Cute Friends!

Tony took these pictures back on the first Sunday of November of the cute Vandenberge and Pence girls in the gym.

Aren’t they just the cutest?!

New Mommy

Joanna: “If you are mean to me, I will get a different Mommy.”

Me: “You’ll get a different Mommy?”

Joanna: “Yes, you’re getting pretty old.”

Happy Birthday Mindy!!

Often the first thing Joanna does when she goes anywhere is scope out the shoe wearing possibilities.  Here she found her cousin Kendra’s boots – very stylin’!

The girls wanted to “play” Wii.  So they climbed in the dog bed to get comfy.  Ha!

Joanna wanted to play with her cousin (I think the technical name for this relationship is actually step cousin in-law, but that’s quite a mouthful.)  Roger’s DS, so Aunt Mindy brought out hers.  Joanna can’t actually play, of course, but she loves pressing buttons!

Natalie really loves pressing buttons too!

In the above picture you can see Matt eating dinner.  Uncle Steve fixed enchiladas, rice, and beans.  Yum!!

Even though Natalie loves dogs, she’s still pretty afraid of them most of the time.  You can see the “please don’t get close to me” look on her face.

Aunt Mindy opened her cards and passed them around.  There were two that either spoke or sang, and Natalie LOVED them!

We had a great time celebrating with the family.  Happy birthday Mindy!!

Sweet Cousins

We went back over to my Grandma’s house after church on Sunday.

Mikey and Keelan went fishing in the pond with their dad – look what they caught!

Joanna and Keelan sat on the couch for a while, chatting.  I took a video too, just to catch their body language.  So cute!!

I forgot to get a picture on Saturday when Jade was there, so here are the little cousins, minus Jade:

I can’t believe how well they sat!

Keelan loves his little cousins!

We had another great visit before people started leaving.  :(

Then we had to leave – it was time to go to Aunt Mindy’s house for her birthday celebration.  Another post about that is coming!

And today is her actual birthday – happy birthday Aunt Mindy.  We love you!!

Prayer

Just now I put Joanna on the spot and asked her to say a prayer for lunch.  When the girls are “in charge” of the prayer, we usually sing “God our Father,” but today I asked her to say a prayer.

This is what she said:

Closed eyes.  Hands clasped.

Pause.

“Thank you for our food, God.”

Pause.

“Thank you for all our wonderful things.

Jesus name we pray.

Amen.”

Man I love that kid.

Thanksgiving Celebration 1: Day 1

We are always very blessed to have two Thanksgiving celebrations (that I do NOT have to host), but this year we get to enjoy each one for a whole day instead of just a few hours.  We’re so lucky!!

This was actually the day before “Thanksgiving.”  James had crashed on my legs and Natalie was snuggled up in my lap.  It was cute.  :)

At Grandma’s house on Saturday… eating celery?  What!?

James, crashed out on Gran, who is enjoying her new iPad!

But then he got booted out so the girls could play.  :)

Joanna, Jade, and Natalie had a lot of fun running up and down the driveway with Aunt Gail!

Here Kim is checking the progress of Steve’s whipped cream. 

The traditional fruit salad.  This is the hugest bowl EVER.

Look what I made!  Homemade pumpkin dinner rolls.  Unless everyone was lying to me, they were a big hit!  You can find the recipe here if you like.

Susie Homemaker – actually my cousin Theresa.

Our resident pastor, Uncle Steve reading a devotion before dinner.

Two really cute girls eating Thanksgiving dinner!

Last year was Natalie’s 1st Thanksgiving.  Never would I have thunk that this year would be another 1st Thanksgiving for the Pence family!

In the middle is my grandma’s pecan pie – probably my favorite thing about Thanksgiving.  On the right is my Aunt Ida’s fruitcake.  You seriously cannot stop eating this once you start.  And on the left is a peanut butter cookie, along for the ride, on it’s way to Matt.  :)

James… asleep again.

Look at his little turkey outfit!

Got a little tryptophan, did we?

There are even turkeys on the socks!!  Thank you Candice for passing down his Thanksgiving duds!

Joanna likes the pie too!

Natalie finally crashed on Aunt Pat.  I figured she would find some place to snuggle up for a nap, even though it wasn’t until about 5:00!

She took a good little nap, but still went to bed okay that night!

When Aunt Pat had to leave, I took over the Natalie holding.  It was a terrible job you know, but someone had to do it!

Look at that precious face!!

Here we are scrambling around to get a group picture.  I will have to get the actual picture from someone else.

Our most senior generation: Aunt Pat, Grandma, and Uncle Val.

I love how Natalie can amuse herself.  She’s playing with a rubber band ball.

Kara is on the floor, entertaining all the little ones.  They were rolling a ball around.

Aunt Gail gave the girls manicures.  They were very excited!

Stay tuned for “Day 2.”  We always celebrate over two days at Grandma’s house – lots of food to eat and people to visit with!!

James is 1 Month Old

Or he was yesterday anyway.  :)  He still is.

This one’s blurry, but I just love how peaceful he looks, sleeping in the car seat.

In the afternoon, James and I ventured outside for some 1 month photos!  It wasn’t too cold, even for bare feet, for just a few minutes.

I tried to get a few of the two of us.  It was hard.  :)

This may be a “Joanna” face.  I want to compare these to her 1 month pictures, but they’re on the external hard drive and I am lazy.

Almost a smileish kind of thing:

You know how I love baby feet!!

This is not a poop face.  But that’s what it looks like a little.

All snuggled up, and another almost-smile!

I will post more about James another time.  He’s crying and I need to go snuggle him!