Happy Thanksgiving

The Saturday before Thanksgiving, we shared dinner with the Mooneys. Shane and Jason were in town from Germany on business and the whole family could be together - what a blessing!
On Thanksgiving Day, we got together with Oma, Opa and Aunt Andrea. Oma and Opa fixed us a wonderful meal and we enjoyed one another's company for a while. I am so grateful to be close to both sides of our family for the holidays again this year!
At Oma and Opa's house, Micah likes to color with colored pencils.
Micah got his first turkey-carving lesson this year from Opa. Micah pointed out the turkey's feet and elbows. He looked for the face, but couldn't find it.


I'm not sure if it was the pumpkin pie, the whipped topping, the squirting thereof or a combination of all three, but dessert was an exciting affair.

Big Boy Bed

Micah is now, as of November 13th, sleeping in a toddler bed. We bought it second hand and Pop fixed some of the slats in the bottom. Then Nana made Micah a special airplane quilt to go on it. We'd been talking about it for a few weeks and Micah even got to sleep in a bed at Oma and Opa's as a trial run. The big boy bed at home was a complete success. The first few days he even ran to it in delight and crawled under the covers with his shoes still on before I could get into his room. Now we just have to convince him that his baby sister really does have rights to the crib.

Aunt Mary and Markers

At the beginning of November, our good family friend Aunt Mary came for a visit. Micah got to stay at Oma and Opa's house all weekend while Mary stayed with them, too. They had so much fun. Mary is such an encourager!

Micah also was introduced to markers for the first time early in November. He loves to sit and color for a long time these days (sometimes close to an hour!). He is very diligent about always putting the caps back on the markers. Sometimes I'm not sure which he enjoys more, coloring or taking the caps off and putting them back on and listening for the snapping noise it makes.
As Micah enters further into the toddler stage, where exploration of his world and helping others often requires being messy, the Lord is teaching me more and more about how messy my relationship is with Him. He allows me to try things all the time that I mess up. He just gently corrects me and shows me the right way one more time, until I get it right. It's a challenge to always respond that way with Micah. The Lord is so patient and long suffering with us, isn't He?
How could I get frustrated about marker all over him with a smile that cute and all the caps back on?!?

Jack-o-lantern and Train Engineer