Hello, November

...thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ...

{I Corinthians 15:57}

So here we have the colors we've all been waiting for!

I just love the contrast between a perfect blue sky and golden Autumn leaves

Mr. Tony dropped in for a sweet visit with his Mama

A surprise birthday dinner...

...for the beautiful birthday girl! (PS baby #5 is on the way!!)

Laughing time with Grandma Margarete...we just love her sweet chuckles!

A sunny day called for some good ol' sand volleyball with friends

Johanna and Grandma Glenys looking purty as a picture with their artwork

On the 5th of the month we assisted at this sweet baby girl's birth

One-day old pictures are so much fun!

Happy birthday to our little Jorgie Porgie! 

Breakfast-in-bed has been our family's tradition since us girls were itty bitty

We moved the party out to the living room to enjoy the fireplace...can you tell they're enjoying breakfast? :)

A piano duet was next! (seriously, though, Dad needs to get back into music lessons) :P

Oh wow! Look at our mature 8 year old! 

Johanna could not wait for the day when she could finally sit in the car without a booster seat!

(and for those interested in those technical details, here's the link to the official laws regarding car seats) :)

Booster-seatless!!

A lovely duo...photo-bombed by Miss Mustard

Kissy kissy

The awesome backseat drivers ;)

We had several surprises for Johanna's birthday. First stop...lunch!

Mamacita and her not-so-little-anymore, littlest girl

It was a beautiful day to eat outside (and no, Vanessa wasn't eating that whole bowl all by herself... my fork's in there too) ;)

The second and BIG surprise was ice skating!! Johanna has always wanted to do this so it was such a blessing seeing her excitement

Getting ready to hit the ice (some of us *cough* Dad *cough* took this idiom way too seriously). So here's the story... Johanna asked Dad to go really really fast and see how quickly he could get around the entire rink. A quarter of the way through I met up with him and we started racing...like, really racing...and, well I'm sure you can guess who "hit the ice". :/ Long (and painful) story short, Dad left the rink that day with a very sore shoulder and back. 

Learning to skate!

Safe in Daddy's arms

Later that evening we had a fancy dinner for a special birthday girl

Chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream cake (wow, that's a mouthful) made affectionately by Vanessa. And the itsy bitsy banner??... she made that too!

Getting ready to blow out all 8 of her candles, officially starting off the new year!

Out of all her gifts, Johanna was the most excited about receiving a Bible with her name engraved on it.

Even though these pics are unfocused, I still wanted to share her beaming face!

Finishing the night off with a serious game of Cranium (don't you love Johanna's face?) :)

Grandma Lorry, chillin' with little Abby

The Grandmas are the best babysitters in town ;)

Mama and two of her lovely daughters

Johanna Banana and Grandma Glenys

It was a special treat having Mr. C and the T.s join us for Thanksgiving this year!

O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.

{I Chronicles 16:34}

The food was delicious... but the fellowship was the sweetest!

Sweet smiles from Grandma Lorry!

Shootin' the breeze

"No kidding?"

Our littlest therapist loves having nail salon parties

On the last day of November we assisted at this beautiful little girl's birth!

December, here we come...

October gave a party...

...the leaves by hundreds came, -

the Ashes, Oaks, and Maples,

and leaves of every name.

The sunshine spread a carpet,

and every thing was grand;

Miss Weather led the dancing;

Professor Wind, the band...

the sight was like a rainbow

new-fallen from the sky...

~George Cooper, "October Party"

Even though the most beautiful season of Autumn seems to go right around us, with its burning colors and crisp weather, I still thought it was appropriate to begin the October post with colorful words. We can pretend it didn't go straight from stiffling Summer to barren Winter, can't we? :)

Vanessa created this gorgeous cake to celebrate Johanna completeing another school milestone!

The lovely baker herself

Off to the Arboretum for a field trip!

Johanna and Vanessa -- sister dates are the best

Sonic shakes are pretty good, too :)

It was a beautiful day for lunch on the patio

Fun conversations with Lorry, Margarete and Glenys

The siblings are here! Mr. Wendell had work nearby and dropped in to say, "Hello!"

Mrs. Sherry is so faithful to come every week to do Mama's hair

Glenys really enjoyed having you over, Mr. Wendell!

Mr. Glen also dropped in that evening, so we snapped an "almost half of Mama's children" photo

The T.s brought ancient artifacts for us to look at that their son had brought back from Israel!

Happy Birthday, Mom! Lasagna, Crispy Zucchini Fritte, Swiss Cheese Bread and Salad were on the menu...

...with Blue Bell and Apple Crisp to finish it off on the right foot!

We love you, beautiful mother!

Johanna was commissioned with lighting the candles

Can she do it?

Yes! (It must feel good to be over half a century old ;)

Us girls each took Mom on a surprise date. I took her to breakfast and spa...

...Aren't our tootsies cute?

Vanessa took Mom to get coffee...

...and shoes!

And Johanna took Mom to the antique mall...

...and got frozen yogurt!

Later that evening we went out all together for dinner and bowling

Digging into some dessert

It's going, going, gone!

A full living room with friends and Tallon blurring the shot :)

I love Fall and this little munchkin; so doing school with her in perfect weather is pretty much a win-win situation

Chatting away with Grandma Margarete and her always wonderful daughter, Mrs. Patty

 "Honey, let's talk."

Creative angles ;)

Park day!

Getting ready to go down the slide

It's looking like a nail spa! Mom has fun pampering the Grandmas and making their hands look pretty

Mr. Glen brought his son, Michael over to visit with Grandma Glenys. It was nice meeting you!

One of Glenys' granddaughters was getting married, so her daughter, Ms. Debbie and her two daughters, came over on the big day to doll her up!

It was serious business, folks :)

The finished product. What a lovely job!

Johanna and Mama spent the rest of the afternoon going through a magazine

Mama seemed to know that it was a special day, she couldn't stop smiling!

Focused

Somehow we all happened to have the blue/black color-scheme going on

On our way! It was a lovely wedding.

The day after the wedding, Mr. Randy, another of Mama's sons, and his wife came over for a visit...

...as did the lovely Ms. Shirley!

Beautiful flowers from the wedding

"Life is like math; if it's too easy something is wrong" -Unknown :)

Dad is always so good about taking time out of his day to spend time doing the little things that mean so much to us.

Grandma Lorry enjoyed chatting with these sweet boys at church one Sunday

Two lovely sets of lovebirds out for dinner at the amazing Texas de Brazil

Oh the joys of a squishy baby cuddled up in my arms!

Beautiful Fall days call for lunch on the deck

Sunshine and Autumn-time

What do you get when you've trained hard, eaten well and finished family worship?
This, folks. ^ Now let's all follow suite and get some shut-eye.