Happy Thanksgiving!

The Mathews, Our Family, The Larsens, The Tulls

I hope you all had a wonderful day! We had a very special, laid-back Thanksgiving. We started the day with some flying flapjacks and a little of the "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade". Then Doug whipped up a batch of his family's fantastic sweet potato casserole to take to our Thanksgiving feast at the Mathews'. We had a great afternoon with wonderful friends and a ton of delicious food. This evening we made "Thanksgiving leaves" with the girls. We have so much to be thankful for and it was fun to see what the girls were most grateful for.

I'm grateful for my wonderful husband....

...and my beautiful children.

As a family we're thankful for the following (see if you can guess whose is whose):
1. Family and Friends
2. Health and Home
3. Faith
4. Retirement
5. Mommy and Daddy
6. Fall leaves and Siblings
7. Weiner Dogs and Flowers
8. Grandparents
9. Horses
10. Dinosaurs
11. Kitties and Puppies
12. Flowers and Art

Jacob's Baby Shower

Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am for good friends?? Recently my friend Julie hosted a baby shower for little Jacob. The shower was beautiful and Julie, Jenniffer, Trish, and Kristin went above and beyond. I was so incredibly touched and can't begin to say enough good things about the day. It was so nice to have everyone together for some fantastic food, scrumptious cake, and games. A huge thank you to everyone that made the afternoon so special!

Thanks to Julie and Trish for all of the photos!

Napa Trip

The OSC photo club recently took a trip to Napa to photograph a newly engaged couple, Crystal and Renardo. Napa is so beautiful and I wish I could make it up there more often with the family. The weather was perfect and we had a scrumptious lunch at V. Sattui Winery. It was a great day.

Some shots of the happy couple...

What ever happened to Thanksgiving?

Have you noticed that the stores these days seem to go right from Halloween straight into Christmas? Come November 1st, the skeletons and costumes are pulled from the shelves and replaced by snowmen and tinsel.

What ever happened to Thanksgiving?

We’ve been talking to the girls about the pilgrims and the journey of the Mayflower. It’s really an amazing story. I just came across a fantastic article written by a woman named Shirley Dobson. She writes that with only a few resources the pilgrims were linked by an “interdependence” that is uncommon today. An essay was written titled “A Christian Model of Charity” and it called on the colonists to “knit together in this work as one man,….make one another’s condition our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together to keep the unity of the Spirit”.

Uncommon today….I think not. I couldn’t help but think of our military families and how we’re “knit” together in this path that we’ve chosen. I feel so thankful to be surrounded by a great group of friends who have been so supportive during our time in the Air Force. It makes such a difference in your day knowing there are others out there who are willing to make your condition their own...who will rejoice or mourn with you, labor and suffer with you. We may not be the pilgrims but I think we do still model the "unity of the spirit". There’s an old saying that I find to be so true: “Shared joy is double joy and shared sorrow half the sorrow.” This Thanksgiving I want to remember to say a special "thank you" to those military families and friends with whom we've been interdependent. I'm so grateful for you and all that you do.

Anna recently had her "Friendship Feast and Performance" at her school. All four kindergarten classes participated. They worked for weeks learning four songs which they sang the Friday before her Thanksgiving break began. I have video of their actual performance but I've attached a video of Anna and Lauren singing one of the songs instead. Before the school performance, each child had the choice to be a Pilgrim or a Native American. Anna chose Native American for the performance but still got to make a pilgrim hat. She wore it home from school the week before the performance. She looked so cute in it that I made Lauren one.

Anna is under the star above.

"New"vember Resolutions

I must admit that after the recent elections I was left with a profound sense of hope. I know that politics can be an inflammatory subject so I won’t say more but the whole experience left me thinking. With this “hope” of change on the horizon, I felt the need to make some changes in my own life as well. I realize that January is the typical month for resolutions but I thought why not start now?? So, that being said I’ve decided to make some “New”vember resolutions.

