Thanksgiving 2011

Once again it was a nicer than normal day this year for Thanksgiving. The kids were able to play kick ball outside and burn off some energy while the adults hung out inside. What a great day. I love it when our family is all together. This year was probably the smallest our Kempton Thanksgiving has ever been but we enjoyed being with everyone that was able to be there. Gabe and I started our Thanksgiving day out at Aunt Debbie and Uncle Carl's place while John was working. After John got out of work Gabe & I met him at his mom and dad's house.

Ahh the beloved kids table. Nana's Fab Five!

Dad Fuller carving the bird for dinner number two for Gabe & I.

Gabe & Grandpa GG enjoying some pie together.

Halloween 2011

Better late than never! Oh do I ever have a lot of catching up to do. Gabe was a skunk this year for Halloween and a darn cute one if I say so myself! We have been so lucky the past few years with Halloween and have had great weather. Not at all like it use to be when I was little. I remember always having to wear our winter coats and you could never see our costumes because of all of the clothing we had to wear to stay warm. Not the case these last few years.

Our little skunk searching through his goodies bag!
I love this picture of the back side of his costume. My mom found it for him at Goodwill and he LOVED it.

After doing our trick or treating we always come home to hand out candy to the other kids. I think that Gabe likes doing this more than he likes going out to get his own candy. This picture is him with his pumpkin that he carved almost totally by himself this year. Can't believe how fast he is growing up. In a few more years he won't want to do this with me anymore. So I'm going to enjoy every minute of it right now!

Happy Halloween! Almost 2 months late :)

Putting My New Gift To Good Use

What a fun filled weekend we had. We started off with taking some school pictures of Dustin & Shenira Saturday afternoon and of course we had Gabe with us and he sure isn't going to miss out on a photo opportunity! We went to two different parks on Saturday for our shoot and I had lots of fun trying out different things. Below are a few of the shots I took of the kids.

Gabe 6 years old 1st gradeShenira 13 years old 8th gradeDustin 16 years old 10th gradeAfter pictures and a little shopping it was time to head to church for our Faith Promise Carnival. What an awesome time we had. There were fun little games for the kids and cute skits put on by some of our "adults" in the church. I use that word loosely! As you can tell by my guys reaction this was lots of fun and probably the best part of the night! Sunday took us out to Indian Run Golf course to take picture of the Project Graduation Class of 2012 Golf Outing. I loved this picture, it was raining leaves and the sun so out so bright and the weather was perfect. What a glorious day.

After taking pictures at the golf outing we headed to Three Rivers to our niece Karis' birthday party. Again a wonderful day to have a party and be outside. Her birthday is being celebrated early this year as her family awaits the arrival of her new baby brother.

I wish this weather would stay like this for a long time but it looks like on rain and gloomy weather will be returning later this week. I am so NOT ready for winter.

A Very Exciting Gift

If you know me at all you know that I have a MAJOR love for taking pictures. My husband is very well aware of this love and so this past week when a friend called and said that she was going to be selling her old camera because she got a new one, I was more than excited. I was even more excited when my dear sweet hubby told me that we would purchase said camera as an early Christmas/Birthday present for me! I got the camera on Monday night and I promptly on Monday and Tuesday night headed out to the park with my little man who is always up for posing and being a little model for mommy.

I love this first picture because it is exactly how I feel about my new camera! This was another favorite from our time out. He has the best smile ever...even if he is a few teeth short!

Thank you John for pretending to understand my sickness of taking pictures and for the great gift so that I can keep on clicking! You are the best!

Beautiful Bride

This past Saturday we went to the wedding of my cousin Kendra. She was the most stunning bride I have ever seen. She looked like she stepped right out of a Disney Princess Movie. She brought tears to my eyes as soon as I saw her.Her wedding was short, sweet and perfect even with the rain. Most brides would have been very upset with having rain on their wedding day especially since it was an outdoor wedding. But Kendra never batted an eye and just kept smiling. She gets the bride of the year award if you ask me!Here she is with her cute umbrella smiling rain and all. See I told you she was stunning!Kendra & her wedding coordinator....Aunt Dawn! These two have such an amazing relationship and a bond that will always be special. They both would do anything for each other. Aunt Debbie made all of these little pies for Kendra & Dan, they were amazing and supper cute. We couldn't let the night get away without getting a shot of the two of them together. Ahh my favorite picture of the night. This boy loves to dance and he LOVES weddings. Thank you Kendra for making my little guy fell so special on your special day. You are a wonderful person and we love you so much. My hubby and I all dressed up for the night.

This was Kendra & Dan's Guest Tree, instead of having a guest book Kendra's brother Spencer drew this tree and each guest stamped a leaf on the tree and then signed their names inside or around the left. I had never seen this done before and thought that it was so cool.


Thanks Kendra and Dan for sharing your big day with us. Everything was perfect, just like you!

First Day of First Grade

Last night I took Gabe out school shopping & to dinner. While at dinner I asked him how he felt about last night being the last day of summer break and this was the face I got! We have had SO much fun this summer that none of us are ready for summer to be over.

My big 1st Grader. I thought the first day of Kindergarten was bad. 1st grade was So much worse. 1st grade means that they get to keep my baby all day long. I no longer have a little playmate with me in the mornings :( So many mom's are always ready for school to start and I'm not so much like that. I love our summer routine and miss it when school starts.                                 

 First Grade!

 Gabe's teacher this year is Mrs. Treat. Now try and say that a few times with your two front teeth missing. We've had lots of fun practicing and listening to him say it. But oh how I love this little toothless grin.

 He had to make sure that I took a picture with him and his pets on his first day of school. The cat was pretty easy the dog on the other hand did not want to have his picture taken and was crazy excited this morning. After several attempts this was as good as it gets.

 Heading to the car. You know you take way to many pictures of your child when he says "Hey mom get a picture of this".



Our annual picture out front of the school with the school sign. I can't wait to look back at these when he is in 5th grade!



 My baby at his first desk. He looks so small behind that desk. But was pretty excited about it. He couldn't help but take a little peek inside just after I took this picture.

 

 Knock'em dead little man.



To Mackinac Island & Back!

Tony and his friend Brandon decided that it would be cool to ride from our house in Vicksburg to the Mackinaw Bridge and then home again. After lots of planning and lots of help from Dad....THEY DID IT!  This is the boys on day one leaving our house at 8:30am.              

 John & his dad took turns being the chase vehicle for the boys. They carried all of there gear and would go ahead to help start getting camp set up for the night.

 3 days and 300 miles later they arrived to Mackinaw City where they took the ferry across to the Island and then road there bikes around the Island. Did some site seeing and then headed back to camp where they had the next day to rest before they started on the 300 mile trip home.

 I love these pictures here they are proud as all get out...They have reached the bridge!

This is the welcome home crew waiting for them to come around the corner. Grandma Fuller, Shenira, Livy & Karis made the boys posters and lined in the streets to welcome them home.

 Here they come down our road to lots of cheers. This was beyond words amazing!

 So happy to be home.

This is a trip that they will never forget and we are so proud of both of them.