Give Thanks

Thanksgiving 2012..what a great weekend it was! I love Thanksgiving--lots of food, people and hearts swelling with thanks to an amazing God we serve. We are so blessed and so undeserving of His grace. And I love that Thanksgiving begins the Christmas season, focusing our thanks on the ultimate gift God has given us in His Son. We are so grateful for His mercy and love.

At the beginning of November, we sat down as a family and started our 'Thankful Tree', adding leaves every few days. The kids LOVED doing this and Matt and I were so thankful for their unfiltered thoughts (who would have thought to be thankful for cows, but my kids were! And I realized I am too!)

For our Thanksgiving meal, we had 4 members of the Bethel University hockey team join us as well as our next door neighbors from South Korea. My parents usually eat with us but weren't able to make it until later in the day.

And since our neighbors were coming over with their 6-year old daughter, my kids got to experience the 'kids table' for the first time in their lives!! (That's what happens when there are no cousins)

We had a great meal and I have to say, I have a newfound appreciation for anyone who prepares a Thanksgiving meal on their own. Being the only woman in the house for the day, I prepared all the food on my own. It was the first time I had ever prepared a turkey without my mom's presence in the house (which gives me comfort, more than anything else!) as well as timing all the casseroles and dishes and getting all the food done on time. This is not to toot my own horn, but rather to say that I fully recognize what it takes to pull a meal like this together! And although each of these guys did offer to help clean up, I was left on my own since there were more pressing matters to take care of....

The kids were playing upstairs while we finished our meal and I found these pictures on my point-n-shoot camera.

Sadie teaching--what's new?!

KeeJoo, our neighbor, and his daughter Cheeun, taking a plate of food back to KeeJoo's wife, who stayed home with their infant son who wasn't feeling well. They have been great neighbors and Sadie and Cheeun have spent a lot of time together. Cheeun started coming to AWANA on Wednesday nights with Sadie and it has been fun to see their friendship develop.

And this was the more pressing task that awaited our guests....setting up the liner in the hockey rink.

It was incredibly windy and it definitely took this many people. But Matt wanted to get it done because the temperature that day dropped from 60 degrees in the morning to the 30s in the evening. With the weather getting colder, it was prime time to flood the rink and give it a few days to freeze. So this is how we spent our Thanksgiving afternoon!

My parents and my sister Mary Jo arrived at our house by around 8pm. My mom, sister and I decided to make one run to Target at 9pm on Thanksgiving evening. And we weren't alone in our thinking that Thanksgiving evening would be better than the early morning on Black Friday.

But we got in quickly, got what we wanted, and headed home. When we got into the store, there were still lots of the electronic deals available, like the steals on TVs, but none of us wanted one. Kinda felt like we should have bought one just because we could have, but we passed! It was a memorable evening, though! And since our shopping was done, that left all day friday to get our tree!

School and Sport Pics

Just for the sake of documentation, here are the kids' school pics and sport pics from this fall. 

Wyatt-2nd grade

Sadie-Kindergarten and 1st year of gymnastics

Girls Weekend

While Matt and Wyatt were in Austin, I surprised Sadie with a trip to Des Moines to see my good friend Jen and her daughter, Sadie's good friend Elle. Sadie was SO excited and when we got to their house, Elle came running out of the house and Sadie ran out of the car and they gave each other the biggest hug! They immediately started talking a mile a minute and ran into the house to play together. 

So thankful that they are such great friends!

Playing dress up!

Watching a movie

So excited to find out they have matching PJs!!!

Silly-ness all around!

We did bring Blake along on our 'Girls Weekend', but on Saturday morning, just the girls went for coffee and to get our nails done

Outside the nail place, the girls were doing some form of yoga....

And this is what the boys did....

And the crazy part was that they loved it! Yes, anyone who thinks boys and girls are basically the same has not met my children!!

We had a great weekend in Des Moines and once again, Sadie cried when we left, saying, "I miss Elle! I want to go back"

F1 Race, Austin, TX

A few weekends ago, one of my Dad's 'bucket list' items got scratched off his list. He is a huge car racing fan, and I don't mean NASCAR, although he does appreciate watching some of their races. But the races he really loves are the Formula One (F1) races--for those of you like me who know next to nothing about this, let's just say it's Francesco Bernoulli NOT Lightning McQueen. I think my dad likes F1 racing because there is so much engineering and technology that goes into each car, as well as the strategy of racing on a track that isn't a circular one. 

