Happy Turkey Day!!

I know it's a little late...but just wanted to share about our fun Thanksgiving this year. We celebrated down at the Koegle's house in Camarillo and my parents and the "newlyweds" were able to go too. We had a great time watching football, playing with the kids, eating, hanging out and catching up, playing football, eating, playing charades and Pictionary and eating some more. I swear, Michelle, my mother-in-law, feels a definite need for everyone to gain at least 5 pounds before leaving her home. :) But we do love to eat all the goodies she puts out. We had a great time and here are some pictures from that day.
What a pretty spread for all to enjoy!

Doesn't Michelle do a beautiful job on the decorating? I think so!

Look at the pretty apple pie my mom and I made:

Katy and I being silly...

Cole hamming it up for the camera...

Some awesome action shots of the football game


Good form Mikey!

Beau & Brian being dorks for the camera...

All of us enjoying the holiday and getting ready to play charades!!


After playing charades until 1:00 a.m., we finally decided to hit the sack. Bev, Lindsay and I were a little crazy, but we got up at 4:45 and got ready very quickly and quietly and went shopping at the Thousand Oaks mall at 5:45 a.m. I've never done the whole "Day after Thanksgiving Early Bird Sale" thing, but I thought it would be fun to try this year. We had a great time and really did get a bunch of awesome deals on presents. And I would just like to brag a bit...I have (almost) all my Christmas shopping done and everything I've bought is already wrapped and under the tree ready to roll for Christmas! :) I'm very proud of myself. Last year I vowed I would not wait until the week before to start my shopping and be wrapping for hours and hours on Christmas Eve. And I followed through!! :) Yay for me. Now I'm able to start helping my mom with all of her Christmas present shopping. My house is totally decorated and all my holiday stuff is out and I've got the Christmas music channel on in the background at all times. I really do love Christmas time and I'm hoping that Cole will realize that it isn't about getting presents, it's about giving, and it's not about food and hulla-baloo, it's about spending quality time with our families and really remembering the whole reason for the season, Jesus Christ! Praise God for sending his Son to us...what a powerful event in the history of man.

Other news from the Koegle household...

- Yes, it is official, we have our house on the market. We actually put it up for sale about 5 weeks ago and I keep forgetting to blog about it. If you know of anyone in the market for a really cute townhome...send them our way. Please pray that the Lord's will is done in this situation, as it is very hard to just "wait it out" and work through the situation and stress of "selling" the home.

- Hallelujah...this last Friday was my last day working with Justin. About 3 weeks ago, I let them know that I have a couple of other options that are looking pretty good and that I am done watching him. This is going to be SUCH a huge relief off of my shoulders. Most of you know that I did not enjoy watching him, as he was a really hard child to work with. It was truly getting to me and Mike really encouraged me to pursue other options in order for me to be more happy. So...with that said, we are just praying that the Lord will make it very clear for what He has in store for me and for our family.

- Mike is rounding out the last couple of weeks of school (CSUN) and is doing wonderfully as usual. Please pray that the Lord will keep him motivated to finish out the semester with a bang and to just get to the end. :)

- Cole is doing really well these days. He's constantly learning more and more words, which just astounds me most of the time. I have a child that I can actually communicate with...it's totally cool! :) Once I was done decorating the house w/ all the Christmas stuff, I showed Cole what he could and couldn't touch. His favorite new phrase is, "Don't touch decorations." And you can truly tell what he is saying. It really is the cutest thing ever. He just babbles to me everywhere we go telling me about the cars, the trucks, the motos, the cows, the horses, the moon, the birds, the ducks, the coots, daddy, grandma, Pop Pop, Grammy (Ranny), Auntie Emilie, Brice, Sean, and many more friends. He is a total crack up. :) God is so good for what he gives us! :)