!!!

Well, I thought that I might start a blog so that all of our family and friends can see how fast the kids are growing, and keep up with us!! I will start with trick-or-treating. I didn't really want to take the kids out, but Noah is persistant!!! They all had a great time, and we now have three big bowls of candy that I have to hide!!!

We start off by coming home from school to carve our pumpkins. Elizabeth loved pulling out the seeds, but wasn't quite ready for carving solo!

Is't she a cute blueberry!! Leave it to her to want something I could't go and buy!!

Jonathon wasn't there for the carving, he was working with Daddy, but he has now been a cowboy for 4 straight days, and I think he may be on tomorrow for church!!! He has truly embraced his character!!

Noah was a combination of Harry Houdini, and James Bond. He called himself Double O'dinni!! He actually did his entire pumkin alone!

Sorry for the wierd layout here, but I don't really know what I'm doing yet!!! Bear with me.

Well, after carving, we headed out to meet some friends. We met up with a great group of kids, and parents, and saw a lot of kids from school and soccer. The houses were fun, and only had a couple of houses to scary for Elizabeth. By the end of the road, we were losing the cowboy and blueberry, so then we headed back home for a late supper.

Of course I had 5 kids doing the candy exchange in the back of the car, and the excitement rose quickly as they shoved all the could in their mouths!! My friend and I got them all inside where they continued to stuff their faces with candy!! An hour or so later, and I finally had dinner ready, and all of the kids actually ate!! The parents ate later, but I think we were more tired than the kids!!! We all had a great time though, fellowship is always fun!! Today, we just enjoyed being together, and enjoyed the rain from out cozy house, that we have grown to love. But I will post those pictures another day!! Happy Reformation Day!!