Slumber Party!

Last Friday night, I kept Sawyer's best buddy Kendall overnight so her Mommy and Daddy (Evan and Leah) could go out on a date! I knew the girls would have a blast together...
We ordered pizza for dinner, which they both enjoyed, played in the bouncer, read books, had fun in the bath making bubble-cups, and finished the the night off with watching a little bit of our new Tinkerbell movie. I think the highlight of the night though, was when the girls discovered the spray bottle filled with water in Sawyer's room (hence, the damp hair in some of these pictures.) Mom was there with us for a big chunk of he evening, and we just let them go to town with it! They actually took turns squirting each other for about 10 minutes, and the whole time they were both ROLLING! It was too funny. You would know that a squirt bottle would be way more fun than any of the other (hundreds of) toys they drug out to play with.
As always, the girls had a big time together, and they actually both started bawling -bless their little hearts- the next morning when Evan and Leah came to pick Kendall up. Its so fun to watch them play together, and we're already looking forward to the next slumber party!

Thanksgiving...

This year, our holiday was spent with lots of food and family!
On Thanksgiving day we went to Mom and Dad's house around noon and stayed until late that evening. We, as always, had enough food to "feed the entire neighborhood," as Mom would say...and it was all delicious! We ate entirely too much, and spent the rest of the day just lounging around. As of the past few years, its become a family tradition that everyone exchanges "secret turkey gifts," on Thanksgiving, and we all got some pretty neat things!
We celebrated Thanksgiving with Preston's family on Saturday, and unfortunately I forgot my camera. Preston's dad, who is an excellent cook, made a huge meal for us that afternoon, and after we ate, I was able to burn off a few calories playing Wii for the very first time! I decided that I don't think I could own for two reasons: One, I think I could very easily become addicted to the bowling game, and Two, Preston would for sure break something (or someone) in our house playing the tennis game. He is absolutely nuts. I actually made Sawyer come in the other room with me and watch from a distance because he's so far in his own world that he doesn't pay attention when she happens to walk in front of him, and I think he almost knocked her out twice...ha ha ha. His new nick-name is Andre Agassi.
I'm sad Thanksgiving (and Fall in general) are over, but this year has gone by so quickly that it'll be here again before we know it. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend it with the ones you love!

Give Thanks to Him...

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the LORD is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his [a] ;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the LORD is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Our Saturday...

Our day has been a full one, and I'm sitting here still amazed at everything we accomplished! Its funny, because we had nothing in particular planned, but we ended up doing a bunch.
We stared our morning off with a trip to our favorite park! I thought it was going to be freezing outside, but it actually ended up being nice. We bundled Sawyer up (as you can see in the pictures, she insisted on wearing her scarf,) and headed out about 9:30, which I know sounds early, but we'd been up since 7:30! We had the whole playground to ourselves, and we had so much fun!!! We stayed at the park until it was time to go home and make lunch, and let me tell you, Sawyer was not happy about leaving today. Not at all.
Once we came home and got Sawyer fed and down for her nap, Preston and I decided to forgo our plans for a nap and do some yard work. We figured since the weather was so nice and we didn't know when the next free day we'd have to do it, that we'd just go ahead knock it all out today. And knock it out we did! I trimmed every single one of our bushes (I trim them in the spring/early summer and fall) and cut back all of our monkey grass, while Preston used to blower to get most of the leaves out of our landscaping before he cut the grass. We worked all through Sawyer's nap, which was about three hours and we didn't get done until about an hour and a half after she woke up. I was so glad when it was all finished...everything looks SO much better.
After finishing up the yard work, we had to make a trip to Walmart to return something, and we decided to buy a couple of new DVDs while we were there. Preston got a new Blue Ray DVD player after ours went out a few weeks ago, and so we (well, more Preston than me) were anxious to see it in action...with a Blue ray DVD. We ended up buying two movies for Sawyer. Go figure. We got the new Tinkerbell movie, and my all-time-favorite-childhood-movie, The Wizard Of Oz, which Sawyer is now obsessed with. Alright, so I'll just go ahead and tell y'all...I'll admit being a little skeptical about the "Blue Ray" thing. Like, would it seriously make that much of a difference? Well, it did...really. The picture is UNBELIEVABLE.
Anyway, after our trip to Walmart, Mom and Dad came over for dinner! Mom had made some of her famous white chili (one of the best things ever) and she also brought these huge baked potatoes and toppings for those. SO SO SO yummy. Dessert: the delicious no bake cookies Leah sent us home with last night. So good! After dinner, Preston took Sawyer out to grab some ice cream and mom and I worked on cutting about a gazillion pieces of burlap for the church Thanksgiving dinner decorations.
Yes, full day indeed...
Right now, I'm up way too late and we've gotta get up bright and early for church in the morning! I'm off to bed...Oh, one more thing. This is neat. The past few days Ive been working with Sawyer on learning her first bible verse, and she's got it down! I'll say, "Colossians 3:20..." and she says it all, "Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord!" I'll have to get it on video (I'm so bad about posting video's) and put it on here. It's so precious.
Hope you ALL had a wonderful Saturday! I'll leave you guys with some pictures from our morning at the park...

