A day at home with Daddy!

These are the kinds of things that happen in our house when Daddy gets the day off from work :).

Thanksgiving crafts

Grace and Andy did a few Thanksgiving crafts yesterday and I had to share the final product :).

Grace's handprint turkey (complete with drawing of herself and 4 legs ;) ). Grace was thankful this year for her family and for Jesus in her heart.

My cute girl.

Andy was thankful for his Nana and Papa, Grandpa and Grandma, (his friends) Claire and Brooks, and his family :). I loved the way he was listing off all the people he loves and holds dear.

"Cheese!" This silly boy won't give a real smile for the camera for anything.

Candy turkeys (I was supposed to use candy corn for the feather but was unable to locate them, so we went with reeses pieces instead).

The finished product. I din't get any photos of the kids enjoying their treats, but their faces were covered in frosting by the time they were done, so I think they were a hit ;).

First snow

Today, we had our first snow of the season. I love how snow is just magical for my children at this age. Although I don't think it will stick around for long, they loved running around and catching snowflakes.

Jesus in my heart

Grace just came running to me:

G: "Mommy! I felt something in my heart and I heard Jesus say something to me!!"
M: "What did you hear?"
G: "I heard him say 'I love you Grace!'"
M; "How special Grace! Did you tell him anything back?"
G: "I told him, 'I love you too Jesus, and thanks for being in my heart."

Out of the mouths of babes :).

My little early riser

My little Andy man is quite the morning person. As soon as he wakes up he is chatting away and as happy as can be. I love that about him (although there are times I wish he would choose to sleep in a little bit later than he does).

This morning I awoke to him whispering under his door "MOMMY! MOMMY! I'm awaaaaaake! I'm awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake!" (I was rather thankful for a whisper rather than a shout). He was quite comical morning as he just kept asking obscure and silly questions as we got started on our day.

Andy: "Mommy, do you eat eyeballs?"
Me: "No silly boy, I don't eat eyeballs."
Andy: "Oh, ...me either. And my name is Andy, not silly boy"
Me: "Okay Andy ;)."
Andy: "Mommy, do you eat stickers?"
Me: "No Andy, I don't eat stickers, I eat food!"
Andy: "I like stickers."
(Pause)
Andy: "Mommy"
Me: "Yes?"
Andy: "I like breakfast, do you like breakfast?"
Me: "Yup"
Andy: "I like craisin' cran' crunch' aaaand juice aaaaand bananas aaaaand fishies aaaaand apples aaaaand yogurt aaaaaand fruit snacks."
Me: "Do you want some breakfast?"
Andy: "Nope."

Just a day in the life with my little man, I sure do love him. :)

Out of the mouths of babes...

This morning while traveling in the car, the CD we were listening to skipped. This is the conversation that ensued:

Grace: What happened?
Me: The CD has a scratch so it isn't working.
Grace: Well, we need to take it to the doctor!

Out of the mouths of babes :).

Birthday Recap

This year for Grace and Andy's birthday we celebrated with a joint party. We had the theme of Mickey and Minnie Mouse! Grandma Carol was kind enough to make special birthday shirts for Grace and Andy to wear on the day of their party. We were also blessed to have Nana and Papa Littler in town to celebrate as well. It was a beautiful day and the kids had so much fun celebrating with their friends and family!

Grace turned 4 and Andy turned 3 !

Grace's birthday shirt.

Steve and Devin spent time working on the party favors for the kiddos: personalized Mickey and Minnie shirts!

The finished products.

The kids also spent some time coloring a Mickey and Minnie puzzle,....

played outside (an all had homemade ears to wear),....

and played pin the bow on Minnie!


They enjoyed some cupcakes... :)

And opened some wonderful gifts from friends and family!

Our kiddos are so blessed with wonderful people to help them celebrate their special day!

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011

I purchased the kids' costumes last year at a Halloween clearance sale. Grace had been asking monthly, weekly, and sometimes daily, about when she got wear her Cinderella costume. She was thrilled when Halloween finally arrived!

In her words "Mommy, I have waited FOREVER to be Cinderella!"

(The wig only lasted for about 15 minutes at the church harvest party, it didn't even come out for trick-or-treating.)

Andy went as Buzz Lightyear and was constantly running into people, tables, walls, and anything and everything else with his wings :). "To infinity - AND beyond!"


The Benedick family and Duerksen grandparents (Emma and Macy's other set of grandparents) got together to enjoy some dinner over at G.G.'s house. This is our first year of taking the kids door to door trick-or-treating and it was quite a humorous experience.


The kids loved the excitement of getting candy at each door and saying "Happy Halloween!" Grace had commented to her cousin, Emma, earlier in the evening that if you said "Happy Halloween," the person would say it back. At one house in particular, a very excited Grace said "Happy Halloween" to the lady handing out candy and the woman replied with "thank you." As Grace ran back to meet us at the end of the driveway, she paused, turned around and shouted at the woman "You need to say Happy Halloween back!" :)

Andy, on the other hand, was so excited meeting new people (and dogs of course), that he just welcomed himself into a few houses by walking right through their front door!


By the end of the evening, it was getting pretty cold so Andy found a good spot to stay warm between houses. I don't think Grandpa minded too much ;).