turkey bowl 2010

the first annual turkey bowl was held this year. In Libertyville, Illinois.
here are some highlights from the game.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Maxwell's turkey cookie

We are heading for Wisconsin/Illinois this weekend to be with our families this afternoon, but I thought I'd share this fun questionnaire my cousin Nicole sent me... here are Max and Evan's "recipes" :

Evan's 'recipe'

1.How do you cook a Turkey? Put eggs and sauce on it.
2.What do you have to do to the turkey first? clean it... get the poop out.
3.then what? look at it.
4.stuff it with what? eggs and milk
5.What degrees do you cook it at? 4 degrees
6.how long do you cook it for? 10 minutes
7.what do you season with? pepper
8.what do you serve on the side? broccoli, eggs, pasta, chili, pizza, and waffles

Max's 'recipe'

1. How do you cook a turkey? you put it in the oven and make sure its not cold.
2. What do you do with the turkey first? Cut it
3. Then what? you take the bones out.
4. what do you stuff it with? Oranges, grapes, tomato.
5. What degrees do you cook it at? 19 degrees
6. How long do you cook it for? 10 minutes.
7. What do you season it with? Fruits and stuff.
8. What do you serve on the side? Grapes, bread, oranges, brownies.

10 things I'm thankful for this Thanksgiving. {in no specific order}

1. this life growing inside of me.

2. my husband who is such an encouragement to me, is so patient with me. Thankful to have him as my partner in life.

3. my firstborn, Maxwell {maxo} who has the sweetest heart.

4. my middle child Evan {Ev} who makes us laugh and loves to cuddle,

5.my baby [for a few more months anyway} Liam {the L-man} who is always bringing some sort of entertainment and smiles to our faces.

6. my immediate and extended family. Truly blessed to have 2 wonderful families.

7. Our church body. I am SO thankful for such a great group of people who genuinely love and care for one another.

8. friends near and far. Thankful for all the different friends in my life who have impacted me, encouraged me, and have been there for me.

9. a merciful, just Savior. Thankful to know him, and I pray I can stop and give thanks for him each day, no matter what is going on in my life.
"The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O Lord, endures forever." - Psalm 138:8

10. a roof over our heads, a husband with a good job, and food on the table.

Praying you all have a fun Thanksgiving weekend giving thanks to Chirst and rejoicing in his truths.

the boys {some recent pics}

my big boy, Maxo. {6}


my Ev.{4}


my baby.the L man. {2 in 2 weeks}

the 2nd trimester is so close I can smell it.

{ 7:50 this morning...taken with cell...does NOT do the beautiful morning fog justice.}

SO... this pregnancy has brought about some interesting changes.

1. The thought of drinking up a cup of coffee makes me ill. I NEVER in a million years would think that would happen. Can't do it though...

2. Can't have chocolate either. GROSS.

3. Can't cook meat. ICK...it makes me feel so ill...we've been having a lot of vegetarian dishes lately.

4. I've been craving dried apricots. I also want a MARGARITA like an alcoholic.

5. I have never been so exhausted or felt so l-a-z-y in all of my life. I slept 11 hours straight recently. Felt SO good.

How normal people drink wine.

thank you Abraham Piper {via You would Not Believe}

I realize anew that, just as we must learn to obey God one choice at a time, we must also learn to trust God one circumstance at a time. Trusting God is not a matter of my feelings but of my will. I never feel like trusting God when adversity strikes, but I can choose to do so even when I don't feel like it. That act of the will, though, must be based on belief, and belief must be based on truth.

{Trusting God, by Jerry Bridges}

trick-or-treat 2010.

We had lots of pumpkins from a trip to the pumpkin patch with the Youngs. Max wanted to carve one SO badly so one afternoon we did, and the photo op. afterward went anything but well. It was fun anyway. :)

We get SO many kids at our house on Halloween. It's crazy, but the boys love it. Max was sick on the 31st {AGAIN} so he missed out on the candy collecting, but the shark and puppy got loot for their sickly {pirate} brother. our shark.

our puppy.

4 {four}

so.

It took 3 {three} days of putting this shirt on Liam...

...with me on the third day laughing , telling Justin to go outside and READ Liam's shirt.

Not so observant that one.

So there you have it.

Number 4 {four} will make an appearance sometime around June 11, 2011

{toms}

Today a package came, inside was this box:

I was excited. My first pair of toms.

Here is the thing about toms...you buy a pair, and A child in need gets a pair. Rocks.

And with the purchase of this particular pair, toms teamed up with another charity I love to build clean water wells in Africa. Rocks again.

{love}

Get yourself some toms today! {did I mention they are amazingly comfy?!}

Finding Me.

{by, anne swanson}
In this day and age with so many working moms, and women doing more than they ever have, being a stay-at-home mom seems, well, like it isn't enough. {read more HERE}

day 4: {WashingtonDC}

On Friday {day 4}, I had to wake up and pack the car. I was debating between taking the boys to a museum in Baltimore or the National mall...knowing we needed to be back by 2:30 as Justin would be done with his conference.
The National Mall in DC won. We checked out of the hotel and headed to the train station.

Max, Evan and I on the train.
Maxwell right after we got off train. Capital in background. National Museum of History on left, and Smithsonian castle on right.

Evan in front of the Washington Monument.
Then we walked to the WWII monument, walked the length of the reflecting pool{which alone is nearly half a mile} to the Lincoln Memorial.

Then we turned around and started back towards the National Mall.
It was SO gorgeous out. About 75 and SO sunny.

Then we caught a glimpse of the White House...which we hope to actually tour someday.

THEN!!! Then, we were stopped by police while they cleared the streets of cars and people. Nobody was allowed to cross. Soon came several police cars, then motorcyles, then a HUGE parade of black, SUV's Vans, ambulance, and more police. { I swore the sun shown right on Obama and I saw him through the tinted glass, but alas who could beleive me? Just like the time I talked to Usher}

I was so excited I couldn't even take a decent picture.

We headed in to the Museum of Natural History {Night at the Museum filmed there...so cool..and a cute movie} checked it out a bit and had a quick snack before running back to the Metro to get back to pick up Justin by 2:30.



A great morning in DC.

National Zoo, DC {day 3}: meeting Danielle, her twin boys and baby girl

On Thursday, after battling traffic and a GPS that said I'd be in traffic for another hour and a half when I was supposed to be meeting Danielle and her kids at the zoo in a half hour I saw a sign for the Metro and went for it.
I got a parking spot at the very tip-top of the parking garage and hauled the boys and a stroller down three flights of stairs. We bought our tickets I grabbed a map and we headed up to the train platform, got on board and set out to the zoo.

We finally made it and bet up with Danielle her boys; Duncan and Owen, and new baby girl, Sophia.




Evan, Duncan and Owen were non-stop...the whole day.

max.


Evan checking out the pandas.


Danielle showing the boys this crazy bird {it was quite loud too!}


there are A LOT of shots like this one.

finally, one of all of the boys {minus liam and sophia who were sleeping} all looking

...and last but not least a quick shot of Danielle and I before we parted ways.

So great to meet you and your family {minus Josh} Danielle! Finally! After all these years, and I appreciate you even more now that we've met in real life!:}