Happy Thanksgiving to you all! This is my favorite time of year and my OCD is in overdrive again! This year, I didn't know if I would even make it at times with the move/selling the farm, changing schools, looking for a house to buy, moving my job, Josh's new pastors job, etc but THANKFULLY the Lord took good care of us. My Mom and sister Misti and I were able to spend an evening together last weekend and at one point in our discussion I told them that one thing I have learned in the last few months is that I can face anything as long as I have my family. I think back to one year ago and all the changes that have occurred and how the Lord had His hand in each situation....mainly Ava and her cancer diagnosis one year ago this week. I started thinking back to spending last Thanksgiving with them in Children's Hospital and barely being able to speak the word leukemia without breaking down and now it is a part of our lives and our family. I can't thank God enough for taking care of her and allowing our family to seek refuge in Him while going through the unknown. Praise God today, a year later, we have SOOOO much to be thankful for...she is in remission and is so full of life and joy!

Our house if full of activity! My checklist is getting longer and longer and my lists now have sublists! LOL Today we are finishing up all loose ends around the house and catching up on all the laundry (that never ends) and I will start cooking and baking tonight for the big day tomorrow. Looking forward to being with our families tomorrow.

VERY EARLY Friday morning the five of us are leaving out to spend the weekend in Tulsa, OK. Josh is preaching a special service on Sunday near Tulsa so we decided since I am off work on Friday and the girls are out of school to just make it a fun weekend trip. We booked our rooms in downtown Tulsa and according to the hotel desk clerk, there are lots of Christmas activities going on downtown this weekend. We are taking the kids to the Tulsa Zoo and Aquarium on Saturday and the girls and I are hoping to hit the malls and outlet centers for some Christmas shopping. I have packed Jed's Christmas outfit in hopes that he will have his picture made with Santa, but I'm not holding my breath...

Speaking of pictures. We have tried three times now to get a good shot for a Christmas card and I am beginning to wonder if it is ever going to happen. This afternoon will be photo session #4 and if it goes the way the other three did, I may have to crop and paste a two year old boy in the picture! LOL

You can see what I mean here.......


"""Want to throw ROCK".....is what he was saying here.....
"""Hurt me""""""

I have to admit, when I opened up Kendall's invitation to this years cheerleading banquet, I wasn't too happy. The date on the invitation just jumped off the card "Thursday, Nov 20th at 6pm". The same Thursday Nov 20th I have been counting down to since February. Josh and I, along with some of our friends bought tickets back several months in advance to see Third Day in Little Rock. You guessed it...same day, same time as the banquet. I wasn't too excited about giving my ticket away and watching Josh drive off to the concert, but once I got to the cheerleading banquet and watched Kendall with all her friends, Third Day was far from my mind (well, except for the text pictures Josh kept sending me of the concert during the banquet...I could have done without that!! LOL). Reagon was a huge help with Jed but at one point, they dimmed the lights to play a slideshow and while everything was quiet Jed yelled "Mommy...u hurrrrt me!!" I wanted to crawl under the table and Reagon was trying not to laugh. I know they thought I was pinching him or something to keep him still but that is what he says when he wants to get out of your lap!!!

Here are some pictures.......

Proudly dispaying her award and trophy

My Dad took the girls to the movies a couple weeks ago to watch Madagascar 2 so Josh and I decided to do some Christmas shopping and watch Fireproof. The movie is wonderful! Hope everyone gets a chance to watch it. I'm not sure when it comes out on DVD, but it would make a great Christmas gift.

The planning is underway for Jed's second birthday! This year has flown by. Since we have a full calendar and his actual birthday is on Thanksgiving day this year, I wanted to get some of this down now so I wouldn't' forget

Favorite things to do:
Ride the mule, tractor, fourwheeler with Foppa
Ride in "old geen" with Daddy
play outside with Pepper

Just some of the many funny new words and phrases:
"Hush" (he loves to tell me that when he is about to get in trouble)
"Where is Sissy?" "Where is Yay Yay" "Scoo Bus"
"I don't wike it"...(I don't like it) "That Yucky"
"That hurts"...he uses this ALL the time! "need to poop!"
"Hey, I'm home" Knocking on Reagon's door "Hey, wet me in"
"wet me have it" "hey, that mine" "come here, help me"
"Sissy...run run chase me"
If the girls get hurt or in trouble, he will hug them and say "you ok, sissy?"
taking on his pretend phone "ok, ok, i wuv u, bye"
"sshhh...me soot deer.....pow pow....got it!".....this is hilarious!!

Favorite new shows:
My little ponies..Josh hates this!
Deigo
Alf....the girls bought an ALF dvd for Josh for Fathers Day and Jed loves it

Favorite toys:
his farm books, hammer, tractors from Nanny, fourwheeler, Little People....he is finally starting to "play" alone in the floor during the day with his toys

He is very much a Daddy's boy....still cries for his Daddy if Josh gets very far out of sight.

Drinks milk 90% of the time....likes apple juice, sprite, and tea on occasion.

Favorite snacks....cheese, bologna, graham crackers, marshmallows
Favorite foods....spaghetti, green beans, carrots, corn-on-cob

Weight 28 pounds

Wearing his new hunting hat from Mrs Williams

I fell in love with this dresser a while back while scanning a furniture catalog. If I ever buy new bedroom furniture, I would love to go with this black look. I had an old dresser from Kendall's room under our carport and some leftover paint from the toy chest makeover so I decided on my lunch hour last week to try and give it a shot.
I forgot to take a before pic and I really wish I would have. The dresser was awful! It had been painted about 5 different colors and had metal pulls. Here is a pic of it last year in Kendall's room. I didn't want to get rid of it because it is a very heavy, solid wood dresser, just ugly! LOL

As I mentioned yesterday, Josh's song was picked up by several radio stations. Leadmetotherock is heard by approx 8 million people a day. I started listening this morning and right after Chris Tomlin.......
was Josh Harper Band!!!!!! I was shaking so bad I could barely take the picture...plus I was trying to call Josh to tell him.

This was an old toy chest I had used in Kendall's room. Since that time, I had used it on the back deck to hold my spray painting projects. Since there was nothing wrong with the structure of the chest and I needed more room in my dining room to hold extra cabinet items, I decided to try and make it work.
I thought it turned out good and it only cost me $7 total.

Tenielle posted this on her blog and I am so glad I took the time to watch it. Such a powerful video. After watching it, with all the cardboard boxes in my house from the move, I decided to do my own cardboard testimony.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdXX6lzbo78

This will appear on Washington, D.C., buses starting next week and running through December.

I have always heard that boys are harder to potty train than girls but this child is practically training himself! I wasn't going to even start trying until he turned two but he decided otherwise.

His very first pair of "un-a-wears" Diego

Thanks to Danielle for the idea of finger painting in the tub.....Jed loved it!!!