We're Thankful For...

Abby: A nice home and a place to sleep...

Olivia: A nice family...this house...so many toys

Emelyn: This good book...Mommy and Daddy

Garr: An amazing wife and amazing kids...a good job...good health...free to still have a relationship with Jesus Christ

Jessa: Healthy children....Loving husband...God's provision...my parents

The Effects..One Year Later

Well, Daniel will be a year this coming Sunday. I'm sad about that - my last baby growing out of babyhood. But I'll write more about that later. Right now, I have some very exciting news to share! (No I am not pregnant again!) I just weighed myself and I am FINALLY back to my pre-Daniel-pregnancy weight! Whoo-hoo!!

Of course, none of my clothes fit like they did - everything is shifted. For some reason, Daniel has been much harder to recover from than the girls. I don't know if it is because he is a boy or if it is because he is my fourth baby, but my shape is not what it was. However, I do feel hopeful, encouraged even, that maybe it can be recovered...

Whoo-hoo!!!

A few candid shots

Who needs toys??

Silly Abby

Sweet Abby

Daniel's first 'up close and personal' doggy experience

Ooooh - doggy kisses!

Daniel in the Ergo with Daddy

The two who started all this craziness, on our 10th anniversary~10/10

Halloween

One of our computers (the one I usually use) has been down for a few weeks. I have begun using this computer to blog instead, but I missed some pictures in the switch. I realized I never shared our Halloween pictures.

Garr had to work, but I took the kids trick-or-treating with my some friends of ours. We went with them last year also, so it is becoming a tradition! I'll tell you though, 2 moms and 8 kids in the dark is not easy! We were definitely a little stressed by the end of the night! Afterwards, I brought my kids and her girls back to our house for trunk or treat at our church. The girls then came inside to organize and trade candy. Too cute! It was a fun night.

Emelyn - Monarch Butterfly

Abby - High School Musical Cheerleader

Olivia - Ladybug (those are ladybug spots on her face)

Daniel - doggy

That's the Wildcat paw on her forehead :)

Emelyn and best friend, Kaeli

Daniel and Dad-dad

Daniel has Dad-dad trained well -- "oooh, pretty lights!"

Daniel loves the lights!

The Blessings Jar

Our Awana group is supporting Pushpyar and KimB's sweater program this holiday season. They are raising money to buy sweaters for the children of India. There it can dip into the 30's, and the children live in unheated homes, many walking 1-2 hours to school each way. We drew a wall size Christmas tree and then cut sweaters out of construction paper. Each child that brings a $1 gets to hang a sweater on the tree. The children have been very excited about this. I am encouraging the children not to stick their hands out and ask mom and dad to fill them, but to work for the money they donate. (ie - dishes, vacuuming, laundry, etc)

In our house, I decided to start a "Blessings Jar." Each time one of the girls does a chore without being asked, or after being asked doesn't grumble about it, they are given some coins to put in the Blessings Jar. If they do something especially nice for one of their siblings, they are given coins to put in the Blessings Jar. And any time, we see them doing something we consider extra special or having a great attitude, they are given coins to put in the Blessings Jar.

The Blessings Jar is nothing fancy. It's just a vase with a ribbon wrapped around it. (We actually started out with an old mug) But this has become so exciting for the girls. They really like putting their coins in there. I expected there might be some grumbling - "But I could buy some candy with this!" But there's not. Liv even found some money around the house and asked if she could please put her money in the Blessings Jar. In the end, all of the money will go to buying sweaters for the kids in India. My girls are excited to be a part of this.

I hesitated about blogging about this (not sure if anyone would be interested) but one of my friends encouraged me to. Actually she said if I didn't, she would! She said others might want to do the same thing and she likes getting new ideas like this. So there you go. :)

And if you want to get involved with the sweater program, leave me a comment and I will get you the info. 100% of the money raised goes to buying the sweaters. They are purchased in India, which not only cuts down on shipping costs, but also helps the Indian economy. Each sweater costs just $7. It's a very special Christmas gift for some very needy children.

Who's watching this kid anyways?

Bucket head!

Daniel loves getting into the cupboards and pulling everything out - what baby doesn't? But we prefer him to do this to the tupperware cabinet. If you're not sure why, read this post. Anyways, I was busy making banana bread the other day and looked down at Daniel to see him making a hat out of the bucket. Way too cute. I had to grab the camera and share these silly pictures with you all. Enjoy!

Precious Moments

These are the moments I want to hang on to and never let go....

Officer of the Quarter

Yep. Garr is DUI Officer of the Quarter, which means he led his department in DUI arrests this quarter. He had 15 (twice as many as any other officer.) But that's not all. He is also Drug Officer of the Quarter! He and another officer had the same amount of drug arrests, leading the dept. together. At this point Garr is up to 30 DUI's for the year! I'm just a tiny bit proud... can ya tell?

When it rains...

For some reason, I will go for DAYS with nothing special to post and then all of a sudden, I have a good 5 posts ready on the same day! Enjoy! :)

Birdfeeder

Last weekend, the girls and I decided to make a birdfeeder. We had seen a bluejay in our yard and were hoping it would come back. We looked online and found a "how-to" on making a birdfeeder out of a plastic milk jug. I'm sorry I can't remember the link. Basically we cut a hole on the two sides opposite of the handle. Then we cut smaller holes below those and ran a 12" dowel through for a place for the bird to sit. We filled it with birdseed (which I promptly dropped all over the kitchen floor!) Then we used some wire (sodder, actually!) that I found in the garage to hang it. (we were also supposed to cut some small drainage holes in the bottowm, but I forgot) We watched for the past week and didn't see anyone using it until yesterday. I watched as a squirrel shimmied right up that slippery pole, sat in the flower pot opposite, and ate our birdseed! Oh well, at least one of God's creatures is being fed! This morning, though, we did see two birds out there eating out of our birdfeeder. It was so great to see. Here are some photos.

Busy, Busy

This is what Mom and I were doing...

This is what Daniel was doing...

Uh-oh!

Fireproof

If you haven't gone to see Fireproof yet, I HIGHLY recommend that you do! My parents went to see it on Saturday and liked it so much that they offered to babysit for Garr and I so we could go together last night. It was so worth the $20! If you can work out a date night (swap sitting with someone maybe) this is a fantastic movie for couples. Really. I just can't say enough. Go see it! :)

Also, the Love Dare book, if you are interested.

Moving On

Well, the election is over. Yesterday, I really didn't know what to write - how to sum up my feelings. However, my friend Sarah did a great job of that on her post Today. So I will let you read that - I hope you will find encouragement in it as I did.

You might notice, if you have your speakers on, that my playlist has changed to *gasp* Christmas music! I know, it's not even Thanksgiving yet! But who put those two wonderful holidays right on top of each other anyways? Cramming all of the wonder of Christmas into one month just stinks! I need more time to celebrate - so I am starting now! At least I waited until after Halloween. I have been known to watch my all-time favorite Christmas movie as early as July! (That would be White Christmas with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Doris Day, and Rosemary Clooney.)

If you have some favorite Christmas music, please leave a comment and I will see if I can add it to my playlist. :) Happy Holidays!

We love America!

painted by Abby

endorsed by The Owens Family