Thank you Lord. How could I ask for more?

I am so very thankful for my family and yesterday we had the most wonderful time together. I always make monkey bread and orange julius for breakfast on Thanksgiving but this year was a little different. The kids wanted to help. So I set them up and they made the whole thing! It was so much fun. They had a little assembly line going on and they loved it. I guess I'm out of a job when it comes to Thanksgiving breakfast. Abigail helped with the julius. We actually didn't do orange...it was more like a raspberry smoothie and it was YUMMY. After breakfast the girls settled down on the couch to watch the parade and the boys went outside to play football together. It was like my dream Thanksgiving morning. :) We eventually got dressed and out the door. We were invited to the home of one of Bob's classmates who lives in New Hampshire. She has 6 kids and so it was a full house but it was full of fun. The kids played and played and we all ate and ate. The dinner was delicious. We topped off the eating with a new recipe I tried for Turtle Cheesecake! YUMMY! Then the kids started playing Rock Band on the XBox. Bob really got into it and by the end of the evening he was jamming it out with the fam!
Our fun day was just a reminder of how sweet my life is and how many times I get so bogged down in the daily hum-drum that I forget that I have been showered with blessings. All day long the words from the song "Thank you Lord, How could I ask for More?" kept going through my head. I sang this song at church when I was in high school and I've always liked it. The last stanza of the song says it well:
So if there's anything I've learned
From this journey I am on
Simple truths will keep you going
Simple love will keep you strong
Cause there are questions without answers
Flames that never die
Heartaches we go through are often blessings in disguise
So thank you Lord, oh thank you Lord
How could I ask for more.

Stringorama

Last night was Abigail's first violin concert. I was pretty impressed with this performance. The orchestra is made up of only third graders. They did an excellent job! Abigail has really enjoyed learning the violin so far. I'll be interested to see if she wants to continue with violin lessons after this school year. It is so exciting for me to watch the children as they discover what they are interested in and find the things that give them joy. **Once again I am not able to upload the video here :(

A new delima...hockey or baseball?

Today was the beginning of the youth hockey program in Belmont. I knew that Joshua was going to do great because he picked up roller-blading so quickly. He was awesome! He started slow but he was strong and confident the entire time. The program is 2 hours every Saturday. They started right in with instruction and drills. They did that for an hour and took a break...except Joshua asked if he could stay out on the ice and practice. Then they did another hour of instruction and even after all the kids came off the ice Joshua was asking to stay on. They had to kick him off in the end because the zamboni was coming through! He really had a lot of fun and is already asking if he and Josiah can come to an open skate so he can teach Josiah about hockey. The down sides of hockey...it takes about 20 minutes to get Joshua all geared up and then of course a few minutes afterwards to get everything off, which makes this about a 3 hour affair. The other 3 kids got a little bored. Also, unlike the first time I took Josiah to the rink, I brought our winter coats but even our feet started to get cold after a while. Next time the girls will wear their fuzzy boots. So I guess we'll have to get used to being penguins. At least for now Joshua can pursue hockey and baseball since the seasons don't overlap. I'm fine with it as long as he doesn't want to grow a mullet!

Happy Birthday Dear Joshua

I should have known from birth that Joshua was going to be the sports kid in the family. After all, I was in labor (contractions 2 or 3 minutes apart) and Bob told me that he just had to play flag football...they were counting on him to be the quarterback that night. I reluctantly said ok and off we went to the field. He played, they won and then my mom had to go tell him to stop chatting with the guys because this baby was ready to come cheer for his daddy too! Joshua was born a short time later. Joshua recognized his athletic beginning and is following in his daddy's footsteps. Note to self--warn his future wife of possibility that she may have to labor through sports events if she marries my son. Joshua just excels at all things sports and we are very proud of his accomplishments. What's better is that he also excels in school. He has become an excellant reader and does a great job in math and science as well. He has started taking piano lessons this year too and is progressing well in that (although what he really wants to learn is the guitar). And most importantly Joshua has the desire in his heart to please God with his life. He has made several requests to profess his faith and become a member of the church. Although we think that he needs to have a deeper understanding of what that means, we are very encouraged by this and pray that he will continue to seek to glorify God with all he does and says.
In the end I just have to say that I am blessed to be Joshua's mom and I am so thankful for my boy! Happy Birthday Buddy. I love you!

**I have a really funny video of us singing happy birthday and Joshua blowing out his candles but can't get it to upload right now. I'll try again later. :)

Snowplow Sam

Josiah had his first Snowplow Sam skating class on Tuesday. He has been waiting for this class to start for weeks. We had to get him a pair of skates and a helmet for the class and he has been dying to wear them both. He just couldn't understand that the skates could only be worn on the ice. And the helmet...forget about it. He thinks it's the coolest thing since sliced bread. I'm so glad that when it actually came time for the class that he liked it. There are only 2 kids in his class which means he will be getting lots of one on one time with the teacher. He did a great job for his first time on the ice and it was so much fun for me to watch. I can't wait to see how he will improve from week to week. FUN!

Some tricks and lots of treats!

In case you couldn't tell we have 2 marines, a kitty cat and a rock star in the house!




We had a really great weekend...most especially because our friends Mr. Mike and Mrs. Susan came to see us from Albuquerque. It was so great to be with them again. Saturday morning Joshua had his last double header of his fall-ball season. His coach put him in to pitch and he struck out 2 batters! He did great!!! We are so proud of him. This Saturday he starts hockey!
Saturday night the kids got dressed up and we went trick-or-treating for the first time. We turned on the porch light and left a big bowl of candy on the porch. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it) the bowl was completely full when we got done treating. UGH! Why did I buy the kinds I like???
The kids were so excited they were practically bouncing down the street. Josiah started getting tired about half way through the treating and Mr. Mike had to carry him. He kept saying he was sleepy but then just couldn't stop going up to houses. It was a difficult inner battle and in the end candy won out over sleepiness. On Sunday we attended church in the morning and then did our second family photo shoot. It was great to have Mike and Susan along to help get the kids attention. Josiah was still the #1 pickle and it shows in MANY of the shots but I think we could definitely call the session a success! Monday morning we got the kids off to school and then Josiah and I took Mike and Susan to a bakery that I've been wanting to check out. We had a nice breakfast and then had to say good-bye to our friends. We were so thankful to get the chance to see them and pray that it won't be too long before we see them again.

Here's my favorite picture from the shoot. I laughed so hard I cried when I saw this one for the first time. Seriously people you should see the rest of the pictures. Ha-lar-i-ous!!!!