So Much To Be Thankful For!

The title pretty much says it all for us this year! Our family has a lot to be thankful for! This past week I realized that it has been 2 months that Alissa has been home here with our family. Pretty amazing! I don't know where the time went or what we've accomplished...other than lots of time bonding as a family! That's what is most important! 

Thanksgiving Day we enjoyed 2 dinners. One with the Weavers (Brent's mom's side) at Garden Spot Village. We had fun after our big buffet meal playing shuffleboard, ping pong, and just hanging out together. At 4pm we were off to our next meal--at 5pm. We headed to my Aunt Sue and Uncle Ken's house for the Wile meal (My Dad's side). There we enjoyed another wonderful meal, and a lot of time for my cousin's kids to get to know Alissa. Alissa loved playing with her new friends as well as meeting the dog. She is scared to death of dogs, but BeBe seems to have been the exception. Alissa loved giving her treats! 

This weekend we had fun with friends and more time just the 4 of us. Oh, how I love to say the 4 of us! 

Brent left for hunting this morning, off to get the big one. We are getting ready for our yearly tradition of decorating a gingerbread house while Daddy is gone. It will be fun for Benjamin and now Alissa to join in on our tradition! I'll post some of those pics later! 

We are very thankful this holiday season for you our family and friends!

First Snow

This morning we woke up to snow showers! Everyone in the house was excited. We are pretty sure that Alissa has never seen snow before. She is from the southeastern area of China. The area has palm trees and mountains. The weather reminded us of FL. I opened the sliding glass door for her to check it out. You can see that in the PJ's picture. We ended up running an errand this morning, but after that we came home and went out on the deck. We tested it out first...pic with no coat. Don't worry Grandmas, I did put a coat on her then...see the pics for proof! :-) She wanted one of my containers and a spoon. She had a blast scooping it up! All these firsts are so much fun! Gets me in the mood for Christmas! Sadly the snow is almost gone already. Oh well, I'm sure there will be more this winter to enjoy!

Happy Birthday Brent!

Happy Birthday to my best friend...the best husband and dad! 

We plan on celebrating Brent's birthday tonight as a family. His birthday meal request--Chinese food. I'm attempting to make a dish. We'll see how that goes! I have some soup and egg rolls from a local Chinese restaurant, so we won't go hungry! 

The highlight of our evening...other than celebrating you Brent, is to go to the airport to meet our friends Kenton and Janelle. They have been in China with their son to meet their daughter Josie. We can't wait to see them! 

Enjoy your day Brent!

Fall Fun

This past weekend we enjoyed some fun times together. On Friday Alissa and I went to my friend Julie's house. There Alissa met Hailey (Julie's daughter) and Kate. Kris, Kate's mom is a friend of Julie's. Kris and her family were in China this past spring to adopt Kate. It was fun for Alissa to meet new friends, and for Mommy to have adult conversation. Thanks Julie for the play date and lunch! Oh by the way notice the matching shirts? Julie's sister Jill sent them to all of us. Thanks again Jill!

This weekend we went to the cabin for one last archery hunt. No luck! Benjamin enjoyed hunting with Daddy and Grandpa. We came home late this afternoon so Alissa could get to bed early tonight. We were able to have fun playing outside in the leaves before heading in for the evening. I love fall! The leaves are so beautiful and a great reminder of our Amazing Creator! Hope everyone else had a great weekend too!

Mommy's Little Baker...

and taste tester!

Caught you!

Last night while Benjamin was playing with a friend, Alissa and I baked some pumpkin cookies together. She said it best yummy in tummy! So much fun!

Sleepless in Lititz...

I found this title to be appropriate of my life lately. Although, I must give Alissa credit for last night. I was able to sleep in my own bed until 4:30am. ! So I haven't posted in a while I know. Honestly I haven't had the time or energy to. Nap times lately have been Mommy's time to catch a few zzzz's or get caught up on things around the house. Today I'm feeling full of energy. A decent night's rest and a brisk walk this morning seemed to do the trick. So enough about the sleep deprivation here. Since the last post we have experienced more firsts. Benjamin finished up his first fall baseball season. He did great! Baseball is for sure his passion! On a side note yeah Phillies! Benjamin's favorite team won the World Series. More firsts, we visited Benjamin's school for his Race for Education. His friends enjoyed meeting Alissa. We also visited the grandparents' houses for the first time. Alissa seemed to make her self at home. We made a bold move by making a trip to the cabin for a weekend too. She seemed to really like it there too. We have also had first time visits from some friends and my grandparents. B & A's great-grandparents. That's pretty cool! The last first is Alissa's cold. She got one of those this weekend. Just a snotty nose, but still a first. We're waiting on the next first...sleeping through the night!!!