Lil' Miss Christmas

Brooke had her 1st Christmas Program on Friday and she did a great job. We were prepared for no participation. But after a warm up, she began to sing and was not at all distracted by the girl that sang REALLY loud right next to her.

Her favorite part was getting a candy cane at the end!

Proud Parents!

Family Pictures 2011

Since my Christmas cards have been mailed and received, I can now post some of my favorites from our family pictures. Again, Mandy out-did herself.









Love.My.Family.

What Is Wrong With This Picture?

Besides the obvious of having not one but two blow ups in their yard...

Andy and I saw this tonight and laughed our heads off. Hope you get a laugh, too!

Visit with Old Friends

We got a quick visit in with our Smith Friends while in Yoder for our little Thanksgiving break vacation. We met them at the Gingerbread House display downtown.

Camille and I have been friends since high school (over 20 years - WOW!) and we both just love that our children are now friends. The kids were so excited to see G, Reid and Celia. My, how they have grown since June.

My cousin Jesi's kids came with us (boy on the end, little girl next to Will), as well as Mr. Cade on the end. He is all about posing for pictures.

Jack and G are about 6 months apart...

then 6 months later comes Will, and 6 months later comes Reid
(We really did not plan that)...

The little girls bring up the rear about 2 and 2.5 years later. This is Miss Celia.

We finished our visits with crafts and cookies before saying good-bye until (hopefully) Christmas.
We sure love our Smith Friends!

Blessed.

To be a part of this amazing family.

Love all you Goshorns!

Thankful.

I am thankful for a lot of things - salvation, love, family, friends, shelter, employment.
But most of all I am thankful for this -


Happy Thanksgiving to all!

That's My Boy

This was too cute not to share...
A note from a fellow Kindergarten Mom -

"Julie,
Harlie came home today, ran inside and grabbed a paper. She said, " I have to write something down before I forget." then I found this. Ha! She said Will gave her his number so she could write him a card if he goes anywhere. Not sure what that means, but I couldn't help laugh! It's already starting... Oh boy! Now she is hard at work on a card for him! "



Yep...that is MY BOY. Giving his digits out to girls.
And he is 6.
I know what you are thinking...
Like Father, Like Son.

One of the Many Reasons....

...that we have chosen Catholic School for our kids is the religious influence they receive on a daily basis. One of my favorite activities of the year is when they assign a saint to each Kindergartener and the kids dress up and file into mass on All Saint's Day (Nov.1st). It is a win-win for everyone, because the kids learn all about different saints and, since they do not get to dress up at school for Halloween, they get to dress up the day after! And my goodness, what crafty mothers (and grandmothers!) we have at IHM!

Here is my little St. Francis of Assisi. Kinda ironic, considering it is pretty well-known we are not animal lovers around here. But Will (and Jack, as he was St. Francis last year) loved the fake birds and reading about how St. Francis was the patron saint of animals. Will's "friend", Harlie ("that" is coming up in a post soon!) kept stroking the birds during mass. How sweet!

Toothless Grin

Last week Will got off the bus with the BIGGEST smile on his face. He walked up to the door and smiled - with a hole in his mouth! He had lost his 1st tooth on the bus ride home. Only Will.

The boys said a nice older boy on the bus went to the bus driver and asked for a napkin for him to keep it in so he would not lose it.

Will was VERY excited for the tooth fairy. So excited he woke me up around 530am the next morning demanding I read her note to him. "Mom! She came! She came and left me a note! Read it Mom, wake up and read it!"

Mommy don't read that early in the morning.

What a lucky little boy. And a cute toothless grin! Soon to be more...we have more loose teeth!

Fall Festivities

We have been really busy this fall - here is a recap:

Trip to the pumpkin patch with Will's class

The sheep got sheared for the first time at the "barber"
(Great Clips).

Burger Farm Festival with the Austin cousins and $75 less money.

Love this face on Will.

The Princess and her Prince Charming.

Chiquita Banana Susana. Plus a nice scab from biting it in the driveway the day before. And guess what was the day after Halloween? Class pictures. Nice.

Brooke's Class Party

Trick Or Treating with our friend, Connor.
I did not get a picture of the boys - they ran off too fast with their friends. But bless their hearts - they wore old costumes from the dress-up bucket and saved Mom on buying costumes!

Whew! Now on to November!

Must Be Doing Something Right

I just spoke today in my Mom's group where I love those little times where God lets me know I am doing something right.

Like when Will comes home from school and sings church songs the rest of the night.

Or when Jack makes his "special prayer" for Christian, the boy we sponsor at our twinning community in Nicaragua.

But one of the best was the other night, coming home from our Family Night at church and this Little Lady says..

"Mommy, you know I have a new friend? And it is not Allie, and it is not Maureen. It is GOD! And he will always be my friend."

With some help from above, we must be doing something right!

UNDEFEATED!

Congratulations IHM K/1 Bandit Football - Undefeated!
Pretty darn good for a first year program.

And to that coach from Visitation who was gonna "be easy on us and only score 14 touchdowns" and just before the game said "Sure you don't want us to put in our second string players?"

Bet your words tasted really good for supper last night, eh?!

