Thanksgiving Dinner

Why are we having a thanksgiving dinner in September? Because it's always a right and appropriate time to celebrate and give thanks for what God has done! Tonight is Aaron's last night of his mandatory year of the night shift. It hasn't been fun for any of us this last year, being on such opposite schedules, but God knows that fun isn't always for our good. Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, fruit comes through struggle. God is always faithful and we knew that He would bring us through it - stronger than when we started. Thank you Jesus, for protecting Aaron and protecting us at home. Thank you for how You make us stronger and mature us along the journey. Every good gift comes from you!

Psalm 52:9
"I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it, And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones."




Sparking grape juice is a REALLY big treat!

Elle turns 3!

Someone turned 3 yesterday! We celebrated with cake and ice cream in the evening, and opened gifts with Grandma and Grandpa and crew. Elle will have a 'real' party on the 11th that she'll share with Grant, but it was nice to focus just on her last night and celebrate 3 wonderful years with her! One of her favorite gifts was from Uncle Wyatt - a tiny coffee mug and coffee creamer. Hah! Such a coffee connoisseur at the age of 3!



The 'terrible two's' were anything but terrible. Elle is a sweetie who loves to entertain and make us laugh. She is the queen of funny faces and random statements. She is great at helping Mommy with baby Ivy and is super protective of her! Earlier this summer we took the family to Shakespeare of the Green and decided to leave at intermission. As we were walking out, Ivy(who was in the stroller) dropped her pacifier and a nice gentleman picked it up for her. As he was giving it to Ivy, Elle apparently thought he was trying to steal her, because she quickly ran up to him and started clobbering him with her shoes, screaming, "NO NO NO." The poor man(who was already slightly intoxicated) was so taken aback. Elle was genuinely distraught and we really had a lot of trouble convincing her that he wasn't trying to take Ivy. It was one of the funniest things I've seen her do. Hilarious, and good to know that she is so protective over her siblings.

Apparently 3 is the charm, because this last week Elle has decided on her own to stop using diapers, and today there have been no accidents so far! It might have something to do with the princess underwear Grandma bought her for her birthday yesterday. :)

I am excited to see Elle grow and mature this next year. So many fun things for her to experience this year, including starting AWANA cubbies next week!