Christmas Parade

The Mooresville Christmas parade has become a great tradition for the Andersen clan. Every year the  Tuesday before thanksgiving most everyone in Mooresville comes out to either be in or watch the parade. This year we had a little extra excitement because I lost Creed about 15 minutes before the parade started - which was terrifying- but thanks to lots of friends, a few strangers, and a couple emergency workers, we found him right as the parade was starting! And he was basically touched by someone in our group the entire rest of the parade to make sure he didn't wander off again :)

On to the parade. There was a Shriner parade that came before the actual parade so that was kind of interesting. I had no idea there was such a huge Shriner presence in our area but they came out in droves on this day!

Here we all are waiting for the parade to start. Everyone in this picture was part of our group. As I look at this picture I am so grateful for these people and the place they have found in our life. I really don't know how people survive without a community of believers to be a part of. 

And now for the Shriners. 

The kids all loves that these guys would go right down the line and high five everyone from their little cars. 

I loved that this old guy on the organ ended the Shriners. It was perfect! 

and then the real parade began...... for the record, there may have been some legitimate floats/exhibitions in the parade but those aren't necessarily fun to blog about. So, instead, I went for pictures of the unique, surely this would only happen in Mooresville, things because they're way funner to look at anyway!

like a nascar car

or 150 brownies walking down the road instead of getting to watch the parade

I wish that this tractor thing was rare, but it just wasn't!

more people that we love and are grateful for :)

yup that's the Goodwill truck

but that's Ok because after yet another Nascar car, there was the Habitat for Humanity ReStore truck :)

random vehicles just driving all by themselves advertising whatever they wanted to 

Brent, Monica and Caleb all enjoying the festivities. 

a random soprano sax player - but he was playing Christmas music!

ACRO - we actually really like these people. They are a tumbling/fitness group 

that are fantastic to watch. 

more car advertisements and even an old Dodge Caravan pulling a float. I guess as long as it's got a trailer hitch, you're good to go!

A Marching Band. That's always fun!

a Shepherd with sunglasse: just like in Biblical times. 

Sportclips is a hair cutting place so it make perfect sense for them to be in the Christmas parade. Right? 

This tree was made out of water bottles. That was pretty cool!

a grown man in footy pj's and knock-off Disney characters - 

all part of the Mooresville Christmas Parade experience

the other half of the Mooresville High Marching Band. It's so big it they split it up and march at 2 different points in the parade. 

This is a rolling camel. We've seen him before in the parade so he must be a regular. 

These are our friends the Binghams. Michael , our worship pastor, is driving the truck pulling the football team that he helped coach this year. It's pretty cool because as a church we have had the opportunity to minister to some of the kids on the team and with our new bus ministry, they have started attending church with us! I really appreciate Michael's heart for these kids and the Kingdom of God and how we can combine the 2 to further the Gospel. 

Ally - Michael's daughter and one of Cadence's best buddies. 

more random vehicles

and at my count, this is the third box truck in the parade! 

There were something like 150 different entries in the parade and it's entirely too long but we endure because it's a great opportunity to be with friends, have fun with our kids, make fun of the town we live in, and kick off the holidays all at once. 

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!!