Wintery Fun!!

So exactly one week ago, we got our first real snow. Today....our yard doesn't look much different than it did that evening....

Well....it is a little thinner I must admit, but since our yard doesn't get a whole lot of sun during the day...and it's still been pretty cold...we still can't see grass. :)

Anyway...Austin didn't have to wait long to get some use out of his new birthday present!

And of course he shared with the other two...

We had a lot of fun playing in the snow! Our next step is to build a really good snowman (watch out McLillies)! :) This snow was too powdery for a snowman....I'm sure we won't have to worry about getting plenty of non-powdery, snowman-making snow this winter! Happy Winter!!

Catch Up....Part 2

Because we were so busy with the move.....on top of the fact that we didn't have internet at our old apartment....I never got to post some of the pictures of our last night at Powerhouse at FBC Dayton. As much as we love our new home and our new church, there are lots of people in Dayton we miss dearly and will never forget. And I was not able to get a picture of everyone or post all 84 pictures on my camera from our last Powerhouse. In other words....just because your picture is not on here....doesn't mean we don't love and miss you!! :)

Jason always loves to start Wednesday night Bible Study off with a game; so what better way to end than to play a game about how well you know each other....

Abby...

Daniel and Daniel...

Jason and Preston praying.....

Yee Won and Danielle....

The kids always loved coming up after Bible Study and playing the drums...

Noah...

Madeline, Tara, and Hannah...

Madison and a friend she brought....

Madeline being tackled by the boys. They LOVED playing with Madeline...

The teenagers here at FBC Dayton are amazing! There is not a picture of it, but that night they all surrounded Jason and I and prayed for us....for our transition, for the youth we'd be ministering to here, for the new person that would take Jason's place...you get the picture. It was completely initiated by the teenagers. Yes....they are awesome!

P.S. There are most definitely other amazing people that we miss dearly at FBC Dayton as well! You know who you are!! :)

Catch Up...Part 1

So, since we have finally gotten settled in and I am no longer in complete and utter overload with things to do....I have realized how many pictures I have on my camera that never got blogged about! Things like.....Lily's last week of Mother's Day Out...

It was Cowboy and Cowgirl day the day we brought in cookies for her little goodbye party...

She was quite the little host passing out all the cookies!

Then there was Daniel's last day of school. This was his sweet teacher from Dayton City School...

And all his friends hugging him goodbye......(I had a hard time choking down the tears during that part)...

And then there was Halloween.....Iron Man, Cinderella, and Captain America...

And THEN.....we got to see PAPPY!!! Pappy has been in Kuwait for 18 months!! And he got to come home for a visit right around the time we were moving, so we got to spend all day with him and Grandmaw before we went to visit my family and they flew out to Wyoming to see Jason's sister. Daniel was especially excited to see Pappy...

Silly boys....

So what better to do with Pappy than go to Chuckie Cheese (especially when all the other kids are in school so you basically have the whole place to yourselves)!!!

I got in the truck with Austin....he kept holding my leg to keep me from falling out...

Sweet girl....

So there are at least a few of the pictures I had every intention of blogging about but never had the time to until now! I still have more, but we'll save that for another day.

P.S. This is what my backyard looks like now.....

:)

Happy Birthday Austin!

Well, my sweet little baby boy turned 3 yesterday. I simply can't believe it. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday he was born. Mostly I just can't believe my youngest child is 3. I don't have a child in diapers....no more cribs...no more baby stuff. Crazy! Where does the time go? Anyway, since we have Thanksgiving...one week later Austin's birthday....Christmas...and 3 days later Daniel's birthday....and we've just moved to a whole new state....we've decided to have wait until January to have a big birthday bash for Daniel and Austin together. However....with that being said...we couldn't just sit around and do nothing on his birthday! So we decided to let him pick what he wanted for dinner and to have our pastor and his family over for a little birthday celebration last night. So what did we eat for dinner? Hot dogs!! And of course cupcakes for dessert.....although I think Austin actually ended up eating cupcakes for dinner...

Austin got a little shy while we were singing "Happy Birthday" to him...

Of course...the child hates pants...so how could I make him wear them on his birthday?! (Every time I ask him where they are he says, "They're tired.")...and it's just pants...he wore shorts all summer, but just like last winter, as soon as I started putting pants on him, he'd come running by at some point during the day without them. Anyway....here the birthday boy is blowing out his candles..

I think he approves of the cupcakes...

or at least the iciing....

And then I let him go ahead and open his present from us....Spiderman! I really had another present I wanted to get him for his birthday, but it didn't come in in time...so we had to do a little re-arranging with the Christmas and birthday presents. At least he's only 3 and has no idea....

And Pastor Ben, Mrs. Silvia, Joshua, and Ashley got him something so big they couldn't even wrap it! So Austin had to close his eyes while they brought it in....

A sled!!!! I think we will get LOTS of use out of this!!!

It turned out to be a really sweet evening! He told everyone he talked to on the phone before bed all about his green and orange sled and his Spiderman. He's so cute! Austin....we love you so much and are so proud of you! You are a crazy boy at times...and your mind thinks of EVERYTHING to get into, but we wouldn't trade one bit of you for anyone else! You are such a blessing to us and, Lord willing, we look forward to many more birthdays as we watch you grow up!

And one more thing.......this little boy got to do something exciting yesterday too....

This would be him waiting for the school bus! Yes...the SCHOOL BUS!! I cannot believe it. It was so hard to let him get on that bus, but he wanted to ride it sooo bad; and he does get to be on there with other kids from church. So...I gave in, and let him ride it. And he loved it. Ok...well that's all for now. Happy Rainy Tuesday!

