Passing Time

How did November pass so quickly??? I just realized I haven't put up our November happenings on the blog with all the business that this time of year brings. After our trip to Arkansas and to a medical missions conference in Louisville, KY at the beginning of the month, we then celebrated my birthday, joined a church, repainted a bedroom for Eli and Hailey, decorated that same bedroom with some twin beds and bedding, finished up our season of gymnastics, ordered Christmas cards, enjoyed some turkey on Thanksgiving (though Marc was working and unable to join us!), did some online shopping for Christmas, hosted several residents in our home for dinner, decorated a Christmas tree, and I still feel like I am missing stuff! It has been a busy month. My hope was to get most of the busy stuff done so that we could enjoy a relaxing month of December as we celebrate Jesus. I have decided the "to do" list is never done and I need to just surrender each day to God and pray for wisdom to see what I am doing that can have eternal significance. I am, however, thankful that some of the preparation means December should be slower than November. And the busy things we do have for December will be spent in fellowship with friends and family at parties, birthdays, and weddings. Stay tuned for a few catch-up posts from the month...

Arkansas FUN

Marc really loves college football. He is always very eager each year to make it to an Arkansas football game to enjoy the spirit of the SEC. We have still never managed to make it back to Ole Miss for a game since we have been married but hope to someday! We decided the Arkansas vs. Tulsa would be our game to attend this year and we loaded up the car a week ago to go call those Hogs. I think we have two of the best little travelers ever, and we were able to make the long drive to Arkansas without any major issues.

As soon as we arrived, we gobbled down some dinner and headed out for a Razorback basketball game. My dad has a box which gives the kids some space to roam around and they love the band and all the people. Eli put on quite a show for us! He has got some moves. :)

The weather was amazing all weekend (though it got colder as the week went on). It was perfect football weather. We enjoyed taking the kids outside several times to soak up the last of the warm weather we will get until spring!

While Marc headed back to Peoria after the weekend, I stayed behind with the kids for a few more days. I decided that while I had my mom's help I would get both of the kids a haircut. It is not fun at all taking Eli to get his hair cut, but I thought if he saw Hailey get hers cut then he might do better. Hailey had never had a haircut and they mostly just trimmed off the length in the back. She did super!

 She was slightly hesitant at first, but nothing a sucker couldn't fix. :)

This was our happy Eli moments before she turned the clippers on... it always goes downhill from there. Afterwards my mom told me I had not adequately prepared her for it all. Ha! I think she and Eli were both traumatized a bit.

As the week went on, the temperatures dropped back down and we were able to enjoy roasting some marshmallows outside. The kids had lots of fun, but I was quite nervous at the combination of fire and sharp metal coat hangers around my wild ones. :)

 Bailey was fascinated with the fire. :)

One reason that I decided to stay with the kids in Arkansas for the week was so that my family could watch the kids the following weekend while Marc and I attended a medical missions conference in Louisville, KY. It was the most highly attended year yet for this conference (around 2500 people!) and we left feeling so encouraged about the work that God is doing around the world through people in health care. It was also fun to reconnect with friends from all over. We even ran into two couples from Canada that we served with in Guatemala back in 2007. The event is held at Southeast Christian Church. This is the only church I have ever been in that has escalators! You can read more about this conference and medical missions HERE.

I still have some blogging to catch up on since getting home but that may not happen just yet. I seem to have lots of other "projects" going that are stealing my free time. :)

Halloween Fun

I love carving pumpkins. Halloween can be a little really creepy in the way some people celebrate. I had previously always bought the kids' costumes in a kid store like The Children's Place or somewhere similar. This year I went in Spirit Halloween in search of costumes. Wow. I will just look online next year! We try to keep it clean and simple in our house and focus on some fun time with family. Pumpkin carving has become a favorite tradition with our kids along with some yummy roasted seeds after all the messy hard work. :)

Nana and Papa D made sure to send some goodies from Arkansas for the kids' to enjoy for Halloween.

This year we went to Trick-or-Treat in Bloomington with Marc's sister's family. ReeRee and Papa brought pizza over and we had a great evening. The kids had a fun time with their cousins. They are all fairly close in age and get along really well. Dan and Angie had just moved into a new house, and I couldn't believe the trick-or-treating in their new neighborhood. Almost every house was participating and passing out the BEST candy. This pregnant mama was super excited to share in our kids' collection when it was all over!

I always seem to forget to get a good picture of our two until they are well distracted and unwilling to take a photo. Here they are watching all the other kids walk up a sidewalk to trick-or-treat and wondering why their mama has them stuck in front of a garage door for a photo. Ha!

 What better way to sort through your kids' candy than to put them in front of a TV. :)

Hailey's Birthday Party

We just celebrated Hailey's 2nd birthday with family last weekend. We had so much fun loving on Hailey all weekend. She is really cute at this age and lots of fun to watch as she learns and grows more each and every day. Minnie Mouse is her favorite right now so her party theme was pretty easy. :)

I think the kids' birthday are the only time out of the year that I get to pull out my art supplies and make something fun. I really enjoy it! I especially love picking out some of their pictures from the year to decorate with. It is so amazing to see how much they grow up in a year. About 1/3 of Hailey's pictures this year came from our time in Africa. We created so many memories in our five months there! Would you believe me if I told you that not a single day has passed since we have returned that I have not thought of or spoken of our experiences and the people there??? I am still trying to process it all. I am thankful to have so many pictures (and this blog!) to show our kids from our first trip as a family abroad. :)

 Miss Hailey June

It was fun to have both of our families together to celebrate. They don't get to see each other very often because the distance between them is over eight hours. So, these are always special times for me and Marc.

Hailey had all of her cousins to help her celebrate... even the littlest one who mostly just sucked her fingers and smiled during the gift opening. :)

Our sweet friend Gracie sent a gift all the way from Wichita. I think Hailey was more excited to hear me say Gracie's name than to actually unwrap the present and see what was inside. She kept squealing, "Oh, Gracie!" Thanks Gracie (and Dean and Dianna) for the gifts for Hailey and Eli. We miss you all.

 Love this smile. :)

 It took several blows but she eventually blew her candle out. Notice that big brother Eli was trying to help from the sidelines. Ha!

We had a great weekend celebrating. We have the best families! Thanks for coming.