Thanksgiving in a week...is it possible?!?

How can Thanksgiving once again be here?

Are the years going by faster and faster or is just me?

Is it just supposed to be understood that once you have children the years FLY by?!?

Molly piped up today from the back of the van.

"Momma, I love fall. It's my favorite season."

Amen, daughter.

In the way of temps, it certainly didn't feel like we had much of a fall. However, the colors on the trees were the prettiest I've seen in several years.

What a great way God has for reminding us to be thankful for all He blesses us with.

At least that's what I think of everytime I see His colors of October.

Blessings, thankfulness, grace.

We have been busy in school talking about giving thanks to God for everything that we have. I feel like I should be back in school learning about that. I forget it about a million and one times a day!

The kids have loved learning about the Mayflower, Pilgrims, Indians, the first Thanksgiving, etc. etc. We worked on Thanksgiving Lapbooks. Most of the materials we used to make those we got from http://www.1plus1plus1equals1.blogspot.com/ I know that I've mentioned it a lot on my blog, but it really is such a fabulous place to go for great activities for you kids to do and activities to do as a family.

These photos were taking while the kids were pretending to be the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock. They had a great time doing it. Although Molly couldn't stand Max not finding her (Plymouth Rock) that she got up and led him back there.

Praise the King...

Praise Him in the morning for tall and lofty trees

and praise Him in the evening for children on their knees

Oh and praise Him in the noonday for gentle birds that sing

Oh, praise Him all ye people, Praise the King

Praise Him for the peaceful porch and rocking chairs that swing

and praise Him for the rolling hills where children laugh and play

Oh and praise Him for the wandering soul that never lost their way

Oh praise Him all ye people, Praise the King.

Praise the King, Praise the King

Let it ring, Praise the King

Praise the King, Praise the King

Let it ring, Praise the King

And praise Him for the blood that fell and bloomed a rose that day

And praise Him that He suffered through the guilt, the grief, the shame

Oh and praise Him that His tender love will still forgive today

Oh praise Him all ye people, praise the King.

Praise the King, Praise the King

Let it ring, Praise the King

Praise the King, Praise the King

Let it ring, Praise the King

Praise the King, oh, Praise the King

Let it ring, Praise the King

Praise the King, Praise the King

Let it ring, Praise the King

This is a song by Travis Cottrell.

He is the worship leader for Beth Moore and he is fantastic!

I absolutely LOVE this song.

Today I felt a bit like the wandering soul that he speaks of in the song.

So blessed that my King doesn't let me wander too far.

A little Halloween...

We had some fun this Halloween.

I found a few new ideas this year.

One here making Christian pumpkins from 1+1+1=1. It is a FABULOUS blog if you haven't checked it out yet. It also has links to her other blogs which I am just as crazy about too.

Here the kids are making theirs.

We have also been working on a Thanksgiving lapbook. The majority of the ideas came from her website. You can find it here. We have been working on them this week and will continue to do so the next couple of weeks. Updates to follow.

We headed to Knoxville Zoo for Boo at the Zoo the weekend before Halloween. We had a great time. I always seem to get a bit on edge when we go to things like that. I think mostly because of the number of people, the greater potential for losing one of my kiddos within all of those people AND because the kids are never interested in posing nicely for their momma with the camera. I LOVE PICTURES and when the 3 of them do cooperate it revs me up a bit. Just ask the husband.

Before heading to the zoo though, I made these bags for the kids.

(I'm not sure why this wouldn't rotate...had to put it in here anyhow because Molly was very concerned that Maggie only had one picture on her bag. I wanted to get this year's photos ironed on, but haven't yet....Molly seemed better knowing that soon she'll have 2 photos.)
I found this idea in the October 2009 issue of Family Fun magazine. It's a great magazine filled with tons of ideas every month. It's a magazine that you can store away and use it for

ideas the next year. It's considerably cheap, too. I think you can get it for 10 bucks right now for a 12 month subscription. Every once in awhile you can find it for half that on-line. I suppose you could google it.

We also spent some time reading The Pumpkin Patch Parable and making coloring books based on the inspiring story. You can find those coloring pages, here, again at 1+1+1=1 .

I have really been looking forward to talking and teaching (and in turn, learning myself) about Thanksgiving. We have been having a great time this week. So many great activities to do out there...it's hard to fit them all in.

Happy November all!!!

Continuing my catch-up in October...

Can it really be possible for November to be only 3 days away?!?!
I suppose spending half of the month away can make it fly by.
Here is a look back at most of October.

A visit to Blake's. Oh I miss that place...the donuts mostly.

Hanging out with cousins.

Rehearsing for a very special day.

A special cake just for Max from Dru. I will treasure this face all the days of my life!

Time spent at a blessed wedding. It was such an honor to be a part of this couple's start.

Relaxin' and having fun on the remainder of our trip.

Playing catch-up and wondering....

My word...how many times do I vow to stay on top of this blogging and those vows vanish in a day or two.

I am left here wondering how in the world some of these amazing moms stay on top of 2, 3, 4 blogs! What am I doing wrong?!? I can't write more than a few posts, if that, a month for one blog! Geez!

Well, here is a bit of catch-up for myself.

Homeschooling is going better than I ever thought it would. There is just so much out there and sometimes I forget that my kiddos are preschooler/kindergarten age. I do have some time to feed it all to them. They began co-op and LOVE it.

The end of September was filled with preparing for our long trip to Michigan and visiting with my in-laws. It was a great weekend and a great visit. The kids LOVE it when their grandparents come to visit. We are so blessed that they are all a big part of each one of their lives.

We really do live in a beautiful part of the country. God's work in the fall is nothing short of amazing. We are hoping to get back there before all of the gorgeous fall colors we are having this year disappear.

Max celebrated his 5th birthday in September. Five. Oh my. All of a sudden he has grown up and has become this little man. Yes, he still taunts his sister, but that aside he did a little growing when I blinked.

Molly began her new gymnastics class. She loves it and can't wait to begin ballet. I think that's why she spends much of her time dancing around the room wishing she was four. (That's how old she has to be to begin ballet. That's ok with me.)

Maggie is growing, growing, growing. I am not sure where the last year has gone. How can she be so close to a year and a half. I broke down in tears not too long ago when I packed away a bunch of baby clothes. I love all the new discoveries and stages, but why can't I remember what the past held? Their baby stage. It is such a fleeing moment.