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!