tie-dye turkeys

     

okay, this simple, little thanksgiving craft was a huge hit in our house so we thought we'd share it with you (granted you really won't want to make it until next year at this point, but oh well)!  we call them tie-dye turkeys. 

directions: take a coffee filter and let the kids go-to-town on it completely covering it with marker.  then, spray it with water and hang it to dry. meanwhile, cut out a turkey body of some sort (to make it even more original, you could trace a foot of a child in brown construction paper to get a similar shape).  once the colorful coffee filter is dry, put it together, mount on card-stock for durability and and there you have it - DONE!  you've gotta love a fun, simple art project!  have fun (next year, that is)!  :-)

blessed

  

on thanksgiving morning, usually we get up, relax and watch the macy's thanksgiving day parade, but this year was different.   instead we had the honor of serving with our "thrive" group at our church to prepare and organize the delivery of over 11, 000 meals to families in need (there were numerous churches in the area that partnered together in this effort).  

  

god blesses us so that we can be a blessing to others.  but really, at the end of the day we were the ones that were feeling blessed - to see the happy, smiling faces of the servants and to know that what we were doing was going to bless a deserving family this thanksgiving and give them hope during this holiday season.

oh, and the best part of it all (if you didn't notice it in the picture above), each of the bags that were used to transport food, was hand-decorated with bible verses and pictures by the kids in the church.  how cool that the kids are learning at such a young age the importance of loving and serving others.  

giving thanks

Lord, you are great and powerful. 

Everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you. 

You are honored as the One who rules over all. 

Our God, we give you thanks. 

We praise your glorious name. 

~1 Chronicles 29: 11, 13

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

His faithful love endures forever. 

~ 1 Chronicles 16:34

The Lord has done great things for us, 

And we are filled with joy!

~Psalm 126:3

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

seriously

before the leaves fell, we managed to grab a few fall photos, here they are:

    

    

look at them, aren't they getting so big?  hudson is 3 1/2 and greyson is 1 1/2.  it's unbelievable  and amazing to think of how much they've grown and changed over the months and years.  

seriously, these boys are great!  these boys are truly amazing!  it's hard to explain unless you know them personally, but they are just so much fun and unique in character.  there is just something special about them.  i'm sure every parent must feel this way about their child, but it's true.  they are caring, funny, silly, smart and coordinated, to name a few. 

seriously...they love to dance, to any song really, but especially to taylor swift's "you belong with me."  hudson has managed to learn a lot of the words in the song and always wants to listen to the "t-shirt song".  he doesn't miss a beat and has been very much interested in guitars and drums.  he truly does not miss a beat!  greyson gets in on the action and gets his groove on too!  he dances around and laughs with hudson and has a ball doing it.  it's so cool to observe how much greyson looks up to his brother, always imitating him in everything from his interests, the toys he plays with, to lifting up his shirt to try and go to the bathroom, to dancing and singing and talking.    

seriously, these kids are great!  now, you'd think their favorite shows on TV would be something on PBS or cartoony or have trains or tractors or something, but not our kids.  their favorite show on TV is america's funniest home videos and wheel of fortune (the "letters show").  they laugh at laugh at america's funniest home videos and they shout out letters when we watch wheel of fortune.   i'm telling you, these boys have a sense of humor like no other!!!  

anyways, we could go on forever about how great they are and of course they have their "moments" every day too, but in short, we love them beyond what words can even express.  thank you, God, for these amazing gifts and for entrusting us with them during this life on earth, because we know that they are truly Yours!!!  seriously, God, they are great!!