Thanksgiving in Blacksburg

Making apple pie - a Howe family tradition!

Participating in our first year of "Thanks-Give-Away"

Thanksgiving at the Saladinos - love these boys!

Such a cutie pie!

Alexander teaching one of the international students how to roll down the hill!

Beautiful horses!

A wonderful evening with my kiddos and friends!

Our sweet girl!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, celebrating with our little family, friends, and students from around the world.  This year we instituted a new tradition - Thanksgiveaway.  It is important for us to teach our children the importance of generosity and so we spent Thanksgiving morning thanking God for our material blessings and at the same time spending time letting the kids decide what toys/books they'd like to give to other friends.  It was so much fun and amazing to see the boys decide to give away some of their cherished items so other kids could enjoy them.  In the afternoon we spent celebrating with some of our favorite friends, the Saladinos.  We ate delicious food and enjoyed wonderful company. We are truly blessed.

Growing Up!

Elijah is now in a big boy bed, Alexander is sleeping on the top bunk, and Ella finally has a girly room! Growing up!

Seeds Museum

Sand - my kids love it.

Mariah playing with Ella - such a sweet girl!

All things miniature are more fun!

Today we found a little treasure in Blacksburg - the Seeds Museum.  This is probably the closest place we have to a Children's Museum and it was free! The kids had such a wonderful time exploring and learning together!

A Night of Giggles

At the end of the day we are so thankful for our kids giggles and smiles!  

Traditions

Ella learning how to be a "Hall woman" - lots of wisdom in this picture!

Our cute boys 

My Papa is amazing and man does he love his great grand-babies!

Ella loves Aunt Ginny - that's a big compliment!

Love, love, love!

More thankful for my grandparents than I could even begin to explain!

For the third year in a row my grandparents have come all the way to Blacksburg at the end of October (aka Trick or treating time!) and this year we got the added bonus of my Aunt Ginny!  Even though it was cold and rainy we still managed to do a bit of trick or treating but more importantly we got to spend time together as a family.

My Loves

I love these kids

Sinkland Farm's Pumpkin Festival

Elijah and Alexander with the gigantic horse

Ready, Set, Go!

"Milking" the cow

Family Photo time!

So grown up

Alexander, Mariah, and Elijah looking for the perfect pumpkin

We found this gourd sitting in our stroller after the hayride - hilarious!

As an annual tradition we went to Sinkland Farm's Pumpkin Festival this morning.  We had a wonderful time with the Cross family looking at the animals, riding the tractor through the pumpkin patch, and even trying to eat a picnic lunch (cut short by the cold winds!).