from the home of country....

Our family took a mini vacation earlier this week down to Branson, MO.....home of cowboy boots, bright lights, country music and about a jabillion singing/comedy shows. It's a little too, um, country for me, but every now and then it's fun to go down there. If anything just to get away......a vacation anywhere is a good vacation! :-) This time we went there and stayed with my in-laws who were staying the week. We just stayed 3 days, I didn't want to keep the kids out of school all week, and plus Jer couldn't really take off work all week. So we left Sunday after church and drove down, and stayed until Wednesday. As always, it wouldn't be a blog from yours truly, if it wasn't covered in pictures......so here ya go :-)

(Jeremy's sister) Aunt Jen enjoyed some quality baby Gena time.....

My mom-in-law just cracks me up......we go down to Branson, where there are a zillion lot of things to do and she brings 2 huge boxes of crafts and stuff to entertain the kids. They were definately not bored! As soon as we got there Sunday she pulled out the first craft..... :-)

Here she is helping Isaiah make a can-snowman-candy cane holder thing......not sure the technical name it is called - but it was very cute.

At bedtimes, we pushed all the toys outta the way and blew up our air mattress for the kids to sleep on. There are 4 kids in this picture below, but my nephew Ben, ended up moving up to sleep on the couch. I think he felt a little crowded....lol

And below is Grandma telling the kids a bedtime story... just like we always do at home :-)

Here is my 9 year old nephew, Ben....he just loved playing with Gena and spending time with her while we were there, it was so cute :-)

Here is Lilly, showing off her fruit loop necklace she made...........

After spending much of Monday around the room, we got out Monday night and all went to see the Dixie Stampede show. (muchos kudos to my father-in-law for treating us, BTW!) :-)

For those unaware, the Dixie Stampede is a dinner and a show....it's super cute around Christmastime, and have "snow" falling, and show the manger scene, and bring Santa out at the end in a sleigh....and of course, the whole theme of the show, lots and lots of horses. Below is our family enjoying the show....

Oh.my.word. One of my less flattering moments occured at the Stampede that night. (aren't you sad to of missed it? lol) We (as in, me and Jeremy) were chosen from the audience to be a part of the show. We were up there with 3 other couples, and had to compete in a horse/snowman race. Jer had to saddle a play horse (you know, the kind that kids play with, that has a horses head and a stick for a body?) and I had to saddle up behind him. (wow, it's even worse reading it! haha). We then had to run a few feet, and go around a pretend snowman and come back to where we started and go again, as if the first time around wasn't torture enough. Needless to say, we did not win for our team, and it was a hair short of humiliating. All in all, a great night! lol

On Tuesday, we got to do some of my favorite - shopping! Here we are taking a lunch break at Wendys....

And we even managed to get in a visit from an old friend. Robbie used to go to our church and moved to Branson 3 years ago.....she got to meet our newest....

All in all, we had a great trip. If you've never been to Branson, I highly recommend it. at least once. :-)

Thanksgiving has come and gone and we are in full-swing Christmas mode around here. The tree is up and decorated (for about 3 wks now), the outside lights are up, 80% of the presents are bought AND wrapped and as of 15 minutes ago, our photo Christmas cards are ordered and on their way. We put up our tree super early this year. Not sure why. We just did. Probably....no, definately the earliest we have ever put it up. And, more than likely, it will not happen again. :P

This pictures was taking shortly after we put up the tree....I love how she is chewing on her toes.... :-)

Fast forward to Thanksgiving......(yeah, we sometimes do things backwards at our house....don't judge) :-) We had a great Thanksgiving! We spent some time during the day with Jeremy's mom's extended family. We meet them at a church (actually the church where Jer and I met :) ) because of the size of Jeremy's moms family. Yeah, not too many houses can hold all of them, lol. We had a wonderful meal and catching up on family we don't see too often. Great times :-)

As per the annual tradition, we took our family picture. Yeah, this is the best we could do.......*sigh*

Gena was the star of the show.......... :-)

Grandma got in some baby girl time.....

