Family Fun Night: November

for our november family fun night,

we decided to stay in.

we had been gone a lot this past month -

and so it was nice to have something at home.

jordan came up with this activity and it was great.

but first i wanted to show you our thankfulness tree that

we filled out throughout the month

each morning - i would have the kids tell me what they were thankful for,

and i would write it down on a leaf

we then found some sticks to make our "tree"

and would hang the leaves on the tree

it was a great project and activity and

a great way to start our days in thankfulness

so onto our fun night

we decided to try to teach the kids what thanksgiving was about

from a historical viewpoint

so we acted out the mayflower coming to america

duncan in his "ship" looking at the seas

the bad storms that caused the ship to go back and forth

the boys on the bigger ship looking out to find "land"

once we got to "america' we had to hike around and find a place to build our house

we found the perfect spot in jaydens room :)

that is all the pictures that i have,

and sorry that they aren't that good -

but it was really fun and a great way to teach them how the pilgrims got to america

and how the indians and the pilgrims worked together!

hope this made sense!

Thanksgiving 2011

we had a wonderful, relaxing thanksgiving!

we were at the ogdens for the whole time and we enjoyed

being with them, relaxing and having fun!

i didn't take that many pictures - sadly

but i will show you what i have :)

trying to get a family picture is just plain difficult. but the above is the best we got :)

campbell & i

geoffrey & leeann

(it was so fun having leeann with us! we love it!)

don't you love this headband?

so cute - i wish i had one in every color

alice & greg

our gracious hosts who put up with the ogden gang

greg, alice, & uncle charlie

the beautiful table

we have so much to be thankful for and i am so glad that there is a season that really helps us stop and think about what it is to be thankful for!

happy tuesday!

hopefully i will be getting back into the blogging world!

Campbell: 1 year Portraits

my sweet little girl!

she is a loud, fiesty, precious little bundle of joy

she is able to hold her own with her brothers -

don't you worry :)

love how she is pulling at her bubble and it shows her precious little thighs

and this one you can see her little teeth

a spontaneous game of peek-a-boo!

this is such a beautiful capture of who she is!

we call her beautiful woman of God

we love you miss!

so thankful for all the joy and spunk that you add to our lives!

thanks for being who you are!

Duncan: 2 year old portraits & All Kids

doesn't my sweet 2 year old look like a SMU student?

i mean - goodness :)

love these pics of duncan

and how they really bring out his beautiful blue eyes

i love his feet in this one

so sweet and innocent

my sweet duncan -

we love you and are so proud of the mighty man of God that you are too!

we love that you will be a world changer just like your brother & sister!

we ended up getting just these two of all of them

campbell looks like such a chunk in this one i think :)

i just happen to have all of their clothes and i love how perfectly they matched together

love these three!

excited to add another one to the bunch :)

Jayden: 4 year old portraits

we just got the kids 4,2,&1 year old portraits in the mail!

i wanted to show them to you.

i love how they turned out!

this was the big piece we got:

i debated getting it as the big piece b/c his head is down,

but i love it!

i love his legs crossed, his sweet face looking down, the freckles on his nose :)

i am so glad i decided on it!

sweet boy

i can't believe how much they change in a year

you don't realize it until you look at the pictures and realize

wow!

there is a big difference!

we love you jayden and are so proud of you.

you are a man of God and we love watching you and helping you

develop into the man of God he created you to be!

other kids pics coming next :)

hats

jayden made this hat the other day

i was proud of him,

he cut out the paper, taped it, colored it and painted it

strong work J!

campbell also got an adorable hat on the same day

i am in love

it's fun that we are now in weather that we have to wear this kind of thing

homecoming 2011

every year we have a tradition to go to waco for baylor homecoming

we have been going to homecoming ever since i was little

the forresters (who were my dad's friends from high school) come and stay with my parents

and we do the same tradition every year

i think they have done this for almost 30 years

unfortunately, this year - jordan and i were only able to participate in

our friday night "fiesta night" and then we had

to head back to dallas for a memorial service for a special friend, ruth loring

we were sad to miss the saturday festivities, but our kids were able to go so that was fun for them,

and i was really glad i was able to attend the memorial service on saturday morning

my dad has some pictures on his blog here

and apparently mary beth got some good pics - so i will try to upload hers to my blog

sometime this week

the kids (and jordan :)) ate outside

everyone waiting in line for dinner

thanks jason for this :)

dad & mb

molly, mom, & andrew

emily & alex

eating our traditional fiesta meal

jordan & alex (or hanj as mb calls him)

the whole forrester clan

we love you forresters and are so glad we get to do this tradition with you each year,

sad we missed the bulk of it on saturday -

next year :)

halloween

so i am not a big proponent of halloween,

and i/we have still not decided how we want to do it,

but this year -

all my kids were given costumes,

and jayden was super excited about doing it

so we did it

i know,

not a good way to do something if you aren't sure about it

but we did it

judge me that is fine :)

campbell was given a flower costume by our neighbor (so cute), jayden & duncan buzz & woody from toy story (even though duncan is actually wearing pj's - he had a buzz costume like jayden but didn't wear it b/c it was kind of big)

we joined our friends for their neighborhood halloween parade

it is a great way to do it because people just line a certain street and all the kids walk down and get candy and show off their costumes

a lot of our friends joined us there too!

so that was fun.

and the lighting was just perfect for pictures - so that made me happy :)

jon, robin, & monkey (jack)

jayden, charlie, and felice

norah

the mario brothers & their princess

amy, moose (norah), and dan

tom

christina & eden

the cutest little flower you have ever seen :)

doggy (riley)

curious george (georgia) & his trainer (luke)

and their mommy & daddy

here are all the kids and any any on the way

christina & erin (with jasper who is just a week old)

another family pic minus jayden

it was fun and i love how cute all the kids are in their costumes!

precious little darlings!