Morning with Friends

A friend of mine had to be at church for a rehearsal, so I offered to watch her two girls for the morning. We had a great time here.... Grace loved being with Contessa and Hannah loved watching Bailey. (Yes, Bailey is the little girl who's hair Hannah likes to pull in nursery!!!)

Contessa brought her stamps to play with Grace...she had never done these before. They loved putting stamps on each others hands!

After playing with stamps we got out the costumes... Grace was a tiger and Contessa was a lamb. It was really funny to see a lamb chasing a tiger and funny to hear them make loud "BAAA"s and "ROAR"s.

After lots of running around, the girls decided to play "sick". Grace always says, "OK. I will be sick and you fix me up." Contessa helped her learn a new one sentence. She now puts on the stethoscope and says, "OK. Take a deep breath!" So cute....

We ended the morning with some yummy lunch! It is so much fun playing with friends... I think Grace will sleep well this afternoon! :)

So... I have been very busy since my last post. My mom came to visit from Florida. We had a great time. We didn't have any big plans; we just wanted to visit and watch my girls. Here is Hannah playing in her PJs. She really, really wanted to crawl for Nanna, but she didn't quite do it for her!

On Saturday, Great Gramps and Nanna came from Maine to visit and spend the night. We always love visiting with them. They brought potatoes and carrots from their garden to add to Sunday's lunch. Mom and I spoiled Gramps with homemade apple pie and lasagna for dinner! YUMMY! We were so glad that Adam brought his whole family over as well! We never get enough of them! Hannah and Uncle Adam have a special bond... we don't know if it is because they both love Cherrios or what!

On Sunday, we had Hannah's dedication -- or Danny and I were dedicated. We pledged to raise Hannah according to God's Word and try to be an example to her spiritually. It was great having some family there for the special occasion. We had just thought it was going to be our immediate family. Grace loved being on stage! :) (I got their matching dresses at Target for $4.50 each!!!)

It was a fun weekend -- too short, though. We will get to see Great Gramps, Great Nanna, and Nana when we go to VA for Christmas. That is TOO FAR AWAY! I have started playing Christmas music in the car to help the time go by faster!

WE LOVE YOU, NANA!

Well… we all have pet peeves, right? I am sure that some of you hate to hear someone crack their fingernails while others of you are annoyed by slow drivers or incompetent news people. My newest pet peeve? Facebook friends who use their status to complain about their life! I just don’t understand why some feel the need to use their status to tell about all of the terrible things that happened in the day or how tired they are or how misbehaved their children are! I guess I just don’t understand because I am truly blessed with a wonderful family, and I thank God for them every day. That doesn’t mean that I don’t have my struggles, but I don’t need to tell all of Facebook so I can have sympathy from them. Let’s practice what the Word of God teaches: “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” (Romans 12:12) Facebook world… please stop complaining about our lives of affluence and be thankful! God has truly blessed us... let's name them one by one!

We had our first "real" snow of the season last night. It came down in HUGE flakes and was absolutely beautiful...well, it was beautiful from inside next to the woodstove! I didn't have to venture out into the slushy mess. We marvel once again in God, the Creator, in His awesome Creation as the brillant trees have white snow on them!

Grace enjoyed her first taste of the snow this season... she wanted to play and build a snowman, but as you can see there wasn't much to play in! :) A little of the snow has hung around even this afternoon, but it will soon be gone. There will be PLENTY more this winter, I'm sure!

Pumpkin Fun

Well, Danny couldn't take it any longer...he just had to cut into his "daddy" pumpkin! Last night he got his knife, pumpkin, bowls and trusty side-kick (Grace) and made the first cuts.

Grace loved watching her daddy and helping him out.

The squishy seeds were really fun to scoop out. Grace helped sort them and then we put them on a cookie sheet to cook them. What a yummy snack!

Danny didn't stop there... we had to make Peter our Pumpkin!

Fun afternoon

Danny looked at the weather forecast today and realized that today was going to be the only nice weather day of the week -- they are calling for snow tonight and other times throughout the week! YIKES! Not weather to go for walks. SO... we bundled up the girls and walked down to the Robert Frost Farm. We have been there many times to walk through the woods -- Grace loves it. Danny carried her in the backpack and I carried Hannah in the Snugli. We admired the foliage and saw inside the farmhouse. Grace loved finding all of the numbered signs and telling us the numbers that were on it. "Oh look, mommy, there is one and eight!" Hannah was just content to look around and listen to her big sister. It was a lot of fun!

Fall Fun

We have had a lot of fun this fall doing "fall" activities! We have had beautiful weather and our whole family has enjoyed being outside together. Here is a 7 month picture of Hannah.

We also went apple picking together. We got a half of a bushel of apples and also got the traditional pumpkins: one for daddy, one for mommy, one for Grace and one for Hannah!

We are continually amazed by our wonderful God... our Creator. This is my favorite time of the year as I see what He has made all around us. It is BEAUTIFUL! I love to reflect on how even though the weather and tree around us are changing, our God is constant... never changing... always the same, amazing God. Praise Him!

Well, I guess I will give it a try!

I love checking the blogs of friends and family, so I guess I will break down and try this blogging thing myself. I know that at least my mom will like to go on and see regular updates of her grand-daughters! So I guess I will give this a try!