Here is Jeremy's beautiful sister and her very handsome 2 boys

And Grandma and Grandpa with all the grands....

After we spent some time with his family, we went over to my parents house for the rest of the afternoon and evening. My sister and her family and my cousin and her family was all there too. I absolutely love spending time with family :-) Nothin' beats it :-)

Here is my 2nd cousin, Luke and my baby girl. He literaly held Gena about all afternoon and played with her. He loves babies. Too bad he lives 3 hours away.....he'd make a great babysitter!

My kiddos with all their cousins.....

Please remember to pray for my mom this week. She is going in Thursday and Friday for a stress test on her heart. She has to do this before her surgery in January. Thanks :-) Hope you all have a great week!!!

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good, His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34

From my home to yours, I hope you have a fun, safe, blessed Thanksgiving Day today! We all have so much to be thankful for! Count your many blessings today, my friend!

"I will praise God's name in song and glorify Him with thanksgiving" Psalm 69:30

In keeping my mind on thankfulness, so many reasons come to mind this evening on things I have to be thankful for.

Tonight,

*I am thankful for my home. We have lived here for about 5 years now, and I just love it. When we moved back in the area from Michigan, Jeremy probably looked at over 100 homes (not me, I sent him to check it out and narrow the list down before he drug me along too, lol), and we looked at our house the day after the previous owners put it on the market. We put an offer on it right away. It just had our names written all over it. I have loved decorating it and putting my personal touches on it. I am so thankful for our place where me and Jer and the kids can call 'home'.

*I am also thankful for my fireplace, blanket and a nice steaming cup of hot cocoa. Especially on cool nights like tonight! Thank you Jesus, for even the little things.

*I am thankful for the kids' Thanksgiving break! I am actually very much looking forward to the kids being off school for a few days. I love the relaxed days of sleeping in, having nowhere to go and nothing much to do. :-)

*I am thankful for good friends. Nothing can put a smile on my face quite like a note, card, text or message from a good friend. I know that I can count on you, in good times, and in times of need. You know who you are ;-)

and lastly for tonight,

*I am thankful for the 2 most awesome, amazing parents a girl could ever ask for. I have been blessed with such Godly parents, in which I am so thankful. They have raised me in a good, christian home, and taught me good morals and values, that only a parent can teach. Along those lines, I absolutely THANK GOD for my mom, her health, and a scary biopsy she had done a week ago....the results came back today, and her biopsy came back normal! This has scared me so much this week, and I have been praying constantly and asking everyone I know to pray with me. Long story short, she had a biopsy done because of an "abnormality" the doctors had found. Whether the results came back cancerous or not, she will have to have a hysterectomy done the beginning of the year. Praise the Lord, the results came back negative! In doing a CAT scan, blood work, EKG and other stuff, the doctors also discovered she has an enlarged heart and will need to do a stress test before going in for surgery. So we are continuing to lift her up in prayer, and I am asking you to do the same. Thank you Jesus for your healing touch!!!!!

I am getting so excited for Thanksgiving! I just love love love this time of year!

Thanksgiving countdown!

Hope you all had a great weekend! We sure did, although Monday came all too fast again, like it always does. We spent lots of time with my family this weekend, in celebration of my nephews birthday. But alas, Monday is upon us again. But that's OK! Because it's a short week, and it's the week of THANKSGIVING! :-) So what are you thankful for today? Let's see what I can narrow it down to today.........

*I am thankful for preschool for my son! Yes, he has the most awesome teacher this year, who just loves her kids, and is great with them, a great director, and lots of good friends in his class. And let's not forget about the quiet time mommy gets when he's AT preschool..... :-)

*I am thankful for my husband, who gets to work from home. Some wives would complain, or not like it.........I LOVE it!!! I *try* not to take advantage of it, except of course that one day last week when I left Gena home with daddy so I could run Isaiah to school and not have to drag her in, it made it so much easier. But as tempting as it was, I did not do that today. Or like this morning, when I accidentaly ran over a bag of our trash that was in the middle of the driveway, and drug it down the street under my van. I just called my awesome hubby up on his cell, who was back at the house fixing breakfast, and he came and rescued me, picked up the trash and got the trash bag out from under my van. He is truly my knight in shining armour. <3

