A Thankful Heart Is a Happy Heart

We have so many great photos from our wonderful Thanksgiving weekend, so please, bear with me...this post has a LOT of pictures! :-)

Our weekend began Wednesday evening. We enjoyed a lovely Thanksgiving church service, and then we were on our way to Michigan to spend the weekend with Mike's family. The car was loaded, gassed, and we were all psyched up for our 5.5-hour trip. We left at 8:30 p.m. in a bit of a drizzle, praying that the weather would cooperate. Sadly, not even an hour into our trip, we ran over an unseen object with our back left tire, and lo and behold, the tire was flat. We were blessed to be able to pull into a rest area, where my darling husband changed that wretched tire in the pouring rain. By 9:45, we were back on the road, a bit shaken and weary, but still raring to go. The trip only took 8 hours on the spare tire, as we could drive no more than 50 mph. Thankfully, we arrived at Mom and Dad's safely - wet, tired, a little cranky - but safe and sound and relieved to be there.



Despite a minimal amount of sleep, we woke refreshed and excited on Thursday morning. We spent a lovely day enjoying the company of family and friends, devouring delicious food and just giving thanks to our Provider.



Too much turkey for my turkey, ya think? ;-)



Joshua even got a private piano lesson from cousin John!



After that, he couldn't get enough of Grandpa and Grandma's piano!



Friday, of course, was spent Black Friday shopping! Joshy helped us scope out all the good deals!



We are not the hard-core shoppers who wait outside the stores at 3 a.m. Rather, we joined the masses around 7:30. Joshua was such a little trooper, and happily (and sleepily) endured all 6 hours of our shopping excursion!



Friday afternoon was spent playing games, resting and just enjoying each other's company.



That evening we had an early Christmas celebration. This was Joshy's first experience with opening gifts, and despite being a little tired, he had a great time!



Who wouldn't?????



Today we met some wonderful seminary friends for lunch and spent time catching up on each other's lives.



God has truly blessed us with lifelong friends...JB & Evo, we love you so much!



We had such a terrific weekend, but are now home safe and sound, relaxing and *thinking* about unpacking a few things...maybe tomorrow? ;-)



Joshua is busy playing his new piano from Grandpa and Grandma...perhaps a future Debussy?



I know I have said it before, but I'll say it again: We have SO MUCH for which to be thankful, not just when Thanksgiving rolls around, but each and every day.



We are so blessed to have a loving God, each other, wonderful families and friends, a roof over our heads, food on the table, a reason to get up each morning. We hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving, and remember, "A thankful heart is a happy heart."

Love and blessings,
Mike, Krys and Joshua

Entertaining Ourselves on a Rainy Day

Mommy and Joshua just being silly.

Family Photos

We got family portraits taken on Friday. I was a little nervous about how Joshua would react (you all remember his first experience with studio photos!)



The little stinker didn't pull out his very BEST, cheesiest smiles, but the photographer still managed to get some great shots.



He was so excited when she let him climb these little stairs...Mommy doesn't let me climb the steps at home unless she's right behind me!



As difficult as it is to get a VERY mobile, VERY active, VERY independent 10-mo-old to sit still and pose for pictures, Joshy did a great job!

This is the time of year when we are supposed to reflect on everything for which we are thankful. That list is endless...first and foremost we are thankful for a God who always provides; we are so thankful for each other, for family, friends, a wonderful home church to serve, a roof over our heads, food on the table...I could go on and on. God is good, all the time!

Love and blessings,

The Hollemans

The Simple Things

Ever have one of those days? It's days when I feel like this that I remind myself of all the simple things that make life so wonderful.



Snuggling under a blanket and devouring a good book...



Chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven...



Making messes...



A large mug of steaming coffee in the morning...



Curling up with my boys and a big bowl of popcorn for movie night...



Contagious smiles and giggles that make our house a home!

God is so good, and we have so much for which to be thankful! PTL!



Oh, and we became official residents of IL today! Mike and I had to take written drivers tests...it had been EIGHT YEARS since I had done that, and I was a little nervous! But, as you can see, it went well, and we now have new licenses and plates for our cars. One more thing to check off the To-Do List! :-)

Hope you are all having a blessed week!

M, K & JJ

Muted Mondays: Be Joyful Always

Great Deal on Christmas Cards!

Christmas is just around the corner...are you getting excited?



We are! :-)

This is the time of year when I usually start thinking about Christmas cards. I always order them from Shutterfly - they have so many to choose from, at terrific prices!

I just can't decide which card to use this year...there are so many great options!



I like what this one says...



But you can put so many fun pictures on this one...



Despite how many adorable layouts there are, I think this one might be my favorite! What do you think? Guess you will just have to wait and see which one arrives in the mail!

Bloggers - Shutterfly is having an incredible promotion right now: 50 free Christmas cards! If you are interested, click here.



Can't wait to get some fun photos of our little man this weekend to put on our Christmas cards! We are praying he cooperates...the kid is always full of smiles!



Have a wonderful Monday everyone!

Love and Blessings,
The Hollemans

First Haircut

Today, Joshua got his first big boy haircut! It was definitely time; the top had gotten WAY to long!



He sat so well in the chair while Miss Joy cut his hair.



And there's the finished product!



Isn't he so handsome?



So proud of my big boy!

Strike a Pose!

Our little man was really hammin' it up for the camera today.



I love this one...doesn't he look like he's "modeling"?



Think he'll do this well in a couple weeks when we get his photos taken professionally? Mommy and Daddy are praying that we do not have a repeat of his first professional photo shoot, haha! I scheduled the photos for soon after his usual nap time, in hopes that a well-rested boy will have lots of smiles for the camera! :-)

We have had a fun weekend, full of shopping, movies, potlucks and singing. I almost got all my Christmas shopping done! Despite the extra hour of sleep, we are still exhausted...it's early to bed for this family tonight!

Love and blessings,
The Hollemans