Thanksgiving 2008 and Josie's Bday party

Our family Thanksgiving celebration was at the Davis' house this year. Herman was in Colorado with Rebecca and Michael. The folks that celebrated with us at the Davis home were: the Davis family, the Seiter family, Gramma, Michelle & Jordan Troyer and Miss Connie.





We continued a couple of family traditions... the "Thankfulness Tree" and the "Thankfulness Board".

The "Thankfulness Tree" contains leaves made of construction paper in which anyone can write what they are thankful for. After the leaves were all filled out, we gathered together and divided the leaves among the kids and let them read to everyone-- and we all tried to guess who wrote them.






The "Thankfulness Board" contains and picture of members of both families (Seiter and Davis fams), the grandparents and Seiter's Aunts/Uncles/cousins, Miss Connie and friends that join us. Next to the picture is a space that anyone can write what they are thankful for about each person. Since I design the board, I get to choose the pictures. Cathy is never pleased with my choice :) But this year, Kevin was! Ha! Below is the pic I chose for him...







While some were cooking and preparing our feast....





Others were engaged in different activities....





After we stuffed ourselves, we rested on the couch....





then, we celebrated Josie's 10th Birthday with desert and gifts...







and then we all rode bikes (except Gramma who drove behind us and took pictures-- thanks for all the great pics Gramma!) to JB Hunt park (a few miles away) and played at the playground with the kids...

A fun time was had by all.

God, we're thankful for all our many blessings!

First Family bike ride (with Mom) on the Bike Trail

Jeff finally got me out on the bike trail. He pulled out my old bike, dusted it off, aired up the tires and I was good to go.

The boys were still in school, but Jeff's school was out, so Jeff, Noah and I made the trip.

We began the trail behind the Fayetteville mall Wal-Mart and rode all the way to Jose's for lunch. Jeff carried Noah in the back pack on his back. The 3 of us ate lunch and rode back.

(Note to self: NOT a great idea to ride bikes after stuffing myself with Mexican food :)

The trail was WONDERFUL! There was hardly anyone out on it since so many schools were still in and people were still working. It was one of the last warm days before the weather started getting colder.

Family Traditions- a Blessing

Matthew had to write about his favorite family recipe a few weeks ago. Correction, I had to send in a favorite family recipe (yes...they gave us Moms a homework assignment). After discussing it with the boys and Jeff, we all decided it should be "salsa".

Little did I know, that was a pre-cursor to the "event"! Nov 20th was "Favorite Recipe" night for all 4 of the 4th grade classes. We had to make the recipe (enough for 25 people) and bring it to the event.

The salsa was a success! I made a mild version and a spicier version. I didn't bring any home! There were all kinds of goodies there (needless to say, it was a HUGE splurge night for the boys!).

The best part of the night was to look at the large poster on the wall where all the student had written a family tradition. Matthew wrote about our family prayer time at night and even wrote out some of our evening prayer.

Thank you Lord for boys that love you and aren't ashamed to tell people about you.
Amen