Thanksgiving 2008 at the Hellwig house!

Posted by Gabrielle

We spent a wonderful thanksgiving day this year with a family from our church. For a couple days before we were busy baking and preparing what we could!

Thanksgiving baking -baklava, cookies, pumpkin pies and bread

More Thanksgiving baking -more cookies; you can never have too many of those!

We used leaf cookie cutters to trace and cut a basket of tiny leaves to decorate the table. The placecards were leaves with the name on top and on the back was a Bible verse about thanksgiving.

Our table almost all set.

And our two families gathered around the table awaiting dessert! Thank you Watson family for joining us to celebrate this day of thanksgiving to God for His wonderful blessings!

After lunch we convened outside for a game of croquet. We had to form teams so everyone could play. Arianne and her friend Katie Watson were one team.

The two little pilgrims, Christianna and Emily Watson were another team.

Elliot and Jeffery Watson were the third team.

And Timothy and Jeremy Watson formed an invincible team, both in croquet and...

in our photography match afterwards.

Emily and Christianna playing battleship on the front porch.

After a while of being pilgrims Emily and Christianna decided to change into...

Indians! I hadn't worn my Indian costume for years and it fit Christianna perfectly!

A happy group gathered in the dining room for dessert!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I'd like to share something I'm thankful I learned thisThanksgiving; and that is not to schedule an orthodontist appointment two days before Thanksgiving! ;)

We had our first snow!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Gabrielle

Yesterday (Friday) morning we woke up to snow falling gently, just like in New England! It was so exciting! So of course we all had to run out before breakfast to play in it a bit; it was wonderful snowball snow! Unfortunately, as soon as the sun came out it quickly melted away.

This picture is a bit blurry but it was taken while the snow was falling

And here's after the snow stopped

Benaiah had never seen snow before so of course we had to get him out to play in it!

Instruction from Christianna in the art of making snowballs

Cute boy!

"It's a bit coooold but..."

he likes it!

Some more with Benaiah in the Sandbox

Posted by Gabrielle

A couple days ago Benaiah spent some more time engaging in his favorite activity, playing in the sandbox!

He threw himself down on his face in the sand and immediately sat back up again because the result was a mouthful of sand!

"Ooohhh..."

"playing with my brothers in the sand is a lot of fun!"

"But it's not so fun when it's time to clean up!"

A Sunny Afternoon Outside!

by Gabrielle

This afternoon was just too beautiful of a day to resist some time outside. And when any number of the Hellwig family members get together outside with a photographer...you'll see what happens below...

Another precious picture of Benaiah and Christianna

"You give me those and I'll give you this."

Hammering the tee (into the rock)!

Putting the golf ball on the tee and...

Benaiah makes the hit!

Our busy little boy off to...

climb the porch steps!

Beware the sniper fire from ping-pong ball shooters!

Jedidiah introduces Benaiah to firearms...

and the proper use thereof!

Brothers!

This is the family where the dead...

come suddenly to life!

Elliot instructs his fellow soldiers from the field.

Notice the blue sneakers Benaiah is wearing in the first few pictures. They were very cute but much too small for his fat little feet so we changed them to his little yellow boots which he is wearing in the later pictures. Still so cute!!!!!!!!

Christianna's 12th Birthday!

Posted by Gabrielle

Yes, she's 12 already! We celebrated her birthday on October 31st with a big family party! It's been a long time since we've had a 'little' little girl! But we're so thankful for you, Christianna and pray that you may grow up into a mighty woman of God!

The 'official' birthday portrait!

Blowing out her 12 candles

Benaiah loves birthdays; there's always some new kind of dessert to try!

In light of the fact that her birthday was on Reformation Day, that afternoon I read to the family an interesting quote from Martin Luther that I found:

'So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: "I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where He is, there I shall be also!" '

- Martin Luther

P.S. I apologize for the delay in getting this posted. It takes some time to compile and edit the photos from three different Hellwig digital photographers!