A bit of background...apparently F1 racing is huge in Europe but not as big in the United States. There hasn't been an F1 race here in the states for over 5 years, but they built this track in Austin, TX in hopes  of having the F1 racing circuit return. And it worked. So for the past year, my Dad has been talking about wanting to go to this race. For his birthday in September, my mom was planning on sending him. But who wants to go do something like that alone? So we were gonna have Matt go along as another part of his gift. But as we started talking about it, I realized that Wyatt not getting to go could be more hurtful to Wyatt--especially since Wyatt has always loved cars and has such a great relationship with my Dad. Yes, Wyatt would have no appreciation for what an amazing opportunity this was for a 7-year old (I mean, my Dad waited 59 years for this!!) but he would treasure the time with his Dad and Grandpa. And I am SO glad he went along! He is still talking about how amazing it was.

A few pics from their weekend

Does this guy look excited or what?

I should really have asked Matt or my Dad (or even Wyatt) write this post since I don't really know much about what they actually saw all weekend, but I all try my best (and assume that anyone reading this probably won't know/care if I get it wrong!)

The Porsche GT race--I believe this was the gentlemen's race, which means that the guys racing these cars are not progressional race car drivers, but guys like Matt or my Dad who buy their own cars and race them

The Ferrari race

The F1 Vintage race car race

And then the big one...the guys went to the time trials race on Saturday and then the actual race on Sunday. On Saturday night, I asked Matt if they had seen enough after a full day of watching races and time trials, thinking that Wyatt might have had his fill and be bored. Matt just laughed, explaining that they had just gotten the racing bug itch and were now hooked!

My Dad got some sweet shots!

The pictures above are of the reigning world champion, a German guy by the name of Vettel, who ended up coming in 2nd place but is still currently leading after winning in Brazil the next week. If you ask Wyatt, he could rattle off the names of all the top racers now and what car they drive (Red Bull, Lotus, McLaren, Ferrari). But I couldn't name one of them....sorry!

Yes, these guys had a great weekend watching racing and they are all still talking about it, but more importantly, Wyatt had an amazing time with his Dad and Grandpa that he will never forget. In fact, when we picked them up at the airport, Wyatt and Matt were all smiles and gave us big hugs. But once they got in the car, I looked in the rearview and saw Wyatt with his head down, rubbing his eyes. I asked Matt what was wrong and he was just as shocked as I was, saying Wyatt had been great the entire time! I asked Wy what was wrong and he didn't immediately respond. I left him alone for a bit and then noticed he was actually trying to hide his tears (something I don't think I have ever seen him do), he told us in a quiet voice that he didn't want it to be over. That said it all.

Thanks Dad, for giving these two such a memorable experience and a new passion for car racing that they now share with you!

Halloween

On Halloween, Sadie's class at school had a Halloween party. Lots of crafts, games, food and fun. Blake came with me and the kids all dressed up in their costumes, which was a great way to get more use out of them!!

Sadie and her classmate Caitlin

(poor Sadie is probably gonna be like me and be taller than all the boys until high school!)

Dixie and I both volunteered at the party--she was a great sport and wore a 'costume'. Blake loved being included like the big kids.

Sadie and her teacher, Ms. Eull

Dixie and Onyx

Sadie's class

Sadie was so sweet and wanted to take Blake back to class with her.

Halloween night

I never got a picture of Wyatt with his completed pumpkin, so here it is. He did a great job and we all commented that we had never seen a pumpkin with glasses before!

Blake loved showing off his pumpkin as well

The whole crew...astronaut, cheerleader and super scary tiger!

Our crew that travelled together--with Raggedy Ann and Dorothy

Sadie and our next door neighbor Cheeun were together the entire time (Cheeun has been coming to AWANA with us and Sadie and her love playing together!)

Avery and Lillie were so sweet and took Blake under their wings

Each year, my kids look forward to going to 'the soldiers house' as they call it. The soldier, Marcus, is an injured veteran from Afghanistan and he and his wife give out stuffed animals. So this year, my kids wanted to go there earlier rather than later. And Blake is still sleeping with his bear!

Examining the loot

And trading...

I had to include this picture Matt took while we were out with the kids. Yes, this is my friend Dixie! Is this not the best costume ever? She was a tourist!