I Love My Job...

I could list hundreds of reasons why I'm convinced that staying home with Sawyer is the best career I'll ever have, but for time's sake, I list just a few...

This morning was cold and rainy, so instead of running our errands we made sheet tents, read books, and danced around the house to our new "Joyful, Joyful" CD.

I am privileged to be able to be the first person to witness every single milestone she has ever had. I love calling Preston during the day and telling him something new she's saying or doing. Its even better when she's awake, so I can put her on speakerphone and she can tell him herself :)

I know her deeply and intimately. All of her quirks, likes, dislikes, habits...every single teeny tiny thing about her.

I'm able to get things accomplished. Sawyer will happily run several errands with me, as long as I have snacks and a few books on hand, of course.

She makes me laugh (hard) every day with her hilarious-ness. I mean, I'm not even being partial...she is seriously FUNNY. There's nothing I like more than sitting with her, singing silly made-up songs at the top of our lungs, making funny faces, or trying out some new dance moves!

My husband. How does Preston make me realize how much I love my job? Because he is the one who is out working so hard every day to allow me to be here. Without EVER complaining. And this is the part I really love: Me being at home with Sawyer is every bit as important to him as it is to me. Before we ever had children, he expressed how important it was to him that I stay home with them. He is so incredibly supportive and appreciative of the work I do. It can be easy to get a little overwhelmed when you spend everyday from 7am to 8:30pm with a two year old, but he makes my life so much easier by doing his part with Sawyer. He helps me (in ever aspect) with her when he's home and he (more than willingly) gives me a break whenever I need one. He takes her out to do things by themselves, so I can have a "breather", and tells me to go out and do things by myself or with friends, which is awesome. He's just great, and I'm so thankful to have him by my side to raise Sawyer.

Because our days are filled with routine (which I like), but there are also days we can do whatever we dream up, which is fabulous!

I guess Ive just been feeling extra thankful these past few days. I know there have been times that I've taken for granted the opportunity I have to be home full time with Sawyer, and I don't want that. What a precious gift Ive been given. Lord, please keep reminding me what a truly awesome responsibility you've blessed me with!

Operation Christmas Child...

Tomorrow I'm dropping off my Operation Christmas Child box at church...
Getting this box together was so much fun, and I wish so badly I could see the little girl who'll be getting it!
Operation Christmas child is an awesome program, and if you've never participated, you should! Basically you put together a shoebox(s) filled with items for a boy or girl (you can pick the age you'd like it to go to) and they send all of the boxes to children in need around the world. Another neat thing is that you can track your box and see exactly where it went! It doesn't cost a lot of money, and its a great way to give back. Can you imagine their sweet little faces when they open these????
Check out this to learn more...http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/index/

Sunflowers...

Ive always said the best reason to get flowers is no reason at all...
Today, my sweet husband came home and surprised me with a bunch of sunflowers he bought for me, and I love them. I love flowers in general, but I think sunflowers are beautiful in a different sort of way than other flowers. They're unique, and I really like unique.