Festival of Lights Parade 2009

Ready for the fun to begin!
Success!!! Spots are saved!!

Our crew waiting for the parade to begin

Fiona with her Daddy

Grandma Story and Michael

Aunt Christine, Emmy, and Ella

Fiona, Derek, Michael and Grandpa Story

Grandpa and Grandma Story

Michael and Grandpa Story

Grandma Choo Choo and Patrick

Me, Christine, and Emmy

Peris with Uncle Tim

Still waiting

And waiting

Anita, Avery, and Addison

"Cheese"

TROUBLE!!!!

Tim, Tom and Derek

Aunt Christine, Emmy, Uncle Tim, and Ella

Ella and the Polar Bear float

Michael and the Batmobile float

Me in front of the Old Woman who lived in a shoe float....we both have so many children that we don't know what to do

Emmy and Rudolph-Santa was soon to follow!!

Awesome weather made for an awesome night at the Festival of Lights parade this year!!! It was a big crowd and that made for big fun!!!!! Grandma Choo Choo, Pat, Grandma and Grandpa Story, Uncle Tim, Aunt Christine, Uncle Tom, Aunt Anita, Addison, Avery, and our family were ALL in attendance!!!!!!! The parade never fails to give me that final push into the holiday season!!! I LOVE IT!!!!!

The best day of the year (15 years to be exact!)

15 years ago Derek took me to this little tree farm so that we could cut down our very own Christmas tree and 15 years ago I was hooked!!! Each year brings the same routine: the search for the PERFECT Christmas tree...which in my humble opinion is both tall and very fat. Each year we walk around the tree farm (yes we did this even when the kids were tiny) REGARDLESS of the weather (and friends we have done this in all types of weather..from warm to freezing rain) on the day after Thanksgiving, and each year we do find the most perfect tree on the farm!! Our ventures have changed over the years. With kids brought new challenges (i.e. trying to push a double stroller in sandy soil over tractor ruts) but we have never lost the joy in this most special day. My favorite thing? This is a tradition that our kids love just as much as we do!!! From the tractor ride out into the back part of the farm to the roaming around for hours it is good memories in the making (well except for that year of freezing rain where Michael screamed the entire time...oh and last year when Emmy stuck a thorn in her finger and screamed too).

Enjoy the pictures below

Grandparent's Day (Michael) 2009

Grandma and Grandpa Story visit
Doing an activity with Mr. A

Last week was Grandparent Day at Michael's school. This year he invited Grandma and Grandpa Story to come and hang out. Michael was so excited about them coming that he couldn't remember exactly what they all did, but I can tell by the big smiles in the photo's above that it wasn't about the activities....it was about being together.

Thank you Grandpa and Grandma Story!!

Happy Thanksgiving

T - Treats, Thanksgiving, Tales, and Toys

H - Honey Sweet and Halloween

A - Sweet Apples, Animals, Amphibians, and August

N - Nick

K - Kittens, Kettles, and Kangaroos

S - Snakes, Science, Spells, Summer, and Shopping



Thanks Acrostic Poem by Fiona Vivienne Story (First Grade)


Happy Thanksgiving!!

Generosity

That's me
The coat collection crew for first hour

Donations kept pouring in!!

Ladies cutting off tags and sorting sizes

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

2Corinthians 1:3-4

Sunday Derek and I were blessed to volunteer for the Imagine coat collection at our church. It was amazing to see the generosity of our church family!! I was filled with gratitude and joy as I stood at the table and watched families bring their coats in for donation.

At the end of the first hour, Imagine collected 1,412 coats and I can't wait to find out if second hour beat that number!!

Remember last week-the toy collection? Well as of yesterday, 2,200 toys have been collected and will ALL be distributed on December 12th.

It is a good thing when we come together to serve others in need. It could be any of us at any time.

Still wanting to serve but unsure of an opportunity? Donations of toys and coats (size 0-3t are desperately needed) can be dropped off at the Eastview Church office.

I can guarantee one thing-if you serve you WILL be blessed!!

Touch someones life this holiday season!!

