End of November Beginning of December

Since I have not kept up with the blog very faithfully, I have a lot of catching up to do.  I will just post a few highlights of some of the events and such that have happened lately. 

 We drove over to visit Ryan and Katherine and the kids one afternoon.  Stephen has been missing Ryan and wanted to visit with him, so we headed over to their house for a few hours.  The kids all enjoyed playing together.  Thanks Ryan and Kat for letting us come over.  Love you!

We celebrated Thanksgiving over at Granny Smith's (Mrs. Herzog's side of the family) and got to be with some more cousins, aunts and uncles.

 When Stephen was growing up, this table (I imagine) used to be filled with him and his brothers and sisters and cousins.  Now it is filled with his children and his cousins children!  How special to think of everyone growing up and raising children of their own.

 We also celebrated Thanksgiving at the farm (Mr. Herzog's side of the family) and enjoyed lots of food and fellowship.  The boys all played "blood ball" in the garage (it is some sort of basket ball they made up).  They seemed to have a great time and attracted a good audience.

 At the end of the day we went to Mo and PawPaw's house to decorate for Christmas and spend some more time together.  We didn't leave until it was quite late and had some sleeping kids to tote home.  It is a good thing we are just right across the pasture.

There was a cool front that came through Thanksgiving day and it stayed cool or cold for quite a few days.  The kids love playing outside, but they don't last quite as long in the very cold days or the very hot days.  I packed a picnic lunch and we all headed to the hay barn.  We played hide and seek and ate lunch while Lydia took a nap on the palate we made for her.  We had such a FUN time.  When Martin prayed before we ate lunch, he told the Lord how much fun he was having playing with Mama and thanked Him for it.  It melted my heart!  Papa came a little later and played another round with us.  What fun memories.

Here are all the kids one afternoon while we were at the farm.  Notice the bare feet.  It is funny how you can go from jackets and socks and boots, to short sleeves and no shoes.