Not to brag (but I will) my little Will stripped the ball and recovered the fumble (against an all 1st grade Visitation team) and was asked by the Visitation Coaches to be moved to the end of the defensive line for "shooting the gap." That means he was causing all kinds of craziness in the backfield!

Jack blocked a pass and had 40+ yards rushing, straight up the middle.

Could not be more proud of my Crusaders!

FIERCE!

Watch out, Visitation.

The Goshorn Boys are coming!

Last game of the season Saturday -
Best East Team vs. Best West Team
(anyone from Cincy knows there is a HUGE East vs West thing).

My boys play at THE PIT Saturday - the legendary field at Elder High School.

And I have to work. Ugh.

Cheer my boys on to victory!

Gotta Love This Kid

We went to Chuck E Cheese after school last week to celebrate Jack's birthday.

After collecting all the tickets from the various games, I split them all up evenly for the kids to pick their prizes. Will walked up to the counter, took one look and said:

"I am ALL ABOUT that money ring!"

Gotta LOVE this kid!
PS - This is his best attempt at looking like a gangsta.

Giving Is Better Than Receiving

Our boys learned a valuable lesson this year for their birthdays. They know how blessed we are and we wanted to show them and allow them to truly feel that it is better to give than receive.

My boys have always wanted a "friend party" for their birthday and I knew I was going to have to give in. We decided to have a friend party but have everyone bring donations for the Ronald McDonald House instead of gifts.

My boys have VERY GENEROUS FRIENDS AND FAMILY!!

We were able to donate over $500 worth of items to RMH. The Good Lord blessed us with a beautiful day with our guests.

We delivered everything to RMH this week. What a truly amazing place and experience. The Cincinnati RMH is the 3rd largest in the world and helps families seeking treatment at Cincinnati Children's. They receive no federal funding and McDonald's donations cover only 12% of their $3.3 Million Dollar Budget. They were so excited with everything we brought and the kids loved the house. It must have resonated, as each of the kids prayed for the people at the RMH last night during prayers.

Full Circle Moment.

THANK YOU to all who donated. This was a Happy Birthday Indeed!

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY JACK!

This morning the two of us opened a Birthday Card I wrote to Jack at one of his baby showers in July 2004. We had so much fun reading what I wrote before I knew him, knew what he would be like and what a great big brother he would be.

Jack - you are our little perfectionist, Type-A, sports-lovin' son, who is kind to others and is a very good friend. All qualities we are so proud to have in our son.

We love you , Jack. Happy 7th Birthday!

Quote of the Day

Today is my first Mom's group meeting of the year at church and my friend, Rox, and I are leading.

I found this quote and we are going to use it as a tool with introductions today -

"Your talent is God's gift to you. What you do with that talent is your gift back to God."

I think it is easy to spot other's talents but hard to define, accept and tell others your own.

What is your talent?

Pretty sure I am talented and having beautiful babies!

Day Of Firsts - 3rd Time's A Charm

Not to be outdone, Miss Brooke had her own Day of Firsts when she started school yesterday on Will's Birthday - what a day we had!

Miss B. was ready to go. She is very comfortable at school since we have been going there for 2 years with her brothers. Now it is time for her to officially run the show!

Happy that Daddy...

And Mommy came for her first day...

to watch her find her cubby.

And grateful Grandma Goshorn came to help pick her up.

This big girl goes 2 days a week. She keeps saying "Mommy, how did I get so big to go to school?"

I have no idea, Baby Girl, but Mommy sure is proud...and a little sad.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILL!

My kids love listening to stories of the day they were born. I woke my little Wilbur this morning, telling him how 6 years ago today I was laying in a hospital bed waiting for my precious baby boy, who came out all beat up, with a swollen nose and black eye from his big (baby) brother "riding the hump" for 6 months.

I told him about Jack being asleep on Aunt Stacy's shoulder (he was only 11 months old - it was morning nap time!) and woke to find this little baby. He pulled back the blanket and just stared at this little creature. The first time they met - one of my fondest memories.

Will - we love you so much and can't imagine life without your adorable dimples, your unbelievable hugs and the best run-with-chugging-arms you have ever seen. I hope you will always stay the loving boy you are right now.

Enjoy this next year, Will, cause it is your last - you promised me you would always stay 7!
We love you Will!

Family Football Weekend

Last weekend my sister's family and my parents came to town to watch a little football action. The boys played a HOT game Saturday morning, where Will had some great "blocks" (they are tackles to me, but I am supposed to use the correct terminology - isn't knocking a kid to the ground a tackle?!) and Jack had 2-40 Yard touchdowns!

Then Sunday they played in a local tournament and tied a BIG 1st grade team from the local public school program.

Go Crusaders!

Happy Grandparents & Happy Grandkids!

And here are my boys from yesterday - another Crusader Victory! We are undefeated thus far, which is great for a first year program.

Watch Jack carry the ball and make sure he gains extra yardage with the ball placement - I asked him how he knew to do that and he said "I saw it on TV." Guess all those early morning SportsCenter programs have paid off!

And notice in the video (in between a very excited Uncle Eric) who is covering Jack from the behind?! That would be his brother, #7.

One Proud Football Momma!
(Those years of cheerleading are paying off now for my kids!)