A Night At The Lanes

We have some friends that we love to hang out with.  The kids always have a blast together no matter what we do!  We decided to hit the bowling alley! This is the first time we took the kids bowling.  See for yourself if you think they enjoyed it! 

I love the expression on each of their faces! 

The celebration is ready to begin!

Little Brietta is just a crack up.  She was so funny and wanted to do it all by herself.  

Alexa focused and ready to go! 

After every bowl Alexa ended up with her hands above her head just like this.  It was so fun how they each developed their own style.

Emma is all about the look.  She watched other bowlers and was trying that perfect bowling pose! 

It is looking good Emma!

Can you guess what kind of bowler Shane was?

Oh yes, he was the launcher.  He would run and launch.  I was afraid he was going to make a hole in the floor at times.  He definitely could be heard by everyone around us! 

We had a fun night and I'm sure we'll be back again! Oh and what ever happen to the paper scorecards and the alley we were at had couches to sit on while people waited for other bowlers.  

A Season Of Thanksgiving

I love this time of the year.  I love reflecting on  all the evidence of God's goodness in our lives over the past year.  I asked the kids what they were thankful for ....

Alexa is thankful for her mom, dad and brother and sister.  She also said family like papa and grammies, cousins and aunts and uncles.  She said she was thankful for her new friends at her new school as well.

Emma is thankful for her family.  She also said she is thankful that she gets to learn about Jesus in Kindergarten!

Shane is thankful for his mom and dad and sisters.  He also is thankful for his Geo-Trax Train.

I am thankful for my husband.  I'm thankful for the way that we have grown as individuals and as a couple this last year.  I am that this is the man that I get to walk through the ups and downs of life with. 

I am thankful for the wonderful daddy that Eric is.  I love the ways he puts into each of them individually by taking them on dates and making it a priority to spend one on one time with them. 

I love watching the kids laugh and giggle with their daddy! 

I am thankful for my 3 precious blessings!  I love that God made them each so different.  I am so thankful that God chose me to be their mommy and watch them grow and blossom. 

I am thankful that they love life and live it to the fullest! 

I am thankful that they the love each other and have so much fun together. 

I am thankful for the fun we have as a family! 

I have so much to be thankful for .... a God who loves me unconditionally and gave his precious son for me, a wonderful extended family that loves us, wonderful friends, a church family, our health, a home and all our needs that are met daily.  

(Photographs by Kristi Shanks)

Goodbye Sam

On the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving our fish, Sam died.  We have had this fish for close to 2 years.  He is the fish of 9 lives. There are numerous time he ended up down the garbage disposal and fished out put back in his bowl with hopes he would start swimming.  

Emma found him and said,"Mom, I don't think Sam is moving.  I think he is dead!"  I walked over to confirm.  She started sobbing and saying,"I am really going to miss Sam!"  Alexa heard the drama and came up stairs took one look at Sam and said, "So it is just a fish!"  And I won't repeat what Shane said! 

We proceeded to the toilet to say our goodbyes!  

Shane's Math Night

Shane was so excited for the girls to go to "Math Night" with him at preschool! He couldn't stop talking about the Shoe Store that was going to be in his room.  

They had fun measuring each others feet and then finding shoes on the shelf that would fit.  Shane's favorite part was the dancers, soccer players and football players.  They had to measure their feet and try find their right shoes. 

"It looks like these fit and they look like Ballerina shoes!"

Now on to the soccer player ..... 

and he save his favorite, the football player for last! 

The girls had fun making patterns with beads on pipe cleaners!

Shane was busy measuring different pieces of materials and strings!

Alexa has been doing a lot of estimating at school lately so she thought this center was a lot of fun! 

I thought the Five Little Monkeys Center was my favorite! How cute are my little monkeys acting out the story?

We then moved on to I Spy.  They each had to pick out a couple things to put on the I spy poster! 

Shane was the first one to go in the Clothes Line Relay.  He was excited to find the sock match to make a pair!

They all thought the Skittle graphing was fun especially since they got to eat them when they were done! 

We ended the night at the Smoothie Center.  The kids had fun following the recipe and making their own yummy strawberry smoothie! 

We had such a fun night!! I am so thankful for the time and energy Shane's preschool teachers and director put into the program to make learning hands on and fun!  

Happy Halloween

Introducing .....

the princess ....

the bride ....

and the lion! 

The kids were so excited.  You never know what the weather is going to be on Halloween in South Dakota.  It was actually a beautiful night.  Some friends had called and asked us to go to the mall with them.  Most of the stores handed out candy and the girls had fun seeing all the other kids in their costumes.  

Wow, what a gang! A cute gang at that!

 

Watch out ladies! This little duck has declared, "Shane is MINE!"

A stop for some treats!

These two are our social butterflies.  They are two peas in a pod when they are together!

Some big hugs for the bear! 

A fun night was had by all! 

Harvest Festival and Costume Party

Every year our church has a Harvest Party instead of Wednesday night club the week of Halloween.  The kids always look forward to the fun filled night.  The middle school students put it on and have all different carnival games for the kids to play.  They were supposed to dress up like a Bible Character this year. 

Alexa was paging through her Bible on Wednesday after school trying to figure out who she wanted to be for the Harvest Party.  She decided she wanted to be Miriam.  She was so excited she came up with her whole outfit herself.  She was so proud of what she put together.  

Emma decided she wanted to be an angel. She was all about the sparkly halo! 

Can you guess what Shane was?  Yes, a ferocious lion from Daniel and the lions den!

The kids had so much fun playing all the games! 

Shane was pretty excited about all the candy too! 

On Friday night we headed to some friends house for a little Costume Party.  

The kids had fun dressing up ....

playing some games ....

and getting a little sugar in their system! 

More fun to come on Halloween!