TheLinharts

"Count your blessings,

Name them one by one.

Count your blessings,

And it will surprise you what the Lord has done."

-Johnson Oatman Jr, 1897

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for. So I thought I'd catch up on the blog by counting my blessings:

I'm thankful for our new baby on the way!

I've been telling the kids from the beginning of this pregnancy that "the baby will be here after Christmas." It seemed like such a long time to wait, and that has helped the kids understand when she will be here. Well, Christmas is around the corner and my due date is now about 7 weeks away! Ahh!!!

She doesn't have a name yet. The kids think they have some pretty good ideas, though. A few of the front runners (according to the kids):

1. Cooooky (per William)
2. Rihanna Stanley
3. Susie Crystal
4. Rose Daniel
5. Lulu Diamond

In fact, Ellie's teacher emailed me last week. Ellie had them convinced that we were naming her Hope Crystal Diamond. For real. Ellie's teachers were like, "Oh. Wow...what a beautiful name!". When I told them that would not, in fact, be her name, they laughed and told me that Ellie really had them fooled. Hah!

I'm thankful for my niece on the way!

This is Bailey and I at her shower! We are due the same day! I can't wait for these two little cousins to meet :)

I'm thankful that John and Jackie got engaged!!!

I'm just to proud of my brother John, and couldn't be more excited to officially welcome sweet Jackie into our family! Here's to many amazing years to come!

I'm thankful for family getaways!

Before school started, we took a little trip to the Lake of the Ozarks with Dan's family:

Sun, and swimming, and fishing, and good company!

I'm thankful for the kids' school!

Caleb even has his own locker now :)

Of course William had to get in on the action. Future kindergartener right here!!

I'm thankful for a rambunctious little boy who lives life to the fullest...even when it results in minor injury. It gives us a reason to be thankful for our great doctors!

His second year of life wouldn't be complete without some stitches, right? He is following in big brother's footsteps. This little monkey was jumping on the bed. He fell down and....

Once the initial injury was over, he didn't seem to mind the stitches (or "whiskers" as we call them) so much. I think he actually liked all the attention. Oh boy!

I'm thankful for my husband who loves coaching Caleb's sports teams!

Caleb had a blast playing football for the first time this year.

Coach Dan in action:

And we were, of course, his biggest fans :)

Grandma and Ellie

Snuggles with Uncle Thomas

I'm thankful for our friends who invest so much in our kids' lives.

This is an end of the season pic with Coach Dan (aka Daddy) and Coach Phil...and the trophy of course (which is proudly displayed on his dresser now)! We are so thankful to have Phil in our life- he is such a great friend and mentor to our kids. In fact, we just had a Thanksgiving dance party at his house last weekend- he's pretty much the bomb- and if you ask our kids, he's way cooler than us...haha!

I'm thankful for exercise!

Caleb and Ellie participated in the annual Fun Run at Heritage Elementary, and William and I went to cheer them on. Caleb ran 40 laps this year! He was super-focused on getting the most laps, and was waaaay too cool to look at mom for a picture. So he pretended he didn't know me (but did that stop me from cheering and snapping a thousand pics? Of course not!)...haha...I guess we are entering into that stage.

Ellasyn, on the other hand, loves the camera :)

She was swimming in that size small T-shirt, but loved every moment:

Oh, and William scored a popsicle (or two, or maybe three)

Ellie started gymnastics and is loving it!

Following in Aunt Kelsey's footsteps!

We were so proud to watch Caleb complete his first race! He had been "training" and logging miles for months, and got to participate in the Kansas City Kids Marathon. He logged 25 miles before hand, and he and Dan ran the last 1.2 miles at the big race :)

I'm thankful for the opportunity to be involved in Caleb and Ellie's classrooms, and to get to know their awesome teachers and their friends.

I got to spend the morning at the pumpkin patch with Caleb's class. It was freezing cold, but we made the best of it!

I also got to help on Apple Pie Day! Yummy! Have I mentioned that I love school? I think I get more excited about it than they do some days. I get to re-live those fun school days vicariously through my kids now, and it's so awesome! :)

I'm thankful for my kind-hearted boy.

Caleb's new friend Pedro is in this picture. He just moved here from Brazil, and knew no English when he came. Caleb has befriended him and taken him "under his wing", teaching him all he needs to know about first grade, and helping him as he learns English! Melts my heart :)

I'm thankful for all of the fun holidays throughout the year- especially when we get to spend them with family.

Halloween fun!!

The infamous Hulk costume. William was absolutely petrified of this mask. Like to the point that he refused to go upstairs by himself because "the Hulk is up there". He still talks about it, and often asks "Where is the Hulk?", just to make sure he's not lurking somewhere.

Little butterfly:

Caleb got a hole-in-one doing Pumpkin Golf at his school party:

Snacks with friends in Ellasyn's kindergarten class:

Getting ready to trick-or-treat:

I'm so thankful for my niece and nephew!

Our annual tradition of getting together with our cousins on Halloween is so much fun :)

Trick-or-treat buddies, William and Beckett!

I'm thankful for "days off" from school and chores.

The kids all had a day off school in October, so we decided to go to the indoor amusement park, Zonkers. We had a blast- I mean, pizza, arcade, roller coasters, and rides...you can't go wrong!

William opted not to ride any rides, so we exchanged his wristband for tokens and played some games instead. He put a token in one of the games and just started randomly pushing buttons. I'm not sure how it happened, but he hit a JACKPOT! The tickets just kept coming- there were so many that we finally just walked away and let another kid have the rest. Lucky kid :) We cashed them in for some "awesome" prizes- some swords, yoyos, stickers, and other various treasures...