Thanksgiving

We tried, as a family, to spend the entire month of November remembering what we are thankful for. While there are no pictures to document it, we did a thankful wreath again this year. It was so fun to daily - or at least most days - have a set aside time to talk to the kids about what we have to be thankful for. Probably my favorite part of our thankful wreath this year was the fact that every day either Caleb or Creed - or both of them - would say their thankful thing was Jesus. It was so convicting to me to hear daily that my boys were thankful for Jesus. I love their hearts - even if at this point they only say it because they know it pleases Chris and I. I'm praying that as they grow their thankfulness for Jesus will cross from something that pleases their parents into something that really grows in their own hearts as they begin to explore a relationship with Him themselves. I know I am so thankful for Jesus and the fact that this blessed beyond abundance life I live is a result of every good thing that has come from Him. How could we not be thankful and respond with a life that honors Him? 

On to the actual day of Thanksgiving......

This year for Thanksgiving we stayed home. Em, Rob and their kids came over and we had a ver low-key time together. It was so much fun! 

Thanksgiving we got up and watched the parade. It was so fun watching the kids pay attention to a parade that we have all watched all our lives. 

After the parade we got to the business of Thanksgiving eating/cooking. We decided to fry our turkey and it was a good choice!  Christopher did a fantastic job with it!

      

 Look at that yummy goodness!

 Em and I did all the rest of the good. This was the first year that I have done an entire Thanksgiving meal without my Mom - and it still turned out pretty good :)  Although we would have loved for Mom, and the rest of the family, to be there with us!

 While the turkey was frying, Chris took pictures of the kids - because that's what you should do on Thanksgiving!

This girl is way bigger than she should be!

Thanksgiving without football just wouldn't do - so Caleb took care of the football part for us!

Cousins playing together - does it get much

 better than that? It's not exactly Aunt Connie's

 house in Ft. Green but I'm grateful for the 

memories they'll have together regardless!

 This pool is always part of our playing outside at this point. It's usually a bed or hiding place - today it was something to flip over in!

This year for Thanksgiving, Chris got a new TV!!  With Black Friday creeping into Thursday (ridiculous) the TV came home on Thursday night. After 2 hours of standing in a very civil line at Target, getting a ticket that guaranteed us a TV, and someone loading it in the cart for him, he returned home with his treasure :)  

It sat on a table until Chris could build a new wall to mount it to. The kids loved it!

The frame that was built into the hole that held the old TV. Chris is getting impressive with his carpentry skills!!  and you can kind of see the completed project around the Christmas tree. 

We have so much to be thankful for that it is ridiculous!  We have been so blessed and I am grateful for a time of year that is set aside specifically to reflect on how grateful we are. 

Pumpkin Cookies!

Every year for as long as I can remember in my life we have made pumpkin cookies. We love them - because they taste really good - and I love that it's a tradition that I'm passing to my own children that my mom passed to me. Some years we've done this with friends, some years - like this year - it's been just us, but it's always fun. 

Here are some pics from years past. I love looking back and seeing how the kids have grown from one year to the next!

 I'm pretty sure this was the first fall that Caleb ate and since he had started eating in January he was really good at it and had figured out that candy was yummy :)

 Creed had figured it out too!

 Cadence knew it all along :)

 This year it was just us at home making cookies and I was a slacker mom who had no extra fun candy. So, Candy Corn had to do. No one seemed to mind and we still got the cookies decorated and eaten!

 Creed may have done more candy eating than decorating :)

 So proud of their creations. We love pumpkin cookies!!

School

I don't very often update on school for Cadence so I figured maybe I should :)

She is doing really well this year. Her teacher is Miss Weieler and we really like her. She can't sing very well - which is rough with the amount of songs they sing - but someone had the great idea to give her a cd of kids singing the songs and that has helped alot!  So, as long as she doesn't stray away from the CD we're good :)

Cadence is doing so well in all her subjects. She's reading and FINALLY is at the point where she almost enjoys it. Just over the past few weeks has she started saying "I'm just going to go to my room and read"  as a person who loves to read, this makes me so happy - and a little jealous!

Overall, we are loving first grade. From speed drills to spelling tests, this year feels much more like real "school" than last year. A few weeks ago we recorded some of her scripture memorization. Last year we did a verse at a time and this year that has changed to where she does multiple verses together. It's impressive to me that she can remember that much!  But she does, and does it well. So, click on the links below to watch her recite her verses. Some of it is mumbled and you'll need a KJV Bible to follow along but other than that, it's pretty enjoyable :)

Psalm 34:8-14

John 3:14-19

A Few minutes at the Andersens'

Last Friday we were all hanging out at home and in the span of just a few minutes, lots of things fell apart. Thankfully we had the iPhone nearby and so lots of it got captured for posterity's sake ;)

This VIDEO goes before the pictures so watch it first!

These pictures are the clean up of the mess. And yes, Caleb had taken everything out of his and Creed's drawers and yes, he did put it all back!

 Dumping in all into a pile so that Mommy could fold it all and he could put it away. 

Pumpkin Carving!

After purchasing our pumpkins, or course it was time to get down to the business of carving! So, we took Cadence's pumpkin, and go to work. Daddy used the sharp objects while everyone supervised. 

 Creed mostly just liked his screwdriver :)

 Cadence and Mommy mostly had to clean it out - yuck! 

 Baby Shaun just hung out in his chair being cute - he's pretty good at it!

our bowl of muck

 Daddy got to draw the face on while Cadence told him what it should look like :)

We roasted the seeds but they weren't great. Everyone ate a few and we threw the rest away. 

 and we finished our family fun with a game of UNO with everyone playing! It was fun and Creed won - but we're pretty sure he cheated :) 

and in true Andersen fashion, there is no finished product of the pumpkin.  But it was a fun day either way and we had lots of fun playing together!