Our First Snow!!!

Yes, it's official we had our first snow this morning!! The wind was blowing like crazy last night - it was amazing to listen to - and we awoke this morning to snow blowing all around. What's weird about it is that yesterday was beautiful - I think we almost got to 60 degrees - so to wake up to snow was just amazing! It, obviously, didn't stick around but I was smart enough to get a couple of pictures before we left for church this morning since it was gone by the time we got home. Our temps only got up to about 36 today so much different than yesterday and the wind has been blowing like crazy all day! I was hoping it would at least wait until November 1 but according to all the locals it has been unseasonably warm for October so I guess I should be happy!! The other picture (not of our house) is the field across from our house.

Halloween Festival

The base had a halloween festival last night and today indoors with games and stuff for the kids. Ian had his costume already - he's Commander Rex the clonetrooper but I haven't really gotten Ellie one. Well, on the fly I decided to put on her leopard patterned "sweatsuit" put her hair up on top and......

ta da - she's Pebbles!!!! Well, at least Pebbles that lives in North Dakota!! We got lots of comments on how cute she looked. I was surprised that she didn't mess with her hair at all. I really thought she would!!

It was also really cute because there was music overhead and she would just randomly start dancing. We tried to get it on video but this is as close as we could get and, yes, I'm sorry it is crooked so you'll have to tilt your head to the side!

Ian's Toothy Smile

I don't think I've mentioned it, but Ian has lost most of his top teeth except for one permanent one he's had for a little while. It gives him quite a toothy grin. Here it is in all of it's glory!

Stress-Free Holidays

Every year I realize I get to Christmas and didn't enjoy the season as much as I would've liked or as much as I did as a child. Some of that comes because I wait until December 1st to get my Christmas cards started (I hand-stamp all 120+ of them) or I'm "too busy" doing other things than to just enjoy some true down-time with my family and just BE! I love the holiday season and everything it entails - the lights, the gifts, the parties, the excitement, BUT more than all of that I enjoy what it's really all about - celebrating Jesus' birthday. I love birthday's and His is the best of all! I love reading the nativity story and trying to picture the scene in my mind, I love doing Advent wreaths with my family and reading the stories and scriptures to go with each one, I love reflecting on the past year and realizing how blessed I am. BUT, unfortunately, I don't always get to have those special moments because I get too bogged down with the rest of it. Now, I could do as some friends of mine have done and completely skip the rest of that stuff (all the material things) but because it's a part of what I enjoy about the season I just can't bring myself to do that. SO, I have a great little resource I want to share with any of you who might feel as I do. The place I order my Mom's Plan-It calendar from each year is a website called Families with Purpose and they have a free e-book called 8 Weeks to a Frazzle Free Christmas. I also happen to love to do lists so this is an even better resource for me! To download the e-book go to www.familieswithpurpose.com and click on the little banner that mentions it. The "book" includes worksheets and everything. I only printed out the book itself since I have places I put addresses and recipes and such but you could print all of it if you wanted! One reason I mention it now is that the 8 weeks started as of this past Monday - don't worry though, you haven't missed a lot and can still "catch up!" I hope it helps you to be able to have a stress free Christmas focused on the true meaning. (Leave me a comment if you decide to do it and we can check up on one another and share tips/ideas!)

The Pumpkin Patch

Ian, Ellie and I went to the pumpkin patch this morning with our MOPS group. It is literally about 2 miles from our house so it was pretty easy to get to. It wasn't the biggest pumpkin patch I've ever been to but it wasn't the smallest either. It was very quaint and had fun games for the kids and the weather couldn't have been better!! (Well, okay, I wish it had been a little warmer so Ian wouldn't have been wearing his coat - the color was all wrong! :)) Ellie didn't seem quite sure what to make of it and I couldn't get her to look at me for a single picture!! So, there aren't any OUTSTANDING photos but still some cute shots. LOVE this time of the year! I decided I should go ahead and create a little scrapbook with the pictures. Hope you enjoy!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Church and other deep thoughts!

