Giving Thanks

Our 2010 Thanksgiving Tree

Andrew is thankful for:

Daddy, Mommy, Caden, Will (because he's so cute), puppy

School and Ava

Grandma Kathy, Grandpa Jack, Grandpa Jerry, Grandma Dee Dee

Farmer Jack's farm
Raking leaves

The really pretty sunset right now, and REALLY thankful for our house

Caden is thankful for:

Daddy

The pretty rainstorm

Painting leaves

Momo, our fish

Andrew and Caden are both thankful for bowling at Kaleigh and Hunter's party

Will is thankful for (a few guesses):

his paci

cheerios, goldfish, and crackers - and mom is very thankful that he can now put them in his mouth himself

Mom is thankful for:

Daddy

Mrs. Hopkins

Going to Seattle this Christmas

Daddy is thankful for:

God's love

His wife and boys

We are all very thankful for Fourth Presbyterian Church

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like the shifting shadows".

James 1:17

Thanksgiving day was a perfect combination of restful and celebratory. Sleeping in a bit, watching some of the parade (the boys loved it), Thanksgiving service at church, long afternoon naps, and then gathering with family (and all the "usual suspects") at the Wintrol's house (Dave's parent's neighbors, who are like family). This was Tia posing with all the cousins (her nieces and nephews...as her presents) for her Christmas card photo.

The O'Connell family

Sweet cousin time.

On Saturday we headed out to a local tree farm (Butlers) to hunt for a Christmas tree with fun friends.

The kids were much more into running and playing hide and seek, than finding a tree.

We attempted a family picture ;)

By a tree we never cut down...the ones back by the barn were so much prettier :).

mish mash

We've been enjoying the warmer (60 some degree) November weather, and a slightly slower Thanksgiving week. Here are a few random pics of the fun:

A picnic lunch outside

Andrew roasting a marshmallow over his campfire

Jumping in the leaf piles...by far the best part of helping daddy rake.

Happy boys.

Finding the leaf pile again the next day was just as exciting

A new beef pot pie recipe...Dave liked it enough to take a picture ;), but I can't say it beats the Guinness beef pie.

In other breaking news, Will finally started putting food in his mouth! It was a long time comin - very exciting.

Tonight, a spiky hair party for the boys.

. And before I forget, just have to document one of my favorite Cadenisms as of late. He and Andrew take turns praying before most meals. His usually go something like this: "Lord, thank you for this wonderful day. Thank you for mommy, daddy, Andrew, baby. (tonight it was thank you for Thanksgiving)...and he always ends with "and amen we prayer".

A day

I speak often about how FULL our days are. Today, midway through I decided I needed to start writing some of it down. So here a a FEW highlights....and low lights.

Coming out to the kitchen this morning to find Caden under the table sneaking cookies (it was hard to keep a straight face).

Packing Caden's lunch, Andrew's lunch, and Will's lunch, and then remembering that it was my turn to bring snack to Bible study, so rummaged a few things together, and stopped at the the store on my way (after dropping Caden off at school).

A sweet morning of fellowship with dear friends.

Taking Andrew on a lunch date to Starbucks, hearing him say: "Mom, you're the bestest ever".
And later as we were walking out of the store , "Mom, a lot of people like our baby".

Picking up Caden at preschool after lunch bunch (we pretended we were an ambulance on our way to save a man with a heart attack on the way there). Walking out of school and up a very busy stairway, Caden discovers that his shoe is untied. He wanted them tied right there. I had Will in my arms, and couldn't put him down . Tantrum ensued. I scoop him up in the other arm so we can get outside and unblock the stairway. Lovely.

After we got home, Andrew tried to carry a huge armful of leaves into our house - "I'm collecting them!".

Going into the bathroom to find this note (Dave had come home for leftovers for lunch):

And this in the fishbowl:

Apparently Caden was up to a bit more than stealing cookies this morning (or he just wanted to have a feast with the fish).

Got all three boys down for naps/rest time, and then the phone rang - heavy conversation. Will woke up very early from his nap.

Finally, the moment I've been looking forward to all week arrived. We were off to bring a meal to some dear friends, who just brought their beautiful son home from Ethiopia 3 days ago.

***I forgot about this moment*** As we were walking to the car, a colarless Addy bolted outside . Andrew, our worrier, panics. I fasten Will in, and luckily Addy has been content to smell a pile of leaves just across the street. I pick her up and carry her inside. (And later that night I discovered 2 tics on her - awesome).

On the way there Caden took his seat belt off in rush hour traffic. I may have hit the brakes hard on purpose to teach him a wee lesson (I think it worked). And then getting out of the car while waiting at a light on Connecticut Ave to fasten him back in (and yes, the light turned green mid fasten).

Such sweet moments meeting this beautiful boy - the long awaited answer to fervent prayer. Dave was supposed to join us, but needed to make a hospital visit.

Back to church for dinner with several hundred of our Jesus family.

After a wonderful kids program, put very hyper boys to bed, and am now surrounded by piles of folded laundry and a clean fish bowl ;).

