It's December.

 Well, here we are in December.  The last month of the year of 2025.  That's crazy.  So much has happened this year!  Matthew and Daisy got married in June.  Mike's youngest brother got married in August.  My grandma, Mommy D., passed away in September.  Our friend Dave died this fall.  So many ups and downs.  Three families from church buried children.  Grief is hard stuff!  And now, here we are.  December is here.  The time of year when we celebrate Jesus' birth!  We buy gifts.  We gather with employees and friends and go to school and church programs.  All of it adds fun and busy to this month!

I found this on Amazon and I wish I would have been able to do this with my grandma!  She would have loved it!  It's an advent puzzle!  You do one puzzle a day leading up to Christmas.  It doesn't take long because the pieces are all already in a small box.  

There was a beautiful rainbow over the sky!  I see you God!

We set the tree in the living room and slowly getting it decorated!

On Tuesday, we had a ladies shopping day in Exton again!  We do this every year!  The only thing was that the kids started with a two hour delay and then no school.  Us moms made quick arrangements and were still able to go just a bit later!  We love eating at First Watch!  Then shopping and ending at Produce Junction!  Such a fun day!

Look who got to go along!  Baby dear did so good!  And the skies cleared up on the way home!

Working on puzzles is stress relief!

Morning walks at the park are still happening when we can!

Found myself a new scrub shopping the other day!  Austin loves it!  Still waiting for a new dishwasher coming this week!

I was wondering if I was gonna get this tree decorated.  I bought lights in town and strung one big box.  With a tree like this you have to string one branch at a time!  It's not the string and tuck in kind of tree.  Then the second box of lights didn't work and I'm thankful that I plugged them in before I started stringing them!  I went back into town and exchanged for another set of lights.  Didn't have enough so I went back to town again for a third box!  Really!  When it was time for ornaments, the kids were ready to decorate!

It looks great!

Mike helped me hang wreaths in church once again!  This is fun but does take time!  I love how it adds Christmas to our sanctuary!

And basketball season has begun!!!!!  Won one, lost one in a tournament.  Austin and I grabbed wings at Wing Stop for our dinner and then watched the game!

This month is going to be full of fun activities!  December ... we hope to celebrate Jesus every single day!

Thanksgiving.

 Thanksgiving is a time to reflect on all of God's goodness to us!  It's the time when I realize how blessed I am to have family and children who love me!  I am very thankful for Jesus who came and died and forgave all my sins.  Mike has been such a blessing in my life!  Number one to be exact!  We've grown over the years together!  All the ups and downs keep us humble.  We are reminded by our children that we parent differently now than we did back when we had our first babies.  Not bad, just different.  Thanksgiving always makes me more thankful for our health, our home, our friends, food and family!

This year, we started out our day with sitting around the dining room table for our annual family meeting.  We are now down to just Ashlyn and Austin here at home.  We talked about some goals we would like to accomplish.  We each wrote down some things we were really grateful for!

Then we gathered at Mike's mom's house for a dinner.  Such good food was served!

We played games and spent the evening trying to win in four up and four down.

Friday we packed up our bags and headed for the cabin!  Grinch lotus and a quick stop at Bass Pro ... and we were on our way!

 

My mom made a thanksgiving meal for us there!  I just love the roast, the sweet potatoes, the cranberry relish and desserts!

The hunters hit the woods on Saturday and the kids loved that my dad shot a buck!

Jeremiah shot a big one and Colson hit a three point!

Mike and I set out to find us a Christmas tree on our property.  I wanted one the was not soft needled this year.  We found a tall tree, cut it down just as it started to rain and snow!  We hoisted it up on top of the truck and drove back to the cabin in hopes that the kids would freak out at the size!  It was over ten feet tall and we knew we would have to cut some off before bringing it home but we wanted them to see this big tree!  

Hadassah, Morgan and Nata made soft pretzels late one night.  The games were loud and the snack was good!

I did a bunch of chocolate covered crackers!  These are a favorite holiday dessert!

Baby was so happy to be with grandpa all weekend!

Dad had all the help he needed dragging in his deer this year!

We came back home on Monday in time for Mike to go to basketball practice.  Life has a way of keeping us busy.  Christmas is on our minds now and we can't wait to decorate for Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving!

PS.  Dressing in camo for school with cousins is so fun!

Starting to feel like winter.

Gunnar is growing!  He's still such a good baby but he's making known his voice and feelings.  He does well in his carseat but when you set him in it and strap him he starts to whine because he knows now that he needs to stay in there for a little while.  He eats graham crackers and loves sucking on cucumbers.  He can drink from a sippy cup.  Pattie Cakes!  Just starting to wave goodbye.  His favorite person on earth is his momma and daddy BUT Grandpa comes next!  By far!!!!  He kicks and cries if Mike doesn't pick him up.  It's WAY TOO CUTE!!!!  Rolling around on the floor is his way of getting around.  He's pure joy to our family!

 

I made some apple butter the other day!  It's tasty and from Half Baked Harvest Recipes!

We had a color analysis night at church for ladies and I can't wait to see what colors look the best on me!  

More paint by number nights while Jeremiah hunts at the cabin!

No more pennies are being made.  I feel like this is just another moment in history.  Will our grandchildren not know about pennies????

Look at this!!!!  I have said for many years that we should light up the row of pine trees in the back yard with Christmas lights!  It would be a lot of work and would take a ton of lights so we never did that.  BUT, Mike attended a fundraiser event the other week and came home saying that he bought a ticket for a company to come put lights on our house over the holidays!  Austin was DELIGHTED!!!!  I was excited too!  Guys were out and hung these in a few hours and now we are the house that glows on our street!  Austin made a comment that he thought there would be a reindeer on the roof yet but he likes it! 😂. 

They came with strings of lights on huge reels and clipped them on our roof.

I don't usually hang up lights or put up Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.  It's just how I do.  I love Thanksgiving time and the reminders of being grateful and thanking God for all our blessings.  I do know that it's a posture of the heart and not just one day of saying thank you!  Thankfulness is what I need to express every single day!

Ashlyn had her last shadowing intern day on Friday and she loved Linden Coffee!  The Grinch Lotus is our favorite!

We've been doing some thrifting!  The girls love to go and Hadassah and I have went the past few weeks to Goodwill.  This is what I found last week!  You never go thrifting with an agenda but rather just look around for deals!

Austin was over the top excited when he came running to the back door saying that he caught a fox in his foot trap he set in the neighbors field.  He missed the killing shot at first but hit it the second time!  He drug it back to the house and skinned it.  This is a dream for him!

Mike gifted me new pots for my birthday but I requested that I don't pick them out or buy them until Christmas.  Back in May, I already had my old pots filled with flowers and really wanted to wait until Christmas time to have the pots then filled with Christmas greens and decorations!  He bought two pots for me from Perfect Pots and they are delivering them this weekend with Christmas greens stuffed on top!  I can't wait to see how they turn out!  And passing this truck on the highway the other day just made me smile!  Christmas trees are getting delivered and set up for sale!

Austin has been at two birthday parties the past two weeks with almost the same group of boys!  They have so much fun!

And it's time to get out the puzzles and light the candles!!!!  The dark evenings are much better with candles glowing in the home!!!!!

November has been busy with finishing up volleyball for the girls and starting up basketball for the boys.  Austin had his orientation for basketball last week.  It is so fun watching him grow in height and skill each year!  The weather is feeling like winter outside.  It's now time to bundle up for the cold days!!!!