15th Anniversary!!

Today we celebrate our 15th Anniversary, even though he's had my heart for over 20 years.  Here's a little blast from the past, going back 20+ years...

Preschool Christmas Program

Natalie had her preschool Christmas program last week, it was so sweet.  Her favorite song was "Go Tell it on the Mountain", and "Away in a Manger".  She did a great job, and we are so proud of her!!

Here she is with of some of the children in her class/ Natalie and her good friend Frances / Singing "Go Tell it on the Mountain" / Posing for Mommy / Smiling with mommy, with a mouth full of chocolate :)

Gingerbread Men

We've been busy baking cookies, and doing crafts almost every afternoon. I grabbed the little ones (the big one was busy) and we sat down to decorate our gingerbread men. The great part is that they each get their own (and I don't have to worry about the house falling apart).

Here are their lovely creations..

The big maple in the backyard

We have this gorgeous big maple in our backyard, that I'm kind of in love with.  I didn't realize how much I love trees until I moved to this beautiful state full of trees.  Having not really grown up with a fall in sunny Cali. I'm kind of obsessed with it here.  When the leaves start to change color it is truly amazing, and I see God's handiwork all around me. 

In early November I went outside to capture the bright golden yellow hues of the maple leaves.  I love the contrast of the dark wet trunk and branches against the light leaves.  As you can tell it is a pretty tall tree, but not nearly as tall as our 100 year old pines, that tower above it at over 100 feet. 



Later that month the leaves fell from the trees, and were raked into 5 big piles.  The kiddos had fun jumping in them, and our neighbors (the cows) came over to the fence to investigate.  We rewarded them with apples.