A bit of Ham and What, No Turkey!

November feels like a blur…here is a recap

Thomas is a Jedi

Ella has been making crowns..good thing this Jedi doesn’t mind

Ella had a feast at school with a little program

Enjoying some vacation…

We’ve made these cookies a lot the past few years…so good and you can eat the batter.

Ella glued paper to some clothespins, we will hang them up and use to display Christmas Cards.  Great craft for this little one.

The past few years we go to our friends house for Thanksgiving but this year it was just our little family and it was wonderful.  Only problem…I’ve never had to make the Turkey and honestly I didn’t want to deal with it so we got a Ham.  Thanksgiving came and Ella asked about the Turkey.  I told her we were having Ham, to which she replied, “What! no Turkey.”  She was a little disappointed.  Rest assured, after I told my folks about this my dad promised me I could make the Turkey for Christmas, uh oh!

I did however make a yummy Derby Pie.  Not as good as the ones from back home but still pretty darn good.  Pecans and Chocolate Chips…YUM!  And we got some amazing rolls from Lion House.  The next night Steve made peach cobbler…so Good!

No Turkey!  Poor Thomas.

Play time and off to bed!  Hope your Turkey Day was Great!

Getting the perfect photo!

I’ve been trying and trying to get the perfect shot of Thomas smiling.  Waking up to his smile is one of the very best things of my day and lately he has been smiling more and more.  In addition he loves his bouncy chair and play mat.  It was so fun watching him today as he tried and did hit the little toys that hang down.  I decided today was a good day to capture that lovely smile.  Funny though, as soon as he sees the camera he starts to swat at it, so after many attempts I thought it best to enlist the help of big Sister and get photos of both of the kids together.  As many of you with small children know…it’s hard to get them to look at you, let alone stay still, even harder is Ella trying all a variety of smiles and Thomas not quite sure what to do.  But as you can see each shot really is perfect!

Love

My heart is so full, I can’t stand it.  As I think about the past few years, it’s becoming hard to remember the sadness I felt at the possibility that we may not have any more children and the feeling of loss, of being lost.  A year ago in December it was my turn to teach a lesson at church, on anything I felt inspired to talk about.  I remember it was early December and our first try at IUI failed and there I was late Saturday night, crying on my couch trying to figure out what in the world to teach the next day.  I knew I wanted to talk about LOVE, because that is what was closest to me at the time, needing to feel GOD’s love in my life.  I was “freaking out” and finally I said a prayer to Heavenly Father asking him to help me teach a lesson about HIM.  I have had very few experiences in my life where I felt total peace from the Spirit, and this would be counted as one of them.  What a precious feeling.  So I wiped away my tears and got to work.  Unfulfilled wishes, trials, mistakes…The greatest gift in this life is to feel the LOVE of God, to know that I am his child and no matter what happens, HE loves me.  It was such a gift to have that experience and it helped me face the possibility that we may always be a family of 3 and that it was OKAY.  It would be okay no matter what happened.  On Christmas Eve morning we were visiting our Utah family and I decided to take my pregnancy test a day early and you know the rest of the story.  As I think about LOVE and the love I have for my children I can’t begin to imagine the love our Heavenly Father has for us.  Having our two babies has been such a blessing, I love them to the moon and back.

This is Halloween

YES! More photos.  We were invited to eat dinner with some friends but first we gave out some candy and Steve took Ella trick or treating.

The cold killed our flowers but the windows Ella and I decorated made us happy.

Ella retired her Tron costume to be a princess!

Great Food, lots of Candy still left, and Pumpkin Pie in the fridge…Life is Good!

Halloween Weekend

This year Ella was Quorra from Tron Legacy, one of our favorite movies.  Putting the costume together was no small task and Steve did a fantastic job, no glow sticks here…her glow was electric and a big hit.

I got the chance to help out during the classroom party, it was so fun to see her having fun with her friends.

This little boy didn’t know what Tron was, his mother told me he picked the costume because it had a cool disc.

The next day was the Ward Halloween Party.  My family had given me a mickey mouse outfit for Thomas and I knew it would make the perfect costume, but of course I had to match.

Here is Steve as Steve.

On Sunday I had to take some photos of the cutest little boy EVER!  I thought he looked pretty dapper next to his daddy and with his little orange hat.