Happy Thanksgiving

Jaylyn and I have been counting down the days to all of these fun events that happen this time of year. We have a lot of family birthdays right in the middle of these holidays, so we have had a lot of counting to do. Now, Jaylyn is excited we have almost reached Thanksgiving. We started a thankfulness tree at the beginning of November and have tried to think of one thing each day to write on a leaf and hang on our tree. She has had a lot of fun with that. She of course listed her family, friends, teachers, etc. and did not forget wonderful things like princesses or care bears and many things like that. Hee hee. I kept trying to tell her that she needed to think of "real" things to be thankful for and then I just gave up. After all, I'm sure preschool girls really ARE thankful for princesses.

I had her pose by her tree wearing her "indian garb" from preschool. Apparently they did indian dances and everything. I felt bad that she missed some of the other fun fall/Thanksgiving activities because she was sick. But, I am thankful that now they are both well.

Anyway, we too must remember to give thanks for the many blessing we have. There are many more things to be thankful for than can fit on any tree! "Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever." Psalm 107:1

"Happy Thanksgiving"

"Happy Thanksgiving!"

You are being loved

Well, I intended on putting some pictures of each month of Adley's first year. But then I was watching the adorable video of Sage (who's birthday was today! Happy Birthday Sage!) on Shannon's blog and it was so cute! So, I am being a copy cat and took a picture of Adley from each month and threw together a quick video. Not nearly as cute as Sage's video so you will have to check that out on Shannon's blog www.herewegrowagain.blogspot.com
How fun that they are pretty much exactly one year apart.
Happy birthday!

The Big "One"

I really can't believe it. I know everyone probably says that at every birthday of every one of their children. But, honestly this one really seemed to sneak by. Happy baby has turned one and is enjoying every minute of it. She and Jaylyn have a lot of fun. It is so cute to hear her call for Jaylyn. Sometimes it is "Jay Jay" (nickname started by cousin, Malaine) and sometimes it is "sissy" which sounds more like "diddy".

Jaylyn enjoyed Adley's present more than Adley did. But, Adley will get the hang of it soon enough.

We took her to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch. For some reason, that has become a tradition. We have taken Jaylyn there on all of her birthdays so far. Although, Jaylyn has a love/hate relationship with Chuck E. (as she does with many things!) She was on the lookout for him the whole time. In fact, she about jumped out of her skin on the way in because T.J. said something like "There is Chuck E. right there, " meaning the picture on the outside of the restaurant. She jumped and whirled around so fast to make sure he wasn't any where near her! It was pretty comical. God must have had pity on her fear because Chuck E. did not make an appearance. She was happy about that. Adley didn't care where we were, she just wanted pizza! and more of it! As I mentioned in the previous post, not a great parenting moment. We let her eat a little bit too much pizza. After all, it was her birthday and when she keeps pointing at it saying, "num num!" it is hard to refuse. (by the way, "num num" is what she says now every time she wants anything to eat or drink" Sometimes that is the first thing she says to you when you get her out of bed. and she means it!)

What is on my head?

Oooooooo!

I like pizza!

Do you like my pizza?

This is a fun place!

Happy Birthday, Adley!

Fun in a box

In case you forgot how much fun a box could be . . .

Everyone is still doing well, besides the one time set back on the night of Adley's birthday due to poor parenting. :) We may have let Adley have a little too much Chuck E. Cheese pizza for her birthday a little too soon in her recovery from the flu. T.J. got an up close and personal experience for that one. Hee hee!

Sick?

Well, you can't tell from the pictures, but Adley caught the stomach bug from Jaylyn. She woke up crying a couple hours after we put her to bed. I won't describe what I found when I finally dared to open the door. Let's just say it was not a pretty sight or smell. Poor girl. Adley decided to go about her bug a little differently. She just threw up over and over during a couple hour interval instead of spreading it out over a 24 hour period like Jaylyn. But, in the same way, they both acted just fine in between. Adley was tickling her toes and playing with toys and dancing to her musical books in between throwing up. But, the big bummer is, tomorrow is her first birthday and we had the big party scheduled, did all of the final shopping yesterday and now have to cancel. So sad. I'm sure we will figure out how to celebrate later. She is certainly acting fine now and has been eating some so I am hoping she on the mend already so she can enjoy her day tomorrow. Hopefully T.J. and I won't be sick so we can have a little fun for her birthday.

Apparently she doesn't know that in between throwing up, you are supposed to act sad, tired, sick and pitiful.

Feeling Better

Jaylyn is on the mend. I can hear her conversing with her barbies even as I am typing. After we were up and finished with breakfast, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to shower. Girls safely playing while I hop in and I hear Jaylyn getting mad because I am not answering her from the other room. I ask her to repeat her question and she yells, "Where are we going today?!" Crazy girl! She can't even wait until I'm out of the shower to ask it! But, we have birthday party shopping to do! Again please pray the birthday girl does not catch it in time for her party.

