Thankful

Before Thanksgiving break, I got to join each of the kids for their Thankful parties at school.  I loved seeing how much this boy has grown this year!  The second graders were like little adults, so polite and well-behaved.

It was lots of fun watching Alex in his kindergarten class...it felt like a zoo after an hour in second grade.  In this picture, Alex is turned around pulling his shirt over the back of the chair while other kids were playing pin the tail on the turkey.  Makes a mom proud, I tell ya.

When it came down to an edible craft, thought, this boy was all over it.  Made his turkey then devoured it!  The second he was done, we ran out the door into the waiting car and started our long drive to Alabama.

As usual, we had to do some 4-wheeler treks through the woods to check on all the trees.

The kids love riding along and looking at everything...and asking a million questions about the 4-wheelers.

We got very close to snow the first night (and maybe got some after everyone was asleep) but once the skies cleared, all we got was very cold weather and a few heavy frosts.

The kids were really hoping for snow, but we still played in the winter wonderland of frozen grass and found plenty to do.

The rain made for some wonderful frozen puddles and the kids found every way possible to break, crush, and destroy all the ice.  They were in heaven!

We found lots of big, thick sheets and loved how it sounded like breaking glass when it crashed.  We don't find much of this in Houston.

It wasn't snow, but some of the frost was still really beautiful.

The kids found plenty to do in the warmth of the house, too.  They spent many hours creating a city with roads and stores of every kind.

Ben even got to shoot the shotgun he inherited from Mr. Scott and he did a great job.

We had a great visit and enjoyed family time and some relaxation, but as always, we still had to make the long trip back.  We were so fortunate not to run into much traffic at all going or coming, but the long drive still took someone out just an hour from home.  Or maybe he was just meditating on something important.

Back home, the kids were excited to find that their elf Bart had reappeared.

We were blessed with a brilliant sunset to wrap up our Thanksgiving weekend.  It's such a joy to pause and give thanks to God for all the blessings He has given us.  Now we can look forward to the joy of Christmas!