Baby it's cold outside

Have you noticed that it's getting cold out?? I know, I know...it's November!! I also know how crazy it is to see the high school students standing out on the curb at 6:20 a.m. every morning in the cold!! Even if the temperature gradually warms up, MAN is it cold when they are waiting for that bus!! It is also cold enough for adults to have to scrape enough money together to buy a coat for their kids while going without themselves. What parents wouldn't make that sacrifice?

As part of the Imagine campaign at our church, tomorrow is the coat collection day where thousands of coats will be collected for children, teens, and adults with the goal that no person in our community is cold this winter. I am so humbled to be a part of a small group that came together and purchased 12 winter coats (in the photo above) for this special day. Derek and I are also deeply blessed to be volunteering at the coat collection and will be taking the donations, sorting sizes, and cutting tags so that on December 12th all of these items are ready for distribution.

It is with great joy that we are participating in these activities!! The blessing to us is far greater than the contributions that we are making. Don't forget, you can make a difference too this holiday season!!!

...I was naked and you clothed me...

Matthew 25:36

Deck the Halls

Michael's tree
Peris and Ella's tree

Fiona and Emmy's tree

Getting ready for the Christmas Village

The resident decorators

The finished product-so pretty!!!!!

It's a little early, but we decided to decorate a bit around the house. The kids all have their trees up in their rooms and we got our houses out. We also moved some furniture around in anticipation of our trek to Talbott's Tree Farm next Friday-we can't wait to cut down our trees!!!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Collection day-Toys

Of course I forgot my camera!!!! AHHHH!!!!! Today was the collection day at Eastview for the toy portion of the Imagine project. I was overwhelmed and amazed at the generosity of our church family. After first service 1346 toys had been collected-all in just over one hour!!!! These toys will be distributed on Imagine Saturday in December. I only wish that I was able to show pictures of how joyful everyone looked this morning. There is something so incredibly special about doing something for other people that we will never meet face to face. I am so proud of our kids for being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ in such a simple way. So this week what will you do to help someone else? How can we all pay it forward so that someone is blessed in a small way? Maybe pay for the person behind you in the line at Starbucks? Drop a dollar bill into the Salvation Army bucket instead of pennies? Push your cart to the corral at Walmart? Help a Mom who is struggling to get her groceries into her van in the cold? Little things add up to greatness!!!!!

Keep looking for ways to bless others this holiday season! I promise that you will feel something deep down inside that many of us tend to loose in the busyness of the season. Something far better than getting a great deal on that toy on Black Friday and something far better than just buying into the commercial side of Christmas.

Let's make a difference!!!

Leaf raking party 2009

Imagine every child has a toy this Christmas

The Story family kicked off our holiday season this past Saturday by visiting the local Walmart-no we are not crazy!!! To start off our season of giving, the kids pooled the money that they had been saving for church and decided to utilize their stash by purchasing as many gifts as possible for the Imagine project at our church. We hit the store in high spirits-the kids were REALLY excited to make their choices!! After MANY trips up and down the aisles (big sigh from Mom and Dad) the kids started choosing their items-it was amazing to see how picky they were!! What did we end up with?

6 Littlest Petshop sets, a Glam Barbie, Polly Pockets, V-tech little first laptop, snap n style blocks, Mr. Potato Head, Mrs. Potato Head, Burger Builder playdoh set, Hannah Montana Barbie, Playschool little people school set, Spud Buddies Potato Head set, and a remote control car.

The coolest thing?? Can you imagine the look on peoples faces as we walked around the store with this cart full of toys?? Some were openly staring. The kids were very quick to share why we had this cart full of toys and where they were ALL going. I was so proud of their general attitudes of giving (now I would be lying if I didn't share that there were a few moments of can we get something?) and the look of satisfaction on their faces.

These toys will be taken to Eastview on the 15th and will join the other toys that people are bringing in for the Imagine Saturday in December.

I have to say that doing this was such a wonderful way to start off the holiday season! Seriously-it was so much better than just handing the kids the Big Book of Toys or looking at the American Girl Holiday catalogue.

If you are volunteering or participating in any activity this holiday season post a comment on my blog-I'd love to read about it!! If you would like to volunteer but aren't sure how to get started please visit www.eastviewchurch.net and click on the Imagine icon-there are lots of ways to get involved in making a difference this Christmas!

Think of how many lives we can impact if our families each do one small thing-wouldn't that be awesome??

Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in various forms.
1 Peter 4:10