Happy Thanksgiving! (A Day Late!)

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays!

I love fall (as you know!); I love food; and I love seeing my family.

One thing that I don't love: turkey.
I know, I know, everyone things I'm a picky eater. I'm really not that bad. I just don't like turkey. Nobody in my family really does (ok, mainly me and my mom...).

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my parents before we went to our Thanksgiving get together with Greg & Faye. My dad and I were sitting at the dinning room table, when I put a bet in front of him. I had this feeling that my brother was going to tell us something, so I told my dad that I'd put money on him announcing that he and Jill (his wife) were going to have a baby. My dad laughed. So, I shook off the idea and went on with the conversation.

We went to church, and ate dinner. When we got back to the house I was playing with Leo & Adri (who by the way, is so cute!), when Eric came in and gave me $10.

I asked, "What is this for?"

Eric said, "It's from Dad."

Me,"Why?"

E, "He lost a bet or something."

Me, "A bet? What do you mean?" (Ok, yes, I'm a little slow on the up take...)

E, "I am not sure. Some bet."

Light bulb!!!! "I got it! When's the baby due?"

E, "July!"


Yeah to them! I'm so excited! I was telling Justin the other night that I wanted to be an auntie again. I wanted to hold a baby, and then give it back when it cried. :) Being an aunt rocks!


Later on in the evening we went to Greg & Faye's. Leo & Adri had a wonderful time chasing Pounce. The poor cat spent the night under that table, while the trouble makers ran around and tried to get her.




On Thursday we spent the day with Justin's family. Leo had a ball running around chasing Dylan, Landon & Ross. Leo & Ross are 5 months apart. In fact, yesterday was Ross's 1st birthday! Happy Birthday, Ross!

The two of them were hilarious to watch. They ran around and around.


And then they cleaned Tami's window...With their chubby hands. :)


We had a wonderful time with our family, and I hope all of you had the same. We have so much to be thankful for and should be thankful in everything.


"Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything, by prayer and petition , with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God." Philippians 4:6


Happy Thanksgiving!

TAG

My friend Andrea tagged me, and this is how it works:

1. go to the 4th folder in your pictures folder
2. post the 4 picture in that folder
3. Explain your picture
4. Tag 4 friends to do the same!

And here's my picture:

This is when Leo was almost 9 months old with his best friends, his pacis. We were on the way to Redwood Falls to see my brother, who had just returned from Iraq.

Anyone have ideas on how to get rid of the paci? He only gets it at night and nap time, but I worry about his speech... Can't get away from being a teacher to be a mommy...

So I TAG these friends: (In no particular order) Melia, Jill, Elizabeth and Erica. Enjoy reading their blogs as much as I do! :)

I Just Couldn't Wait

to give you the next "sneak peak." (Look at his socks in the first picture!)

I've Got a Question For You...

Do all kids start out jumping like this or do we have a problem?

A Little Bit of Everything

We lead a very uneventful life here at 711 S. Adams St. Little things make us laugh and smile. Here are a few of the little things that have been happening here over the last week...

Boyz in the Hood (or wearing a hood!)

Now if you knew where our old house was, you'd laugh harder because it really was in the hood. I used to say we were always "slumming it." :)

We are having a lot of "vest-ivities" this week due to Thanksgiving. (I know, very bad play on words, but we are cute in our vests.)



Leo got his hair cut on Thursday night. Doesn't he look like he's about ready to go to school? I told Becky when she cut his hair that I didn't care how she cut it or what she did, just as long as she didn't feel bad that I'd go home and cry my eyes out because he looks so big...



So like I was saying before. We really don't have a lot to do on the weekends. (or the weekdays for that matter) Anyway, Friday night we were playing with "the BIG bowl" and I decided it would be fun for us to wear hats. Jus wouldn't let me take a picture of him with his bowl hat, but I did sneak a little video with him in it! Don't we just look like a bowl of fun?!? :) (Ok, I'm done...)

Simon Says...

watch this video!

It's Amazing What You Can Learn in a Week

It's been a week filled with learning opportunities!

Monday we had in-service and I got to learn more about the new technology that will soon be appearing in my room. I love SmartBoards! :) Justin again had basketball Monday evening, so Leo and I had a date night. He's so cuddly now, it's just so much fun!

Tuesday Jus went to our church's meeting hoping NOT to win the election and become a Deacon of the church. It isn't that he didn't want to do it, it just made him a little nervous I think. He did not get voted in. :) (I finally won an election this year!)

Wednesday we found out that Leo can now do the following things: Head & Shoulders, Knees & Toes, Simon Says, 10 animal sounds, and do his shape sorter (by himself...watch out TAG...here comes Leo!). He is so funny to watch!

Thursday I learned that taking 17 5-year-olds on a field trip is more work than a day of school...

Friday, we learned that Cheetos are Leo's new favorite food group!

Here he is eating and enjoying this great food!



2 pictures of the after effects!


We also learned he loves blueberry yogurt. Well, he loves the yogurt part, but not the blueberries. He spits those out and then wipes his tongue! Don't you love that yogurt-y smile!

But, the most important thing I've learned this week is to "Let Go and Let God Be God." Ok, why, oh why do I think I can solve every problem that comes my way? It makes me crazy that I try everything else and then remember to go to the person I should have gone to in the first place. I think, next time I'll go to God first, why can't I remember that when the problem comes up?

