Santa's Helpers

Am I the luckiest mama?

My girls were the best helper's this year decorating for Christmas.

We put up 3 trees!

For some odd reason, I was dying to buy a white tree.

I scored last year after the season at Walmart for $20!

 Melaina's First Christmas Home

 Loving the ornaments on our "Fun Tree"

The best helper of all in her 2T dress

Ornaments neatly placed with in arms reach

Decorating the "Pretty Tree"



My lil Punk Rock Girl

We only had  2 broken ornaments & 1 face injury ( poor Melaina ) , not too bad for a 2 & 4 year old.

Giving Thanks

For the 2nd time in over 10 years, Neil & I stayed home for Thanksgiving.

We usually travel to the St Louis area visiting family & eating way too much food.

We enjoyed a simple, carefree day & had no time schedule at all!
I have to admit ( with guilt ) that I enjoyed being in our home this year.

We began the unseasonal morning temps ( 50's ) with a walk on campus enjoying the brisk morning breeze.

Thankful for leaves bigger than your head!

Thankful for seasons

Thankful for mismatched outfits

Thankful for living in a college town (not a soul in sight)

Thankful for pound puppy pitbulls chasing squirrels

 

Thankful for leaf angels

Thankful for siblings to play with while collecting leaves

Thankful for the gift of adoption & motherhood

Thankful for living in a culturally diverse community where we are never questioned or stared at for being a conspicuous family.

Thankful to have a quiet day with my husband & girls ( minus Bria=at her moms ) enjoying the simple things in life which we tend to overlook many times.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

 

Beautiful Baptism

Melaina was welcomed into the Catholic Church in an intimate beautiful, ceremony witnessed by our family & friends.

Oh no, here comes the Holy Water!

Blessing Mom

Blessing Dad





May God continue to bless you as you begin your spiritual journey.

We love you Melaina!

Happy Halloween

The girls had a blast this year.

We started at Harper's Halloween party at school.

The kids were supposed to change into their costumes after nap.

Harper & 2 other girls decided they wanted to wear their costumes sooner.

They changed into their costumes at 10 which means she was filthy dirty by the party.

PII

My lil pink poodle

Pre-Trick-or-Treating

 Beaming with excitement

Lady bug, poodle & mean witch

Hulk (Kolton) & Lady bug

Lady bug Jr

Post-Trick-or Treating

Hopped up on sugar....completely pooped!

Even Melaina had a blast.

She quickly got the hang of it, but needed a wagon ride from house to house.

I've always loved Halloween, but this year is special to me.  Seeing the happiness in my girls face as they get their costumes on & trick or treat makes me smile!

Halloween 2012 rocked!

Carving it out

We finally carved a pumpkin, 3 days before Halloween.

The pumpkins were slim pickin's at Ace Hardware store.

The one I chose ended up being nearly rotten! I thought it was dirt on the back side, just wipe it off & it'll be pretty...wrong, rotten!

It ended up being a good thing, because it was almost dried out, meaning no slimey guts to deal with.

Harper was a dedicated, determined pumpkin carver.

Perfection!

Melaina was along for the ride, not much interest in pumpkin carving.

Rotten pumpkin = No pumpkin seeds :(

Maybe next year will be better!