Happy 9th Birthday, Little Man!!

I can hardly believe our Little Man is NINE!  His day started with being awoken on his birthday MINUTE (5:30 a.m.) and having "Happy Birthday" sung to him. :)  (parents and birthday boy all went back to sleep after that)  It was his first time to be awake on his birthday minute, and he was pretty excited about that.

We let him open one present in the morning, and he picked.......

...... a remote control helicopter!

For everything else he had to wait until evening, when Grandma and Grandpa were here.  Minecraft sword from his siblings....

...art stuff from mom and dad...

...diorama kit, maze books, a subscription to Highlights magazine, money..... all his loot!

With one set of grandparents.

And with his mama.  The quality of this picture isn't good, but I love it anyway.  Look at the expression on that little man's face!  Ah, I love him.

You have always been such a joy and a blessing to me, Little Man.  May you have a wonderful year being 9, and may you grow to love Jesus more and more this year.  I love you as far as the east is from the west, and I will always love you no matter what!

December Photo Dump ~ sorry it's not a catchier title!

So much to say.... so hard to know how.  This fall has been so challenging for us.  But God has helped and is helping, day by day.  As we prepare to celebrate His coming I am filled with awe at who God is and how much He loves me.  Tomorrow is Little Man's birthday.  He will be 9.  NINE!!!  Wow.  Just sounds so old.  I know I will be taking a bunch of pics of his birthday, so in preparation for that, here is a photo dump from my camera of random pics from December...

What the end of a long day looks like...

December 1st tradition ~ beginning to count down to Christmas with our candy ribbons!  (I forgot to take the pic on December 1st, so about 9 hershey kisses were already off the ribbons.  Oh well!)

First time for daughter H to help us pick out our tree!  It was quite the decision, let me tell you.

Daughter G's gingerbread house decorating event, 2013 edition!

Little Man, leading us in family devotions.  Each of the children are taking turns during December.  He read to us what he had recently read in his own quiet time, about Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers, but God using that for good when Joseph shepherded Egypt through a severe famine (Genesis).  He is reading better and better all the time!  So sweet.

Army/Navy football game!  For the first time, this year both my hubby and I had our faces painted for this important football watching event.  The girls had a LOT of fun painting us.  Not sure you can tell, but half my hubby's beard is blue, and the other half is yellow.

And it must have helped, because once again, Navy won!!

Wordless Wednesday ~ An old fashioned hymn sing!

10 things I'm thankful for on Thanksgiving Day.......

1.  The ability to sleep 12 people all in BEDS!  (our 4 boys had to share one room all week...can you say "party"?)

2.  Cooperative children who helped clean!  Fingerprints on walls finally gone...

3.  The joy of seeing my children have FUN with their cousins.

4.  Helpers in the kitchen, and so much good food to eat.

 5.  Games.

 6.  Music!

7.  That my husband's parents are still with us, and healthy enough to share Thanksgiving with us.

8.  For our official potato masher!

9.  For each person around our table(s).

10.  For my husband.

5 things I'm thankful for (Wednesday)....

1.  For my sister-in-law and niece and nephews who were able to come from out of state to be with us for Thanksgiving, and to attend the funeral of our aunt.  Such a treat to have them here!

2.  For cooperative children who helped clean the house today.

3.  For the means to purchase and cook good food.  We are so, so, so blessed.  So much of the world went hungry this week.  I often wonder who are we, that we should be born in America and have the opportunities and privileges that we have?

4.  For the Schwan's truck..... and pre-made pies!

5. I mentioned this before, but I am thankful that our two youngest boys have found something they love and are experiencing success at (with their tae kwon do tournament trophies!).