These are some pictures from our Thanksgiving....Our "new" family photo

Our 1st visit to a Tree Farm


It's a bird, it's a plane, it's "Super Elf" :)


We had a nice Thanksgiving "break". We had Thanksgiving with Dave's Dad and family on Wed. night. Then on Thursday AM, we had brunch at Natalie's with her and Brent's parents and family. Then we came home to begin the cooking for our Thanksgiving dinner. I made turkey, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, peas, broccoli cheese casserole, cranberry fluff, rolls and pumpkin trifle. We had dinner with my Dad, my brother, Dave's mom and my Aunt Susie. It was a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. It was bittersweet not having my Mom here. I was thinking that I spent 34 Thanksgivings with her, 34! So of course it is going to be different, not having her here for holidays and other special occasions.
My Dad wrote this prayer for us, it was really beautiful!

Father, there is someone conspicuously absent from our table today...a sister, a wife, a mother, a grandmother.
Lord, any tears we have shed are for ourselves, not for her, for we have complete faith in where she is this very minute, where every day is a thanksgiving unto you and your son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Father today, we truly and humbly give thanks that you have released her from the earthly body that had become her prison, to a place with no more pain, no braces, no crutches, no wheelchairs, no oxygen tanks, and yes, no nursing homes.

Thanks Dad, I know you miss her, and so do we!!


Friday, I met Natalie at 5:20 AM and we spent the next 7 hours shopping for DEALS! We had a great time and came home with lots of things... mostly for the kids. Last year, was our 1st year for this, and now it has become "our tradition".
Friday night, we went too dinner with our friends Hunter & Vicki. They were in from Tennessee and it was so great to see them and hang out. We miss them so much... *Look for a special post about my friend Vicki this week.....


On Saturday, we went to a tree farm, in the "country" to pick out the "perfect" tree..... We normally use an artificial tree, but this year ours got wet and we had to throw it away. Since we are still in "construction mode", and are not sure how big of a tree we want to buy, we thought it would be fun for the kids and us to experience the fun cutting down your own tree. It was the perfect cold and crisp day. We rode in a wagon, out to the field, and picked our tree. Afterwords, we enjoyed a nice cup of hot chocolate and let the kids ride the little train around the trees....It was a great day. I will post pictures of our decorated tree, later this week.....

We adopted a new tradition this year, Elf On The Shelf, Thanksgiving night, when we read the book and introduced our new friend(they named "Super Elf"), the boys were a little unsure. Matthew said, he was not sure if he "believed" or not, and Michael was scared to death!
The last 3 mornings have been spent with searching for Super Elf the minute their feet hit the floor. They are so excited and I have heard them tell each other more than once, that "The elf is watching"..... This is such a wonderful tradition to start with your family.

We spent today celebrating Thanksgiving with Dave's Mom and family. Tonight we had our small group bible study, we are still studying Fireproof. I am really enjoying it!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.....we even had a couple inches of snow here today :)

*P.S. This is my 50th post!