Thankfulness, by Ben

And I quote:

Thankfulness

Thankfulness is like a shine of joy. You should be thankful for everything. Yes. You should. Be thankful for everything. I am thankful for everything. Be thankful for bad, bad, bad things. Be thankful for good, good things. I can be thankful for everything so you can do it too!

'Nuff said. :-)

We are thankful for all of you, and for our blessed life!

Domo Arigato

Mr. Roboto!

Who stole my pants?

Peekaboo! It's Ryan! Silly mommy, I don't have to wear pants! See the naked babydoll? That's just how we roll!

Poor Lucy...

No babies for little Lucy...

Talk about adding insult to injury, though - look at that huge cone on her head!

Bye bye Papaw

We miss you! The kids are still wishing Papaw was still here... and so am I!
Here are some pics from Papaw's last day in Atlanta -

Snuggling on the couch with the boys...

One last run to Ryan's favorite park - the Airplane Park at the local airport

My three weirdos

Loving their Papaw

Crazy faces!

Of course, before Papaw left for California, he took it upon himself to do one more job - the landing on the stairs to our basement. They had been left unfinished in the craziness of completing the house, and trying to save money anywhere we could. Naturally, being the planner that I am, there are no "before" pictures, but I do have some "after" ones here

Working on the landing...
Proud Papaw!

We are so glad he came and he was an incredible help to us for the four weeks he was here. Thank you Papaw! We love you! I'll leave you all this time with my favorite picture of Papaw and his three grandsons -

Piano Man

Nathan had his first keyboard recital on November 2nd and he did a great job. Papaw, Poppy and Gramma were all there and he was so proud of himself!

First up was a duet with Mommy. We played "Hot Cross Buns" in C major


Then a solo of his very own. He played "Major March" in F major.


while Ben and Ryan watched...

Afterwards, he was the coolest kid in the room (of course - he's Nathan).

And Ryan decided to try his own solo:

All in all, a fabulous first recital from Nathan! He did a great job and we were extremely proud of him!

Nathan's 6!

Happy Birthday to Nathan!

Nathan turned 6 last Saturday and we had a Star Wars party at the park. Nathan decided to wear his costume again, so here are pictures of my jedi at his birthday party.


The bonus to a park birthday is that you have built-in entertainment. No party games necessary when the kids can run themselves ragged on a playground!












Even the adults had some fun...

That's Stephen upside down, and Aunt Anne's fiancee Erik on the other swing :)

Then came cake...











Fancy, eh?

Well, at least it tasted good, or at least that's what Ryan thought -

So then it was time for more playing!

I'm driving this thing outta here!

Nathan and his friends - happy birthday!

A great time had by all. Another Lathrop birthday, now it's time to look ahead to Thanksgiving and Christmas... Oh my....

Halloween!

It's Halloween Time at the Lathrops!

The week started with us making our Jack-O-Lanterns -


See the Lysol wipes behind Ben - those were out for days because there were pumpkin guts EVERYWHERE! That's what I get for letting the kids do their pumpkins. Roasted pumpkin seeds are tasty, but I wonder if they are worth the effort? Right now I say no, but I'm sure I'll forget before next Halloween. :-)

For Halloween we had Indiana Jones, Anakin Skywalker and Ryan the Lion

Unfortunately, the camera malfunctioned and we lost a bunch of Halloween pics, but I've got requests into others to see if they have any pics on their cameras. If we can, we'll update with more pictures!

It was a fun night, though - we went to a neighborhood party in the late afternoon for a chili potluck dinner with all the younger kids in the neighborhood, and then we all went out in a big block for trick-or-treating. It was a lot of fun and the kids brought home WAY too much candy.


We are planning to donate our extra candy to the troops overseas through Operation Gratitude. Goodness knows the kids don't need the sugar and neither do Stephen or I - and what a great way for the kids to say thanks to our military! :-) Think about doing it yourself!

Here's the flyer:

Putting Papaw to Work

As I mentioned before, we really put Papaw to work this visit, and I've got the pictures to prove it! Check them out!

That's a whole lotta fence...

Wow... I can't believe he got it all done! Now Lucy and the boys can all play in the backyard - it's FABULOUS!