Merry Christmas, everybody! To our friends in Serbia, we miss you and pray for you each day. We know your Christmas is not until January, but we are thinking of you and what precious gifts you were to us from our Father. It is also a blessing to be with our friends and family here during this Christmas season. It is one of our most favorite times of the year, and we are trying to enjoy and treasure each moment. May God bless you!

The kids made some cute Thanksgiving decorations at school. It was hard to decide what to throw away and what to save for next year. How do you like the turkey Samantha made with an apple, Froot Loops, and a marshmallow?

Here are the kids enjoying some fun in the leaves.

The morning after her birthday, Samantha got to open her present from Uncle Chris and Aunt Becky. Before opening it, she had to wrestle with Caleb (her regular morning work-out). Samantha's special uncle and aunt gave her a Dora tennis racket and some Dora tennis balls! She absolutely loved them, and Caleb thought it would be a good idea for her to begin practicing right away (inside, of course). We need to work with her on keeping her eyes open, but she can smack the ball surprisingly far.

Samantha had a little help with opening presents from her cousins at the party. After opening two presents, she decided that she wanted to go ahead and get her Papas to open those two presents so that she could play with them. The cousins didn't mind opening the other presents for her. :-)

We had such a blessed time with family on her birthday. Tim's mom made the birthday cake. Isn't it beautiful?

The joy of trying to get a toddler to smile a "pretty smile" on her birthday!

Our little girl turned 3 on Tuesday, and we have had a fun week celebrating her special day. Here are some pictures from her preschool class. The kids seemed to enjoy the cake (I love the picture of the boy facedown in it), and it was cute to watch Samantha's face when they all sang to her.

This Halloween, we went to Nana & Granddaddy's church and enjoyed their "Trunk or Treat." The kids had a great time saying "trick or treat," getting candy, playing games, and watching a puppet show. They were also thrilled with all their "loot" when we got back home.

Here are some pictures of our princess and knight!

Last week, Caroline and Claire spent the night with us for one night. I loved these pictures of Samantha "reading" and of Caroline putting on Samantha's shoes for her.

Last week, Caleb's school held a fall carnival, and it really was a lot of fun for us. The teachers had games for the "little ones" too, so Samantha enjoyed playing "pick up ducks" and (of course!) she had to do the cake walk. She won some cupcakes, and it was really cute to watch her walking in the cake walk circle with such a serious expression on her face. She meant business! Caleb's principal was in a dunk booth, and the kids could try to make him fall in if they could hit the target. Caleb came SO CLOSE one time - maybe he missed it by an inch. But it was a chilly night, so I was secretly happy that the poor man didn't have to fall in the water on account of my son.

I just love this picture of my sister's dog, Duchess. She is a sweet dog and was very patient with me as I took about 20 pictures of her. Maybe I'm starting to get that "itch" to have a puppy now that we are settling in more to life in the States.

Thanks, Aunt Amber, for helping Caleb carve his pumpkin!