Thanksgiving-"Fun, Fun, Fun"

Each year seems to hold something new for Thanksgiving Day. Nana did her magic in the kitchen and the kids enjoyed helping. This was the first time to spend with Billy's brother Bob and his family. We spent ALL day eating even though our diner was at 5:00pm. It was so nice to have a few days of NOTHING on the calendar.

Maddy is trying Nana's trick of getting the spoon to stick. She wasn't as successful as Nana was with getting it to stick on her nose. 

Nana and her 2 boys together for the holiday. 
Thanksgiving and football with a room full of Redskin fans!

We had fun hanging out watching the game and it was nice to for the 'Skins to pull out a win.  

 Billy's brother Bob hanging out enjoying the game with a full belly and sandwiched in between two very cuddly kiddos. 



Here is the crew. Olivia and Evy played non-stop. After the redskins pulled off the win we watched a few episodes of Duck Dynasty. It was

"fun, fun, fun....fun"

Happy Thanksgiving!

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures for ever; his faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalms 100:4-5

Trophy's, Medals, and a Banquet

Logan had a very busy few days......

It was Logan's turn to have the Championship trophy for baseball at our house for the week. It is neat to see his team made a little history this past season with their team name placed on the plaque and a trophy that has been passed around since 1998

I am sure this trophy has many stories, it has the bumps and scrapes to prove it but I just wonder if it has ever been a castle for Polly Pockets and My Little Pony.

Logan was one of three members of his team to be recognized on the All-Star Team for football. STMFA was very organized and did a fantastic job with this awards ceremony. I was surprised with how large of an event this was with the stands full of people and not much standing room along the fence. Games were played all day long and again the STMFA organization hosted a very nice event. 

 I can just melt seeing Billy put Logan's medal around his neck..perhaps its not as much about the award as it is seeing a father and son share special moments together.  

Representing the Susquehanna Township Pee-Wee Indians 

All Star Pee-Wee Football Team 2012

All-Star PeeWee boys and Dads 

All ready for the end of the year football banquet. This organization did a wonderful job at the awards banquet. 

Proud of these boys. I am certain they will gel next year and will be very successful as they learned many skills this year and their character has grown throughout the season. 

It was very thoughtful for Smurf Coach Darrel and Assistant Coaches to include me in their awards. I enjoyed taking pictures for this team (and ours). We have many natural athletes coming up in the organization.

Go Hanna Indians!!!

Billy, One of the honored men in our community

Recently Billy was honored with the Arms Around Communities Cornelius Award. It is an award given each year to men in the community who do extraordinary things in Central PA.  There were men from all walks of life; a local news anchor, EMS staff and other members of our community.  The kids were proud of their daddy and I am thankful for a Godly husband and father that leads our family. It was a special day and not one that will soon be forgotten.

We are thankful for DaySpring Ministries and the light they are in Central PA. We have great friends that are part of their ministry.

This is Hunter beside Billy, he is the one who nominated him for the award.  We are so thankful for this family and their friendship. Their desire to pursue the Lord and raise Godly children has been such an encouragement to our family.

God is so faithful, so giving and we are very blessed.

It was an encouragement to see men that are involved in the community on so many different levels.

 

Rev.Dr.Clifford Ashe, III and Theotis Braddy, President Arms Around Communities

Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another

Proverbs 27:17

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.

1 Timothy 6:11

I am blessed......

Party-Party-Party

P-A-R-T-Y  Time!

It was a very busy few days with all the fall parties at school.

I had the opportunity to help out in both schools this year. I was able to volunteer in Olivia's class and plan the party in Maddy's being room mom. Maddy and Logan's parties are always at the same time so I will do my best to alternate between the two classes throughout the year.

 



The Morrison kitchen was busy!!! I made chocolate covered Oreo's with sprinkles for Olivia's class. The ingredient list is attached to each and every lollipop!  I have a new respect for parents who deal with Peanut allergies, it is not an easy task to make a special little treat that is peanut free.

At Sara Lindemuth, Olivia's school, the kids dress up and take a lap around the track as parents line up around the fence taking pictures. I enjoyed being in Olivia's classroom during the party helping out. These kids enjoyed all the activities and were very cooperative. It was so sweet seeing Olivia in her new school setting. She appeared very comfortable as she moved around the classroom.

Lots of people came out and the kids look forward to this tradition during their fall parties. The High School band played while the kids marched around in their costumes.

The Principal and all the teachers join in on the fun.

Back in the classroom working on a pumpkin craft. The room mom did such a great job with planning. She had so much to do and the kids had a great first party to kick off their first year of school.

Olivia has made some pretty special friends this year.

Next P-A-R-T-Y

 Maddy's class was GREAT. Boys against girls relay races. This was a hit for sure...

 All waiting to see who was going to finish first...

 

 This is such a great class. Everyone was so cooperative and no one complained at all during the party.