Sick Day

Jaylyn had to take a sick day from preschool today. She was up almost every hour last night throwing up. Poor girl. The crazy thing is, she STILL wants to know, "Who's coming?" and "Where are we going?" :) Unfortunately, she insisted a little after 7 that she wanted to get up because the sun was up. Of course, Adley was ready to go too. When we got up for the day, she asked when she was going to preschool. Seriously, she is ready for action day and night and even while sick! She says she feels fine, she has no pains, and she has no fever. I said maybe we would be able to get to a store later today if she was better. Well, she threw up again, and as soon as she finished, she said, "I think I'll be good now. When do we go to the store?" Well, as you can see from the picture, the lack of sleep finally caught up to her, even though she told me she wasn't tired. So, pray she feels better. Being sick is just killing her social calendar.

Favorite Book

Adley's favorite book is "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see?" by Eric Carle. She will sit and look at that book all by herself for a good amount of time. She loves the big animal pictures and now has quite a repertoire of animal sounds. Some need more prompting than others. Her fish face and elephant are the cutest of all. This phase is so much fun. They learn so much so quickly. She likes to find her toes and tickle them and also find her nose and "honk" it. Honking other people's noses is also a favorite. She will be one on Saturday so watch for news on the birthday fun.

This is the Day

The other day I was in the shower while Adley was napping and Jaylyn was playing in the bathroom. (For some reason, that is her favorite place to play.) I hear her humming the tune to "This is the Day". She was humming it so happily and I could hear our swiffer moving across the floor. She was cheerfully working away on our bathroom floor. How I wish I could have that same cheerfulness when I am cleaning! Well, let that be a lesson for all of us to remember that even while we are cleaning, this is the day that the Lord has made! Let us rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalm 118:24) (I like to look up verses in The Message for a new perspective some times. Here is its paraphrase of the verse - This is the very day GOD acted--let's celebrate and be festive!)

Party Pics

I guess my dad read the blog because he e-mailed me a few pics this morning. Thanks, Dad!

30

TJ and I hit the big 30. It is kind of fun having our birthdays so close together. TJ's birthday is Oct. 31st so his was spent at Trunk-or-Treat and mine is Nov. 4th so I got to have nursery duty at church. Then TJ had a meeting that night (although I met up with Amber for a nice Taco bell dinner Hee hee!). So, even though our actual birthdays weren't filled with too much excitement, TJ's mom helped us out. Debbie put together a 30th birthday party for us at the church on Saturday. It was absolutely wonderful for so many friends and family members to come. I know a lot of the family helped put the party together. If there is one thing that TJ's family could be known for, it would be for parties. :) I love it! So, even in the midst of so many other activities going on, Debbie still got it all together for us and it was the best way we could have celebrated our birthdays. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures. I know others took pictures, but I have yet to see them. Thank you all who helped out or came by for the cake. We even received some very sweet gifts from many which wasn't necessary, but very appreciated. 30 can't be so bad after a party like that. :)

Old Friends

I was so excited to have my friend Mitzi, from the good 'ol days come up and visit. Being a small world and all, she and her husband are actually good friends with some of our church staff too. So, that makes it nice for them to come up and get to take care of more than one friend at a time. :) They were living in Korea for a while and for the last year have been in Olney, IL where Travis is a pastor. While Travis went to help with our church youth retreat this past weekend, I was able to have MITZI TIME! Not only are we friends, but it seems we like to participate in major life milestones together. We were married within a couple weeks of each other. We have had both of our children within 3 months of each other. Mitzi had Abigail 3 months before I had Jaylyn. I had Adley 3 months before they had Josiah. We will see if this is a continuing trend. :) Anyway, our girls really haven't seen each other since they were babies and we were looking forward to letting them play together. They played sooo well together. Of course, by the end they were starting to get a little whiny. But, we were just amazed that they were having such a good time without any parent mediation needed. That is always a bonus. We were able to spend a little time with Travis on Saturday night and Sunday after the youth had all returned from their retreat. (which I hear was a great time!) Mitzi also got to come to the 30th birthday party our family threw for me and T.J. (more coming on that. . .) It was like the good 'ol days again when me and Mitzi and TJ would get together for our birthdays. Of course, Mitzi and I had been doing that together before TJ was in the picture. It mostly involved shopping before that. :) Mitzi is Oct. 29, T.J. is Oct. 31st and I am Nov. 4th. Anyway, God is always doing amazing things in their lives so it is great to find encouragement in them and hopefully be encouraging to them too. Here are some pictures of the kids playing.

Jaylyn and Abigail comparing the flowers on their jeans .

Look out! We were having visions of what these two girls could be like at 16!

Adley was really trying to get some good squeezes from her new friend, Josiah.

Girls playing at the party.

Jaylyn loves babies and who could resist this adorable chunky boy!

