Boy scouts

Christian has joined boy scouts this year and has had a lot of fun meeting new friends and doing some fun activities.  It is great because all the kids in his pack are in his grade at Liberty.  They did an induction ceremony at a den meeting where they put different colors on his face and I don't remember what they meant.  At the same meeting we had a boat race, but we forgot the rutter and so his boat didn't stay up very well.  Piper also made a boat too for fun.

Thanksgiving

Well, for some reason I didn't take any pictures of our Thanksgiving dinner, but we celebrated with our friends, Melanie and Jesse Weaver and their kids and even Jesse's parents drove their van from Washington state to be here.  It was a great Thanksgiving and Brian got to watch the Cowboys on our new big screen while all the kids played and did crafts.  The game was not very good and we actually went to Micheal's to pick up a new Christmas tree and recorded the rest.  It was a really good and relaxing day!  Here are some pictures of all the old place mats from my kids over the years and we did make some another place mat.  I don't know how I missed taking pictures!

Christian's Thanksgiving party

Christian had a Thanksgiving party at school this year.  His teacher was pregnant and the room mom was not sure she would make it till Christmas so we had a Thanksgiving party.  They got to draw a placemat and Christian's new obsession is charlie brown so that is what he drew.  I asked why he didn't color it and told me he doesn't like crayons.  He only likes to color with markers and they don't have markers at school.  They also made these hats and Christian and Piper wanted to make them for the whole family.

Pick up game of kickball and tree climbing

I remember so many games growing up in my corner of the world in Salina, KS on Highland Ave. of pick up games of kickball, baseball, and tree climbing.  On my block there were about 10 house and we all had kids about the same age and could knock on each other's door to play.  My kids are getting that same experience here.  Most of the kids on our street are about the same age and love to play outside with each other.  It is fun to see the games of kickball and tree climbing that come about everyday around here.

Fall Fun

We have a great street and neighborhood kids that love to play with each other and we had some friends from church over.  We have a patch of land called the triangle and the girls spent hours raking all the leaves to be able to jump and play in them on a day off from school.  They liked burying each other in them and then the buried person would jump up.  

They had so much fun!!

Perspective

Brian went on his first trip since we have lived in Virginia.  We dropped him off at the airport and came home and watched a movie.  The kids were very sad as we were reading the Bible story that night and we all prayed that Brian would have a safe trip there and back.  We talked about daddy has to do things for work that sometimes we don't like, but we need his job to pay for stuff.  They started to cry and said I really miss daddy.  I said I miss him too and then something came out of my mouth that I didn't expect,"Be glad that we get to see daddy again in 2 weeks because mommy has friends that their kids don't get to see their daddys again till they get to heaven."  I think the Holy Spirit just put it into perspective for me and the kids!  Since then the kids have said that too-"At least we get to see him again"

I had to 2 co-workers from preschool last year lose their husband suddenly-one heart aneurysm and one freak accident and I pray for them everyday as they walk through that journey.  So as I go through the next two week I am sad, but so thankful that he gets to come home in 2 weeks.  I am also thankful for Skype that almost everyday I get to see his face.

I am so thankful for perspective sometimes!

Christian's new room design

We really struggled to complete Christian's room.  He changes obsessions so often that I didn't want to do it something that would not stay.  I made him an art wall originally, but he mainly draws in the basement and they never make it up the stairs.  Then the weekend after Halloween I remembered all of these Star Wars pictures we had framed when we were first married and Brian had a room to decorate.  They have been in the attic ever since we had Piper.  They were production paintings from Empire Strikes Back.  One day after school we got them out and Christian loved them and they hung on Brian's wall as a kids with push pins!  We also have a roll of Star Wars wallpaper that Brian's mom kept and gave to us (so this is proof I don't throw everything away family).  I had some frames that I hadn't used and cut the wallpaper and framed the 2 sections of it.  We hung them up and now he has a Star Wars room that cost us nothing and is now the second generation to have these on their wall.  I guess Star Wars is timeless especially since Disney just bought all the rights!