Lincoln and I went by the school to take some pictures. To my surprise, she didn't have the usual construction paper birthday crown and she had taken her headband out by this time, but she was still pretty cute.
Some of my family got into town on Wednesday night and we got to spend some time with them. On Thanksgiving, we went out to Andrew's parents and spent most of the day with his family enjoying a yummy lunch and even a little competition. Lauren decided she wanted to race Matthew, so the others wanted to join in too. Ashlyn did her own race and was done by this point.
It was a close one at the end between Jackson and Matthew.
That night we headed over to Matthew and Kristin's to celebrate Ashlyn's second birthday. She had a lot of helpers with her gifts. Kristin made a really cute butterfly cake to go along with the butterfly birthday theme.
On Friday, we decided to head to Fouch's Christmas Tree Farm to find our tree. Lincoln was being silly as I was getting all the boxes upstairs and wanted to play with the Tickle Monster gloves.
Aren't they cute?
Lincoln loved exploring the tree farm. 
Our special family :)
Jackson found several trees for us and this is the one we decided on in the end.
Even though it was a little chilly, we had a pretty good time picking out our tree with very minimal meltdowns.
Then it was on to home to start decorating the tree. Jackson and Ellie put a few of their ornaments on and Andrew and I did the lights and garland and then we headed to my parents to celebrate Thanksgiving with them.
My parents made a delicous dinner and then Andrew and I headed to the hospital to check on Annie and Brad. It ended up being a very sad, late night. After we got the kids home and to bed, Andrew crashed with Ellie up in her bed and I went to work finish the tree and decorating for Ellie's birthday. Part way through finishing the tree, it started falling forward on me. I was able to reach some chairs to put around it to stablize it and I had to run upstairs and wake up Andrew so he could help me get the tree straight again. Needless to say, he was not very excited about it, but he did it and went back to bed. I was happy I was able to get the tree and the decorating done because Ellie was very excited to see all of it the next morning. Ellie really enjoyed her ballerina fourth birthday party-she loved the decorations, the presents, the people, all of it.
We found out on Sunday that Andrew's Aunt Melba, Tom's oldest sister, passed away that morning just to add to the sadness. But first we had to say goodbye to sweet, little Owen. Brad's family came into town on Monday and we gave them our house to stay at while we stayed at my parents. His parents and two of his sisters and their families fit right in and luckily their was a place for everyone. And my kids were excited to have a sleepover at Grandma and Papa's but were a little upset that they had to go to bed at 9 because they had school the next day. Owen's funeral was on Tuesday. We picked the kids up early from school and went to the service. They just had a short grave-side service and it was probably one of the saddest events I have attended. Andrew and I feel so blessed that we were able to meet little Owen and that Andrew got to hold him. It was a very precious moment. I have no idea why things like this have to happen (his grave site was actually in an area where there were several other babies) but it is reassuring knowing that we will all see him again in heaven someday and that God is in control. Lauren, with the help of her mom, wrote Owen a little note and they tied it to a couple balloons and she released them after the funeral. 
After the funeral, we headed out to Tom and Mary's to have a lunch that their church provided for everyone. Lincoln enjoyed the rocking horse and of course, Ellie had to help him.
Then at Mary's request (they had already left to head down to Melba's funeral) we tried to get a picture of the grandkids which is always entertaining. I guess we'll try again at Christmas and see if we can get anything better.
So now we are trying to get back into our normal routine. Although Andrew had to leave around 4:45 this morning (he should have left a little earlier but was late waking up because he said his alarm went off and he started praying for Annie and Brad and fell back to sleep) to pick up Matthew and head down to Cassville for Melba's funeral. They are both pall bearers so we thought it would be hard to take the kids since they wouldn't be able to sit with us and help out. So we now we are back to dance lessons and small group tonight.
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