Let me back up and start from the beginning...

Last weekend Leo woke up Thursday, for the weekend (as his daddy said...) :). We had a really rough weekend with coughing and sneezing and gagging and whining and crying. On Sunday morning I had had enough, I was going to take Leo in to acute care (where they know us by first name I think...). Justin told me to wait it out. So, I did.

On Monday Leo was a little better, so we sent him to daycare. He did alright, but was really coughing when we got home. I was afraid the wheezing was from his lungs and not the snot in his chest (sorry if you are eating as you read this...). So that night when I went to bed, I was reading my devotion and the title was "Let Go and Let God Be God." The scripture was 2 Chronicles 10:12, I'll wait while you go and read it.

Ok, so it went on to say that we can't handle our problems, we need to trust in God. So All day Tuesday I thought about that. When I got home from school and Leo was still wheezy, I wondered if I should call "our nurse" Melissa. :) I remembered my devotion, and decided to wait a little bit. I went and took a shower, and prayed that if I was supposed to talk to Melissa that I'd see her, or she'd call me. I was letting go and letting God.

I went to bed not really thinking about what I'd prayed about. The next morning at 8:05, who should show up in my classroom...Yep, Melissa (side note, her son is in my class). She was bringing her son's boots. I mentioned to her about Leo's wheeze, and she said it was probably just the snot (again, sorry).

I would love to say that as soon as she left, I turned right around and prayed and told God thank you. Well, I'm a little slow. I went through the morning, and was sitting down to lunch, when Duh!?!?! it hit me! There was my answer to prayer. God was listening, as always, I just had to listen too. So, thank you Melissa for being our angel (yet again!). And thank you God for helping me trust in Your timing and wait on You.

I know the problems and worries will never go away while I am here on Earth, but I do know that I will try my best to go to God 1st and not last!

Leo's been doing really well the rest of this week. He slept through the night 2 nights in a row! (I realize that is not a big deal to some, but to us, it's HUGE!!!) Enjoy the pictures of our little farmer who learned to ride his tractor this week!

Watch out NBA...

Here comes my Leo! My little Leo loves basketball! At least, he loves it in the tub. He's always saying, "2 points," "2 points!" I hope he loves watching the Lions this season...

This video was not an easy task to record. He kept standing up and turning around and showing his "junk" to the camera. I started out this video hoping to get him to say a few words. He always does his best "work" during his nightly bath. My mom was not enjoying the fact that she has never heard him say "Grandma," which he can say and does often (when she isn't around). He was not really into talking this night, so I gave up (after about 8 other videos) and moved on to letting him show me his skills.

Sorry Grandma Jan, we'll keep working on it!

One Man Band

We've got ourselves a one man band show. :) Tickets are going fast. Get them while you can!

Leo & his drum.

Leo's playing the maracas. He can really shake a beat!

Um, Leo with his rain sounding shaker thing...

Leo with Daddy's favorite instrument ~ the recorder. :)

Leo playing the kazoo.

Someone (Justin) asked me why in the world I bought Leo the "Band in a Drum" set. Well, duh, listen to that beautiful music!

My Little Leo the Lion

On Halloween we had wonderfully warm weather. It was in the 60s, which is unheard of around here. I wonder if there really is something to that global warming thing...Oh wait, come January, I will disagree again! :) Anyway, back to Halloween. We went to the traditional Halloween Parade put on by the CAC. Doesn't make a lot of sense to me...Leo doesn't eat candy. He got one treat that he liked from the parade: Goldfish. :)

Here he is ready for the parade:
One lady had the nerve to say he was a cute little girl. I said, "No, He's a boy. His name is Leo. Get it, Leo the Lion?!?" Not to mention that our school mascot is the Lions. Watch out Pappa Lion! Here comes Leo!

Here's the fam after the parade. Jus was a good sport to take some pictures with us. Thanks dear! See my cute shirt? It was a Melia idea. We ironed on candy corn on the sleeves. I thought it was pretty cute.

Leo didn't trick or treat to many houses, but we had to go and see the Sieperdas! Here is the fierce lion and his side-kick, Nike!

Lastly, Leo is with his pumpkin. I don't know if you can tell what we carved out of it, but we have a program that puts pictures into a pumpkin pattern. A few weeks ago, I took a picture of Leo in his lion costume, and we made it a pattern. It looked just like him when it was glowing!

Carving Pumpkins

Carving pumpkins is one of my most favorite fall activities! Last year Leo was too little to participate, but this year he was able to join in the fun!

I put on my carving "outfit" ~ pumpkin shirt & pj pants ~ spread the newspapers, cleaned the outside and began the fun! Leo was into sticking his hands in the pumpkin and pulling out the seeds. He is unlike his daddy...

I love the look on his face in this picture....Alright! I can make a mess!
Getting a feel for the seeds.


"Let me stick my whole arm in there..."


"Yum! Auntie Jill is right. Pumpkin seeds taste good!"
(I got it out before it went any further than this picture. Yuck, Leo!)

We carved 3 pumpkins, my mom carved 1, Melia carved 2 and Erica carved 1. It was a party!

Check back soon to see a picture of the final products.

**If anyone has ideas how to get my camera to take pictures with no flash, I'd be excited to learn!