a birthday date

it's not often we get to celebrate with just the 2 of us. a date to sambuca. i recommend the place to all. i love you joe. hope your birthday was wonderful!

precious

i discovered this treasure by briley while on the hunt for a fresh white paper for someone to color on. look closely and read below...

i need not say more.

Happy Thanksgiving

what do you do on Thanksgiving?

carve and sneak a taste of the bird.


put the crumb snatchers at the kid table.

gather round the table for fellowship and food, of course.

can you tell who didn't get the memo we were taking a picture to hold this memory forever?

love on grandparents and enjoy special treats.

wrestle mania with cousins. this can never start too young.

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remember to tell those around you that you are thankful for them.

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my Thanksgiving verse this year...

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire". Hebrews 12:28

getting started...

nonni got us started off early celebrating the holidays with...
a family 3D viewing of A Christmas Carol.
though reviews said it was scary, and that was true, the 3 oldest kiddos that attended survived without a glitch.
i thought the movie was wonderfully spectacular!
and in the words of braxton (our very own movie critc) ... "it was a blast"!

here's to the holidays!!! some of my favorite times with so many memories to be made!

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oh, and check out this... my sis-in-law dana started a blog!

thankfulness

because 1 week from today is Thanksgiving.

top 10 things i am thankful for...

1. my husband whose strength, faith, adventurous spirit, love, patience and more are apparent every day.

2. my 3 beautiful children. what gifts from God they are. each so different in personality. each bringing something so special and perfect to our family.

3. bristol. i can not wait to met you and hold you in my arms sweet baby girl. i pray every single day for you.

4. God. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your love for us, for blessings, for guidance, strength, hope, peace, joy, and so much more. how can we ever thank God enough? just the fact we are alive at this moment is a gift from Him.

5. health. i never want to take it for granted. we are a family of 5 healthy people. what a blessing.

6. extended family. to have the relationships we do with our extended bunch is quite a gift.

7. food, finances, shelter. i have come to realize that we are the exception. most people in our great big world do not have these life sustaining things.

8.love. i am learning about something i thought i knew all about. truly loving. (read Crazy Love book if you haven't yet)

9. sunny days. enough said.

10. photographs. i treasure all the memories captured forever in a picture. i have more albums than 1 girl needs. the joy they bring as we look back on them- priceless.

i could keep rolling right along. but... you must stop somewhere.

Rookie of the Year

it was his first year to play football. he was by far the youngest on the team. by the end of the season he was getting it. and to go out with a bang Brax ran his first touchdown ever. can i say proud. this guy was beaming. (yes- i did have my camera in hand but i was much too excited and too scream-y to think to take the shot).

coach gave him the award for Rookie of the Year and of course every kid can't wait for the...trophy!
we are proud of you Brax!

fabulous

last nite i had a fabulous date with my handsome hubby!

though we never made it into the awards, we had a blast!

nashville was hopping, of course. and we mingled right in.

our dinner at the palm and our downtown hotel stay which included sleeping in are hard to top:)

and a special thanks to our buds for hanging with us and for the g-parents for wrangling the kiddos!

now for an action shot...

we couldn't get any closer to grabbing the mic and singing with this cat. who i'm sure i'd never recognize on a normal day in public. no joke, it was almost uncomfortable - he was so close and sweaty and ... well, i know him as big from big and rich. but, they called him big kenny and rich was no where to be found.

sooooo?!

so i never forget...

i had to capture a few fall in Tennessee pics...
just so i don't forget.

the 1st three are views from my house. i love my trees.

the last is probably our last family jeep ride this year.

in common!

what do these 3 beautiful gals have in common?

they had their boys just days apart a few weeks ago.

and also...they are each a mommy to a precious new big sister!

will you???

will you get the word out that we really need to sale the rest of THESE awesome tees!!! they could be great Christmas gifts and support a good cause.

buy one, buy another!

they must go!

and we must raise more money to bring bristol home!

thanks a million for helping us literally save 1 out of a many millions of orphans!

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no spooks here, only punks

halloween....

from making our debut as a punk rockers at a fall fest with a local church.





from making friends with the precious homeless children we were helping thru this non-profit.





from trick or treating with a few folks we know...

(and yes- there will always be someone who doesn't want to sit for a pic!)

from eating chili at a little owl's house...

our halloween was full of fun tricks and treats!