Christmas Tree

The day after Thanksgiving we go to the mountains to get our trees. Beacuse we went to Disney last year, this was the first time that Madison got to go to the mountains to find a tree. And the boys were old enough to know what we were doing. They all were so excited.

such a beautiful day to go!!

Christmas tree...where are you???

I think this may be it. Now where is the other one?

watching Ellie ride a  horse

She always likes this part

Madison's first time on a horse. She didn't seem to know what to think.  She was a little nervous the whole time.

At first Connor didn't want to ride, but then after seeeing Ellie and Madison, I guess he figured he would try.

Zander was so excited to try riding for the first time.

Family room

Ellie's tree

Dinning room

playroom

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving I didn't really take any photos of our awesome dinner and pies that my hubby and mom cooked. (My hubby cooks an awesome turkey and mom makes an awesome apple pie!) However, I did get some of...

happy, dirty children. Apparently, while we were cooking, our kids decided to roll in the mudd.

 And some (clean) kids having so much fun together. They really do love playing together (most) of the time.

And then there was the black friday shopping. Wish I had photos of the lines!

So thankful for this past year with my family!!!

Shoping with a purpose

This Christmas season why not shop with a purpose. Buy gifts that will help others. Here are just a few good causes.

My FAVORITE organization http://www.amazimastore.org/!!
TOMS are a great start. They have some really cute shoes, even some sparkly holiday shoes, and for every pair sold they give a pair to a child in need. http://www.toms.com/

Sseko sandals are so cute. Summer will be here befor you know it and there are so many ways you can wear these cute sandals. And you can buy extra straps in other colors. Very fun sandal. They are made by women in Uganda and help these women pay for their school. Awesome! http://www.ssekodesigns.com/

Funky Fish has some great jewelry! I love them and there are some great ones that help support my favorite, Project HOPEFUL, who help families adopt children with HIV. (they are working on the site so they said to check back with them after Dec. 5) http://www.funkyfishdesigns.com/apps/webstore/products


Why not buy a gift that will also help someone bring their child home. Help support adoption! The adopt shoppe on etsy has some cute necklaces and bracelets. http://www.etsy.com/shop/theadoptshoppe


These women who started 147 million orphans are amazing!! They have Ugandan necklaces, bags, shirts, and other things for sale and all the proceeds go to help orphans. Check them out. http://www.147millionorphans.com/

Love 146 works to help end child sex slavery. Such a good cause! http://love146.definingapparel.com/products_results.php

Body butter in all sorts for awesome scents to help support this families adoption. http://andykiara.blogspot.com/p/our-adoption-fundraisers.html

Check out Noonday collections http://www.lizbradley.noondaycollection.com/home-and-gift. They have so many cute gifts and you can read their story.

Organic Ugandan vanilla to help raise money for adoption. http://ourbeautifulcollision.com/support/

Here are some ornaments that help raise money for adoption. http://web.me.com/vanswearingen/www.embracingethiopia.com/Lend_a_Hand.html

How about give one less gift to your kids and have them sit down with you and go through the World Vision catalog and buy a gift for someone else in need. So fun! Kids love picking something out. http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2ibeCCtpSctDspRte.jsp?lpos=sponsor-a-child_top_img_gift_catalog&go=gift&&section=10389

Consider child sponsorship. A gift that could change a life! http://donate.worldvision.org/OA_HTML/xxwv2DoChildSearch_B.jsp?

One of my Jr. FIG members sent me this link and its great! http://www.compassion.com/catalog.htm

These are just a few good causes. There are SO many other places you can get involved and shop with a purpose. Please take some time and search for them.

Merry Christmas

Happy Birthday Ellie!!!

I can't believe my little Ellie bellie is 7!! She is our sweet little drama queen and she is getting so big! She is such a great big sister. She loves helping her brothers and sister and playing with them. She is our little artist. She loves to create things, draw, paint, and build things with legos. We have been so blessed to be her parents these past 7 years!!

she wanted cupcakes this year.

She wanted her brothers and sister to sit with her while she opened her gifts.

Her brothers and sister got her a color purse. She was very excited about it.

We got her legos. She LOVES playing with legos. She said it was the best present ever. (of course she may say that every year. :) )

Grandma gave her a target gift card. She got one last year and has been talking about it ever since. She really likes being able to pick out her own gift and pay for it like a big person. :)

putting her lego castle together. Her and dad are going to have a war once its done.

Halloween


The kids were so excited to go trick-or-treating this year. Connor kept saying, "lets get more candy mommy! I want more!" He wanted to keep going and going. I think the only ones worn out at the end of the night were the parents.

Zander. He wanted to be the bad spiderman. (I know his costume isn't exactly the "bad" spiderman bc its not black, but it was darker than Connor's so he called it the bad spiderman)



Connor. He was so excited to be spiderman.

As soon as Connor got his costume on he began attacking Zander.

Princess Belle

Snow White

Connor could not resist attacking Zander

Ellie is the queen of weird and silly faces

Madison was so excited to be going trick-or-treating

The kids were all a little scared of this guy. Of course it didn't help that we told them it was a Wabajiba. :)

"Look at all my candy mommy!"

Ellie and Sydney took turns carving this pumpkin

multiply this by 4 and we have WAY too much candy in this house!