The Levee Family

Austin turned 8! This year Austin got to choose 2 friends to take to Main Event to play Laser Tag. We had to keep this a secret for several days so the boys wouldn't talk about it at school and upset other boys...but when Austin came home from school on Friday and found out that we going that night - it was great to see the excitement - the kind of excitement that makes you glad to be a mom :-). We picked up T and S and headed out on our first boy trip. Jeremy and I want to be the house and the parents that the boys want to hang out with - and this was our first big attempt at being "cool parents". We had a car full of boys - 5 plus Jeremy - and it was so loud. I had to keep reminding myself that it was going to be OK. All sorts of noises were being made and all kinds of silly talk that usually drives me CRAZY! But we made it! We ate some almost decent pizza at Main Event and then went to play Laser Tag. Jeremy and the boys (minus Ryan) played. They ended up being the only ones in the course and had a great time. It was the boys against Jeremy -and I still think Jeremy won. After they finished we coerced them out of Main Event by suggesting we go get ice-cream. So off we went to get some cheap ice-cream at McDonald's and they played on the play gym for another 30 minutes or so before we headed home - Austin had a great time and it was so cute to have one of his friends give us big hugs and thank us many times for taking him.

Coming home from our night out at Main Event, we drove through our neighborhood looking at Christmas lights and found a street with lots of lights. One of the streets did the "12 days of Christmas". Most of the houses followed tradition, but this one didn't. It took me a second to get the display, but once we got it, we had to take a pictures. So hats off to the creators of the plumbers working on the pipes! One even has a butterfly tattoo...

Click on the picture to see all the details -

I am thankful for...
my loving husband - Wow, God blessed me!
my 3 great boys who are each so different
the salvation of our oldest son this year
a Godly family heritage on both sides of our family
a God who sent his only son to die for MY sins
a home and 2 vehicles - a big deal in this economy - I don't take it for granted
a job for my husband and a part time one for me
friends - God has blessed us with new friends here in Austin
old friends - who we miss so much
material blessings that we take for granted
our health - sometimes I feel like I'm 50 already but overall we all have great health
parents that love my kids and want to see them grow up to love the Lord
parents that love Jeremy and I and support us in our parenting and in our marriage
a church that preaches the Word of God
a school for the boys that I love - with great teachers
The Cotten family that loves to get together at Thanksgiving
My parents property - we love to get in the woods as often as we can
great in-laws! they treat me like their own daughter
great sister and brother-in-laws - no family tension!
a Holy God that loves even me - and desires to have a personal, ongoing relationship with me

I hope you take the time to be thankful - even if Thanksgiving is already over - we should be thankful every day. God has given us so much to be thankful for!