We had a great Thanksgiving Day today. Gavin wasn't feeling good yesterday with a stomach ache and slight fever, but today he was much better by mid-morning. After cleaning the house and Lysol-ing everything that Gavin has touched, we had many family members at our house today and it was really nice to spend time with everyone. Tomorrow, instead of shopping like I have the past three years, Chris and I are going to pull out the Christmas decorations. In the midst of that, we're also going to try organizing and cleaning out the basement. We're hoping to get the basement finished within the next month or so, so we really need to clean out and take some stuff to Good Will. Anyway, for some reason, I'm not as excited about getting out the Christmas decorations as I usually am. I don't know why. Hopefully I'll get into the Christmas spirit soon! I've really tried to make the next few weeks very low key, with only a few things here and there on the calendar, so I will hopefully have time to get some things cleaned out at home. However, Morgan has decided that he wants to play basketball at church, so that will be on our to-do list as well.

I just can't keep up. The days are FLYING by. I've got lots of stuff on my "to do" list and, hopefully, I won't forget anything that's really important. This weekend is totally empty for us, so we're going to enjoy spending some down time together.

One project that we finished a few weeks ago was cleaning out the garage. We can finally, after 2 years, fit both of our cars in the garage! All of the baby toys, tricycles and wagons went to the basement for future consignment sales and we tried to organize the other stuff. We are really enjoying parking our cars in the garage when it's freezing cold outside in the mornings!

Another fun moment was a few days ago. The weather had been a little overcast and rainy. We looked outside and saw a beautiful rainbow. We could see the whole thing from our front portch and it was huge! It was really fun to get the kids outside to see it and to remind them of who gives us rainbows and why. Ivey even knew the right answer!! (In case you don't know: God; as a sign of his promise to never flood the whole earth again).

Lately, I've been busy with Christmas shopping, cleaning, organizing, choir practices, handbells, church events and just being a mom and wife. Chris has taken up flag football and is exercising like crazy! He's also working on a new site called notesbymail.com and is hoping to have gift cards added very soon. Check it out if you get a chance. Next week, we'll be getting ready for our families to come over for Thanksgiving dinner although we'll be missing a few members. So, life keeps on.

In a spiritual sense, God has been working on me a lot lately. Specifically, he's been working on my mind. To be honest, I'm not really sure that I want to share the details yet, but, in short, I desperately needed my mind to be transformed. I was having thoughts, almost obsessively, that I needed God to remove. I finally gave up one night and just prayed that He would take the thoughts away. Honestly, I really didn't think he would or even that he could. But he did! It's really, actually, quite amazing. So, anyway, that's what been going on with me and I hope to get back to blogging soon.

It's official... Gavin is potty trained with #1. He's done really well the last few weeks. He still has an accident every now and then, but they are getting fewer and farther between. He can actually hold it for a while and not have to go potty every 20 minutes! So, we are very happy about that here! As for #2, that's another story. It could be a while before he gets that down, so for now we'll be happy with #1. I'm just glad that we're not spending a fortune in diapers any more! And, I don't have to remember to put a piece of tape on his back that says "Take me potty, please" every time we go somewhere where he's left in childcare. The guys at Chris' office got a real kick out of me putting tape on Gavin's back, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right?? I needed consistency, which requires the help of other people... hence, the tape. Anyway, we don't have to use the tape as much, so we're making progress! YEAH!

Potty training

Please pray for us... we're in the throws of potty training (again) with Gavin. He started out really well at the beginning of the summer, but then we left to go the beach and it was back to diapers. This past Sunday night, he decided that he wanted to wear "big boy underwear." So, we put them on him. He stayed dry the rest of the night. He wore them yesterday and had 2 accidents all day. So far today, he's had 2 accidents, but not for lack of trying. I promise he seriously has to go to the bathroom about every 20 minutes!! Nevertheless, we really aren't giving us this time. We're going to keep putting on the big boy underwear and keep having accidents until he gets it. He can sit on the potty to go, but he hasn't realized the "urge" yet so he doesn't tell before he needs to go. Anyway, he goes back to preschool tomorrow and I'm a bit nervous about sending him in underwear. I hope his teacher is ready for this!! Do you have any ideas, suggestions or advice? Please let me know if you do! This is our last baby to potty train and we're throwing a party when it's done!! Whoo-hoo!!

Trick-or-Treating

Even though we don't officially "celebrate"
Halloween (with ghosts, goblins, witches and such), we do have a great time taking the kids trick-or-treating. This year, Morgan dressed up as a karate kid, Ivey was a clown and Gavin was Spiderman. Chris' family came over, we ate chili for dinner and then we took the kids out. Chris' cousin, Mandi, came dressed as Sarah Palin. It was pretty cute! Here are a few pictures from our fun evening of collecting candy (much of which will get put in the trash...ssshhhhh!)