Getting To Thanksgiving...

We had such a relaxing Thanksgiving Day with our good friends the Durias'. Mindy and I were cooking up a storm in the kitchen and laughing at how our men were jamming on guitars together (we even heard Jon sing, which means he was really relaxed!). After we were all stuffed the adults just sat in the living room and closed our eyes for about an hour. What a blessing to have friends with whom you don't even have to make small talk. The kids had fun watching Christmas movies and playing ninjas or dollies respectively.
Click here to see who all was on our guest list. (Thanks, Ian!)

Arizona Visit 2008

We've been so busy the past few weeks that I am just now getting these on the blog. We went to visit Poppop and Nana in mid-November and had a great time with them as well as with some friends and family. My sister JoAnna and her family drove 4 hours to see us and the Griffins are on furlough there, too. We celebrated Jonah turning 8 and had incredible weather (the kids swam everyday!). Jon and I were blessed by being able to go on lots of dates and the kids were blessed to have some good Nannie-Poppop time, too. It was a great vacation! (If you want to see the captions for the pictures click on the web-album link after the slideshow)

Ava "Shirley Temple" Brawley

Ava wanted to try something new this time so instead of ballet she chose tap dancing classes. I was trying to upload a video of her class doing a little routine to "Lollypop, Lollypop" but four hours later when it hadn't loaded I decided to do a shorter one...
When I asked her this morning if she would rather do ballet or tap, she said she would like to do the combo class of ballet and tap. Maybe we do have a little Shirley Temple on our hands.

Groooooooovin'

In case you can't tell what's going on, these kids really love Neil Diamond (oh yes, Gammie!) and Ava keeps yelling that Brynne's doing "The Worm". . .

Halloween 2008

Jonah was Luigi (from Super Mario Bros), Ava was Dorothy (dress made by Gammie), and Brynne was Toto (in purple jammies). We went trick or treating with some friends in our neighborhood and had a blast! The best part was when one lady gave the kids pennies. Ava came running down the front walk and said "That is a SPECIAL house!! She gave me a PENNY!"

Happy 34th, Jon!!

The annual Pie-In-The-Face for Jon's b-day last week! We had a great dinner out at Jake's Grill, and a wonderful day as a family going to see Wall-E at the cheap theater. At the risk of sounding corny, Jon is the best husband and father and we are very blessed to have him for our own.