birthdays & thanksgiving.

Why am I always shocked at how quickly this time of year flies by every year?  I wish I could put it all into slow motion and enjoy it more fully, but I'm starting to think life just moves faster this time of the year.  The trick is figuring out how to enjoy it as even as it fast forwards through our lives each year.

The rush starts for our family with David's birthday on November 9th.  It was surreal to celebrate his birthday without him for the first time... but with texting, Facebook and cell phones, I think we helped make him feel loved & celebrated. :)  

I always seem to tell the story of what's happening in our life with photos, and today seems to be no exception.  So, here goes...

In honor of David's birthday, we put up the birthday banners.  I texted him pics of them so he could see, too. :)

I baked the cake, Marissa made the icing & decorated it.  Was sort of weird having cake without the birthday person...

Fall decorations at church.

Got a couple big pumpkins for 99 cents... the made great decorations and even tastier pies! :)

Reading about Lewis & Clark with the boys and enjoying a cup of decaf.

FaceTiming with David on his new cell phone.

Started this piece on Tuesday this week...it feels good to make a lot of progress in a short amount of time. :)

I had my 43rd birthday on Wednesday.  Let me just say I *really* like being the age I am... and there's just something about how the numbers 4 and 3 sound together, too. :)  (Oh, and that's Ashton.  Marissa babysat him on my birthday, which of course meant that I got to spend some time holding him, too!)

Woke up to this birthday greeting from Marissa, outside our bedroom door on Wednesday.

Our friends Sarah & Dale (parents of the beautiful baby in that other pic up there) are amazing cake decorators (not professionally... yet).  We enjoyed this beautiful creation of theirs with friends at church on Wednesday.   Yum.  There are still a few slices in our fridge... think I just might go enjoy one now!

On my birthday, I got out this painting I started months & months ago... it felt so great to finally get it close to being done! 

Worked on the apple painting more on my birthday... it's *very* close to being complete.

Marissa started our "I am thankful for..." banner this year.  We did this the first time last year, and it is so fun to see the things we're thankful for, in everyone's own handwriting. :) 

We had our Thanksgiving dinner outdoors yesterday. 

Everything was covered to keep the flies from landing on our Thanksgiving feast.

I am so thankful for him! :)

Some of what we're thankful for.

I don't normally care for the Black Friday sales.  But here's the thing.  Marissa has been saving for a camera for a long time and found an awesome deal at Target.  And, since it was actually not Black Friday, we didn't have to get up early.  Got in line just before 8 p.m., went in at 9 p.m., back home before 10 p.m....

...and here she is, back at home and trying out her new camera just one hour after Target opened!

So here we are, fully into the hyper season at our house.  Jesse's birthday is in a week, David arrives for two weeks on December 13, we have quite a few Christmas activities planned, and then Marissa's birthday is on New Year's Day.  

It's going to be hard to focus on school for the next couple of weeks before our Christmas break starts!