1. I’m going to try to manage my time more efficiently. I’m in awe of those women I read about who run home businesses, homeschool their children, write books, make skirts for their daughters before dinner, grow their own gardens and can their own tomato sauce. Doug often comes home to the same folded load of laundry on the couch that was there when he left in the morning. I mean it feels like I’m busy through the day but I just don’t think I’m very productive. I have a list of things that I want to get done and I don’t mean just housework. I have about a bazillion creative projects circulating through my head that I just never get to…..well, I’m going to get there.
2. I’m going to spend more quality time with my children. Sure I’m with them pretty much 24-7 but most of that is just normal day-to-day routine without the quality. I’m going to slow down and listen more and find the time to sit and play. They’re growing up so fast and I don’t want to miss any of who they are at this very minute.
3. I’m going to try to be less frustrated and more pleased with my days. I’ve been reading about an “attitude of gratitude” and I want to acknowledge just how much I have to be thankful for each day.
There’s more but that’s the gist for now. I’m sure that part of this stems from this whole pregnancy “nesting” instinct that I’ve got going on. I mean I feel this intense need to have routines, be organized and knit or quilt something. It doesn’t matter that I’ve never knitted or quilted in my life...I just need to do it. Anyone want to sign up for a knitting class with me?? Hopefully, this feeling and motivation will last longer than the typical two weeks that most New Year’s resolutions live before they die a little death only to be resurrected again the following January. So, here we go….day 1….baby steps. Wish me luck.

I'm thankful for fall and the beautiful colors it brings.

Rain, Rain, Come Again

The rain has finally come again. It feels like it's been forever. It started Thursday evening and has rained off and on since then. We took our last trip of the season to Bishop's the night the rain began. There's just nothing like the smell of wet earth and the feel of the rain on your face. I'm one of those people that enjoy the weather change. I like the idea of curling up with a good book while it pours outside. The girls want to be on the go all the time. Anna even made a list this morning of the things she would like to do today. It read: 1)Turkish Restaurant for lunch 2)Target-they like looking at the Halloween goodies 3) Pool 4) State Fair. It looks like the Turkish restaurant is the winner...but for an early dinner instead of lunch. We're going to go see a matinee with Julie and Olivia first. This idea was more than acceptable to both girls. They even did a little happy dance that not only are we getting outside in the rain but we get a movie and food to boot. Before they heard about the "plan" for the day, they reminded me of the kids from Dr. Seuss' The Cat in the Hat.

The sun did not shine.
It was too wet to play.
So we sat in the house
All that cold, cold, wet day.

I sat there with Sally.
We sat there, we two.
And I said, "How I wish
We had something to do!"

Too wet to go out
And too cold to play ball.
So we sat in the house
We did nothing at all.

Happy Halloween!

Hope you all had a fun Halloween. We had a super busy day! Doug's last official day of work in the USAF was yesterday! He just wanted something small and informal to commemorate the day so we had a luncheon in the Heritage Room of the squadron. It's hard to believe that it's finally here after 24 and a half years of service. I'm so looking forward to this next chapter in our lives AND having Doug home with us for the next 3 months of terminal leave!! We're so proud of him and love him so much!! My batteries were dead in my flash and so I only ended up with two shots from the lunch. :(

Afterwards we ran home to get the girls changed into their costumes for trick-or-treating. Anna decided she didn't want the kitty cat face painted on while Lauren insisted she needed blood around her eye and down her cheek. We managed to talk her out of it and she stuck with her eye patch and hook....at least until we started trick-or-treating. We had a great meal at Julie and Stephen's house beforehand. It's always so much fun to get to enjoy the evening with good friends. One of the best parts of this Halloween was that we actually had Doug here with us for the festivities. He's normally in the desert at this time of year. In fact, the last time he was able to trick-or-treat with the us the girls looked like this:

My, how the times have changed....


You have no idea how tough it is to get all three of these partners-in-crime looking at the camera at the same time.