Team Edward?

I was just talking to Parker about Twilight. He was making fun of the movie and I tried to defend it by saying, "Come on Parker, you don't even know what the movie's about!"

His response? "Everybody that's seen the preview knows what it's about. It's about gay vampires pretending to be straight!"

Well, that's one theory...

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Well, it's officially Christmas time. It's past Thanksgiving, it's December, and rumor on the street is that Parker even called it. So yes, it's Christmas.

So, now that we're in the holiday season...how the heck did we get here? Did the year fly by for anyone else or was that just me. I can't believe it's December. Oy.

My goal this year is for Jon and I to do something holiday-ish every day leading up to Christmas. Yesterday we started off with a bang and went to the mall where they have the Festival of Trees. Now people, this is something that's actually cool at our mall. I know, shocker. Anyway, various business and groups from around town put together decorated Christmas Trees with gifts galore and you can buy raffle tickets to win them. One tree has a huge flat screen, and another has a laptop, Wii, and Playstation 360. There are about 25 or 30 trees there with every theme imaginable. Yeah, totally sweet gifts for $1 tickets. It's so fun to see all the decorations and imagine winning some totally awesome prizes. It's on until Decmember 13th, so go check it out!

Tonight I have a fun surpise planned for Jon and I for Christmas goodness, but more on that later. We actually did the same thing last year, so I think it'll be the start to the Christmas season each year. Technically, we should've done that yesterday, but we had Heroes, and that took priority. :)

Yesterday as I was praying during my quiet time God was laying thankfullness on my heart. We have so much to be thankful for and I think I tend to ignore it, or just take it for granted. I don't want to be an ungrateful person, so I decided a Holiday Thankfullness Jar would do the trick. Every night, Jon and I are writing down something we're thankful for, and dropping it in the jar. Then, on Christmas we'll read them all and be able to look back on all God has blessed us with. I'm pretty excited about this, and definitely see it becoming part of our Christmas Tradition.

So, with that in mind, two questions?
1: What holiday traditions do you and your loved ones have to celebrate the season?
2: What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving full of love, family, food, blessings, and more food.

A picture is worth a thousand words...

Chamakin?

I recently stumbled across this old post on Soule Mama and it made me smile. I love the creative spirit and I hope that it's something I inspire in the babe once she's old enough. It also made me think about what I've been making. I would say nothing, but looking back, I've actually been quite productive!

For Michael's birthday, Farah had everyone bring t-shirts. But Jon and I decided to get creative and make one instead. And what's a better theme than Heroes? Exactely. Nothing.

Michael's scarred of Mrs. Petrelli. Aren't we all?

And Carrie guessed correctly I was having a girl and so won the prize there. I made one of the cute Artsy Clutch's from Bend-the-Rules Sewing. I love this pattern, it's so simple and allows for personality to shine. Granted, the babe is stealing my brain cells and it took me forever to remember how to piece it together properly. I was really frusterated and almost broke down crying. I can't wait until I have my brain back. :)

I FINALLY started something for the babe! I have so many ideas of things I want to make her. It almost overwhelmes me, but I decided to start small and work on something that could transfer over to tv watching time and allows me to lounge on the couch.

As for that blanket...well, it's still sitting on my floor, waiting to be assembled. I need some serious motivation on this because it's just sewing up seams which is SUPER BORING. Can someone please send me an elf? Thanks.

I suppose the most important making I've done lately is the babe herself. And let me tell you, she's quite the mover and kicker. Jon FINALLY felt her kick for the 1st time on Sunday and it was so fun! He was so excited, it was adorable. Ever since then she's decided to have a dance party on a daily basis. Maybe it's all the HSM3 soundtrack listening I've been doing? Hmmmm...

Thanks for making the babe so happy, Zac.

And finally, a food making. But this was all Brittany, not me. This was her favorite food from her Japan trip, Okonomiyaki, and she was nice enough to make us all some on Monday for Heroes. Ummm, yum. Now, I love different kinds of Japanese food, but this is probably my favorite. It's sooooo good. Thanks again, Britt, you're the best!

You know you want some.

So, what are you guys making?

P.S. Yes, I know that I haven't posted about the trip yet, but seriously? I haven't even downloaded all the photos yet. Once THAT happens, expect a post. :)

The South...and Haiti

Enjoying the fall.

Hey everyone! We're back from our amazing roadtrip. I said this after our summer trip, but seriously, America is beautiful. There's so much to see, experience, taste...and there's some really nice people out there. I definitely love the South and had fun getting in the middle of it. I have a ton of pics to sort through, but I hope to catch you all up soon enough. In the meantime, here's a little something that's near and dear to my heart.

I've been an avid reader of Soule Mama for quite sometime now. She just started this new blog, Mama to Mama and I'm seriously excited about this. It's a chance for moms to connect to other moms and help out those that are less fortunate than ourselves. So it's a chance for all us crafty ladies to take our art and use it for the good of others. Super exciting, right? And guess who her first project helps out? HAITI! So excited about this! Please go check out the website to get the details, but the first project is called 'Caps to Cap-Haitian' and involves making hats for infants in a place where the infant mortality rate is very high. It's a small way to help out and I'm very excited. So, all you crafty ladies I know (whether you're moms or not), let's get going!And speaking of Haiti, please pray for them. Many people are still recovering from Hurricane Hanna (Cap-Haitian was hit especially hard). And recently a school in Petionville (about 6 miles from the BHM) collapsed. 90 have been found dead, and there are still people missing. They actually called the mission and all the men went to help out. Chris sent out an e-mail talking about how hard it was: "Pray with us for the grieving families. Names of those found alive are read off periodically. Others are still waiting and hoping. From what I saw there will only be a few that are still alive. It seems like we are going from one problem to the other here in Haiti. Pray for those that are still suffering from the hurricanes. There are still many that are living in shelters or with other families because they have no home to go back to." Many people are grieving and looking for hope right now. Unfortunately, most of them don't know they can find that in Christ.

Reformation Day and the Start of a Roadtrip...

Greetings to all from lovely Tennessee! On Friday night the Shaw's hosted a lovely People of Power Halloween Party where fun was certainly had by all.

Brad and Angelina, eat your heart out...

"I don't know, do I? Pew, pew, pew!"

Cutest.Battery.Ever. The PG workers know what they're doing.

These guys aren't afraid to throw Beckham out.

The next morning (Happy Birthday Michael!) we set off for Tennessee for the week. We had a long day of flights but they went extremely well and we arrived in Memphis. We automatically headed for food, which was of course a suggestion from Feasting on Asphault. Jim Neely's Interstate BBQ. Ummm, yum.

Me and the babe are fat and happy.

We got the sampler and I must say, this food rocks. The baked beans (sorry Michael) were the best ever, and the sausage links? Ummm, double yum.

Enjoying the food.

Proof we enjoyed the food.

After food we met up with Clay, and met his lovely lady Jacquline and hung out with the family. Today we went to church then headed for the National Civil Rights Museum. It was amazing. We didn't have nearly enough time there. It's so sad to see what our country considered acceptable as recently as 40 years ago. And not even acceptable, but as a noble goal to live up to. It's bizarre to see signs asking, "Did you do your part to aid segregation today?" that used to hang everywhere. It makes you wonder what we're doing now that will just disgust us in 30 years. I'm so glad we got to go here and learn about the great men and women of our country that have fought over the centuries to make this country a better place. Martin Luther King, Jr. was so amazing, it's sad to see the actual spot where he took his last breath. Even though he died too soon by my standards, God has a plan, and King's fight still speaks today.

Tomorrow we're headed off to the east for more adventures. Hope you're all having a great time where ever you may be.