Thanksgiving 2012!

What a fabulous holiday celebration we had!  Nothing is better than being with family.  It is a little piece of heaven on earth!

Our holiday celebration started Tuesday night when my brother Spence and his family pulled into town.  We absolutely love being with them!  I was so excited for them to come.  They came late Tuesday night.  I was finally able to meet there new twins.  They are so, so cute!  I loved holding them, singing with them, feeding them, and playing with them!

 On Wednesday we took the day easy until Barton got home from Clinic.  When Barton got home we packed up the kids and headed to Keenland.  We wanted to show them a bit of the Bluegrass while they were here.  Unfortunately there were no horses there that day.  (Looks like they will just need to come back:)

 We caught Elliana trying to teach Abigail how to scale the wall

 Racing at the tracks

 Check out the sweet candid shot we got of my brother and his beautiful wife.

After Keenland we took a drive to see the castle.

Thanksgiving was so much fun.  My cousin Walton, her hubby Mike and baby Madison joined us for the festivities that day and the rest of the weekend.  Our nieces and nephew also joined us.  (Sadly their mom had to work).  Our sweet neighbors left town so they offered us there kitchen table, use of their oven, and their house for people to sleep at.  It all worked out so well.   I was nervous to cook the Thanksgiving meal, but it was a lot less intimidating when my sweet hubby volunteered to be in charge of the turkey.  And with so many people helping, it makes a lot less work.  It was fun to combine both Sloan and Crabtree traditions into our own holiday. 

It was so good to be able to celebrate it with so many loved ones:

After the meal it was such a gorgeous day we spent time outside.

 The rest of the day included pie and games.  Afterwords the men went out to the Black Friday sales with shopping lists from us girls.  What a great way to do the sales :)

Friday morning Mike, Barton, and Spence woke up early and headed out to go spelunking: 

 Friday night my cousins from Cincinnatti headed down to see Spence and Wendy.  It was so much fun!  Barton and Mike made yummy Calzones.  The girls dominated in Catch Phrase and we played many hillarious rounds of Mafia.

We were sad to see the week end but we are so grateful for the time we had with loved ones.  We can't wait to see everyone again!

 The holidays are always a great time to reflect on what really matters to us. I have been so blessed. Here are just a few things that I am thankful for:
 -Christ.  I am so thankful for Christ in my life.  I know that through him not only can we live forever, but we can also be truly happy.  I know that he did come to this earth and atone for our sins.  And because of this we are blessed with eternal life. 
-My hubby.  He is my best friend.  He works so hard for our little family.  I am beyond thrilled of the thoughts of spending forever with him. 
-My beautiful baby.  She brings me more joy then I could ever imagine. She is my little miracle.
-Family.  One of my biggest blessings is family.  I am so grateful to be born of goodly parents.  I strive to become more like them everyday.  I am grateful to be best friends with my siblings. (If only we all lived closer to each other :).  I am so grateful for my Mother-in-law.  She is one of the strongest women I know.  I am grateful for all love and dedication she has to her family.  She worked so hard to help Barton become who he is.  For that I will always be eternally grateful for.
 

Halloween Fun

We hope that you all had a fun and safe Halloween!  What a great way to ring in the Holiday Season.  I love this time of year!

We did a couple of fun things for Halloween.  First of all, the Ward Trunk-Or-Treat.  It was fun to dress up and see all of our great friends in costume.  Unfortunately it started raining soon after the party started, so it didn't last very long.  Here are a few pics:

 Yabadabadoo!

It was so cold by the end of the trunk-or-treat.  Poor Abigail was freezing!  Thankfully we had grabbed some layers on our way out the door.  Don't worry, her feet weren't bare the whole time.

We love our local bookstore, JosephBeth.  They do awesome story times for toddlers.  They had a Trick-or-Treating event the Saturday before Halloween.  Abigail's boyfriend James joined us.  It was a lot of fun:

 We love James!  Isn't his costume adorable!?!  He is Max from Where the Wild Things Are.  SOO cute!

We carved Abigail's pumpkin.  Yes, the pumpkin.  The same one mentioned in the post about the pumpkin patch.  Abigail loves her pumpkin so much.  She decided that she wanted a Cat carved into it.  Okay, we persuaded her decision a little.  She really wanted a fish.  She loves fish!  She also likes cats and dogs.  Daddy thought a cat would be easier so we helped her change her decision from a fish to a cat.

At first she didn't know what to think about the pumpkin pulp.  She kept trying to put it back into the pumpkin. She enjoyed touching it a lot more when we pulled out bowls, spoons, and a pot for her to play with.

Last, but not least, the actual Halloween.  Barton wasn't able to play due to an interview so Abigail and I partied with the Warren ladies.  We love these ladies.  They are fabulous!