McEowen Family Thanksgiving 2010

The McEowen family gathered at Mom's & Dad's to celebrate Thanksgiving.

There were some intense games of checkers this weekend.

Emily gaver her Dad and Mom a piano lesson.  ;)

Jeremy mocked my mocking of him and his grumpy eyebrows.

Mom & Dad prepared the turkey ahead of time.

The kids made festive signs and hung them throughout the house.

At the request of Krampa, Annah and Sylvia played some Christmas duets they've been working on

Aunt Marcia brought her handbells, and Aunt Needy helped the kids play some songs.  

Here, Annah, Megan, Caeden, Clayton, Sylvia, and Wanda and Dad attempted Jingle Bells.  

We took Little Bear the travel bug to a new geocache down the road from Gram's & Krampa's house, and Megan went along for the ride.

Little Bear started out in Germany and has now traveled over 4,700 miles.  We helped him go 187 of them, and got him to his second state in the USA.

Gram has been saving this dress until Annah grew in to it.  It was mine when I was in 4th grade, and of course Gram made it.  Annah looks a *little* like I did at the same age.

Annah helped Emily with her breakfast yogurt...so sweet.

It was Emily's turn to get her picture taken in the McEowen heirloom dress.  All the McEowen girls have been photographed wearing it and posing on this hearth. 

The kids helped Gram put up and decorate her tiny Christmas tree!

It was a weekend full of blessings and thankfulness and love!

Too much of a good thing...

After we had tucked Caeden in bed, he came back upstairs a while later, saying his tummy was hurting really badly.  We tried to tell him he was just tired, but he continued to feel worse.  He said his heart felt funny, so Gram took his blood pressure.  It was fine.  

I tried to put him back to bed, but he cried and moaned.  He asked me to pray for him and ask Jesus to heal him and help him feel better, and I did.  A few minutes later he asked me to pray harder and with all my heart because he was feeling so bad.  

Jeremy tried to tuck him in again and make him stay in bed. I could tell he really was feeling bad now, so I stood outside the door and listened to him.  He cried and begged Jesus to take back the pain.  He prayed and prayed, saying that he knew he had done lots of bad things, but he was so sorry.  He begged Jesus to forgive him and help him feel better.  (Of course, I was standing in the hallway crying, listening to this!)  So, I brought him to bed with me, and kept a dim light on.  

About 12:30 a.m. I looked at him, and his eyes popped open.  I could tell he was about to get sick, so I tried to get him to the waste basket.  Poor little guy had eaten WAY too much food and sweets, and his little body just didn't like it.  He has never gotten sick before, so he was quite surprised by the whole experience.  And it must have been the overeating, because he only got sick the one time and was so relieved and more comfortable afterward.  

I guess it's just not the holidays unless someone is getting sick!  Ahhhhh...

DeHaven Thanksgiving 2010

This evening we shared a wonderful Thanksgiving meal with the DeHaven side of the family.  Eric & Marti were gracious to host us all again.

Of course, the kids were SO excited to play together.  Our kids thought their racetrack was cool!

This pooch is a very well behaved lady of the house!

Jeremy and Eric watched some more football, and Joey was so kind to share his DS with Caeden.

Simon wanted me to take lots of pictures of him.  Who could resist, with that great smile?!

Great Grandma watched her family enjoy time together.

The boys had made a bunch of great gingerbread cookies.  Aunt Marti let each kid have a bowl of icing to color, and the kids had tons of fun decorating cookies together!!

There was  a lot of frosting eating going on!

Lots of childhood memories were shared...those it's-a-miracle-we-lived ones. ;)

Wilson shared some lovely music with us!

What a wonderful time together!!

Crabill Thanksgiving 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!  We were so happy to get to share Thanksgiving dinner with the extended Crabill family at Grandma's house.  It has been years since we have seen some of them, and it was great to have some time together!

There are so many kiddos right now, and they all had fun playing together today!

Madison, Bailee, and Kiya were happy to see my camera, and kept finding different spots around the basement and asking me to take their pictures.  Beauties.

A bunch of the kids started a kickball game with an old flat basketball and couch cushions for bases.

Susan and Kraig were there!  We hadn't been able to connect with them since before they moved to Wisconsin almost 5 years ago!  It was so wonderful to see their family!

Little Miss Lucy, played some foosball.

Beautiful Ada enjoyed a ride on the horsey.

Collin and Logan bonded over the DS.

Cutie-pie Caden carefully took a turn.

Of course, there was football on the TV for these guys.

Grandma and Kay got in some dominoes.

Uncle Dick showed Aunt Patsy and Uncle Ed the plans he'd drawn up for their new entertainment center.  Apparently, it started out as a TV stand, and now it's looking more like the Taj Mahal...

Baby Marley is ogled over...

Conner tries to keep his dad from enjoying his Thanksgiving nap.  I don't think he was very successful; Rob was snorin' away all afternoon long.  :)

Aunt Patsy collected photos of everyone in the family and had a friend put together this collage for Grandma.  It was fun to look through and find everybody!