Christmas Decorating

Alright...take a picture...or look shocked...or something, because I have actually posted on this blog 2 days in a ROW!!! :) Well, yesterday we finally put the tree up! The kids (especially Lily) have been looking forward to this ever since we got back from Thanksgiving. In the words of Lily exactly..."Everybody is ready for Christmas, but we are not ready for Christmas!" Well, I guess now, according to her we're ready. I thought it would be fun to make some Christmas cookies to eat while we decorated. So while Jason got the TV ready with Santa Clause 2, I went to the kitchen and baked the most beautiful Christmas cookies you've ever seen....

Ok, so maybe not the most beautiful....and maybe not even homemade....but none-the-less, they were good! Long story short....all I had at home was sugar cookie dough and red gel food coloring, so I sliced up the dough and dabbed a dot of red food coloring in the center and there you have it....Christmas cookies!! I love how kids get excited over simple things. Anyway...after putting on a few ornaments the boys kinda lost interest....but not Lily!

Here's the star Lily put on the top...

And this would be Daniel's definition of hanging ornaments on the tree...

Lily finally ran out of room on the bottom, so she talked her daddy into lifting her up to decorate the top...

And here you have it....the finished product at night with all the lights off...my favorite time to look at the Christmas tree.

Now today begins operation: decorate the rest of the house for Christmas. And, if I'm being totally honest...operation: re-arrange some of the ornaments on the tree to make them a little more even.... :).

A Month in a Post...

Well, November has been quite a month for us! We packed up everything we owned...

Daniel started school in Maryland (and he picked a great week to start b/c his class got to go swimming everyday at the local college!!).....

And we packed up and went back to Dayton for Thanksgiving....

(You can see Lily had really missed her Uncle Mike...)

We packed back up and came back home to our new church....(Lily was in a mood in this picture)..

And now we are about to decorate for Christmas!!! But before we do, here's a few pics of our new house (I have just gotten it good and clean before I start putting out the holiday decor)...

And THIS......is our playroom, which is actually a loft that you access by ladder in Lily's room....what kid doesn't like getting to their toy room by a LADDER!!! :)

So there you have it! Our November in a nutshell!! Whew! It's been busy but it's been a BLAST! I honestly feel that we have enjoyed every bit of it! Maybe now that we're unpacked I can start blogging a little more frequently.....however December is a pretty big month for us with 2 birthdays and a major holiday, so we'll see. :)

Hello....I'm still here!!

Hello folks! It's been well over 2 weeks since I've blogged; but considering what's been going on in my life, I think that's understandable! We are finally here in Maryland trying to get settled into our new house...in our new community...in our new STATE!!! And it was quite a journey getting here I might add! We had always planned to go visit my family in Memphis for a few days in between the transition. However the original plan was to get our stuff up here before we went there. That didn't work out. So we just planned to go to Memphis...from Nov. 2nd - Nov. 6th....come back to Dayton...pack up our stuff...and be here in Oakland sometime that Tuesday (the 8th). Then life happened.

First off...my grandfather passed away. We knew he wasn't doing well at all; and we were actually surprised he made it as long as he did. But at around 3:30 AM Thursday (Nov. 3rd), he went home to be with the Lord after a long hard battle with alzheimer's. My heart aches for my grandmother (who also lost her dog that following Saturday). The funeral was Monday (going on 2 weeks ago). Let me side track for a minute to tell you about my grandfather. He was the sweetest man! He would do anything for anyone. But most of all; he was a godly man. My favorite thought about him was a memory my aunt shared about him at the funeral. She remembers as a little girl walking in while he was doing his quiet time in the early mornings. She said she would see him signing to the Lord in prayer (he was deaf). I just love to think about that....how he truly had a PERSONAL relationship with the Lord...how he talked with the Lord. It was sad to watch him at the end of his life. The alzheimer's really made him act different....he was not Papaw anymore. So in some ways...we are all so happy he is home. He has his mind...he can hear...and he is with my cousin Amber (who went to be with the Lord going on 4 years ago in January). So anyway...that is my Papaw...and he will be dearly missed.

So....after the funeral Monday we planned to leave to go back to Dayton. Long story short....we didn't leave til almost lunchtime Tuesday. We were exhausted. So we got almost packed up Wednesday and had planned to leave that afternoon and I got sick. (sidenote #2: a big thank you to the secretaries at FBC Dayton for the farewell lunch Wed. That was so sweet). So anyway....last Thursday at about 11:59pm we got into Oakland; and unloaded our Uhaul into our new house last Friday. So we've been here a week now. (It's snowed twice since we've been here btw). And as of today, we not only have internet, but WIRELESS internet. So here I am....blogging! Hopefully I'll get to keep up on here more now about our journeys in Maryland!

Lastly, I would like to take a little moment to thank all the members of our new church (Deep Creek Baptist Church). Thank you so much to all of you who stocked our pantry, refrigerator, and freezer. I cannot say enough how much of a blessing that was. Also, a huge thank you to all of you who worked so hard to make our house nice and clean for us to live in. I would also like to thank all of you who came to help us unload our Uhaul....and in the snow I might add!! And a big thank you to Pastor Ben for taking us around town; and to Mark and Debra for watching our kids one day and helping us get our fire going so we can have even more heat!! :) And to ALL the members of the church for such a warm welcome and making us feel so at home right away!! We are excited about ministering with you all.

Ok...that's all for now...more unpacking to do! Hopefully today will be it!! Whoop whoop!!