Category: Family (Page 5 of 26)

We leave on our “Indiana Trip!” on Wednesday morning–which means I only have one more day to get everything done.  Yikes!

The kids are over the moon excited–we’ve been counting down on our paper chain.  I’m not exactly sure what they are excited about most.  When I ask them I get answers like, “I’m excited to see my cousins!”……….  “I’m excited to ride in the van!”…………….. “I’m excited to see Nana & Bumpa!” …………….. “I’m excited to go!” ……   And I’m also not sure they can fathom how long it’s actually going to take to get there… 😉

We borrowed a bunch of movies from some of our friends that the kids have never seen (or only seen once), so we’ll have a bunch of fresh material to keep them interested (and maybe we’ll even be able to watch a couple while we’re there too).

No more time to talk, though, I’m off to finish packing!

If you recall, last year I posted about our Thankful Jar.  Since it’s November again, I’ve pulled it back out.  Every day we each say something that we’re thankful for and I write it on a slip of paper and add it to our giant glass jar in the middle of the table.  I really enjoyed this project last year and I know the kids like feeling important–since they get to each come up with their own item to be thankful for.

This year is already more interesting because Josiah actually understands it more than he did last year…. there was a lot of “I’m thankful for food!” last year…

I want to instill the character of being thankful in our kids and it’s hard to stop and just think about what you’re truly thankful for and not what you wish you had or want to change.  Plus it gets me thinking all day about what I’m going to write on that slip of paper when we’re all sitting down to have supper together.

Today I was extra thankful that I get to spend my mornings with Josiah and Maddie.  I love the alone time we have together.  And I love that I don’t have to put them in daycare but I get to really see them grow up, change and mature daily.

So, what are you thankful for today?

I realized that I never posted our amazing family pictures from the other weekend!  They turned out so well.  I’m working on printing a few of them to hand out at Christmas (or Thanksgiving for my family), so be sure to let me know which picture(s) you like the best and what size you want.  😉

(Photo credit:  TGB Photography. You can see her website HERE!)

Family 2015

Mister Josiah

Miss Chloe

They love little Maddie so much!

Those are some cute kids!

Miss Maddie (she’s so much more smiley since we took these pictures…)

Reading to the kids

We finally have our full set of Dragons.  When we went to the Renaissance Festival two weekends ago, we were able to pick up another one (to represent our newest addition, Maddie).  It has become our tradition, so we scoped out the dragon shop (hard to believe, but there is only one like it at the whole festival) and set to searching for the perfect addition.  We even overheard the man working there say that his Father (the owner) was declining in health, so Tim stepped aside to ask if he could pass along the message that we’ve been back to purchase his dragons for every one of our kids.  And, to his surprise, the father was in the back of the shop resting, so Tim got to tell him himself.  I think it made his day.

I love how these dragons are made.  It’s done by heating rods of glass then touching them together and stretching them and shaping them while super hot.  It’s simply mesmerizing to watch.

But on to the pictures!  Here it is–Our Dragon Family:  (Oh, and as a side note… it’s hard to take pictures of glass inside a class curio.  Haha!)

The whole family

Far Left: Chloe

One in from the left: Erica

Center: Maddie (it’s hard to tell, but she has purple ridges)

Second from the right: Tim

Far right: Josiah

This weekend the kids and Jen had fun decorating some pumpkins.  It was a good thing she took on this craft project with the kids b/c  I was having a hard time just letting them do their thing without interfering.  😉

Didn’t they turn out so cute?!

We’re having family pictures taken tomorrow.  I’m really excited.  The last time we had family pictures was last fall when we announced that we were pregnant–and now we have that little one joining our picture!  It took me a very long time to pick out coordinating-but-not-too-matchy-matchy outfits tonight for us all.  I really hope they turn out looking nice in the picture.  We’re having them taken in a field near our house, by our friend Tara.  It will be an adventure taking pictures outside with the bug phobia girl named Chloe…  I was actually hoping the trees would have started turning colors already, but everything is pretty much still green here.  I guess we’re going to have a very late fall this year.

Anyway, I’m excited!

In other news we’re also heading to the Renaissance Festival this weekend.  This is the last year that it will be held in its current location.  It’s been in the same spot for 45 years.  Impressive, huh?  However the location is surrounded by a quarry and they have excavated all the ground that they can all around the fairgrounds, so now the festival must move so they can get to the rest of that ground.  Or at least, I think that’s the reason.  I know for certain that they have to move after this fall.  So, we’re going out there as our final farewell.  We also have to purchase another glass dragon to complete our “family” set now that we have Maddie.

This weekend Allison and Stephanie came down to visit.  Chloe and Allie were excited to have a sleepover on Friday night.  Actually, Josiah was EQUALLY excited about it (if not more…).  So, when they wouldn’t settle down after an hour and a half of laughing and jumping, and I had to move Josiah out of the room, he was devastated. There were so many tears.  He sobbed at me, in his tired/delirious state:  “I love Allie so much!  Can she live with us?”

On Saturday morning Jennifer stopped by and picked up Allie.  They went to a waterpark nearby as her gift for her Birthday and Stephanie stayed and hung out here.  We watched  a movie in the afternoon and pretty much relaxed the whole day.  Then Jennifer and Allie came back and we had supper together and heard all about their fun adventures from the day.  (Chloe and Josiah were delighted to have Allie back to play with again)  The weather was a bit foreboding so Stephanie decided that it would be better to stay the night again–which THRILLED the kids.  They made a fort and watched a movie in it then made their way to bed.  They had a hard time calming down again, but it was significantly shorter than the night before.  (And Josiah was allowed to stay in the room this time.)

It was so much fun listening to the girls giggling and whispering as they were falling asleep.  It brought back so many memories of sleepovers from my childhood.  I’m glad they are creating memories for themselves…

All in all, it was a great weekend.