8 Months

Kanaan is 8 months old. Almost 9! He is a busy little guy and has such a great temperament. At 8 months he is...
- saying "ma ma ma ma," "ba, ba, ba," "na, na, na, na"
- grunts to get your attention and laugh
- has the best belly laugh when Daddy snuggles his neck
- can click his tongue
- can crawl, although still pretty slow going
- can pull himself up and 'walk' around as long he's holding onto something & holding onto your fingers
- is 20 lbs. and about 26" tall (big sis is only 26 lbs!!)

Time goes so quick - Oct. & Nov. catch up

Is it really December!? Is it really almost Christmas?? Well then I have some catching up to do. I may be making another post soon after this so that I can continue to catch everyone up on our busy, ever changing lives!!

We finished off Keira's birthday celebrations up in MI with Gramma & Granpa and the rest of the gang. Jason made an Ariel cake for the party and it was a big hit!

He did such a good job that no one wanted to touch it right away :)

Here we are at the pumpkin patch at Nana's house. We even got to go on a hayride!! The kids both loved it!

Trunk-or-treating at a friends church. It was a HUGE turnout and super cold.

Our beautiful pink butterfly <3

And Buzz Lightyear!

This was our second night out. The outfits similar to how they started.

Kanaan at 8 mo. :D

This year we were at Uncle Tiffer & Cole's house for Thanksgiving. Paw Paw & Mimi handed out presents early!! The sock monkey's were a big hit!! Thank you!

Paw Paw & his crew :)

We also had a visit from a college roommate of mine and her TWO little ones. Here Alex is with Kanaan.

And here's Keira with Chloe. Too cute. Wish they could have stayed longer and visited. The girls got along great and didn't want to stop playing.

Pay it Forward

This past Tuesday the kids and I were at the library for story time. Kanaan usually sleeps right thru it, but Keira really enjoys singing the songs and listening to the stories. Well, story time was over and we were heading back up to the front to check out our new books. I knew that our last books/CD's were overdue (by like a week, ugh) and we would have a fine. I just didn't know how much. I get up there, and the lady says, "ma'am you owe $2.25." And it needs to be under $1.00 in order for me to check anything out. I didn't have that much, but I did have $1.25 in change!! So I dished out what I could. But technically speaking it still wasn't under a dollar. So I was beginning to prepare myself to calmly and rationally explain to Keira that we weren't going to be able to get library books this week - no big deal. That's when the lady beside me in line threw out a dollar onto the counter and said "here, use this." I looked at her and said that it was no big deal, thank you anyway. I appreciated the gesture, but no thanks. She persisted and simply said "Pay it forward." And at first I kind of just gave here a questioning look, but she said it again and I asked 'are you sure?' She simply nodded. I just looked at her straight in the eye and said thank you. I must have proceeded to say thank you like 20 times after that, but I just felt an overwhelming urge to hug her. I think I just patted her arm instead, but tears even welled up in my eyes and everything. You just don't see generosity like that anymore. For a complete stranger. God is everywhere and I saw him this week. :)

I love fall!!!

Can I just say that I LOVE fall! The warmer days, the cool evenings, wearing jeans and sweatshirts, the BE-A-U-Tiful fall leaves! This past weekend I was able to make the drive from Huntington to Fort Wayne a couple times and there's a stretch on 24 that is just amazing this time of year. The leaves were definitely in their best. God is so creative.

The kids and I were also able to take a walk out at one of our parks recently. Keira and I collected some leaves and acorns for a couple fall projects. It was great to see all the leaves falling around us and hear the wind - so peaceful. I think we were the only ones there! Here's a couple pix of us enjoying the out of doors :D

Summer is over the fall is here...

Sitting all by myself in this scratchy green stuff. Lots of fun to grab and pick up though!

I like being outside Mom!

Our favorite sibling pose

And they all fall down

My big girl

Cheese!

We had a good time

Enjoying the fall leaves

They really do get along so well together. Can't wait till Kanaan is old enough to move about and 'play.' Happy Fall everyone!

Thankful Thursday

This has been a great week! One of birthday celebrations, great fall weather and fun family time.

I turned the big 3-0 this year and Jason orchestrated a great day. I started off by having breakfast at good 'ol Bob Evans and came home to the picture above. I am so thankful for my husband. I definitely felt special on my special day.

I am thankful for my now 3 year old!! She is pure delight to have around. She is so helpful around the house with Kanaan, she loves to sing songs that she has made up, she loves bags, purses or any other sort of thing that holds her assorted collectables around the house, and she loves clothes! Keira has grown at least an inch over the summer and enjoys changing her clothes at least 3-4 times a day!!.

I'm thankful for cake!!

Thankful for cards! Keira especially enjoyed her princess cards and I think my official count ended up somewhere around 61!!

Thankful for books! Thankful for story time on Tuesdays at the library and thankful for time spent in the word for me and the little one's thru AWANA and BSF.

Thankful for family :)