Thanksgiving 2008

For Thanksgiving, we headed to the lake house in north Alabama and met up with the Warren's. Everyone was able to be there and we had a great time. We had wonderful weather on Thursday so there were a lot of outdoor activities for everyone. Glynda made a wonderfully huge meal that of course we all ate too much of. Here are some pictures from our time together.

Bathtime for Mary Harper - 6 months old

My picture got out of order, but here is Julianna & Keaton enjoying thier bathtime!

(For some reason I CANNOT get this picture to rotate)....Glynda made Julianna a Barney cake and we got to celebrate a belated birthday for her with the Warrens.

Rebecca with newest Warren cousin, Mary Harper

Christian & Mary Harper

Silly 3 year olds!

Mitch was the chaueffer for the younger kids on the go-kart

Rebecca helped the twins make hand shaped turkeys for the place settings

Blakesly decided to join the kid table only for the picture - she's now 13 and finds herself at the adult table!!!

Bath time for the girls

Silly cousins (nice bow, Blakesly)

Rebecca met the neighbor who was there from Ohio and had a blast with her - this is Julia from Lebanon, Ohio - hopefully we'll run into her next summer!

As low as it's gonna go.....

Well, this is probably the last time I'll blog about gas prices for a while, but I took this picture on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving when we filled up on the way to the lake for Thanksgiving with the Warrens. It's awesome to see gas this low, however, it seems to be creeping up already so I hope you all enjoyed it while it lasted like we did!

Quick note about video below

I just have to give credit where credit is due. My friend Sara, who lives in Turkey, did this on her blog and it cracked me up. So of course I went to JibJab and wasted WAY too much time making this and multiple other videos of our family members and friends. But it's hilarious, especially if you're a High School Musical fan (as we are) and have seen the 3rd movie in theaters. Enjoy!

This is too funny!

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Keep on going......down!!!!

One week after my last post, since we filled up the tank of our Yukon last Friday, I thought it appropriate to show you what we paid today.... Look below!!!

That's right - we paid $1.55 a gallon. (We did fill up so it did cost more than $2.05) We're certainly enjoy it while it's lasting! I just checked Christian's baby book - we paid $1.07 in April of 1998 when he was born...wow!

Happy Birthday Julianna

Our beautiful Julianna turned 3 on November 17th. What a blessing she is to our family and to so many people she comes in contact with. More proof that God knows so much more and what's better for us than we do!!!

Julianna actually slept in on Monday morning and was still in bed when the big kids left for school. They were SOOO disappointed that they didn't get to tell her Happy Birthday, but they made up for it when we picked them up from school.

We had some family friends over for dinner and cake and ice cream and had a Dora party. Let me explain that Julianna has been HUGE into Barney during this past year. Yes, he's still around, although he is much harder to find. Most of the movies she has of his are the same ones that either Christian and Rebecca had or that were even passed down to us from Michael and Morgan! So when I went to look for Barney birthday plates, they were nowhere to be found. I was able to find them on line, but considering I waited until the weekend before her birthday to look, it would have cost me considerably more to ship them here in time than the plates cost themselves......

Julianna has very recently become a fan of Dora the Explorer and enjoys a full show. You can often hear her counting to five in Spanish and saying Spanish words that I don't even know. It's cute - so we went the route of Dora. I figure her 2nd year was a Barney year - I have a feeling this 3rd year will totally be a Dora year. So that's how we got to our theme, which she loved.

Thanks to the family who sent her gifts, cards and even made phone calls (Sorry Uncle Justin & Aunt Mandy!) :-) Here are some pictures from her celebration....

The beautiful birthday girl

We've been practicing blowing out candles and it paid off!

Rebecca & Morgan

Katie, Sara & Molly Wiggins

Christian & Michael

This Georgia Bulldog bear plays the Georgia song - Julianna knows the words and will even spell out G-E-O-R-G-I-A with it. I tried to get video, but of course she wouldn't cooperate then!

See how excited she is about the Dora toothbrush? (She was just as excited when she pulled out her OWN tube of Dora toothpaste!)

A new hooded towel from the Wiggins - we've already used it and she loves it

Dora's Backpack from the Locke's - that went to school with her today

Christian helping her read "Map"

Grumps & Gigi got her a bike - she wasn't quite ready for the real bicycle yet so this thing is perfect for her

She's wanted a scooter so her Mimi (my grandmother) "gave" this to her - it got great reviews but we quickly realized we will need to purchase a helmet!!! She loves it though but we may have to make it an inside toy as long as we can.

Julianna & her friends

A Modern Day Knight

Recently, Matthew read a book called, "Raising a Modern Day Knight" by Robert Lewis. The idea of the book is to solidify relationships between fathers and sons as boys grow into manhood. It is based on chivarly, valor - what it means to be a modern day knight. Matthew thought this was a great idea and something that could be used with the men and boys in our own church.

So Friday night, we had a ceremony. There were nine dads who were affirming their commitment to lead their families, especially their sons, in godliness so these boys would in turn become modern Christian knights. There was a charge to the dads, followed by a knighting (with a model Excalibur sword - very cool), declared intentions and vows. There was also a private opportunity for each Dad to talk to their families and even give small token gifts if desired. This was a very special event to observe and participate in and I'm so proud of both Matthew & Christian.

Following the ceremony, the boys and dads remained at the church for a overnight campout. During this time, there were more ceremonies based on the symbolism of light,and specific instructions given to the boys about their responsibility to begin this process. Matthew anticipates inducting Christian into the order in the summer. Then Christian will begin the journey to knighthood.

The weather turned cold and rainy so the "camp out" ended up a sleep over in the youth building but from what I understand, no one complained. Since the boys were gone, the girls decided to have a sleep over with Brandi & Morgan, who were also boy-less. It was a great evening all around. Here are some pictures from the ceremony. It's hard to get good pictures in the church anyway, especially when the lights are turned down, but you should be able to get an idea of it all with these pictures.

Our Administrative Pastor, David, knighting Matthew

Christian & Matthew with Thomas - a young man at church with a single mom, sponsored by these men

Matthew gave Christian a compass signifying the need for direction in his life. Matthew affirmed that he will help direct Christian to manhood.

Matthew gave Rebecca a necklace that had a heart, cross, lock and key on it signifying the importance of Christ and our protection of her as she grows into a godly woman

Matthew gave Julianna some gold Dora earrings, signifying his love for her (she's 3!!!)

Each man was given a framed print of a personalized shield with the Greek words "One Faith, One Hope, One Lord." In the banner is the Greek from I Timothy that says "Fight the good fight."


And of course they had to get their picture taken with the Excalibur sword!!!