We Give Thanks...for Milestones

Yesterday was Thanksgiving DAY.  But, let me just say that I give thanks everyday, in my prayers for the four people I love so very much as well as those who don't live in this household.  And, this year we are extra thankful for my mom.  I am thankful she takes care of herself.  I am thankful she took herself to the doctor.  I am thankful it was Stage 0-1.  I am thankful we live in Atlanta with some of the BEST doctors.  I am even thankful that she ended up with three surgeries because it meant they got IT ALL.  These past five months have been a test and while there may have been some "begging" going on on my part, I am thankful that God allows me to do that.  But, sometimes we need a test just to see how thankful we can be.

We had a wonderful lunch yesterday with my parents and then went to the Reynolds' to give some more thanks.  Both sets of parents worked so hard to make the best food and celebration for all of us.  Below are some pictures from both houses.  Also, here is some "food for thought", no pun intended since we are all stuffed!  The Greek word for "Thanksgiving" is Eucharistia.  In other words, the real "Thanksgiving meal" is the Body and Blood of Christ.  And, this is so fitting because we would not be able to give this thanks if it weren't for our next celebration, the birth of Christ!!

 A lot of silliness going on here.

 Nanny and her great grandsons, well two of them anyway. :)

 And, speaking of the next celebrations, the kids were SO ready to decorate for Christmas, which we did do today, all except the tree.  Before we did that though, we had a BIG moment in this house.
Crib=disassembled and put in storage area of basement.  Changing table=same fate (even though it has been empty and unused for three months now). Glider=upside down in the storage area.

Yes, the day arrived.  Our last baby graduated from a crib to a regular bed.  The crib that was used for nine years.  That held my tiny babies' heads and represented a major chapter in my life.  Here is Kyle last night, in the crib for one last time.  Didn't use the flash because I didn't want to wake him.  He has been using a pillow for some time now and enjoys a blanket.  The crib rail has been down so he was basically already IN a regular bed except for some slats.  Which really were not doing anything because he would just pop right out of bed whenever he felt it necessary!

And, so today, he knew the truck was coming with his bed and that the "men were going to build it".  He and Justin went to Sam's, just the two of them to get his mattress.  Justin took some cute pictures but I can't figure out how to get them to show up on here.  Anyway, I give you our new graduate...in the "new room".

 Curtains to come.  I do have some, just no rods.  They are gray and white striped.

 Even though he looks so pleased here, when nap time came, he asked for his crib. :(  Dagger in my heart!

This is what you get when he doesn't nap!  We will see how the night goes and what time he wakes up!

"Mercy, Me!!!"-Thanksgiving Program

Yesterday was Anna's Thanksgiving Program.  They (teachers and kiddos) work so, so hard on this.  Anna was very excited to have her program and couldn't wait to show us all of her songs.  The program included four four-year old classes and then the school's Kindergarten class.  Anna's class were the men ("Hunting, hunting") and women ("Mercy, Me!") pilgrims.  Other classes were the corn ("pop, pop"), the pilgrim ministers ("Praise the Lord!"), the Indians ("Shhh" and "Big and Brave"), and of course the turkeys ("gobble gobble").  It was so cute.  Once Anna got on stage, I could tell she was nervous but she did a great job!  I wish they were able to keep their cute costumes.

 Above, she is doing the hand motions that go with "Mercy Me!" as a pilgrim woman.

 My sweet girl...I can't believe she will be five in less than a month.

And, here are some videos...

Hope everyone has a wonderful, and grateful Thanksgiving!!!!  We have so much to be thankful for!  The kids are off of school all week so depending on what we are up to, I may or may not have time to blog again during the week.

Visitors

For Halloween and the following weekend, we had visitors!  We were so excited that Aunt Blaire, Uncle Josh and baby Christian were able to come stay with us a few days.  Brice had never met Christian before so he was excited!  He said, "I hope Christian likes me as much as Natalie does.".  Christian did. :)

 Christian likes his Aunt Jennifer too. :)

It was a busy household for those few days and the excitement of having visitors made my kids even wilder than usual...and louder.  There was quite a lot of action for Christian to watch.  So glad that he was able to sleep while he was here, maybe they will come back soon!

Halloween Day

What a very busy day we had on Halloween Day!  Anna and Kyle's preschool had a fundraiser "trot" as well as their parties and visiting their pumpkin "patch".  It probably was just busy and stressful for me because this was the first time I had to divide myself between parties and activities.

Kyle thought he was big stuff sitting down with Anna's class.  I finally pulled him out and made him sit to the side so they could get a class pictures.  He decided to sit down next to one of the other siblings, Cate.  She is two weeks older than he is.

=

We then came home and Kyle took a nap while Anna got excited for Aunt Blaire, Uncle Josh and little Christian to arrive.  And, to get her complete costume on!  She couldn't wait to wear her ruby red slippers.

And, so, I give you  Dorothy, the Scream mask dude and what was supposed to be Mickey Mouse that turned into a "monster".

 This is probably my favorite picture from this Halloween!

My goodness, these three had the best time this year.  Kyle kept up very well with the other two and would say, "Come on, Mom, let's get more cankees".  He ate as he went as well!  Then, they helped Uncle Josh hand out candy which was quite fun for Brice because he was able to scare a few people!  On to Thanksgiving and our many blessings!