Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

I have so much to be thankful for... I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving.

(This photo taken on Halloween)

Beach Video

Enjoy! Forgive the loud, shrill of the videographer over the waves!

So Long to Summer...

We went to the beach with Nana, my brother, Shawn, KK, and Ethan the last weekend in September to enjoy the last weekend of Summer. We had a great little townhouse a block from the beach. The kids had a great time and so did the grown-ups! The weather was perfect! We even surprised Gracie with a dinner at Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville restaurant (she LOVES him... See June post to check out her rendition of Buffet's "Fins") There were pirates on stilts who made balloon hats and parrots. The walls and ceiling were painted to look like treasure maps, and there were boat booths and a cargo plane was hanging right over our table. When the song Margaritaville came on, a disco ball with an attached salt shaker came down out of the plane. It was alot of fun, and the food was good. ((I had SUCH a hard time narrowing down which pictures to post. Maybe I'll randomly post some of the others when I get a chance, but for now please forgive my indulgence... and there is a video that is 3 and a half minutes. I understand if you're not interested, (but I want in on the blog for the kids to see someday. For some reason, I can't figure to how to copy it to disk from computer, so... I tried to upload it and after 20 minutes loading, it said there was an error. I'll try again tomorrow...)

Ethan and Gracie in front of Margaritaville

Harrison's sweet-feet in the sand

Gracie's tiny tootsie's too

Harry thinks this one looks like a postcard or ad for an island vacation. (I would follow this girl anywhere!)

"Got sand? I do!"

Nana and Harrison chilling on the blanket. We had just watched a wedding at the house right beside where we sat.

I just LOVE this one of Ethan!

Sportin' their hats 'cause that's how they roll!!

Nana and the kiddos

My movie star in her "coolest shades EVER!"

Running away from the waves kept them bust for quite a while! It's so fun to watch her innocence and pure joy in life. I wish I could bottle it up and save it for the times in the future when she will experience uncertainty and difficulties of adolescence. My heart aches at the thought that she will have aches I will not be able to kiss and make better at some point. Harry thinks I 'm crazy that I've thought that far ahead. Maybe it's a Mom-thing... or maybe I really am a bit crazy...

So long to Summer... We'll see you next year!

Turning 4 in the Land of OZ

Welcome to the land of Oz!

Gracie/Dorothy turned 4 on October 11th. She has been obsessed with the movie for over a year. She wanted to have an Oz party, so I obliged. I made a yellow brick road to cover the LONG sidewalk leading up to the house (we had the party at my BFF's house. They have a great screened in porch) There was a sign by the doorbell that quoted the one in the movie about knocking because the doorbell is broken. Below is Dorothy beside the Pin the Heart on the Tin Man game. It turned out really cute!

We had all kinds of costumes that we borrowed from our local theater group so the girls could dress up like the witch and munchkins. the girls enjoyed that too.

We had mini subs ("Munchkins Subs"), Pretzel sticks ("Broomsticks"), and Melted Witch Punch...

My art teacher at school made a tree (even better than I had expected it to look!) We used it for the Apple Toss game. It was supposed to be like when the Scarecrow and Dorothy pick apples off the tree, and the trees throw them at the pair. I had some soft apples we got for relieving stress at the beginning of the school year. The kids had to throw the apples through the hole in the tree.

Aww... Harrison was here too, but I couldn't get him to stand still long enough to get a pic.

Catching up in reverse... Pumpkin Patch '08

Here are some pictures from our trip to the Pumpkin Patch in mid-October.

"Is this a pumpkin... or a BALL!!!!"

Harrison walked around throwing his little pumpkin and saying, "Ball!"

Can someone say GRUMPY?

(I don't know exactly what caused this meltdown, but it was a good one. After 20 minutes, she was fine thanks to Aunt KK!)

Harrison likes to show off his tongue, and Sissy is happy to oblige!

"Peek-a-BOO!"

Happy Fall

Who ARE those people behind us!!??

Ethan, Gracie, and Harrison

My favorite one of Little Man

Tracy, I thought of you and you own little own "Punkin"... Isn't life wonderful now that we have them in our pumpkin-filled lives?

Update...

I want to thank all of my bloggy friends for your prayers and words of encouragement. This has been a very trying time for our family. We feel God at work and see his love pouring out through the generosity of others. My administration and coworkers at my new school have been tremendous blessings to us. Harry had heard nothing in 3 weeks and then this week, he had 2 interviews. He REALLY felt like one of them is where he is supposed to be, but we haven't heard back from them. The other place, a car lot, is very interested, but the money is not enough to support us in the long run. We are thinking he will take this job with the understanding that he is still looking for something in his field of expertise (computers)... We are so grateful for this opportunity and can hardly wait to see God's plan for Harry unfold. I've missed you all so much! Love, Nicole

"Trick or Treat!"

Happy Trick-or-Treat to everyone!

We went to Old Navy in our costumes the Saturday before with Corie (cousin). Any child in costume got a free t-shirt.

For trick-or-treating, we met up at Ally's house around the corner with some of the girls from our local group to eat and go out in the 'hood together. The girls are all growing so quickly. They had a great time as always. Below are Leah (Rosetta the Fairy) and Gracie ready to go in the wagon.

The Gang... We had a ladybug, monkey, Superman, Rosetta, Silvermist, a princess, a ninja princess, Dorothy, and a girl (Olivia didn't want to dress up).

Anna Grace, a.k.a. Silvermist

Daddy had his hands full!

My little ladybug!

Hope your night was as great as ours!

and now...time for my favorite time of year-bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas!