Thanksgiving Twenty-Ten

So thankful for the family God has blessed me with! We spent Wednesday evening with my family in Indiana
Grandma & Isaac

Me & Julie with pizzas we (she) made

the fancy ladies

Abby interviewing Grandpa for a school project

Yeah, he knows how to whip up a cheese ball :)

We spent Thanksgiving Day at Michele & Randy's. And I am still full!
The kids waiting patiently for us to sit down

Mmmmm...donuts and pumpkin pie

The Host & Hostess (& Zoey)

Pappy & Grammy and Uncle John & Aunt Deb

We ate lots of yummy food and it was so wonderful to spend time with family. Now we're counting down the days till Christmas!

2 for 2

Caleb shot his first 2 arrows this year and got 2 deer. A doe a few weeks ago and his first buck on Thursday. 11 points. Awsome buck, Caleb!

Everybody wanted to touch it

DeerSlayer 1 & 2

Calling family & friends

in other news----
keep out...

of reach...

of children.

Carl, Crawdad, & Cake

Carl shot this amazing buck just a few days before his birthday. He has watched it for a few years and has pics of it on his game camera. It was nicknamed "Crawdad" because of the unique characteristic of a crab claw on the buck's right antler.

It has 11 points and is HUGE with very heavy antlers! We are so proud of him :)

The girls love helping in the kitchen so I waited till they were out of school to make Carl's B-day cake. I went ahead and measured out all the ingredients hoping it would go quicker :)
I even took a picture (notice the eggs)

They were so excited when they got home from school and started baking immediately (after Ella put on her apron, of course) They took turns pouring...

and stirring

and mixing

and whisking

and we dumped the cake in the pan, put it in the oven...

and licked the bowl clean.

and the cake baked for about 20 minutes and then I saw THE EGGS. So we started the whole process over again! Except we added the eggs. Finally...
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday, Dear Carl. Happy Birthday to YOU!

A Veterans Day Walk in the Park

We are so thankful for the freedom we have and the ones who have served and given their lives for our freedom. The kids had no school today in honor of Veteran's Day. We slept in, made a phone call to thank a veteran, then headed to the park for a "hike." We went to Symmes Park which has plenty of trails, several playgrounds, a creek, and bridges. The weather today was absolutely beautiful and I loved spending the afternoon outside with my kids.
The trail

the playground

the creek

the warning

the afternoon sunshine & my kids

the bridge

us

the tire swing

the laughter (captured on camera by Abby)

the deer

the monkey

the flag that we love

Happy Veteran's Day! Let freedom ring in the land of the free and the home of the brave!