A Fall trip

I'm playing catch up tonight on old pictures and blog posts. Here are a few pictures from a trip to Oma and Opa's house when Daddy was in Israel and it was still fall.

Rachel loving on Gentoo, our dog.

Josh enjoying the great outdoors and everyday sticks;
something a boy can't live without.

Exploring the rainforest at a children's museum.

I love Rachel's face in this shot. So cute!

What are you up too? Probably the same thing we are... getting ready for Thanksgiving and Christmas!!! Can you believe it's time already? We haven't made Christmas plans yet, but are praying that we will all be able to make it to the beach for Thanksgiving. Please pray for Jason's brother, Russell, that his commanding officer will allow him out of state leave when he returns from Afghanistan. If he does, he will get to come see us for Thanksgiving!

Today we went to Josh's preschool to enjoy a Thanksgiving Feast. We meet in the sanctuary where the kids paraded in wearing their tee-pee stenciled Indian shirts and hats. They were too cute! Then we enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving meal. I think my favorite part about Josh's preschool is all the arts and crafts projects they do. I couldn't nearly do that many at home. I would feel overwhelmed and would get tired of cleaning more things. Needless to say, I am very thankful for this as well as getting to run errands on Thursdays with only one baby, my darling Miss Rachel. I guess I should actually call her a toddler now since she does toddle around very well!

Random tidbits on the kids

• Josh (2 yrs, 8 mns.) is getting better at sharing and showing compassion for others. I'm really amazed at everything her can say to us now. The other day he told Jason everything he had for lunch and it was true! There are some words and phrases that he is confused with. He calls sheep, "baa-baa." He knows they are sheep, but when I ask him, "What's that?" He says,"Baa-baa Mommy. Baa-baa." Also, he says, "Mommy turn the light off," but when asks this, the light is off. He has the off and on parts confused. Oh well. Did I even mention one of his cutest phrases? He calls me honey! I love it! He picked it up from me when I called down to Jason in the basement. I was saying, "Jason, Honey? Can you come up please." Ever since then, he started calling me honey. I haven't asked his school teachers if they have been called honey, but I wouldn't be surprised!

• Rachel (17 mns.) has a growing vocabulary too. A few weeks ago when we were at Oma and Opa's house, she identified a teddy bear on a coffee mug by saying "Bear." I couldn't believe it! She's been successfully going up and down stairs for a while now. She loves to go down slides and climb ladders at playgrounds. She's a bit fearless like her brother., but I would say she's a better listener. She went on her first walk down a big hill in our neighborhood and held my hand the entire way. Although on the way back, she disobeyed and had to go in the stroller. But, I was very happy with how long she walked and obeyed. We are constantly working on obedience with both kids and I'm sure it will never end. Maybe when they are 21? Lastly, she's the best sleeper ever and I am so thankful for this as Josh wavers with being put down for bed (A few weeks ago he was struggling with this, but is doing much better now). The secret is her blanket. Give her the blanket and in her thumb goes. She had her first cold a few weeks ago and this did cause her to wake up in the middle of the night and not put herself back to sleep b/c of her stuffy nose she couldn't suck her thumb. Poor girl. But she's all better now. Praise God for healthy kids in this difficult flu season and more.
  

Go Gamecocks!

This weekend we (Rachel, Josh, and I) went tailgating to USC's Homecoming Game.

We had a great time and got lots of practice cheering for the Gamecocks!

Getting ready for Halloween

As you might notice from the pictures, the kids have more than one costume. No, we are not going trick-or-treating twice in two different outfits. We just ended up with this many from a friend. So, we decided to try them on to see which ones fit best for Halloween. Josh had his Preschool Halloween Party on Tuesday and they got to dress-up for this as well. I think Rachel will wear the pumpkin on Saturday and the monkey costume is long gone. It was way too small for Josh so we loaned it to someone else. Hope you have a fun Halloween!

Rachel enjoying the pumpkin costume,
but not the hat

Josh and his ripped muscles

Our little fairy

Brother and sisterly love

At Josh's school

Happy Fall

This is my favorite time of year for so many reasons. I LOVE the colors of fall, the cooler weather, the food prepared (apples, pumpkins, turkey), and the celebrations (my birthday, Halloween, and Thanksgiving). This provides so much to be happy about and so many reasons to thank God for all of His creation. Thank be to God!

Happy Halloween!

We hope you had a great Halloween! We dressed up, gave out some candy at the house, and then headed down the street to hang out with our neighbors on the cool autumn night. We enjoyed snacks and good drinks while staying warm by the fire pit in their front yard. Josh quickly figured out how to trick-or-treat. He grabbed a bucket and started walking around with it. We let him run around and have a few treats too (some M-n-Ms and Dum-Dums). Soon, it was way past bedtime and we all went to sleep. I'm still playing catch up since we've been out of town but hope to get some new posts up soon.

Here are some photos of my two little pumpkins from Halloween night. : )

My Favorite Pumpkin

Last weekend Jason's parents came down to visit and we all went to Whole Foods to enjoy shopping like the Food Network stars. Here are some photos taken in their pumpkin patch outside. As you can tell from the smiles, we had a great time!