Great Wolf Lodge= Awesomeness!!

The weekend after Thanksgiving we planned a little stay cation family get-a-way and decided to head to Great Wolf Lodge in Grapevine for the first time. Our lives have been so crazy and busy it gave us something to look forward to knowing that our kiddos were in for a real treat. :) We planned to head out Sunday morning and for Andrew to take that day off, but the Lord had different plans. The guy Andrew had asked to preach for him called us on Saturday afternoon and was sick. SO, my amazing Hubby decided rather than lay the day on someone else, we would just go to church and leave a little later. It is a great feeling to love your church and the people in it so much that it is not a big deal at all to go on your "day off". LOVE that! AND Andrew preached an awesome sermon about heaven that touched many people that morning.

So, the minute we got into our room at the Great Wolf Lodge we put on our bathing suits to go and play! The kids were so excited about this 'secret trip'. (We didn't tell them where we were going b/c we thought it would be too hard for their little minds to grasp the concept of an indoor water park.:) We are so thankful that the Lord provided in such a way so that we could have this time together.

85 degrees is my kind of weather at the end of November! It is amazing how they keep the water park at that temp all year long!

This boy was in heaven! He just made (and I mean we almost had to beg the sweet old lady) the 42 inch mark so that he could ride some of the bigger tube rides.

Everything in the park was so great for each of our kiddos. Even down to the fact that there was NO ONE there the entire time we were! It was so awesome to have pretty much everything to ourselves and no waiting in line. We loved every minute (except the issue with getting our two year old to sleep both nights. Could have done without that.;)

LOVE this sweetheart! She went down a few slides, but mainly liked to just sit with Mommy and watch her big bro and sis go crazy. She loves bath time, but she's not really a pool girl yet. :)

Both of these boys had such a blast! I still can't believe that A-Town is riding 'big kid' stuff!

Sweet Audrey - LOVE this child! It is such a joy as a parent to watch your children have so much fun!

The 1st night after we went out to get some yummy Mexican food we got the kiddos in their pj's for a fun story time provided by the hotel.

Our family of 5. :)

Every time we passed this bear Austin would jump on it and say, "Mommy, take a picture of me!" Too cute!

Ains having fun in the wave pool.

Daddy and Austin on one of the tube slide rides they did a million times. (Mommy even joined Austin several times. :)

On your mark, get set, GO! Always a competition with these two. :) LOVE watching their sweet friendship grow and grow. Don't know what they would do without each other!

LOVE this pic!

Can't say enough great things about this trip. It was just what we all needed and we will definitely be going back next year!

From this...

To This...
We love our sweet puppy Abraham, but as you could tell it was time for a haircut! Poor thing had to spend all day at the 'doggie spa' and came home looking like a big rat with all his shaved hair. :) But at least we coupd see his eyes! This sweetie puts up with so much from our 2, 3 and 4 year old and pretty much follows me around all over the house all day. He has been a great addition to our family this year and the kiddos adore him!

Bounce

We told Austin a long time ago that when he turns 5 he could have his birthday party at a bounce house place. If you were to ask this kiddo where his favorite place is he would definitely say 'the bounce house place!' Well, since A-town is about a month away from the big 5 years old, we decided we needed to go to a local bounce house place to 'check it out' and 'see' if it was a good place for a party. :) We had a great day of bouncing fun! Here are the pics:

One happy boy!

This girl loves to bounce too. :)

This pic makes me smile. They really were having a blast going down this slide together like 50+ times.

Sweet memories!

Looks like the place got Austin's approval. ;) We will be back for more fun in January!

It's Christmas Time!

We ended our Thanksgiving week by decorating the house for Christmas, Andrew performing a funeral for a sweet man who passed away in our Church and then heading off for a little family stay-cation in Grapevine (a later post:). I just love decorating for Christmas! I love pulling out the ornaments from past years that have a story to them. I think the combination of ending another year, reflecting on the birth of Jesus, watching the magic and wonder of the season all over my children's faces and my oldest baby's 5th birthday coming up gets me all emotional. (Pray for my hubby these next couple of weeks as he deals with his crazy emotional wife! ;)It truly is my favorite time of the year (minus the cold weather outside - I am a warm weather girl :).

Here is one of our 5 Christmas trees in the house. As you can see, the bottom 3 feet of the tree is heavily covered with ornaments and some branches even have several ornaments. How could I change it when my kids were so proud/excited about hanging them??

Audrey and her pink princess tree that she is so proud of and loves that it is just for her in HER room.

Austin will always be my kiddo that is excited to decorate for Christmas. I just love watching him bounce all over the house with excitement. (He has slept with the Rudolf he got for Christmas last year every night. :)

When I took this picture I was thinking about how I can't believe how big our kiddos are getting and how they are such fun and awesome little people. :)

Sweet sisters! LOVE watching how these two sweet things are really 'getting' the whole Christmas thing this year as well.

Our A-Team can't wait to celebrate Jesus' Birthday!!

So Much to Be Thankful For!

We had a great Thanksgiving week! The kiddos were out of school and Andrew was off in the middle of the week. We didn't do too much, but it felt great to slow down a little bit. Our pace has been crazy this fall! On Thanksgiving Day we had two amazing full course meals about 2 hours apart! We started out at Andrew's sisters house with her family and our Nana.

Ainsley loves to play with cousin Sophia!

Nana with the grand kiddos and all the yummy food.

And of course - Cowboys football! That day's game was a heart breaker just like the entire season this year. :(


We then headed over to Gigi's house for the Harakal/Werley feast.

Grandpa always knows how to keep the kids entertained. ;)

Fun playing the piano

Grandma Werley and Audrey

Gigi and Grandmother Werley with Ains

In pj's ready for the car trip home. :) It was a good day! When I look back on this past year I am so grateful for the many blessings, challenges and opportunities the Lord gave us to give Him the glory in our lives both individually and as a family. 2010 has stretched us and been difficult at times from having 3 miscarriages in a year to the crazy schedule the family of a pastor must have. I wouldn't change anything and I am honored to be walking this road with my Savior. I am so incredibly thankful for my amazing husband and kiddos and this life He has given me that has surpassed anything I could have ever imagined!