Christmas Jammies!

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Compass

God has led us to a new church body in downtown Vancouver, just 5-10 minutes from home. It is called "Compass" and it is the first church plant off of Mosaic in Portland. We have been going for about a month now, and are feeling very at home. It is nice to attend church in a different way. . . together!!. We are excited to see how God will use us here in this community!

Thankful for Turkey

Annabelle and Ella were very patient as they watched and waited while we cooked Thanksgiving Dinner all day and finally ate around 5:00. Annabelle is of course posing for the picture, but Ella is clearly ready to get down to business! Chris cooked the meat I, the side dishes. We had a delicious cajun andouille sausage stuffed turkey breast (amazing!) and a tri-tip roast with mashed potatoes, salad, bread and made from scratch butternut-squash ravioli. It was a smaller group this year, just Chris & I and the girls and their Aunt Andi (Chris' sister).
Here are some things we are thankful for this year:

Health
God's provision via a brand new home!
10 years of marriage!
A new church home.
Aunt Andi moved to Portland.
Reconnecting with old friends.
Living across the street from good friends.
Getting to go to So. Cal. for Christmas (and yes...D-land!).
Sunday Ticket in HD with surround sound (Chris)
One potty trained, one more to go! (Amber)
Movies (Annabelle)
Halloween Candy (Annabelle)
Food (Ella)
A big sister to play with, and long hair to pull! (Ella)

Annabelle's Sunflower

Annabelle planted and watered and watched (she kept watching the ground for any sign of growth the whole day after we planted it!) this sunflower grow since we planted it in August, and it has grown taller than her!

Two cute Pumpkins

We found the greatest little pumpkin patch here in Vancouver this weekend just a few minutes from our house, so I took the girls, and we saw some farm animals, picked a couple pumpkins and went through a great kids hay maize. We had beautiful weather, and days like this are what makes me love Fall so much here in the Northwest!

Blankie Fettish

I had to share with you all this fun little thing Ella does with her blankie. She has definitely been attached to her two little pink blankies from birth to now, but she picked a favorite of the two pink blankies recently, and now we know why she picked the one she did! There is edging on one of the blankies and it brings her much comfort as she rubs it under her nose, she does this alot, especially when she is sad or tired. She has even been offering it to me (or my nose) lately. Next time you're feeling down or blue, maybe you should try to :-)

First Haircut

Yes, it had to happen sooner or later....Ella has had her first haircut. Who is the hair stylist? You may ask......None other than 4 year old Landon Thom! Yep. Child craft scissors work on hair too. After he cut it, it was kinda like she had bangs in the shape of a mohawk, but now it just looks like a layered cut, and I actually kinda like it better....go figure.

We think our kids are hilarious

We seem to be laughing at our kids a lot lately. Annabelle is of course developing her vocabulary and saying fun things, and Ella has no vocabulary and is just funny.

Ella is a little fireball who runs around the house, and loves to sit on things, especially chairs, like she is looking for just the right chair, but she hasn't found it yet! She also loves the word: "goalie...goalie...goalie...goalie...goalie...goalie". This is what she repeats incessantly, most of the time, as she bumbles around, and mostly while she is in her carseat. But Ella's most favorite thing to do is eat! She will eat twice as much as her sister at mealtime and then finish off what Annabelle doesn't eat. Somehow, she remains small, we have no idea where she puts it all.

Annabelle is her blunt little self, and after a quiet car ride home the other day, staring at the back of our heads from her carseat says: "you have a big head daddy", then nothing. Her favorite thing to do currently is to tell jokes, and there are two kinds at the moment:
"Why did the (insert any noun here) cross the road? To get to the other side".....followed by much of her own laughter. And secondly:
"Knock, Knock. Who's there? (insert any noun here) (any noun) who? (noun) again....followed by her own laughter.
Annabelle is also proving to be just like dad as she soaks up whatever she learns. She can write her whole alphabet and numbers 1-10 at age 3 and a half. So mommy and Annabelle are doing "school" together, since she isn't in preschool until next year, and she loves learning!

We gotta dote on our kids every now an then, you know?!

Fall is here!

Well, we embraced this beautiful season and took a trip to Multnomah Falls with Grandma Precious (Chris' mom) and Andi/Tata (Chris' sister). Yes, she has been given the name Grandma Precious....named by Annabelle early on, as Grandma would always call Annabelle her precious girl, so due to the plethera of grandparents, I believe she had to make it easier on herself! My mom (Amber) has been named Grandma Oh No! As my mom makes a silly face and says"Oh No" when playing with Annabelle, so Annabelle of course gave her the nickname of "Grandma Oh No". And Ella, with her limited vocabulary thus far, is calling them both Mema. But I do think she will master Oh No, before Precious, especially since she already has the word "No" down pat! Andi has been given the name Tata, as she lived in France for 4 years...and Tata is what aunti's are called in France. So there you have it, all the Curry family secrets.

Ballerina Annabelle

Annabelle took her first ballet/gymnastics combo class eariler this Spring. Mommy kinda talked her into it....but, she really looked forward to it each week. And now when I ask whether she would like to take a ballet class or a gymnastics class, to my surprise she chooses ballet! So we plan on signing her up again this Fall. Who knows.......Nutcracker next?

Annabelle's Favorites

Okay, I stole this idea from the Staples' blog.....which was stolen from their friends' blog....I asked Annabelle some questions on the spot a few weeks ago, and these were her answers:

1. What's your favorite thing to do? Play
2. What's your favorite movie? Happy Feet
3. If you could paint your room any color, what would it be? Purple
4. What do you want to be when you grow up? I want to be a mommy
5. Who's your favorite person? Emma and Katrina
6. If you could be called by any name, what would it be? Emma and Katrina, they're nice and they're silly.
7. Who's your favorite character in the Bible? Jesus
8. If you had $5, what would you buy? A Jack in the box that pops up
9. What's your favorite thing to eat? Carrots
10. What's your favorite dessert? Candy
11. Who's your favorite person to play with? Emma and Katrina
12. What's your favorite game to play? Animal Sequence
13. What's the best kind of cereal ever? Kix
14. If you could go anywhere today, where would you go? Safeway to get a cookie...If I'm good.
15. What's your favorite Bible verse? "Happy and you know it".

We're on the blogger train!

Hey friends and family! Welcome to our first blog entry. We wanted a way to journal a little about our family and what's going on with us for those of you who live far away! Our blog address will be attached to our "journal" link on our webpage, so you can also access it that way.

Summer is over, and we had a good one this year. It progressively got slower as the summer went on. We did all our major things the first month of summer and were able to relax for the rest! I attached a few pics of our summer.

- Ella's first birthday!

- Chris and I celebrated our 10th Anniversary in Puerto Vallarta Mexico in June, while grandma (Amber's mom) stayed with the girls.

- We (Annabelle & I) were in our good friend Tina's wedding in July

- We got to enjoy Jana's (Biola girlfriend) wedding in August.

- Andi/Tata (Chris' sister) moves from France to Portland!

It will be nice to get back into the swing of Fall, and it is my favorite season here in the Great Northwest!