I got an early Christmas present of a new camera and I am thoroughly enjoying trying to learn how to use it. The kids and I went out to the lake to enjoy the weather and get some fresh air after school.

It has been a little while since I posted. We have been doing well and enjoying the weather. We had Thanksgiving with Brian's brother's family and just enjoyed some time around the house. A cool front came through on Thanksgiving dropping the temp 30 degrees in a couple of hours. It was refreshing and THANK YOU LORD it did kill off some of our mosquitoes which allowed us to spend some time outside. We also got to have some fun with friends making special Pilgrim hat cookies and turkey puppets. I also did some black Friday shopping for the first time ever, Sarah and I went out at about 5 for a few hours and had a lot of fun. I also got my kiddos some pretty impressive balloons from a fund raiser.

This afternoon we are keeping Lexi, a sweet friend while her twin sister has some testing done. As I was explaining why only Lexi would be here and not Lilly I told Kiley that Lilly had to go to her doctor's appointment. Kiley says, "Oh I have gone to a doctor appointment, is it the same doctor?" I told her it was a different doctor and she says, "Mom why are so many doctor's named Appointment?"

Decided to do Christmas cards this year so thought I had better attempt some pictures of my children...

The owl shirt Kiley requested is done. Not sure how I feel about it but Kiley loves it so that is what counts. I have also learned how to make different hair bows and enjoy the short amount of time it takes to complete them (thank you Sarah).

This week Eli was learning about Newton's law (I do not remember that until middle school at the earliest...) and they had to make a balloon powered car incorporating Newton's law. Daddy worked late this week so it ended up being something that mommy helped with. I told him to look around and see what he wanted to use for wheels and cut out some sort of shape from the cardboard and this is what we ended up with. He was pleased with it especially after his went the farthest at school. Kiley loved watching it race across the floor too.

We have successfully completed our first sports season. Eli has finished soccer and had a lot of fun play. Brian also coached and I think he actually enjoyed it too. We had our end of the season party and all of the kids got their trophies. The team gave Brian a gift card too which was very nice. Here are a few pictures from the season and of his trophy.

After Eli saw the shirts that I had made for my nephews he asked what I was making him? When I asked what he wanted he requested an army plane so I had some time this afternoon and made it for him. He is very excited. I drew several plans and then asked him which one he wanted. When daddy asked about the shirt he told him that we did it together - he chose the design and then mommy made it happen.

Brian brought home some roses for me early in the week and I think that they are some of the most beautiful I have ever had. Just thought I would share...

My friend Sarah is very crafty and creative and a few weeks ago she showed me a tie shirt that she had made for a little boy - I thought that it was really cute and decided to give it a try. I have made a few for Christmas presents and a birthday shirt so far and I told several people I would post pictures so here they are.

I made Eli a skinny tie shirt which he loves (not a great picture, but you can at least see the shirt) and now Kiley has requested an owl shirt and Eli an army plane shirt so we will see - I could defiantly use practice that is for sure.

(for some reason I could not get the shirt picture horizontal sorry)

I love fall and Thanksgiving is a great holiday but always gets rushed over for Christmas. This November I made a wreath for us to use as a reminder to be more thankful. Every day my kids write what they are thankful for on a leaf cutout and we hang it on the wreath. My children have enjoyed it and it has been a lot of fun. Yesterday as we were doing it I was once again laughing at my children and their differences and the things they say. I asked the kids what they were thankful for - Kiley says hotdogs (she loves them and they are a big treat at our house as we do not have them often). Eli says covenants. I ask him what a covenant was and he says, "You know like God had with Abraham and other people in the bible." So I asked him what covenant meant and he says, "You know mom, a promise." My last question was if there was any particular covenant that he was most thankful for and he says, "Oh I do not know mom they all seem pretty good to me!"

The weather here has been gorgeous... Kiley is playing in the backyard and I am enjoying the fresh air on the porch. It is kind of nice to just have a morning to hang out at home. I do have bathrooms to scrub but I am sure they will still be there in an hour. Saturday afternoon the kids and I drove around and enjoyed the breeze. There is a neighborhood right behind our that has a ton of deer that live there. This is not like KS where you see a big powerful deer running away from you - these are TX deer and everything is not bigger in TX - the deer and generally small and very comfortable with you around. They just hang out in peoples yards and watch you as you pass by. The kids were taking the pictures and we counted at least 40 deer in our 30 min. drive. Here are a few pictures - keep in mind this was my children (mostly Eli's b/c Kiley's consisted of mostly the inside of the car and random half pictures).

I love rainbows. Today was a rainy, cool day and was dark pretty much all day. However, as Kiley and I were headed to walk with friends we saw this rainbow. I love it when you can see the whole rainbow and I know you can not tell from the pictures, but this is the first time I have seen the color on the trees and into the ground. Very cool!

My friend Sarah has inspired me to pick back up some old craft projects and new ones, she is very creative and has great ideas. We had a fun little photo shot with her twins and Kiley.

The girls had a lot of fun in their tutu, wings, and masks. And for those of you who have not noticed, this picture shows plainly my little angels knock knees (it certainly does not seem to slow her down any!)