Thanksgiving

Today was our first Thanksgiving to be away from family. I was sad a few days ago, knowing that we wouldn't be with extended family, but today I am thankful. I'm so thankful that God has placed us in Florida with friends that are like family. When we began this journey (about 2 years ago) of moving to Florida, I was scared out of my mind. I didn't know if I could make it without family and our close friends that we had made. But I love it here and couldn't imagine a better place for our family right now. God cares about us and wants the best for us.
I'm thankful for the Morales family opening up their home to us for a wonderful meal, and for the McDonald family that made the day even more special.
I'm thankful that my kids are all well, happy and adjusted. I'm thankful for a husband that loves me and loves my kids so much. I'm thankful for a nice house to live in and good food to eat. I'm thankful for being able to wear shorts on Thanksgiving. :) These are all random thankful thoughts...but even if all of these things were not in my life, I would still be grateful, because God cares for me!

Little Turkeys

Our sweet friends (Paul and Kristti Morales, Heather and Mike McDonald...and us!) These are all people that are on staff with us and we have all lived here less than one year. So...we were all automatic family. :) Paul is our youth pastor and Mike is our assistant priest.

Why is it always so hard to get pictures with a group of kids? Why can't they just cooperate! Ha ha! These are all of our kids minus Olivia and the Morales' oldest.

Olivia with the McDonald's

Isaac and Chase

Goodbye 1903

It is official!
Our house is sold! Everything closed today and our utilities are out of our name. Thank you, those of you who have prayed for this to happen and encouraged us during the process. We are thankful and very relieved!

We plan to stay in our townhome until this summer. The prices of homes seem to keep dropping here, so that is in our favor...just sad for those that are losing their homes.

Anyway, we are happy that it is out of our hands, and thankful for the sweet memories that we had in 1903 Harbour Drive!

Hot Mom!

Isaac loves to give me notes. This is his note from yesterday morning. I got a big kick out of it and laid it on the bathroom sink (as I was getting ready for church). When Jay got home and saw it, we had a good laugh together.

Can you read it? Here is a closer look:

Hot Mom!
Ha ha! He has no idea that what he wrote is hilarious. He just wrote words that he knew how to spell. Hot and Mom. :) Oh, and don't forget the exclamation point!

Speaking of Hot Mom! We went to the park today with some of our friends. It has been pretty cold the past few days and I left the house in a very warm sweater. Boy was I surprised when we got there and people were wearing shorts! I was one Hot Mom!!!

Advent Wreath Making

We spent this afternoon at our church making wreaths for Advent. This will be the second time that we have actually celebrated Advent as a family and we are very excited. It makes Christmas so much more special and helps us keep our mind on the real meaning of Christmas.

Olivia enjoyed crawling around and eating cookie crumbs off of the floor.

This is Olivia's buddy, Erin. It's not a very good picture but they were so cute together. Olivia saw Erin sitting against this wall and reached out to her. I put O next to her friend and they acted shy. Then Olivia warmed up and it was too late for a picture. :)

The kids made Christmas cookies while the parents learned about the spirituality of Advent, led by none other than Jay Wright.

This is a picture of all the kids while they were still for about 5 minutes. The rest of the time you could find kids running up and down halls, filling up cups of hot chocolate, playing football outside, playing dress-up, and eating cookie crumbs off of the floor (well, the eating off of the floor part was just my child).

Here the kids are hard at work. Our wreath looks great and the kids are anxious to use it. Advent begins November 30th!!

Another Video to Watch!! Yay!!

This is a very typical (loud) moment in our home. Jay and I should have some great abs from all of the laughing. Instead, we are getting gray hairs from our nerves being shot!!

It Worked!!

Another Tag

Thanks, Jaque. :)

Link the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.
*Share 7 random/weird facts about yourself.
*Tag 7 other people and link to them at the end of your blog.
*Let each person know they've been tagged by leaving a comment.

1. I wear pajama pants most of the day (when I am home)...along with the shirt that I wear out. I LOVE my pajama pants. :)

2. I DON'T play the guitar, even though my mother seems to think I do, ha!

3. My left hip always hurts.

4. I watch The Office, on DVD, almost every night before I go to sleep.

5. I enjoy driving a mini-van and never even thought twice about it looking "soccer-momish".

6. My toes are long.

7. Spiders absolutely freak me out. I can't believe I just typed the word. Ugh!!! And they have HUGE ones here!!!

Okay, those were very random. This is harder than it looked.

I tag Marcy, Lindsey (because they whined to Mom, ha), Tamra, Mindy, Sarah K., Rachel, and Kara.