Oooh, one more to add. Dave was just moving Andrew back into his bed (he was put to bed in the guest room), and had him go to the bathroom on the way. Andrew wasn't quite awake and proceed to pee without lifting the lid, and therefore ALL over the bathroom. Awesome.

And this doesn't include many other moments of defiance - running away, hitting me in the face, direct disobedience (I promise we discipline our kids....which leaves me to wonder what it would look like if we didn't?). God is good. His mercies are new every morning. Speaking of which, I need to go to bed. Tomorrow morning is coming much too soon.

catching up

We've been catching our breath a bit these past few weeks. I didn't realize how far behind I was on posting pics until I went to download, and didn't even have a November folder. Here are a few moments we've managed to capture:

Our neighbors have been re-doing their front walkway. Caden decided to create his own front row viewing of the cement truck excitement.

Will, 11 months. His PT is going well (see later pic for OT update) - he's starting to move a little on his tummy, so I would guess that crawling isn't TOO far away.

We took advantage of one of our many gorgeous 60+ degree afternoons to explore (or RUN) some local paths.

They were in heaven.

Love this face.

Abby, Jen, and Nathan met up with is too. I had Will in the bjorn - he liked grabbing the camera...such a helper. The big boys seemed to be at least this far in front of us most of the time.

Love this face too.

Nothing finishes a week better than a wonderful night out with these dear sweet friends. Good food, good company, good fun :).

On the rooftop of Charlie Palmer Steak - GORGEOUS view, right by the capital. Wen-Tsing's head made some special appearances in honor of his bday.

Our DC boys. On Saturday, Dave took Caden and Andrew on a special boy adventure. They took the metro train downtown. We don't take advantage of all this city offers enough. First stop, the Natural History museum.

You'll have to bear with me a bit here, but these pictures just made me smile.

Yup, that's my boys.

The butterfly exhibit was a major highlight.

Taking a closer look.

Our art lover, outside the modern art museum.

Not a great picture - but sort of funny. Last stop was the Air and Space museum.

Just hearing about it made me tired, but they had a super time. And I was SO grateful for the time to get some things done (CBS lesson, laundry, yard work, etc).

Happy, messy boy. Our OT has encouraged us to allow him to explore his food as much as possible (our carpet may never be the same). He's been working on breaking 3 teeth this past week 1/2, which has definitely affected his eating. He is now eating little pieces of meat, crackers, some fruit, drinking a little from a regular cup. We're still working on getting him to tolerate different textures at the same time.

I've been spending a lot of time digging up and cutting apart dahlia tubors (from our yard) these past few weeks. This is the first year I've done it without Grandma Kathy- she's taught me well however, and it's actually been fun (although MUCH more fun with her).

And lastly, Andrew asked me the other day - "Hey mom, if I ate a LOT a LOT a LOT of food every day, could I get a really big belly?" When I asked why, he went on to explain that he REALLY wants a big belly. All I can say is that if your grandpas have anything to do with it, you may just get your wish some day :).

Trick or Treat

My little zoo friends.

It was interesting having Halloween on a Sunday this year. Dave was preaching Sunday night, so we did some early trick or treating in our neighborhood, and then headed over to church.

Afterwards we headed over to Grandpa Jerry and Grandma Dee Dee's house, where Tia helped me get them re-costumed, and we hit up a few houses in their neighborhood.

Will, with his baby food face, was a precious Giraffe.

Daddy walked in right as we were taking this picture - so happy.

One last trick or treating stop at the Choi's. Checking out the loot.

Tired, happy boys.

Andrew turns 5

It's hard to believe that we have a five year old in the house. This one has felt big to me for some reason - like he's entering a new level of his childhood. There are so many things we enjoy about him - his laugh, his creativity, the glimmer he get in his eye when he has an idea, the expressive way he talks (we've been getting a lot of "ohhhh sure", or a quick "yeah yeah yeah" lately"). We have many tell us that he seems like an old soul, and I'm already taken by his enthusiasm for the people he loves (which makes us feel special). He's an incredibly fun, sweet, and enthusiastic little man, and we feel so blessed that the Lord has given him to us.
We celebrated Superman style this year, and had a super time. Here's a bit of what went down in pictures:

Ready to party.

Oh no, Superman is surrounded by kryptonite!

Thankfully, there were many heroes ready to save him.

Off on their special mission, to get all the kryptonite balls back in the moon bounce.

Andrew, tossing one in.

They did it - he's flying again!

Pizza time.

Love how Andrew is looking longingly at his cake.

Blowing candles.

Caaaaaaaaaaaaake!

The back room was a bit quieter ;).

Most of the kids - Andrew's class, plus some siblings and a few friends/family. I was impressed that Dave was able to pull this picture off - he was amazing at corralling this crazy crew.

Going through the super hero moves one last time (after sneaking upstairs very quietely to suprise the parents).

Opening a few presents before bed.

And..... the aftermath. SO fun.