Family

Eli and Wyatt playing at my grandparents' house.  I have so many memories of this screen door from when I was growing.  

Eli with his Pappy.

Silas with his best friend and uncle, Blake.

Wyatt with his great-grandfather.

Grandpa with Silas.  He plays the same games with Silas that he did with me: arm wrestling (pretend) and wanting to count his ribs.

Christmas Tree Hunting

We set out to find a Christmas tree once I got back from Haiti.  We don't usually put our tree up until around the 10th of December for two reasons.  One, it's a live tree and I don't feel like having too much of a fire hazard in our house, and two, Christian and I get tired of Christmas really quick.  

We always get our tree from off the land somewhere. So we set off with the boys to find the perfect tree.  Not too tall, not too short, not too wide, and not too lean.

This one looked good.

Christian chopping it down.

Silas' main priority was finding a path through the blackberry vines.

Eli still gets picked up and doesn't have to worry about 'spikeys'.

Eli watching Daddy intently.  He loves saws and constantly has a plastic knife that he pretends is a chainsaw.  

Fitting it in the house.  

Christian and Eli putting the ornaments up.

Silas decorating the tree.

Christmas tree 2012.  

Thanksgiving 2012

Just a quick entry, to post pictures with a few notes. 

Our wonderful friends Josh and Becky came up again this year.  I think I have this same exact picture for four years running now.  With the same expression on Josh's face.

Faith and Silas.  She's a very artistic, creative, beautiful girl.

Eli, me and a photobomber.

Eli enjoying some part of Thanksgiving dinner.  Probably the dessert part.

The grub.  Two different mushroom dishes this year.  I give thanks to God for giving us mushrooms. Especially when they're stuffed with brie or stewed for nine hours in red wine.

The twins enjoying some turkey.

My sister and her lovely husband. 

The bird, and a photobomber.  Again, I know I have this exact picture from last year.

And very much worth giving thanks for:  the hubby's parents first Thanksgiving after just having immigrated to America!

Chatting post-meal. 

Silas and Christopher, Josh and Becky's oldest child.  He is a calm, creative, imaginative child and I love it when Silas gets to see him.

Leaves

Each year the garden gets filled with leaves, and each year the boys enjoy jumping in the pile before it gets swept into the compost or garden beds.

My Birthday...And the Arrival of the Grandparents

Just before my 33rd birthday, my husband's parents immigrated to Arkansas from England!  It's something we've been hoping and praying for for almost 7 years, so it was a joy for the day to finally arrive.  And since they are Dennetts, and 'knees up' is their middle name, we had a party to celebrate both my birthday and their arrival.  

The morning of my birthday, I woke up to two beautiful boys, a wonderful husband, coffee, numerous presents, and a nice breakfast.

Every day is a gift when I get to spend it with this guy.

 For lunch, aforementioned wonderful husband prepared a marvelous picnic lunch for me with all my favorite little foods. We took it to the top field, invited Grandma and Grandpa, and munched.

Every time I turned a camera towards Eli and told him to say cheese, he would actually lift up his piece of cheese and show it to me.

Silas munching on chips and sitting under the Wedding Tree.

He even made me Fried Brie with Panko crumbs!  He's amazing.  And the Brie was amazing, too.

With Grandma...hooray!

One of my babies and me.

All of us at the picnic.  I always love picnics on my birthday because it's so late in the year.  The weather almost always seems to be nice and gives us one last opportunity to enjoy the sunshine and warm weather before the cold comes.

The next night was the real 'knees up' which, I think, roughly translates to dinner and dancing.  My father-in-law and brother-in-law cooked a brilliant Beef Wellington and gave us a proper English meal.  It was delicious and I'm very thankful we have such great cooks in the family.

We do have a wonderful time when we all get together.

Char taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.

And the wonderful dessert she made me (white chocolate/raspberry cheesecake and lime cheesecake).  They were both delectable.

I thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

Next came the bonfire, which had to be quickly put out as the wind was too strong and the ground too dry.

But not before Eli and the rest of the children had some marshmallows.

After that we came back inside, put most of the children to bed, and started the music.

Stephen was our sitar player while Char and I danced Bollywood style (no pictures of that thank goodness).

Silas always enjoys some Scottish dancing with the grown ups.  I don't know why his parents let him stay up so late.  Oh, wait...

There!  Proof!  Sort of.  That is Lynden dancing!  I did warn him before the wedding that it would lead to this.  

I do also have to note that this was my first birthday since the arrival of my mother to the area.  While I didn't get to spend my actual birthday with her (she was traveling for work), it was a blessing to spend a day out with her for my birthday.  I also got to spend the evening of my birthday with my sister, and we got pedicures and ate sushi - exactly what I wanted.