The Stockings are Hung...

Last Sunday evening we decorated for Christmas. This included getting a tree and all the trimmings. Faith even got to help us this year, so a great time was had by all. We debated on whether to get a fake or real Christmas tree and finally decided to get a real one! It is beautiful and smells delicious. We got a balsom spruce, so the needles aren't as "pokey." Nate was our hero--transporting the 7 ft tree out of the store, strapping it onto the jeep, and getting it set up inside practically single-handed. Way to go Daddy!

Hope you are getting in the Christmas spirit as well :)

We are Thankful...

This year we spent Thanksgiving with our Hutchings family at a cabin that Gigi and Pawpaw rented outside of Branson. It was a beautiful cabin on a little acreage. We had a relaxing week eating LOTS of food and enjoying some Branson festivities. We are very thankful for family :)

Nate and Gigi on Thanksgiving

Faith and Pawpaw watching the Little People :)
Yum-o! Thanksgiving Dinner....Gigi and Aunt Pam made a WONDERFUL dinner....turkey, ham, salads, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pie...and the list goes on...

Now it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without some hunting :) Nate and Uncle Dick in thier gear.
Crazy sisters decided to go midnight shopping at the outlet mall in Branson. I was a little reluctant and tired, but Ally and Derr made it so fun :) We "witnessed" a minor parking incident, but did get a parking space out of it....we shopped our hearts out....then got a little bit lost winding through the mountains on our way home at 5:30am....Iowa girls are not used to curvy roads! Needless to say...we had an adventure :)

We also spent some time at the Branson Landing. Faith loved these drummers who were using buckets for drums.

Faith and her Pawpaw checking out the sights.

Faith and Gigi watching the water fountain show complete with shooting water, lots of color and Christmas music.

Before we all left, we got some family pics! Can you tell Faith is the only grandchild so far :) She's not spoiled at all!

Faith with Uncle Buba and Aunt DD

Faith with Uncle Dick and Aunt Pam

Faith with Gigi and Pawpaw

Hutchings family picture! (sorry about the red eyes, folks!)

Hope you all had a blessed Thanksgiving too :)

Yay for College Football......

Because it meant we got visitors this past weekend!!!! Ehren is a huge Iowa State fan (don't hold it against him, he really is a nice guy :) ), and IA State played Mizzou this past weekend....so Danielle, Ehren and thier dog Eddy came for the game!

Ehren and Nate went to the game Saturday while the girls hung out, went to the park, and maneuvered our way through downtown to pick up the guys. Danielle and I even got to go out Sat night after Faith went to sleep. We had such a great time catching up. Faith and Eddy got along great.....well, Eddy was very patient with Faith. She gave him LOTS of hugs, and just really seemed to enjoy his soft, long hair :) Thanks to Danielle, Ehren and Eddy for a wonderful visit!

Faith walking Eddy. She periodically dropped the leash, and Eddy being the sweet dog he is, just waited for her to pick it up again.Playing at the park!Big girl going down the slide.Danielle and Faith talking about life while walking Eddy.Eddy was a little bit afraid of the bridge over the lake, so Danielle had to give him a hand at first :)Faith giving Eddy another hug!The girls snuggling in the chair.

The guys :) Of course, I didn't get a picture of them on game day!

Love and Miss you Danielle :)

Lots of Attention from Grandma, Grandpa and Tucker!

Grandma, Grandpa and Tucker came to visit a few weeks ago, and we're just now getting up the pictures! Faith ate up all the attention she got, and we had a great time hanging out, shopping and eating ;) The guys even watched Faith for an afternoon so Mommy and Grandma could do some serious Christmas shopping :) Here are some pics of our weekend...

Faith helping Mommy get Grandma and Grandpa's room ready

Faith and Grandma riding the carouselFaith not too excited about getting off of the carousel....Grandma's a trooper though :)Faith with Grandma and Granda before they left. Grandpa is so much fun...he's always thinking of creative ways to play with Faith
And again...Faith thought this was pretty cool.

Faith and Grandma!

Daddy entertaining Faith after we had to say goodbye.
Faith and Tucker. She was so excited to see Tucker...lots of high pitched squeeling and laughing....and she loved to chase him around.

We were also blessed to have Danielle, Ehren and Eddy visit us this past weekend....pictures to come :)

Patty Cake!

Faith has been loving patty cake! We were in the car the other day and I heard her start doing it on her own in the backseat. It was too funny. This video was taken last week...she's even better this week. She's actually saying alot of the words now. I feel like she's going through a language learning explosion. It's so fun to see. I'll try and get her doing it on video again sometime soon :)

Faith and Her Buddies

Faith is blessed to have lots of friends around here to play with :) Here are some pics of her recent time with friends.

Playing at Aaron's 3rd birthday party. She loved the play area!!! Lots of tunnels to crawl in. Aaron's big sister, Kendra, was so patient to help Faith through it all as Mommy and Daddy are a little too big :) Aaron with his hot wheels set from FaithAaron and Adrian showing thier BIG muscles!Adrian's muscles!Cali and her Mommy and Daddy came over to play and have dinner one night. Faith loved having her here. We were a little slow with dinner, so they needed some crackers to hold them over :) We had a wonderful afternoon at the park last Sunday as a family. It was a beautiful day. We promised Faith that we would get a hotdog after the park, so we went to Sonic just for some hotdogs. Can you believe she ate a whole foot long hotdog?!

Happy Halloween from our Frilly Fairy!

We had a really fun evening with friends. We had some friends over for dinner and then went to the University and walked through an indoor kids party they had. Faith loved it. She was brave and went through blown up "scary" houses and kissed many a huge inflated pumpkin. As you can see, she was a fairy. Maybe wouldn't have been our first choice, but we found a great deal and couldn't resist the frills :) Her friends, Mattias and Hamilton were a lion and a turtle. They were quite the crew :)Hamilton the turtle and Mattias the lionUm....didn't you hear me? I am ready to go!!!!!Mattias getting his whiskers painted. I was amazed at how still he and Faith sat for this. It was like they were mesmorized. Facepainting may become part of our daily routine? :)Faith getting a cupcakeFaith and her wondeful cup cake artist :)The fairy has landed safely in her bed and we're hoping she stays there until 6:30...including the time change :) Happy Halloween!