Pumpkin Art

We have had a lot of exciting adventures around here lately so I have a few posts I am behind on. Stay tuned. . . :)

I meant to get these pumpkins on here from our Trunk-or-Treat.

Everyone needed to see Wendy Barnard's neat pumpkin creations. She definitely took some time to carve some fun kid pumpkins. . .

Sponge Bob

Blue's Clues

Sherrie Craig also made a neat one that I have seen other places. It has a great little poem with it that ties in a great spiritual lesson for kids. I included the info below if you haven't seen this before.

The Pumpkin Prayer
Dear Jesus,
Open my mind so I can learn about You.
(Cut the top off the pumpkin.)

Take all my sin and forgive the wrong I do.
(Clean out the inside.)

Open my eyes so Your love I will see.
(Cut eyes shaped like hearts.)

I'm sorry for times I've turned up my nose at what You've given to me.
(Cut a nose in the shape of a cross.)

Open my ears so Your Word I will hear.
(Cut ears shaped like the Bible.)

Open my mouth to tell others You're near.
(Cut the mouth in the shape of a fish.)

Let Your light shine in all I say and do!
Amen.
(Place a candle inside and light it.)
(Author unknown)

Another fun story with pumpkins. . .
A new christian once described to someone what it was like to be a christian. She said, "It's like being a pumpkin. God picks you from the patch and brings you in and washes off all the dirt from the outside. Then he cuts off the top and takes out all of the yucky stuff from inside. He removes all the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, etc. Then he carves you a new smiling face and puts his light inside for all to see.

Focus on the Family also has a similar idea excerpted from their Holidays Family Nights Tool Chest. Click here to view.

Trunk or Treat

We have a new children's director at our church now, Jenny Auld. She was able to jump in right away and get our first Trunk or Treat organized. We had a great turn out and it was a lot of fun. Everyone decorated the trunk of their vehicle and the community was invited to come and walk from trunk to trunk to get candy. There was also games, face painting, free snacks and hot chocolate. I think Jaylyn had a blast and the adults had a pretty good time also.

Shannon and I talked Diana and Debbie into "coordinating" our trunks. Shannon's kids were pirates and mermaids and I had a bumblebee and Tinkerbell. So, we went with a Neverland theme. Shannon did her trunk as Pirate's Cove, Diana had Mermaid Lagoon, Debbie had the Indian Camp, and I had Pixie Hollow where the fairies live. (and with all the flowers in Pixie Hollow, you need a bumblebee!) So, it all fit together quite nicely. I don't think anyone figured out our "connection" without us telling them, but it was fun to do anyway! We tried to talk T.J. into being Peter Pan. I'm sure you all know how he felt about that idea!

Mermaid Lagoon

Pirate's Cove

Indian Camp

Pixie Hollow - It got windy just in time for the decorations!

Makenna loaned me her old wings so I could be a fairy too. :)

Trunk or Treat fun

Tinkerbell goes to Preschool

Tinkerbell and her mermaid friend

Cute toilet paper roll pumpkin craft

Pumpkin bean bag toss

Snacks!!!!

What could these little sisters be getting into?

Jaylyn had her first preschool party on Wednesday. They wore their costumes to school, and after their "school" time, the party started. Cupcakes, fruit, juice, games and crafts. What more could the kids ask for. It was very cute to see all of the kids dressed up. There are only 3 boys in her class and about 12 or 13 girls, so there were a lot of wings and crowns and sparkles in that room. Even Ms. Sheila and Ms. Tracy joined the fun and dressed up as very beautiful angels. Ms. Sheila told me later that the kids were having a hard time waiting for the party, of course. She was getting ready to read them a book and Jaylyn told her that she didn't want to hear the story. She was apparently ready to move on to the party. But, then when she couldn't see the pictures on the page and complained, Ms. Sheila said, "I thought you didn't want to hear the story?" Jaylyn told her that she had changed her mind and wanted to hear it! Just a warning to those of you that have not heard Jaylyn speak much, watch out because she is getting more and more bossy and opinionated. Or I should say, she is sharing her thoughts more openly now. So, I'm just asking you all now to be in prayer with me for her! :) Poor Adley is getting most of the bossing right now. Actually, T.J. and I might be getting more of it than Adley. I think that is all I say all day, "Stop telling me what to do!" But, back to the party, (hee hee) it was a good time and I think Jaylyn is ready for the next one!

Girls having fun!

Jaylyn's friend, Corinne, came over today. Corinne is just 7 months older than Jaylyn so they have lots of fun. I wanted to share about Jaylyn's fun with her friend because Corinne just got another clear MRI. She is still cancer free since August 2004. Praise the Lord! For those of you that don't know, Corinne had to battle cancer as a baby. But, God has led her family through it all and has healed this precious girl! If you would like to read more about their journey, they have a web page at Caringbridge.org You can visit at http://www.caringbridge.org/il/tullisfamily/index.htm