Bad Monday Morning

We were all rested and excited to get back to our normal routine after the wonderful holiday weekend on Monday morning. The day was moving smoothly until about 10 minutes til 8 when another vehicle decided to hit me in the rear end. (Thank goodness I had already dropped Jared off at the sitter). Not only was it an accident it was at one of the busiest intersections in Spfld during our "big rush hour". Due to the fact it was a non-injury accident it took the cops 20 minutes to get to the scene. Sitting in traffic was worse mentally than the accident.

I am very sore today in parts of my body that I didn't know could hurt. These type of things are just such an inconvenience to not have transportation and having to rely on others.

We are very thankful that no one was hurt. Cars are fixable and can be replaced.

It just didn't start the week off on a good note.

I hope everyone elses week goes better.

Christmas Parade

Republic had their Christmas parade and Haley marched in it. The kids got lots of candy and saw their first glance of the Big Red Guy (Santa).

As you can see, Logan was really excited about being there. Addie and Jared had a great time.

The other picture is Haley as she marches by.

Sat. morning after Thanksgiving

Jared is so excited about Christmas that he can't stand it. When we woke up there was just a little bit of snow. He thought Santa should have been there since it had snowed. He wanted to know where the Christmas presents were.

After we got the living room cleaned up we started in decorating for Christmas. Jared enjoyed helping put up the big Christmas tree. He has his own tree to do when we find everything from the move. He can't wait to do his own.

Black Friday

I wish I would have pictures. Logan, Kim, mom, and I started out the day at 5:20 in the morning. We went to Target where we couldn't even get near. The people were standing hundreds deep just to get in the store. Nothing that we wanted to endure. We went to Kmart and ToysRus. By the time we got to ToysRus we were smarter. We got in line and then took turns shopping.

While we were out, Craig and Jared did some shopping for me. They had a great time hanging out together.

We all met for lunch and then went our separate ways.

Thanksgiving Day

On Thanksgiving we travelled to St. Joe to eat with Craig's parents. We went to Cracker Barrel. After lunch we stopped by Craig's Aunt Juanita and her family. Jared and I had never met her or her family. It was a nice visit. We then went to Maysville for a few minutes. Craig's nephews then came by for just a few minutes before we began the journey home. We came back to the Keck's to have dinner with Kevin and his family, Kim and her family, and my mom and dad. We celebrated my birthday with them.

Thanksgiving moments

I don't have any pictures to post, but just thought I would share how wonderful family and kids are. We have been reading a lot of books about Thanksgiving and Christmas and the shows on Nogn and Disney are starting to be geared toward the holidays as well. Jared is really into the holidays and what is going on. That is a lot of fun, but last weekend he and I (I was reading a magazine sitting beside him) were watching a show and the characters asked what each of us was thankful for. Jared sat there a few minutes and he said he was thankful for his Mommy and Daddy. Of course my nose came right out of the magazine and asked him to repeat it. It choked me up and he said Mommy don't cry it is a good thing that I love you.

As I reflect on that, we have so much to be thankful for as a country and as an individual. God instructs us to be thankful in our attitudes, our actions, and our prayer life just to name a few. So as each of you get together in the coming weeks with family, friends, or acquaintances please be reminded how thankful we are to be able to worship freely and celebrate the holidays with people we love.

Enjoy the summer weather with Christmas lights

After church activities were over we headed to Branson for a night as Silver Dollar City. It was a perfect night to be outside. No coats and no crowd. We were able to enjoy the lights and not freeze. The lights are absolutely gorgeous and the atmosphere and smells of baked goods really help you think about the upcoming season.

Jared thought the trees around the big tree in the town square were dancing, because the wind was blowing through them. He kept dancing and said he was dancing with the trees.

Last Trip to Mizzou

We made our last road trip to Mizzou on Sat. The Tigers beat Texas A&M. Go Tigers! It was a beautiful day in Columbia. Somedays Jared thinks he is Chase Daniel (the Mizzou QB) and other days he says that Chase is is favorite friend and football player. Saturday during the game Jared decided that Chase should come to our house to play with him. Jared wanted my cell phone to be able to call him. Boy the things little kids think of and dream of.

The tigers have 2 more regular season game, hopefully the big 12 championship game, and finally we hope to have to travel to a warm destination on Jan. 1st for a bcs bowl game.

If you can't tell by the excitement on the little guys face, he was having a good time at "the Zou"

Weekend adventures

Craig had to work on Sat. so Jared and I tried to get a little Christmas shopping done. Jared was bored, but finally fell asleep.

Sunday was more his type of day. After church and lunch we spent the afternoon outside riding his gator and playing with his trucks. We enjoyed the warm afternoon and the beautiful trees all around.

I have put a few pictures of our house and our view.

Halloween Night

Jared man was so excited. He ran from house to house. I didn't even have time to say hello to anyone. He was great at saying trick or treat and thank you, but got very upset when someone said what a cute dragon or frog. He would immediately correct them and say I am a dinosaur.

He loved running through the leaves but let everyone know they needed to rake their yards.

We had a surprise visitor at Nana and Papas. Misty and Paula brought over Finn. Misty had him dressed like a little bear. He was so cute and trying to crawl. Jared tried to play with him, but couldn't understand why he didn't crawl around.