Wizard of Oz

Our lives have been in quite a whirlwind these last few weeks because of four little words "The Wizard of Oz". Emma had the INCREDIBLE opportunity to be a munchkin in one of our local theatres production of the Wizard of Oz. She auditioned in August. Practices started in Oct. and she has LOVED every single minute of it. Before their last performance (they were able to perform it 13 times) she even said, "I wish it wasn't going to be over, I want to do this every day!!" Never once did she complain about going to practices, long rehearsals, late nights, she loved it all. She was chosen to be a lullaby league munchkin, so she was in the scene (if you've seen the movie) where Dorthy lands in Munchkin land, she meets Glenda the Good witch and the Wicked witch of the West, is introduced. She also got to do a little ballet number with 2 other girls to represent the lullaby league. The whole thing was incredible and we are so thankful she had this chance!!

The munchkins playing on their DS's while waiting for their turn.
The shirt we were given for being in the show.

A performance they had at Borders bookstore, to promote the show.

More of the Borders performance.

Emma with Dorthy.

Before the show.

Mrs. Dana and her daughter Chelsea, came to the show!

Mrs. Cindy, Mrs. Amy, and Lauren, came to see Emma too!

MiMi and PaPa, Emma's biggest fans!!

Emma giving an autograph--you know she LOVED that!!

Another friend, Lauren at the show!

Emma with Mrs. Patti, one of her teachers, who came to the show!

Madelyn and Mary Kaitlyn, at the show!!

All of the Munchkins, Dorothy, and Glenda!

Seeing Santa and Decorating the Tree!

The day before Thanksgiving we went on our annual trip to the mall to see Santa. We've decided this is one of the best days to go because everyone else is usually traveling and there isn't too much of a crowd at the mall. Thanksgiving night we set up our tree. The kids, especially Emma, really got into it this year and she had a great time helping! Ty helped some too, and it was so cute b/c he piled all of his ornaments on the front of the tree right even with his height.

Ty helping.
Ty and Em helping together.

Emma doing a great job helping!

Our pic with Santa! He was a great Santa too! He took time with each of the kids and really talked with them about what they wanted.

Thanksgiving 09

This Thanksgiving we stayed at home and had so much fun with just the 4 of us. In the morning we got up, watched the parade and I cooked!! We ate lunch, went to the movies, then Old Navy was actually OPEN on Thanksgiving so we ran in there to look around. After that we went home and set up our tree!! It was a fun and relaxing day!

Me with the kids and our Thanksgiving lunch!

Jeff with the kids and our scrumptious meal!!

Ty and Em watching the parade!

Ty as a 5yr Old!

Before I show you all of the pics of Ty's bday I wanted to tell you how special he is. Ty is one of the most giving and caring kids I know (I can say that b/c he's mine :) For example, the other day Emma was losing at a memory game. Ty was willing to give her his turn so she wouldn't be sad she was losing. He always thinks of others and when others are crying or hurting he will go to them and love on them. He never complains about sharing the things he has been given with anyone else. He is my snuggler and loves to sit in my lap in car rider line and read books together. However, he is ALL boy too. Right before we read we have to get out of the car and play a game of football in the grass by the curb. I have loved watching him develop his own football game. He crouches down, say hut (and a few other things) and then throws the ball to me or I throw it to him. Whoever catches it runs toward the other one and then we "tackle" one another!! He loves to play EVERYTHING..superheroes, sword fighting, any sport, the wii, if it has to do with other people he wants to do it. He is very funny about all of us eating, or doing the same thing. If Emma is tall enough to ride a ride somewhere and he isn't, he doesn't want to ride another ride while waiting for her, he would rather just sit and wait for her b/c he wants us all to stick together.
One thing I have realized this year about Ty is that he DOES NOT like change!! When the weather started to get colder and we had to start wearing jeans and long sleeves, it was very traumatic for him. He would worry each night about what he was going to wear the next day. And then cry trying to make a decision about what new clothes to wear. Finally, now that he has worn most of his new clothes he is ok with it. Still he asks about the weather at night so he can prepare in his mind what it will be like the next day. He sometimes is very concerned about his appearance and knows which clothes he does and doesn't like to wear. He LOVES to wear his hair in a faux hawk and wears cowboy boots almost everyday.

I am so thankful for the incredible young man God is shaping Ty into, I can't wait to see how he changes this next year!!

Ty's Birthday!!!