 

As I said, it was a very busy week in the Morrison kitchen! There was even a little time to make chocolate covered marshmallow's for Maddy and Logan's classes. (YES, Peanut Free treat)

Pink out and end of the season

For the month of October the boys wore pink to bring awareness to Breast Cancer.

 

 

Logan honored Odell his great-grandmother who is a breast cancer survivor.

 

 

Logan has enjoyed making new friends this season and here the boys are getting ready for warm-ups all decked out in pink

 

I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to serve as team mom this year. I enjoyed being on the sidelines with the boys and getting to know them and their parents.  Keeping the boys watered, checking on injuries and focused on the sidelines while the coaches focus on the game kept me busy. I had the opportunity and privilege to get to know the boys and to have heart to heart talks, eyeball to eyeball about character. So much more to this game than football or for that matter any team sport. We had many talks about accepting responsibility, admitting wrong, working with integrity, sportsmanship and digging deep when it's hard.  I so miss seeing all those boys several times a week however I am enjoying having the evenings free for now. We have made many special friendships during the season and we look forward in hanging out as families now that football season is over.  

 

 

Yep, Cake Pops for our boyz....little footballs

 

Go Susquehanna Township Indians!!

Dream come true

Maddy loves animals and it has been a dream of hers for years to take horseback riding lessons. She studies horse books, draws horses and subscribes to Young Rider Magazine. It's something that hasn't gone away, a desire that grows as she gets older. She spent a few years helping (every day) at a Rescue Horse Farm in Wake Forest, NC. The horses were not rideable as they had often been mistreated and this gave her an interest in nursing animals back to health. She spent many hours learning how to feed and care for specific injuries,  cleaning stalls and caring for the animals no matter what the weather brought. So, as you can imagine when we moved to PA and no longer had a horse farm behind our house she has missed it A LOT. We have recently found two great 4-H groups in the area (Fur and Feathers and Horse and Pony group) and she has plugged into the group. She has already learned a lot in the program and will start on her 4-H project book very soon.

 

While visiting a 4-H group we meet one of the leaders who offers riding lessons where several of the girls in the group take lessons during the week. Maddy had already researched and knew she wanted to pursue English riding so this seems to be a great fit and the farm seems to be the closest of all the ones that we visited.

 

 

 So here is Mist, she is one of the ponies that the beginners start with as they are learning the basic techniques of English riding. It is only fitting that she is an older pony and one that many might tuck away in the stall and not care for but at this farm she has an important role of introducing new riders to the sport.

Maddy is so comfortable and hopped right on. It's as though there is an understanding between a rider and horse, they seem to sense when you're comfortable and without fear. I for one don't enjoy it and feel very vulnerable beside these big animals.
The farm seems to always be full of eager kids cleaning, grooming and taking care of the needs of many horses.

Here Maddy is getting instructions on the basics of riding. We will very soon be looking for English Riding gear so if anyone out there is re-selling gear please let us know

Concentration....There defiantly is NO laziness in English Riding. Many things to think about while riding. Posture, steps, position, leaning, jumpin

Happiness, deep down within. All smiles for sure...she is counting down the days each week for her next lesson.

Maddy was so excited as she learned the jumping position

All smiles, a dream come true!

Meanwhile, I have an hour to myself each week and I love the view at the farm. Just beautiful.

here is a video from this week...

 

More than Candy

Getting ready for kiddos in the neighborhood.

 This year we stuffed little baggies to hand out to the trick-or-treaters. It is nice to have a little team working together to get everything knocked out. We stuffed 100 bags in an hour..not bad.

Last year we made coffee and had several people stick around and ask questions about why we moved to PA and we were writing our information on napkins so it was nice to have information about RGC in the baggies. They turned out great and it was nice to give the kids a bag full of treats.

Getting all set up..yep popcorn and all! I just love how my neighbor Beth rushed over as we had just started setting up tables for the evening and asked if she could bring her coffee pot over to contribute....so sweet that traditions have been started.

 

You, O LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.

Psalm 18:28

 

Here is a group shot of some of the kiddos before they peeled out running from one house to the next.  Brenda took all our kids around the neighborhood until they had sore feet, ankles and were thirsty.  We had great weather this year, yet again! We enjoyed talking with many neighbors that we have met over the past year and met some new ones during the evening. 

Here is my beautiful friend and neighbor Rasheeta.

We had a steady stream of trick-or-treaters throughout the night. It did seem a little less than last year and it could have been that the township schedules trick-or-treating the Thursday before Halloween so it was almost a week early. At the end of the night we had about 10 bags left over so we had about 90 kids come through during the evening.
 

Here the kids are spreading thier "loot" and trading. Sore feet, toes and tired little sugared up bodies!

 

 

It continues to amaze us how God allows us to invest in the lives of our neighbors and build relationships.  Some candy, popcorn and coffee have allowed our light to shine in a dark place just by reaching out and talking with someone about their day or complimenting their kids on their costumes.  We are thankful for these opportunities and humbled that God uses us for His glory to love on His people.  Its so much more than candy, its relationships.