Unlike some of the blogging I was doing in Alabama, I haven't done a whole lot of "deep thoughts" in a while. I was pondering this the other day as to what might have caused this change and a couple of thoughts came to mind: 1. I'm a little busier now with homeschooling and actually trying to get my business going with Stampin' Up! (R) again. 2. Brian and I have a little more time together now (don't know how but it's true) so I can chat more with him about things. 3. I've gotten a little bit addicted to Facebook and spend entirely too much time on that (wow, can't believe I actually admitted that on here!!!). Anyway, whatever the reason, it hasn't happened as much so I find I'm "searching" for things to blog about. It's not that we're any less exciting now than we were mere months ago, is it?! No, it can't be! We're definitely just as busy doing things but it's funny because I still feel like the pace has slowed down and I think it has a lot to do with WHERE we live!! Maybe I'm not such a city rat after all?!?! Nah, I still love the thrills of the city but perhaps I enjoy visiting it more than living in it. Moving on....

We are now living in the land of a plethora of churches to choose from - as long as you're Lutheran. Since we aren't it's been a little bit more of a challenge to find where the Lord wanted us to be during our time here. We have visited four churches and it turns out that it's not a good idea to visit churches during the summer here because none of their usual activities are actually going on and you have to revisit them all again once school starts back to really get a feel of the place. We think we have finally settled on a church and we're starting to try and get involved. The name of the church is Faith Evangelical Free Church and it is in the process of getting a new pastor. Their pastor before had been with them, if I remember correctly, something like 30 years and just retired. The pastor they've hired is a younger guy with a young family and he's coming in from California. He's here and getting settled and should be starting soon. We're hoping (we heard him preach while he was out here for his "interview") that his youth and vibrance will really be just what the church needs. Ian, Ellie and I went last week for the Wednesday night dinner so that Ian could then go to the children's choir and activities. (One of the things he asked me about before we moved here was if he could do choir this year so it was one of the considerations when looking at a church). Ian really enjoyed the activities and I ended up helping the MOPS (Mothers Of Preschoolers) steering committee get set up for their meeting the next morning. They convinced me I should go so I did the next day and really enjoyed it. It's now going to be a normal part of our routine and I'm looking forward to it (especially because most of the good friends I had in VA were friends I'd made through MOPS). Anyway, Brian brought Josh for the youth group and he really enjoyed that, too, so that was all we needed to know! We have really been praying about it and didn't really feel the Lord pulling us strongly in any direction but I think he's been quietly leading us there just through the people we've met.

Size in North Dakota

I have to tell about something we got a huge laugh out of the other night. We ended up going to this little diner our friends had told us about for dinner Monday night and the boys asked if they could have a cinnamon roll for dessert. Well, we originally thought about letting them get one and split it but they both complained about having to share so we decided to let them each get one thinking that we could all share two of them. Now, we made this decision having not actually seen them and thinking they were of normal human size. We should've remembered we're in North Dakota and portions seem a little bigger here. I saw the waitress coming with them and just burst out laughing because they were the biggest cinnamon rolls I think I've ever seen. So, of course, we had to get some pictures!!!

Needless to say we all shared one and took the other one home for another time!!

Boys Night Out

Last night, we got tickets for the boys to go see Stomp. I would've liked to have us all go (except Ellie) but at $30 a ticket, that adds up quick and, since Brian and I saw it a few years ago in Biloxi for my birthday, I decided the boys should just go. I knew they would love it. Plus, with only a year (maybe) left with Josh in the house I thought it would be something fun for the two of them to do together. I have fond memories of my brother and I doing stuff like that together before he left for college (he's six years older than I am). In fact, I remember us going dancing at a club one night (we lived in Germany at the time) - talk about being the envy of all my friends!!... But, I digress....

The boys had a great time at the show and came back telling us all about it. I hope it's a memory they'll take with them as I have mine!