The Holiday Season

Well, the past few months seemed to have flown by. Samantha had her first Halloween and helped carve her first pumpkin as can be seen here and here. She loved the gooey mess, and especially liked trying to eat the seeds and the newspaper the pumpkins were sitting on! She went trick or treating as a lamb this year and enjoyed all the colorful little pieces of wrapped candy she got every time someone opened the door.

She really is growing like a weed and is active as ever. Samantha's been crawling for awhile and now can walk along the furniture. Nothing is safe anymore from our little goat (she tries to eat everything!!) She is so bright and is a people person. Whenever we go to the store, she always talks to the other customers. I cannot believe that her first birthday is just around the corner.

We took Sammy's 9 month photos as well as a family photo last month in the leaves. I am happy we did it when we did because it got cold and rainy/snowy the very next day! Trying to keep the leaves out of her mouth was a challenge, but we all had fun.

Thanksgiving was great. This was the first time that I had to cook all of the meal, and I think it turned out pretty good for the first time around. We have so much to be grateful for and it was wonderful talking about it. We started a new tradition this year as well--the Thanksgiving Jar. The week preceding Thanksgiving, we each wrote something down on a slip of paper that we were grateful for and then after dinner on the big day, we opened and took turns reading the papers. I loved the opportunity each day to think about the thing that I am grateful for. This is definitely something that we want to continue with our kids each year.

Now we are into December! The year has just flown by. John is finishing up his last finals before the break. We are both extremely excited because on Saturday we are flying home to FLORIDA!! It will be so great to spend time with our families. I love this time of year and the warm fuzzies I get thinking about the blessings we receive because of Christ. I really am grateful for my wonderful husband and and beautiful daughter. I don't know what I would do without them.