A Big Pile of Leaves

The kids had been begging to jump in a huge leaf pile for a while so one evening Murray and I raked up a pretty decent sized pile and let them have at it.  I really didn't know how much they would actually like it because kids are so funny about things.  Sometimes a wrinkle in their sock can cause them to come undone, but let them have leaves all down their shirts, pants, diapers, ears, mouth, etc... FUN!  They truly loved it, and they were pretty unhappy when we made them call it quits that night.  They were back out there the next day and several after, and, when we finally actually had someone out to bag our leaves, Hayes had a meltdown that they were taking away his pile!  Here are some of the pictures from the fun!

 

9 Years and Counting!

                                 

Murray and I celebrated our 9th anniversary this year.  In ways, it is hard to believe we are almost to our 10 year milestone, and, in other ways, it is hard to remember my life without him in it!  We have accomplished a lot in our 9 years with this past one adding a new house and a new baby to the list.  I could not be more grateful for the blessing that Murray is to me.  He is able to loosen me up when I am too serious, give me Godly advice when I am concerned about things, support me lovingly in all I do, brainstorm with me in the confusing parenting moments, and encourage me when I am feeling low.  He works hard to support our family financially and then works harder to make sure we all know how loved and important we are to him.  He sacrifices daily for us, and he gives a wonderful example of Christ's sacrificial love.  Add to all of that the fact that he is so stinkin' cute, and I am one really blessed girl! 

I was so thankful for an opportunity to spend a WHOLE weekend with just him in early December to celebrate our anniversary.  We had a staycation and enjoyed a lot of unique things that our fun city has to offer.  We ate great food, ran a fun race, SLEPT, and cheered the Grizz on to a win!

At the St. Jude Expo...

 Pre-Race carb loading at Old Venice!  ;)

Murray ran the half marathon, and I ran on a marathon relay team with 4 other girls.  My leg was the last 10k of the full marathon.  Murray PR'd, and our team was the 8th place female team out of 70!  Not a bad morning!  

One of the best parts of running on a relay team was being able to see so many people running the half and full... especially being able to cheer on Murray!  He was looking good at the 4 and 13 mile markers!!! 

And I didn't want to jinx it by saying anything before the race, but I saw this bell and had a really good feeling he was gonna earn the chance to ring it!  So proud of him!

 My girls!  We had a great time!  Such a fun way to do the race!

 And boy did we earn these delicious burgers!

 That night we cleaned up and ate at Seasons 52.  We even followed it up with a great movie... Living it up!  Haha.

 Did I mention that we ate well?  Our hotel had an awesome complimentary breakfast that we took advantage of Sunday morning before church.  So yummy!  And truthfully, one of the best parts of the weekend was church.  With 4 sweet but busy kiddos, Sunday mornings are tough.  We are always rushing to get out the door, trying to keep everyone quiet in service, and praying to make it till the point where kids are dismissed for children's church... and even then we still have Kyndall with us.  We love our kids and know this is just a season, but it was so nice to worship without a million distractions.

 That afternoon, we finished out the weekend by heading downtown to cheer on the Grizzlies.  We even managed to see the Grizz drumline playing on Beale St. before the game.

We couldn't have had a better weekend.  Even after 9 years of marriage and 14 total years together, I cannot get enough of this guy.  I laugh harder, smile bigger, relax more, and just feel right when he is around me.  He undoubtedly has my heart!

Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for every day, but it always nice to focus a little extra on all the ways God has blessed us around Thanksgiving.  Murray and I couldn't be more grateful for the four little ones that He has given us.  This was one of the crafts that the kids did this year, and it also doubles as my new favorite Thanksgiving decoration!

Hayes had a blast making this turkey.  He loved that I let him actually cut the paper (mostly) by himself and thought he was so big using the glue sticks like Cole and Jordan.  He was so careful to try to get it all over the paper!  The best part to me though was hearing him gobble, gobble... and then the outtakes when I tried to video him doing it!

This little turkey was as cute as could be for her first Thanksgiving!

All dressed up for the school Thanksgiving feast!

I mean... how cute are they?!?!

Cole and Jordan both did a excellent job on their place mats and table decorations.

We love "Miss" Dorothy so much! She has been such a great teacher, and it is obvious how fun she is!  The perfect photo bomb of this cute picture of Jordan and her sweet Millie!  

You can't find a pair of buddies tighter than Cole and Ethan!  Thankful for the friendships my kids have found at school!

And thankful that I am a stay at home mom and that Nonny has a flexible schedule so that I can spend some good time focusing on my two big kids on a fun day!

We celebrated Thanksgiving with Murray's family this year, and we started off our time there with a 5k and fun run Thanksgiving morning.  

 
Cole was so excited to run the 1 mile race.  Love my little athlete!   Look at the determination on his face...

I thought there was a great turnout for a race on the morning of a holiday, and it was a fun race... especially since I brought home a cool medal.  ;) 

 

Another huge reason to be thankful this year was our new nephew Bost!   My favorite part of Thanksgiving lunch was getting to snuggle this cute little guy... when I could steal him away from my baby-lovin' girl!

And man did I love it when this happened!  Oh those sweet sleepy snuggles!

It's always a crazy time with all these kiddos around!  I asked them to all tell something they were thankful for.  They did a lot of naming each other which I loved and then sweet Banks threw out Jesus.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Grandmama Sara has a way with little kids and especially little girls!  Jordan always finds great treasures to play with at her house.  

This is just a side note... my husband is a pest.  He just likes to bug people.  If he likes you, he will pester you.  You have been warned.

Resting up for round 2!  Sorry Mr. Walter... I couldn't resist.  She was just so sweet snuggled in there with you!

I didn't get nearly as many pictures from that night, but we had a great time!  The kids love playing with ALL the cousins.  Murray's cousins' kids are all right around the same ages as ours so there are like a dozen kiddos!  Literally.

Cole and Maddox got into a pretty intense game of paper, rock, scissors or rock, paper, scissors... I apparently always say it wrong because Cole ALWAYS corrects me.  But of course now I can't remember which is right.

Cuteness!

We attempted this that night.  It didn't work.  Haha.  They had fun trying though!

One reason I love Thanksgiving is that you are guaranteed a long weekend.  You don't have to worry about what day the holiday lands on and if that will cut time off out.  I was so thankful to have 4 great days of time to relax and be with family.  We made the most of it!  On day our whole crew went to see "The Good Dinosaur," and the kids loved it!  It was a really cute movie.

The rest of the time, we just were lazy and had fun playing at Mimi and PopPop's house!

 

 

I love seeing my kids with all their grandparents, but Great Grandparents are pretty stinking special!

I don't even know what was going on here, but I am so thankful that I caught this sweet exchange between Jordan and her Great Granddaddy Howard!

If you have noticed that Murray and Cole seem to be missing from most of the "lazy" pictures, it is because Murray was giving Cole his first taste of hunting!  Unfortunately the weather was not ideal for hunting so nothing was shot, but Cole had an amazing time and was so pumped!  

The weather may not have been the only factor...

But look at this cute, happy boy!  Thankful for a Daddy who didn't see this as a sacrifice and enjoyed the time (a lot of time) in the deer stand with a talkative 6 year old!

It was a wonderful holiday, and I am so thankful for all the precious memories made!