*I am thankful for such an awesome church that we can be a part of. I, seriously, look forward to going to church, every Sunday and Wednesday. Our staff is amazing and dedicated and works tirelessly week after week. When we first started going to our church about 6 1/2 years ago, I believe they were running around 300 people or so. It averages around 800-900 each Sunday now. Not to get tied up in numbers, or to "toot" the pastors horn, but we give God ALL the credit. God is doing amazing things, and we just love being a part of God's plan.

and, let's see, let's do one more for today..... :-)

* I am thankful for being back home, in my home state. As I reflect back on Thanksgivings past, I remember when we were celebrating Thanksgiving thousands of miles away in Michigan, 6 years ago. I just had Lilly the beginning of November, and was given instructions not to fly for 6 weeks. I was devastated. That meant Thanksgiving would be spent in Michigan, with no friends, and no family around. (not to mention a brand stinkin' new baby, and I was so sore I coulda crawled in a hole and died!!) After going thru that (which thankfully, my parents did come up later and we celebrated Thanksgiving late with them), I can say I am TRULY THANKFUL to be back home. With all my family and all my friends. If I could go back and have a re-do of my time spent in Michigan, I would do so many things different. But I can't. I am back home, with my hubby and now 3 kids, and absolutely L O V E it. Thank you, Jesus!

Ok, your turn! :-)

Thankfulness, Birthday and my Baby

One week from yesterday is Thanksgiving! Can you just feel the excitement building in the air?! :-) Today, I am thankful for mid-morning naps! :-) yes siree, I got one of those today. Not too often I nap during the day anymore (you know, the kids kinda get in the way of that ;) ) I have been so tired the last couple days. And yes mom, I am taking my vitamins :) don't know why I've been so sleepy, so after I took Isaiah to school this morning, I came home and did a few things, and was still so sleepy. So I got me a good hour nap in before I had to go back and pick up Isaiah. True, I didn't get much done during my "free time", but I did get some rest! Come back and check out my blog on Monday, and everyday next week, as I post random things that I am thankful for. I know you are just dying to know ;-)

On to other topics of discussion........

Drumroll please.........................!!!!!!

Today is one of my nephew's birthday, he turned 6 today! Happy Birthday to my adorably ornery, michevious and inquisitive nephew, Jonathan!

Here is he getting baptized at our church a month ago. :-)

And what would my blog be without pictures of my little girl? Seriously, who says you don't take as many pictures of your 2nd or 3rd kid as you do your first? I've got quite a collection of adorable pictures of little Gena Grace. :-) Here are a few for your viewing pleasure.....

one more week...

until my most favorite holiday of the year -- Thanksgiving!!! I can't hardly believe it - it is always the end of November, yet somehow always manages to sneak up on me every year. I absolutely love Thanksgiving. Speaking of which, take a moment and 'vote' on my Thanksgiving poll on the side bar, just for fun :-)

We have officially gotten out all of our Christmas decor, the lights, garland, tree, nativity......the whole enchilada :-) This might be the earliest we have decorated for Christmas.

one more week...

until my most favorite holiday of the year -- Thanksgiving!!!

Sis turns Six!

November 8, 2004 I became a mommy! I was blessed beyond measure and was ecstatic in my newest adventure that lay ahead! Now, 6 years later, we celebrate my little girls sixth birthday! Wow! Time flies!!! She started kindergarten this year - unbelievable! We celebrated with her all weekend. We had 10 of her friends join us for a bowling party Saturday night, and family over on Sunday after church for cake, then she celebrated at school on Monday (on her actual bday) and is now bringing chocolate cupcakes to Daisies tonight to church. Shew!

Bubba bowling.........the gangs all here :)

All her friends, from school and church, and her cousins :)

"the boys" :)

Couldn't resist taking this pic.....he looked all handsome :)

A few more pics to follow.........

In the meantime, I'm contemplating getting rid of my blog...........do I have any readers out there? Thoughts?