I'm so thankful for this family, and the blessings that we share!!!

Autumn Leaves of Red and Gold

We were blessed with a Saturday at home today, and it was a perfectly gorgeous day to be outside!  In fact, this has been probably the most beautiful Fall we've experienced of the 9 since we've lived here.  The colors have been rich, and we definitely had more leaves fall in our yard than ever!  Jeremy raked them up into a huge pile today, and the kids had a blast playing in them!

I live for little moments like that...

Today the kids were released from school early for a teacher inservice day.  It was SO nice to have them all home with me for the afternoon!  I miss just hanging out with them all day every day!

We made chocolate chip cookies together, and ate some warm out of the oven with cold milk...mmm!!!!

This evening, after Daddy came home, we watched Scrooge together. It is one of our family's favorite Christmas movies.   When the time in the movie came for the 3rd spirit to visit Scrooge, Caeden got a little scared,  and asked his sisters to snuggle him.  I think they were a little scared too, and definitely didn't mind snuggling up!

It was definitely a sweet day together.

Annah's 1st Pet

On her birthday, Annah received the little betta bowl and food, in promise that she could pick out her very own betta fish--her first real pet!

Today, she was able to do that, and chose this pretty blue guy.  She decided to name him Bubbles.

His home is currently in our den on a bookshelf, and he seems to be adjusting nicely to his new life in our house...

(Sock) Monkey Business

How cute and sweet is my family?  Very!  While I was at praise team practice today, they had a couple hours to use up while in town waiting on me.  They were bursting at the seams to give me the birthday present they found for me, and barely waited until we got in the door at home to give it to me in the bag from the store! ;)

Now, my kiddos know that I love seeing them in their adorable full-body fleece footed jammies, and always jokingly say that I wish they made them for grown-ups too.  So, when they saw these today, they just had to get them for me!  AND, they know I love sock monkeys too.  (The one I'm holding in the picture is mine from when I was little!)

Funny and sweet, aren't they?  I will be wearing them all winter!  Love it.

New Quizzing Season!

We've started the new Bible Quizzing season, and are really enjoying learning 1 Samuel!  We have done 7 weeks so far, meeting with the whole quizzing team each Wednesday night.  We also study most mornings at breakfast, or at supper.  We reviewed several "dig sites" (This is what our quizzing book calls the sections we study.) last night, and all 7 of them today on the way to our first quiz at Galesburg Church of the Nazarene.

We have learned...

• ...how desperately Hannah poured out her heart to God, begging for a son, and promising to give him to God for all the days of his life.  
• ...how Samuel heard the voice of God, prophesied, and grew in stature with God and with men.  
• ...how Eli the priest's sons had no regard for the Lord, and how their evil caused Eli's family to be punished forever.  
• ...how the Philistine's stole the Ark of the Covenant, and how they returned it to the Isrealite people after God punished them with tumors and rats, and showed them their "gods" were not real.
• ...how the Lord was faithful to His people, and continued to help them.
• ...how Samuel was faithful to the Lord and the Isrealite people all his life.  
• ...how the people desired a king to rule them (once Samuel was old), and how God tried to warn them through Samuel that a king would not be good for them.  
• ...how God allowed the people to have a king because it was what they wanted, and how God chose Saul to be their king, even when he did not want to be.  
• ...how Saul disobeyed God and would never prosper because of it.

...and much more!

Sylvia is quizzing at the Red Level again this year, and Caeden is officially quizzing for the first time too, also at the Red Level.  Their questions have 3 multiple choice answers.  Today they quizzed 2 rounds of 15 questions each.  Sylvia scored 2 perfect rounds!  Caeden had one perfect round, and only 1 question missed in the other!  They were both in the top 10 quizzers, and were honored and SO excited to receive medals!

 Annah is quizzing at the Blue Level this year.  Blue level has harder questions, with 4 multiple choice answers.  Today they quizzed 2 rounds of 20 questions each.  Annah scored 2 perfect rounds, and was in the top 3 quizzers!  She was very pleased!

The kids have worked really hard, and know a lot of details about the first 12 chapters of 1 Samuel.  They also have all recited 7 scripture verses by memory.  Annah has memorized all 20 of the goal verses for the year already.  She loves digging into God's Word!  I am proud of all 3 of them, not for scoring so highly, but for how hard they have worked to learn and understand God's Word and hide it in their hearts!  We now have more understanding of God's love and promises and faithfulness, more boldness to share His love with others!  Hallelujah!

1 Samuel 12:

19 The people all said to Samuel, “Pray to the LORD your God for your servants so that we will not die, for we have added to all our other sins the evil of asking for a king.”

20 “Do not be afraid,” Samuel replied. “You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. 21 Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. 22 For the sake of his great name the LORD will not reject his people, because the LORD was pleased to make you his own. 23 As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. 24 But be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you."

Reading kids!

11/2/10 - Sylvia reading her Reading homework story to Caeden...

11/4/10 - Caeden reading his Reading homework story to Sylvia...

LOVE hearing my kids read, and especially love seeing them enjoying reading with each other!