Ty's birthday was pretty much a week long affair. On Tues. before his bday he didn't want me to take cupcakes to MDO, so we made candy bags to take (our boy LOVES candy). Then on Wed. I fixed him special bday pancakes, for lunch Jeff and I took him to Chuck E. Cheese (where he was treated like a king) and then that night, he DID want strawberry cupcakes taken to AWANA. On Thurs. PaPa, MiMi, and Grandpa all came in for the big bday party. He opened family gifts that night, and then Friday was the big party. Ty wanted to have a Batman Bowling Party, and asked everyone to dress up like a superhero. I need to tell you, he ONLY wanted Batman b/c of Robin--he wanted to be Robin!! The kids had a BLAST!!! (not sure what the bowling alley people thought of us :) Ty had a GREAT 5th bday, and I can not believe how big my baby boy is!!

Some of the kids from the party.(some had already left) :(

Ty blowing out candles!

Bowling!!

The Cake!!

Ty and his best buddy from MDO--Jakob!

More bowling!

Emma asked Ty if he wanted her to be Violet (from Incredibles) or an Indian. Thankfully Ty chose Indian, our Violet costume was about 2 sizes too small!!

The set up!!

Ty with his cake, in which he told us where he wanted all of the superheroes on it!

Opening gifts.

At Chuck E Cheese.

Seriously treated like a king, sticker, free drinks, tokens, and the number 5 to sit on our table to show where the pizza was to be delivered!!

Ty and his bday pancakes!!

Halloween!!!

On the Thursday night before Halloween on Saturday, we made pumpkin cookies and carved our pumpkins. I sadly did not get any pumpkin carving pictures. What was I thinking!!! :( But I did get a couple of Emma helping do the cookies (Ty only wanted to help put sprinkles on:).

On Saturday night we got our costumes on and then went over for "hot dog mummies" with our friends the Lammey's. We had a blast eating and playing, and then we headed out to trick or treat! We went trick or treating around our old neighborhood, (which honestly was a little sad for me) and the kids had so much fun. We went to our old neighbors house, and they invited us back later for a party they were having! So after trick or treating we went to the Fall Festival at our church, where another great time was had by all :). Then we ended the night going to our old neighbor's house (Shone and Susanna) where the kids got to play with friends, and we got to visit with our old neighbors :) It was a great night!!

Em rolling out the dough!

My big helper!!

Our Indian and our Batman.

Action shot!: Emma saying "Ah, Ah, Ah" and Ty showing off his BIG muscles!

With our carved pumpkins! Emma wanted me to tell all of you that she and Daddy cut out eyelashes for her girl pumpkin. Ty's has a "scary" face!!

The Lammey kids (Jacob and Ella Grace) and Ty and Emma

Our first house!!

Our babysitter Taylor and her sister, along with Ella Grace, Ty and Emma

At the Fall Festival with Mary Kaitlyn and Madelyn.

Ty and Parker!!

I know this pic is blurry, but I thought it was so cute. Ty was doing his best to help clean up and he was doing a great job carrying very heavy posts!

Emma with her Indian twin Abagael!!

I forgot one thing....

I forgot to tell this one last story.... This woman, Ann Evans was told by a friend, "at your age you can't finish a 10K race...but if you do, I'll give $100 to missions" Well this is Ann finishing the race!!! Great job Ann and thanks for proving your friend wrong :)

Race Around The World

God has done some amazing things with our journey to Vancouver, and this event was just another way we have been seeing Him work. A few months ago, Scott Grisham (who's family is going with us to Vancouver with us) and Jeff had the idea to do a 5/10K race to raise money for theCrossings. Well around the same time, God was laying it on the hearts of Frank and Jamie Lee (they are a young married couple at Trinity, who have a 5 year old son who is friends with Ty) to do the same exact thing. Frank talked with Jeff and Race Around the World was born. After 2 months of planning the Race was on Oct. 17th and was AWESOME!!! We had over 100 runners and it all went very smoothly. We are Praising God for this new way to raise support, and we are so thankful for friends like Frank and Jamie who were so receptive to what God was telling them to do.

Here is Casey, one of our volunteers, out at the wee hours of the morning getting things ready in the cold!

Kelly and Leanne, who did an AWESOME job at registration!!

The Phillips Fam

This is one of the sweetest stories. Sweet Caroline ( a friend of Ty's) decided she wanted to raise her $8 dollars for the fun run part of the race. So she did extra chores and began asking people to help support "The church Ty was starting in Vancouver" She ended up raising $60!!!!!! Tears still come to my eyes as I think about her bringing in her box of money! She has such a sweet and tender heart.

On Your Mark, Get Set,......

GO!!!!!!

16 year old winner of the 5K.

Jeff and Ty working hard!

Our friend Carrie and her son Will as they finished up the fun run.

Emma with her teacher Mrs. Smith, who ran the 10K and did an AWESOME job!

Emma presenting Caroline her medal after the fun run:)

Picking up the cones...cleaning up.

The volunteers who helped make the event a HUGE Success!!