Happy Birthday Blessings to 2 of my dear children! I love you both so much! There was a time when I thought maybe God wasn't going to give us any more children and I would comfort myself with scripture (Samuel,etc...). I want to say today "Thank you God for giving us the privelege and responsibility to raise these children."

Today is RiverGirl's 12th birthday and Little Guy's 4th birthday.

RiverGirl has never gotten over what a wonderful birthday present God gave her when a baby brother was born 4 years ago!

Today promises to be a perfect day for hot cocoa, games, and movies. Tonight is a scheduled family party for Little Guy at Grandma and Grandpa's house...we'll see if the weather allows for that or not. We may have a private party at home. Tomorrow we'll be having a special tea party celebration for RiverGirl at a local Bed and Breakfast. I like to do something special for birthday #12. I've invited ladies and girls only, mostly important family members but also some very dear friends (the almost family kind of friends!). I want this to be a special time when these dear ladies can pass on some words of wisdom and share a quiet time with her. I'll post about what she gets and hopefully add pictures after tomorrow.:-)

Sunydazy

I trust you all had a very nice Thanksgiving.

Ours was great! We had a wonderful time visiting with friends and relatives and the children played till they were exhausted!

Today we plan to put up our outdoor Christmas decorations. I don't know if we'll get the indoor ones done or if we'll wait until next weekend. Either way, today promises to be full of fun for everyone in our house! We love to put up lights and Daddy is famous (in our neighborhood!;-)) for his giant star (approx. 20 feet)!  Here is a picture from previous years:

Since this picture was taken we have added quite a few things to our collection, including icicle lights.

My husband and I are at our best when it comes to celebrations...we love to work together to make special memories!

We have a lot going from now until January.We just LOVE this time of year!

Our holidays start with Thanksgiving and include my oldest DD birthday, my youngest DS birthday, Christmas (and all the family and friend related events), New Years Eve (we like to host a gathering at our house), and our youngest 2 DD's birthdays. Of course, there are some nieces and aunts and grandparents birthdays in there, as well! After that I will probably have a post holiday let down and need to get some rest!

I'm going to close for now...I've had a morning cup of coffee. it's time to serve breakfast and start pulling out boxes of lights...I'll check in and post again if I get a chance so you can see our progress!

Sunydazy

 I hope you have a special day celebrating Thanksgiving.

God is so good.

We will be spending the day with relatives. We plan to fellowship, eat and play games.

If you are blogging today I hope you'll leave me a message. God Bless you! I'll be back soon!

Sunydazy

For those of you who want to encourage your children to do something for others for Christmas, Samaritan's Purse Ministries offers a great opportunity to be involved with Operation Christmas Child. You still have today and tomorrow to get your shoeboxes for kids made and delivered to a drop off site. We'll be making ours today. We usually go to a local dollar store and each child chooses things for a child of same age and gender. This is a lot of fun--we like to see how much we can pack into a plastic shoe box! If you do this be sure you print out the list of suggested do's and don'ts and some labels for the top of the boxes.You can get these at their website. They have a suggested donation of $7 for each box to help cover their expense in getting them there. Have fun with this like we do! Lunch out at a local fast food place and  box of hot chocolate mix to take home help make this a fun family outing. Also, we like to play Christmas music while we pack up the boxes.

This is a great way for the kids to be personally involved in serving others which is the best way to kick off the holiday season!

Sunydazy

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. HUSBAND!

Today I'd like to honor my very best friend and partner in life.

I am so proud of him!

Today he is doing what he does everyday...working hard to

support us.

This afternoon he plans to get off work a bit early in order to have some

fun with his kiddoes on his special day.

He always tells us how much he wants to be with us all the time and how

he can't wait to get home everyday. He makes us feel very special.

Tonight I plan to make one of his favorite dinners (bbq ribs) 

and follow it up with cheesecake.

Sweetheart, I hope your day is good and I hope you can feel how much

we love you - even at work. Try to ignore the heat and think of cooler places!

Love, Your Wife 

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Happy Birthday! Thank you for trying to be such a good dad.  

Too bad you have to work on your birthday. :) Playin' guitar for ya'.

Love, Osprey

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Happy Birthday Daddy!

I Love You So Much!

Thank you for being such a good Daddy!

Love, A River

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Daddy's so nice. I love him. He gives me horsey rides sometimes and

he plays sword with me. Happy Birthday! Roaaaar!

Love, Little Guy 

(as quoted to mommy)

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Dear Daddy,

If we were old enough to talk we would tell you how much you

mean to us and how we love it when you hold us and tickle our cheeks

with your whiskers!

You are the best! Happy Birthday!

Love, Ladybug and Doodlebug