Merry Christmas, Baby!

Over the past two weeks, we've celebrated Christmas four times and still have one more celebration!  Here are some photos from those celebrations.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Classic Red Square Christmas Card

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North Pole Express

On Saturday, we went to ride on the North Pole Express at the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway with my sister and her family.  It was so much fun!  The girls had an amazing time.  They really enjoyed the train and the milk and cookies were icing on the cake!  Here are some pictures from the evening...

Holiday photos

The amazing Kris Knode of kris lynn photography (blacklick, oh) took some beautiful photos of our family for the holidays.  Here is a sampling of those pictures.

Thankfulness

In honor of Thanksgiving, I thought that I would come up with a list of some of the things that I am thankful for...here goes:

My husband - he is a wonderful man who protects and cares for all of us.  I know that I don't tell him enough how much I appreciate all that he does for us.

My daughters - Madeleine is such a sweetheart.  She has a heart of gold and is always there to lend a hand to me or her sisters.  She is also very smart and is learning how to read.  Eleanor is my little monster.  She is curious and silly but she LOVES BIG.  And last, but not least, Quinn is developing such a cute quirky personality.  She has Maddie's temperament, but Ella's sense of humor.  She is my little cuddlebug.

Our families - they are always there when we need them and help to keep us grounded.

Our friends - we couldn't ask for better people to go through this journey with - thanks for always being there.

My work - of course, there are days when I wonder what I was thinking when I decided (at the age of 10) that I wanted to become a teacher...but my students really are my joy.  They are truly making such amazing progress and strides this year, I am so proud.

I am grateful that everyone is healthy and happy.  We have a beautiful home and the ability to provide an amazing life for ourselves.  This post is, of course, just a snippet of the many, many reasons that I have to be thankful this year.  One of my goals is to continue to recognize all of the blessings in my life and show appreciation for those blessings.

What are you thankful for?

Weekend Warriors

So, we've been busy for the past two weekends.  Last weekend we went back to our old stompin' grounds...Muskingum College (er...Muskingum University).  We had a great time at Homecoming activities and then went to New Phila to spend the night.

This weekend, Justin and had another date night (for his birthday - Happy Birthday, sweetie!).  We went to see Roger Waters perform "The Wall'...it was very cool.  The girls spent the night with Grandma Jan, Aunt B, and Lynsi - they had tons of fun making chocolate candies (and eating most of them), watching movies and playing.  Today, we went to the Circleville Pumpkin Show and had a wonderful time. 

Pumpkin Patch

Today we all spent the day at Circle S Farms.  We rode the hayride, picked pumpkins in the fields, bought pumpkin doughnuts, hung out in the hay cave, and had lunch.  We had a wonderful time!